r and daughters, the Revelator
says: "After these things I saw another angel come down from heaven,
having great power; and the earth was lightened with his glory. And
he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is
fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the
hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful
bird. For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her
fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication
with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the
abundance of her delicacies. And I heard another voice from heaven,
saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her
sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues" (chap. 18:1-4).

A movement of mighty power is symbolized in these verses. The language
is based on the experience of the ancient Israelites in literal
Babylon, who, when the fall of the city occurred, obtained release
from their enforced captivity, and were permitted to return to their
own land. The real meaning in this case is clear: that apostate
Christianity has been a veritable Babylon in which the true people
of God have been held as in captivity, and that the time of their
deliverance would come, when they would, by divine authority, be
called out. Notice the parallelism in the two descriptions of the fall
of Babylon. In chapter 14 an angel declares "Babylon is fallen, is
fallen" (verse 8), and the next angel _with a loud voice_ warns that
those who "worship the beast and his _image_ ... shall drink of the
wine of the wrath of God" (verses 9, 10); while in chapter 18 the
first angel cries "mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon
the great is fallen, is fallen" (verse 2), and "_another voice_ from
heaven" says, "COME OUT OF HER, MY PEOPLE, that ye be not partakers of
her sins, and that ye _receive not of her plagues_" (verse 4).

That this symbolic picture represents a wonderful religious
reformation is almost too clear to need proof, for it succeeded
chronologically, and is placed in direct contrast with, the apostasy;
hence there can be but one logical conclusion, namely, that neither
Catholicism nor Protestantism is the last work and that God has
authorized a work that shall gather his true people out of the entire
babel of sect confusion. And that this movement is to be effected
before the end of time is also clearly shown. In the following
chapter, after describin