IV. IT REMAINS THAT I SPEAK OF THE CONSEQUENCES OF REFUSING TO COME OUT OF BABYLON

—God declares her downfall, and foretells her destruction in time to give all His people who may be in her, an opportunity to come out and escape; and then, as a mighty angel would cast a millstone into the sea, God will cast down Babylon, and she shall be found no more at all. And now many will begin to say, if I confess my belief in the personal reign of Christ, and that that reign is immediately to commence, I shall lose my reputation, my influence, my friends, my all that I value on earth. And has not Christ said that you must do this? Has he not positively declared “whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, cannot be my disciple?” Do you say, I did that years ago, and have been acquiring friends and reputation since, and did not expect to be called upon to lay these down? And because you have taken up the cross once, do you claim that that ought to be sufficient, and that it is too hard to do it for Christ a second time? Has not Christ said in Luke 9:23, “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow me?” Having once sacrificed all for Christ, have you now acquired something which is too dear to be given up for him? Is it not he that ENDURETH the cross, to the end, and that denies himself daily, that shall be saved? Do you begin to say, “I acquired this reputation for Christ, and hoped to use it for Him, and that it is now hard to part with it?” Very well, if you acquired it for Christ, then show your sincerity by being willing to sacrifice it for Christ when he calls. If you sought the birth of Isaac that God might be glorified in him, then be willing to offer Isaac on God’s altar, that God may be glorified the more. Remember, you can never glorify God in the use of that which you are unwilling God should take away. You will never use anything for God’s glory which you do not perfectly and continually hold at God’s disposal. It is not for you and me to say whether we will have reputation or not; but it is for us to say whether we will please God or not; and having done this, let the Lord decide what our reputation shall be. This he has decided already, that we shall have our names cast out as evil for his sake, and in this we ought ever to rejoice. Will you then, professed disciples of Jesus Christ, find the truth respecting the coming of the Lord, and hold it up, and leave the results with God? Friends will be tried and mortified, and feel themselves disgraced by you; your church will call you fanatical and foolish, thus to throw away your influence and curtail your usefulness; Satan will beset you with all manner of temptations, and a wicked world will laugh you to scorn; but can you not endure as much as this for Him who has endured ten thousand times more for you? Just remember then what must be the consequences of refusing to receive the truth and to abide by it. Babylon must be destroyed, and you with it. But, say a multitude of professed ministers and Christians, “I don’t expect to be damned just because I don’t believe in Millerism.” Now don’t let the devil cheat you out of heaven through your fears of bearing a single epithet of reproach. Does the Bible teach the personal coming of Christ to sit on David’s throne? Has the Spirit of Christ which was in the prophets, signified a time, when it spake before of the sufferings of Christ and of the glory that should follow? So Peter has taught.CHMP 21.1

If you dare believe God, find out his truth on this subject, and hold it up to the world. If you hate the appearing of Christ, if you are opposed to his reigning personally over the earth, after God has sworn that he shall, if you are afraid or ashamed to receive and avow the truth on these momentous subjects, then blame not me for saying you are Antichrist. I do not say how many Christians, or how few there are in professed Christendom, but I do say, that in their present attitude of opposition to the personal reign of Christ, they are Antichrist, and they must abandon their present position and embrace and defend the truth, or go down with Babylon, into the bottom of the sea, and rise no more at all to life. They can have no resurrection at all, but to damnation.CHMP 23.1

To be found at Christ’s appearing, as the numerous sects now are, in an attitude of hostility to His personal reign, ashamed to believe and confess whatCHMP 23.2

God has revealed as to the manner and time of his coming, must be their ruin. Say not in your heart, I have long been a servant of Christ, and therefore must be safe. He cannot be a faithful servant who for any reason hates his Lord’s return and wishes it deferred, nor can you see His face in peace, while fear, or shame, or love of reputation, or anything else, leads you to indulge in any opposition of heart to His immediate appearing.CHMP 24.1

Come out of Babylon or perish. If you are a Christian, stand for Christ, and hold out unto the end. I do not undertake to say how many in these professed Christian sects will be saved or lost, but I hesitate not to say that every individual among them, who is found a true child of God in the end, will cease his opposition to Christ’s personal reign, and be found at last faithfully defending the truth. Not one that is ever saved can remain in Babylon. Do not accuse me of a desire to cut you off from salvation. My only desire is to show you your danger, that I may induce you to hasten your escape; but take care I beseech you, that you do not cut yourself off by remaining in Babylon. Do you say, “I am willing that Christ should reign as he pleases?” Are you willing to embrace Christ and His truth, and so let your light shine as to meet and unshrinkingly bear the cross? The offence of the cross has not ceased in the case of those who will avow and defend God’s truth; though it must be confessed that in the popular religion of the day, there is no such thing as self denial; and this fact of itself proves that it is not the religion of Jesus. But cast off this ungodly world, carry out the religion of Jesus in all its principles, and from the Bible defend His personal coming in manner and time, His personal and eternal reign, and do your duty in seeking to induce others to prepare for it, and you will not be long in finding the cross. Thus may the Lord help you, reader, to come out of Babylon, and be no more a partaker of her sins, that you receive not of her plagues.CHMP 24.2