rist died, and for whom he came especially
to preach."

The report of the Michigan Yearly Conference, even as long ago as 1851,
published in the True Wesleyan of Nov. 15, says: "The world, commercial,
political, and ecclesiastical are alike, and are together going in the
broad way that leads to death. Politics, commerce, and nominal religion,
all connive at sin, reciprocally aid each other, and unite to crush the
poor. Falsehood is unblushingly uttered in the forum and in the pulpit;
and _sins that would shock the moral sensibilities of the heathen, go
unrebuked in all the great denominations of our land_. These churches
are like the Jewish church when the Savior exclaimed, 'Woe unto you,
scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites.'"

Robert Atkins, in a sermon preached in London, says: "The truly
righteous are diminished from the earth, and no man layeth it to heart.
The professors of religion of the present day, in every church, are
lovers of the world, conformers to the world. Lovers of
creature-comfort, and aspirers after respectability. They are called to
_suffer_ with Christ, but they shrink even from reproach. Apostasy,
_apostasy_, APOSTASY, is engraven on the very front of every church; and
did they know it, and did they feel it, there might be hope; but alas!
they cry 'We are rich, and increased in goods, and stand in need of
nothing.'"

I have by no means exhausted the supply of similar testimonies of
Protestants now before me, but for lack of space I must conclude. In the
face of these amazing facts can any one deny that Protestantism is a
part of great Babylon and is in a fallen condition?

"The merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her
delicacies." A certain writer on this text has said: "Who take the lead
in all the extravagancies of the age? Church-members. Who load their
tables with the richest and choicest viands? Church-members. Who are
foremost in extravagance in dress, and all costly attire?
Church-members. Who are the very personification of pride and arrogance?
Church-members. Where shall we look for the very highest exhibition of
the luxury, even show, and pride of life, resulting from the vanity and
sin of the race? Answer, To a modern church-assembly on a pleasant
Sunday." Though this writer interpreted the text literally, yet he spoke
a vast amount of truth, as every one knows.

Consider, too, the wickedness carried on everywhere in sect Babylon
unrebuked, with the preache