e skies."
Jer. 51:8, 9. Babylon can never be healed. She will not be healed. She is
irredeemable. Destruction is her doom. "Forsake her and let us go every
one into his own country."

Hear the lamentation of the children of God in their captivity in Babylon:
"By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept, when we
remembered Zion. We hanged our harps upon the willows, in the midst
thereof. For there they that carried us away captive required of us a
song; and they that wasted us required of us mirth, saying, Sing us one of
the songs of Zion. How shall we sing the Lord's song in a strange land?"
Psa. 137:1-4.

Perishing souls in sectism would love to serve God better, but in their
captivity they can not sing the songs of praise and glory.

Babylon.

By thy dark deceptive waters,
Sighing, moaning, troubled sea,
Captives sing their songs of sorrow,
Hoping, longing to be free.

Who shall sing the songs of Zion
On thy banks, O raging sea?
The voice of bridegroom and the bride
Is heard no more at all in thee.

Golden days are gone forever,
Days now dark and dreary be;
Harps untuned and silent ever,
Silent by the moaning sea.

Sadly weeping stands the willow
On thy shore, O surging sea;
'Neath its shade my steps shall never,
Never, never more shall be.

"Zion" is a metaphor, signifying "Jerusalem, which is from above," or the
church of God. It is the home of the saints, where they are cared for by
the Lord. As the ancient literal city of Babylon typifies the great
spiritual Babylon, so the literal city of Jerusalem typifies the spiritual
Jerusalem or Zion or church of God. God does not want his people joined
unto a sect and under the laws and creeds and authority of man. He wants
the full care of them. However, many of God's children, through ignorance,
have been induced to seek a home in Babylon. Here they have been taken
captive. In this evening time God is leading them back to Zion. "The
ransomed of the Lord shall return and come to Zion with songs and
everlasting joy upon their heads." Isa. 35:10. The songs of Zion are not
to be sung in the barren land of Babylon. Babylon has gone into Zion and
captured God's devoted children, but God will be avenged. "And I will
render unto Babylon and to all the inhabitants of Chaldea all their evil
that they have done in Zion in your sight, saith the Lord." Jer. 51:24.

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