“_Flee out of the midst of Babylon, and deliver every man his soul: be not cut off in her iniquity_; for this is the time of the Lord’s vengeance; He will render unto her a recompense.” Jer. 51:6. 5. What did ancient Babylon do to all the nations? “Babylon hath been a golden cup in the Lord’s hand, that _made all the earth drunken_: the nations have drunken of her _wine_; therefore the nations are _mad_.” Verse 7. 6. What was the effect of this apostasy? “Babylon is _suddenly fallen and destroyed_: howl for her; take balm for her pain, if so be she may be healed.” Verse 8. 7. Just before the fall of Babylon, what did her king do? “Belshazzar the king _made a great feast_ to a thousand of his lords, and _drank wine_ before the thousand.” Dan. 5:1. 8. By what command did the king repudiate the religion taught in Babylon by Daniel and others who feared God? “Belshazzar, whiles he tasted the wine, commanded to bring the golden and silver vessels which his father Nebuchadnezzar had taken out of the temple which was in Jerusalem; that the king, and his princes, his wives, and his concubines, might drink therein.” Verse 2. 9. What marked the climax of Babylon’s apostasy? “Then they brought the golden vessels that were taken out of the temple of the house of God which was at Jerusalem; and the king, and his princes, his wives, and his concubines, drank in them.” Verse 3. 10. While drinking the wine, what gods did they honor? “They drank wine, and _praised the gods of gold, and of silver, of brass, of iron, of wood, and of stone_.” Verse 4. 11. What immediately followed this complete apostasy? “In that night was Belshazzar the king of the Chaldeans slain. And Darius the Median took the kingdom, being about threescore and two years old.” Verses 30, 31. NOTE.—The gospel of the kingdom was preached in Babylon (see reading on “The Gospel of the Kingdom,” page 209), and Nebuchadnezzar was brought to acknowledge and to worship the true God. But after the death of Nebuchadnezzar, Babylon relapsed into idolatry again, and this apostasy was rendered hopeless when Belshazzar used the sacred vessels from the house of God, dedicated to the worship of God, in which to drink the wine of Babylon while worship was offered to the false gods. Then came the handwriting on the wall, and the fall of ancient Babylon. 12. In the visions of John, what interpretation is given to the woman who sat upon many waters? “And the woman which thou sawest _is that great city_, which reigneth over the kings of the earth.” Rev. 17:18. NOTE.—The great city which reigned over the kings of the earth in John’s time was Rome, and that city has given its name to the church which is represented by the woman, the Church of Rome, or the Papacy. 13. In this same prophecy, how is the Church of Rome, the Papacy, designated as the antitype of ancient Babylon?