Now then Babylon is gone down, when all these things shall be fulfilled.  And what remains now but to talk of her as folk use to do of them that are dead; for the day will come, that the church of God shall have no more of antichrist, Babylon, or the mother of harlots, than only the remembrance of her; that there was such an enemy of God in the world; that there was such a superstitious, idolatrous, bloody people in the world.  Wherefore, the people, that shall be born, that shall live to serve God in these happy days, shall see antichrist only in its ruins; they shall, like the sparrows, the little robins, and the wren, sit and sing, and chirp one to another, while their eyes behold this dead hawk.  Here, shall they say, did once the lion dwell; and there once a dragon inhabited:  here did they live that were the murderers of the saints; and there another that did use to set his throat against the heavens:  but now in the places where these ravenous creatures lay, grows grass, with reeds and rushes; now their habitation is cursed; nettles grow, and so do thorns and brambles, where their palaces were wont to be.

A day is coming when antichrist shall be unknown; not seen nor felt by the church of God.  There are men to be born who shall not know antichrist, but as they read in the word that such a thing has been.  These shall talk of her as Israel’s children’s children were to talk of Pharaoh—­of his cruelty, of his tasks, of his pride, of the Red sea, and how he was drowned there.  They shall talk of them as of those that have been long dead; as of those who, for their horrible wickedness, are laid in the pit’s mouth.  This will be some of that sweet chat that the saints shall at their spare hours have, in time to come.

There will he a strange alteration when antichrist is dead; and that both in the church and in the world.  The church and the members of it then shall wear the name of their God in their foreheads; that is, they shall be bold in the profession of their King and God, yea, it shall be their glory to be godly, and carnal men shall praise them for it; the praise of the whole earth shall the church of God be in those days.  Now the world shall return and discern, between the righteous and the wicked; yea, they shall cleave to and countenance the people of God, being persuaded, as Laban was of Jacob, that the Lord will bless them for his people’s sake.

Now will he broken up those prophecies and promises that to this day lie as under lock and key, and that cannot be opened until they be fulfilled.  Now the church of God shall read with great plainness the depths of providence, and the turnings and windings of all God’s dark and intricate dispensations, through which she hath waded in the cloudy and dark day:  now, I say, they shall see there was a harmony in them, and that, if one of them had been wanting, the work and way of her deliverance could not have been so full of the wisdom and justice and goodness of God.  Wherefore now will that song be sung with clearer notes than ever:  “Great and marvellous are thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints.  Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name? for thou only art holy:  for all nations shall come and worship before thee; for thy judgments are made manifest;”