Click here for current Page

- The End Time -

     I saw that a time of trouble was before us, when stern necessity will compel the people of God to live on bread and water, but I saw that God did not require His people to live so now. God commands that all who He has not especially called to labor in word and doctrine should labor with their hands in the things that are good, and supply their own necessities, and have wherewith to bestow upon others....But in the time of trouble none will labor with their hands. Their sufferings will be mental, and God will provide food for them.

     In the vision of John [in Revelation 7], four mighty angels were shown him as holding the four winds that they should not blow upon the earth until God's servants are sealed in their foreheads. When this work is done, then the ministers of vengeance are called and commanded to pour upon the earth tempests, thunders, pestilence, calamity.

     The crisis is just before us, when each will want all the strength and power from God that he can have in order to stand against the wiles of Satan, which will come in every conceivable form. Those who have allowed themselves to be [made] the sport of Satan's temptations will be unprepared then to take the right side....We need to live very close to Jesus in order to discern the precious from the spurious....

     Christ is soon to come. Will He find you ready and waiting? The bridal lamps must be kept trimmed and burning. His chariot wheels have been delayed because of His longsuffering to usward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance and have eternal life. When we shall stand with the redeemed upon the sea of glass, with the harps of God and crowns of glory, and before us unmeasured eternity, we shall then see how short was the waiting period of probation.

     The mystery is how did sin enter into our world? Just as soon as you can understand how sin came, then it will be proved that it is not sin. There is no excuse for sin. There is no sign of a reason for sin....

     The power that claims to have the right to change times and laws is the man of sin. But does he have [the power to] change times and laws? No, because God's law is written on the tables of stone, engraved there with His own finger, and are placed in the temple of God in heaven; and that great moral standard will be the criterion that will judge every being upon the face of the earth, both dead and living....

     When He [Christ] cometh the second time, it is not to wear the crown of thorns, it is not to have that old purple robe placed upon His divine form. The voices will not be raised, "Crucify Him! Crucify Him!" but there is a shout from the angelic host and from those who are waiting to receive Him, "Worthy, worthy is the Lamb that was slain"--a divine conqueror. In the place of the crown of thorns, He will wear the crown of glory. In the place of that old kingly robe that they put in mockery upon Him, He will wear a robe whiter that the whitest white. And those hands that were bruised with the cruel nails will shine like gold. His eyes are like a flame of fire to search creation through, and the righteous dead come forth from their graves and they that are alive and remain are caught up together with them to meet the Lord in the air, and so shall they ever be with the Lord. And they will listen to the voice of Jesus, sweeter than any music that ever fell on mortal ear, "Your warfare is accomplished. Come ye blessed of My Father, enter into the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the earth."...

     While nearly all the world is making void the law of Jehovah, He will have a people that will keep His law....He requires obedience from every one of us. All the false ideas that are held against God and His law, the people are willing to accept, but it is because the human mind chooses fables rather than the truth of God. They want an easier way than to resist evil and to be obedient to God's requirements....

     As Christ denied self and sacrificed at every step, so must we, if we would sit with Him upon His throne. And then what do we get?--everlasting life, an eternal weight of glory. The streets are all pure gold, like transparent glass; and there is the tree of life, whose leaves are for the healing of the nations. Everything is lovely. There is no sickness, no sorrow, no pain, no death there, but our life there will measure with the life of God.

     When the truth we now cherish was first seen to be Bible truth how very strange was the opposition we had to meet in presenting it to the people for the first time. But how earnest and sincere were the truth loving, truth obeying ones. We were indeed a peculiar people. We were few in numbers, without wealth, without worldly wisdom, or worldly honors; and yet we believed God, and were strong and successful, a terror to evil doers. Our love for one another was firm, it was not easily shaken. The people of God manifested in our midst, and the sick were healed, and there was much calm, sweet, holy joy.

     But while the light continued to increase, the advancement of the church has not been proportionate to the light. The fine gold has gradually become dim, and deadness and formality have come in to cripple the energies of the church. Their abundant privileges and opportunities have not led His people onward and upward to purity and holiness. A faithful improvement of the talents entrusted to them by God would have increased those talents greatly. Where much is given, much will be required. Those only who faithfully accept and appreciate the light God has given us, and who will take a high noble stand in self denial and self sacrifice will be channels of light to the world. Those who do not advance will retrograde, on the very borders of the heavenly Canaan.

     The eye of Jesus, looking down the ages, was fixed upon our time when He said, "If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace!" [Luke 19:42]. It is still thy day, Oh church of God, whom He has made the depositary of His law. This day of trust and probation is drawing to a close. The sun is fast westering. Can it be that it will set and thou wilt not know "the things which belong unto thy peace!" Must the irrevocable sentence be passed, "...but now they are hid from thine eyes" [Verse 42].

     The Word of God plainly declares that His law is to be scorned, trampled upon by the world. There will be an extraordinary prevalence of iniquity. The professed Christian world will form a confederacy with the man of sin, and the church and the world will be in corrupt harmony. Here the great crisis is coming upon the world. The Scriptures declare that popery is to regain its lost supremacy, and that the fires of persecution will be rekindled through the timeserving concessions of the so-called Protestant world. In this time of peril we can stand only as we have the truth and the power of God. Men can know the truth only by being themselves partakers of the divine nature. We have need now for more than human wisdom in reading and searching the Scriptures, and, if we come to God's Word with humble hearts, He will raise up a standard for us against the lawless elements....

     In the absence of persecution, there have drifted into our ranks men who appear sound and their Christianity unquestionable, but who, if persecution should arise, would go out from us. In the crisis they would see force in specious reasons that have had an influence on their minds. Satan has prepared various snares to meet varied minds.

     When the law of God is made void, the church will be sifted by fiery trials, and a larger proportion that we now anticipate will give heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils. Instead of being strengthened when brought into strait places, many prove that they are not living branches of the True Vine, they bear no fruit, and the husbandman taketh them away. But when the iniquitous powers work to make void the law of God, what will be the effect upon the truly obedient and righteous? Will they be carried away by the strong current of evil? Because so many range themselves under the banner of the prince of darkness, will God's commandment-keeping people swerve from their allegiance? Never! No one who is abiding in Christ will fail or fall. His followers will not bow in obedience to any earthly potentate.

     While the contempt placed upon God's commandments causes many to suppress the truth and show less reverence for it, the disrespect shown to the law of Jehovah causes the faithful ones with greater earnestness to hold aloft its distinguishing truths....

     There is the highest reason for us to prize the true Sabbath and stand in its defense in opposition to the false, for it is the sign which distinguishes the people of God from the world. The commandment that the world makes void is the one which, for this very reason, God's people will give greater honor. It is when the unbelieving cast contempt upon the Word of God that the faithful Calebs are called for. It is then that they will stand firm at the post of duty, without parade and without swerving because of the reproach....The Psalmist says, "They have made void Thy law. Therefore I love Thy commandments above gold; yea, above fine gold" [Psalms 119:126, 127].

     It is at this time that the true Sabbath must be brought before the people, both by pen and by voice. As the fourth commandment of the Decalogue and those who observe it are ignored and despised, the faithful few know that it is time not to hide their faces, but to exalt the law of Jehovah by unfurling the banner on which is inscribed the message of the third angel, "Here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus" [Revelation 14:12].

     Although the time will come when we can wage the war only at the risk of [losing] property and liberty, yet the conflict must be met in the spirit and meekness of Christ. The truth is to be maintained and advocated as it is in Jesus. Wealth, honor, comfort, homes, everything else is to be of secondary consideration. The truth must not be hid, it must not be denied or disguised, but fully avowed and boldly proclaimed....

     The Lord has permitted the enemy of truth to make a determined effort against the Sabbath of the fourth commandment. He designs by this means to awaken a decided interest in that question which is a test for the people who live in these last days. This will open the way for the third angel's message to be proclaimed with power....

     If in the land of boasted liberty a Protestant government is preparing to sacrifice every principle that enters into its constitution, making decrees to suppress religious liberty, and for the enforcing of papal falsehoods and delusions, then the people of God need to present their petitions in faith to the Most High. There is every encouragement in the promise of God for those who put their trust in Him.

     The prospect of being brought into personal danger and distress need not cause despondency, but should quicken the vigor and hopes of God's people, for the time of their peril is the season for God to grant them clearer manifestations of His power.

     We are not to sit in calm expectation of oppression and tribulation, and fold our hands, doing nothing to avert the evil. Let our united cries be sent up to heaven. Pray and work, and work and pray. But let none act rashly. Learn as never before that all who truly keep the commandments of God must be meek and lowly in heart....Sharp things must sometimes be spoken, but be sure that the Holy Spirit of God is abiding in your heart before you speak the clear-cut truth, then let it cut its way. You are not to do the cutting.

     There is to be no compromise with those who make void the law of God. It is not safe to rely upon them as counselors. Our testimony is not less decided now than formerly. Our real position is not to be cloaked in order to please the world's great men. They may desire us to unite with them and accept their plans, and may make propositions in regard to our course of action which may give the enemy an advantage over us....

     While we should not seek for controversy, and should not needlessly offend, we must present the truth clearly and decidedly and stand firm to what God has taught us in His Word. You are not to look to the world in order to learn what you shall write and publish, or what you shall speak. Let all your words and works testify, "We have not followed cunningly devised fables....We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place" [2 Peter 1:16].

     The Lord has allowed matters in our day come to a crisis, the exalting of error above truth, that He, the God of Israel, might work mightily for the greater elevation of His truth in proportion as error is exalted. With His eye upon the church, the Lord has again and again allowed matters to come to a crisis that in their extremity the people should look to God alone for His wisdom and His help. Their prayers, their faith, together with the steadfast promise to be true to principle and loyal to the Lord's holy commandments when brought into strait places, call for the interference of God, and then He has fulfilled His promise: "Then shalt thou call, and the Lord shall answer; thou shalt cry, and He shall say, Here I am" [Isaiah 58:9].

     God reserves His gracious interposition in their behalf till the time of their extremity. Thus He makes their deliverance more marked, and their victories more glorious. When all human wisdom fails, the Lord's interference will be more clearly recognized, and He will receive the glory that is His due. Even the enemies of our faith, persecutors, will perceive that God is working for His people in turning their captivity.

     When Christ shall come the second time, the whole world will be represented by two classes, the just and the unjust, the righteous and the unrighteous. Preceding the great sign of the coming of the Son of Man, there will be signs and wonders in the heavens....There will be crimes greater than any now on record. There will be weeping and lamentation and woe....

     Already sprinklings from the vials of God's wrath have been let fall upon land and sea, affecting the elements of the air. The cause of these unusual conditions are being searched for, but in vain.

     God has not restrained the powers of darkness from carrying forward their deadly work of vitiating the air, one of the sources of life and nutrition, with a deadly miasma. Not only is vegetable life affected, but man suffers from pestilence....

     These things are the result of drops from the vials of God's wrath being sprinkled on the earth, and are but faint representations of what will be in the near future. Earthquakes in various places have been felt but these disturbances have been very limited....Terrible shocks will come upon the earth, and the lordly palaces erected at great expense will certainly become heaps of ruins. The earth's crust will be rent by the outburst of the elements concealed in the bowels of the earth. These elements, once broken loose, will sweep away the treasures of those who for years have been adding to their wealth by securing large possessions at starvation prices from those in their employ. And the religious world too is to be terribly shaken, for the end of all things is at hand....

     All society is ranging into two great classes. The obedient and the disobedient. Among which class shall we be found?

     Those who keep God's commandments, those who live not by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God, compose the church of the living God. Those who choose to follow antichrist are subjects of the great apostate. Ranged under the banner of Satan, they break God's law, and lead others to break it....

     Satan is averting minds with unimportant questions, in order that they shall not with clear and distinct vision see matters of vast importance. The enemy is planning to ensnare the world.

     The so-called Christian world is to be the theater of great and decisive actions. Men in authority will enact laws controlling the conscience, after the example of the papacy. Babylon will make all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication. Every nation will be involved. Of this time John declares: "The merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies. And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues. For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities. Reward her even as she rewarded you, and double unto her double according to her works: in the cup which she hath filled to her double. How much she hath glorified herself, and lived deliciously, so much torment and sorrow give her: for she saith in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow" [Revelation 18:3-7].

     "These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast. These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for He is Lord of lords, and King of kings; and they that are with Him are called, and chosen and faithful" [Revelation 17:13, 14].

     "These have one mind." There will be one universal bond of union, one great harmony, a confederacy of Satan's forces. "And shall give their power and strength unto the beast." Thus is manifested the same arbitrary, oppressive power against religious liberty, freedom to worship God according to the dictates of conscience as was manifested by the papacy, when in the past it persecuted those who dared to refuse to conform with the religious rites and ceremonies of Romanism.

     In the warfare to be waged in the last days, there will be united in opposition to God's people, all the corrupt powers that have apostatized from allegiance to the law of Jehovah. In this warfare the Sabbath of the fourth commandment will be the great point at issue, for in the Sabbath commandment the great Lawgiver identifies Himself as the Creator of the heavens and the earth....

     In Revelation 13:13-17 we read concerning Satan: "And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men, and deceiveth them that dwell on the earth, by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by the sword, and did live. And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed. And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name."

     "And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion, and with him an hundred forty and four thousand, having his Father's name written in foreheads. And I heard a voice from heaven, as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of a great thunder: and I heard the voice of harpers harping with their harps: And as they sung as it were a new song before the throne, and before the four beasts, and the elders: and no man could learn that song but the hundred and forty and four thousand, which were redeemed from the earth. These are they which were not defiled with women; for they are virgins. These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. These were redeemed from among men, being the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb. And in their mouth was found no guile: for they are without fault before the throne of God" [Revelation 14:1-5].

     "And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet. For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty. Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame" [Revelation 16:13-15].

     All things in nature and in the world at large are charged with intense earnestness. Satan, in cooperation with his angels and with evil men, will put forth every effort to gain the victory and will appear to succeed. But from this conflict, truth and righteousness will come forth triumphant in victory. Those who have believed a lie will be defeated, for the days of apostasy will be ended.

     There will be no probation after the coming of the Lord. Those who say that there will [be] are deceived and misled. Before Christ comes, just such a state of things will exist as existed before the flood. After the Saviour appears in the clouds of heaven, no one will be given another chance to gain salvation. All will have made their decisions.

     Before the close of this world's history, those who are willing to accept the evidence will have the dark veil removed from their minds. Hearts will be cleansed through accepting Christ during the time that the whole world is lighted by the glory of the angel that comes down from heaven....

     The churches are fast being converted to the world. They have beautiful music and splendid decorations. But they are fruitless trees, bearing nothing but leaves. As the Lord unmasked the fig tree, so He will unmask those pretentious hypocrites....

     The time is right upon us when every kind of deception will be practiced. "Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing." They may speak fair words, but all the time they are watching to see how they can get gain for themselves. They are full of selfishness, and work at cross purposes with God, misappropriating His goods. "Ye shall know them by their fruits," the Saviour declares [Matthew 7:15, 16].

     The tyrant is seeking to oppress man's conscience, which Christ has made free. Persecution will come more definitely and decidedly upon the people of God, because the godly are seeking for uprightness and holiness and the disobedient are in sin. The sin-loving do not choose the way and will of God, and the obedient, in their character and course of action, are a constant rebuke to the sinful. When the truth finds access to the heart, it must fight every inch of the way....Then the collision comes. Then comes the warfare, and, if the heart has yielded to Jesus in obeying the commandments of God, there is a jealous contest, error rising up to condemn truth, and truth in its God-given principles setting strongly against error. This is the experience the world over. The only way in which men will be enabled to stand firm in the conflict is to be rooted and grounded in Christ. They must receive the truth as it is in Jesus....Our probation is about ended....

     As America, the land of religious liberty, shall unite with the papacy in forcing the consciences of men to honor the false sabbath, the people of every nation on the globe will be led to follow her example....

     The whole earth is to be lightened with the glory of God's truth. The Lord will not close up the period of probation until the warning shall be more distinctly proclaimed. The trumpet must give a certain sound. The law of god is to be magnified, its claims must be presented in their true, sacred character, that the people may be brought to decided for or against the truth. Yet the work will be cut short in righteousness. The message of Christ's righteousness is to sound from one end of the world to the other. This is the glory of God which closes the work of the third angel....

     You have long expected the wonderful startling events that are to take place just prior to the coming of the Son of man in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. Now I ask, are you prepared to give the trumpet a certain sound?...

     The Lord is coming. The scenes of this earth's history are fast closing, and our work is not done. We have been waiting in anxious expectancy for the cooperation of the human agency in advancing the work. All heaven, if I may use the expression, is impatiently waiting for men to cooperate with the divine agencies in working for the salvation of souls.

     As character develops, men and women will take their positions; for varied circumstances brought to bear upon them will cause them to reveal the spirit which prompts them to action. Everyone will reveal the character of the bundle with which he is binding himself. The wheat is being bound up for the heavenly garner....The true people of God are now pulling apart, and the tares are being bound in bundles to burn. Decided positions will be taken....

     Satan will work with his masterly power to separate the soul from God. We hear the different voices sounding from every quarter that our attention shall be taken from the true issue in this time. The end is near, and let there not be a confusion of voices to misguide and mislead some astray. To say, "Peace, peace," to these souls who have long resisted the voice of the True Shepherd, who have contended long against Omnipotence, is to quiet their consciences to [the] sleep of death. Will man in his pride forsake his own interests by cherishing thoughts or doing deeds opposed to the mind and spirit of God? God has been pleased to show me that men [who] ought to know the voice of the True Shepherd will be more ready to accept the voice of a stranger and follow in unsafe, forbidden paths because of the stubbornness of their human nature....

     Before the great trouble such as has never been since there was a nation shall come upon the world, those who have faltered, and who would ignorantly lead in unsafe paths, will reveal this before the real vital test, the last proving comes, so that whatsoever they may say will not be regarded as voicing the True Shepherd.

     Satan is at work from beneath to stir up the hellish powers of his confederacy against the just. He imbues human agencies with his own attributes. Efforts will be put forth by evil angels, united with evil men, to harass, persecute, and destroy, but the Lord God of Israel will not forsake those who trust in Him. Amid the strengthening of infidelity and apostasy, amid pretended illumination, which is the blindest presumption and delusion, there will be a light shining upon God's people from the sanctuary above. The truth of God will triumph....

     Every individual in our world will be arrayed under one of two banners--the chosen and loyal under the bloodstained banner of Prince Emmanuel, and all others under Satan's standard. All who are on Satan's side will unite with him in honoring the spurious sabbath, thus paying homage to the man of sin, who exalted himself above all that is called God, and who thought to change times and laws. They trample upon the laws of Jehovah and frame a law to compel all to worship the false sabbath, the idol they have exalted. But the day of deliverance to God's people is not far distant....

     He who stands in defense of the truth, will draw upon himself the dislike, the criticism, the decided opposition of relatives and professed friends. He will become the subject of ridicule. All opposition and persecution, whether in its mildest, or most terrible forms, is only the development of a principle that originated with the first great rebel in heaven. This work will continue as long as Satan exists.

     As we near the close of time, the opposing elements will work in the same lines in which they have worked in times past. Every soul will be tested. Under persecution it will be made manifest just what banner every individual has chosen to stand under. While sin remains, the offense of the cross will never cease. Satan has a thousand masked batteries which will be opened upon the loyal, commandment-keeping people of God to compel them to violate conscience. The followers of Christ must expect to encounter sneers. They will be reviled, their words and their faith will be misrepresented. Coldness and contempt may be harder to endure than martyrdom. With some persons it would require more courage to encounter a laugh than to be thrust through with a sword.

     But we must stand steadfastly for the truth, not returning railing for railing, but contrariwise, blessing. Parents will turn harshly against their children who accept unpopular truth. Those who conscientiously serve God will be accused of rebellion. Property that was willed to children or other relatives who believe the present truth will be given to other hands. Guardians will rob orphans and widows of their just dues. Those who depart from evil will make themselves a prey through laws enacted to compel the conscience. Men will take to themselves property to which they have no right. The words of the apostle will be verified in the near future: "All that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution" [2 Timothy 3:13].

     As we near the close of time, Satan comes down with great power, knowing that his time is short. Especially will his power be exercised upon the remnant. He will war against them, and seek to divide and scatter them, that they may grow weak and be overthrown. The people of God should move understandingly and should be united in their efforts. They should be of the same mind, of the same judgment; then their efforts will not be scattered, but will tell forcibly in the upbuilding of the cause of the present truth. Order must be observed, and there must be union in maintaining order, or Satan will take the advantage. I saw that the enemy would come in every way possible to dishearten the people of God and perplex and trouble them, and that they should move understandingly, and prepare themselves for the attacks of Satan.

     The powers of Satan to seduce and deceive are so strong, and his delusions of every kind so multitudinous that every watchman needs now to give the trumpet a certain sound. There must be now no deviating from the light that God gives at this present time. Light is constantly shining now upon many, and it is the very thing they need for this time....As the providence of God is certainly at work to bring the crisis, in the closing scenes of this earth's history, there will be a power, the office work of the Holy Spirit, stirring the hearts of the men...to unflinchingly stand at their posts of duty as a unit. "Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and the power of His might" [Ephesians 6:10]. This has been always applicable to God's people in every age of the world, but how much more so to the remnant church who have to meet the constant and most powerful masterly workings of the power of darkness for this last time. The words of the apostle come sounding down the lines to this time. "Put on the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places" [Verses 11, 12].

     These words inspired of God are appropriate for us. The inspired apostle continues, "Wherefore," in consideration of the warfare against, "not flesh and blood," but Satanic agencies, disguised, "take unto you the whole armor of God." Make your guide the word. "Take" it. The whole armor which is furnished you in the Scriptures is all prepared for you to take. "Wherefore take unto you the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all to stand. Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth" [Verses 13, 14]. Fiction, spurious interpretations of the scriptures, dishes of fables, are everywhere presented for your acceptance. But great discernment is needed that the girdle should be the golden chain of truth, "and having on the breast-plate of righteousness" [Verse 14], not your own but the righteousness of Christ. This is the fortress of the soul. We may with Christ's righteousness going before us, withstand the moral darkness, and penetrate the devices of the satanic agencies. "And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace" [Verse 15]. The inconsistencies, the unreasonable workings of the human agents stirred with a power from beneath, will create in those who reverence God a holy indignation to see the truth of God brought into contempt, and its advocates misrepresented and clothed in garments of darkness, false charges. Then is the very time the Holy Spirit is to take possession of the human mind, and it be made to appear that Christ is formed within, the hope of glory. While the living human agents are being moved with a power from beneath and the satanic agencies seem to have full control (almost) of the world, acting a conspicuous part just before the second appearing of our Lord to take kingdom and possess the kingdom forever and ever, the two classes which are formed to enact the solemnities of the last day will be distinguished as the commandment-keeping people of God, and the commandment breakers who are inspired by the devil and his angels. The appearance is as if the infernal government had been transferred from hell to earth. The Lord Jesus will open the eyes of all who have been walking in the light that they shall not be deceived with the pretentious spirit of those who claim great sanctity and say, "Lord, Lord," while they stubbornly refuse to do the will of God. Christ repeated the princely titles of Satan as one perfectly familiar with his workings and usurped authority. Christ gave the warning to be heeded, and pointed to Satan's thrones, principalities and powers, and spiritual wickedness in high places.

     The professed Christian world is under Satan's sway. Christ calls the prince of this kingdom Satan, Beelzebub, a liar, a murdered from the beginning, the wicked and evil one who is constantly working with the unholy and disobedient to trample upon the laws of Jehovah....The rebellious chieftain signalized himself as having authority to establish laws entirely contrary to the laws of Jehovah, the living and only true God, the supreme Ruler in heaven and in earth. When this deceiving power is accepted in the place of light plainly given in God's word, Satan stands as their ruler. The daring leader in rebellion is given by human agencies the preeminence above God, and the prince of darkness is acknowledged as their supreme authority. The number of his angels we cannot conjecture, but his field is the world and he multiplies himself through his agencies over his whole field, the world, concurring in and actively instigating the clergy to be his efficient workers in making of none effect the law of God, of tearing down His memorial the insignia of His honor and His supremacy. There is no lack of satanic agencies.

     Every soul who will now evade through sophistry, the plain "Thus saith the Lord," and misinterpret and evade the plainest conclusions of the written inspired Word, will become instruments to tempt and coerce, and stirred with a satanic spirit purpose to afflict and oppress and compel the human agents to dishonor God's law, and accept and advocate Satan's legislation and revere his enactments with a zeal proportionate to their blinding delusions....The world is asleep. The watchmen are asleep crying peace and safety, in the place of laboring with energy and searching the Scriptures diligently to know what all this wickedness means, that is swelling to such fearful proportions. They say to the wicked who are trampling upon the law of God, It shall be well with you. Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily the hearts of the sons of men are fully set in them to do evil. In place of being softened by the long-suffering of God, and His long patience, they are encouraged by His forbearance to further resistance, flattering themselves in their sinfulness and impenitence that He that has not awakened His wrath against them to curse their wicked inventions will spare a little longer, and they may be ambitious and persistently follow in their own way, with nothing to interpose or to molest them in their inventions, and at some future time they will repent.

     How can we make them consider that there are limits to the forbearance of God, and that it is possible for them to pass the limit of the forbearance of God, as did Judas and Saul? God allows nations a certain period of probation; but there is a point they can reach and can pass, and then iniquity accumulated will receive not mercy, not longer forbearance, but an outbreak of the indignation of God, and be visited with punishment unmixed with mercy. God will arise in mighty power, and show, though slow in anger, He will not acquit the wicked. The wickedness of each generation is not forgotten. Each century of increased profligacy has treasured up wrath, and Christ said unto those who resisted all His mercy, all the blessings He presented to them, addressing the rejecters of His salvation, "Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers" [Matthew 23:32], for the blood of all the prophets which had been shed from the foundation of the world should be required of the nation He addressed. They had the beacon warning in the jealousies, in the hatred, in the despising of warning and messages sent to them and God's punishment came upon them for their cruelty, and notwithstanding all this, those who separated from God repeated the history of their fathers, and thus it is in our day.

     We have proof that God keeps a reckoning with nations, that there is a sum total of guilt, that although it is beyond the power of human minds to define the amount of God allows not to pass, but when the point of transgression is fully reached, when the law of God is made void, God takes account of the dishonor put upon His government, and He charges one generation with the crimes of the preceding generations, if they follow in the same evil course. Your light is constantly increasing.

     What can I say that will affect the soul? What can I say that will arouse our people to serious contemplation and true devotion?

     The world is soon to be left by the angel of mercy and the seven last plagues are to be poured out. Sin, shame, sorrow, and darkness are on every side. God still holds out to men the precious privilege of exchanging darkness for light, error for truth, sin for righteousness, but His patience and mercy will not always wait. The storm is gathering; the bolts of God's wrath are soon to fall, and, when He shall begin to punish transgressors, there will be no period of respite until the end. He shall come forth "to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity: the earth also shall disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her slain" [Isaiah 26:21]. Only those will stand who are sanctified through the truth in the love of God. They will be hid with Christ in God until the desolation shall be overpast.

     We are in no case to swerve from our allegiance [to God]. No duties that God presents before us will cause us to work at cross purposes with Him. The word of God is to be our counselor. The word of finite man is fallible....

     Henceforth in our day, the nations are to be in a very uncertain state. Kings and rulers will be involved in greater perplexities than they ever thought possible, and this is because they are disobedient to the word of the Lord and work entirely contrary to His principles. The question now comes home to all who have their Bible: "Are we prepared to follow the Word of God?" "Whosoever will come after Me," said Christ, "Let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me" [Mark 8:34].

     You cannot depend upon priest, rulers, human lawmakers, for, as in Christ's day they teach for doctrines the commandments of men. They know not the Scriptures nor the power of God. Man-made theories are placed above a plain "Thus saith the Lord." But the searching of the soul has come: Are we obedient to the law of God? Will every soul look up in faith and answer to God, as did Elisha, "As the Lord liveth...I will not leave thee" [2 Kings 2:2].--Whatever may come--persecution, reproach, falsehood, or anything that shall arise,--we will not leave the source of our strength. We are to be proved and tried as in a furnace. Those who endure to the end will be saved. If our religious faith is spurious, it is of no manner of value.

     "But all the congregation bade stone them with stones. And the glory of the Lord appeared in the tabernacle of the congregation before all the children of Israel. And the Lord said unto Moses, How long will this people provoke me? and how long will it be ere they believe me, for all the signs which I have shewed among them? I will smite them with the pestilence, and disinherit them, and will make of thee a greater nation and mightier than they" [Numbers 14:10-12].

     We have here a positive evidence that the anger of the Lord is awakened against the rebellious people--those who had been blessed with great light and precious opportunities to know the will of God....

     If the people of God had walked in His counsel, the work of God would have advanced, the message of truth would have been borne to all people that dwell on the face of the whole earth. Had the people of God believed Him and been doers of His Word, had they kept His commandments, the angel would not have come flying through heaven with the message to the four angels...crying, "Hold, hold the four winds, that they blow not upon the earth, until we have sealed the servants of God in their foreheads" [Revelation 7:13]. But because the people are disobedient, unthankful, unholy, as were ancient Israel, time is prolonged that all may hear the last message of mercy proclaimed with a loud voice. The Lord's work has been hindered, the sealing time delayed. But the Lord will give them a chance to hear and be converted.

     We are living in a very solemn period of this earth's history. Then, how appropriate for this time that we watch unto prayer. In prayer for our oppressed ones who will feel the opposition and test and trial of persecution the most severely, we shall find comfort and consolation. We are to keep the lamp of faith burning brightly. We are to watch for opportunities for doing good to those who are called [upon] to suffer, for our afflicted brethren will need our words of consolation, of courage and hope.

     Men trample underfoot God's law and say to the people, as the Jews said to Christ, "We have a law, and by our law He ought to die" [John 19:7]. Over and over this will be repeated in the courts. Christ tells us that in the world we shall have tribulation, but that in Him we shall have peace.

     Those who live in the last days of this world's history will know what it means to be persecuted for the truth's sake. Injustice will prevail in the courts. The judges will refuse to listen to the reasons of those who are loyal and true to the commandments of God, and will say, "We have a law, and by our law he ought to die." God's law is nothing to them; "our law" with them is supreme. Those who respect this human law will be favored, but those who will not bow to the idol sabbath have no favors shown them. Those by whom they are tried utterly refuse to listen to their reasons, because they know that [the Sabbath-keepers'] arguments in favor of the fourth commandment are unanswerable. All that is brought against the validity of the forth commandment is of human invention....

     The Lord has not left the world without witness. He has His loyal, chosen people. They do not make this world their home, but they are here, to witness for God, and, as long as probation lasts, a living witness will be borne by these faithful messengers. Satan and his angels confederate with men who yield to temptation against God's remnant people, the champions of righteousness. They strive to counteract their testimony and to destroy them....

     Many, because of their faith, will be cut off from house and heritage here, but they may still be filled with joy, if they will give their hearts to Christ.

     The people [Israelites] were sluggish and selfish. The Lord did not call them "my people" [at the time of the second temple] because they had not shown themselves willing in the day of their opportunity. They had not obeyed promptly the word of the Lord. They made pleas for delay. They tried to present a reason why they should delay. They were ingenious in framing excuses. They had begun, but they were broken off in their work because of the hindrance of their enemies. This, they reasoned, proved that it was not the proper time to build. They declared that the Lord had interposed difficulties to reprove their hot haste. But they had no real excuse for leaving the work. When the heaviest objections were raised, this was the time to build. Their real motive was a selfish dislike to go to extra trouble and expense, and encounter danger by arousing the opposition of their enemies. They did not possess that faith that is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things unseen. They did not want to move by faith, but to walk out by sight, and no further. Therefore they were easily turned aside from the work. This history will be repeated. There will be religious failures because men have not faith. When they look at the things that are seen, impossibilities present themselves, but God knows nothing of impossibilities. The great work of God will advance only by the push of faith....

     He [God] will be present help to all who will serve Him in preference to serving themselves. When the Lord sees that there is a heart to do His will, His people will know of the doctrine. He will be with them. The presence of God includes everything, we have a sure refuge, a never failing friend....

     My attention has been called to the last books of the Old Testament. I was directed to bid the people of God take heed how they hear and what they do. These scriptures make special reference to the last days, when Bible history will be unfolded. There are brought to our notice those who are not walking in the way of the Lord, but are following deceptive leadings. From the word, we are to learn the will of God, for the guidance of our own course of action in these last days. Let your minds take in the subject. Read and consider and be instructed....

     "But they refused to hearken, and pulled away the shoulder, and stopped their ears, that they should not hear. Yea, they made their hearts as an adamant stone, lest they should hear the law, and the words which the Lord of hosts hath sent in his spirit by the former prophets; therefore came a great wrath from the Lord of hosts. Therefore it is come to pass, that as he cried, and they would not hear; so they cried, and I would not hear, saith the Lord of hosts: But I scattered them with a whirlwind among all the nations whom they knew not. Thus the land was desolate after them, that no man passed through nor returned: for they laid the pleasant land desolate" [Zechariah 7:11-14].

     These words are very impressive. The Lord calls upon dew and rain and the varied agencies of nature, and they obey His call to be used either in blessing or in judgment. They are under His conduct....God calls for famine and plague and pestilence, for calamities by sea and by land to punish the inhabitants of the earth in wasting or destruction or in mercies and blessings.

     How striking is the contrast between the things of nature, the material agencies, and the tardy inattention and slothful disobedience of men, those for whom Christ has died. Saith the Lord....I will send on all that is yours a wasting drought. This reaches not only the fruit of the ground, but the living creatures. The cattle must suffer because of the sins of men.

     The present time will bring dangers which we must individually be prepared to meet. The Lord has a work which is above the world's seeking. To those who have not the mind of Christ, the features of our faith and our work, the great object to be accomplished, is far above their comprehension and unseen. But we are not to come down from our position of ever remaining people distinct and peculiar from the world. Our vocation is high, holy, and elevated. Our faith, if appreciated, will keep all true believers from political strife. We are to work for the spiritual recovery of mankind to God, to bring them under His theocracy. Then only are we a safe people....

     The fires of the last day will consume many souls who might have been saved if the church had but comprehended her sacred responsibilities.

     Peculiar and rapid changes will soon take place, and if the church is not asleep, if the followers of Christ watch and pray, they may have light to comprehend and appreciate the movements of the enemy.

     It is the glory of God to be merciful, full of forbearance, kindness, goodness, and truth. But the justice shown in punishing the sinner for his iniquity is as verily the glory of the Lord as is the manifestation of His mercy....

     The Lord has sent us, by His ambassadors, messages of warning, declaring that the end of all things is at hand. Some will listen to these warnings, but the vast majority will disregard the warnings. When Lot warned the members of his family of the destruction of Sodom, they would not heed his words, but looked upon him as a fanatical enthusiast. The destruction that came found them unprepared. This it will be when Christ comes--farmers, merchants, lawyers, tradesmen, will be wholly engrossed in business, and upon them the day of the Lord will come as a snare....

     God works through His faithful servants, who do not shun to declare the whole truth in the power of the Spirit....God's messengers are to hold aloft the standard of truth until the hand is palsied in death. When they sleep in death, the places that once knew them know them no more. The churches in which they preached, the places they visited to hold forth the word of life still remain. The mountains, the hills, the things seen by mortal vision, are still there. All these things must at last pass away. The time is coming when the earth shall reel to and fro, and shall be removed like a cottage, but the thoughts, the purposes, the acts of God's workers, although now unseen, will appear at the great day of final retribution and reward. Things now forgotten will then appear as witnesses, either to approve or to condemn.

     In the day of Judgment, the course of the man who has retained the frailty and imperfection of humanity will not be vindicated. For him there will be no place in heaven. He could not enjoy the perfection of the saints in light. He who has not sufficient faith in Christ to believe that He can keep him from sinning, has not the faith that will give him an entrance into the kingdom of God....

     At this time the message of mercy and warning is to go forth to awaken the world from its sleep of death. A work is to be done today that will live through the eternal ages. As watchmen entrusted with a special message, we are to keep before the people the nearness of the end. "Wherefore we labor, that, whether present or absent, we may be accepted of Him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that everyone may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad" [2 Cor. 5:9, 10].

     The fast-fulfilling signs of the times declare that the great day of the Lord is right upon us. In that day, shall it be said of any of us, "This man was called by God, but he would not hear; he would not give heed? Again and again the Spirit moved upon his heart, but he said, 'Go thy way for this time; and when I have a convenient season, I will call for thee' [Acts 24:25]. This man saw the Saviour's sacrifice in a beautiful light, but some matter of minor importance came in, and his heart was captivated. When the Spirit spoke again, the call was not respected. Every gracious, heavenly influence was dismissed."

     Divisions will constantly arise. Unholy principles will be brought to the front. All classes will be called to take their stand on one side or the other. Christ says of one class, "Let them alone." Men who have so long trampled upon the rights of God, who have accepted the idol sabbath, will accept very strong and unreasonable beliefs.

     The Lord is not in the alliances that are being formed with political movements. They are bound to bring confusion and great entanglement....The loyal and disloyal have no equal ground on which to meet.

     At the eleventh hour the Lord will gather a company out of the world to serve Him. There will be a converted ministry. Those who have had privileges and opportunities to become intelligent in regard to the truth, and yet who continue to counterwork the work, God would have accomplished, will be purged out, for God accepts the service of no man whose interest is divided. He accepts the whole heart, or none...The world and unconverted church members are in sympathy.

     "And I saw in the right hand of Him that sat on the throne a book written within and on the back side, sealed with seven seals. And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, Who is worthy to open the book, and to loose the seals thereof? And no man in heaven, nor in earth, neither under the earth was able to open the book, neither to look thereon" [Revelation 5:1-3].

     There in His open hand lay the book, the roll of the history of God's providences, the prophetic history of nations and the church. Herein was contained the divine utterances, His authority, His commandments, His laws, the whole symbolic counsel of the Eternal, and the history of all ruling powers in the nations. In symbolic language was contained in that roll the influence of every nation, tongue, and people from the beginning of earth's history to its close.

     This roll was written within and without. John says: "I wept much, because no man was found worthy to open and to read the book, neither to look thereon" [Verse 4]. The vision as presented to John made its impression upon his mind. The destiny of every nation was contained in that book. John was so distressed at the utter inability of any human being or angelic intelligence to read the words, or even to look thereon, his soul was wrought up to such a point of agony and suspense, that one of the strong angels had compassion on him, and laying his hand on him assuringly, said, "Weep not behold, the Lion of the tribe of Juda, the Root of David, hath prevailed to open the book, and loose the seven seals thereof" [Verse 5].

     John continues: "I beheld, and lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth. And He came and took the book out of the right hand of Him that sat upon the throne" [Verses 6, 7].

     As the book was unrolled, all who looked upon it were filled with awe. There were no blanks in the book. There was space for no more writing. "And when He had taken the book, the four beasts and four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having every one of them harps, and golden vials full of odors, which are the prayers of the saints. And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for Thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by Thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation. And has made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth. And behold, and I heard the voice of many angels round about the throne and the beasts and the elders: and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands; Saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honor, and glory, and blessing. And every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing, and honor, and glory, and power, be unto Him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever. And the four beasts said, Amen. And the four and twenty elders fell down and worshipped Him that liveth for ever and ever" [verses 8-14].

     "And I looked, and behold a pale horse and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed him. And power was given unto him over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with the sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth. And when He had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held: And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost Thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth? And white robes were given unto every one of them; and it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellow-servants also and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled" [Revelation 6:8-11].

     "And when He had opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour. And I saw the seven angels which stood before God; and to them were given seven trumpets. And another angel came and stood at the altar, having a golden censer; and there was given unto him much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne. And the smoke of the incense, which came with the prayers of the saints, ascended up before God out of the angel's hand" [Rev. 8:1-4].

     I have a word of warning to my brethren: "He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. And the angel of the church in Philadelphia write; These things saith he that is holy, he that is true, he that hath the key of David, he that openeth, and no man shutteth; I know thy works: behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it: for thou hast a little strength, and hast kept my word, and hast not denied my name. Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie; behold, I will make them to come and worship before thy feet, and to know that I have loved thee. Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth. Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown" [Revelation 3:6-11].

     The same spirit is seen today that is represented in Revelation 6:6-8. History is to be reenacted. That which has been will be again. This spirit works to confuse and to perplex. Dissension will be seen in every nation, kindred, tongue, and people, and those who have not had a spirit to follow the light that God has given through His living oracles, through His appointed agencies, will become confused. Their judgment will reveal weakness. Disorder and strife and confusion will be seen in the church.

     The same spirit that controls the nations of the earth is working upon the minds of those who have had light. As the children of disobedience, irrespective of consequences, they act like the blind. They are drunken, but not with strong drink....

     We have this matter placed in the heavenly scales and weighed, and the result is presented before us. All this ambitious exercising of the spirit to exalt self will surely be worked by satanic agencies until the persons, whatever the profession, will reveal hereditary and cultivated attributes that will place them in the very lowest scale; and when God shall weigh them in the golden scales of the heavenly sanctuary, the sentence will be passed, thou art "weighed in the balances, and found wanting."

     Today men may persecute even unto death in an effort to make their fellowmen worship an idol sabbath which had been brought into existence by the man of sin, who thinks to change times and laws. But to torture and put to death the body is all they can do....Under his direction men have inflicted untold pain and misery on their fellowmen. But they have never been able to harm the soul....The ruler of the universe bears long with the perversity of men, but He keeps a record of their works, and in proportion as they have caused pain to others, they will themselves be punished....

     A spirit of exasperation, of revenge, of hatred, works in the children of disobedience, as it worked in the first great rebel. He imbues his followers with every species of malignity against those who cannot be induced to join his ranks. Gaping prisons are opened before them. They are threatened with the chain gang and the stocks. Thus men treat those who worship God according to the dictates of their own conscience. Have they forgotten that as they judge and punish, so will they be judged and punished?

     God has said, "Touch not mine anointed, and do My prophets no harm" [1 Chronicles 16:22]. Men have borne false witness against God's chosen ones. They have bruised their limbs with fetters and burnt them at the stake. The Lord will avenge his children. As men have carried out the spirit and purposes of Satan in causing pain to human beings, so will they suffer. Thus will they perish who have done all in their power to compel men to transgress the law which God has commanded all to obey.

     Christ forewarned His disciples of the destruction of Jerusalem and the signs to take place prior to the coming of the Son of man. The whole of the twenty-fourth chapter of Matthew is a prophecy concerning the events to precede this event, and the destruction of Jerusalem is used to typify the last great destruction of the world by fire.

     As invisible agencies, angels are working through human beings to proclaim the commandments of God. Angels have far more to do with the human family than many suppose. Speaking of the angels: "Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?" [Hebrews 1:14].

     Holy angels will join in the song of the redeemed. Though they cannot sing from experience, "He hath washed us in His own blood, and redeemed us unto God," yet they understand the great peril from which the people of God have been saved. Were they not sent to lift up for them a standard against the enemy? They can fully sympathize with the glowing ecstasy of those who have overcome by the blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony.

     John writes, "I beheld, and I heard the voice of many angels round about the throne" [Revelation 5:11]. Angels were united in the work of Him who had broken the seals and taken the book. Four mighty angels hold back the powers of this earth till the servants of God are sealed in their foreheads. The nations of the world are eager for conflict, but they are held in check by the angels. When this restraining power is removed, there will come a time of trouble and anguish. Deadly instruments of warfare will be invented. Vessels with their living cargo will be entombed in the great deep. All who have not the spirit of truth will unite under the leadership of satanic agencies. But they are to be kept under control till the time shall come for the great battle of Armageddon.

     Angels are belting the world, refusing Satan his claim to supremacy, made because of the vast multitude of his adherents. We hear not their voices, we see not with the natural sight the work of these angels, but their hands are linked about the world, and with sleepless vigilance they are keeping the armies of Satan at bay till the sealing of God's people shall be accomplished.

     The ministers of Jehovah, angels, have skill and power and great strength, being commissioned to go forth from heaven to earth to minister to His people. They are given the work of keeping back the raging power of him who has come down like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. The Lord is a refuge for all who put their trust in Him. He bids them hide in Him for a little moment, until the indignation be overpast. He is soon to come out of His place to punish the world for its iniquity. Then the earth shall disclose her blood and shall no more cover her slain [see Isaiah 26:21].

     It is a soul-periling sin to desecrate that which God has made holy. Satan has managed by his subtlety...to manage the matter [so] that God's memorial is made a thing of naught. The invention of the papacy has become supreme. He has worked to make the churches and the world a unit in transgression. Sunday observance is made an oppressive power in the hands of those who are under the control of the enemy, for, when Satan gets control of men's minds, it means oppression and compulsion.

     Never was there a period of time when I have felt more deeply the necessity of decidedly carrying the work of the gospel ministry in its own elevated, sacred character than today. Every kind of voice is heard: "Christ is here," and "Christ is there;" "Christ is in the wilderness," and "Christ is in the cities." We may open our ears to every call, if we will, but Christ has told us, "Go not ye after them, nor heed them."

     We have our work outlined in the prophetic word, and we will not be diverted from God's way and methods of bringing the truth before the world. Satan will set everything possible in operation to divert the work into wrong lines. The reason for this is that it shall, under the devising of human methods and human inventions, lose its peculiar, holy, select character to represent its efficiency and power to our world--the order and sanctification and elevated character of those who shall compose the chosen, commandment-keeping people of God.

     Satan would so commingle the righteous with the wicked that the distinction will be so indistinct as not to have the sign of God's commandment-keeping people appear as God distinguishing sign of the sanctification of the spirit in true humility and holiness. "To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them" [Isaiah 8:20]....

     We have the truth, which in its proclamation is to bring the crisis for this world's history. The observance of the Lord's memorial, the Sabbath instituted in Eden, the seventh-day Sabbath, is the test of our loyalty to God. Those who bring in, as there will be brought in, lords many and gods many, so that there is no distinct recognition of acknowledged loyalty to the Lord God, cannot have His mark, His seal of obedience.

     Often God's workers are opposed in the place where they labor, and thus their usefulness is hindered. They may have done their best in all wisdom. They have sown good and precious seed. But the opposing elements become fiercer and more discouraging, and it may be wise for them to go to another place, for even though some are convinced of the truth, they are intimidated by the opposition. They have not the courage to acknowledge that their reason is convicted.

     Let the messengers of truth pass on to another field. Here there may be a more favorable class of people, and may successfully accomplish the work of sowing and reaping. The report of their success will find its way to the place where God's work was apparently unsuccessful, and the next messenger of truth who goes there will be more favorably received. The seed sown in trial and discouragement will be seen to have life and vitality. First will appear the blade, then the ear, then the full corn in the ear.

     The rejection of the truth of the gospel by some prepares the way for its reception by others, who can see the weakness and inconsistency of the arguments used to make the truth of none effect. Thus those who oppose the counsel of God are by their inconsistency advancing the truth rather than hindering it. One thing we must be prepared to encounter: the enemy's determined resistance. He works through human agencies whom he can use to hold the people in ignorance of the word of the Lord.

     In some places where the opposition is very pronounced, the lives of God's messengers may be endangered. It is then their privilege to follow the example of their Master and go to another place. "Ye shall not have gone over the cities of Israel," Christ said, "till the son of man be come" [Matthew 10:23]....

     Those in the world, having lost their connection with God, are making desperate, insane efforts to make centers of themselves. This causes distrust of one another, which is followed by crime. The kingdoms of this world will be divided against themselves. Fewer and fewer will become the sympathetic cords which bind men in brotherhood to his fellow man. The natural egotism of the human heart will be worked upon by Satan. He will use the uncontrolled wills and violent passions which were never brought under control of God's will.

     This man wants his own way; the next man wants his own way. Every man's hand will be against his fellowman's. Brother will rise against brother, sister against sister, parents against children, and children against parents. All will be in confusion. Relatives will betray one another. There will be secret plotting to destroy life. Destruction, misery, and death will be seen on every hand. Men will follow the unrestrained bent of their hereditary and cultivated tendency to evil....This is the world picture. What is the representation in the church? "This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, Without natural affection, truce-breakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away" [2 Timothy 3:1-5].

     God has a store of retributive judgments which He permits to fall upon these who have continued in sin in the face of great light. I have seen the most costly structures erected, and supposed to be fireproof, and just as Sodom perished in the flames of God's vengeance, so will these proud structures become ashes. I have seen vessels, seeking to breast the angry billows. But with all their treasures of gold and silver, and with their human freight they sink into a watery grave. Man's pride will be buried with the treasures he has accumulated by fraud. God will avenge the widow and orphans who in hunger and nakedness have cried to Him for help from oppression and abuse. And the Lord keeps a record of every action of good or evil.

     The time is right upon us when there will be sorrow in the world that no human balm can heal. The flattering monuments of men's greatness will be crumbled in the dust, even before the last great destruction comes upon the world.

     The words of Revelation 18 will be fulfilled. Is not this description enough to cause all who read it to fear and tremble? But those who do not love the light, who will not come to the light lest their deeds be reproved, will not follow on to know the Lord. By their attitude they say, I want not thy way, Lord; I want my own way....

     In the twenty first chapter of Luke, Christ foretold what was to come upon Jerusalem; with it he connected the scenes which were to take place in the history of the world just prior to the coming of the Son of Man in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory....Let all remember that these words were among the last Christ gave his disciples....In these sacred, solemn warnings the danger signal is lifted. It is this instruction that church members and the people of the world need; for it is present truth.

     The Lord has much more for those who will use the knowledge He shall give. The Lord will give understanding to many minds. No man, after receiving knowledge from God, is to put a price upon that knowledge, and so bind the movements of his fellowmen that he [alone] will receive benefits.

     We need to be wide awake, that we may distinguish between the true and the false. Movements will be made by religious organizations which, though apparently designed to benefit the world, are not in accordance with God's mind. In these movements we are to take no part. Many will give them their sympathy, thereby becoming entangled....

     Many will agree to half-concealed plans and will find themselves working on the enemy's side. The Lord desires His servants to be wise in regard to the working of the enemy, to know when to speak and when to keep silent....In all that we do or say we are to be guided by the inspired Record. "Thus saith the Lord" is to be our rule of action. That which God forbids we are not to endorse. The instruction of His word is to be brought into every transaction of life....

     The Lord desires those who take part in His work to be men of spiritual understanding, sensible men, who will follow his way and make known His will. Their voices are to be heard amid the din and confusion of unconsecration. Those in the synagogue of Satan will profess to be converted and, unless God's servants have keen eyesight, they will not discern the working of the power of darkness.

     The signs of the times--the wars and rumors of wars, the strikes, murders, robberies, and accidents--tell us that the end of all things is at hand. God's Word declares, "As the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be. For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered the ark, And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be" [Matthew 24:37-39].

     How true a description this is of the condition of the world today. The daily papers are full of notices of marriage after divorce--the marriage condemned in the words of the Saviour,--full of accounts of amusements and games, of pugilistic contests in which human beings main and disfigure one another to exhibit their brutal strength.

     Under their great leader, Lucifer, men are educating themselves to represent him. Who can doubt the truth of the prophets words, "The wicked shall do wickedly: and none of the wicked shall understand" [Daniel 12:10]. There is an awful development of moral degeneracy. Under the guidance of Satan, men have lost their horror for bloodshed and murder....

     It is not only human agencies filled with the spirit of Satan that are arrayed against God. Satan himself stands at the head of his army, striving with all his power to perfect the force over which he rules, that he may wreak his vengeance on God's people. Knowing that his times is short, he has come down with great power, to work against all that is good. He fills the minds of his instrumentalities with hatred against God and with an intense desire for revenge. In the Scriptures he is represented as walking up and down as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.

     The inhabitants of the world have largely given themselves into Satan's control. He acts as the god of this earth. Human beings, wholly given over to evil, cooperate with him in his conspiracies, helping him to carry out his plans against the government of God....

     Among the people of God there is to be no dissension, no controversy, no warfare against one another. The forces of righteousness are to be a unit in their conflict with evil. All the strength of God's people is to be directed against the forces of the enemy. The will of every child of God is to be placed on the side of God's will. Satan's strong efforts against God's agencies, show the need of union and harmony among the forces of righteousness.

     A terrible contest is before us. We are nearing the battle of the great day of God Almighty. That which has been held in control is to be let loose. The angel of mercy is folding her wings, preparing to step down from the golden throne and leave the world to the control of Satan, the king they have chosen, a murderer and a destroyer from the beginning.

     The principalities and powers of earth are in bitter revolt against the God of heaven. They are filled with hatred against all who serve Him; and soon, very soon, is to be fought the last great battle between good and evil. The earth is to be the battlefield, the scene of the final contest and the final victory. Here, where for so long Satan has led men against God, rebellion is to be forever suppressed....

     God's people are to bear a bold, decided testimony for the truth, unfolding the purposes of God by the witness of pen and voice. In place after place they are to proclaim the message of God's word, arousing men and women to comprehend the truth.

     The whole of the third chapter of Zechariah was portrayed before me. The words were repeated: "And He shewed me Joshua the high priest standing before the Angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at his right hand to resist him. And the Lord said unto Satan, The Lord rebuke thee, O Satan; even the Lord that hath chosen Jerusalem rebuke thee: is not this a brand plucked out of the fire?" [Zechariah 3:1, 2]....

     After Satan leads men into wrong positions, he stands at the right hand of the Angel as the adversary of man, to resist every effort made to save the purchase of the blood of the Lamb of God. The devil persecutes those whom he has caused to sin. He is the accuser of the brethren. Day and night he accuses them before God. This is his special work.

     A perversion of right principles is a transgression of God's Law. Those who in their actions pervert the grand principles of His holy law, are under condemnation; for the righteousness of Christ cannot cover one unconfessed sin. The law has been lightly regarded. "Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil" [Ecclesiastes 8:14]. We must obey God's law, if we are to be loyal to Him and accepted by Him.

     The first step toward obedience is to examine ourselves in the light of the law, thus discovering the penalty of transgression. Those of God's people who do not purify their souls by coming into clearer and still clearer light are a reproach to His glorious cause. Too often those who should remain true and faithful to principle are obnoxious to God, because in His justice He cannot endure the sins that they cherish--sins that not only lead them into false paths, but cause others also to be led astray.

     Carefully reread these two verses: "And He shewed me Joshua the high priest standing before the Angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at his right hand to resist him. And the Lord said unto Satan, The Lord rebuke thee, O Satan; even the Lord that hath chosen Jerusalem rebuke thee: is not this a brand plucked out of the fire?" He (Joshua) was a representative of an imperfect, sinful people, those who had become contaminated with sin. Satan accused Joshua of being a criminal. What, then, is the only hope of the people of God in their defections of Christian character?--their only hope is reconversion, repentance toward God, and faith in our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, who is made unto us righteousness and sanctification. In heaven Joshua was accounted as a justified sinner....

     Joshua was accused as a sinner, but Jesus Christ, the Sin-bearer, the Substitute for the offender, to whom all types point, cannot be thus accused. He is the one who takes away the sin of the repentant, believing transgressor. How sad it is that human agencies, by their loss of spirituality, make it possible for Satan to accuse them of being unworthy!

     The Word of God declares that when it suits the enemy's purpose, he will through his agencies manifest so great power under a pretense of Christianity that, "if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect" [Matthew 24:24]. The enemy is revealed in persons whom he has given power to work miracles. He creates sorrow and suffering and disease. Seeming to change his attributes, he apparently heals those whom he himself has tormented....

     Deceptions of every kind will be invented. So-called higher critics will set their ingenious minds to work in an attempt to invalidate the Word of God. But there is a Higher Critic, greater than any human mind....

     Zechariah pictures the elect of God, showing their allegiance to His holy law in a time of unrivaled depravity, when by pen and by voice the so-called Protestant world show marked contempt for the law of God, revealing by their actions that they have decided not to recognize His standard as the rule of life.

     Men are fast becoming imbued with an intense hatred of even hearing the law mentioned. They are fast approaching the bounds set by a long-suffering God. Soon the limits of His grace will be reached. Then He will interfere, vindicating His own name and before all the world magnifying His law as holy, just, and good, as unchangeable as His own character.

     The eye of the Lord is upon His people. They will suffer for the truth's sake. Not always have they been firm and true to principle. Some have erected idols and served them. This has separated them from God....

     Those who honor God and keep His commandments are subject to the accusations of Satan. The enemy works with all his energy to lead persons into sin. Then he pleads that on account of their past sins, he should be allowed to exercise his hellish cruelty on them as his own subjects. Of this work Zechariah has written: "And He showed me Joshua the high priest (a representative of the people who keep the commandments of God) standing before the angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at his right hand to resist him" [Zechariah 3:1].

     Christ is our High Priest. Satan stands before Him night and day as an accuser of the brethren. With his masterly power he presents every objectionable feature of character as sufficient reason for the withdrawal of Christ's protecting power, thus allowing him to discourage and destroy those whom he has caused to sin. But Christ has made atonement for every sinner.

     Can we by faith hear our Advocate saying, "The Lord rebuke thee, O Satan; even the Lord that hath chosen Jerusalem rebuke thee: is not this a brand plucked out of the fire?

     "Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments" [Verses 2, 3]. Thus sinners appear before the enemy who by his masterly, deceptive power has led them away from allegiance to God. With garments of sin and shame the enemy clothes those who have been overpowered by his temptations, and then he declares that it is unfair for Christ to be their Light, their Defender.

     But, poor, repentant mortals, hear the words of Jesus, and believe as you hear: "And He answered and spake unto those that stood before Him saying, Take away the filthy garments from him." I will blot out his transgressions. I will cover his sins. I will impute to him My righteousness. "And unto him He said, Behold, I have caused thine iniquity to pass from thee, and I will clothe thee with change of raiment" [Verse 4].

     The filthy garments are removed, for Christ says, "I have caused thine iniquity to pass from thee." The iniquity is transferred to the innocent, the pure, the holy Son of God; and man, all undeserving, stands before the Lord cleansed from all unrighteousness, and clothed with the imputed righteousness of Christ. Oh, what a change of raiment is this!

     And Christ does more than this for them: "And I said, Let them set a fair mitre upon his head. So they set a fair mitre upon his head, and clothed him with garments. And the angel of the Lord stood by. And the angel of the Lord protested unto Joshua, saying, Thus saith the lord of hosts; If thou wilt walk in My ways, and if thou wilt keep My charge, then thou shalt also keep My courts, and I will give thee places to walk among these that stand by" [Verses 5-7].

     This is the honor that God will bestow on those who are clothed with the garments of Christ's righteousness. With such encouragement as this, how can men continue in sin? How can they grieve the heart of Christ?...

     Two classes have ever been before the world, the obedient and the disobedient, the genuine and the counterfeit. Amid all the temptations and deceptions of Satan, let everyone remain loyal to all of God's commandments. Then Christ will restore in man the moral image of God, and will finish the work He has begun in the plan of redemption, presenting man before God clothed in His righteousness.

     Transgression is developing in a most marked manner. We shall meet those who have received light and evidence, but who in their perversity reject all that does not harmonize with their own plans, persisting in their determination to follow their own way. They refuse to receive good themselves, and do all in their power to lead others to regard with indifference the word of the Lord....Men learned in the wisdom of the world may think they can explain the mysteries of the world, but in the explanation of the mysteries of the gospel, babes and children in Christ are far in advance of them. Unlearned and ignorant men are chosen by the Lord as teachers, because He sees that they are willing to learn as well as teach....

     The truth is to be placed before the great men of this world, that they may choose between it and the world. God is not the author of their ignorance. He sets everlasting truth before them,--truth that will make them wise unto salvation,--but He does not force them to accept it. If they turn from it, He leaves them to themselves, to be filled with the fruit of their own doings.

     The wicked are being bound up in bundles, bound up in trusts, in unions, in confederacies. Let us have nothing to do with these organizations. God is our Ruler, our Governor, and He calls us to come out from the world and be separate. "Come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing" [1 Corinthians 6:17]. If we refuse to do this, if we continue to link up with the world, and to look at every matter from a worldly standpoint, we shall become like the world. When worldly policy and worldly ideas govern our transactions, we cannot stand on the high and holy platform of eternal truth....

     There is before us a mighty conflict. God calls upon His people to stand firm upon the platform of eternal truth. He calls upon them to stand in oneness, in unity; and He promises that He will be with us, to help us by His mighty power. We may lose our lives in the conflict, but at the last day we shall receive a crown of life, that fadeth not away.

     One thing is certain: Those Seventh-day Adventists who take their stand under Satan's banner will first give up their faith in the warnings and reproofs contained in the Testimonies of God's Spirit....

     Some who are now voicing Satan's suggestions will come to their senses. There are those in important positions of trust who do not understand the truth for this time. To them the message must be given. If they receive it, Christ will accept them, and will make them workers together with Him. But if they refuse to hear the message, they will take their stand under the black banner of the prince of darkness.

     The people of God need to study what characters they must form in order to pass through the test and proving of the last days. Many are living in spiritual weakness and backsliding. They know not what they believe. Let us read and study the twelfth chapter of Daniel. It is a warning that we shall all need to understand before the time of the end. There are ministers claiming to believe the truth who are not sanctified through the truth. Unless a change comes in their lives, they will say, "My Lord delayeth His coming."...

     The signs of the times are fulfilling in our world, yet the churches generally are represented as slumbering. Shall we not take warning from the experience of the foolish virgins, who when the call came, "Behold the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him" [Matthew 25:6], found that they had no oil in their lamps? And while they went to buy oil, the bridegroom went in to the marriage supper with the wise virgins, and the door was shut. When the foolish virgins reached the banqueting hall, they received an unexpected denial. The master of the feast declared, "I know you not" [Verse 12]. They were left standing without in the empty street, in the blackness of the night.

     The enemy works untiringly to deceive human beings and lead them away from God. He and his angels will in the future assume the shape of human beings and will work to make the truth of God of no effect....

     In these last days the representation made in the twelfth chapter of Revelation will be fulfilled. Satan will carry on the great conflict that he began in heaven, of which we read, "And there was