Ques. 28.-Does Scripture intimate that there will cease to be a corporate testimony to the truth of Christ and His Church before the Lord comes ?

Ans.-We know of no scripture that does, nor does it seem like our gracious God to provide for the utter failure of His people. On the other hand, there is much in Scripture to warn, and to keep us from a spirit of self-complacency. The manifest tendency of everything is away from the first love. The professing Church is drifting toward open apostasy, and the world is ripening fast for judgment. It is surely significant that Laodicea follows Philadelphia. This does not mean that Philadelphia is absolutely succeeded by Laodicea, but it does show the moral condition of things at the last, and the special need for lowliness, self-distrust, and faith. It is only the power of God that keeps us, but that, blessed be His name, is for us. It is as true now as ever that Christ is sufficient for His people. God is unchanged, His Word abides. What need then is there for further failure? Surely we are not straitened in Him, but in ourselves.

Let us then not be downcast, nor elated, but in all lowliness count upon the unfailing One. We do not believe it to be a healthy spiritual condition to expect failure, as surely it is not to be puffed up.