"Behold, I come quickly:hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown " (Rev, 3 :11).

The exhortation to the assembly in Philadelphia has surely a special voice to us in the closing days of this dispensation, which each of us does well to heed.

Throughout the entire history of the people of God on earth there has always been some testimony for God, whatever the general departure from God and His truth may have been. Those to whom God has committed such testimony, though not possessing at any two periods the same measure of truth, may safely be said to bear the same characteristics. :In the first place, their position has never been popular. This is inevitable, and we may be sure that no faithful position can be taken which would find applause from the mass. Again, if a position has ever been taken in faithfulness to^God and His word apart from the mass, contempt and dislike have not been disguised. The reason is not far to seek, and the Lord's people need expect nothing else, for God's truth has never been popular, and when maintained in power serves as a mirror to discover the defects among those to whom it is presented; and this, of course, is what the religious world likes least.

It is no wonder therefore if such as bear faithful witness become a special target, and every personal defect and shortcoming in them is used to damage what cannot be controverted. Alas, that God's true witnesses should have any failings! All this is not new. Nehemiah had to meet the Sanballats and Tobiahs of his day. In the apostle Paul's day, defamers who felt the keen edge of truth found material even in this, " His bodily presence is weak and his speech contemptible."

Then, to look at the obverse side. God has always used men after His own mind-not the world's- to bring out the special truth needed at the moment, not for a popular movement, but that those who had ears to hear might hear, using thus His chosen men at all times to be His channels of communication and encouragement:and since Scripture was closed, using them simply to unfold its contents and give its present application.

There is another aspect we need to consider, and that is, the ever-recurring tendency to religious pride, and resulting therefrom repeated failure, and as a further consequence unfaithfulness to the testimony.

This is easily traced from the earliest days of the Church's history, and we have only to read Scripture to see that the most precious truth is that which has always been the first sacrificed.

Early in the nineteenth century, God graciously revived out of the mass of corruption truths long lost sight of, and testimony was borne to the heavenly character of the Church; the Person, presence, and power of the Holy Spirit; the all-sufficiency of the Lord Jesus as the Head and Center of His people, and truths connected with His personal return. These blessed truths revolutionized the lives of many, and separated them from all that was inconsistent with the " Holy and the True." As we well know, all that might be viewed as contrary to the Word was laid aside, and many in various places were drawn together in one common desire to honor God and His word. But privilege must ever bring corresponding responsibility, and whatever God in His grace has at any time entrusted to His people has surely entailed responsibility. This we must recognize, or lose the little light we enjoy through grace.

No one can estimate the privilege and blessing of being linked with those who seek (in weakness though it be) to keep His word and not deny His Name. At the same time, let us not deceive ourselves by thinking that in taking a certain ecclesiastical position we are practically answering to the truth. Nothing but disaster can result from a position taken where faith is not in exercise. The "mixed multitude" (i Cor. 10) was Israel's undoing. Outwardly they were with the company, but in heart they were still in Egypt, and unprepared for the exercise which their separate place entailed. Let us remember, these things "are written for our admonition upon whom the ends of the world are come" (ver. n). There is a word which seems fast to be slipping out of our vocabulary, and yet its importance cannot be exaggerated, for it is what God has, again and again, insisted upon as incumbent upon His people. It is:Separation from all that He hates. This need not be enlarged upon; it is what we readily admit as to Old Testament saints; but do we sufficiently enter into the fact that the power of our testimony can only be in proportion to the reality of our separation-not outwardly, simply, but in heart. We are called to walk here as He walked, and we well know His path was one of entire separation to God-outside all that was inconsistent with His holiness. Let us compare our practice with God's principles, that we may discover our failure and learn the dangers to which we are exposed.

There can never be a day, while the Church is here, when it will be impossible to answer to God's revealed mind; however broken the condition of things may be, our privilege and responsibility is to walk apart from what is dishonoring to the Lord. In seeking to walk here in the simplicity of the truth and gathering alone to the name of the Lord, the position taken is necessarily condemnatory of that which has separated us. And while necessarily occupying a small circle, and needing to keep a large heart (remembering we are, with all fellow-believers, members of one Body), yet if we are to be true to the place taken, there can be no alliance or association with what our position necessarily condemns. Christ is the touchstone for every saint; and it is only as He gets His place in our hearts and fills our spiritual vision that there can be true separation to Himself and from what is contrary to His name.

There are doubtless many attracted by the freedom from the trammels of organization, and the helpful ministry of truth, who have come in with those thus gathering; but messtheLordHimself is the object that has drawn them, the position taken will as easily be given up. The epistle to the Hebrews (which above all others contrasts Judaism and Christianity, and insists on separation to God from all that is inconsistent with God fully made known) contains the significant exhortation, "Let us go forth therefore unto him without the camp, bearing His reproach" (Heb. 13:13). It may be pleaded that "the camp " was Judaism, and that the Scripture cannot apply to us. As to its strict application, this is true; but has this Scripture no voice to us ? It surely has; for if " the camp" was that religious order of things set up by God on earth, and the Hebrew believers were exhorted to separate from it, what shall be said of that order of things in Christendom which man has set up, which has no foundation in the word of God ?

Faithfulness to the Lord and fidelity to the Word necessitates an outside position from what bears the stamp of human organization to the practical denial of the presence of the Holy Spirit; and it must be admitted that it is incumbent upon us individually to maintain the same character of separation as confessedly has been taken by those we company with. Hence, is it consistent for me to identify myself in any way with religious institutions or associations that are contrary to Scripture? If those with whom I fellowship refuse those who hold, teach, or are associated with, doctrines that are evil, and perhaps derogatory to the Person of the Lord Jesus, can it be pleasing to the Lord for me as an individual to connect myself or co-operate with such in the work of the Lord? Such questions need only to be asked to receive a negative answer. To be true to the truth must surely be our desire ; and in the darkness and confusion of these evil days, increased devotion and separation to the Lord is called for. It is a wondrous favor to be here in testimony for the Lord where all is characterized by departure from the truth. For us, as well as for Timothy, is this word:"Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are His. and, Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity. But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver, but also of wood and of earth; some to honor, and some to dishonor. If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honor, sanctified, and meet for the master's use, and prepared unto every good work" (2 Tim. 2:19-21). J. W. H. N.

For lack of space "Answers to Correspondents" have to be left for next month.