Beloved brethren and sisters in Christ,_the day of the apostasy is hastening on with rapid strides,
and also the day in which the Lord shall come to snatch His own away. The present moment is
of so solemn a character that I feel constrained to address you the word of exhortation. The time
has evidently arrived when one must speak plainly and decisively, and ask you where you are, and
what you are about. You have, by grace, been gathered out of the seething mass of idolatry and
wickedness which now threatens Christendom and the world with an overthrow more awful than
that of Sodom and Gomorrah of old; and the question is whether you are adequately impressed
with the responsibility, as well as the blessedness, of the ground you are on, and walking like men
and women whose eyes have been opened. Satan’s object is to withdraw your attention from
Christ, while you suppose you are on safe ground and have nothing to fear. He would destroy you
with the very truth itself. For, mark the subtlety, you are on safe ground, but only while Christ
is your all in all. Here is where he is drawing some away. Satan has his eye specially on you, for
the purpose of interposing the world in some form between your soul and Christ. It is not
necessarily by anything glaring that he seeks to ruin you, but in small and seemingly harmless
things_ things that would not shock or offend any one as things go, and yet these constitute the
deadly and insidious poison destined to ruin your testimony and withdraw you from Christ. Do
you ask what are these, alarming symptoms, and where are they seen? Brethren and sisters, you
are being infected with the spirit of the world. Your dress, your manner, your talk, your lack of
spirituality betray it. There is a dead weight, a restraint, a want of power, that reveals itself in the
meetings. A form of godliness is seen among you as plainly as in Christendom generally, but
without power. As surely as you tamper with the world, so surely will you drift away to its level.
This is in the nature of things. K you become engrossed with the world, the privileged place you
occupy, instead of shielding you, will only expose you to greater condemnation. It must be Christ
or the world.

Beloved, I am persuaded better things of you, and I have confidence in you in the Lord, that you
will bless Him for these few faithful words. Nothing can be more glorious than the position you
are called to occupy in these closing days. Saints have stood in the breach, have watched through
weary nights and days these nineteen hundred years, and you only wait for the trumpet of victory,
to go in and take possession of the glorious inheritance. Other men labored, and ye are entered
into their labors, and yet, forsooth, you are lowering your dignity to the level of the poor
potsherds of the earth.

Beloved, you belong to Christ, and Christ to you. Let not the betrothed one be unfaithful to her
Bridegroom! Why should you be robbed and spoiled? And for what? Empty husks and bitter
fruits, while you waste this little span of blessing! All the distinctions acquired here in the energy
of the Spirit, will but serve to enhance your beauty, and render you more lovely in the eyes of
Him who has espoused you to Himself.