* * * I trust there may be no questioning of what was once so plain to many as a path of duty. I am a little afraid of some being unsettled by looking too much to the present condition of gatherings, instead of the fact of God's having a further work of chastening to accomplish, which we have deserved and must bow to. If there is disappointment because God does not use us more than He does, may it not be that we are thinking more of our faithfulness than of our guilt as to the evils we have separated from? If we look at our present low condition and murmur in our tents, shall we not be likely soon to question our position? If Satan can unsettle, he will. There are some who talk much about the want of power in the gatherings, having a standard of their own as to what power is, forgetting that God's presence is power, whether it be to break down or to build up.
[1867.]