Correspondence

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14. “J. Η.,” Fernihurst. The “Forty Days of Scripture” by F. G. P., is not printed in a separate form. The Lord alone be praised for the use He is pleased to make of this little magazine in isolated places. We look to Him to give food in it for the whole flock of God; and we especially wish those who read it to pass it on to others. In this way tracts and magazines are greatly used of God.
Then, again, the apostasy and manifestation of the wicked one also precedes the day of the Lord. So that the judgments on this earth, during the full apostasy of nominal Christianity, and the period of Antichrist, whilst they are preliminary judgments, yet they are not properly the day of the Lord. (Joel 2:1, 2; 3:141Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain: let all the inhabitants of the land tremble: for the day of the Lord cometh, for it is nigh at hand; 2A day of darkness and of gloominess, a day of clouds and of thick darkness, as the morning spread upon the mountains: a great people and a strong; there hath not been ever the like, neither shall be any more after it, even to the years of many generations. (Joel 2:1‑2)
14Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision: for the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision. (Joel 3:14).) These prophecies describe the introductory judgments. “The day of the Lord cometh, for it is nigh at hand.” “For the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision.” (Mal. 4:11For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch. (Malachi 4:1).) “For behold the day cometh.” Again, “Howl ye, for the day of the Lord is at hand; it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty.” (Isa. 13:6-116Howl ye; for the day of the Lord is at hand; it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty. 7Therefore shall all hands be faint, and every man's heart shall melt: 8And they shall be afraid: pangs and sorrows shall take hold of them; they shall be in pain as a woman that travaileth: they shall be amazed one at another; their faces shall be as flames. 9Behold, the day of the Lord cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it. 10For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light: the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine. 11And I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible. (Isaiah 13:6‑11).) “The great day of the Lord is near.” (Zeph. 1:14-1814The great day of the Lord is near, it is near, and hasteth greatly, even the voice of the day of the Lord: the mighty man shall cry there bitterly. 15That day is a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a day of wasteness and desolation, a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness, 16A day of the trumpet and alarm against the fenced cities, and against the high towers. 17And I will bring distress upon men, that they shall walk like blind men, because they have sinned against the Lord: and their blood shall be poured out as dust, and their flesh as the dung. 18Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of the Lord's wrath; but the whole land shall be devoured by the fire of his jealousy: for he shall make even a speedy riddance of all them that dwell in the land. (Zephaniah 1:14‑18).) Thus the day of grace may be said to close when the Lord takes His saints, and judgments begin. And no doubt those judgments will be intensified when the abomination of desolation is set up. Indeed, then will be the time of tribulation, such as never was, and never shall be again. Yet it is immediately after this tribulation that the Lord Jesus comes in judgment; and that coming commences the day of the Lord. Terrible to a Christ-rejecting world; but how blessed for those who, having now believed, shall be manifested with Him.
We hesitate to answer your other question as to discipline. It is most important, in these last days, to avoid caviling on such questions, and to walk in the fear of the Lord. Where this is the case, according to Matt. 18:2020For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them. (Matthew 18:20), there will be the sovereign guidance of the Lord by the Holy Ghost. You might ask, Is it right for an individual believer to think that he cannot err, or make a mistake? Surely it would be blind presumption to say he was infallible. But is that any reason why he should not walk in the fear of the Lord, and firm dependence on the Holy Ghost? Is it not the same as to an assembly? If they give up humble, yet firm, dependence on the Lord in their midst, what have they in His place? The Lord teach us more of His blessed ways. We are deeply convinced there is no remedy for caviling and division but owning the presence of the Lord, when met together to consider cases of difficulty and discipline, and that in the fear of the Lord. And, no doubt, all who are walking in the same spirit will own at once the decision of such an assembly as of the Lord.