The day of the apostasy is hastening on with rapid strides, and so is the day in which the Lord shall come to catch His own away.
Godly men everywhere, who watch the signs of the times, see the moment approaching which shall terminate the present actings of grace. One feels constrained to speak plainly, asking you where you are and what you are about. You have, by grace, which has shone brighter and brighter as it has approached its termination, been gathered out of the seething mass of idolatry and wickedness which [is fast overtaking] Christendom and the world. Now the question is whether you are adequately impressed with the responsibility and blessedness of the ground you are on and walking like men and women whose eyes have been opened.
There has never been in the world’s history such a time as the present, and Satan is occupied with none as he is with you. His occupation with you is the more to be feared, because of the subtlety of his operations.
His object is to withdraw your attention from Christ, while you suppose you are on safe ground. It is true, you are on safe ground—but only while Christ is your all in all. Here is where Satan is drawing some away. Interpose anything between your soul and Christ and Philadelphia becomes Laodicea; your safe ground is as unsafe as the rest of Christendom; your strength is gone, and you are become weak.
Again I say, Satan has his eye especially upon you for the purpose of interposing the world in some form between your soul and Christ. He cares not how little or in what form. If you knew but how little will answer his purpose, you would be alarmed.
It is not by that which is gross or shameful—such is the development, not the beginning, of evil—nor is it by anything glaring that he seeks to ruin you, but in small and seemingly harmless trifles—trifles that would not shock nor offend anyone, yet constitute the deadly and insidious poison, destined to ruin your testimony and withdraw you from Christ.
Brethren, Christendom is being infected with the spirit of the world—its dress, manners, talk and lack of spirituality betray it in every gathering. There is a dead weight, a restraint, a want of power, that reveals itself in the meetings, as plainly as if the heart were visibly displayed and its thoughts publicly read.
A form of godliness without power is in Christendom generally. As surely as you tamper with the world, so surely will you drift away to its level. If you tamper 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. It cannot be Christ and the world. Remember, you take the place and claim the privilege of one whose eyes have been opened, and if on the one hand this is unspeakably blessed (and it is), on the other hand it is the most responsible position in which a human being can be found.
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 days and nights these nineteen hundred years—and now we only wait for the trumpet of victory to go in and take possession of the glorious inheritance.
Awake, then, from lethargy—slumber no longer. Put away idols and false gods and go to Bethel, where you will find God to be better than ever you knew Him. Let your prayers mingle with those of other saints at the prayer meetings; they never were more needed. Neglect no opportunity of gathering up instructions from the Word which alone can keep us from the paths of the destroyer, and let your life be the evidence of the treasures you gather up publicly in assembly or in secret with the Lord.
He could have taken the world without the cross and left you out, but He would not. Now will you, having been enriched by those agonies and that blood, take the world into your tolerance and leave Him out? Impossible! Your pure mind needs but to be stirred up by way of remembrance. Let us therefore take courage from this very moment forward. Then we shall not be ashamed before Him at His coming.
The Remembrancer (circa 1900; adapted)