In Rev. 14: 6-10 we have the three great messages of the reformation of the evening time. Included in these is, "The everlasting gospel shall be preached to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people." A careful study of the seventh chapter of Daniel will show that after the reign of the " little horn " and the consumption of apostate religion by the burning judgments of truth restored in the pure church in this evening time, "the kingdom and dominion, and tile greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High" (Dan. 7: 27). This certainly teaches the spread of the gospel to all nations in the last days. We trust that erelong the vessels that plow the seas will carry hundreds of blood washed saints with the message of salvation to all people.

"The watch fires kindle far and near;
In every land let them appear'
Till burning lights of gospel fire
Shall gird the world and mount up higher."

" We will gird the globe with salvation,
With holiness unto the Lord,
Until light shall illumine every nation,
The light from the lamp of his Word. "

  This is the time when the gospel shall reach all nations and many of the heathen shall be saved.

  Before closing this chapter I wish to consider a few points that to the minds of some may seem like a contradiction of the truths contained in this chapter and in the one following. First, the fact that we are living in the time when the whole world shall hear the gospel and Christianity shall become universal, does not prove that all men will be saved. At the very time when Christianity spread over the Roman empire and supplanted paganism, and hundreds of thousands were saved through the gospel, wickedness and sin continued on every side. So in the last days not all men will be saved, but "evil men will wax worse and worse." Daniel gives us a picture of the world at the time of the end: " Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried; but the wicked shall do wickedly and none of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand." Dan. 12: 9, 10. So let it be understood that when the Bible says that people from all the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord as a result of the pure gospel's being preached to all nations, it does not mean that the majority will be saved, but it simply teaches that "many" of all nations will turn to Christ and be saved; that is, wherever the saving gospel is carried, some will be saved, though few compared with those who will be lost.

  There are a number of texts that teach a state of wickedness at the revelation of Christ from heaven. Matt. 24: 11, 12, is generally applied to the time immediately before Christ's coming. A careful reading of the texts and contexts, however, show that the great apostasy, the reign of false prophets, and the deception of the Christian era are foretold. Following this the blessed gospel of the kingdom shall be preached unto all nations (verse l 4 ) . 2 Thess. 2:2-12 has largely reached its fulfillment during the Catholic age, although this power is said to continue until destroyed by the brightness of his coming. 2 Tim. 3: 1-5 and 1 Tim. 4: 1-3 are certainly fulfilled in apostate Christianity and apply there, although it is a fact that this deplorable state of things still continues, men being lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God, and having a form of godliness but denying the power thereof. Careful study of these few scriptures, however, shows that out of this state of things God gathers his people —separates them as wheat is separated from the chaff. From all this maze of confusion and dead formality God is now separating his clean, pure bride—the church—and at the second coming of Christ these empty professors will constitute no part of Christ's church. The fact that a general reign of deception and formalism will continue in apostate Christianity right up to the end, in no wise conflicts with the truth of the world's evangelization through the instrumentality of the pure church of God. These texts describe only the condition of the professed Christian world in the last days, and at the very time God separates from this mass of professors his own pure and chosen bride.

  It may be objected that his coming will be as a thief and a snare (Luke 21: 34, 35; 1 Thess. 5: 1-5); but this will be true only of those who are unsaved; of the many scoffers and worldly minded, whose hearts are waxed gross through drunkenness, surfeiting, and the cares of life; of those throughout the earth who live in sin, fail to make preparation, but in carnal security cry, "Peace and safety." To all such the coming coming of Christ will be like a snare; but the multitude of the saved—the church—will be "looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God" (2 Pet. 3:12). They are children of the light and children of the day, and that day will not overtake them as a thief (1 Thess. 5: 4-6). The five foolish virgins represent all those who will not be ready, and the five wise ones represent those who are saved. To the former Christ's coming will be unexpected; to the latter it will be welcome, for they are ready. "Even so come, Lord Jesus."

  In Luke 17: 26-30 Jesus likens his coming to the flood and to the destruction of Sodom. I question whether the Lord here intended to teach that the same proportion of wickedness that was characteristic of the antediluvian world and of the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah would be prevalent in the earth at his coming. If he here intended to teach that no more proportionately would be saved at his second coming than were saved at the time of the flood—" eight souls"—or at the destruction of Sodom—three souls—then we may well despair the evangelization of the earth. But such an interpretation of Christ's words would place them in direct contradiction to all the many plain scriptures that teach exactly the reverse, as seen in this and in the following chapter.

  A careful reading of Luke 17: 26-30 and Matt. 24:36-39 shows that Christ neither mentioned the proportion of people to be saved nor spoke of the awful sins of Sodom and then compare them to the wickedness of earth at the time of his coming. The thought is, "Of that day and hour knoweth no man. " When the deluge burst upon the earth, the people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, planting and building, and they "knew not until the flood came and took them all away." The same was true regarding the destruction of Sodom— "they eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded, " until the day God rained fire from heaven. They knew not the time. In these texts Christ says nothing about only a few being saved, but he shows that business enterprises and the common routine of daily cares and responsibilities will occupy the minds of the people right up to the hour of judgment. The reason for this he states thus: "No man knoweth the day and hour when the Son of man cometh." Hence this gives weight to Christ's solemn charge, "Watch therefore; for ye know not what hour the Lord cloth come." He also said, "For in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh."

  Again, it is said that " strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leads to life," and that "few there be that find it." Yes, this has always been and it ever will be true, hut this does not contradict the many scriptures that teach the reaping of the harvest of the nations of earth. During the history of Christianity the harvest of some nations has been reaped. In the first centuries a great harvest of souls was gathered into the garner of the Lord from the Roman empire. Thousands upon thousands were saved, and yet thousands remained in sin. During the Reformation of the sixteenth century a great harvest was gathered in European countries. The Wesleyan Reformation reaped a great harvest throughout the British Isles and in many colonies in America; and for a long time America has been a great harvestfield. But we affirm, and facts bear out the assertion, that such great countries as China, India, Japan, and Africa, and many islands of the sea, with their teeming millions of poor be righted souls in heathen darkness, have never been harvested. The gospel will surely reach these nations, and their harvest is approaching. But even if multitudes of the heathen in these countries, "the abundance of the sea," should yet be saved, the host would be few compared to the millions lost. Taking the Christian era as a whole, the percentage saved compared to the millions lost will be small and the number few.

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