truth. Even the warnings uttered vibrate with the saving grace and
winning power of God's love in Christ Jesus our Lord.

In the vision of Daniel 8, the prophet was shown the working of apostasy
in the latter times, as it "cast down the truth to the ground" and
"practiced and prospered." But in answer to the question, "How long?"
the great prophetic period of the 2300 years was given, at the end of
which (in 1844) the judgment work in heaven was to begin. When that
work is finished, Christ's glorious appearing will end the reign of sin
and error.

And while the closing judgment work is proceeding in heaven, this
message of the judgment hour lifts up on earth the standard of truths
trodden underfoot, and the Lord utters His last warning against sin and
apostasy. It is a terrible word that He speaks. Bengelius described it
as--

"that threatening pronounced which is the greatest in all the
Scriptures, and which shall resound powerfully from the mouth
of the third angel."--_"Introduction to Apocalypse," Preface
xxix (London, 1757)._

The Lord is in earnest with men in this hour when the judgment, now
passing on the dead, must also soon seal the eternal destiny of all the
living. Hence the message challenges every soul to a decision.

Looking forward to the time when this message should be due, John Wesley
wrote:--

"Happy are they who make the right use of these divine