mountains, and to the beasts of the earth: and the fowls shall summer upon them, and all the beasts of the earth shall winter upon them.” Isa. 18:3-6. This time has come. The ensign -Christ is lifted up-a token for the people to gather unto him. The trumpet of truth is being blown. "Blow 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." Ah! a sign that the day of the Lord is nigh at hand. A clear heat is produced in the church, his dwelling-place. Judgment is executed, and a pruning-time has come. Sprigs and branches are cut off and taken away; namely, "every branch that beareth not fruit he taketh away" (John 15: 2). These cut-off branches (dead professors) "shall be left together unto the fowls of the mountains, and to the beasts of the earth.” This is the very work described in the many texts already cited. But when was it all to be accomplished? Just "afore the harvest"just before the end. Reader, we are living in that very time.

The Evening Light.

In the history of the church the Christian era is divided into four distinct epochs: 1. The morning-light age-the primitive church in all her glory. 2. The papal age-the reign of night, or dark superstition, known as the Dark Ages. 3. The Protestant age, or the reign of sectism; the period when God's church was in a scattered condition-the "cloudy day." 4. The eveninglight age, which restores primitive Christianity in all its beauty and glory, and presents to the world the redeemed church of God, gathered out of all confusion and sin into the one body and fold of Christ.

"It shall come to pass, that at evening time it shall be light." Zech. 14:7. This refers to the evening of the gospel day. We are now living in that very period. It was foretold that in this evening of time all the clouds that have hung in the spiritual sky for centuries should pass away and that the church should come to the summit of Zion transplendent with the same brilliant light that adorned her in the morning of this dispensation. "At evening time, it shall be light."

The evening light restores the whole truth. True holiness and unity inseparable and eternal principles, again adorn the church of God. A self-sacrificing ministry are heralding the pure gospel to the nations of earth. This epoch of the church will continue till Jesus comes. Tens of thousands have already been gathered out of sect-confusion, and are rejoicing in the heights of Zion. Thousands more have been saved from sin and vice, and are now happy in a Savior's love. The gifts of the Spirit are again manifest in the church, as in days of yore; and thousands have been healed of all manner of sicknesses and diseases. Blind eyes are being opened, the deaf are made to hear, the lame to walk, the dumb to speak; and the dead have been raised to life in answer to prayer. And we shall see greater manifestations of God's power, as we "follow on to know the Lord."

A Pure Church Restored.

Of the primitive church in its normal state, at the time when it was the ideal for all future ages, it is declared that "of the rest durst no man join himself to them" (Acts 5:13). "They were all filled with the Holy Ghost. . . . And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul. . . . And great grace was upon them all." Acts 4:31-33. This was declared of the visible body of believers. They presented to the world a clean, separate, distinct church, or people. They were pure from sin and sinners. The spirit of discernment in the apostles, and the mighty power and glory of God that rested upon them, made it impossible for hypocrites and sinners to profess among them. "Of the rest durst no man join himself to them."

But step by step the church drifted from this high plane and soon the great apostasy came. Then the priests "put no difference between the holy and profane," "showed no difference between the unclean and the clean" (Ezek. 22: 26). Thus a mixed condition came in. Espe

cially has this been true during the Protestant era-saints and sinners, true believers and hypocrites, the humble and the proud, all classes and kinds have been yoked up together, and all labeled "Christians."

But, dear reader, better days have come. The prophet foretold a time when the people of God would "return, and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not" (Mal. 3:18). We are living in that time. We have returned to the primitive plane, and by the Word and Spirit of God we are able to discern between the righteous and the wicked. Sectarians cry, "You can't have a pure church; there must be mixture." Here is God's answer to them: "If thou take forth the precious from the vile, thou shalt be as my mouth." Jer. 15: 19. God does not approve of a mixture of saints and "sinners in the congregation of the righteous" (Psa. 1:5). "So shall ye know that I am the Lord your God dwelling in Zion, my holy mountain : then shall Jerusalem be holy, and there shall no strangers pass through her any more." Joel 3:17. This is the church. The Lord calls it "my holy mountain." Under the metaphor of