speaking of this dragon in verse two, says, “Who seduced the whole habitable world." The binding of Satan refers to some time when the delusive charms of heathenish worship were largely cleared away and there became a greater universal knowledge of the true God. At the end of that thousand years, or long period of time, which time we have reached, the true God and the pure religion will be lost or unknown to the generality of mankind, and heathenish rites and customs and ceremonies will be the universal religion. Do we not read that at the end of the thousand years Satan shall again deceive the nations? We understand by this that the world on the whole shall be reveling in the delusive seductions of a lewd, lustful, idclatrous religion, making the times like it was in the days of Noah. Let me again say we are now entering these times, and this world is swiftly passing under awful and blinding delusions. So great are the delusions that if possible the very elect should be deceived.

The religious teachers of to-day on the whole are in ignorance concerning the binding of Satan. We will give you a sample of the ignorance of these teachers. In the Gospel Messenger of March 25, 1899, the Querist Department in answer to a question asked concerning the binding of Satan, said: "Satan will then be bound, cast into the bottomless pit, and there will be a chance to convert the unrighteous and lead them to accept Christ as the Savior."

A subscriber in search of knowledge asked the

Querist Department to give a scripture to prove the last clause. He received this answer: "It seems to us that it is one of those self-evident views that needs no proof. If the Bible teaches otherwise let us have the chapter and verse. The Querist Department does not pretend to know everything.'

There are many other chapters and verses that teach otherwise. "Now is the day of salvation." "How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation?" The wicked shall be resurrected to damnation. John 5:29.

CONCLUSION OF PART SECOND.

We have now passed the noonday. The reader, no doubt, fully comprehends why it was dark. The morning was light because the whole Word of truth was taught and experienced by the church. All were under the immediate control of the infallible Holy Spirit.

The noonday was dark because the leadings and teachings of fallible man were substituted for the Holy Spirit and Word. A thousand errors were brought in, the Word of God rejected. The faith once delivered to the saints was lost, sin and iniquity abounded and their love waxed cold. The preachers divined for money, and sought places of affluence, and thus the day was dark over them. Sectism to-day is a mass of worldliness. Infidelity abounds and every abominable work. If you desire a perfect description of sectism as it appears upon the scene to-day, read that given by the angel in Rev. 18:2.

PART III.

THE EVENING;

or,

CHRISTIANITY IN THE CLOSING DAYS OF THIS GOSPEL ERA.

We have now come to consider the evening time of this gospel day. The morning was light because of the truth being experienced and taught. The noonday was dark because traditions and theories and vain philosophies of man became substitutes for the Word of God. This evening time was seen by prophetic eye. "But it shall be one day which shall be known to the Lord, not day, nor night: but it shall come to pass, that at evening time it shall be light." We are nearing the close of this gospel day. The sun of time hangs low in the western horizon. The gospel light is now shining in peaceful splendor like the clear setting of the sun after a dark and cloudy noonday.

"Misty fogs so long concealing

All the hills of mingled night
Vanish, all their sin revealing,
For the evening shall be light'

"Lo, the ransomed are returning,
Bobed in shining crystal white,
Leaping, shouting, home to Zion,
Happy in the ev'ning light."-Sel.

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CHAPTER I.

THE APOSTASY IN TWO DAYS.

In our introduction we gave a number of texts which spoke of the whole of the gospel dispensation as one day; but any period of time distinguished by some extraordinary historic event may be and is also termed a day. The apostasy or dark noonday being under two forms is marked in Bible history as two days. The first form of the apostasy, namely, Catholicism, is called by the Scriptures a "dark day."

A CLOUDY DAY.

The second form of the apostasy was not such utter darkness as the first, and is therefore called a cloudy day. "For thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I, even I, will both search my sheep, and seek them out. As a shepherd seeketh out his flock in the day that he is among his sheep that are scattered; so will I seek out my sheep, and will deliver them out of all places where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day." Ezek. 34: 11, 12. The cloudy day was a day of the scattering of God's people. This has been true of Protestantism. God's own people have been divided and scattered among the various organizations of man. The time of the seeking out refers to the evening, when God is going to gather his children together that "were scattered abroad,"

and they shall be "one heart and one soul" as in the morning.

One more text refers to the cloudy day. "And it shall come to pass in that day that the light shall not be clear, nor dark: but it shall be one day which shall be known to the Lord, not day, nor night: but it shall come to pass, that at evening time it shall be light." Zech. 14: 6, 7. This day of Protestantism was neither "clear nor dark"; was neither "day, nor night." It was a mixture of light and darkness, truth and error, and therefore is fitly termed a cloudy day.

A REVIVAL.

After those two days there shall be a great revival caused by the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. "“Come, and let us return unto the Lord: for he hath torn, and he will heal us; he hath smitten, and he will bind us up. After two days will he revive us: in the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight. Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the Lord: his going forth is prepared as the morning; and he shall come unto us as the rain, as the latter and former rain unto the earth." Hos. 6:1-3.

The two days of beastly power come to an end. The time comes when they shall no longer govern God's true people. It was true of literal Babylon, that had taken captive the children of God, that the time came when they returned from their captivity. The same is true of spiritual Babylon. The children of God have long been taken captive in her. In the evening