(2.) In _v._ 7, they plainly lay claim to “the truth:” “Ever learning, and never able to come to a knowledge of the truth.” By “_the truth_” is meant the pure truth of Christ’s Gospel, the message of salvation which God has given us in his word. The study of the truth implies an outward avowal of it. They do not attain, but they profess a knowledge of it. So also in _v._ 8, they are described as “reprobate concerning the faith:” possessed of the appearance, but devoid of the reality. They look like men of faith, but when proved by divine tests they are found fictitious and defective. They are like false coin which cannot stand the refiner’s fire. But all this implies profession, and it once more appears that the persons described belong to the visible church of Christ. (3.) The same may be gathered from the Apostle’s charge to Timothy, as given in _ch._ iv. 1–4.—“I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom; preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and doctrine. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; and they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.” These words describe the danger as falling within the range of the church’s discipline, as arising in the midst of that very body in which Timothy was then called to labour as a Bishop. The church at Ephesus, with Timothy at its head, was the type or representative of the church in the latter days in the heart of which this evil should arise. Nor is this point unworthy of our careful observation, for it proves the important fact that we must look for error in the midst of the most perfect ecclesiastical arrangement. In the church at Ephesus we see the church’s order in its purest and most perfect form. The whole was arranged under Apostolic authority. St. Paul himself gathered in the converts, ordained the first elders, and placed the Bishop in his diocese. There was needed no long chain of questionable links to establish the fact of Apostolical succession; the whole came from the fountain head. The machinery of the church was perfect; the ordination, government, and discipline were Apostolic. Bearing in mind, therefore, that Timothy was addressed as the representative of those who in the latter days should fill his office, we are brought to the conclusion that we must look for the great defection in the very midst of Apostolical order. The most perfect ecclesiastical authority will be insufficient to secure the truth. Danger will arise not merely within the visible church, but within its purest and most Scriptural form. * * * * * III. _The state of things which the words foretell_.