And how solemn are the thoughts involved in this sacred truth! We have already found that there will be no distinction in society, that in the same family, in the same trade, in the same shop, nay even in the same bed, one shall be taken and the other left. But this carries us farther still, and shows that there will be the same separation even in the same church. Two persons will come together to the same building, join in the same outward worship, make use of the same liturgy, sing the same praises, hear the same chapters, listen to and perhaps approve the same sermons, and kneel side by side at the same communion. Man will discern no outward difference. And so Christ will find them at his coming. They will “both grow together until the harvest.” Then and not till then will God separate his children. Then will it appear that the one has been a follower of the Lamb, the other of the world; the one born again of God, the other unregenerate; the one justified, the other damned; and all because the one was a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, the other had the form of godliness, but rested there, and was without its power. * * * * * III. They will stand out _as witnesses for Christ_ in the midst of general declension. The ship at anchor will remain unmoved while all around it are drifted down the tide: and this is the position in which Christ will find his chosen people: they will hold fast anchored in Christ, while all around them are drifted off from God. We have already called your attention to the great apostacy foretold within the visible church, and we have only now to remark its widespread influence and effect. This is described by our Lord: “And many false prophets shall arise, and shall deceive many. And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved;” Matthew, xxiv. 11–13. These words foretell a period of abounding error, abounding sin, and abounding departure from the Lord: abounding error; “And many false prophets shall arise, and shall deceive many:” abounding sin; “because iniquity shall abound:” and abounding departure from the Lord; “the love of many shall wax cold.” The chill shall reach even those whose hearts once seemed warm. Nor shall any stand but the heirs of God’s salvation. “He that shall endure unto the end the same shall be saved.” All mere professors are here described as fallen; all mere hereditary Christians fallen; all Christians by expediency fallen; all who have rested in ecclesiastical, architectural, and ornamental Christianity fallen; all those who have had the form without the power—fallen; all fallen but the little band of those faithful men whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life. They will then stand out as the rock, when the storm has washed away the sand that covered it; unshaken, immovable, and only made conspicuous by the tempest.