Chapter 2—The Time of The End
      
      
        We are living in the time of the end. The fast-fulfilling signs of
      
      
        the times declare that the coming of Christ is near at hand. The days
      
      
        in which we live are solemn and important. The Spirit of God is
      
      
        gradually but surely being withdrawn from the earth. Plagues and
      
      
        judgments are already falling upon the despisers of the grace of God.
      
      
        The calamities by land and sea, the unsettled state of society, the
      
      
        alarms of war, are portentous. They forecast approaching events of the
      
      
        greatest magnitude.
      
      
        The agencies of evil are combining their forces and consolidating.
      
      
        They are strengthening for the last great crisis. Great changes are soon
      
      
        to take place in our world, and the final movements will be rapid ones.
      
      
        The condition of things in the world shows that troublous times
      
      
        are right upon us. The daily papers are full of indications of a terrible
      
      
        conflict in the near future. Bold robberies are of frequent occurrence.
      
      
        Strikes are common. Thefts and murders are committed on every hand.
      
      
        Men possessed of demons are taking the lives of men, women, and little
      
      
        children. Men have become infatuated with vice, and every species
      
      
        of evil prevails. The enemy has succeeded in perverting justice and in
      
      
        filling men’s hearts with the desire for selfish gain. “Justice standeth
      
      
        afar off: for truth is fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter.”
      
      
        Isaiah 59:14
      
      
        . In the great cities there are multitudes living in poverty
      
      
        and wretchedness, well-nigh destitute of food, shelter, and clothing;
      
      
        while in the same cities are those who have more than heart could
      
      
        wish, who live luxuriously, spending their money on richly furnished
      
      
        houses, on personal adornment, or worse still, upon the gratification of
      
      
        sensual appetites, upon liquor, tobacco, and other things that destroy
      
      
        the powers of the brain, unbalance the mind, and debase the soul.
      
      
        The cries of starving humanity are coming up before God, while by
      
      
        every species of oppression and extortion men are piling up colossal
      
      
        fortunes.
      
      
        I was in the night season called upon to behold buildings rising
      
      
        story after story toward heaven. These buildings were warranted to
      
      
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