of the utmost meaning and importance.

This suggests a need. And the need of something of the sort is plain
enough, if one think into it. Already in John's day there was a distinct
break-away from the simplicity and purity of the Gospel, both in the
Church and in the lives of professed Christians. The messages to the
Churches of Pergamum and Thyatira and Sardis show clearly that there had
already begun a rubbing out of the sharp line of distinction between the
Church and the world. The world spirit was--not creeping in,
but--walking boldly into the life of the Church.

It is striking to note the thing that leads John to write his First
Epistle, that is, the alarming conditions among Christ's followers. The
spirit of compromise seems seeping in at every crevice. And worse yet,
the spirit of Antichrist, that makes such a savage attack on Jesus, on
the deity of His person, and the atoning significance of His death, this
was openly at work among them.[40] These conditions, so familiar to
those who first read his little Epistle, are the continual underscoring
of His intense plea for _abiding_.

It is most significant that Jude's intense flame-like Epistle talks
entirely about conditions within Church circles. Run through it again
with this fact fresh in mind, and the significance of it stands out in a
startling way. Peter's Second Epistle reveals the same sort of an
atmosphere seeping in among the groups of disciples to whom he writes.
Not only was there doubt and confusion about the meaning of the
prophetic teachings, but even a sneering and mocking at the teaching
about the second coming of our Lord.

These are a few indications of how things were in the Church generally
before the first century had closed. It was a time of confusion and
compromise. The air was tense. The need was critical. It would seem that
if ever our Lord would give a simple direct revelation afresh, to His
people, it would be in just such circumstances. And it reveals to us at
once how grave things looked to His eyes, and how much depended on His
followers having a clear understanding of how things would work out,
that our Lord Jesus does do just this thing,--send a direct revelation
that would meet just such a need.

More Alike than Different.

It is most striking that the conditions of the Church then and to-day
are so much alike. The line between Church and world is either badly
blurred, or quite wiped out. And this one fact throws a flood