The dying, crying ones have been holding forth the words of life. They have reproved, counseled, and treated. Some who have been dishonoring God, repented and humbled their hearts before Him. But the glory of the Lord had departed from Israel. Although many still continued the forms of religion, its power and presence were lacking. In the time when His wrath shall go forth in judgments, the humble, devoted followers of Christ will be distinguished from the rest of the world by their soul anguish, which will be expressed in lamentation and weeping reproofs and warnings. While others try to throw a cloak over the existing evil and excuse the great wickedness everywhere prevalent, those who have a zeal for God's honor and a love for souls will not hold their peace to obtain favor of any. Their righteous souls will be vexed day by day with the unholy works and conversation of the unrighteous. They will be powerless to stop the rushing torrent of iniquity, and hence they will be filled with grief and alarm. They will mourn before God to see religion despised in the very homes of those who have had great light. They will lament and afflict their souls because pride, avarice, selfishness, and deception of almost every kind are in the church. The class who do not feel grieved over their own spiritual declination, nor mourn over the sins of others, will be left without the seal of God. The Lord commissions his messengers, the men with slaughtering weapons in their hands, go after him through the city, and smite, let not your eyes spare. Neither have you pity. Slay utterly old and young, both maids and little children, and women. But come not near any men upon whom is my mark, and begin at my sanctuary. Then they began at the ancient men which were before the house. Here we see that the church, the Lord's sanctuary, was the first to feel the stroke of the wrath of God. And the ancient men, those to whom God had given great light and who had stood as guardian of the spiritual interests of the people, had betrayed their trust. This shows us that we must not look to men for example. We need to stay our faith upon God, for there is just before us a time that will try men's soul. Christ, upon the Mount of Olives, rehearsed the fearful judgments that were to precede his second coming. Ye shall hear of wars and rumors of wars. Nations shall rise against nations, and kingdom against kingdom, and there shall be famines and pestilences and earthquakes in different places. All these are the beginnings of sorrows. While these prophecies received a partial fulfillment at the destruction of Jerusalem, they have a more direct application in these last days. John also was a witness of the terrible scenes that would take place as signs of Christ's coming. He saw armies mustering for battle, and men's hearts failing them for fear. He saw the earth moved out of its place, the mountains carried into the midst of the sea, the waves thereof roaring and troubled, and the mountains shaking with the swelling thereof. He saw the vials of God's wrath open, and pestilence, famine, and death come upon the inhabitants of the earth.