The world is busy, anxious, and devoted. Evil is eagerly followed as though it were righteousness, error as though it were truth, and sin as though it were holiness. Darkness is covering the earth, and gross darkness the people. And shall God’s people be asleep at such a time as this? Shall those who hold the truth be silent, as if paralyzed? Infidels declare that if they believed what Christians profess to believe, they would be far more in earnest than they. If we believe that the end of all things is at hand, “what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness?” {5T 546.3}

Verden er fortravlet, urolig og engageret. Ondt følger ivrigt efter, som om det var retfærdighed, vildfarelse som om det var sandhed og synd som om det var hellighed. Mørke (547) dækker jorden og tykt mørke folk. Og skal Guds folk sove i en tid som denne? Skal de, som fastholder sandheden være tavse, som om de var paralyserede? Hedninger erklærer at hvis de troede hvad kristne bekender at tro, ville de være langt mere alvorlige end de. Hvis vi tror at alle tings ende er nær, »hvor bør I da ikke vandre i hellig livsførelse og gudsfrygt«?