This pamphlet was originally written as two separate tracts by J. N. Darby. The first was entitled “Separation from Evil: God’s Principle of Unity,” which presented one side of the matter. The second, “Grace, the Power of Unity and Gathering,” was written many years later to furnish the other side. Both aspects of this subject are especially significant in these last days.
A collective testimony unto the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, the faithful and true Witness, in a day of outward ruin, cannot go beyond the reality of the true condition of things on the earth. Such a testimony will, of necessity, be to the ruin itself but on no other ground except the Word of God, if it is of Himself. A path within the “great house” (2 Timothy 2:2020But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth; and some to honor, and some to dishonor. (2 Timothy 2:20)) is available to every believer who, through the power of grace, separates from evil unto Him, outside the camp (Hebrews 13:1313Let us go forth therefore unto him without the camp, bearing his reproach. (Hebrews 13:13)). May the Holy Spirit be pleased to use this pamphlet to kindle a fresh desire in the heart of each of the Lord’s people to follow the Scriptural order for unity and gathering.