Second Angel’s Message
95
to seek a living experience for themselves. They knew that they could
not lean upon one another.
The saints anxiously waited for their Lord with fasting, watching
and almost constant prayer. Even some sinners looked forward to the
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time with terror, while the great mass seemed to be stirred against
this message, and manifested the spirit of Satan. They mocked and
scoffed, and everywhere was heard, No man knoweth the day and the
hour. Evil angels exulted around them, urging them on to harden their
hearts, and to reject every ray of light from heaven, that they might
fasten them in the snare. Many professed to be looking for their Lord,
who had neither part nor lot in the matter. The glory of God they
had witnessed, the humility and deep devotion of the waiting ones,
and the overwhelming weight of evidence, caused them to profess to
receive the truth. But they were not converted. They were not ready. A
spirit of solemn and earnest prayer was everywhere felt by the saints.
A holy solemnity was resting upon them. Angels with the deepest
interest had watched the result, and were elevating those who received
the heavenly message, and were drawing them from earthly things to
obtain large supplies from salvation’s fountain. God’s people were
then accepted with him. Jesus looked upon them with pleasure. His
image was reflected in them. They had made a full sacrifice, an entire
consecration, and expected to be changed to immortality. But they
were destined to be again sadly disappointed. The time to which they
looked, expecting deliverance, passed. They were still upon the earth,
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and the effects of the curse never seemed more visible. They had
placed their affections on heaven, and in sweet anticipation, had tasted
immortal deliverance; but their hopes were not realized.
The fear that had rested upon many of the people did not at once
disappear. They did not immediately triumph over the disappointed
ones. But as no visible wrath of God was felt by them, they recovered
from the fear they had felt, and commenced their ridicule, their mock-
ing, and scoffing. The people of God were again proved, and tested.
The world laughed, and mocked, and reproached them; and those who
had believed without a doubt that Jesus would then come and raise the
dead, and change the living saints, and take the kingdom, and possess
it forever, felt like the disciples of Christ.—They have taken away my
Lord, and I know not where they have laid him.
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