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William Miller
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went on, more eager in their pursuit of pleasure, more intent upon
their evil ways, than ever before. But their unbelief did not hinder
the predicted event. God bore long with their wickedness, giving
them ample opportunity for repentance; but at the appointed time
his judgments were visited upon the rejecters of his mercy.
Christ declares that there will exist similar unbelief concerning
his second coming. As the people of Noah’s day “knew not until the
flood came and took them all away, so,” in the words of our Saviour,
“shall also the coming of the Son of man be.” [
Matthew 24:39
.]
When the professed people of God are uniting with the world, living
as they live, and joining with them in forbidden pleasure; when the
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luxury of the world becomes the luxury of the church; when the
marriage bells are chiming, and all are looking forward to many
years of worldly prosperity,—then, suddenly as the lightning flashes
from the heavens, will come the end of their bright visions and
delusive hopes.
As God sent his servant to warn the world of the coming flood,
so he sent chosen messengers to make known the nearness of the
day of final judgment. But as Noah’s contemporaries laughed to
scorn the predictions of the solitary preacher of righteousness, so
did many in Miller’s day treat his words of warning.
In their labors for the Protestant churches, Wm. Miller and his
companions encountered a spirit of hatred and opposition little less
bitter than that which Luther experienced from Rome. By Romanists
in Luther’s time, and by Protestants in the time of Miller, fables,
false theories, human forms and customs, were received and honored
in place of the teachings of the word of truth. In the sixteenth century
the Roman Church withheld the Scriptures from the people; in the
nineteenth century, when Bibles are scattered everywhere like leaves
of autumn, the Protestant churches teach that an important part of the
sacred word—and that portion which brings to view truths especially
applicable to our time—is sealed, and cannot be understood.
Ministers and people have declared the prophecies of Daniel and
John to be a collection of mysteries which no one could understand
or explain. But the very title of the book of Revelation contradicts
these assertions: “The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave
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unto him, to show unto his servants things which must shortly come
to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant