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From Here to Forever
required to know when it is near. To refuse or neglect to know when
His advent is near will be as fatal for us as it was for those in the
days of Noah not to know when the Flood was coming. Christ says,
“If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and
thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee.”
Revelation
3:3
.
Paul speaks of those who have heeded the Saviour’s warning:
“Ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you
as a thief. Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the
day.”
1 Thessalonians 5:2-5
.
But those who desired an excuse to reject truth closed their
ears to this explanation, and the words “No man knoweth the day
nor the hour” continued to be echoed by the scoffer and even the
professed minister of Christ. As the people began to inquire the
way of salvation, religious teachers stepped in between them and
the truth by falsely interpreting the Word of God.
The most devoted in the churches were usually the first to re-
ceive the message. Wherever the people were not controlled by the
clergy, wherever they would search the Word of God for themselves,
the advent doctrine needed only to be compared with Scripture to
establish its divine authority.
Many were misled by husbands, wives, parents, or children and
were made to believe it a sin even to listen to such “heresies” as
were taught by the Adventists. Angels were bidden to keep faithful
watch over these souls, for another light was yet to shine upon them
from the throne of God.
Those who had received the message watched for the coming
of their Saviour. The time when they expected to meet Him was
at hand. They approached this hour with a calm solemnity. None
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who experienced this can forget those precious hours of waiting. For
some weeks preceding the time, worldly business was for the most
part laid aside. Sincere believers carefully examined their hearts as
if in a few hours to close their eyes upon earthly scenes. There was
no making of “ascension robes”
but all felt the need
of internal evidence that they were prepared to meet the Saviour.
Their white robes were purity of soul—characters cleansed by the
atoning blood of Christ. Would that there were still with the people
of God the same heart searching, the same earnest faith.