th 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."(564) When the professed people of God are
uniting with the world, living as they live, and joining with them in
forbidden pleasure; when the 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 final judgment. And as
Noah's contemporaries laughed to scorn the predictions of the preacher of
righteousness, so in Miller's day many, even of the professed people of
God, scoffed at the words of warning.

And why were the doctrine and preaching of Christ's second coming so
unwelcome to the churches? While to the wicked the advent of the Lord
brings woe and desolation, to the righteous it is fraught with joy and
hope. This great truth had been the consolation of God's faithful ones
through all the ages; why had it become, like its Author, "a stone of
stumbling and a rock of offense" to His professed people? It was our Lord
Himself who promised His disciples, "If I go and prepare a place for you,
I will come again, and receive you unto Myself."(565) It was the
compassionate Saviour, who, anticipating the loneliness and sorrow of His
followers, commissioned angels to comfort them with the assurance that He
would come again in person, even as He went into heaven. As the disciples
stood gazing intently upward to catch the last glimpse of Him whom they
loved, their attention was arrested by the words, "Ye men of Galilee, why
stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from
you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen Him go into
heaven."(566) Hope was kindled afresh by the angel's message. The
disciples "returned to Jerusalem with great joy, and were continually in
the temple, praising and blessing God."(567) They were not rejoicing
because Jesus had b