een separated from them, and they were left to struggle
with the trials and temptations of the world, but because of the angel's
assurance that He would come again.

The proclamation of Christ's coming should now be, as when made by the
angels to the shepherds of Bethlehem, good tidings of great joy. Those who
really love the Saviour cannot but hail with gladness the announcement
founded upon the word of God, that He in whom their hopes of eternal life
are centered, is coming again, not to be insulted, despised, and rejected,
as at His first advent, but in power and glory, to redeem His people. It
is those who do not love the Saviour, that desire Him to remain away; and
there can be no more conclusive evidence that the churches have departed
from God than the irritation and animosity excited by this Heaven-sent
message.

Those who accepted the advent doctrine were roused to the necessity of
repentance and humiliation before God. Many had long been halting between
Christ and the world; now they felt that it was time to take a stand. "The
things of eternity assumed to them an unwonted reality. Heaven was brought
near, and they felt themselves guilty before God."(568) Christians were
quickened to new spiritual life. They were made to feel that time was
short, that what they had to do for their fellow-men must be done quickly.
Earth receded, eternity seemed to open before them, and the soul, with all
that pertains to its immortal weal or woe, was felt to eclipse every
temporal object. The Spirit of God rested upon them, and gave power to
their earnest appeals to their brethren, as well as to sinners, to prepare
for the day of God. The silent testimony of their daily life was a
constant rebuke to formal and unconsecrated church-members. These did not
wish to be disturbed in their pursuit of pleasure, their devotion to
money-making, and their ambition for worldly honor. Hence the enmity and
opposition excited against the advent faith and those who proclaimed it.

As the arguments from the prophetic periods were found to be impregnable,
opposers endeavored to discourage investigation of the subject, by
teaching that the prophecies were sealed. Thus Protestants followed in the
steps of Romanists. While the papal church withholds the Bible(569) from
the people, Protestant churches claimed that an important part of the
sacred word--and that the part which brings to view truths specially
applicable to our time--could not be under