, "Fear God, and give glory to Him;
for the hour of His judgment is come."

Those who proclaimed this warning gave the right message at the right
time. But as the early disciples declared, "The time is fulfilled, and the
kingdom of God is at hand," based on the prophecy of Daniel 9, while they
failed to perceive that the death of the Messiah was foretold in the same
scripture; so Miller and his associates preached the message based on Dan.
8:14 and Rev. 14:7, and failed to see that there were still other messages
brought to view in Revelation 14, which were also to be given before the
advent of the Lord. As the disciples were mistaken in regard to the
kingdom to be set up at the end of the seventy weeks, so Adventists were
mistaken in regard to the event to take place at the expiration of the
2300 days. In both cases there was an acceptance of, or rather an
adherence to, popular errors that blinded the mind to the truth. Both
classes fulfilled the will of God in delivering the message which He
desired to be given, and both, through their own misapprehension of their
message, suffered disappointment.

Yet God accomplished His own beneficent purpose in permitting the warning
of the judgment to be given just as it was. The great day was at hand, and
in His providence the people were brought to the test of a definite time,
in order to reveal to them what was in their hearts. The message was
designed for the testing and purification of the church. They were to be
led to see whether their affections were set upon this world or upon
Christ and heaven. They professed to love the Saviour; now they were to
prove their love. Were they ready to renounce their worldly hopes and
ambitions, and welcome with joy the advent of their Lord? The message was
designed to enable them to discern their true spiritual state; it was sent
in mercy to arouse them to seek the Lord with repentance and humiliation.

The disappointment also, though the result of their own misapprehension of
the message which they gave, was to be overruled for good. It would test
the hearts of those who had professed to receive the warning. In the face
of their disappointment, would they rashly give up their experience, and
cast away their confidence in God's word? or would they, in prayer and
humility, seek to discern where they had failed to comprehend the
significance of the prophecy? How many had moved from fear, or from
impulse and excitement? How many were half-h