The Great Controversy The Great Controversy | Page 404

expected soon to stand face to face with their Redeemer felt a solemn joy
that was unutterable. The softening, subduing power of the Holy Spirit
melted the heart as His blessing was bestowed in rich measure upon the
faithful, believing ones.
Carefully and solemnly those who received the message came up to
the time when they hoped to meet their Lord. Every morning they felt
that it was their first duty to secure the evidence of their acceptance with
God. Their hearts were closely united, and they prayed much with and
for one another. They often met together in secluded places to commune
with God, and the voice of intercession ascended to heaven from the
fields and groves. The assurance of the Saviour’s approval was more
necessary to them than their daily food; and if a cloud darkened their
minds, they did not rest until it was swept away. As they felt the witness
of pardoning grace, they longed to behold Him whom their souls loved.
But again they were destined to disappointment. The time of
expectation passed, and their Saviour did not appear. With unwavering
confidence they had looked forward to His coming, and now they felt as
did Mary when, coming to the Saviour’s tomb and finding it empty, she
exclaimed with weeping: “They have taken away my Lord, and I know
not where they have laid Him.” John 20:13.
A feeling of awe, a fear that the message might be true, had for a
time served as a restraint upon the unbelieving world. After the passing
of the time this did not at once disappear; at first they dared not triumph
over the disappointed ones; but as no tokens of God’s wrath were seen,
they recovered from their fears and resumed their reproach and ridicule.
A large class who had professed to believe in the Lord’s soon coming,
renounced their faith. Some who had been very confident were so deeply
wounded in their pride that they felt like fleeing from the world. Like
Jonah, they complained of God, and chose death rather than life.

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