Of course, amongst the people of God, there will be many whose hearts God has led to the patient waiting for Christ. Some, in the fervour of an ardent hope, may carry their longings into enthusiasm; and others, in the calm sobriety of a Scriptural faith, like Simeon and Anna, will abide waiting for their Lord. But such cases will be the exception. The great mass of men will be altogether indifferent. They will care no more for our preaching than the men before the flood did for Noah’s: they will think it an idle and enthusiastic tale, and utterly disregard the whole matter. Some indeed will scoff at it. They will challenge believers to the proof of it; they will point to the world’s unbroken course, and say “Where is the promise of his coming?” They will be ready to raise the sneer against the church’s hopes, and only notice the blessed tidings just to scoff at them as idle speculation. “Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, and saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation;” 2 Pet. iii. 3 & 4. But this scoffing spirit is not described as the general feature of society. It requires some attention even to scoff at God’s promises. But the general character of the world with reference to this great subject will be apathy; downright, dogged, indifference to the whole concern. Thus, in the parable of the talents, “they all slumbered and slept.” The wise virgins could sleep in calm peace, for they were ready; the foolish virgins could slumber only in apathy, for, being unprepared, they could only wake to perish. Thus our Lord says he “will come as a thief in the night,” when none give the thing a thought. The watchman may cry the hour, but the sleeper sleeps: he may sound the note of warning, but the sleeper sleeps: the thief may be within the chamber, but still he sleeps unmoved, unconscious, unprepared. Now this is the description which our Lord gives of the world before his coming. He says, men shall be found sleeping, a few blessed servants watching, but the mass sleeping, unconscious of his approach, unconcerned at his promises, unawakened even by the judgments that hurry on as the forerunners of his wrath.