the time, from Elders Heath, Couch, and Eastman. The specifications of
the parable of the ten virgins, down as far as the cry at midnight,
seemed to have a natural and forcible application to the great Advent
movement up to that time, and the words, “Behold the bridegroom cometh,
go ye out to meet him,” already being heard from the lips of those who
were looking to the seventh Jewish month for the coming of the Lord,
had a solemn, subduing power in them, such as no others had. The first
portion of the parable, and the application of it then made, I will
here give:
“Then shall the kingdom of Heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which
took their lamps and went forth to meet the bridegroom. And five of
them were wise, and five were foolish. They that were foolish took
lamps, and took no oil with them; but the wise took oil in their
vessels with their lamps. While the bridegroom tarried, they all
slumbered and slept. And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold the
bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him. Then all those virgins arose
and trimmed their lamps.” Matt. xxv, 1-7.
1. The ten virgins represent those then interested in the subject of
the immediate second coming of Christ.
2. The lamps which the virgins took to light their way at the hour of
midnight, represent the prophetic word of the Lord. “Thy word is a lamp
unto my feet, and a light unto my path.” Ps. cxix, 105. “We have also a
more sure word of prophecy, whereunto ye do well that ye take heed as
unto a light that shineth in a dark place.” 2 Pet. i, 19.
3. The five wise virgins, who took oil in their vessels with their
lamps, represent those who had faith, and the work of the grace of God
wrought in them.
4. The five foolish virgins represent those professed believers who
lacked true faith, and who had not the work of the grace and Spirit of
God in them.
5. The tarry of the bridegroom, the delay in the parable, and the
slumbering and sleeping of the virgins, represent the passing of the
Jewish year, 1843, the disappointment, the suspense and uncertainty
which resulted in loss of faith and zeal, manifested by believers
before the time passed. It appeared evident that the period of hope
deferred and general gloom since the close of the Jewish year, 1843,
was the night of sleeping and slumbering.
6. The cry at midnight in the parable, “Behold the bridegroom cometh;
go ye out to meet him,” represented the solemn message of the tenth day
of the seventh month time, 1844, already being heard. It was suggested
that the night of tarry in the parable represented half of the
prophetic day, or six months, extending from the passing of the time in
the spring, to the seventh month in the fall, and that the then present
work of waking up under the cry, “Behold the bridegroom cometh, go ye
out to meet him,” commenced in July, in the middle of the tarrying
time, or at midnight.
And now the work of waking up the slumbering believers, and giving
the last warning to the world, seemed to be crowded into a few weeks.
Those who received the message felt the burden of the work. Language
cannot describe the solemnity of that hour. And no one can have any
just idea of it, only eye-witnesses upon the grounds, who saw, heard,
and felt for themselves. The time for shouting, and display of talent
in speaking, singing, and praying, seemed to be past. The brethren and
sisters calmly consecrated themselves and their all to the Lord and
his cause, and with humble prayers and tears sought his pardon and
his favor. All those unhappy divisions and extravagancies, which had
threatened the prosperity of the Advent cause, were lost sight of, and
the watchmen, and the people also, were beginning to lift up one united
voice, with strength and heartfelt solemnity, “Behold the Bridegroom
cometh; go ye out to meet him.”
On returning from the Exeter camp-meeting, I visited the Advent
congregation at Poland, Me., and attended camp-meetings at Litchfield
and Orington. At these two camp-meetings ministers and people became
imbued with the spirit of the seventh-month message. The evidences upon
which it was based seemed conclusive, and a power almost irresistible
attended it; and the fruits of this message everywhere were alike
excellent. Whatever of differences of opinion, division in feelings and
plans of action, or schisms of any kind that had sprung up during the
time of suspense represented by the tarrying of the bridegroom, and the
slumbering of the virgins, were now being swept away and lost sight
of in the onward course of this mighty movement. The hearts of the
believers were being united as never before.
The first evening of the Orington meeting I spoke to the people, and
stated my convictions that Christ would come on the tenth day of
the seventh Jewish month of that year. There was a tent’s company on
the ground affected more or less with the spirit of fanaticism, and
there was a great want of that solemnity in most all present, which
characterized the recent camp-meeting at Exeter, N. H., where the
evidences in favor of the tenth day of the seventh month had been
presented.
As I spoke of the disappointment, the tarry, the slumbering and
sleeping, and the cry, “Behold the bridegroom cometh, go ye out to meet
him,” a death-like stillness reigned throughout the entire encampment.
The application of Advent history thus far to these specifications of
the parable seemed so natural and forcible as to convict all.
And there was no more heard the irreverent shout of the fanatic, nor
the heartless prayer of the formalist, after that evening meeting. As
in the days of Christ’s first apostles, all were pricked in the heart,
and the inquiry of all seemed to be what they should do to be saved.
The labor of that meeting, from that time onward to its close, was the
presentation of the evidences that the 2300 prophetic days of Daniel
would end that autumn, that the types pointed to the tenth day of the
seventh Jewish month as the time for the second advent, and that we had
reached the point in Second-Advent history where the slumbering ones
were to be aroused by the midnight cry. To this were added practical
sermons and solemn exhortations, setting forth the necessity of giving
up the world, and consecrating all to the Lord. Social meetings were
marked with great solemnity. Sins were confessed with tears, and
there was a general breaking down before God, and strong pleadings
for pardon, and a fitness to meet the Lord at his coming. And the
humble disciples of the Lord did not seek his face in vain. Before
that meeting closed, hundreds testified with tears of joy that they
had sought the Lord and found him, and had tasted the sweets of sins
forgiven.
The parting was most solemn. That was the last camp-meeting the
brethren expected to attend on these mortal shores. And as brother
shook the hand of brother, each pointed the other to the final
gathering on the immortal shores at the grand encampment of the saints
in the New Jerusalem. Tears flowed profusely, and strong men wept
aloud. God grant that those who read these lines may see as good a
day. And even now, although more than twenty years have passed since
that meeting, and that parting scene, as I write, my being seems to be
inspired with its solemn, humble spirit, and my tears will flow.
The ministers all fully believed that time was short, and now the work
before us was to fly to every part of that wide field, sound the alarm,
and wake the slumbering and sleeping ones. In company with one who
professed the truth, I visited two towns each day, and sometimes spoke
the same day in three different towns. Congregations were crowded, and
every meeting was wonderfully marked with the presence of the Holy
Spirit.
CHARACTER OF THE WORK.
As to the character of the work which resulted from giving what was
called the midnight cry, it evidently was the special work of God. It
was not, as many suppose, the result of fanaticism.
1. Because it bore the marks of the especial providence of God. It
was not characterized by those extremes ever manifested where human
excitement, and not the word and Spirit of God, has the controlling
influence. It was in harmony with those seasons of humiliation, rending
of heart, confession and complete consecration of all, which are
matters of history in the Old Testament, and are made matters of duty
in the New.
2. Because it was subversive of all those forms of fanaticism which had
made their appearance somewhat in connection with the Second-Advent
cause. And it is a fact, that Satan had crowded upon some who bore the
Advent name, almost every stripe of fanaticism he had ever invented.
But these were at once swallowed up by the solemn power of the midnight
cry, as the rods of the magicians were by the rod of Aaron.
3. Because the work was marked with sobriety, humility, solemnity,
reverence, self-examination, repentance, confessions and tears,
instead of lightness, exaltation, trifling, irreverent expressions,
self-justification, pride in spiritual things, voluntary humility and
will worship, which generally characterize the conduct of fanatics.
4. Because the work bore the fruit of the Spirit of God, as set forth
in the New Testament. It was evidently guided by wisdom from above. The
apostle James declares this wisdom to be “first pure, then peaceable,
gentle, and easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits,
without partiality, and without hypocrisy.” Chap. iii, 17. Paul says
that the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering,
gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance. Gal. v, 22, 23.
These are the good fruits of the work and Spirit of God, and these did
all appear in an eminent sense as the results of the midnight cry.
But fanaticisms are the works of the flesh, the power of Satan being
brought to bear upon the carnal mind.
It is true that Satan seeks to clothe his work, as far as possible,
with that which may resemble garments of truth and righteousness.
But the experienced observer will not fail to see that he, and
those who are brought under his influence, come infinitely short of
counterfeiting the work of God. He may succeed in blinding the eyes of
men, so that they may not be able to discern the difference between the
work of God and his imperfect mimicry. But the work of high Heaven he
can not imitate. And when the work of Satan in fanaticism is carried
out, and its terrible fruit is ripened into bitterness, its contrast
with the fruit of the work and Spirit of God will be seen as wide as
Beelzebub with Christ, perdition with all its terror and blackness of
despair with the matchless glories of the kingdom of God.
Reader, there is a difference between the road to life, and that
leading to death. And these do not lie side by side. They are in
opposite directions. Do not be deceived by those who mix fanaticism
with the work of God, and affirm that the compound all came from
Heaven. Neither be deceived by those who, seeing evidence of fanaticism
in some who have been connected with the Advent cause, denounce the
entire movement as being the work of men, or of Satan. I here enter
my solemn protest against making one grand Second-Advent chowder of
all that in any way has been connected with the great Advent movement,
of truth and error, of wisdom from Heaven, and the spirit and work
of fanaticism, and then presenting it to the people as being all the
work of Satan, or all the work of God. Such insult God by making him
the author of fanaticism and confusion. They also please the Devil, by
attributing the work of God which he has tried to mar, to his satanic
power. That they might do this, and make no difference between the pure
work of God and the results of his miserable efforts at counterfeiting,
is the spur of his ambition.
But of all the great religious movements since the days of the first
apostles of our Lord, none stand out more pure and free from the
imperfections of human nature, and the wiles of Satan, than that of
the autumn of 1844. In fact, after looking back upon it for more than
twenty years as the greenest spot on all the way in which God has led
his people, I do not see how it could have been better, at least so far
as the direct providence and work of God is concerned. It was beyond
the control of human hands, or human minds. Men and demons sought to
hinder and to mar this work, but the power that attended it brushed
away their influence, as you would remove a spider’s web, and there
stood the work of God free from the print of a man’s hand.
But as the reader will be better edified by reading the statements and
experience of those ministers who had the burden of the work upon them,
and were imbued with the spirit of that solemn message, I will here let
them speak in confirmation of the foregoing statements.
Elder George Storrs, New York, September 24, 1844, says:
“I take up my pen with feelings such as I never before experienced.
_Beyond a doubt_, in my mind, the _tenth day_ of the _seventh month_
will witness the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ in the clouds of
heaven. We are then within a _few days_ of that event. Awful moment to
those who are unprepared, but glorious to those who are ready. I feel
that I am making the _last appeal_ that I shall ever make through the
press. My heart is full. I see the ungodly and sinner disappearing
from my view, and there now stands before my mind the _professed
believers_ in the Lord’s near approach. But what shall I say to them?
Alas! we have been _slumbering_ and _sleeping_, both the _wise_ and
the _foolish_; but so our Saviour told us it would be; and ‘thus the
Scriptures are fulfilled,’ and it is the last prophecy relating to
the events to precede the personal advent of our Lord; now comes the
true midnight cry; the previous was but the alarm. Now the real one is
sounding; and oh, how solemn the hour! The ‘virgins’ have been asleep
or slumbering; yes, all of us. Asleep on the time; that is the point.
Some have indeed preached the seventh month, but it was with doubt
whether it is this year or some other; and that doubt is now removed
from my mind. ‘Behold the bridegroom cometh,’ this year, ‘go ye out to
meet him.’ We have done with the nominal churches and all the wicked,
except so far as this cry may affect them; our work is now to wake
up the ‘virgins’ who ‘took their lamps and went forth to meet the
bridegroom.’ Where are we now? ‘If the vision tarry, wait for it.’ Is
not that our answer since March and April? Yes. What happened while the
bridegroom tarried? The virgins all slumbered and slept, did they not?
Christ’s words have not failed, and ‘the Scriptures cannot be broken,’
and it is of no use for us to pretend that we have been awake. We have
been slumbering; not on the fact of Christ’s coming, but on the time.
We came into the tarrying time; we did not know ‘how long’ it would
tarry, and on that point we have slumbered. Some of us have said in our
sleep, ‘Don’t fix another time;’ so we slept. Now the trouble is to
wake us up. Lord, help, for vain is the help of man. Speak thyself,
Lord. Oh! that the ‘Father’ may now ‘make known’ the time.
“To illustrate the position we have occupied. Time--the preaching of
definite time for the coming of our Lord, was what led us to take our
lamps, and go forth to meet the Bridegroom. The great truth, our Lord
Jesus Christ is coming again, personally, to this earth, was, so to
speak, the rope let down from Heaven, made fast to the throne of God,
equally immovable as that throne; by faith, as with both hands, we took
hold of that rope; under our feet we had solid platform, time, where
we stood, and all opponents could not remove it, nor make us let go
of the rope. There we stood, and rejoiced in the ‘blessed hope.’ What
our opponents never could and never did do, the end of the supposed
Jewish year 1843 effected, viz: swept away our platform from under us,
and left us with nothing but the rope to hold on by. Did we let go?
Some have, and drawn back to perdition. But many have continued to
hold by the rope. The scoffing winds have beat against us severely,
and we have swung in the air, the sport of our opponents. They told
us we were now with them, looking for the Lord’s coming, but without
any definite time; and we have been compelled to admit it, but have
refused to let go the rope, saying, ‘If the vision tarry, wait for
it.’ But we have not known how long we were thus to swing upon the
rope, without a foundation for our feet; and we have not felt the same
joy and glory that we did when we stood on definite time. God has
been trying our faith, to see if we would hold on. Now, once more,
he offers us a platform on which to stand. It is in the twenty-fifth
chapter of Matthew. Here we have the chronology of the tarrying time,
and its duration. ‘If ye shall receive it,’ you will find once more
your feet upon a rock, and the glory that the first belief in time
produced in our breast, returns with a large addition to it, even a
‘joy unspeakable and full of glory.’
“The present strong cry of time commenced about the middle of July,
and has spread with great rapidity and power, and is attended with a
demonstration of the Spirit, such as I never witnessed when the cry
was ‘1843.’ It is now literally, ‘Go ye out to meet him.’ There is
a leaving all, that I never dreamed could be seen. Where this cry
gets hold of the heart, farmers leave their farms, with their crops
standing, to go out and sound the alarm, and mechanics their shops.
There is a strong crying with tears, and a consecration of all to God,
such as I never witnessed. There is a confidence in this truth such as
was never felt in the previous cry, in the same degree; and a weeping
or melting glory in it that passes all understanding, except to those
who have felt it.
“On this present truth, I, through grace, dare venture all, and feel
that to indulge in doubt about it would be to offend God, and bring
upon myself ‘swift destruction.’ I am satisfied that now, ‘whosoever
shall seek to save his life,’ where this cry has been fairly made, by
indulging in an ‘if it don’t come,’ or by a fear to venture out on this
truth, ‘shall lose’ his life. It requires the faith that led Abraham
to offer up Isaac, or Noah to build the ark, or Lot to leave Sodom, or
the children of Israel to stand all night waiting for their departure
out of Egypt, or for Daniel to go into the lion’s den, or the three
Hebrews to go into the fiery furnace. We have fancied we were going
into the kingdom without such a test of faith; but I am satisfied we
are not. This last truth brings such a test, and none will venture
upon it but such as dare be accounted fools, madmen, or anything else
that Antediluvians, Sodomites, a lukewarm church, or sleeping virgins,
are disposed to heap upon them. Once more would I cry, ‘Escape for thy
life;’ look not behind you; ‘remember Lot’s wife.’”
N. Southard, editor of the _Midnight Cry_, September 26, 1844, says:
“Before God, whose swift, approaching judgment will bring every secret
thing to light, I wish to say, that up to this hour my professed
consecration to him has not been complete. If this fact makes me a
hypocrite, I have been one. I have not been dead to the world. If all
Christians are dead to the world, I have not been a Christian. But I
now say, let Christ be all, and let me be nothing. He has a balm for
every wound, for his blood cleanseth from all sin; and I, even I, can
stand complete in him.
“After writing thus far, I kneeled and asked God for direction as to
what I should say next. I arose and took my Bible, and opening it,
read Rev. vii, 9-17: ‘After this I beheld, and lo, a great multitude,
which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people,
and tongues, stood before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with
white robes, and palms in their hands; and cried with a loud voice,
saying, Salvation to our God, which sitteth upon the throne, and unto
the Lamb,’ &c. If this great multitude is admitted before the throne,
is there anything to keep me from being there? They differ in every
conceivable particular from each other, except in two. They have all
washed their robes in the blood of the Lamb, and have all suffered
great tribulation for his sake. Here, then, is the touchstone. Is
your robe all washed clean in the blood of Christ? or have you been
insulting him, by trying to patch up a robe out of the filthy rags of
your own righteousness? Alas! I have thought that I could rest partly
upon myself and partly on Christ. I now cast myself naked and helpless
upon that mercy which saved the thief on the cross, which received
denying Peter, which honored Mary Magdalene as the first witness of his
resurrection, and which changed a persecuting Saul into a chief apostle.
“But can I bear the second mark? Can I joyfully endure tribulation for
Jesus? Not in my own strength, but his grace is sufficient for me. In
that grace I believe; Lord, help mine unbelief.
“One of my besetting sins has been a desire to please those around me,
instead of inquiring simply, what would the Lord have me to do, to
be, and to say. I confess this before the world, but I cannot confess
that I have not thought I was doing right in publishing the evidence
of Christ’s near coming. I have not been half enough awake to the
greatness of the subject. May God forgive me in this thing, and grant
me grace to be wide awake till he comes. Dear reader, are you awake? If
not, it is high time to awake out of sleep.”
Elder F. G. Brown, October 2, 1844, says:
“I wish to say to all my dear brethren and sisters, who with me have
been waiting for the kingdom of Heaven, that I am thoroughly convinced
that we are now in that portion of the parable of the ten virgins,
represented by the cry at midnight, ‘Behold the bridegroom cometh,
go ye out to meet him.’ I fully respond to the cry; my expiring lamp
has been re-kindled, and I am now permitted, by God’s grace, to see
additional light blazing from the Scriptures, and all converging to one
glorious point, the advent of our blessed Lord this very month! My dear
friends, I have been in an awful, slumbering, sleeping state. I have
been on the verge of perdition; though I have never ceased to cherish
in my heart the great and leading doctrines of the Lord’s coming.
I thought a few weeks ago that I was in a pretty good state; awful
delusion! Look out for deception! Awake, and trim your lamps, or you
will be lost after all!”
Elder J. Litch, late editor of the _Advent Herald_, Boston, October,
1844, says:
“I wish to say to my dear brethren and sisters, who are looking for
the coming of the Lord on the tenth day of the seventh month, but
especially to those who have hesitated on the question, that the
strong objections which have existed in my mind against it, are passed
away, and I am now convinced that the types, together with the signs
of the times, are sufficient authority for believing in the Lord’s
coming at that time; and henceforth I shall look to that day with the
expectation of beholding the King in his beauty. I bless the name of
the Lord for sending this midnight cry to arouse me to go out to meet
the Bridegroom. May the Lord make us meet for the inheritance of the
saints.”
William Miller, Low Hampton, N. Y., October 11, 1844, says:
“I think I have never seen among our brethren such faith as is
manifested in the seventh month. ‘He will come,’ is the common
expression. ‘He will not tarry the second time,’ is their general
reply. There is a forsaking of the world, an unconcern for the wants
of life, a general searching of heart, confession of sin, and a deep
feeling in prayer for Christ to come. A preparation of heart to
meet him seems to be the labor of their agonizing spirits. There is
something in this present waking up different from anything I have
ever before seen. There is no great expression of joy; that is, as it
were, suppressed for a future occasion, when all Heaven and earth will
rejoice together with joy unspeakable and full of glory. There is no
shouting; that, too, is reserved for the shout from Heaven. The singers
are silent; they are waiting to join the angelic hosts, the choir from
Heaven. No arguments are used or needed; all seem convinced that they
have the truth. There is no clashing of sentiments; all are of one
heart and of one mind. Our meetings are all occupied with prayer, and
exhortation to love and obedience. The general expression is, ‘Behold
the bridegroom cometh, go ye out to meet him.’ Amen. Even so come, Lord
Jesus.”