THE MIDNIGHT CRY.

CHAPTER I.

WISE AND FOOLISH.

ONE purpose of prophecy is to prepare the Church of God for coming events, for coming trials, and for the coming of her Lord. "None of the wicked shall understand," God said to Daniel; and Jesus, when announcing to his disciples the persecutions which his people would have to endure between his first and second advents, added, "These things have I told you before it come to pass, that, when it is come to pass, ye may remember that I told you of them."

We cannot neglect the warnings of Scripture without great danger. We may be quite sure that God has written nothing in vain. It is not for nothing that so large a portion of his Word is occupied in what men of the world pronounce unmeaning hieroglyphics; and it is a symptom of much significance, that these symbolic representations have engaged the attention of so many Christian men, and drawn forth so large an amount of diligent labour and sanctified learning. It is my full

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conviction that no honest attempt at unfolding the prophetic pages has been devoid of success; that each fresh commentator has been permitted to contribute his share of sound interpretation; that, on certain points, Mede, and the Newtons, and Faber, and Elliott, have clearly each of them grasped a portion of truth, and as clearly each of them made mistakes on other points; that the futurist writers, when their aim has been to investigate God's purpose respecting Israel, and not, as has been the case with some of them, to shield the great apostasy from its deserved condemnation, have thrown great light on some very dark corners of the field; and that nothing at this time can be more utterly vain than to profess to bring forward a new scheme of general prophetic interpretation. But the subject is not by any means exhausted; we have to put together and harmonize the discoveries of different investigators, and there are subjects still open to fresh discovery, and on which the student of God's Word may hope to throw fresh light. Taking for granted what may be looked on as established truth, I want to use it for those purposes of warning or encouragement for which it was designed, and then to explore further. It is my full conviction that truth of the utmost present importance, which has not yet received its due attention, is involved in parts of prophecy as yet misinterpreted; and if my view of the coming future, as will appear in subsequent chapters, is different from that of many dear brethren, and I see midnight approaching before the daybreak for which we are longing, and danger in certain tendencies which they hail as symptoms of good, it is no reason for withholding what I think, since truth is everything.

In no part of the Oracles of God is more truth concealed than in the parables. It does not lie so distinctly on the surface as in some other parts. We have to dig for it as for hid treasure, and must be contented to find it after diligent search. It is one of those mysterious things which we cannot fully understand, why our Lord spoke so much in parables. His own explanation of it only makes the subject more mysterious, and shows us that it is not to be referred to any ordinary cause, but sprung out of the very depths of the divine counsels. But one thing is quite clear, that he did not do it in order to discourage examination. On the contrary, to stimulate this, though not the only or the primary reason, is one very important end answered by his so doing. We must not neglect the parables because they present some difficulties. It is of the utmost moment to know all that Jesus intended to teach us. We must study what he has said in parables as well as what he has said plainly; and it will sometimes be found that the richest vein lies lowest, and that the crop is largest when we have turned up the sub-soil.

The Parable of the Ten Virgins is one of three which were spoken by our Lord in immediate connection with that prophecy in which he spanned the interval between his first and second advents. There is additional interest in them, from the circumstance that they may be looked on as, in one sense, the conclusion of his ministry; for though he did afterwards speak those beautiful words to his disciples after his last supper, recorded in St. John's Gospel, yet these belong more to his final act of atonement and reconciliation— they come in close connection with his death. His life of teaching may be looked upon as closing with the Pro

phecy on the Mount and the parables accompanying it. He gave his disciples a glimpse into the future, drew for them a vivid sketch of the events accompanying his coming in glory, and added these three parables to teach further truth, important for them, and perhaps still more important for ourselves.

First, we must look at the Parable of the Ten Virgins itself. It places us in the midst of an oriental marriage. This takes place at night by torch-light or lamp-light. The friends of the bride accompany the marriage procession with torches or lamps. In the parable there are ten of these young maidens waiting for the bridegroom's coming. It is probable they were waiting with thẹ bride, who is not mentioned, and accompanied her when the bridegroom came with his friends to fetch her home. This must have been one of the most familiar scenes to the Jew. Again and again he had watched these marriage processions. And our Lord seized on the circumstance to illustrate the greatest of all events to happen on our earth.

The ten virgins had gone forth to meet the bridegroom. They had each of them left their own homes and come to the house of the bride, with the avowed intention of showing the bridegroom honour. No mention is made of the bride, because it would have spoiled the parable to speak of her. The bride is the Church; so are the wise virgins: and both could not, without confusion, have been mentioned together. These ten virgins all came together for the same purpose. Most likely they all wore the same dress, were nearly the same age, in general appearance were much alike, and seemed to those who saw them undistinguishable. Each carried a lamp, and it appears that each of their lamps

was, to begin with, lighted; unless, indeed, which is perhaps more likely, they did not begin to light them till the cry was made announcing the bridegroom coming. But their lamps they all took. So far they exactly resembled each other, and any one who only saw so much, and only knew so much, would have had no right to draw any line of demarcation between them.

But there was a difference notwithstanding-five of them were wise and five were foolish. This does not relate simply to the act subsequently described; if it had, it would have been sufficient to have mentioned the act. The act was but a result of the general character. It was the general character of five of them to be wise and of five of them to be foolish; and while, as far as the language of the prophecy is concerned, it is quite possible to suppose them ignorant of one another's character, it is also quite possible to suppose them acquainted with it. Indeed, the act by which this wisdom or folly was shown was of a nature which hardly admitted of concealment. 66 They that were foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them; but the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps." It is hardly possible to suppose that the conversation subsequently recorded was the only or the first conversation on the subject. We may well imagine it to have been a topic of discussion beforehand. It is difficult, indeed, to imagine what reason the foolish virgins could give for taking their lamps without taking oil. Did they think the wicks would burn of themselves? Was the oil too heavy and troublesome? Had they never considered how they might obtain it? Were they careless about the whole matter? One thing is quite certain