The L'Anse sentinel. (L'Anse, L.S., Mich.) 18??-current, 1903-03-21
AND AT MIDNIGHT. "
Hour Of the church's Triumph, and
Hour Of the Worlds Woe.
The Foolish Virgins Forced to En-
dure the Period of TribuIatiOn-
Sermon by the "Highway
and Byway" Preacher.

copyright. 1908. BY A. N. Kellogg News
paper Col
Chicago, March Is. 1903
TExT.-"And at midnight there was q
cry made. Matt. 2s:s.
- ONE of the most tragic and
~ most momentous events in
- profane and sacred history
have transpired during the quiet hush
of the midnight hour. Man has fire.
quently chosen that period to plot
and to plan, to work and to execute,
and God has often found it a con-
venient season in which to move
among men and carry out His eternal
purposes. The words of our text are
taken from the parable of the ten
virgins, and mark the advent of the
Bridegroom as He comes to claim His
bride and go into the marriage sup
per. Dut it must not be supposed
that they fix definitely the hour of
the second coming of Christ, for
Christ Himself declared that "of that
day and hour knoweth no man, no,
not the angels which are in Heaven,
neither the Son, but the Father"
and so "
''It may be at morn. when the day is awak-
ing,
When sunlight thro' darkness and shadow
IL breaking.
That Jesus will come In the fullness OF
glory,
To receive from the world His own
at may be at midday, 1t may be at twl-
light.
1t may be. per,,iance, that the blackness
Of midnight
Will burst into light in the blaze of His
glory,
When Jesus receives His own"
The waiting church, Christ's bride,
represented by the ten virgins, hears
the cry and trims the lamps in readi-
ness to receive it's coming Lord. The
five wise virgins, with the oil of the
Holy Spirit filling their hearts and
keeping the fame of their faith burn
ing brightly, pass quickly on to meet
their coming Lord and go with Him
into the marriage supper. The five
foolish virgins, whose heads have re-
ceived the truth in regard to the
Christ, but whose hearts have not
opened up to receive the Holy Spirit,
find that the lack quenches the
fame of their faith in the crucial
time of the coming, and while they
go in eagerness, apparently, to sup
ply that deficiency. the door is shut
and the wall of disappointment and
anguish bursts from their lips.
UNUT," declares Rev. G. Campbell
u Morgan, the. eminent Bible
scholar and exponent of the Scrip
lures. 'we have no warrant for
speaking of the foolish virgins as
lost. The punishment to them is that
they will have to pass through the
tribulation from which the wise have
escaped. This is no exception to the
general rule of Scripture, by which
oil is symbolic of the Holy Spirit.
Those who will be ready to go in
with the King to the marriage feast
will be such as have full supply of
the Spirit of Jesus Christ"
The tribulation to which Mr.. Nor
gan refers is the period which elapses
between the time of translation
of the church and the return Of the
church with it's Lord to rule over the
world during the millennial age. The
foolish virgins who were watching
but not ready, will be left behind in
the world to endure the trials and
distress Of the tribulation period
But to pass on to the thoughts
which we wish to draw from our text,
for it is not our purpose to develop
the plain lessons of the parable,
which are the necessity of prepared
ness for the coming of Christ, and
the absolute inability of one saint
giving part of his supply of the
Holy Spirit to fill up the lack of the
careless one who has failed to obtain
the precious oil.
n HE Midnight Hour.-It was at
midnight that the Bridegroom
came. Darkness, grim darkness. sat on
her throne, the conqueror of the day.
Strange hour for the Bridegroom to
come! 1t is not so with man. The
king of day is at the zenith of his glory
when the bridegroom of the fashion
able church wedding comes to claim
his bride ut the altar. But Christ, the
Bridegroom, is coming at the black
hour of midnight to take to Himself
His bride, the church. It Is signifi-
cant. 1t is declared of Jesus upon His
first advent into the world that He
came as Light into arkness, but 'the
darkness comprehended 1t not" and
we sing:
'-The whole world was lost in the dark
ness of SIM
1t was dark>at Jesus first coming. 1t
win he the blackhess of midnight which
will wrap the world in its folds when
He comes again. The morning light
may be just breaking in the east,
awaking the world to another day, but
II IL marks the advent of the return
ing Lord, II will be the midnight Of
the worlds sin. The sun may have
sailed majestically up the blue of the
heavens and be riding gloriously in its
midday splendor, but IL the Lord, COM
fn0 in the chariot of the clouds and