Midnight Cry - Volume 01, Number 06

              CRY!
NEW- YORK, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 23, 1842 NUMBER 6.
Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth it. For the vision is yet for an appointed time, bat at the end it shall speak, and not lie
though it tarry, wait for it ; because it will surely come, it will not tarry."
F. HIME1
Qor esteemed brother, Henry Jones, is a firm believer
|'. in- Christ's, second coming at hand; though he is con-
I'vmced frnm evidence wholly independent of theprophetic
periods. Thus the Lord is . giving us premonitions of his
{ coming suited to minds of every class. Brother Jones
i has written a series ot articles for the New York Lumi
nary, from which we shall make large extracts. Inh s
ffirst No. he quotes a'variety of predictions, of which the
I following are a sample :
I FEAHFUii SIGHTS SKEA. T SIGNS. & c.
| 1 - NO. i,
|; Luke xxi. 11. " Fearful sights and great signs
| shill there be from heaven." These are the words
?- ofChrist- : him « elf, given in i'Timediate answer to
; the question, " What sign will there be when these
f things shall corne to pass-?" Luke xxi. 7. Or,
fas Matthew has recorded the question, 4i What
f shall be the sign of thy ( Christ's) coming, aod of
flhe end of the world?" Matt. xxiv. 3.
* Matt. xxiv. 30. " And then shall appear the
| siga of the Son of Man in'heaven,' and then shali
Jitll the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see
It he Son of Man coming- in the clouds of heaven,
I with power and great glory."
Those are- also- Christ's words in answer to \ he
same question, aod they expressly tell us that there
twill be a " sign" of his 4i coming in heaven," and
" thatthis " sign" '' shall appear" before " they shall
| see the Son of Man coming," & c.
,! Matt. xxiv. 32, 33. " Now Jearn a parable of
the fig tree ; when his branch is yet tender and
putteth forth leaves,' ye know that summer is nigh.
So likewise^ ye, when ye shall see all these things,-
know' that it is near, even ai the doors," [ See Luke
PRICE TWO CENTS,
tdfi'piir $^ yipur,^[
in answer to the same inquiry for u the sign" of
his " coming, and the end of the world," and given
after he had distinctly foretold several events as
signs of his corning.-' And here observe even the
^ xpfess\' command of Christ, not only that we should
suppose it possible that he may come soon on our
| eeing such things as signs, but that we should ra-
| her then " jp* Q\ v, that it [ his coming,] is near, even
it the doors. 1 '- l - • '-' : "'
i M » lllilxiv. y 29. The sun shall « « be darkened,
|| nd the moon shall not give her light, and the stars
fhall tall from heaveri." See Rev. vi. 12, 13.
| Isaiah xiii. 10. " For the stars of heaven and
pe constellations itbareof shall not give their light;
fie sun shali be darkened in his going forth, and
pe moon shall not cause her light to shine."
I:'-.' • NO. H.
I Jiff, Editor^ As proposed in my.- other article,
I am aoiv to notice some of ihe fulfilled " wonders"
fjr s * fearful sights and great signs" of Christ's
|| cdnd coming at hand, already spoken of as being
" iprQfold by the holy prophets ; and let us begin
f 1 ' itttfh| e ISIORTB& RN LIGHTS, or the-,: All-flORA
BOREALIS^' now so- called. ; - -
I AIthough it is doubtless a fact that nearly the
fjhoie community have been, and are still under
i| e impression thai, this phenomenon . has been of
||> mmon occurrence'from creation, till the present
tjjnd, aid that it has nothing to do with prophecy ;
i|| will now be'considered as ; a literal and" awaken.
* al ~ /> " 1 '* 1 - ' in. part. of those, prophecies., which.
foretel the coming 4J to pass in the last days" of j
i4 wonders in the heavens,'* 5 and " fearful sights," j
| of " blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke.'' These '
I sights were to precede the " great and terrible," or j
" great and noiab'e day of the Lord." Let what
will be said on the opposite side, the fact will remain
that these wonderful phenomena, in their resem-blunce
of § t blood, lire, and pillars of smoke," have
many times perfectly answered to the fulfilling of
these prophecies. If, then, such prophecies were
designed ever to have a. literal fulfilment, this literal !
fulfilment has been many times given them in these |
" last days," or for more than a century past. But I
before presenting the positive proof of this position,
it will b proper to notice the
OBJECTION urged by many, viz,, that these phe- j
nomena are ancient as creation, proceed from na
tural causes, and are not foretold in prophecy.
[ admit at once, that, in many modern histories
of the Northern Lights, it is recorded that they are
very ancient, and that dates are given of their
having been seen " from the earliest ages; hut j
these modern histories, in opposition to the doctrine
of Christ's near coming, are not admissible testi
mony, inasmuch as there is no proof that such
modern records are true, while there is very much
proof against * hem. I will now present a few facts
which are understood to testify against the alleged
great antiquity of these '* fearful sights/' and
" wonders in the heavens."
. 1. There appears to be no real ancient history
of these phenomena, or none anciently written and
published recording their previous existence. For
several years, [ have sought at the most probable
places, and of the supposed most probable indivi
duals, for some such hisiorf vwhieli was ancient,
and especially in a book which was itself ancient :
but have not yet been Me to find uae of the char
acter. And why not, if these phenomena have
been on record- in all ages? As soon as they have
been seen in modern times, they are found in his
tory ! And why not before, if they had been wit
nessed ? There are, to be sure, many apparent
authentic, histories of the wonderful appearance of
these lights in London, March, 1716, and for aught
I know, as Dr. Halley and others say, they may
have been seen in some places still farther back,
yet the book printed farther back, which speaks of
them, is not found. A large " Dictionary of Arts
arid Sciences," in one volume, . published about
| eighty years ago, which gives a full account of these
phenomena, records their first occurrence at Lon
don, March, 1716, as above, and states that the
oldest inhabitants there had not previously seen or
heard of- them. The author of the Dictionary con
cludes his account by giving a long list of the wri.
tings he had found on the subject, the oldest of
which was a magazine in London for 1716, and
the next were files of the same magazine for ten
years following, with other works afterwards writ-ten.
If these things were so, could the Northern
Lights have been common in all ages ? Certainly
not,
2. A lady, supposed to be now residing in Say-brook,
Conn., informed me two years ago, that her
grandmother had often stated her recollection of the
first appearance of those lights in that place,' which
' occurred In the year 1730, and that the people of i
the place had not seen or heard of them before.
The date of this fearful sight was recollected by
the old lady from the memorable circumstance that
a Mr. Abiel Ladd was to have been married on the;,
evening of this wonderful appearance, and that the
wedding was broken up by the fright of the guests
on ihs occas'on, the ceremony being performed the
next day, when the sight was past.
3- An ancient book at my command, filled with
this very- subject, appears at once to settle the que&*
too, that these phenomena are the events of modern
rather than of ancient times, I allude to a small
volume of five sermons, on the text, " Fearful
bights and great signs shall there be from heaven."
Luke xxi. 11. This book is a real antiquarian
in all respects, and dated in two title pages, " Bos-ton,
1880." These sermons were delivered by the
far- known D. D,, Increase Mather, then a Congre
gational minister,- and father of the celebrated D*
D., Cotton Mather, both of Boston, and believers
in Christ's second advent at hand, In these ser
mons, the writer adhered closely to the above text,
making it a considerable part of his object through-out
to show that these " fearful sights/' & s., had
already been witnessed in- the heavens, as a fore
told premonition thai the Lord might be looked for
as soon coming " down with a long besorn of de
struction, to sweep away a world of sinners before
it. ?? And though, from his writings, it appears he
had searched histories on the subject, even back to
a comet of Methuselah's day, to see what wonders
had appeared m the heavens, he had found no ac
count of the Northern Lights.
4. It is now three years since I have published
bv the pulpit and the press, as extensively as pos
sible, many of these facts, calling on opponents to
proJuoc a history published befoje 1716, recording
the previous occurrence of the Northern Lights,
while none have yet even informed us where such
a book may be seen. Should such a history yet
fee found, ( and it may,) it must satisfy us of the
origin of these lights as far back as the date of its
publication.
5. But after all that can be said against the
modern origin of these " wonders," & c., as " great
signs" of the Lord's now near coming to judgment,
we have his own immutable testimony thai they are
not the common events even of the first ages, but
that they are rather " wonders" of the fi last days,"
and " signs" of the coming of Si that great and
terrible day of the Lord/' now specially near at
h \ nd.
In another article, it is proposed to notice some
earlier historic instances of the remarkable appear
ance of this phenomenon, as fulfilling the foregoing
prophecy concerning them.
HENRY
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