I. Brock-Reports Hundreds Heralding Midnight Cry

MOURANT BROCK (1802-1856), Church of England chaplain to the Bath Penitentiary and perpetual curate of Christ Church, Clifton, graduated from St. Mary Hall, Oxford, with a B.A. in 1825 and an M.A. in 1828. ^{1Alumni Oxonienses, 1715-1886, vol. 1, p. 163.} He was ordained in 1826. He was a voluminous writer, his works occupying an entire column in the British Museum catalogue. In 1883 he published a searching history of Rome: Pagan and Papal. Earlier works are “The Assurance of Believers in the Prospect of the Second Advent,” ^{2In The Hope of the Apostolic Church (Bloomsbury lectures, 1845).} The Lord’s Coming (1845), and Glorification (1845). The last had several American reprints by the American Millennial Association, and by J. V. Himes for the Millerites. In addition he issued The City Which Hath Foundations (1849) and Babylon and Her Fall (1854).PFF3 705.1

1. SECOND ADVENT MUST PRECEDE MILLENNIUM

Brock sharply rejected postmillennialism, and was a conspicuous advocate of premillennialism, as these trenchant words indicate: “Where, then, are we to introduce the Millennium? It clearly has not been manifested; it is not now being manifested; whilst, the chronological prophecies plainly show, that, with the greatest latitude of interpretation, there is no space for it to be interposed between the present time and the coming of Christ. If, then, this reign of righteousness has not been, is not now, and cannot be before the Second Advent of Christ, it is evident that it must take place after he comes; hence, we look for a Premillennial Advent of our Lord.” ^{3Mourant Brock, Glorification (American Millennial Association reprint), p. 134.}PFF3 705.2

2. MIDNIGHT DARKNESS AND SLUMBER

Regarding the proximity of the advent, he cites the parable of the virgins and the cry at midnight; holding the present to be the time predicted:PFF3 705.3

“It is at midnight that the cry is made. Look at Christendom; consider the gross darkness of the Papacy, the profound ignorance of the Greek, Coptic, and Oriental churches, the deep slumber of the Protestant and other churches abroad; mark the unwillingness too generally displayed at home to hear this warning voice, which is now, blessed be God, from watchman to watchman taken up. Slumber is upon the eyelids, though the cry is being raised. What, then, hinders but that the Bridegroom should be at hand, even at the doors?” ^{4Ibid., pp. 134, 135.}PFF3 705.4

3. 700 ANGLICANS RAISING THE CRY

The world-wide character of that cry that had been ringing in America, India, Continental Europe, is set forth in an important note:PFF3 706.1

“It is not merely in Great Britain that the expectation of the near return of the Redeemer is entertained, and the voice of warning raised, but also in America, India, and on the continent of Europe. I was lately told by one of our German missionaries that in Wirtemburgh there is a Christian colony of several hundreds, one of the chief features of which is the looking for the Second Advent. And a Christian minister from near the shores of the Caspian Sea has told me, that there is the same daily expectation among his nation. They constantly speak of it as ‘the day of consolation.’ In a little publication, entitled ‘The Millennium,’ the writer says that he under stands in America about 300 ministers of the Word are thus preaching ‘the Gospel of the kingdom;’ whilst in this country, he adds, about 700 of the Church of England are raising the same cry. ^{5Ibid., p. 135.}PFF3 706.2