joys of all the men that have had their hearts' desires were concentred in one heart, all that would not be as a spark in his chimney to the general conflagration of the whole world, in respect of the least joy that that soul is made partaker of, that departs from this world immediately after a pardon received, and reconciliation sealed to him for all his sins. No doubt but he shall have a good resurrection; but then we cannot doubt neither but that to him that hath been careful in all his ways, and yet crossed in all his ways; to him whose daily bread hath been affliction, and yet is

satisfied, as with marrow and fatness, with that bread of affliction, and not only contented in, but glad of, that affliction, no doubt, but to him is reserved a better resurrection. Every resurrection is more than we can think, but this is more than that 'more.' Almighty God, inform us and reveal unto us what this better resurrec tion is, by possessing us of it; and make the hastening to it one degree of addition to it! Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly to the consum. mation of that kingdom which Thou hast purchased for us with inestimable price of Thine incorruptible blood! Amen."

VI.

THE TEN VIRGINS.

"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 their 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. And the foolish said unto the wise, Give us of your oil; for our lamps are gone out. But the wise answered, saying, Not so; lest there be not enough for us and you: but go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves. And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came; and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage and the door was shut. Afterward came also the other virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. But he answered and said, Verily I say unto you, I know you not. Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of Man cometh."-ST. MATT. XXV. 1-13.

HE main truth which the Parable of the Ten Virgins is intended to illustrate is the future Advent of Christ; and, in connection with this, the fitting attitude of His disciples in the prospect of that event.

The framework of the Parablo-"the Earthly Story "is vory simple. Its sublimity lics in the spiritual truth-" the Heavenly Meaning"-which that frame

work sustains. Christ's similitudes made small things appear great. When He taught, the most ordinary circumstances of daily life became vocal with the mysteries of the Gospel kingdom.

In the celebration of Oriental marriages, the more important portion of the nuptial ceremonies were performed at night. The two companies met at the bride's residence, and both of them went thence in procession to the house of the bridegroom, lighted on the way with torches or lamps, serenaded with music, and surrounded with every demonstration of joy and gladness. The torch consisted of a small cup filled with rags and resin, and affixed to a rod that it might be held aloft. Since each member of the procession carried such a lamp, "the many separate lights dancing and crossing each other, and changing places as the bearers advanced on the undulating and tortuous path, imparted great liveliness to the joyful nocturnal scene."

The Parable represents a procession of this kind, assembled at the house of the bride's father, awaiting the coming of the bridegroom and his friends. There seems to have been some unusual delay in the appearance of the bridegroom. Lange's conception is that he was coming from a considerable distance, and some unexpected hindrances had occurred on his journey.

The young companions of the bride-a selected ten-closely corresponding to the bridesmaids at our marriage feasts,-anxious to discover signs of the bridegroom's approach went forth as the evening advanced to meet him; and according to the custom of the time, and without danger to health in the warm climate of Palestine, they lingered in a group by the wayside.

"Waiting long without employment, the maidens would stand and sit and recline by turns. Each holds a tiny torch in her hand, or has laid it on the ground by her side. As the night wears on, the conversation, that had at first been animated, gradually dies away, and one by one the wearied damsels drop over into snatches of slumber. Before midnight they have all sunk into a continuous sleep. At midnight a cry arose, apparently from some more wakeful watcher in the neighbourhood, 'Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him.' At this alarm the whole band awake simultaneously, and spring to their feet. Each maiden hastily snatches up her torch: not one of them burns brightly now; some are flickering low, and some are altogether extinguished. In a moment all those nimble young hands begin to ply the work of trimming the expired or expiring lamps. All alike are able to touch them skilfully, but the main want with every lamp is a new supply of oil. Some can supply that want at the moment on the spot, while others cannot. Those who had brought from home a supply of oil in separato vessels, found it easy to make the flame of their torches burn up as brightly as ever; but those who had neglected to provide such a supply could not, with all their efforts, revive the dead or dying light. 'Give us,' said the five improvident maidens, give us of your oil, for our lamps are gone out.' The more thoughtful, and therefore provided, watchers, while they pitied their sisters, were afraid to part with any portion of their own stores, lest they should be left in the same hapless condition ere the procession should close. Go to them that sell, and buy for yourselves.' Alas, this was now the only alter

"They that were ready went in with the bridegroom to the marriage: and the door was shut." And when at a later period the five foolish virgins who had gone in search of oil returned and sought admission to the festival, their plea was rejected; they could not now be recognized as the true friends of the bridegroom. "Afterward came also the other virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. But he answered and said, Verily I say unto you, I know you not."

Such is the scene which the Parable depicts. Nothing could be more simple in its character and details. Yet how sublime and piercing-how calculated to arrest the attention of the auditors, and stimulate every slumbering conscience into activity-is the solemn application of the truth, which it was our Lord's purpose to illustrate and enforce by this "earthly story ":

"Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of Man cometh."

The Parable seems to suggest four main reflections, which we shall notice in succession: :

I. The Son of Man, the Lord Jesus, the Bridegroom of the Church, will come again.

II. The members of His Church are called to "go forth to meet Him."

III.-In order to this going forth to meet Him, it is essentially necessary they should have a supply of what is equivalent to "oil" for the lamp, namely, grace in their hearts.

"The Parables of Our Lord." By the Rev. W. Arnot.

The first thought, then, is this: The Son of Man, the Lord Jesus, the Bridegroom of the Church, will come again.

We say not when He will come again; for the Scriptures reveal it not. Indeed, did we know when He will come, there could be no exhortation to "watch." The call to watchfulness implies our ignorance of "the times and seasons." This ignorance is in fact the very ground on which that watchfulness is urged upon us,-"Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come." 99

Watchfulness for the Second Advent is to be the watchfulness of expecting faith, not the curiosity of calculating speculation. Many, we fear, have set themselves to calculate the "times and seasons," who have failed to estimate the sinfulness and bitterness of sin, or the preciousness of Christ as the Saviour of sinners. The Son of Man will come as the "Bridegroom" of His expecting Church. It is the personal and experimental knowledge of this endearing relationship between Christ and His Church, which alone can issue in a Scriptural anticipation of His coming-a truly Christian faith in the Second Advent.

We need scarcely remark that this Advent of Christ must not be confounded with the day of death's advent. This were to introduce again the idea of the time when He will come; whereas the fact of His coming, not the time when, is the food of a Scriptural and expecting faith.

He will come again! The time and many of the circumstances of His coming we cannot determine; there are mysteries connected with futurity which finite mind may not penetrate or attempt to solve. But on this simple but glorious assurance-"He will come again-we may rest the faith of the soul. So doing, if Jesus is "precious" to us, whether it be our lot to see Him descend to our world before we "sleep in Him," or to awake on the Resurrection morn, and, with the vision of glorified and spiritual

in joyful anticipation realize even now, as Christ would have His people realize in every age of His Church's history, the Advent itself. Believing that "He will come again," the absorbing interest of the great event will bring it near. Faith annihilating intervening time, we shall feel the influence of the doctrine on our spiritual being is as great as if we had the actual evidence that the event was close at hand.

Let us pause amid the activities of the busy passing present, and, looking into the unknown but certain future which lies untrodden before us, ask ourselves, Is not this faith in the Second Advent worth possessing? All human anticipations of earthly good must be bounded by the line of mortality, and "there is but a step between us and death." Death will come! O sad and mournful thought!—too sad, too sorrowful, for man to allow his mind to dwell upon it, unless he is able to add that other thought,the Conqueror of Death cometh too! HE will come again! O blissful thought! too full of joy for mortal expression-"joy unspeakable, and full of glory"—when, by faith, "though now we see Him not," we nevertheless realize the fact of the Bridegroom's Advent, as the hope of His expectant Church!

The members of Christ's Church are called to "go forth to meet Him."

This "going forth to meet" the Divine Bridegroom may be regarded as the test of our faith in His coming. It reminds us that faith is "dead" if there be no corresponding activity of the soul demonstrating its existence and vital energy. If our faith in the Advent be a living and a Scriptural faith, it will prompt us to think much about it. W shall be led to withdraw our thoughts, t fitting seasons, from other objects of interest, in order that we may think about it. There will be times of meditation. Otherwise there can be little real anticipation,-"going forth to meet the Bridegroom."

A parent who knew that his long-absent child was coming to his home from a far land, would necessarily, if his heart were

Fountain of life itself.

So is it with the Church and her faith in the coming Bridegroom. If the faith be of the right kind, faith working by love, faith generating and deepening love, there will often be the spiritual desire which "hastes unto the coming." Recognizing Him as our Saviour, "the Chief among ten thousand, and the altogether lovely"-as "of God made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption,"—we shall find Him so precious, that His Advent, the day of His coming, will be a day of days in our anticipation; and faith will bring it so near that we shall never cease to look for Him. Our instant prayer will be, "Lord Jesus, come quickly."

Thus we shall “ go forth to meet Him."

In order to this "going forth to meet the Bridegroom," it is essentially necessary we should have a supply of what is equivalent to "oil" for the lamp-namely, grace in our hearts.

Oil, whether employed to anoint a person or to feed a flame, is a Scriptural type of the Holy Spirit. This is its clear signification in the Parable. "The oil which the wise virgins carried in their vessels, as distinguished from that which burned in their lamps, points to the Spirit as a Spirit of grace and supplication dwelling in a believer's heart. All experienced convictions and made profession, as is indicated by the lamps lighted and borne aloft; but some had nothing more than convictions and professions, while others had passed from death unto life, and had gotten their life through the Spirit's ministry, 'hid with Christ in God.'"*

"We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Author and Giver of life." We believe that Rev. W. Arnot.

Any mistake here must be fatal. Nothing but the oil of Divine grace can possibly sustain light in the soul, as light is sustained in the lamp, when the True Light, the Lord Jesus, is revealed from Heaven. False lights-" sparks of our own kindling"--will then be utterly extinguished-become invisible, just as the stars become invisible in the meridian light of day. The religion of impulsive feeling-the religion of ceremonial formalism-the religion of Pharisaic selfrighteousness-the religion of self-confident morality, which only makes the sepulchre fair without, can prompt no joyous welcome to the Bridegroom of the Church when He comes for in "the presence of His glory" every secret thought will be manifest, and the hidden things of darkness revealed.

Let none, then, trifle with this momentous question of grace or no grace. Knowledge, gifts, profession, will not avail if grace be absent. Let us test ourselves by such inquiries as these:-Am I the subject of pardoning grace? Do I know anything of the blessedness of "the man whose iniquity is forgiven and whose sin is covered"? Am I humble enough to acknowledge myself "a debtor to mercy alone," my hope as a sinner resting on the atonement of my Saviour? And am I the subject of sanctifying grace? Am I conscious of the strivings of a spiritual nature longing to "perfect holiness in the fear of the Lord"?

As a motive to stimulate us to this kind of scrutinizing inquiry, we notice, as the final lesson of the Parable,

The danger of self-deception to which we are exposed, as to the possession of grace in the heart.

It is evident that the foolish virgins were thus self-deceived. They were professedly the friends of the bridegroom. They all went forth with the purpose of meeting him. They all had lamps, which doubtless burned at first with equal brightness, and which they intended should be burning when the bridegroom came. The line of demarcation between the foolish and the wise, only became apparent when the lack of oil in the

So is it in spiritual things. There may be an outward profession-an avowal of a Scriptural faith, and even an apparent advance in Christian experience, and yet the root of the matter may be lacking. In the "time of tribulation "-the testing, sifting, dividing time-there may be a falling away; manifestly proving the absence of the grace of God in the heart, and showing how true it is that "One part of the Church is living, while the other lives only in appearance, because it lives only to appearance."

A difficulty has been thought by some to arise from the statement that all the virgins slumbered and slept whilst the bridegroom tarried. This slumbering is supposed to imply a common fault, -the wise and the foolish equally erring; and it has been urged that this favours the view that even the foolish virgins represent true, although defective, disciples. We cannot, however, admit either the interpretation or the inference derived from it. The fact of their "all" sleeping may, by way of illustration, point to the painful truth that the disciples of Jesus do often slumber sinfully at their post like their worldly neighbours; but it does not teach that truth. Their slumbering seems to have been perfectly natural and justifiable under the circumstances of delay in the arrival of the bridegroom's procession, and is best regarded as a mere incident in the Parable, bearing no special spiritual significancy. But if any lesson is to be gathered from it, Calvin appears to suggest the most reasonable and profitable one. He conceives the sleep that oppressed the waiting virgins to intimate the necessity that lies on all and therefore on true disciples-of going down into the ordinary affairs of this life. Disciples in the body cannot be occupied always and only with the expectation of their Lord's appearing. "Sleep and food, family and business, make demands on them as well as on others, which they cannot and should not resist. If the coming of the bridegroom be delayed till midnight, the virgins must slumber: and this is not a special

* Lange.

necessity of nature." It certainly was not the virgins' "slumbering" which caused any of them to be unprepared when the bridegroom came; nor are they unprepared for the coming of the Son of Man who by the sudden advent of death are surprised, it may be, in an hour when every power and faculty of body and mind are absorbed in the affairs of this world.

No; the dividing line depended simply on the possession or non-possession of oil to kindle afresh the lamp when the bridegroom came: and the unexpected discovery of their need by the foolish virgins when it was too late to seek a fresh supply, impressively warns us against the danger of self-deception as to the possession of grace in the heart, -to which we also are exposed.

It is possible for us to have "a name to live" as professing disciples of Christ, whilst we are spiritually dead. It is possible to go on from month to month, and year to year, flattering ourselves that all is well with us, and suddenly-it may be on the near approach of the end of life-to discover that we are strangers to the grace of God.

With terrible faithfulness the Parable pourtrays the lamentable issue of such a case of self-deception. The foolish virgins, finding their wise companions had nothing beyond the necessary provision for their own lamps, went to seek a supply of oil from those who sold. "Afterward" they came to the door, and earnestly sought admission, saying, "Lord, Lord, open to us." But the Lord answered from within, and said, "Verily I say unto you, I know you not." It was hopeless seeking now, because it was too late!

66

The spiritual warning bids us "make our calling and election sure" whilst the day of grace lasts. The possibility of our being left to invoke the name of Christ in vain at the hour when heart and flesh are failing, should indeed lead all to seek Him "while He may be found"-to call upon Him "while He is near." The application of this main lesson of the Parable, as it is given by Arndt, depicts no imaginary scene: every faithful pastor could verify it.