self God prevents him from so doing. He keeps his people watchful in order to keep them safe, and makes those afraid of grieving the Spirit whom the Spirit seals unto the day of redemption.

Have I oil in my vessel? Then I must keep my lamp burning. Whatever may have been the conduct of the wise or foolish virgins, our business is to be always watching for our Lord's returning. We are to be ready for the Bridegroom, come when he may. It does not become the Christian to keep his lamp untrimmed and his light feeble. How bright a prospect lies before us! We are going to partake of the marriage supper of the Lamb. Ere long the pearly gates of the New Jerusalem will unfold to let us in. But we cannot go without our lamps. They must be burning when our Lord arrives. Then let us watch them carefully, and feed them diligently, that each of us, when he comes, may be found ready to go forth to meet him.

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Have you no oil? It is not now too late to seek for it. Now it may be bought without money and without price. Christ is the Giver of the Spirit. Oh! if a longing desire for that best gift, it need not remain unsatisfied. Christ by his atoning work has purchased the blessing, and by his intercession pours it down upon his people. Go to him for the oil of grace, and he will not disappoint you. He walks in the midst of the golden candlesticks to feed the lighted lamps, and kindle fresh ones. Take your empty vessels to him, and he will fill them. Foolish you may have been, but he can make you wise now, only go at once; "For we know not the day nor the hour that the Son of Man cometh." And then the distinction will be eternal.

The wise and foolish virgins will then separate for ever. Now be persuaded to choose that better part which shall not be taken away from you. Be wise to-day. For one day the wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament.

CHAPTER II.

A SLUMBERING CHURCH.

We have now arrived at the prophetical part of the parable. The verses which we considered in the last chapter had no distinct reference to the future more than to the present. It was the condition of disciples in our Lord's day, as well as in ours, to be looking for the marriage-day of the Church, and throughout the intervening ages there always have been wise and foolish virgins, Christians in reality and Christians in name, men with grace in the heart and men without it. So far the parable belongs alike to every age.

But it was not then the Bridegroom could be said to tarry. While Christ was upon earth the Bridegroom was still with them, and when he had ascended into heaven they expected his speedy return. But the prophecy was given by the apostle, that "there would arise in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, and saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for, since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation." It is to this state of things the first clause of our text referred. Those who heard the parable could attach but little weight to the expression. They did not know, and could not know, how long it would be before the coming

of the Heavenly Bridegroom. It needed the lapse of eighteen centuries to unfold fully the meaning of the words. We know now what they signify. We look back through a long succession of ages. In each his people have more or less looked for him, but he has not come yet. He does still tarry. The unfaithful servant is ready enough to say, "My Lord delayeth his coming." The scoffer asks triumphantly, "Where is the promise of his coming?" And it needs the exercise of faith to

overcome the weariness of expectation long delayed.

"While the bridegroom tarried they all slumbered and slept." This is the one point of agreement noted between the wise and foolish virgins. It is quite evident that much care is requisite in interpreting this clause of our parable, not to run counter to other parts of Scripture.

There is a sense in which the Christian may sleep. "I will lay me down in peace and take my rest, for it is thou, Lord, only that makest me dwell in safety," says David. And Paul declares, "We which have believed do enter into rest." In this sense of rest, peace, quietness, the wise virgins might sleep wisely, while the foolish virgins slept foolishly. Anxiety, restlessness, becomes the unconverted, but does not become the saved. When a man has committed his soul to Jesus, he need be under no apprehension whatever. And as the traveller can sleep when all is packed up, and he is ready to start at a moment's notice; or the general can sleep when his dispositions are made, though on the eve of a battle, so the Christian may be, ought to be, at rest in the anticipation of Christ's coming, and enjoying the fulfilment of that promise, "So he giveth his beloved sleep."

On the other hand, the very same quietness which is right in the Christian is madness in the man without Christ. His lamp is not burning--he is not ready for the Bridegroom's coming. He has no oil. Then to sleep is to parish. He ought to be seeking mercy, and earnestly looking after those things which are needful. It is possible that the wise and foolish virgins may do the very same things, and that in the one it may be wisdom, and in the other folly. We cannot be too careful in bearing in mind the personal distinction between the child of God and the child of this world. We cannot address the same words to both. The duty of the one is by no means necessarily the duty of the other. We must alarm the one and encourage the other. We must speak to the one of approaching ruin, and invite the other to tranquil confidence. And we might in this sense understand the words we are considering as expressing that state of mind which was suitable to the wise virgins, but fatal to the foolish, that persuasion of all being right which enables a man to go to sleep to awake with joy, if he is so, and with shame if he is not so.

There is a sense in which the Christian cannot sleep. "Awake, thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light," is God's call to the unconverted. The believer is awake while all other men are asleep in sin, ignorance, and forgetfulness of God. It cannot be in this sense that it is said, "While the bridegroom tarried they all slumbered and slept." There was between the two companies all the difference of wise and foolish, of converted or unconverted. In this sense the five were awake, and the other five were asleep. It is of the very essence of conversion to be