and hour knoweth no man. In both cases, multitudes would know not, till the flood came and swept them all away. In both cases there is but one and the same mean of safety, to watch and be ready.

It has pleased God to try the faith of his people, by requiring them to be always ready. Their death, is, to them, the end of this world; it is their summons from the Son of man, and cometh in such an hour as they think not. Therefore, like the master who goes into a far country, and leaves his servants in charge, he tells them to watch, that the lord may not come and find them unprepared. This is all that justice requires: account must be rendered-the time alone is uncertain. The master is not obliged to acquaint his steward on what day the account is to be taken; he warns him, that he hold himself ready. And to him who is ready, it little matters whether his lord's summons be sudden, or be long delayed. Blessed is that servant whom his lord, when he cometh, shall find so doing, as was his duty in the post assigned him.

It may seem indeed a blessing, even to the best and most watchful Christian, to have some time for reflection, some season for renewing repentance and confirming faith, before he goes hence and is no more seen. But in real fact, it is an advantage which belongs to very few. Such is the nature of those maladies which separate the soul from the body, sometimes lulling the senses asleep, sometimes racking the whole frame with pain, and often leaving a very short interval between the first seisure and dissolution,-that, to reckon on the season of illness as the season of preparation for death,

would be no wiser than to put off the preparing money to answer a debt, till we were summoned to pay it. And this is the exact meaning of our Lord's warning. Wherever he speaks on the subject, he always takes it for granted that there will be no time at last to make a change in a man's condition. "Know this, that if the goodman of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up.”

One, however, who is ready against the summons, cannot be taken by surprise, however unexpectedly he may be called. The sentinel, who is awake and under arms at his post, is not taken by surprise, though the enemy come in the dead of the night, and in the most unexpected manner. The servant who, during his lord's absence, rules the household as if his lord were at home, is not taken by surprise though the lord may come in a day when he looketh not for him. Neither is the faithful Christian taken by surprise, though the day of the Lord come to him "as a thief in the night.” Like the faithful sentinel, he is found watching. Like the trusty servant, he is about his lord's business; and whenever the Lord shall say, "Give an account of thy stewardship," he is prepared. For having believed that he had an account to give, he has prepared to meet it. He has secured an interest in the Redeemer's sacrifice; and he has not abused his Lord's trust, or lived unworthily of the service which he had entered. He has not begun to smite his fellow-servants, and to eat and drink with the drunken. He has denied worldly lusts, and re

nounced covetousness. He will be found having "the righteousness which is through the faith of Christ." He will be admitted "into the joy of his Lord."

LECTURE LXI.

PARABLE OF THE FOOLISH AND THE WISE
VIRGINS.

MATT. XXV. 1-13.

1. Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ta virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet th bridegroom.

2. And five of them were wise, and five were foolish. 3. They that were foolish took their lamps, and took m oil with them:

4. But the wise took oil in their vessels with ther lamps.

According to the Jewish custom, those who were invited to a marriage, were in waiting to meet the bridegroom when he arrived home and on his arrival they lit up lamps in token of joy and cogratulation.

Why is the kingdom of heaven likened to per sons engaged in this manner?

Because Christians are invited to a banquet, a feast of heavenly things; to a place in the kingdom of God; at whose right hand is fulness of joy, and pleasures for evermore. That kingdom is often in Scripture compared to a feast: and Christ, the head of the feast, who provides and bestows it, is for that reason styled the bridegroom. And as the party of virgins in the parable, had this business assigned them, to wait for the bridegroom and be ready when he came so is it the business of Christians to wait and watch for the coming of their Lord to be prepared for the hour when he shall summon them out of this world, and bid them appear before him.

Those virgins, however, who all went forth for the same purpose, to meet the bridegroom, were not all alike in character. Five of them were wise, and five foolish. This was manifested by their conduct. The foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them; but the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps, that they might have them lighted and in readiness whenever the bridegroom appeared.

This is the important part of the parable. The foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them. Now oil, which feeds the lamp, was the very thing they wanted; without which they could not be ready to meet the bridegroom: could not show their respect for him, could not do honour to him, could not give any proof that they belonged to his party, and were invited to attend his marriage and partake of his entertainment.

Therefore, these foolish virgins represent all those, who in a country like ours, though they profess and call themselves Christians, make no real, or no sufficient preparation against the great day when the Son of man shall require them to give an account of their lives. Many still remain, whom the parable does not include; many, who though Christians, because they live in Christendom, or have been baptized in the name of Christ, can in no sense be said to go forth to meet the bridegroom : they think nothing of him, or of his coming. Those, however, here intended, do make profession of religion; they attend its ordinances; they acknowledge an expectation of judgment, and of the world to come and it would be a grievous offence, if any one questioned their sincerity now, or their safety hereafter. But they take no oil in

their vessels with their lamps. They have the outward profession without the inward principles. They do not cherish those dispositions, they do not follow that course of conduct which must distinguish all whom Christ will receive as his own, and allow to enter with him into his kingdom. They do not seek this character, they do not cultivate it they neglect and despise it. Instead of desiring and asking "the inward renewal of their souls day by day" through the power of the Holy Spirit, they resist his grace by sin, or quench it by carelessness. Perhaps they argue that their lamps need no oil: their hearts are pure, and burn brightly of themselves: they "have need of nothing." Or their lamps were lighted at their bap