is because his heart is yearning over the lost ones, and that before he closes for ever the gate of

mercy, he opens it as wide as possible, that some may enter in. If any reader of this book is standing without, let him remember that now, at this time, God's Spirit is arresting careless sinners, and making restless souls happy. He is anointing them with the oil of gladness, and preparing them for the coming of the Lord. And shall it be, can it be, that you will remain deaf to his invitation ? He is ready-oh! how ready-to receive you. Will you not come to him? Will you not go and take your empty vessel that he may fill it? "Seek ye the Lord while he may be found; call ye upon him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts, and let him return unto the Lord, that he may have mercy upon him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon."

And if at this moment you are feeling conscious of the danger you are in, and longing to escape from it, be persuaded not to allow that consciousness to pass away without bringing you to Christ. Nothing is so much to be dreaded, when God is working in hearts, as being satisfied with knowing your need without having that need supplied. There is no hindrance now in the way of any man who is willing to accept Christ's salvation. But Satan is constantly engaged in making difficulties. He persuades one that he is too busy just now to attend to that which he is beginning to feel supremely important. He presents to another metaphysical objections, which are very much of the same nature with those which made one philosopher pronounce motion an impossibility, though he walked every day of his life, and leads the poor conscience-stricken one to sit down and

consider how he can go to Christ, instead of cutting the knot by going to him. He hides from another the love and the grace and the atoning work of Jesus, and tempts him to think of him as only man, while feeling in his inmost soul that he wants for his Redeemer one who is also God. What will he not do to prevent an inquirer from becoming a believer? He knows that time is pressing. He is not blind to what God is doing. He is sure that ere long the day of grace will have passed, and that if he can but persuade any to remain unsaved till the cry is heard, "Behold, the Bridegroom cometh, go ye forth to meet him," it will be too late then. Will you not disappoint him? Dear reader, now you can buy without money and without price. If you could but see the heart of Jesus, you would see it all full of love. He is melting with compassion for those who are so foolish as to remain just on the borders of salvation. Hold up your vessel to be filled. Take it to him, empty as it is, and he will make it run over. He will give you salvation.

He will give you grace. He will give you glory. And enable you, with burning lamp, to go forth at the midnight cry to meet the Bridegroom.

CHAPTER IV.

INDIVIDUALITY OF GRACE.

MEN are not saved in masses, but by units. This is always true. No alteration in this respect will ever take place, certainly not before the second advent. And it is exactly the manifestation of the individuality of grace at Christ's coming which we have now to consider. Some seem to expect to be saved by union with Christians, instead of by union with Christ; and the purpose of that portion of the Parable of the Ten Virgins which comes next before us, is to teach us that each must have grace for himself.

The ten virgins all awoke together at the midnight cry, “Behold, the Bridegroom cometh." They were not, as we have seen, persons who laid no claim to acquaintanceship with the Bridegroom. They were waiting with the avowed intention of showing him honour, and the avowed hope of entering in with him into the marriage feast; and accordingly the midnight cry, unheard by others, awoke them all at once. There seemed, at first sight, to be no difference among them. They all awake, and make ready for what they now know to be so near.

All the virgins begin to trim their lamps, and it is in so doing the difference manifests itself. Before the lamps were not needed. It did not matter much whether there was oil in them or not; or, rather, it did not seem

to matter because they were asleep. But now the time was come for trimming them, in order to use them; and all ten proceeded to do so. It is not clear to me whether the lamps were burning before or not. It may be said, on the one hand, that the foolish virgins complain that their lamps were "going out"—such is the marginal reading—and that therefore they must have been lighted beforehand; and it may be said, on the other hand, that this expression would equally apply if the foolish virgins lighted the wicks while there was no oil in the lamps, and that the distinction between the two is not that the one took much and the other took little, but that one took some and the other took none. And then it is natural to ask, whether these oil-vessels were distinct from the reservoir of oil contained in the lamp itself. It is quite evident that, if we are to interpret every particular incident in the parable, we must know all these points. We cannot know them certainly. Very little is known about Jewish lamps, and if we knew about them ever so certainly, we should not be justified in resting any truth on such a foundation. But it is a matter of interest, and as it is not, at all events, out of harmony with what we know on other grounds to be the truth of God, I will state my opinion on this matter.

I do not think the lamps were lamps at all in our sense of the word, but torches, able to burn in consequence of the inflammable materials of which they were made. It is not uncommon in some parts of the East for torch-bearers to carry with them vessels of oil, the constant pouring out of which on the torch gives it all its brightness. But for the oil the torch would first grow dim, and then go out. The wise virgins and the foolish virgins had alike torches, but the one had also

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vessels full of oil, the other not. Both seemed to burn alike till the time came for proving the worth of them. Then it was found what made the real difference.

The foolish said unto the wise, "Give us of your oil, for our lamps are going out." The reason they went out was this, that they burned by their own power; they consumed themselves, and there was nothing from without to keep them burning. The want of this had not been felt by the foolish virgins before. They thought the light was everything, and the support of the light nothing; but now they were conscious of their mistake. They tried to make their torches shine, and found them, in spite of all their efforts, going out, while those of their sisters were blazing brightly. Oh, for some oil! Under these circumstances they ask the wise virgins to share with them that which proved to be so invaluable "Give us of your oil, for our lamps are going out."

The answer is a distinct refusal. "Not so, lest there be not enough for us and you; but go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves." It is clear that this incident is introduced for the sake of the interpretation, not for its own sake. In itself there seems something almost harsh and selfish in the refusal. It seems improbable that each should have brought so exactly the right quantity as to have none to spare; and one is inclined to feel that they would have done better to have risked having rather too little for the sake of their young friends. But all this shows us more distinctly that the part of the parable we are considering is an essential part of it. It would not have been introduced for its own sake, but bears with it some deeply important lesson. The wise virgins had enough for them