fess to be. Hypocrites and unregenerate persons are not such as are effectually called to the marriagesupper of the Lamb, and are not among those who are betrothed to him and whose hearts go out in ginity. It is not a thing of degrees or of profession, but a possession which is perfect and real if it exists at all. In Scripture, and everywhere else, nothing is virgin which is not genuine, true, and pure, whether the word be spoken literally or tropically. There is not another word in the New Testament whose meaning it more clearly defines than this word παρθενος. It is ap plied to the five foolish virgins with the same unqualified positiveness with which it is applied to the five wise ones. And to rule out its testimony to the meaning of this parable, or to undertake arbitrarily to impose upon it here a sense which it nowhere else has, is as much as to say that we are at liberty to interpret the oracles of God in whatever way our prepossessions, caprice, or fancy may dictate. It is, furthermore, the first and allconditioning word in this entire description. To throw it aside is, therefore, like undertaking to decide a cause justly by setting aside the chief and most competent witness. For all this I am not prepared, and hence insist upon the admission of this word, which, according to its invariable scriptural meaning, ascribes to the foolish virgins a spiritual chastity as real and undamaged as that which belongs to the wise ones. Dr. Lisco, who has not given to his exposition of this parable the benefit and influence of his admission, is yet constrained to say, "Dass die ganze Gemeinde und die einzelne Seele eine Jungfrau genannt wird, deutet auf reine Liebe hin; . . . in welches keine fremde und unheilige Liebe sich einschleichen darf, wodurch die reine Brautliebe zu Christo befleckt würde."Bilderstoff des Neuen Testamentes, & 22. The writer of the article on this word in Kitto's Cyclopedia, also, says of it that "it is metaphorically used in the New Testament to denote a high state of moral purity." The wisdom and folly spoken of in this parable can by no possibility be made to refer to the virginity of the parties to whom they are respectively ascribed. The virginity is one thing the wisdom or folly is another thing. The joyous anticipation of his coming to receive his Bride. Hypocrites and unregenerate persons are not partakers of the consecrating, renewing, and sanctifying oil of the Holy Spirit; neither do they hear and heed the cry of the Bridegroom's coming, so as to bestir themselves with all diligence to be ready to meet him. Hypocrites and unregenerate persons, whatever may be their profession, have never had their lamps lit and burning, as these unwise virgins once had. The picture, therefore, must be that of real Christians, and of differences found among true subjects of grace. So also some of the profoundest interpreters have felt themselves forced to conclude. Stier says, "Both parties [in this parable] are virgins before Christ: there is no hypocrite or whore among them; they are not disloyal to Christ, the Lord and Head of his Church, the Bridegroom, but are completely parallel with those who afterwards (v. 24) are called his own servants, each of whom actually received and took his talent of grace from the Lord, and also did not throw it away. Nothing is here said of Christians wisdom or folly respects only the consideration and forecast exercised by persons already and equally virgins; the virginity refers to something much more essential and important, without which a man is not at all included in the description given in this parable. And as virginity literally means real pureness, and spiritual virginity must needs be-what the Scriptures uniformly and so particularly describe it to be-real freedom from spiritual whoredom, infidelity, and uncleanness, I argue that the five foolish virgins were as true, though not as discreet and eminent, Christians as any included in this parable. or Christian churches which are fallen away. The foolish virgins are not hypocrites or false Christians, who have the form of godliness without the substance; for their lamps also burn,-nay, burn long, even to the latest moment, and were therefore perhaps at first so copiously filled that, just for this reason, no further stock seemed to be necessary. Oil, also, is not altogether wanting: their lamps have rather such an abundant measure of it that they have thereby become secure."* Olshausen says, "The virgins, like the servants, are by no means intended to designate all members of the Church, but only those among them who stand in a position towards the Redeemer like that of the apostles and disciples generally. . . . The fact that they are all characterized as virgins, is a proof that the antithesis of wise and foolish is not to be taken in the sense of good and wicked. The foolish virgins. were not altogether destitute of the higher element of [Christian] life: their hearts glowed with love to the Lord, which impelled them to go out and meet him; they possessed the general condition of happiness, faith." (Comment, in loc.) Trench, even, remarks in one place that "by the foolish virgins are meant, not hypocrites, not self-conscious dissemblers, much less the openly profane and ungodly.”† ... I conclude, therefore, that it was not real Christianity which they lacked, nor any thing to distinguish them from the common household of true be * Words of Jesus, in loc. † Parables, in loc. lievers. They had been called; they had truly responded; they had made a good confession; they were thoroughly identified with the best of their kind; they were spiritually chaste; they had partaken of all the enlightening, quickening, and consecrating graces of the Holy Spirit; they had faith; they had love; they had turned their backs upon the world for the sake of being with Jesus in the promised feast; they were waiting for him even to the moment of his arrival; the midnight cry found them in their proper places, slumbering no more heavily than their more prudent comrades; they awoke as quickly; and they were no less anxious and active in what yet remained to be done to meet their Lord. And it seems to me like emptying the Savior's words of all propriety, to understand his description of any other than true Christians and members of the true Church. I know of no quality of Christian character or life which is not embraced in it. deficiency, as I take it, respects degree, not kind or quality. The foolish virgins had every thing the wise had, felt every thing they felt, did every thing they did; only the measure of oil they took was not arranged with so much discreetness and forecast. They were improvident,-foolish,—but not in the sense of wicked, nor yet so foolish as to go without oil. They had oil. They had also a considerable quantity of it,-enough to keep their lamps burning even to the last moment of the Bridegroom's long and unexpected delay,—but just not quite enough to be in a state of readiness when the cry of his hasty The approach broke upon them. Every thing that was necessary they had; but their supplies lacked in that abundance which enabled the others to fall in with the procession as it passed, and to go in to the marriage. By these improvident virgins, therefore, I can understand none other than real Christians, with no stain whatever upon the genuineness of their profession, but whose Christianity lacks that maturity of growth, depth of consecration, and perfection of development which alone can entitle to the highest honors and joys of the kingdom. The Royalties and Priesthoods of the world to come are not to be reached by the common orders of saintship. They are not reserved for such as never rise in their piety beyond the ordinary run of Christian attainment. When God sends out to have kings anointed for his kingdom, he will have none but the Sauls who stand head and shoulders above the masses, and the Davids whose intrepid courage not all the proud boastings of Philistia's mail-clad champion can shake, and the Solomons whose wisdom outshines all common sagacity and discretion. There must be a fulness of self-sacrifice for Christ, a completeness of obedience, a thoroughness of sanctification, an ampleness in all the graces of the indwelling Spirit, and a meekness and fidelity under the cross, resembling that of Christ himself, or there will be no crowns, no thrones, no kingdoms. We must suffer with Christ to be glorified with him. We must overcome in the day of trial, and keep his works unto the end, to sit with |