been a mere encumbrance without oil. The same is also implied in the fact that they actually "went forth to meet the Bridegroom." This they did at nightfall, when lamps were needed, and with the expectation of his speedy arrival, when their lamps had to be burning. But the point is rendered still clearer by the statement of the eighth verse, that their lamps, by the time the Bridegroom came, had nearly burned out. They rise and say, "Our lamps are gone out." This is a plain intimation that they had been burning, and, if once burning, then also once supplied with oil. Nay, according to the reading of the margin, and the literal meaning of the original, their lamps were even then still burning. They were only "going out."* This, then, proves unmistakably that all these virgins had oil in their lamps, and had those lamps lit and burning. Indeed, if I am at all correct as to what the lamps denote, it cannot be otherwise but that all, as all took lamps, must have been possessors of that sacred unction without which they never could have had light, or been candlesticks of the truth.

From this, therefore, I conclude that this parable has nothing to do with hypocrites, tares, or wicked ones. It includes none but real members of the real

* The word oßɛvvvvraι does not mean entirely extinguished, but simply in process of becoming so. The more literal reading given in the margin renders it "are going out." Bengel translates it "are being extinguished;" so also Dean Alford. Greswell says, "The meaning is, that their lamps had begun to be extinguished, but were not quite extinct; that they had begun to go out, but were not yet gone."-Parables, v. 469.

Church of Christ; that is, real subjects of converting grace. Oil is the fixed symbol of the Holy Spirit.* It was used under the old dispensation in token of consecration to the highest and holiest offices on earth. To have oil in our lamps, then, as Christian confessors, is to be anointed and consecrated by the Holy Spirit, to have "the unction of the Holy One." As all these virgins had oil in their lamps, and so had real substance in their profession, they all had "tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost." They were all true "virgins," and subjects of a genuine work of grace. They were all alike anxious to meet the Bridegroom and to partake of the marriage. And the love, faith, and sincerity evinced by the one class do not appear to have been less or more than in the other. They all had lamps. Each lamp was also amply supplied And all went forth with their torches

for the time.

lit and burning. respects.

66

But they were not all alike in all

'Five were wise, and five were foolish. They that were foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them;"

That is, they took no more than their lamps would contain.

"But the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps."

These "vessels" I take to be whatever receptivities

* See Ex. xxx. 22, 23; Lev. viii. 12; Zech. iv. 2, 12; Acts x. 88; Heb. i. 9.

there may be in man for a deeper and higher consecration than that which pertains to the ordinary Christian profession.* The difference, therefore, between the wise and foolish was, that the wise laid in beyond and above what the case seemed to require, and that to the utmost possible measure, whilst the others contented themselves with what appeared to be the ordinary necessities of the case. It sets forth the fact that not all true Christians are equally eminent in their attainments and sanctification. There are some who never get beyond the rudiments of Christian life. They are virgins, and witness a good confession, and have true love of God in their hearts; but their religious principles are not so deep-laid, their calculations of the cost are not so minute, their consecration to Christ and his cause is not so profound, and their diligence and exertions are not so vigorous nor sustained from springs so deep and ample, as in some other cases. They build upon the true foundation; but they build "wood, hay, and stubble," which will not stand the trial of fire. It requires eminent saintship to attain to the high honors of "the Church of the first-born." It requires more, even, than chaste virginity of character and sincerity of faith and profession. To all this there must be added a wise discreetness, which never rests whilst there are positions of greater excellence and profounder consecration to be attained, and which, like Paul, never counts itself to have ap

* So Stier, Olshausen, Valenti, Poiret, and Bengel.

prehended, but forgets the things which are behind, and reaches forth unto those things which are before, ever pressing toward sublimer and sublimer marks of our high calling of God in Christ Jesus. For this diligent, untiring perseverance the wise virgins had provided. They were of those who count all things. but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ, and are willing to suffer the loss of all that they may be found in him, and would cheerfully share even his great sufferings if by any means they may attain unto the resurrection from among the dead. This was their wisdom. And the high resolve and deepseated consecration which bring about such a surrender to God's will and service, is the oil which they took in their vessels additional to what was in their lamps. The five unwise ones lacked in this fulness and all-sacrificing depth of devotion. They had not calculated so seriously in these matters. Sincerely as they had moved, and devoutly as they desired, to meet Him whom they loved, they were content with much humbler measures of grace and consecration. This was their want of prudence, and the cause of their ultimate exclusion from the marriage. And of these two classes even real Christians are composed, as we shall more particularly see hereafter.

"The Bridegroom tarried.”

This little sentence stretches through many ages. It also presents a very remarkable point in this parable. It asserts that the Bridegroom was much slower in coming than the virgins anticipated. He

"tarried." They had to wait, and wait, and wait, before he came. This has been true of the people of God in every age. When Eve first took into her arms the first-born of human kind, she thought that now the promised Redeemer had come to crush the serpent and restore lost Paradise. "I have gotten him," was her joyous exclamation; "I have gotten him,— the man, the one that was to come." (Gen. iv. 1.) But it was only a murderer she had gotten. The coming of the promised One was still far away. When Simeon took the infant Savior in his arms, he said, "Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, for mine eyes have seen thy salvation." (Luke ii. 29, 30.) He supposed that the time for the fulfilment of all the promises had arrived; but it was only the precursory advent that he had lived to see. The time for the great consummation was still far off in the distant ages. The early Christians certainly contemplated the Savior's coming as much nearer than it actually was. Many of them expected to see in their day the standard of his glory unfurled in the heavens, and trusted that his revelation was to occur whilst many of them still lived. Paul speaks of himself and his brethren as likely to be among "them that are alive. and remain unto the coming of the Lord." (1 Thess. iv. 17.) He tells the Corinthians that his calculation was that they should "not all sleep" before the time would come in which "the last trump" would sound, and they "be changed." (1 Cor. xv. 51, 52.) And to the Hebrews he wrote, "Yet a little while, and he that shall come will come, and will not tarry." (Heb.