confusion and distress which now comes before us in the case of the five foolish virgins.

The awakening midnight cry had been given. The great clamor of the Bridegroom's immediate proximity was ringing in every ear. The drowsiness which once hung over them was effectually dissipated. Every faculty was now intent upon the one great absorbing thought of being ready to meet the longexpected one and to go in with him to the feast. All hands alike were busy with trembling haste trimming up their lamps. Never were wicks cleansed and stirred with more anxiety and despatch. Never was so much made to depend upon having them at once burning fresh and bright. It was a moment of intense concern,the last critical moment,—a moment on which the whole question of admission to the festival for which they came out was to turn,which would admit of no protraction or delay,-a moment when all must be ready, or fail in partaking of those nuptial joys and honors to which they aspired. And just in this moment of busy haste and required preparation, five of these maidens found that their oil was exhausted and their lamps about to expire. Strange and vexatious discovery to be made in a time of such exigency! So vivid is the picture that we can almost see the expressions of mingled hope and consternation of each as she draws up the wick anew, and nurses the feeble flame, which brightens a little only to burn the less.

66

-a moment

And the foolish [virgins] said unto the wise, Give us of your oil; for our lamps are going out."

Here now arises one of the most important inquiries in the interpretation of this parable,—namely, what that lack in some Christians is which is represented by the deficiency of oil in the lamps of these virgins. It has been a popular impression that these improvident virgins represent false Christians, unregenerate and dead members of the visible Church, hypocrites and self-deceivers. I have already adverted to some of the reasons why I cannot so understand it. Hypocrites and unregenerate persons are not "VIRGINS,' "* no matter how much they pro

* Professor Trench asserts that nothing can be argued from this term in the interpretation of this parable. But it is an assertion which cannot be maintained. This word is as much a part of the record as any other, and quite as prominent in the description. It is also one of the most univocal, significant, and carefully-guarded words by which the New Testament designates true Christians. In its literal sense it is found outside of this parable only in Matt. i. 23; Luke i. 27, ii. 36; Acts xxi. 9; 1 Cor. vii. 25-28, 34, 36, 37, where it is employed to denote untouched purity. In its tropical sense it is used but twice, and in each case accompanied with a fulness of description, besides, which leaves no room for its application to any other than real Christians. The first is 2 Cor. xii. 2, where it is employed to denote persons "espoused" to Christ,—Christians “uncorrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ," "-such as are fit to be presented to Christ as his Bride. The other instance is Rev. xiv. 4, where it is used to designate those who are "not defiled," "which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth," who are "redeemed from among men," in whom is "no guile," and who are "without fault." These passages give God's own explanation of the word, and show that in the mind of the Holy Ghost it denotes a flower of chastity and pureness which is not mere profession or semblance, but reality. Neither the word of God nor the language of man knows any thing of a bastard or spurious vir

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.