But the wicked shall have his Portion with Hypocrites.

47 Verily I say unto you,

that he shall make him Ruler over all his Goods.

48 But and if that evil Servant shall say in his Heart, My Lord delayeth his Coming,

397

Verily I say unto you again, as I for-Sect. 163.

~

ner (f).
merly did, that he will prefer him as highly,
as if a Man should make his domestic Steward, Mat.XXIV.
who had served him faithfully, Ruler or Director 47.
of all his Estate, as a Reward for his Care in the
due Management of his Office. (Compare Luke
xii. 42,-44. pag. 121.)

But on the other hand, the faithless Wretch, 48
that is dishonest in the Execution of so high a
Charge, shall be severely punished: And if that
wicked Servant shall presume to say in his Heart,
My Lord delays his Coming; And shall on
fmite his Fellow-Servants, that Presumption begin to beat and abuse those 49

49 And shall begin to and to eat and drink with the Drunken:

For 50

of his Fellow-Servants, who are more faithful
than himself, and to eat and drink in a riotous
and extravagant Manner with the debauched and
drunken Part of them, or with other dissolute
Persons; he will do it at his Peril :
the Lord of that Servant shall certainly come in a
Day when he does not expect [him,] and in an Hour
when he is not at all aware, and cannot have Time
to put on a Face of better Order, or to provide
and invent artful Excuses; And feeing him
5
in the midst of his Revels and Ufurpations,
he shall scourge him so severely, that he shall
even cut him afunder (g), and appoint [him] his
Portion with Hypocrites, the most odious Kind
of Sinners in the Sight of GOD (b): With these
shall.

(f) Happy is that Servant, whom his Lord when he cometh, &c.] As no peculiar Rewards were conferred on any of the Apostles, or other faithful Ministers, at the Time of Christ's coming to destroy Jerufalem, this Clause sufficiently proves a Reference to the final fudgment; and will not permit us, with Dr. Hammond, to understand the Gnosticks, or with Dr. Whitby, the Apostate Jews, as particularly intended by the wicked Servant mentioned afterwards; which feems plainly to refer to a debauched and perfecuting Clergy, hypocritically pretending to a diftinguished Zeal for Christian Forms and Institutions.

(g) Shall cut him afunder.] That tearing, and cutting Persons into feveral Pieces, was a cruel Punishment used among the Antients, none acquainted with Antiquity can doubt; and Wolfius on this Text has demonftrated it, more copioufly than any other Critick I have feen. Yet as the Criminal is here represented as surviving this Punishment, and consigned over to wailing and gnashing of Teeth, after it had been inflicted; I therefore, as before, (Luke xii. 46.) muft understand it of being feverely fcourged, after which idle Slaves were often thrown into a Prison, where they lived miferably in every respect. To this our Lord alludes with a most obvious Propriety. See Sect. 114. Note (1), pag. 122.

(b) His Portion with Hypocrites.] Mahomet in his Alcoran mentions Seven Caverns in Hell, the deepest and most wretched of which is to be inhabited by Hypocrites. (Sur. iv. 2. 144.) Elfner, who takes this for a Jewish Notion, by a very fingular Criticism supposes

it

398

A general Exhortation unto all to watch. Sect. 163. shall this false Creature be righteously doomed there shall be weeping and to dwell for ever in those doleful Regions, where gnashing of Teeth.

Mat. XXIV. there shall be nothing but weeping and gnashing

51.

Mark XIII.

35.

of Teeth, proportionable to his former Indulgence
and Luxury, and to the Importance of that Trust
which he fo wickedly betrayed. (Compare Luke
xii. 45, 46. pag. 122.)

MARK XIII. 35. Watch ye therefore, for ye know

not when the Master of the House cometh; (at Even, or at Midnight, or at the Cockcrowing, or in the Morning:)

Let me then caution you, oh my Apostles
and Minifters, never to fuffer this important Ex-
hortation, which I have now been giving you, to
be forgot in any Circumstance of Life; but watch
ye therefore continually, for ye know not when the
Master of the Family cometh, whether in the
Evening-Watch, or at Midnight, or at the Cock-
36 crowing, or in the Morning: Early and late
hold yourselves in a prepared Posture, left coming he find you fleeping.
fuddenly, he find you fleeping, and negligent of your

37 proper Duty. And what I say to you in
publick Characters, I say to all my Disciples, in
every Station of Life, and in every Age, watch;
for in every Age and Station you will have Need
to do it, and Security may be attended with the
moft fatal Consequences.

Lukexxi. 36. Mat. xxiv.

xiii. 33.

W

36 Left coming suddenly,

37 And what I say unto you, I say unto all, Watch.

IMPROVEMENT.

HAT slothful Hearts must we have, if these repeated Admonitions do not awaken us; even Line upon Line, and Precept upon Pre42. Mark cept? The Patience of GOD is waiting upon us, as it did on the old World, while the Ark was preparing: (1 Pet. iii. 20.) May we take the Warning, and seek Shelter, before the Door be shut against us! Let Luke xxi. 34. us therefore take heed, lest Sensuality and fecular Cares overcharge and depress our Hearts, and amuse us with vain Delusions, till fudden and unavoidable Destruction come upon us. (1 Theff. v. 3.)

We are by Profession the Domesticks of Christ. Let us attend to the Offices he has assigned us, tho' he seem at a Distance. Let us diligently wait his Coming, at whatever Seafon. Let his Ministers especially wait it; and be folicitous, that they may be found fo doing, conducting themselves

399

Reflections on preparing for the Coming of CHRIST. like wife Stewards of the Mysteries of GOD, difpenfing to every one his Sect. 163. Portion of Food in due Seafon. Then will our Account be honourable, and our Reward glorious.

Ver. 47.

May God deliver us from the Guilt, and Condemnation of the cruel, Ver. 48, 49. the imperious, and the luxurious Servant, who began to beat his Fellows, and to eat and drink with the Drunken; fince we are expressly told his dreadful Doom! Justly does our Lord declare, that to such a one he will appoint a Portion with Hypocrites, terrible as their Portion must be; for Ver. 51. no Hypocrify can be baser, than to call ourselves the Servants and Ministers of Christ, while we are the Slaves of Ambition, Avarice, and Intemperance. Where-ever such are found, under whatever Mask and Form, may he reform them by his Grace, or difarm them of that Power and Influence, which they continually abuse to his Dishonour, and to their own aggravated Damnation! Let us in the mean Time be exhorting each other daily, while it is called To-day, lest any by insensible Degrees be hardened thro the Deceitfulness of Sin; (Heb. iii. 13.) and let us always remember, that every Exhortation, which we give to others, returns with redoubled Weight upon ourselves.

SECT. CLXIV.

CHRIST enforces his Exhortation to Watchfulness, by the
Parable of the Ten Virgins. Mat. XXV. 1,---- 13.

MAT. XXV. 1.

I

I.

UR Lord, in order to impress upon the Sect. 164. Minds of his Hearers a Concern about ~ Mat. XXV. the great and awful Day of future Judgment, Mat. XXV. to which the latter Part of his preceding Difcourse had fo plainly referred, went on to represent it under a Variety of most lively Figures, and particularly by the following Parable; faying, Then, or in that Day of final Account, when the faithful Servant shall be rewarded, and the treacherous Hypocrite so severely punished, shall the Kingdom of Heaven, or the State of Things under the Gofpel Difpenfation, appear to be like the Cafe of Ten Virgins (a), who being invited to

a

(a) Ten Virgins.) This whole Parable contains a plain Reference to the Custom, which prevailed among the Jews then, and still prevails among many Eastern Nations: (See The Customs

:

1.

400

The Parable of the Wife and Foolish Virgins.

Scct. 164. a Marriage-Feast, (which, according to the Cuftom of this Country, was to be celebrated in the Mat. XXV. Night,) took their Lamps as soon as it begun to grow dark, and went out together to meet the Bridegroom, and to light him to the House where the Banquet was to be kept.

2

took their Lamps, and went forth to meet the Bride

groom.

2 And Five of them were

And it appeared by their Conduct, that Five of them were prudent Perfons; and Five of them wife, and Five were foolish. were foolish and inconfiderate, who made no Provision against an Accident which might very

Whereas

3 naturally happen. They that were foolish, when
they took their Lamps, went forth with them
lighted, but did not take any Oil with them, befide
4 that which was at first poured in:
the prudent Maidens, confidering that they might
perhaps be obliged to wait some Hours took a
Referve of Oil with them in their Veffels, which
they carried with their Lamps, to feed the Flame
when the former Stock should be wasted.

5

3 They that were foolish took their Lamps and took

no Oil with them:

4 But the wife took Oil

in their Veffels with their Lamps.

5 While the Bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and flept.

But while the Bridegroom for a long Time delayed his Coming, as they were fitting near the House from which they expected him to come out, they all slumbered, and at length fell fast 6 asleep.. And in the very Middle of the Night (b), there was a loud Cry made in the Street, Behold, the Bridegroom is coming, go ye out immediately Bridegroom cometh, go ye to meet him, and arise to attend the Proceffion according to Order.

7

Then all those Virgins arose, and dressed their
Lamps, that they might shine as bright, and ap-

6 And at Midnight there was a Cry made, Behold, the

to him.

7 Then all those Virgins arose, and trimmed their Lamps.

The Wife are admitted to the Feast, and the Foolish excluded.

8 And the Foolish said

401

pear as clean as possible. And the Foolish Dam- Sect. 164. unto the Wife, Give us of sels in great Surprize faid to the Prudent, Give ☑ your Oil, for our Lamps are gone out.

9 But the Wife answered,

faying, Not fo; left there be not enough for us and you: but go ye rather to them that fell, and buy for your

selves.

10 And while they went to buy, the Bridegroom came; and they that were ready, went in with him to the Marriage, and the Door was

shut.

Afterward came also

Lord, Lord, open to us.

12 But he answered and faid, Verily I fay unto you, I know you not.

Mat. XXV.

us some of your Oil, for you seem to have a great 8.
Stock with you; whereas our Lamps are gone out,
and all our Oil is spent. But the Prudent re- 9
plied, [We cannot do it,] left there should not be
enough for us and you, and so we should all be left
on a sudden without Light, and the Bridegroom
be disappointed and affronted; but rather go ye to
them that fell Oil in the Neighbourhood, and buy
some for yourselves, as foon as poffible, that ye
may follow and join the Proceffion (c).

And while they went to buy it at that inconveni- 10
ent Time of Night, the Bridegroom and his Re-
tinue came; and those Maidens that were ready to
receive him, joined the Company; and when they
came to the Bridal House, they went in with him
to the Marriage-Feast; and, to prevent Distur-
bance, the Door was shut and fastened.

And fome Time after the other Virgins also I
the other Virgins, saying, came, and knocked at the Door, and called with
great Importunity, saying, Sir, Sir, we defire
you would open to us, who are also some of your
Guests, tho' by an unfortunate Accident we are
come a little too late. But he, being unwill- 12
ing to be disturbed in the Feast, and to open the
Door again, answered them, saying, Truly, I fay
unto you, I know you not (d): My House is al-
ready furnished with Guests, and I will admit no
more. Thus these thoughtless Creatures entirely
lost both their Labour and Expence, meeting
with nothing but Disappointment and Shame.
And such will be your Cafe, if you content your-
selves with a mere empty Profession of Religion,
while you fink into a careless and negligent Con-

duct,

(c) Buy for yourselves.] This seems merely an ornamental Circumstance; and it is strange, that any Popish Writers should consider it, as favouring their Doctrine of a Stock of Merits in the Church, founded on Works of Supererogation; fince if it referred to them at all, (which there is no Reason to imagine,) it would rather expose, than encourage any Dependance upon them.

(d) I know you not. ] This Circumstance in the Parable is not absurd; for nothing intimated a perfonal Acquaintance with them, and Guests asking Admittance with fuch a Pretence, might have been multiplied beyond all Reason and Convenience. At least its Significancy in the Application is very apparent and important.

VOL. II.

Ece