hast redeemed; Thou hast guided them in Thy strength unto Thy holy habitation ;" and with this song is blended that still more glorious and precious new one of the Lamb, "Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for Thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by Thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation; and hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth." "Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb."

SECTION LXXIV.

(Chapter xxv. verses 8-13.)

OUR comments on this parable will be incomplete if we do not take in the unhappy case of the five foolish virgins. We have already just glanced at them, and I then remarked that they were rather self-deceivers than hypocrites. Self-deluders are a far more numerous class even than hypocrites, and the openly ungodly and profane: they are those whom the Apostle James designates "as hearers of the word, not doers, deceiving their own selves." Hypocrisy is a sin of far more odious and loathsome dye the hypocrite means to deceive man, and hopes to deceive God; the self-deceiver intends to deceive no one, but ends in deceiving both the world and himself. Their end is, alas! the same.

These are the outward decent, nay,

more, the apparently religious, the sincerely formal -those who confine religion to its mere surface, its external services and ordinances, or as the Apostle Paul describes it, "having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof." In a word we may say, as the wise virgins are representatives of the religion of Christ, of real vital godliness, so are the foolish of the religion of the world. Like Orpah and Ruth, the daughters-in-law of Naomi, they alike set out to accompany their mother to the land of Israel, both apparently equally sincere, equally affectionate, equally with their backs Moabwards, and their faces Zionwards: but here the resemblance ends; where the roads diverge, the one separated and went back, the other went onward. The wise and the foolish continue in each other's company, bent on the same work, looking for the same end, and giving no outward token that there was any difference between them. Admitted into fellowship with the church by the same symbol of grace, frequenting the same ordinances, kneeling around the same table, and partaking of the same elements, and alike looking for salvation through the same Saviour, there is no distinction perceptible to the eye of man. And so they both grow together till the harvest. The day, however, of separation comes, the hour of disclosure arrives, the veil is taken from their eyes, and at the moment of need they see their house swept along the wild waste of waters. They are like the fig-tree on which our

Lord came seeking fruit, but there was nothing but leaves-no inward work of grace, no renewal of the heart by the power of the Holy Ghost, no walk of faith, no "life hid with Christ in God," no meetness for the inheritance of the saints in light,-the affections as carnal, the heart as worldly, and as sluggish as they ever were. And, what is most painful and sad, the delusion continues to the very last; nor do they seem to have had even the most distant thought of their irrevocable doom, till the words, “I know you not," sounded in their ears. The same call that awoke the wise, awoke the foolish also; the same summons aroused both: "Behold, the Bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet Him." They were perhaps alike blameable in the slumber that overtook them; yet the wise, ere they lay down to rest, trimmed their lamps, and provided that they should not be out of order when they awoke, in the same spirit of thoughtful, trustful reliance with which David acted: "I will lay me down in peace and take my rest, for it is Thou, Lord, only, that makest me to dwell in safety.' It is evident that the foolish omitted to do this, for when they too awoke, their lamps had gone out, their store of oil was wasted, and at the moment of need there was neither readiness nor preparation to meet their Lord. It was perhaps but natural that, in their distress and perplexity, they should ask those at their side to help them; but, alas! what could they do? "If the righteous

scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?" Their own lamps needed all they had, how could they give of that which only sufficed for themselves? And, alas! I would say, what, at such an hour, "when men draw near to the gates of death," can the world do for them? what can friends, and weeping relatives, what can the minister of Christ, hastily summoned, and perhaps imperfectly understood,-what can all do? They can but do, as the wise virgins did, as Jesus Himself counselled, "buy of Him gold tried in the fire, and white raiment, that the shame of their nakedness do not appear." And yet the parable most fearfully warns us, that all counsel may be too late. Of the five foolish and unprepared ones, not one was admitted: the door was closed against them all; and the sentence of final and irrevocable exclusion extended to each and all. I would just say, before I close, that the Roman Catholics have been peculiarly unfortunate I should say, infatuated-in their selection of texts of Scripture to uphold many of their false doctrines. As for instance, for the worship of saints, they quote John falling down at the feet of the angel, to worship him, but they omit that the angel "forbade him, seeing that he was his fellow-servant." And again, to authorize prayer to saints, they quote the rich man's prayer to Abraham to send Lazarus to his aid, but they forget to add the petition was ineffectual; and though Abraham is represented as hearing, he is

powerless to aid. And so here, to justify their sale of indulgences, they quote the passage in this parable, "Go to them that sell, and buy for yourselves," passing over the fact, that if these foolish ones did indeed buy of them who pretended to sell what should aid them at the moment of need, it was perfectly useless: the oil they bought had no power to relax bolt or hinge, and the door still remained closed. Nay more, to "go and buy" was worse than useless; fɔr, had they gone at once, at the moment, just as they were without oil, acknowledging their sin, and misery, and helplessness-who can say but, even at that midnight hour, the Bridegroom might have admitted them? And so, alas! it is with many among ourselves: they will seek for help from this source, they will first try this staff, and lean upon this reed, go here, and go there, try alms and penance instead of going at once and unreservedly to the all-sufficient, all-effectual righteousness of Christ. I may add, too, that the popish doctrine of works of supererogation receives but little countenance from this parable of our Lord's. "Give us of your oil," is the request; "Not so; lest there be not enough for us and you," is the answer.