Susan. That we are waiting for our Lord.

Miss M. Yes; in the same manner as the virgins were waiting to be admitted to the marriage feast, till the bridegroom came, are we waiting to be admitted to heaven till our Lord comes for us, to receive us into His kingdom. Five of these virgins were wise and five were foolish; so is it with men: even among those who profess to be waiting for our Lord and to believe in His coming, how many are there that are foolish! We must now see in what way they

are so.

Ellen. The virgins who were foolish took no oil in their lamps.

Miss M. They are like those who profess to be Christians, who are perhaps thought by the world to be serving God, who obey His ordinances outwardly, and yet in their hearts do not serve and love Him. Let us take some instance of this: we will suppose a person who is always sober and industrious, perhaps. even giving some money in charity; what would the the world think of that person ?

Kate. That he was a good man.

Miss M. But if all the time he had not loved God, only gone to church for the sake of doing what other people did, but never really praying to God while there, could such a man be counted righteous in the sight of God?

Children. No.

Miss M. His would be merely the form of godliness without the power. What does our Lord say of the Pharisees in Matthew xxiii. 25 ?

Jane. "Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and

of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess.

not

Miss M. Yes; they were like those persons of whom we have been speaking; they looked only to outward things, not to the inside of the cup, not to the state of their hearts in the sight of God. By the wise and foolish virgins, then, are not meant good people and those that are outwardly wicked, because the latter do go forth to meet their Lord at all: but the wise virgins are those that go forth to meet Him well prepared, the foolish are those who also go forth to meet Him, and expect His coming, but who are notwithstanding careless, and do not trim their lamps with the oil of faith, by which we are told that the just shall live. Heb. x. 38. We will now go on with the parable. What did the virgins do while they were waiting for the bridegroom?

Ellen. They slumbered and slept.

Miss M. Not the foolish virgins only, but all. “ They all slumbered and slept." "What is the most zealous, the most energetic of God's people, but a slumberer and a sleeper, compared with that character of entire devotion to things unseen, which should be his ?... We have, indeed, through all these long ages during which the Bridegroom has tarried, been slumbering and sleeping; weak in faith, wavering in hope, cold in love'.' But as it was with the virgins, so will it be with us. Read 1 Thessalonians iv. 16.

Jane. "For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first."

1 Alford's Sermons. Vol. II. p. 99.

52.

Miss M. You may also read 1 Corinthians xv. 51,

Elizabeth, We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump; for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed."

Miss M. In the same way that the virgins arose and trimmed their lamps when they heard the cry, "Behold the bridegroom cometh," shall we arise from our sleep and prepare to meet our Lord. When the foolish virgins found that their lamps were gone out what did they do?

Emily. They said to the wise virgins, Give us of your oil.

Miss M. If the careless Christians, who are not prepared to meet their Lord, call to their friends and companions to help them, will it be of any use?

Mary. No.

Miss M. They cannot give them of their faith, of their goodness; we are none of us too good, we are all unprofitable servants: we shall find at that day, that however good we have tried to be, we shall still have a great many sins to answer for, for which we can only hope for forgiveness through the mercy of God. What did the wise virgins advise the others to do?

Kate. To go to those that sold, and buy for themselves.

Miss M. They cannot help them themselves, but they bid them turn to those means of grace which they had neglected before, and by which they might have obtained faith, to make their lamps burn even unto the end. But we are now come to the awful part of

the parable; for we read that whilst the foolish virgins were gone to buy the oil the bridegroom came. So will it be with those who have led careless lives here, and who have put off repenting, and have not prepared to meet their God. They will find the door shut, and they will not be admitted to the marriage feast. What is the only door through which we can go to heaven?

Charlotte. Our Lord says that He is the Door2. Miss M. Yes; those who knock at that Door now will find that it will be opened to them. But will it be so at the last day?

Kate. No; the Door will be shut.

Miss M. That is, our Lord will then no longer listen to those who cry to Him. What was the cry of the virgins ?

Mary. "Lord, Lord, open unto us."

Miss M. And what was the answer of the bridegroom?

Emily. "Verily I say unto you, I know you not."

Miss M. They were for ever shut out from the marriage feast, which the bridegroom had prepared for them; so will it be with us, if we do not have our "loins girded and our lamps burning." We have been invited to a heavenly feast; and if we refuse to hear the call, and to make ourselves ready for it, it is our own fault: the door will be shut against us, and our Lord will tell us that He knows us not. What does Jesus say to His disciples after this parable?

Selina. "Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh." Miss M. Many times did our Saviour say this same

2 Trench, Notes on the Parables.

thing to His disciples. You will find almost the same words in Matthew xxiv. 42, in Mark xiii. 33, and in many other parts of the Bible. It was a lesson which our Lord thought necessary to teach His disciples very often; for He knew what was in man, and how soon we might forget His coming, and allow the pleasures of this world to distract our thoughts. What reason did He give His disciples for watching?

Susan. "Because they knew neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh."

Miss M. In other places He says that He will come as a thief in the night: we do not know when it will be, but we do know and believe that "He shall come again with glory to judge both the quick and the dead." Whenever He comes, let us be ready to meet Him, with our lamps lit, and then we shall not be shut out from the heavenly feast, but shall be admitted to the marriage supper of the Lamb.

CHAPTER XII.

THE PARABLE OF THE TALENTS.

Matt. xxv. 14-30.

"FOR the kingdom of heaven is as a man travelling into a far country, who called his own servants, and delivered unto them his goods. And unto one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one; to every man according to his several ability; and straightway took his journey. Then he that had received the five talents went and traded with the same,