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46 Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing.

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;

49 And shall begin to smite his fellowservants, and to eat and drink with the drunken;

50 The Lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of, 51 And shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

*Or, cut him off.

administration either as to kind, or the circumstances of the servants.

Verse 47. Ruler over all his goods, &c. -He shall be promoted to a higher honour, who is faithful in the inferior ministrations at first assigned him. His gifts shall be multiplied, his usefulness and influence enlarged, and his reward in eternity shall be heightened.

Verse 48. My Lord delayeth his coming, &c. And from this delay doubts whether he will come at all, nourishing a secret infidelity as to the fact of his being a severe judge of unfaithful servants, or at least grows presumptuous upon the long-suffering and patience exercised; and shall begin to smite his fellow-servants, acting the part of a tyrant instead of a mild and faithful director; and to eat and drink with the drunken, giving himself up, not only to pride and violent tempers, but to sensuality and indulgence, ease and luxury the lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looked not for him, &c., and the surprise shall be followed by the highest degree of punishment; for to be cut asunder, or sawn asunder, or cut in pieces, was one of the terrible modes of capital punishment amongst the Jews, as we learn from Heb. xi. 37," they were sawn asunder;' which death, Jewish tradition says, Isaiah suffered from Manasseh. The Tar

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gum also on Esther ix. 14, reads, "Whosoever does not wish prosperity to Mordecai shall be cut in pieces, and his house shall be made a dunghill. ’ So Samuel "hewed Agag in pieces, before the Lord." This punishment is transferred from corporal torment, to the terrible inflictions of God's wrath upon unfaithful servants in another world. Some, however, take dixoToμew, in the sense of severe scourging, in which sense the Greek Teuve, and the Latin discindere, are sometimes used. Others use the word in the sense of discarding, or depriving of office, or cutting off from the family. Beza renders, separabit eum. Still the weight of the punishment belongs to the eternal state, as is sufficiently denoted by what follows: and appoint him his portion with hypocrites; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. St. Luke adds to hypocrites, “unbelievers: " both terms were probably used by our Lord, and with great force, inasmuch as such unfaithful ministers have usually presumed much upon the sanctity of their profession as affording them the hope of the divine favour; whereas our Lord intimates, that that very profession unworthily supported would only be charged upon them as a mask of hypocrisy, and their pretended zeal for faith would not prevent them from being ranked with unbelievers, only with

CHAPTER XXV.

1 The parable of the ten virgins, 14 and of the talents. 31 Also the description of the last judgment.

1 THEN shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom

an aggravated punishment. In this highly admonitory parable, Christ looks beyond his immediate disciples, whom he was about fully to constitute apostles and evangelists, and to send forth "into all the world," to gather churches and to rule and feed them in his name, as his

stewards," to the Christian ministry as he knew it would exist and be abused in future ages. The character of pride, tyranny, sensuality, luxury, and infidelity, which are here so forcibly drawn in few words, have been written broadly and legibly upon the priesthood of all fallen churches; and the threatened punishment is so tremendous, that it will make even the faithful minister tremble lest he should fall by unwatchfulness into the same condemnation.

CHAPTER XXV. Verse 1. Be likened unto ten virgins, &c.-In an inferior sense it has been supposed this parable may be applied to the state in which the Christian church would be found at the coming of Christ to judge the Jewish nation, although its ultimate reference is admitted to be to the day of judgment. We do not, however, know that the state of the Hebrew churches, or that of Jerusalem in particular, answered to the description of the parable. It is more satisfactory to consider it as relating solely to the day of final account, but SUGGESTED by the sudden coming of Christ to judge the Jews, which was a type of his sudden second advent to judge the church and the world. That it is the CHRISTIAN CHURCH, and not the Jewish nation, of which the parable speaks, is indicated by the introductory formula, Then shall THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN be likened unto ten

virgins; for the phrase, "the kingdom of heaven," always refers either to the gospel dispensation, or that which is connected with it, as a part of its administration. As the parable is founded upon the customs observed at Jewish marriages, to state these will usefully serve to explain the literal sense of the parable. After the marriage ceremony was performed and attested, it was customary for the bridegroom, in the evening, to conduct his spouse from her friends to his own home, in a procession rendered as brilliant and imposing as the circumstances of the bridegroom would allow. His young female friends and relations were invited, and with lamps, waited in a company near the house, till the bridegroom returned with the bride, and her attendant friends; when, after the customary congratulations, those who were in waiting joined the train, and with acclamations, and other expressions of joy, proceeded to the bridegroom's house, to the nuptial entertainment, which among persons of rank was of the most splendid and costly kind. The doors were then closed to prevent the intrusion of strangers. The following extract from Ward's "View of the Hindoos" shows how unchanged many of the customs of the east remain, and strikingly illustrates this parable :-"At a marriage, the procession of which I saw some years ago, the bridegroom came from a distance, and the bride lived at Serampore, to which place the bridegroom was to come by water. After waiting two or three hours, at length, near midnight, it was announced, as if in the very words of scripture, 'Behold, the bridegroom cometh! go ye out to meet him.' All the persons employed now lighted their lamps, and

2 And five of them were wise, and five were foolish.

3 They that were foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them:

ran with them in their hands to fill up
their stations in the procession. Some
of them had lost their lights, and were
unprepared but it was then too late to in the others.
:
seek them, and the cavalcade moved for-
ward to the house of the bride; at which
place the company entered a large and
splendidly illuminated area, before the
house, covered with an awning, where a
great multitude of friends, dressed in
their best apparel, were seated upon mats.
The bridegroom was carried in the arms
of a friend, and placed on a superb seat
in the midst of the company, where he
sat a short time, and then went into the
house, the door of which was immediate-
ly shut, and guarded by sepoys.
I and
others expostulated with the door-keepers,
but in vain."

The mystical meaning of the parable may be opened by the following remarks. 1. The virgins represent not merely professed members of the church, but persons who had all been under the influence of grace; and this view rendered the parable specially admonitory to the disciples, the professed friends of our Lord, to whom it was doubtless addressed. There was a time when the lamps of the whole ten virgins had been replenished with oil and were all burning; a time too when even the foolish virgins were at their post of duty, waiting for the bridegroom. The oil in the lamp, being of the same quality of that in the vessel, the fault of the five foolish virgins was that of not taking enough. There was deficiency of quantity; the delay of the bridegroom discovered the deficiency. The parable is specially designed to warn against resting in a superficial and partial piety. The mere number ten does not appear to involve any particular mystery; this number being a favourite indefinite term among the Jews.

2. Though all the persons represented by the ten virgins are to be consi

dered as under the influence of grace, yet the work in the hearts of some of them was more deep and effectual than The terms wise and foolish, opoviμor and papai, are to be understood in the sense of prudent foresight, and the contrary; and the first implies that steady regard to all future dangers and trials of grace, which leads to a careful preparation for them. This is beautifully represented under the figure of the prudent virgins taking oil in their vessels with their lamps; for, although it is true that we can lay up no store of grace, so as to render us less dependent upon the aid of God in future time than at the present hour, yet the vigorous use of our present spiritual strength, that is, of that moral power we derive from the influence of the Holy Spirit, so leads to those richer communications from God, and so strengthens the habit of holy decision in the will, and serves so to confirm the right and vigorous tendency of the affections, that he who is faithful to PRESENT grace does by that constantly contribute to his FUTURE Safety. The foolish virgins, therefore, represent those who do not prudently look forward to the dangers and conflicts of future life, and so give up themselves fully to "grow in grace, and in the knowledge of Christ," but sink into carelessness and lukewarmness of spirit. In this case the oil of the lamp burns out, and there is no supply in the vessel, because their hearts are withdrawn from the influence of God. Thus the principle of spiritual life perishes, and death cuts off the possibility of restoration for ever.

3. The eternal union of Christ with his faithful church is represented under the figure of marriage. In the same metaphorical language the covenant relation of Jehovah and the Jewish people is frequently mentioned in the Old Testament; and some of the most striking

4 But the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. 5 While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept.

passages of the prophets, expressive both of tenderness and reproof, are founded upon it. There are also predictions in the Old Testament of the union of the evangelical church with Christ, that spiritual church, composed of believers of all nations, which was to succeed that founded on natural descent from Abraham. Of this the xlv. Psalm is a beautiful example. Here, in the parable before us, the subject is the union of Christ with his church, glorified in heaven. She is to be brought to the house of the bridegroom "adorned as a bride for her husband," arrayed in all the beauty and glory of grace and purity, to be united for ever. with him, and to receive all the expressions of his love, and to render them back with entire and unabated affection.

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4. The tarrying of the bridegroom represents the delay of Christ's second advent. That day was made known to no The first disciples appear therefore to have felt that it might come at any moment, at least after the destruction of Jerusalem, or be combined with that event. The apostle Paul, in writing to the Thessalonians, mentions the falling away which should come first, in order to correct an error into which they had fallen in supposing that that day was at hand; " and St. Peter, when rebuking the scoffers of his age, whilst he seems to justify the use of expressions common probably in the discourses of the first preachers when they exhorted to preparation for that event, by referring the delay to God's "long-suffering ;" and yet hints its delay by remarking that the lapse of ages could make no difference in the purposes of God, seeing that with him " one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day." The whole mode of speaking on this subject was adapted to PRACTICAL purposes, and wisely connected the day of our death with the day of final judgment; because the apostles all taught that after death there could be no redemption for

the wicked, and the righteous could not lapse from their state of security. Ages have indeed passed, and the Bridegroom still tarries; but every serious mind will live under the influence of the most solemn thoughts of that day; because of the uncertainty of life, and the equal certainty that in the same moral state in which death transmits him into the eternal world, the day of final account must find him.

5. It is added, they all slumbered and slept. Those interpreters who consider these words as intimating that all, even the most vigilant, are subject to religious decays, and are apt to fall into a slumbering and lukewarm state, do not appear to consider that their interpretation involves the absurdity of supposing that those persons whose hearts are abundantly furnished with holy affection, which is undoubtedly indicated by the wise virgins having made provision of oil in their vessels, can sink into this supposed state of religious indifference, and that equally with others; for whatever this slumbering and sleeping may signify, it is expressly said to have happened to the wise and foolish virgins alike: they ALL slumbered and slept. This view also allows the SAFETY of an unwatchful and lukewarm state of mind, contrary to the constant doctrine of Christ. Add to this, that no fault is ascribed either to the wise or foolish virgins for slumbering and sleeping whilst the bridegroom tarried; but the praise of the former was that they had prudently taken oil in their vessels with their lamps, and the fatal fault of the latter that they had neglected this necessary provision. Such an interpretation cannot, therefore, be maintained, and the scope and design of the parable requires us to understand slumbering and sleeping to represent DEATH. Whilst the Bridegroom tarries, the successive generations of Christians, whether prepared or not for their Lord's coming, sleep in death;

6 And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him.

and it is the last day only that shall fully declare which of them have taken oil in their vessels; that is, whose hearts are in a state of preparedness to hail his second advent with joy, and to enter into his everlasting kingdom.

6. The sudden appearance of Christ at the last day, and the pomp of it, is figured by the coming of the bridegroom. The gates are suddenly thrown open; the light of the torches of the attendants flashes at once upon the darkness of midnight; those who precede cry, "The bridegroom cometh!" then follows the splendour of the procession itself, which, among the opulent, was elaborate and imposing: these were all images familiar to the Jews, and wonderfully adapted to impress the imagination and to fix the moral of the whole. There is no reason to conclude from this that Christ will come to judgment literally at midnight; but this time is here mentioned to intimate the delay of Christ's coming; for it was long before midnight that the ceremony described in the parable usually took place. Several circumstances are introduced into the parable which must be interpreted in their general import, and not strictly, as if every particular had a mystical meaning, and nothing was to be left to complete the narrative and to give

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grace and action. This discrimination is essential to the sober interpretation of all parables, and particularly to this. We shall not, however, stray beyond this limit, if we consider the arising of the virgins as representing the resurrection from the dead, and the trimming of the lamps, by pouring in oil, and thus as the word ekoσμnoav signifies, putting them in order for the purpose of meeting the bridegroom, as the resumption of that profession of devotedness to Christ, and attention to the duty of "waiting for his appearing," which they had assumed during this life. Both the wise and the foolish virgins arose for this purpose; but it is to be remarked, that the wise only

were able thus to rekindle their lamps, as they only had provided oil for this purpose, of which the others were destitute; and thus we are taught that those only whom the sanctifying grace of God has put into a state of due preparation for eternity will be able to resume even their profession. This lamp, the outward visible sign of connexion with Christ, is in all others for ever quenched by death, and can never again be lighted up. The oil, the small measure of grace, which once supplied its flame, is consumed; the vessel of the heart, which ought to have been replenished with it, is empty; and the opportunity for obtaining a supply is past. This last most important point of instruction is illustrated by what follows; which must be understood as intended simply to inculcate this general truth. For we are not to suppose that there is any thing in the case of persons found unprepared for the second coming of our Lord, to answer minutely to the application of the foolish virgins to the wise to give them of their oil, as though they should apply to them for grace; or in the answer, "Go unto them that sell, and buy for yourselves." The general and solemn admonition and moral of this part of the parable is, that the case of all who, at the second coming of Christ, are found destitute of holy preparation for that event, will be as utterly hopeless as that of the five virgins who when the cry, “The bridegroom cometh!" was already heard, should attempt to purchase oil, when the time would not admit of its being obtained before the bridegroom had entered his house, and the doors were shut. The period, midnight, when the dealers in oil were not likely to be found at their shops, and the small space of time which remained to resort to them had they been there, rendered success impossible; and it is this impossibility of repairing a previ ous neglect of salvation, when Christ shall come in his glory, which is the great lesson intended to be conveyed.

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