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kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom. And five of them were wise, and five were foolish. They that were foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them; but the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. While the bridegroom tarried they all slumbered and slept," the wise as well as the foolish. “And at midnight there was a cry made”—this is the picture of the second advent-" Behold the bridegroom cometh ; go ye out to meet him. Then all those virgins arose;" that is, the five wise and the five foolish alike having slept, then awoke; "and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said unto the wise, Give us of your oil; for our lamps are gone out. But the wise answered, saying, Not so; lest there be not enough for us and you; but go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves." Here is set forth the very essence of Popery. The five foolish virgins had lamps just as bright and as beautiful as the lamps carried by the five wise virgins, but they omitted what was worth ten thousand lamps of gold-the oil of grace. What is the use of a splendid church with no Gospel? What is the use of an apostolical succession that has no apostolic doctrine? What is the value of a magnificent lamp if it cannot help a man to read even the alphabet? These five foolish virgins had splendid lamps, but no oil. The priestly or Popish thought lay deep in the core of their very nature; for they turned round to the others and said, Give us of your oil, for we have none in our lamps; thus applying to the church for grace, instead of applying to the Lord of the church, who alone can give grace and glory. But these five wise ones, like thorough Protestants, answered, "Not so; lest there be not enough for us and you"-every Christian has grace only sufficient for himself we have not an atom to spare; but we will do all we can, namely, invite you to apply to the great Master and get oil for yourselves. They were sensible enough to take the advice; they tried the church, and the church had none to give them; they then determined to go to the Master; but while they went—and

here was their awful state-the door was shut, the harvest was past, the summer ended, and they were not saved. "While they went to buy, the bridegroom came; and they that were ready," the five wise, "went in with him to the marriage; and the door was shut. Afterward came also the other virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. But he answered and said, Verily I say unto you, I know you not. Watch, therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh." Such is the graphic picture of the visible church. I would not dare to say that half the visible church is unconverted, and that half is converted; that is neither the end nor the spirit of the parable; but it is certainly evident that the Lord comes, and in some silent midnight the cry will be heard echoed from mouth to mouth, "Behold, the Bridegroom cometh." We know not when; for we can neither specify the hour nor fix the time, because the elements of calculation are so difficult and indefinite, but we know it is near. Most reflecting Christians believe that we are approaching what I have called the Saturday evening of the world's long and weary week, that things are rapidly accumulating to a crisis. Nobody can look abroad upon the earth and not see the portentous peculiarity, the startling solemnity and intensity of the age in which we live. But what is to be our inference? "Lift up your heads," believers, "for your redemption draweth nigh." Do I address one who has no oil in his lamp?-do not apply to the priest, nor to the sacrament, nor to the church; none of these have any to spare; but before the Bridegroom comes, and before the doors are shut, apply to the Lord of oil-to use a Scripture phrase -apply to the anointed Priest, Prophet, and King, and he will give you the oil of grace and of glory also: "that unction from the Holy One which teacheth all things."

Blessed thought, however, in the midst of those scenes the people of God are safe! When you look upon the events of the earth, and begin to feel dismayed, turn to the 8th chapter of the Epistle to the

Romans, and read it, beginning with "no condemnation," and ending with "neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." Beautifully has the apostle condensed all into one text: 66 The grace of God"-that is the oil that we need " the grace of God teacheth us," first, "to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts ;" and secondly, " to live soberly, righteously, godly in this present world;" and lastly, "" to look for that blessed hope, the glorious appearing of Jesus Christ, our great God and Saviour."

LECTURE XIV.

THE NEW HEAVEN, AND NEW EARTH.

WHAT a glorious prospect comes within the horizon of our view!-all Satan and sin introduced fleeing as mists before the eternal sunshine, and all that Christ has purchased and prepared set before us and advancing into possession.

"And I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away, and there was no more sea."-REVELATION xxi. 1. WE have seen the severe but short storm which burst upon a peaceful earth at the close of the thousand years. We have seen the triumphant safety of the people of God by his grace and strength, notwithstanding the fury of those that assailed them; we have seen the devil that deceived them cast into the lake of fire. We saw for a moment, as the seer saw it on the Ægean Sea, the revelation of the great white throne, reflecting from its surface of awful purity the least shadow of sin; and One seated on that throne from whose face the heavens and the earth with all their glory sunk into insignificance and paleness; we saw the books were opened containing the mysterious records of generations that have passed away; the unwritten records that are stored in human hearts, and the written acts that are visible to human eyes; we have seen the issues of the judgment according to the books; and we have witnessed the sea, in language unspeakably sublime, giving up from its bosom the dead that were in it; death and hell, or death and the unseen world, or soul and body, cast away by that awful sentence-too awful to be spoken had not God, the God of love, written it-" Whosoever was not found in the book of life was cast into the lake

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of fire;" that is, whosoever did not believe, whosoever preferred to be saved in his own way rather than God's way, whosoever would not submit to let God save him, was cast into the lake of fire; this is the second death. From the midst of these scenes of fearful grandeur we see emerging, at the very commencement of the millennial day--for I believe that the 21st and 22nd chapters of this book are the photographic portraits of what is inaugurated at the commencement of the millennial epoch, and not of a totally different economya new heaven and a new earth (for the whole Apocalypse, which means an unveiling," is the seer beholding a panorama from heaven sweep past him on earth, and as one part passes away, another part comes up, beginning at Patmos, and terminating at Paradise returned): "I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away." Does this mean that all our existing economy, material and mundane, is swept out, and that another and totally fresh material economy supersedes it? No, certainly not. There is reason to believe from other passages of Scripture that no such extinction of the old and creation of the new will occur. Science itself proves there is no such thing as annihilation. I do not believe that an immortal soul can or will ever be annihilated. I do not believe that a stone, a tree, a human body, or any God-created thing can be annihilated. Change of form, but not extinction of being, is the law everything material is liable to. If it said, "I saw another heaven and another earth," then I could understand that the present earth and its surrounding mundane economy had all been summarily removed from our present sphere or orbit. But he says: " I saw a new heaven and a new earth.” It is perfectly parallel with a passage which is familiar to us all: "If any man be in Christ, he is"-what? "a new creature ;' but when a man is born again and made a Christian, he does not lose his personal identity; he does not cease to be that bundle of memories, and thoughts, and fears, and hopes that he was before. The old nature purified,

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