(1.) A weak and dead faith, that consists more in a form of know- ledge than a lively assent to the truths of godliness. A dead opinion- ative belief may stand with a carnal life : James ii. 20, ' Faith without works is dead.' The word of God is come to them in word only, not in power ; it puts no life into what we do believe, 1 Thes. ii. 13 ; doth •not work effectually. This will fit the slumbering and sleeping of the foolish virgins. But alas ! the wise have their drowsy fits ; the truths of the word concerning God, Christ, heaven, and hell, have not such a lively influence upon them, by the blandishments of worldly prosperity. Faith is fallen asleep, ready to give place to the flesh, and they are governed more by fancy and appetite than by the heavenly mind ; there is no consideration of the vanity of earthly things ; the heart is kept strange to God and heaven, and the soul is taken up with carnal projects more than it should be.
(2.) A feeble sleepy love, which doth not level and direct our actions to the great end of them, which is the pleasing and glorifying of God, so that they live too much to themselves. Love in vigour doth over-
350 SERMONS UPON MATTHEW XXV. [SeR. IV.
rule us to live unto God : 2 Cor. v. 14, 15, ' For the love of Christ constraineth us, because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead ; and that he died for all, that they should not hence- forth live unto themselves, but unto him who died for them and rose again.' And this keepeth us more sincere and uniform in our course, always tending to the great end.
(3.) A cold and careless hope, when there is not that earnest and desirous expectation of blessedness to come which doth fortify us against the allurements of sense: Mat. vi. 19-21, 'Lay not up for yourselves treasure upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal ; but lay up for yourselves treasure in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through and steal ; for where your treasure is, there will your hearts be also/ They do not mind their true treasure.
[2.] The effects of this sleepiness are seen in these things : —
(1.) In some intermission of their care and caution. Watching is a diligent taking heed to ourselves and ways, so as we keep ourselves from sin. We are in constant danger of sins that come on us by insensible degrees : Ps. xxxix. 1, ' I said I would take heed to my ways, that I sin not with my tongue.' The best are surprised, and corruption often breaketh out. We may say of them, as Christ of the damsel, They are not dead, but sleep. The children of God are some- times overtaken by their inadvertency, Gal. vi. 1, or overborne by the violence of temptations, James i. 14, inconsiderately and suddenly sur- prised with sin. So subtle and assiduous is Satan in tempting, and so ready is corruption to close with the temptation as soon as it is repre- sented, that if a child of God doth but abate anything of his circum- spection and diligence, he will be surprised by some one sin or other, and thereby be brought to dishonour God, and so lay a stumbling- block before others. Besides those sins of daily incursion and sudden surreption, Satan lieth in wait to draw us to greater offences, that may dishonour God and wound our peace, and scandalise the world against our profession.
(2.) Some abatement of our zeal and fervency. We are not always fervent in spirit, and do not keep up our life and seriousness in the duties of holiness. Our graces are not actuated and kept in exercise, but suffer some decay, though they be not quite dead. Faith is weak, love is cold, Mat. xxiv. 12. There is not that lively hope, 1 Peter i. 3. Christians should not only be living, but lively : 1 Peter ii. 5, ' Ye as living stones.' Nay, there may be so great a damp and quenching upon us, that there is no outward visible difference between a dead man and a dying Christian : all things in us may be ready to die : Eev. iii. 2, ' Be watchful, and strengthen the things that remain, that are ready to die.' Life is even quite gone in some cases, when sin hath made fearful havoc in the conscience.
(3.) In forgetfulness or non-attendancy to the Lord's coming. When we live merrily, quietly, in a careless and unprepared estate ; this is necessarily to be taken in as the cause of the two former. In the slumbering and sleeping of the foolish virgins the case is clear ; Christ's absence or tarrying long is the occasion the world takes to grow secure
VER. 5.] SERMONS UPON MATTHEW XXV. 351
and wicked. The scoffers walked after their own lusts, because they said, ' Where is the promise of his coming ?' 2 Peter iii. 3, 4. And in the degenerate church, the reason why they were given to sensu- ality, carnal pomp, and persecution, is set down, Mat. xxiv. 49, ' My Lord delayeth his coming.' Therefore the officers of the church smite their fellow-servants, and eat and drink with the drunken, encourage the wicked, and smite the godly with censures ; as it was with the Israelites, there was no speech of making a calf when Moses first went up to the mount, but when he tarried long, Exod. xxxii., ' And as for this Moses, we wot not what is become of him ;' then nothing would content them but making a calf. The ordinances and institutions of Christ had never been so perverted in the Christian world, but that they forgot Christ's coming to see how they have been observed : 1 Tim. vi. 14, ' That thou keep this commandment without spot, unrebukable, until the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.' But now for the wise virgins. Alas ! there is not such a constant waiting for the coming of the Lord ; for if we did not leave off to think of it, surely we would walk more cautiously, and serve God with greater ardency and alacrity of spirit ; but when we forget it, we let loose the reins, and slacken our diligence, and yield to the importunity of the flesh, and suffer ourselves to be distracted with worldly cares, or be- numbed with fleshly delights, that we do not mind our duty of prepar- ing for the Lord's coming.