The Pulpit Commentary — Matthew — Volume 2 — Section 482

eelf-denials, nnd the constant faithful 1188 of the appointed means of grace for " the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ," The Spirit ia the holy oil, the oil with which the Lord himself was anointed('' God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost," Acts x. 88), the "unction from the Holy One," which is given to all his faithful servants; that anointing abitleth in them, and teacheth them (1 John ii. 27) because thoy " stir up tbe Gift of God .that is in them," no.t quenching the Spirit, as careless slothful Chnstians do, but treasuring in their hearts that sacred Gift, striving always to grow in grace, to walk in the Spirit, to mind the things of the Spirit, to be filled with the Spirit, to increase in the Holy Spirit more and more. We must treasure the sacred oil, the Di vine anointing; we must seek for its daily renewing. We shall not seek in vain if we seek in persevering prayer. " My Father will give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him." 8. 1.'he protracted absence of the King. The Bridegroom tarried, The end was not yet; the second advent was not so near at hand as wa3 almost universally expected in the early Church. The Bridegroom tarried; the time of waiting was long-longer much than men had thought. The first excitement passe<l a.way, some had left their first love, the love of most was growuig cold. Drowsiness seized the virgins in their watch; first they bowed their beads in slumber, then they were a.11 sleeping. So it is now. Many true Christian souls have been gathered to their fathers, to the countless multitude of the departed, since this parable was spoken; through the grace of the Lord Jesus they have been laid to sleep in the quiet rest of Paradise. In another sense those who are now living upon the earth slumber and sleep in the eye of God ; the vigilance of the most earnest is but as sleep compared with that constant ai:d intent watchfulness which U! the ideal of the Christian life. We ought to live e.s men waiting for their Lord, onr loins ever girded, our lamps ever burning, in daily expectation of his coming, in constant readineRs to meet him. Alas! we slumber and sleep; we forget the first fervour of our conversion; our religious exercises a.re performed as a matter of routine, sometimes almost unconsciously, with- )ut energy, without that deep and awful sense of their immense importance which ought to fill the heart of every Christian. The shades of difference among Christians o.re innumerable: some a.re utterly careless ; some rouse them.selves from time to time to thought and real effort; some try by the power of faith and prayer to keep them- selves in the love of God, e.nd to love the appearing of the Saviour. But none realize to the full the tremendous necessity of watchfulness; none live in that fixed attention, in that constant looking unto Jesus, in that full preparedness, in that daily and hourly anticipation of the Saviour's coming, which we should regard as the true Christian frame of mind, to which we should strive to approximate nearer and nearer, in e.11 humility and self-distrust, not counting ourselves to have attained, but ever pressing forward. Alas I as the Lord looks upon the Churches, they e.11 in various degrees a.re seen to slumber e.nd sleep. II. THE KINo IB A.T HA.ND. 1. The midnight cry. It came suddenly, in the dead of night. The long-expected Bridegroom was coming now, coming in his glory, coming with all his angel-train to take unto himself his chosen bride. So one day the Lord will come with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God; so uow the hour of death cometh upon us one by one, when we are not looking for it, when we are sleeping, engaged in this world's business or amusement, thinking nothing of the awful change which is at hand. Suddenly we seem to hear e. cry-a. cry that thrills through our hearts, " Prepare to meet thy God ! " 2. The awakening. Then all those virgins arose and trimmed their lamps. All heard the midnight cry; all prepared to meet the Bridegroom. When death is e.t hand, when the thought of the Lord's speedy coming is borne with power into the soul, o. man looks into his own heart. We must remember that this parable relates only to Christians who have led in various degrees a religious life. Men who have never felt religious impressions, who are without any spiritual experience, a.re often so hardened by the deceitfulness of sin that they slumber on, dying ns they lived, without the sense of sin, without the fear of God, and mver waking till t,hey pass out of this world into his most awful preseuce. But those who have been believe1s in any real sense must hear that solemn cry. They ask themselves, they are forced to ask whether they will or no-What is their religion? Is it true? is i, real? is it deep? 'l'hey e.11 want lhoir repentance deepened, their faith confirmed, their love to God increased, kindled to a holier affection, to II more trustful coufideuce. .All 488 THE GOSPEL .ACCORDING TO ST. MATTHEW. [OH, xxv.1-48,