The Wise and the Foolish.

WHEN we examine the precise terms made we must see that it applies (not to Jews, use of in the Parable of the Ten Virgins, but) to Christian professors; it applies to us; it utters a voice, and teaches a solemn lesson, to the writer and the reader of these lines.
“Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom.”
Primitive Christianity was specially characterized by the fact here indicated, namely, a going forth to meet a returning and an expected bridegroom. The early Christians were led to detach themselves from present things, and go forth, in the spirit of their minds, and in the affections of their hearts, to meet the Saviour whom they loved and for whom they waited. It was not, of course, a question of going forth from one place to another; it was not local, but moral and spiritual. It was the outgoing of the heart after a beloved Saviour whose return was eagerly looked for day by day.
It is impossible to read the apostolic epistles to the various churches and not see that the hope of the Lord’s sure and speedy return governed the hearts of the Lord’s people in those early days. They waited for the Son from heaven (1 Thess. 1:1010And to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come. (1 Thessalonians 1:10)). They knew He was to come, and take them away, to be Himself forever; and the knowledge and power of this hope had the effect of detaching their hearts from present things. Their bright, heavenly hope caused them to sit loose to the things of earth. They looked for the Saviour. (Phil. 3:2020For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: (Philippians 3:20).) They believed that He might come at any moment; and hence the concerns of this life were just to be taken up and attended to for the moment; properly, thoroughly attended to, no doubt; but only, as it were, on the very tip-toe of expectation.
All this is briefly but clearly conveyed by the statement that they “went forth to meet the bridegroom.” This could not be intelligently applied to the future Jewish remnant, inasmuch as they will not go forth to meet their Messiah, but, on the contrary, they will remain in their position, and amid their circumstances, until He comes, and plants His foot on the Mount of Olives. (Zech. 14:44And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south. (Zechariah 14:4).) They will not look for the Lord to come and take them away from this earth to be with Him in heaven; but He will come to bring deliverance to them in their own land, and make them happy there, under His own peaceful and blessed reign, during the millennial age. (Isa. 32:1, 16-181Behold, a king shall reign in righteousness, and princes shall rule in judgment. (Isaiah 32:1)
16Then judgment shall dwell in the wilderness, and righteousness remain in the fruitful field. 17And the work of righteousness shall be peace; and the effect of righteousness quietness and assurance for ever. 18And my people shall dwell in a peaceable habitation, and in sure dwellings, and in quiet resting places; (Isaiah 32:16‑18).)
But the call to Christians was to “go forth.” They are supposed to be always on the move; not settling down on the earth, but going out in earnest and holy aspirations after that heavenly glory to which they are called, and after the heavenly Bridegroom to whom they are espoused, and for whose speedy advent they are taught to wait. (1 Thess. 4:16-1816For 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: 17Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. 18Wherefore comfort one another with these words. (1 Thessalonians 4:16‑18).)
Such is the true, the divine, the normal idea of the Christian’s attitude and state. And this lovely idea was marvelously realized and practically carried out by the primitive Christians. But alas; alas! we are reminded of the fact that we have to do with the spurious as well as the true in Christendom. There are “tares” as well as “wheat” in the kingdom of heaven; and thus we read of these ten virgins that “five of them were wise, and five were foolish.”
There are the true and the false, the genuine and the counterfeit, the real and the hollow, in professing Christianity. Yes, and this is to continue into the time of the end, until the Bridegroom come The “tares” are not converted into “wheat,” nor are the “foolish” virgins converted into “wise” ones. No, never. The tares will be burnt, and the foolish virgins shut out. So far from a gradual improvement by the means now in operation, that is to say, the preaching of the gospel and the various beneficent agencies which are brought to bear upon the world, we find from all the parables, and from the teaching of the entire New Testament, that the kingdom of heaven presents a most deplorable admixture of evil; a corrupting process; a grievous tampering with the work of God on the part of the enemy; a positive progress of evil in principle, in profession, and in practice.
And all this goes on to the end of the Christian period. There are foolish virgins found when the Bridegroom appears. Whence come they, if all are to be converted before the Lord comes? If all are to be brought to the knowledge of the Lord by the means now in operation, then how comes it to pass that when the Bridegroom comes there are quite as many foolish as wise? But it will perhaps be said that this is but a parable, a figure. Granted; but a figure of what? Not surely of a whole world converted. To assert this would be to offer a grievous insult to the Holy Volume, and to treat our Lord’s solemn teaching in a manner in which we would not dare to treat the teaching of a fellow-mortal.
No, reader, the parable of the ten virgins teaches, beyond all question, that when the Bridegroom comes, there will be foolish virgins on the scene; and, clearly, if there are foolish virgins, all cannot have been previously converted. A child can understand this. We cannot see how it is possible, in the fact of even this one parable, to maintain the theory of a world converted before the coming of the Bridegroom.
But let us look a little closely at these foolish virgins. Their history is full of admonition for all Christian professors. It is very brief, but awfully comprehensive. “They that were foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them.”
There is the outward profession, but no inward reality, no spiritual life, no unction, no vital link with the source of eternal life, no union with Christ. There is nothing but the lamp of pression, and the dry wick of a nominal, national head-belief.
This is peculiarly solemn. It bears down with tremendous weight upon that vast mass of baptized profession which surrounds us at the present moment, in which there is so much of outward semblance, but so little of inward reality. All profess to be Christians. The lamp of pression may be seen in every hand; but ah! how few have the oil in their vessels, the spirit of life in Christ Jesus, the Holy Ghost dwelling in their hearts. Without this, all is utterly worthless and vain. There may be the very highest profession; there may be a most orthodox creed; one may be baptized; he may receive the Lord’s supper; be a regularly enrolled and duly recognized member of a Christian community; be a Sunday-school teacher; an ordained minister of religion: one may be all this; and not have one spark of divine life, not one ray of heavenly light, not one link with the Christ of God.
Now there is something peculiarly awful in the thought of having just enough religion to deceive the heart, deaden the conscience, and ruin the soul; just enough religion to give a name to live while dead; enough to leave one without Christ, without God, and without hope in the world; enough to prop the soul up with a false confidence, and fill it with a false peace, until the Bridegroom come, and then the eyes are opened, when it is too late.
Thus it is with the foolish virgins. They seem to be very like the wise ones. An ordinary observer might not be able to see any difference for the time being. They all set out together. All have lamps. And, moreover, all turn aside to slumber and sleep, the wise as well as the foolish. All rouse up at the midnight cry, and trim their lamps. Thus far there is no apparent difference. The foolish virgins light their lamps, the lamp of profession lighted up with the dry wick of a lifeless, national, nominal faith; alas! alas! a worthless, worse than worthless thing, a fatal soul-destroying delusion.
But here the grand distinction, the broad line of demarcation, comes out with awful, yea, with appalling clearness: “The foolish said unto the wise, Give us of your oil; for our lamps are going out” (See margin.)
This proves that their lamps had been lighted; for had they not been lighted they could not be going out. But it was only a false, flickering, transient light. It was not fed from a divine source. It was the light of mere lip profession, fed by a head belief, lasting just long enough to deceive themselves and others, and going out at the very moment when they most needed it, leaving them in the dreadful darkness of an eternal night.
“Our lamps are going out.” Terrible discovery! “The Bridegroom is at hand, and our lamps are going out. Our hollow profession is being made manifest by the light of His coming. We thought we were all right. We professed the same faith, had the same shaped lamp, the same kind of wick; but alas! we now find to our unspeakable horror, that we have been deceiving ourselves, that we lack the one thing needful, the spirit of life in Christ, the unction from the Holy One, the living link with the Bridegroom. Whatever shall we do? Oh! ye wise virgins, take pity upon us, and share with us your oil. Do, do, for mercy’s sake, give us a little, even one drop of that all essential thing, that we may not perish forever.”
Ah! it is all utterly vain. No one can give of his oil to another. Each has just enough for himself. A man can give light, but he cannot give oil. This latter is the gift of God alone. “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. And while they went to buy, the Bridegroom came; and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage; and the door was shut.”
It is of no use looking to Christian friends to help us or prop us up. No use in flying hither and thither for someone to lean upon, some holy man, or some eminent teacher; no use building upon our church, or our creed, or our sacraments. We want oil. We cannot do without it. Where are we to get it? Not from man, not from the Church, not from the saints, not from the Fathers (so-called). We must get it from God; and He, blessed be His name, gives freely. “The gift of God is eternal life, through Jesus Christ our Lord.” (Rom. 6:2323For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. (Romans 6:23).)
But, mark, it is an individual thing. Each must have it, for himself, and in himself. No man can believe, or get life for another. Each must have to do with God for himself. The link which connects the soul with Christ is intensely individual. There is no such thing as second-hand faith, or faith by proxy.