Selected quad for the lemma: earth_n

Word A Word B Word C Word D Occurrence Frequency Band MI MI Band Prominent
earth_n hear_v heaven_n oil_n 4,117 5 10.0452 5 true
View all documents for the selected quad

Text snippets containing the quad

ID Title Author Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication) STC Words Pages
A27619 The parable of the ten virgins in its peculiar relation to the coming and glorious kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ opened according to the analogy of the whole parable, and of Scripture in general, and practically applied for exercising all the churches to holy watchfulness ... : with an apology for the hope of the kingdom of Christ appearing within this appriaching year 1697 ... presented to the notice and examination of the arch-bishops and bishops now in Parliament assembled / by T. Beverley. Beverley, Thomas. 1697 (1697) Wing B2165; ESTC R25250 193,605 220

There are 5 snippets containing the selected quad. | View lemmatised text

care so of Religion And another said I have married a Wife and therefore I cannot come upon that account And in another Evangelist They went to their Merchandise I have a Great Trade and I cannot carry on the present State if I mind so much the Kingdom of Christ And therefore I say The Purchasing and Husbandry and Merchandise and the Enjoyments of this World and Relations they are great Hinderances indeed to the Glory of the Kingdom of Christ But then The Second Thing I would say to you which may give you Great Satisfaction as to this If there were such a Spirit poured out from on high Don't think the World would be so Inconvenient by it It would be brought into a more High a Better and more Excellent State I am sure If the Spirit were so poured out upon the World That Men did not excuse themselves from the Kingdom of Heaven by their Trade Relations and Families And by their Interest in the present VVorld I am sure that the Trees of the Wood would yeild forth of themselves to us The Hills would flow down with Milk and the Mountains with Wine VVhenever God will bring the VVorld into a Religious State indeed Don't take care as if the State of the VVorld could not be upheld For it shall be upheld and be more Happy and Blessed than it is now Joel 3. 18. And it shall come to pass in that day that the Mountains shall drop down New Wine and the Hills shall flow down with Milk and all the Rivers of Judah shall flow with Waters c. Every thing shall be Happy and Prosperous Instead of the Thorn shall come up the Fir Tree and instead of the Bryar shall come up the Mirtle Tree and it shall be to the Lord for a Name and for a Memorial When God comes to make the world truely Good to bring in a Profession of Christianity not in Word but in Power I say when that comes to pass there shall be such a strange plenty to the World such a strange Providence over the Creation All that which we take so much care about and with so much Sin and hatred and envy one at another It will come so freely there will be no need of disturbance of and distracting our selves or one another When we come in High sense to be the Servants of God and to be in such a State All Creatures in Heaven and Earth would come and lay down their Service at our Feet The Heavens would hear the Earth and the Earth would hear the Corn and the Wine and the Oyl And they would hear Jezreel Amos 9. 11. Behold the days come saith the Lord that the Plowman shall overtake the Reaper and the Treaders of Grapes him that soweth the Seed That is the Harvest shall be sooner than the very Plowing All Creatures in Heaven and Earth would offer themselves to us And all the Riches that we dive for now so deep into the Bowels of the Earth and into the bottom of the Sea they would come up and be at our hand in that Day when the Kingdom of Jesus Christ shall be thus Universally upon the World and when the Desire of Nations shall come I would shut up this in a very Brief Application to you Vse 1. In the First Place Let it move us seriously to fill up our Religion with this Character of it The Virgins went forth to meet the Bridegroom There was the great mark in their Eye the great design in their Eye Now ask your selves I beseech you is your Religion in meeting the Bridegroom Is not your Praying Morning and Evening because it is good Family-Order It is a good thing for Reputation and Credit Is it not because you are afraid if you Rise up and Lie down without Prayer God won't Bless you that Day nor give you good rest that Night He won't succeed you in your Calling And in the Duties and Business of it Is it not because natural Conscience would cry out and say what Do you live like a Heathen yea a Brute and like a Beast I acknowledge these are valuable Reasons in their kind But sure there is a Higher a Greater Reason to go forth to meet the Bridegroom Because throughout all the Account that can be given why Men are Religious if this be not Principal if this be not the Supreme End that I would meet the Bridegroom It is not of the Excellent True Alloy Therefore Buoy up your Spirits raise them wind them up to this great height I 'll go forth to meet the Bridegroom I pray this Morning that I may meet with the Bridegroom I go to hear this day That I may meet with the Bridegroom I would not have these great things wound up onely within the Circle of this Life in this manner Here comes Business and here comes Prayer And so there 's Sleep and Eating and Drinking All comes in a Round and we would have this Round always observed And it calls to Publick Prayer and to other of those Duties Now if we turn about onely in this Circle we run on Endlessly about But our care must be higher Viz. To meet the Bridegroom Vse 2. In the Second Place I Beseech you consider whether your Religion be of this excellent kind that you would be willing to meet the Bridegroom Is it that which I believe in my Soul enlightned by the Spirit of God my Conscience bearing me Witness in the Holy Ghost that it will please the Bridegroom Are my Thoughts Affections manner of Conversation such And what reason have we and do we Humble our selves before our Bridegroom when we consider this will not please when we consider this is not fine enough Ornamental enough to his Glory of value enough I would not meet him with Tinsel instead of Gold and real worth I would not meet him with false Diamonds instead of real ones So I would not meet him with Hypocritical formal Prayers without real Grace And then Vse 3. In the third Place I beseech you consider I don't expect there should be many Subscribing to that Account of Time that I have given out Tho it be upon great and strong Foundations in the Word of God Yet I challenge nothing from any but so far as they see in that Light But I would onely ask you this Question upon the occasion of it Suppose it a true and real Scripture Account that I have given out and that within so little a Time there shall be yet so great a change of the World And Men shall begin to unhinge from the Earth and Earthly Foundations Would you be glad of it Or have you not a secret Trouble and Enmity against it And that you would have the World still go on and Ages to run on so I say try your selves as to this I think it cannot be any Injury for any to propose this Seeing we should be continually upon our watch for this very thing when our Lord will come Vse
worthiness of those that Speak or for the Ability with which they speak but the Source of all is this excellent Doctrine of the Gospel that we have in the Word of God And indeed If we had not a Tongue to speak it or Ears to hear it yet to behold the mighty Government of God and Christ the evil of Sin and the excellency of Grace and of the Spirit of God and of the Salvation of Christ throughout it is to put you into Heaven to introduce you into Heaven even while you are here upon Earth Do not think that it is a small thing that these excellent Promises these excellent Doctrines these excellent Exhortations and Counsels are Administred unto you For it is even Heaven upon Earth this very Word of God and for the preaching of it that is only a further Ordination of God that every one may have it spoken unto them and be persuaded In season and out of season and that there might be a more forcible Application upon the Souls of Men. But if we have but the Word of God this Scripture lying in our Houses we have the Kingdom of Heaven I may say lying in our Houses in this Sense I am now speakjng of it to you You have it because you have this excellent Doctrine of Christ And there are Scriptures there are many Scriptures that are so exceeding clear and plain that he may run that reads No one that hath but this Book of God either that he Reads or that is ordinarily read to him but he may say I am exalted herein to Heaven because I have such an excellent Scripture such an excellent Gospel continually before me So the very Sound of it the very Motion of it in the World it is the great Happiness of those parts of the World that have it And we have great Reason to say in this place in this City in this Nation and especially wherever God lights up a clearer Taper and Torch of his Gospel we have Reason to say That Heaven is come down to us and that we can go when we please and Read one of the excellent Sermous and Discourses of our Lord Jesus in the Gospel That we can go to the Epistles and read those admirable Things that the Spirit of God hath given out by the Apostle Paul James and John These things you do not Apprehend the great Advantage of them We talk of Heaven and we would be glad to go to Heaven and Heaven is the great Burden of all our wishes and all our hopes Behold saith Christ the Kingdom of Heaven is here among us the Truth of his Word lying open to us How dreadful therefore will even that Dust that gathers upon our Bibles from day to day be I say what a Testimony will it be And as our Saviour saith to those that he sent out to Preach his Gospel It shall be more tolerable saith he for Sodom and Gomorrah than for those that refuse it And the very dust of your feet saith he when you depart out of that City shake off as a witness against them Mat. 10. 14. So the very dust of our Bibles will rise up in Judgment against us because when God hath opened the Windows of Heaven to us in it we have refused and scorned and despised and to Speak in our ordinary Language counted it as a Book out of date because we have had it so long O! If you did but know what a value the Martyrs in the Days of Queen Mary set upon it when the Light was but just sprung out what a value did they put upon the Scriptures And indeed if God were cutting us short and a Famine of his Word coming upon us we should then say what a great Treasure is God taking from us And yet how many Hours do we pass in the Day and not read of Christ and of the Kingdom of Heaven that is so pourtrayed and explained in the Gospel to us There is a Time that is set out to us by Prophecy and there 's great Reason to hope that it is very near when this Kingdom of Heaven in the Everlasting Gospel shall Ride as it were Circuit or rather at one time be heard from the midst of Heaven throughout the whole Earth Rev. 14. 6. I saw an Angel fly through the midst of Heaven having the Everlasting Gospel to Preach unto them that dwell on the Earth and to every Kindred and Tongue and People This Everlasting Gospel of the Kingdom of Heaven It shall be preached to every Nation and Kindred and Tongue and People Whereas now in many parts of America and whereas now in the whole Plat of the Regions where the Mahometan Power is and where Antichrist is There is a concealment of this Gospel a denial a shutting of it up from the Acquaintance and Knowledge and Reading and Hearing of the generality of the People it is here Preached in such a way as to make known the great Counsels and Mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven to Men. But In the Second Place The Kingdom of Heaven is in the mighty work and operation of the Gospel of Christ upon our Hearts Then when we find Christ to be the Pearl of great Price and sell all to buy him when we look upon him as the onely Treasure and the onely Riches when our Hearts are under the beginnings of Grace and the powerful Operations of it then is the Kingdom of Heaven come to be within us Matth. 13. 31. The Kingdom of Heaven is like to a grain of Mustard-seed which a Man took and sowed in his Field which indeed is the least of Seeds but when it is grown is the greatest among Herbs and becometh a Tree so that the Fowls of Heaven lodge in the Branches of it This is an Expression of the Preaching of the Gospel which if it be received and taken in in the power of the Gospel upon the Heart It is indeed a little thing in the beginning but it spreads more and more upon the Heart and Life And the Kingdom of Heaven ver 33. is like unto Leaven which a Woman took and hid in three measures of Meal till the whole was leavened This is the Preaching of the Gospel and also the power of it upon the Hearts of Men. And when it is a Seed that takes upon hearts and brings forth abundantly Fruit to Eternal Life that also is the Kingdom of Heaven And ver 44. The Kingdom of Heaven is like treasure hid in a field the which when a man hath found he hideth and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath and buyeth that field Again the Kingdom of Heaven is like unto a Merchant Man seeking goodly Pearls who when he had found one Pearl of great price he went and sold all that he had and bought it This is the Kingdom of Heaven coming within a Man giving him such a value of Jesus Christ that he looks upon all things else as the Apostle saith
do for that After-State let us do it now For in dying Spirits going out of Bodies enter into their Determinative State They enter in the State they were in here They carry out the Oil they have whether only in the Lamp of their Profession or in the Vessel the Heart united to Christ the Fountain And so they must abide so they must appear when the Bridegroom cometh This is the holy and wise Decree of God concerning the Human Spirit and who dare controll it From hence then it necessarily follows That this Watch is to be maintained in this Present State and that it can be only here and that therefore it is only in order to and with relation to the Coming of the Bridegroom but not with relation to the Time of his Coming for then the Doctrine of Watching had not been proper to Persons living so many Ages before it but because every person successively living since the Time our Lord spake these words is in the Time of his Life to exercise this Watch that is to see he hath the Oil in his Vessel and not in his Lamp only that he may stand before the Son of Man at his Coming Therefore it is a Doctrine necessary to every Age as well those furthest off as those nearest to his Coming because every one hath but a Life-Time to Watch in and he is much more to be wrought upon by the sence of the shortness and incertainty of his own Life than by the nearness of the Bridegrooms Coming and the incertainty of the time of that as we plainly see by every Days Experience And this is much the more uncontestable by observing the Apostle Paul's earnestness against the Christians of those Times thinking the Day of Christ was then at hand which he solemnly affirms could not be till an Apostacy of 1260 Days of Years should have come in and that not immediately neither and have run out Yea our very Lord himself when They thought the Kingdom of God should immediately have appeared Luke 19. 11 c. gives the Parable of a Nobleman going into a far Country and returning importing a distance of Time all which had been a contradiction to watching because we know not the day nor hour if the meaning had not been a making provision in the present Life for the Bridegrooms Coming how many Ages after soever it should be and that else it would come upon us at unawares and on the sudden and find us unready unprovided for it Argument 2. It further appears That Watching is the making such provision in this present Time for the Bridegrooms Coming as will bear up to the Glory of that Time because in the same State wherein we lie down we shall rise at that day whenever it be and openly appear therein in the face of Heaven and Earth The Judgment of Spirits though it be before God and Christ and Aangels and Saints yet Scripture speaks of it as of a private Judgment for the Day of the Appearance of Christ is spoken of Rom. 2. 5. as the Revelation or uncovering that righteous Judgment of God which as pass'd upon Spirits returning to God that gave them is as covered and secret There is greatest reason to be assured That when Spirits of Saints come into the hand of Christ there is joy in Heaven for if there be joy at their Conversion in the presence of the Angels of God and so of Saints there is much more so in the coming of Spirits to Glory but this Joy and the Shouts of it are not heard down on Earth But at that Appearance of Christ they are presented with exceeding joy before Heaven and Earth And so are All not in Christ with contempt and dishonour And this is the great Mystery and Wonder of the Oeconomy the Order of that Day That persons rise in the very same State wherein they lie down God will have it so for the clearness of his Judgment though persons die in the corner of a Bed as the Prophets expression is yet they shall openly appear in the same circumstances they died God will have every ones Judgment as in all orderly Governments to be sub Dio openly in the Face of Heaven and Earth they shall all appear as in the Fact 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Thus he will be glorified in his Saints and admired in all them that believe in that day and justified in the Condemnation of all whom he condemns If God should dispose of some to Hell and some to Heaven and that there were no publick account of the matter we might think they were so disposed of by God as by an Arbitrary Power and in secret and so his Justice called in Question But when Spirits that have been so disposed of in private both Spirits so publickly and Bodies are called for together and the Judgment affirmed This is clear and open proceeding and therefore a Day of Judgment and of Resurrection is so often spoken of All shall be brought Face to Face and we shall not only know one another who have conversed together but even of all Ages Abraham Isaac and Jacob Cain and Esau Saul Achitophel and Judas All shall be known and we shall know what becomes of every one to Eternity Death here and Spirits entring into their everlasting state is not All of which we may say Who knows the Spirit of a Saint of a wise Virgin that goes upward of a wicked man of a foolish Virgin that goes downward But at that Day shall be known All the Good Men we have read of in Scripture or in true Accounts of History And the Evil Men and Hypocrites Each Company and Person apart and apart God and Christ will pass upon all openly and in Publick And that which I would further urge every one shall Rise in the very Fact the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in which they lay down Belshazzars in their way Diveses in their way the Worldlings in their way and the Foolish Virgins in their way Crying Lord Lord without Truth and Power as here The great Tyrants Enemies of the Kingdom of Christ in their way To that purpose they are describ'd as having laid their Weapons of War under their Heads with their Iniquities upon their Bones Ezek. 32. 17. and so they 'll come to the Battel of Armageddon The Iniquity and the Bones the Persons and Weapons of War will appear together in that Day of the Revelation of the Righteous Judgment of God as even then in actual War against the Lamb and his Saints This is the Great and stupendious management of the Day of Judgment of that Day and Hour of which in this Sense especially and not as relating to Time no one knows no Angels no not the Son as Man The Father only the Eternal Beeing alone had Wisdom to find out Authority Dominion and Power thus to execute It is therefore the great Point of watchfulness to Live so and so to Dye as we would desire to Rise and
Watch For ye know not the Time Yet I shall shew you That hath quite another sense And that it speaks that every one should look that they have the Truth of Grace and Oyl in the Vessel and the Wedding Garment This is the Watchfulness that the Spirit of God confines us to But in the mean time we ought to be upon our Watch-Tower and to know the Times appointed by God For it is great Hypocrisie However we may think it Great Modesty that we do not Discern the Signs of the Times To be Instructed in the Times from the Signs the Scripture hath given us from Time to Time That we may come to know when this Great Coming of the Kingdom of Christ shall be And that our Hearts may be greatly preparing and in a Readiness for that Great Day c. is one Branch of the great Duty of Waiting for his Appearance SERMON V. Near the Time of the Shaking in London c. On Matth. XXV Ver. 1. and so on to Ver. 13. Then shall the Kingdom of Heaven be likened unto Ten Virgins which took their Lamps and went forth to meet the Bridegroom THE Words that I shall place the present Discourse upon are those Viz. While the Bridegroom Tarried while the Bridegroom delayed While the Bridegroom Delayed his coming While He whiled out the Time As we in our English Language speak and as the Greek Word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 properly signifys While the Bridegroom Delay'd or Tarried or spent Time They all Slumbred and Slept I have you know in this Parable shewn you the Great Intention of it That it Represents the Glory of that Nuptial Feast That Wedding That Marriage of the Lamb. And I have already opened the several Preparatory Particulars in it I shall now at this Time Discourse upon what I have proposed The Bridegroom Tarried And so I shall endeavour to lay this Foundation That the coming of Jesus Christ hath not been since He spoke this Parable Neither is it yet immediately to be The Bridegroom Tarried And therefore herein I shall endeavour to open to you First How strange it is according to Scripture-Discourse that the coming of Christ has been so long delay'd And I shall Answer to you the Objections that arise from it against the Truth of Scripture concerning the Bridegroom's coming And so how this delay and many Scriptures can be reconciled In the Second Place I shall give you the two Great Reasons especially why the Bridegroom 's coming is Delay'd And then In the Third Place I shall enquire the Signs when this Tarrying of the Bridegroom is like to be at an End And I shall endeavour so to Discourse this as to resolve you concerning the Present Face of the World That we are in a Time you know all very well of very great Commotions of the Nations and as the Scripture Expression is We hear of Wars and Rumours of Wars continually And you know God hath both in other Nations and in a part of this Nation the beyond the Sea given us Great Reason to consider that shaking of the Earth that was so dreadful in a part of our Nation tho beyond the Sea And that gentle Admonition that he hath given us of it so lately in this very place In this very City I would therefore Discourse that point to you how far we may look upon these as Signs of the near Coming of the Bridegroom And then I shall close up the whole in the Application of it I begin with the First And that is to Discourse to you how strange it may seem and disagreeable to Scripture that the Bridegroom hath so long Delayed his Coming And I shall remove the Objectons against the Truth and Verity of Scripture Notwithstanding the Delay of the coming First therefore it seems very strange that such an Evil State of the World should continue beyond the Death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ Seeing there is such an Infinite Grace of God in a Mediator and that he pleased to give his own Son to Lost Man That whoever believes in him should not perish bat have Eternal Life It is no wonder we may be ready truly to say That the World continued till Christ came till He Dyed and Rose again and till there was an Universal Preaching of the Gospel in His Name But why should it last any longer So Great a Thing was done Then in the World that there can be no Expectation of such another And therefore sure there was nothing now to do but for Christ to have a Kingdom as Great and as Large and as Glorious as the Scripture assures he shall have For as I have noted to you and I desire that you would bear as I have said before That Scripture in your Mind Gal. 4. 4. When the Fullness of Time was come God sent forth his Son It is no wonder that Time should last till The Fullness of Time came But that it should last beyond is very strange God sent forth his Son made of a Woman made under the Law to redeem them that were under the Law that we might receive the Adoption of Children And God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son to all those that are his Children to cry Abba Father These were so Great Things that till this Fullness indeed it is no Wonder at all that God bore up the World because he had such a Great Discovery of his Love and of his Grace to make and by which Men had been Saved all along before even the Fathers in the Old Testament And by which Salvation is to be alone expected and received 'T was no Wonder therefore I say that God bore up the World to that Fullness of Time But now it is strange that it should last any longer than that It is Wonder there has not been a Kingdom of Redemption and of Glory ever since But now to Answer you in that Particular and by a Place of Scripture as Notable as this Fullness of Time is There is another far Greater Appearance of the Glory of the Redemption of Christ For you know All That was in Humiliation It was in an Incognito-State in a Disguise of the Son of God Humbling Himself into the Form of a Servant and to Death the Death of the Cross But All This is to Appear in Glory And as there was a Fullness of Time for that First Manifestation of Christ So there is Ephes 1. 10. a Dispensation of the Fullness of Times not only of Time but of Times or of All Time That he might gather together in One all things in Christ both which are in Heaven and which are in Earth even in Him Till that Date be come the Kingdom of Christ cannot be Let me therefore desire of you That you would keep these Two Places of Scripture always in your Thoughts with Relation to the First Coming of Christ and with Relation to his Second Glorious Coming and Appearance There is the Fullness of Time and
World with Prayers and Duties I don't speak to discourage you in any of these things but to provoke you to it to look to the Life and to the Power presently say My Lamp is gone out all my Hearing and Praying is come to nothing they did not go down to the root to the bottom of my Heart and Life they are become nothing Our Lamps are gone out This is suitable to the expression we read in the Proverbs It is said that the Lamp of the wicked shall be put out in obscure darkness O how great will that Darkness be when that Light that is in us shall be plainly found and felt and perceived to be Darkness O what a miserable thing is it when a Man shall be forced to say All my Religion and Profession it is gone out it is a Lamp gone out Our Lamps are gone out It is a most hideous Representation of the thing as could be made We walked in the Light of our Lamps when we were here in the World And now when all comes to the Tryal of the Day and of the fire when it comes to be Examined indeed Our Lamps are gone out Just as if a Man were entring into some dark Vault as you know Miners they go with Lights and as soon as they come into the dark and black of the Vapours their Lights presently go out and they know not which way to go nor how to guide themselves And so in that Day it will be a very lamentable and terrible state to us to be forced to say That Our Lamps are gone out 3. In the Third place you may consider this now that they would light their Lamps again They would furnish themselves with Oil from those that they have joined with in the World while they were here in the World They said unto the Wise Give us of your Oil for our Lamps are gone out There is an Endeavour to pin themselves as it were upon the Saints and Servants of God with whom they held a Converse and Correspondence here They say Give us of your Oil Shall we be no better That you have prayed and profest with us and that you have heard the Word of God with us and that we were joined with you shall this do us no good Give us of your Oil. But you see 4. In the Fourth Place There is no manner of Relief that way no good at all will be done us if we have not the power of Faith and Repentance in our selves If we have not real converse and Communion with and Union to Jesus Christ it will do us no good at that Day that we have had our Conversation and Worship that we have had our Communion with the Servants of God It is said Matth. 8. 11. That many shall come from the East and West and shall sit down with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the Kingdom of Heaven but the Children of the Kingdom there 's the great Emphasis of the thing shall be cast out into outer darkness there shall be weeping and gnashing of Teeth Though they were the Children of the Kingdom and though they had a Right Abraham Isaac and Jacob in regard of the Glorying they had made of being their Children So that it is not our Converse and Communion with Saints or our being of a Church it will do no Man any good to be the Son or Daughter of such a Church as some Men love to speak or to be a Member of such a Church as others speak I say these things will do us no good if we have not the Power and Life of Grace in our hearts Let every Man prove his own Work as the Apostle saith and then he shall have rejoicing in himself and not in another And so in this regard we may further understand the Circumstances in which the foolish Virgins arise They cannot have the least advantage or the least good by all the Saints that they have known and have kept company with or heard or Received the Lords Supper with Nay though they had Eat and Drunk in Christ's Presence and if they had heard Christ himself it would have done them no good without the Power wherewith Christ taught them in I speak not this that we should slight the Society of Saints but that we should love them entirely and our delight should be in them as in the Excellent of the Earth But still we must have the same spirit of Faith with them or else it will do us no good No say they not so lest we have not enough for our selves and you Which shews indeed the Vanity and Folly of Popery in carrying Men upon the hopes of other Men the Merits of such a Saint and such a Saint It is a thing so silly and so foolish and beggarly in Religion that I don't think it worth the speaking of but there have been times when such Foppery and Foolery hath taken place upon Multitudes of this Nation but blessed be God it is not so now Though there be multitudes of Persons that would have gone upon the Faith and Holiness and the Charity even by way of Judgment and Opinion of such a Saint heretofore But I think it not worth the spending much time on the Opinion but on the mistake of Professors now I go on to the next Particular And that is They went to buy What is the meaning of this but only this their vehemency if it were possible for them to mend their Faith to mend their Repentance at that time It is a shadow of this O that it were possible now That instead of the false Faith I have I might have a true Faith I would have a true Repentance upon any Terms whatsoever O the Cry that Foolish Virgins will make when they have had Opportunity and lost their Opportunity While they went to buy the Bridegroom came and they that were ready went in with him to the Wedding They that were ready that had true Faith and Repentance just at the time that the others went to buy And the Door was shut and they came and said Lord Lord Open to us But he answered and said Verily I say unto you I know you not Wherein First of all We may observe as I said They would have it at any rate if it were possible to be had the Truth of Faith and the Truth of Repentance and the Truth of Holiness and of the Spirit of God dwelling in them But while they were endeavouring to amend and to repair what they had so miserably been mistaken in while they were here They find There 's no Amendment in that State They find that there is no going over the thing again Work therefore saith Christ while it is day for the Night cometh when no Man can work And therefore let us look to it while we are here in the World I shall therefore close the Discourse in the brief Application of it 1. In the First Place it teaches us very seriously to consider