likened unto Ten Virgins which took their Lamps and went forth to meet the Bridegroom 2. And five of them were wise and five were foolish 3. They that were foolish took their Lamps and took no Oil with them 4. But the wise took Oil in their Vessels with their Lamps 5. While the Bridegroom tarried they all slumbered and slept 6. And at midnight there was a Cry made Behold the Bridegroom cometh go ye out to meet him 7. Then all those Virgins arose and trimmed their Lamps 8. And the foolish said unto the wise Give us of your Oil for our Lamps are gone out 9. 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 your selves 10. 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 11. Afterward came also the other Virgins saying Lord Lord open to us 12. But he answered and said Verily I say unto you I know you not 13. Watch therefore for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of Man cometh I Have often had it in my Thoughts and Desires to open this Great Parable of the Kingdom to you Wherein as Christ saith he hath declared things that had been kept secret from the very Foundation of the World But indeed I fear an Inability to open this Parable according to the Greatest Importance and Sense of it I have yet by the Assistance of God and through the Great Author of it undertaken to offer to you the utmost of Light that I can from so Rich a Portion of Scripture But still saying Who is sufficient for these things I know it contains in it self a Point of the Greatest Concernment to every one of us And the Greater and the Fairer our Profession of Christianity is the Greater is our Obligation to consider it For you see here is nothing in the Text but a Virgin-State and that imports the Purity of a Profession the Highest and the Purest Profession of Christ and of his Name And yet as you may easily observe what a great Danger and Hazard there is in the Purest Profession that we should come short of the Great End For why were Five of these Virgins shut for ever out of the Glory and Happiness of the End The Point that I aim at to discourse upon I 'll give you in the General And then shew you in every Particular how the Parable Answers to it And how Great the Wisdom of Christ is He spake indeed as it is said in the Gospel as never man spake No meer Created Man was ever able to find out such Lively Images and Representations of Things as he did and as he hath given us the Instance and Example of in this very Parable I say therefore here is the main Point that I propose to you That even the Highest and most Excellent Professors of Christianity have great need and an Obligation lying upon them to take care that while they make so excellent a Profession they have that that will bear out and will last in that State of the Kingdom of Christ and of the Glory of it I say the Highest and Purest Professors Suppose any of us say We are not as Heathens and we are not as Antichristians and we are not as the Looser and General Professors of Christianity are But we are Virgins we are of the Purest and of the most Refined Profession of Christianity Our Lord here allows it to us we may be so and yet notwithstanding this we are to be under this severe Caution That we are not found foolish Virgins that have not the Truth and Power of Christianity or only a Profession that will go out as a Lamp extinguished and quenched and cast out into utter Darkness when it comes to the strictest and highest Examination Now this our Saviour hath comprized under Three Generals that you may observe in this Parable which I will at this time first of all but in gross and in short deliver to you and then Endeavour by the Assistance of God to be more Exact upon the Particulars of it First Therefore that we may understand it we are to observe That this Parable represents the Kingdom of Heaven and the Kingdom of Heaven is to be understood First In the opening of it in the Preaching of the Gospel and in the drawing of the Minds and Hearts of those that hear it unto it That 's the first Notion of the Kingdom of Heaven The Kingdom of Heaven shall be likened unto Ten Virgins which took their Lamps and went forth to meet the Bridegroom This speaks the whole State of the Gospel from that Fulness of Time as I have Stiled it from the Apostle Paul to the Fulness of Times or of All Times from the time of the Death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ from that time 'till the Bridegroom himself comes The Kingdom of Heaven It is the Preaching of the Gospel daily and continually to all those to whom it is offered and tendred And as to this He that hath an Ear to hear let him hear Secondly This Kingdom of Heaven it is to be considered As it shall open it self in the Glory of the Appearance of Jesus Christ For the Kingdom of Heaven doth not lose it self when the Preaching of the Gospel is at an end and when that which we count the Day of Judgment comes but it passes then into another State into its Glory and into its visible Appearance It comes then into the highest Celebration of the Nuptials and of the Wedding For they went forth to meet the Bridegtoom And it is said That the Bridegroom came and they that were ready went in with him into the Wedding and the Door was shut So the Kingdom of Heaven lasts from that Preaching of the Gospel from the Death and Resurrection of Christ unto the Glory of the Kingdom in the Appearance of Christ and of all his Saints with him Which as I say and as you shall after hear is the highest Celebration of the Wedding and of the Nuptials The Second Head of Discourse on this Parable in which our Lord hath presented this great Truth to us is the Representation of those that make Profession of him in the purest and in the most refined way and therefore they are all called Virgins Even those that had not Oil in their Lamps yet still they are called Virgins And those that were not only the wise but the foolish still they are called Virgins And what is the Reason of this but that Christ might press the harder and closer upon every one of our Consciences If you say and you know we are ready to value and rate our selves by it we have a better Profession and a better Worship and we do not as others do whose way and whose worship and whose profession we condemn but we are as Virgins in our Worship
the Nature of the Type and to fill up all the Parts of it and all the Colours of the Picture For the meaning is no more than this Look well to this That you have a Provision a Treasure of Grace that will last out the whole Time of the Wedding-Solemnity For if you have not you will not be able to make a Provision then you will be as those that are unready Now that this is the meaning of Watching is very plain from hence because the Virgins that had Oil in their Lamps and in their Vessels too they Slumbred and Slept yet they went immediately into the Wedding But all those that had only Oil in their Lamps and not in their vessels they were shut out there was no possibility of making Provision for themselves at that time From all which particulars then that I have given you at this Time but the Generals of I collect Let it be our care let us seriously look to it that we make such a provision now that may last out that whole State that is That we have such Grace as will bear out the Tryal of that Day and that Time That 's the main Importance of this so great Parable so excellent Parable that every one of us should look to it That we have such Treasure such real Riches of Grace in the Blood of Jesus and in the power of his Death and Resurrection upon us that will comport with that great Solemnity of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ And let us not say among all the Professions and Ways that there are in the VVorld we have chosen out what we think the best and the purest It is not enough that we are Virgins in our Profession but we must have this rich Treasure this real Treasure of Grace in our Hearts This I say is the main Importance of this great Parable and it Issues into this That we should take heed of pleasing our selves in a Profession and that we should be under the power of this Apprehension That the most excellent Profession that there is in the World in the whole Christian Name whatever it is that shall have the Precedency above any other yet if our Hearts are not Enriched with the true Grace of God and of Jesus Christ we do not know the Truth as it is in Christ effectually And therefore indeed there is not any place of Scripture that Imports a greater Severity or makes more necessary tryal and search into our State and Condition than this very Parable does For when it gives a Representation of the purest State that can be given that is to call all Virgins and yet that some of these are shut out for ever from the Glory of the Kingdom of Christ How should it as our Saviour speaks in a like Parable engage us to strive to enter in at the strait Gate For many shall seek to enter in and shall not be able Many of the Children of the Kingdom shall be thrust out as Christ speaks in another place This is the great care therefore that should lie upon us to secure the inward part the vital part the true Power the true Light of Christianity that shall never be as a Lamp put out in obscure Darkness If you look upon the 14 Revel you may see what a high Importance this very Word or Representation of Virgins hath saith the Spirit of God there concerning those that were in the purity of Christian Religion These saith he are VIRGINS and have not defiled themselves with Women as other Professors of the Name of Christ had with the Impurity that others were defiled with For they are Virgins and they follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth So that though this be so great a Representation of the purity of Christian Religion yet you see here in this Parable our Saviour hath taken this very Representation to set forth the State that yet shall miscarry in the End to Eternity And so the Apostle Paul 2 Cor. 11. 2. I am Jealous over you with a godly Jealousie for I have espoused you to one Husband that I may present you as a chast Virgin to Christ You see sometimes this Representation Metaphor or Emblem of a Virgin is made use of to speak the highest and truest Purity And yet our Lord doth as it were abase and humble it here in speaking of the Foolish Virgins that he might gain his main point and end That is to tell us The most excellent Profession let it be what it will it will not avail us if there be not the truth and power of Christianity in it I shall therefore according to the particulars I have laid down to you endeavour to open this great Point all along by those lively Resemblances that our Lord hath given us in this Parable In the first place I shall consider the State of the Gospel as it is here called the Kingdom in its setting out from the Resurrection of Jesus Christ 'till it attains that great Point of Glory its manifestation in the visible Appearance of our Lord Jesus It is all the while the Kingdom of Heaven Then shall the Kingdom of Heaven be likened So as I have Represented to you from Gal. 4. and Ephes 1. Here 's the whole State or Time of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and of all the course and motion it runs It begins in the preaching of the Gospel and it ends in the Glory of it Gal. 4. 4. I look upon it to be a great Foundation of all that Discourse that I have endeavoured to Instruct you by concerning the Kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ But when the fulness of time was come God sent forth his Son made of a woman made under the Law The first Appearance of Christ it is called the Fulness of Time that 's the beginning point of it And then there 's the Recapitulation the gathering of all things again into Christ and that is as the Apostle tells us Eph. 1. 10. In the dispensation of the fulness of Times he will gather together in one all things in Christ both which are in Heaven and which are in Earth even in him In the Fulness of Time Christ came to bear the sins of many In the fulness of Times he gathers all into himself So that the Kingdom of Heaven it hath its beginning in the first Appearance of Christ and it hath its uttermost Glory in the gathering together in one all things into Christ And then it is delivered up into the Kingdom of Eternity We should therefore apprehend our selves even now under the preaching of the Gospel that we are under the motion of the Kingdom of Heaven here 's the beginning of it And then we should look to our selves and draw All to the Issue and last Result For the Kingdom of Heaven lasts till that great Solemnity of the Marriage-Supper of the Lamb it lasts to that very time and so it continues till the Kingdom is delivered up to God all in all You
shall find as soon as ever Christ came to be Preached and to be declared immediately there is the use of this very Phrase The Kingdom of Heaven Mat. 3 2. John the Baptist went out and said Repent ye for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand And so it is said of Christ that He also went forth to Preach in the very same manner Repent saith he for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand Mat. 4. 17. So that here is the whole State of the Kingdom of Heaven it begins at the Preaching of our Lord Jesus Christ and it goes on to the Perfection and to the Glory of the Kingdom Let us therefore observe what is the motion of the Gospel upon our Hearts because it is the Kingdom of Heaven And we should look to the Power and to the mighty Influences that it hath upon our Souls in that very regard because that it is the Kingdom of Heaven in its first beginnings and in its first Preparations till it comes into the Glory of it self I shall therefore Endeavour at this time to Discourse this Point to you concerning this Power of the Gospel as it is the Kingdom and Apply it by way of strong Reflection upon our own Hearts And that we may consider what our own State and Condition is in relation to it First therefore The Kingdom of Heaven is the offer of the Great Salvation of Jesus Christ unto Souls It is the Offer of that great State that shall be hereafter There is a present Offer of it to us now The Gospel comes to this very purpose to invite us by the present Preaching and by the outward Publication and Administration of it It comes to Invite us to that great Kingdom that is called The Kingdom of Heaven The Gospel represents it self now to us with all the earnestness and Wooing-Language that we may be drawn in unto Jesus Christ This is the first thing wherein it is called and worthy to be called The Kingdom of Heaven because it comes with the offer of Heaven and with the offer of Life and Grace unto every Soul Heaven is bowed down God rends the Heavens and comes down to us in the preaching of the Gospel It is called therefore the Kingdom of Heaven taken from one and given to another The Kingdom of Heaven shall be taken from you and given to a Nation bringing forth the fruits of it Mat. 2. 43. Because this Kingdom makes an offer of Life and an offer of Grace to every Soul It is that very thing that the Apostle speaks of in 2 Cor. 5. 19. God was in Christ reconciling the World unto himself and not imputing to them their Trespasses Wherefore saith he we are Ambassadors for Christ ver 20. as though God did beseech you by us we pray you in Christ's stead be ye reconciled to God God is pleased to make an offer to every one that hears of the Kingdom of Heaven He bows the Heaven as I said down to you and to you and to every one of us that are under the preaching of his Gospel The Kingdom of Heaven stoops down it condescends it self to make a gracious Offer to every one that hears it this Day If any one will let him come and take the water of life freely As it is said Rev. 22. 17. If any one hath a Mind and a Desire to the Kingdom of Heaven when it is thus offered Christ therefore laid the Foundation of it in his own Coming He begins it by John the Baptist that was to prepare his way and he carried it on by himself And still by one Series and Course of his Servants after another he hath taken care that in one part of the World or other ever since the Resurrection of Christ there hath been an offer of this Kingdom of Heaven all along to the Sons of Men in the publick Preaching of the Gospel Indeed I know the Wisdom and Glory and Soveraignty of God hath greatly manifested it self in that there are many Nations at this very Day that have not the Kingdom of Heaven Preached to them And even amongst our selves what variety there is in the Dispensation of this Word of the Kingdom unto us As our Saviour calls it The Word of the Kingdom Matth. 13. 19. When any one heareth the Word of the Kingdom So that 's the first Notion that Scripture gives us of the Kingdom of Heaven it is in the offer of Life and Grace and Salvation by Jesus Christ in the publick Preaching of the Gospel Now thus indeed Men may seem as it were at their choice and at their Election whether they will accept the Kingdom of Heaven or not whether any one will open their Ears and hear How many say If this be the Kingdom of Heaven we do not at all desire it They turn their Backs upon it and refuse slight and contemn it because it is not with Majesty enough as they think and it does not bring present Glory and Advantage enough It therefore tells us It is not the present State it is not the present Condition We are ready to say What does it bring us And where is the Power and Glory it brings along with it now This therefore now we are Taught That the Kingdom of Heaven is only now by way of Doctrine by way of Offer by way of gracious Proposal to the Souls of Men it does not yet come in its Majesty Glory and in its Power But as I shall shew you in the third Particular The Kingdom of Heaven never rests till it comes in its Glory and in its Majesty This therefore is the first Expression of it the preaching of the Gospel is the Kingdom of Heaven the Sounding of Christ and Salvation in your Ears telling you of an Everlasting State and Condition of Happiness or Misery if you refuse This is the lifting up of many as our Saviour speaks which is a very lively Consideration upon the Point that I am now upon Mat. 11. 20. He began to upbraid the Cities wherein his mighty Works had been done because they repented not Wo unto thee Chorazin wo unto thee Bethsaida for if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes But I say unto you It shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the Day of Judgment than for you And thou Capernaum which art exalted unto Heaven shalt be brought down to Hell for if the mighty Works which have been done in thee had been done in Sodom it would have remained until this day But I say unto you it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom than for thee Here you see we have the preaching of the Gospel and the offer of Christ this is the Kingdom of Heaven bowing and stooping to you making an offer of it self freely to you and as we say courting the Acceptance of Souls We should look upon it as so not for the
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
bad are cast into a furnace of fire where there shall be weeping and wailing And now I may say to you in some humble measure as Christ said to his Hearers Have ye understood all these things They say unto him yea Lord. So I say to you Have you considered and received and in good measure understood what I have been now speaking to you That the Kingdom of Heaven sets out in the Preaching of it But where it is not the Kingdom of Heaven within us we have only a Lamp of Profession And therefore it will certainly come to that That before the Kingdom of Heaven hath done it will separate between one sort of Men and the other The Tares shall be gathered into bundles to be burnt and the bad Fish though they have come to the Net and come within the Net yet they shall be separated and cast into the furnace of fire This is the Kingdom of Heaven and this is the same thing which our Saviour intends in this very Parable I have Explained to you The Kingdom of Heaven never ceases till it hath separated foolish and wise Virgins And therefore it is said Then shall the Kingdom of Heaven Which is a great Key to this Parable in this 25th of Matthew Then shall the Kingdom of Heaven When do you think our Lord meant He meant at that very Time that was spoâ—en of before in the fore-going Chapter and on this occasion I would give you this Note in reading Scripture that you may understand it Observe though we divide Chapters one from another yet many times the Discourse of Christ goes on it is the very same Sermon though in distinct Chapters Now you shall find in the 46 verse it is written Blessed is that Servant whom his Lord when be cometh shal find so doing Verily I say unto you that he shall make him ruler over all his goods But and if that evil Servant shall say in his heart My Lord delayeth his coming and shall begin to smite his fellow-servants and to eat and drink with the drunken the Lord of that Servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him and in an hour when he is not aware of and shall cut him asunder and appoint him his Portion with the Hypocrites there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth And then at that very time shall the Kingdom of Heaven be likened unto Ten Virgins who have indeed their time all along in the several Generations of Men since the Resurrection of Christ the Kingdom of Heaven hath been and shall be in Motion as I tell you from the fulness of Time till the fulness of all Times And then at the fulness of Times it shall be likened unto Ten Virgins Five Wise and Five Foolish Five taken into the Kingdom of Heaven for ever and Five that are thrust out That is whoever they are that are found Foolish Virgins For certainly to make the Parable more capacious and to spread it the wider for the observation and consideration of all the Number is made equal not that they are so in themselves there are not equal Wise and equal Foolish For alas the inequality is very great in comparison the Foolish mightily exceed the Wise in the present State of things Though I make no doubt there will be a different State when the Kingdom of Christ opens it self there will be many and many brought to Christ So that I make doubt whether the number of those that shall be then brought into Christ will not raise the number of the Saved so as to exceed the other but I will let that alone But what I now tell you is That the Kingdom of Heaven will not cease till it hath made a Separation between one and the other and so shine out in the midst of them that are taken into it And I might give you many great Expressions to this purpose but the Parables in Matth. 13. are abundantly sufficient to shew you That till the Lord of the great Harvest comes The Kingdom of Heaven will not cease and then there will be a Separation made of the one from the other I shall now shut up this great Doctrine with Two close Applications 1. That we would First receive this great Doctrine this Thunder and Lightning into out Consciences and Affections What! hath our Lord said That even those that are Virgins may be counted Foolish even those that may be counted of the highest and purest Churches may be Foolish Virgins The Door may be shut upon them They may have Oil in their Lamps only in this World but not able to bear up in this Marriage Supper of the Lamb wherein every one is to have his peculiar Lamp and Oil to feed and nourish an exceeding Light and Flame of Purity of Holiness May Virgins have no Oil to supply at that time Oh then with what serious Caution Fear and Trembling should I look back upon my self and observe whether my Profession hath the inward Riches the intrinsick Value and Worth in it or not Whether there be Oil in my Vessel as well as in my Lamp Whether I have such a Holiness as will bear out in that Glorious Appearance of Christ and of his Angels and of all his Saints with Him Shall I not be put upon it in that Day to run a begging as it were for the Oil in my vessel Have we not Eaten and Drank may we say together at the Table of Christ Have we not made Profession of Christ and the Gospel Must we now be Separated from the real Saints and Servants of God Have I only had that which would serve me to hear and pray with in publick and to receive the Lord's Supper Have I only had that which is the Profession of the Reformed and Protestant Religion and not the Power And must I now be turned out from it and take my Habitation amongst the foulest Antichristian Idolaters and the worst of those Superstitionists Nay must I be turned out among the Heathen among those that have been the profest Enemies of God and Jesus Christ and in a worse case than they These things it is our Faithfulness and love to our selves and to our own Souls to declare them to our selves and to meditate upon them and to search with great consideration into our selves to know whether Christ be in us of a Truth or whether we have the Kingdom of Heaven indeed within us whether we are not running up and down with Observation as Christ said to say where is the Kingdom of Heaven Where is the true Light of the Gospel Where is the best Profession and the best Administration of Ordinances And in the mean time that I do not look for the Truth of Faith the Truth of Repentance the Spirituality of Knowledge the power of Holiness upon my own Heart and upon my own Life O that every one of us might make this use of it to turn that Light of Profession Inward to search our own
Hearts as it were with a Lamp lighting inwards and with Candles that we may know how it is with our own Souls And then 2. Let us look earnestly forward to that Appearance to that Kingdom of Heaven which our Lord hath here presented to us It is to come to another Being to another Representation than is now We see things now but in a very dim and a dark Light As I have often told you we are in the foul and in the dark place of the Apostacy yet The Time is near at hand when every thing shall be seen in its full Light and in its glorious Appearance and Representation And then Though it is a Day of Terrour to all wicked profane and dissolute Persons under general Profession of Christianity And though it be a terrible Day also to Virgins that have Oil in their Vessels that is who make a great deal of their Profession and have no Truth of Grace it will be terrible to them when they come to find themselves so sadly benighted and darkened in the very Heaven of their Profession as the Expression is in the Prophet Their very Lamp goes out in obscure darkness Yet it is a Day of Rejoycing and a Day of Glory in it self And what great Reason have we earnestly to pray every one for our selves and for them that are in such a dark and hopeless condition that they have not so much as Lamps even those that are under the Profession of Christianity and yet are in such a case Now I say in regard to the hopeless state of all those and that we who have a clearer Light of the Gospel breaking out may have more of the power We have Reason to pray for the Approach of that Time when the Kingdoms of this World shall be Proclaimed to be the Kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ When the Spirit shall be poured out upon us from on high and the Everlasting Gospel shall be preached to every Nation and Tongue and People under Heaven O! that our Hearts were earnest for this Time and this State and that our Souls would give God â—â—orest till he come and Rain Righteousness upon us till he be pleased to open as it were the very Windows of Heaven and to Rain down great Showers of Gospel-Truth and Gospel-Grace and Peace as He will do before that Great and Illustrious Day of the Lord come SERMON II. On Matth. XXV Ver. 1. and so on Then shall the Kingdom of Heaven be likened unto Ten Virgins which took their Lamps and went forth to meet the Bridegroom c. I Have begun to lay before you the great Importance of this Parable and Reduced it to this Proposition as a Foundation of Discourse on the Particulars That even the Purest and most Virgin-Profession of Christianity should look well to it self and take great care that it does not trust even in the best of Appearance of Things I say in the very best of Appearances but that it should look to the inward Treasure and the intrinsick value of Christianity in the Heart Because here the Foolish Virgins were pleased with the Lamp of Profession without the Treasure of Oil in the Vessel and when it came to the great Up-shot and Result their Lamps quickly went out they failed even in the very time and so they were for ever shut out from the Glory and the Joy and the Happiness of the Solemnity of the Wedding Having laid out this Point in the Particulars of the Parable I came to the first Particular and that was to tell you That the Kingdom of Jesus Christ is throughout from first to last The Kingdom of Heaven whether you consider it in the Preaching of the Gospel it is the opening of Heaven and of the great Counsels of the Eternal Wisdom of God in the Heavens Or whether you consider it as it comes into the Heart of every particular Christian so it is the power of Heaven enabling them to set such a value upon Jesus Christ that all the Things of the World are of no Account compared with the Pearl of Great Price Or whether you consider it in the last Glorious Appearance of this Kingdom so it is Heaven It is not a State that doth so much as pretend to any Sensual Enjoyment to any worldly Satisfaction to any of the Grandeur of this World or the Delights of it but it is perfect Heaven it is Heaven throughout This I have spoken of and so I shall not add any Thing to it I come to a Second Particular in This General and that is to let you know from the Representation our Saviour hath here given That the very Intent of Christianity the Great Design and Purport of it is this It is a Preparation to the Enjoyment of Jesus Christ as the Great Bridegroom of our Souls and as the Bridegroom of his Church For so it is said here These Virgins They took their Lamps That is As soon as ever they began to make a Profession of Christ and a Profession of Christianity Immediately in that very moment they had an Eye to the Bridegroom So that this is the Great Purport of Christianity That we should have a Spiritual Marriage-Union with Jesus Christ and in Order to the Enjoyment of him in the Glory of his Kingdom as the Bridegroom of our Souls It is a very Great Emphasis and Weight that the Spirit of God has put upon this Resemblance or Similitude of the Marriage Union between Christ and the Soul and between Christ and his Church And if I should be any thing able to declare and to open it to you at this Time in the Spirituality of it and thereby solicit and draw the Affections of every one of us to Jesus Christ I should in some measure Answer that which John the Baptist Represents John 3. 29. He that hath the Bride is the Bridegroom but the Friend of the Bridegroom which standeth and heareth him rejoyceth greatly because of the Bridegroom's Voice This my Joy therefore is fullfilled That is There is no one Preaching the Gospel who ought to draw the Affection of Souls and of Spirits unto himself but he is to look only to the Great Bridegroom None of the Friends of the Bridegroom That is The Preachers of the Gospel of Jesus Christ They are not to draw the Hearts of Men to themselves For what are they as the Apostle saith if they are the most Excellent but Ministers by whom ye have believed But as the Apostle saith We preach Christ Jesus the Lord and our selves your Servants for Christ's sake We preach Christ the Bridegroom and our selves only the Friends of the Bridegroom And therefore every one should take heed that there be no Centring in himself that speaks of Christ but onely in Christ Himself And so every one of us should take heed that we do not Rest and Centre in an Ordinance or in a Discourse of Christ but that our Hearts go up to Christ Himself For he
of Marrow And Wines on the Lees well refined And in this Mountain saith God I 'll destroy the Face of the covering cast over all People and the Vail that is spread over all Nations When this Feast comes there shall be no Pagan Nation There shall be no Mahometan Nation There shall be no Popish Anti-Christian Nation There shall be no unbelieving Jews then in the World God will Draw off the Face of the covering cast over all People And every one shall see in the Clearness and in the Beauty and in the Glory and in the Majesty of the Truth of God and of the 〈◊〉 of Jesus Christ That the Religion of Christianity shall 〈◊〉 be upbraided with this Why are there so great Nations that are under the Prophet Mahomet as we are under Jesus Christ Are there not great Tracts of the World that are not known And do not the Jews that have the Doctrine of the Scriptures in the Old Testament Do they not deny Christ All these things that I may speak in a Familiar phrase Christianity is twitted with upbraided reproached with But in the day of that Feast All the Darkness of that State shall be drawn off In all our Feasts now there is necessary a sense of Death As I remember the great Prince Philip of Macedon when he had the most Sumptuous and Magnificent Entertainment He had first of all a Deaths Head served up in the Beginning of the Feast As if he should say tho I have entertained you now like a Prince and with all the Imaginable Royalty that you can expect Yet now after all this I and you must Dye So should we do in all our Eating and Drinking if we do but consider it we do but onely feed as we have a Phrase we do but onely feed Death We do but pamper Bodies to make a Feast for the Worms Now saith the Lord in this Feast I will take away all Tears and Shame and Reproach from all People utterly take it off O therefore VVho would not Aim and Design this to be at this great Feast that must be held to Jehovah And that he himself will hold for all his People as the great Prince and Master and Lord of it So you know there is nothing more ordinary in the Gospel than to compare the State of Things to a great Supper Matth. 22. He describes the Kingdom of Heaven by such a Supper as this The Kingdom of Heaven saith he is like unto a certain King which made a Marriage for his Son and he sent forth his Servants to call them that were bidden to the Wedding And they would not come Again he sent forth other Servants saying Tell them which are bidden behold I have prepared my Dinner My Oxen and my Fatlings are killed and all things are ready Come unto the Marriage But they made light of it And when the King came in to see the guests he saw there a Man which had not on a Wedding-Garment Ver. 11. 12. As I shall after endeavour to enforce in the Application But you see plainly that it is a great Nuptial Feast that the Glory of the Kingdom of Christ is Represented by So it is said His Servants wait for him There is a place of great moment to what we are upon that is Dis-advantagiously Translated And therefore I would desire that you would take something the more Notice of it Matth. 13. 34. The Son of Man saith he is as a Man taking a far Journey who left his House and gave Authority to his Servants and to every Man his Work and Commanded the Porter to watch Watch ye therefore for ye know not when the Master of the House cometh And this in Luk. 12. It is called a coming because of the Wedding ver 46. That 's the Expression I would desire a little that you would take Notice of And ye your selves like unto Men that wait for the Lord when he will return from the Wedding VVe Translate But the word in the Greek will very well signifie Because of the Wedding or upon the Account of the Wedding When Christ comes He comes because or upon the Account of the Wedding And that he may be present at that great Feast that is to be held unto the Lord our God I 'll give you but one Scripture more And so I hope you will be fully satisfied that it is the Wi 〈…〉 of the Divine Spirit to Represent to us the State of the Glory and Kingdom of Christ by a great Nuptial-Feast or Entertainment It is in the Nineteenth Chapter of the Prophesie of the Revelation Verse 7. Let us be glad and rejoice and give honour to him for the Marriage of the Lamb is come And Verse 9. And he saith unto me Write Let this thing be taken notice of let it be written in Letters that he that runs may read Blessed are they which are called unto the Marrioge-Supper of the Lamb. Blessed are they which are called and invited to the Marriage-Supper of the Lumb I shall now therefore proceed in these Two Generals before I close all in the Application First of all to shew you what the Importance and meaning of this Great Supper or the Great Feast that we are to hold to Jehovah is And then In the Second Place I shall give you a brief Parallel between all the Feasts that were appointed to the Servants and People of God in the Old Testament and this Great Feast that is to be held to Jehovah To give you therefore the Sense and the Meaning of it in these Two Expressions First It is a Time of the Greatest Solemnity Glory and Lustre and Splendor and Joy and Blessedness that the Creation ever knew or can know in the State of a Creation I say it is a State or a Time of the greatest Magnificence of the greatest Joy and Enjoyment that ever was known in the whole Creation nothing ever like to that Alas the Days that we now know here in the World take those that have been the most Lightsome the most Prosperous they are all Dark and Gloomy and Cloudy Days in comparison of that Day of the Great Glory and the Great Festival that he speaks of Indeed it is very desirable to find the Hearts of any possest seriously with God and with Religion and with Holiness and with Christianity and with Communion with God and Enjoyment of him according to the present State of Things But if we did but know how low the Condition is now wherein we are If we did but consider what a Dark Black Cloud there hangs over all a Cloud of Corruption a Cloud of Unhappiness a Cloud of Sorrow and Affliction it is they live in And it comes upon the most Eminent Servants of God you know in what a Cloud they are wrapt up as to all bodily Appearance when they come to Die and what a Cloud of Corruption hovers over them For take the most Excellent Preachers and the most Holy Men if
THE Parable of the Ten Virgins In its Peculiar Relation to the Coming and Glorious KINGDOM OF OUR Lord Iesus 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 Mark iv 13. WITH AN APOLOGY for the Hope of the Kingdom of Christ Appearing within this Approaching Year 1697. Wherein some of the Principal Arguments for such an Expectation are briefly Couch'd and the Greater Objections Answered Presented to the Notice and Examination of the Arch-Bishops and Bishops Now in PARLIAMENT Assembled By T. BEVERLEY Ezek. 10. 13. As concerning the Wheels It was cryed to them in my Hearing Oh! Revolution LONDON Printed for and Sold byWill Marshal at the Bible in Newgate-Street and John Marshal at the Bible in Grace-Church-Street 1697. A TABLE of the Principal Doctrines of each SERMON The Sermons are Divided into Five and Six Each Part viz. The first Five begin with Page 1. and so go on And the Six Last also with Page 1. and so go on The Doctrine of the First Sermon Page 1. THE Kingdom of Christ is in every Thing and throughout The Kingdom of Heaven SERMON II. Page 21. There is a Marriage-Union betwixt Christ and his Church and every Particular Believing Soul SERMON III. Page 39. The Preparation for the Glorious Marriage-Solemnity is Now and All Christianity looks to that Solemnity SERMON IV. Page 59. All those that are Christs are to hold the great Feast of the Supper of the Lamb to Jehovah SERMON V. Page 74. That the Coming of Jesus Christ hath not yet been since He was here on Earth neither yet is it immediately to be The Bridegroom Tarried The Second Part. SERMON VI. Page 1. While the Bridegroom tarried All these Virgins both the Wise and the Vnwise Slumber and Sleep SERMON VII Page 18. In the very same Circumstances wherein any of us lye down in the Grave in the very same we must be awaken'd and Rise up again SERMON VIII Page 38. It is a Point of great Consideration What the difference is between the Wise and the Foolish Virgins SERMON IX Page 58. It must be sadly Acknowledged and every one is to take it to himself That a Virgin if a Foolish Virgin shall not be admitted nor suffered to enter into the Glory of that Marriage-Feast the Marriage-Supper of the Lamb. SERMON X. Page 24. Every one that hears the Word of the Gospel concerning the Coming and Kingdom of Christ is bound to Watch as if it might be the very next Day and Hour yea though he had lived in the Days of Christ and had known certainly that his Coming and Kingdom should not have been in so many Ages as have run out since SERMON XI Page 87. 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Where you may be likewise Supplied with Mr. Rich's Testament and Psalms in Short Hand bound THE Parable of the Ten Virgins Opened and Applied SERMON I. On Matth. 25. from Ver. 1 to 13. 1. Then shall the Kingdom of Heaven be
you You may go to your Farm and to your Merchandize c. Every one your own way Now is the Invitation made and now it is to be taken Now it is to be closed with now it is to be accepted Hearken therefore every Soul that hears this Discourse Behold thou art Bidden to the Marriage-Supper of the Lamb Thou art invited to that Great Feast of the Kings Son Thou art earnestly perswaded that thou wouldest be present there and that thou wouldest partake of the Splendor Glory and Magnificence and of the Happiness of that Day Take heed now that thou don't make Light of it and say what 's this to me You will certainly Repent it another day You will fall to Weeping Wailing and Gnashing of Teeth that you would not be perswaded when you were thus Graciously bidden by Jesus Christ and by the Voice of his Word and the Voice of his Gospel Therefore hearken to this Invitation Hear whoever it be As it is said Isa 55. Where there is a great Description of this very Kingdom of this very State of Paradice As you may find in the last Verse Instead of the Thorn shall come up the Fir-Tree and instead of the Brier shall come up the Mirtle-Tree And it shall be to the Lord for a Name and for an Everlasting Sign that shall not be cut off Now Ho every one that Thirsteth So the Chapter begins As you know we make publick Sounds and Proclamations So Ho every one that Thirsteth come ye to the Waters c. Wherefore do ye spend your Money for that which is not bread and your labour for that which satisfieth not c And if any should say this is nothing but onely a Noise of Words and of Discourse saith God ver 9. As the Heavens are higher than the Earth so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts For as the Rain cometh down and the Snow from Heaven and returneth not thither but Watereth the Earth and maketh it bring forth and bud that it may give Seed to the Sower and Bread to the Eater So shall my word be that goeth out of my Mouth It shall not return unto me void but it shall accomplish that which I please and it shall Prosper in the thing whereto I sent it Therefore assure your selves that this Word It will not return in vain It will Prosper to that very End You may be sure such a Feast there is to be Therefore take great care concerning your selves what you will do about it how you will order your selves about it Vse 2. In the Second Place I shall point out to you how you may prepare your selves You must take care of this First of all that you get a Wedding-Garment As it is said Mat. 22. He saw one there that had not on a Wedding-Garment And he said unto him Friend how camest thou in hither not having a Wedding Garment And he was speechless The Man was so confounded he was so ashamed of the thing that he had nothing at all to say The King came in to see his Guests and he saw a Man that had not on a Wedding Garment The Man had nothing to say he knew there was no Reason for him to say any thing And what is this Wedding Garment It is an interest in Christ an Interest in His Righteousness a being Cloathed in Linnen White and Pure washed in the Blood of the Lamb. And tho the Person did not despise the Wedding He made a Profession as we do of Christianity to come to it Yet in the next verse ver 13. The King said to his Servants Bind him hand and foot and take him away and cast him into outer Darkness And There shall be Weeping and Gnashing of Teeth For many are called but few are chosen Therefore look diligently to this thing That tho you seem to speak fair you will come and you will be there and you do make a pretence And yet you have not the Wedding Garment Christ and his Righteousness Oh how sad will it be In the Second Place You must look diligently to this too That you have Oyl in your Vessels and not onely in your Lamps This you see is in Matth. 25. The Foolish Virgins never thought of Oyl in their Vessels but onely in their Lamps That is you must have Grace you must have a Holy and Spiritual Life from Christ That will be able to last out and to endure that very Time But I shall not speak more of it Because I shall come in a full Discourse to Treat of it Vse 3. The third use I would have you make is I would have you observe and consider but a little How this Notion of a Feast hath been Corrupted by the Anti-christian World What a Company of Feasts have there been of Man's Institution The Feast of such a Saint and such a Saint and Feasts that never were appointed by God Yet they have come into use and they remain in observation And how came this It is by that Counterfeit Christianity Antichristianism came in Feasts that never were ordain'd by God And I wish with all my heart there were not Reason to bewail not the Anti-christian World onely but even our Protestant Profession There 's nothing looks more Scandalous and more Strange than setting up Feasts that the Gospel never appointed nor Instituted I say I pray with all my heart that they that have Power and Authority in these things may consider it For when Jereboam departed from the purity of Religion Instituted by God in the Old Testament He made Feasts and Times of his own So the Christian World hath done And the Rellicks and Refuse of it are still among us We keep up Times that never were appointed That there 's no mention nor Signature of in the Gospel I do not speak any way to desire to Reflect or to be Censorious but to speak the Truth of things according to the Word of God For it is onely of Jehovah himself to appoint his own Feasts And He hath kept up to us The Feast of the Lord's Day and the Feast of the Lord's Supper as Preparatory to that Great Festival of the Kingdom of Christ And no other are we to make nor to Devise of our own Hearts Vse 4. The Fourth and Last Application is this That you would seriously consider this Marriage of the Lamb this Great Feast how near it is For as the Jews were mighty careful to keep Account of Days and the Motion of Times and Weeks They were to Account as Scripture-Expression is Lev. 23. 15. In that Case so we ought to Account the Time And methinks it is a very great Amazement and a very great Sadness That there should be no more Diligence nor Care Neither in the Publick Ministry of the Gospel nor in Private Christians to Count the Time and to know how near it is to this Great Festival For tho you may think you are Excused Because it is said
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
hear the Prayers of his Servants and bring all these things to their great Issue But now our Lord Jesus Christ hath given us an Account of this Luk. 18. 7 8. And shall not God avenge his own Elect which cry Day and Night unto him tho he bear long with them I tell you that he will avenge them speedily Nevertheless when the Son of Man cometh shall he find Faith on the Earth He will avenge them speedily tho he tarry long You may think those things Contradict one another To tarry long and yet to avenge them speedily Yet he will come and he will avenge As it was said concerning the Souls under the Altar Stay till the rest of your Brethren are filled up And then there shall be Vengeance indeed to the Enemy and a Recompence to his Servants And yet how little Faith concerning this even among the Servants of God! The last thing why you may think it very strange is this Because the Apostle said so long ago The Ends of the World were come I confess it may seem to give an Atheist some hold some advantage You know how many places of Scripture speak to this purpose 1 Cor. 10. 12. Saith the Apostle All these things happened unto them for Ensamples And they are Written for our Admonition upon whom the Ends of the World are come And saith the Apostle John This is the Last time and hereby we know it this is the last hour And these are the last Days All this is spoken and yet for all this the Kingdom of Christ hath not come And Sixteen Hundred Years and more are passed since these things have been spoken Now Indeed these things look very strange and might make Men think that there is no such thing as the Coming of Christ For tho the Apostles Preached it and they may say indeed Men that are Preachers may perswade Men so And indeed they say so But we see nothing coming to pass Did not the Apostle John speak of the last Day the last Hour and the last Time And the Apostle Peter of the very last of Times As the word is very Emphatical in the Greek And yet for all that it is not come To all this I would onely say these two things Or rather give you two places of Scripture how these things come to pass In the 2 Thes ch 2. v. 3. The Apostle tells us plainly there was such a Noise as I may so express it of the Doctrine of the Apostles concerning the last Times That all Christians then were upon the Expectation were upon the Gaze when that Coming of Christ should be Now saith the Apostle Let no Man deceive you by any means For that day shall not come except there come a falling away first Except there be an Apostacy in the Christian Church first That Day shall not come And therefore don't wonder tho it be called the last Time in regard of the Fullness of Time and Christ coming at it and because of the last of the four Monarchies Yet it is not so the last Time but that it must give Room to an Apostacy to come upon it And so in the Revelation as I have often spoken to you Chap. 11. And in the 12th and 13th Chapters There are to be Time Times and Half a Time A Thousand two Hundred and Sixty Days Fourty and two Months All which as I have said often to you make up Twelve Hundred and Sixty Years between the Preaching of the Gospel the Christian Empire and the coming of Jesus Christ And so I have spoken of the first thing why there may arise such thoughts upon this that the Kingdom of Christ is not come yet to this very Day I come now to the Second thing to give you very Great Reasons besides what I have intimated already to you Why Christ hath not yet come 1. The First Account I would give is That so very Agreeable Representation of the Time of the Duration of the Creation and of the Kingdom of Christ in Compare with it The Apostle Peter hath Given in his Second Epistle c. 3. 8. when he was speaking of the Coming of Christ and of the Long Delay of it at which Atheists took Advantage and Antichristian Scoffers to play upon it Saying Where is the Promise of his Coming The Apostle Resolves the Objection by pressing Earnestly on Christians not to be Ignorant of One Thing or not to let it lie Hid from them Viz. That One Day is with the Lord as a Thousand Years Referring to Each Day of the Creation Designed by God as a Type of a Thousand Years Duration of the Creation They being then Six before the Seventh then Sanctified and Blessed by God as a SABBATH the Type of the Grand Sabbath They pourtray Six Thousand Years Duration of the Creation before the Great Sabbatism of the Kingdom of Christ And that being Given under the Representation of a Thousand Years Revel 20. Yet those Thousand Years are in the Designation of God That One Day of the Lord That Illustrious Day That Day of Judgment The Great Day The Day if then Jesus Christ comes in the End of the Fourth Millenary or Thousand of Years as in the Fullness of Time And God hath Laid out Six Thousand for the Duration of the World until that Thousand Years Except what Shortning shall be for the Elects Sake in the End of the Sixth Millenary as the Fullness of Times or of All Time It is very Evident The Coming of the Bridegroom after His Death and Resurrection must be under the Delay of about Two Thousand Years as have now Already so near Run out Argum. 2. If there be such a Number of the Elect to be brought Home to God and to Christ And that They have lain scattered through these near Two Thousand Years and must be brought in before the Kingdom of Christ Then the Kingdom of Christ cannot be till they are Brought in But so the Apostle shews Heb. 4. 4 5 6 7 c. Some must Enter into Rest to the Last And of this the Apostle Peter speaks in the same Discourse as a Further Resolution of the Scoffers Question Where is the Promise of His Coming The Lord is not Slack concerning his Promise as some Men count Slackness but is Long-Suffering to us-ward Not willing that Any should perish but that All should come to Repentance Verse 9. That This hath in some General Latitude a Respect to All Men I would not Deny but that is the Lowest and Least Part of its Intention For so it hath not its Efficacy nor its Effect but take it with Relation to the Elect of God And so it hath Full Effect Not One Perishes but Every Single One comes to Repentance If therefore there is such a Number of Elect to be Brought Home to Repentance who shall have their Lot in the Kingdom of Christ at his Coming His Coming then must needs be Delayed till All the Children of the Bride-Chamber be Brought
of Conversation and therein to Look for and to Haste on to the Day of God and with the Spirit and under his Influences and with the Bride-like Affection Cry out as Hearers mov'd with an Holy Sympathy or Likeness of Affection Even Cry out in Harmony Come Lord Jesus Come Quickly SERMON VI. On Matthew 25. v. 1. Then shall the Kingdom of Heaven be likened unto Ten Virgins which took their Lamps and went forth to meet the Bridegroom c. I Have in several Discourses led you through the great Importance and Sense of our Lord in this Parable Which is one of those wherein as he speaks Matth. 13. he opened his Mouth in Parables and uttered Things that had been kept secret from the foundation of the World I have spoken of several particulars herein and will go directly upon what is now before us and to be spoken of and that is That while the Bridegroom tarried all these Virgins both the wise and the unwise slumbred and slept Now it is indeed a great difficulty to find out the very meaning and sense of our Lord in this part of the Parable For it seems strange that not only the unwise but that the wise Virgins slumbred and slept And to give a sense of this suitable to the meaning and to the rest of the Parable I shall at this time by the assistance of God undertake and so to Discourse of it accordingly I observe therefore to you That here are two Words used by our Lord They slumbred and they slept I look upon these Words to have two very different senses though they may seem to be perfectly alike And that slumbring and sleeping as indeed Scripture and common Language generally join both together mean one and the same thing But I understand the First concerning the spiritual state of the Churches of Christ during the delay of Christs coming and of the Kingdom of Christ All the whole state of the Christian Church hath been from the very beginning of the working of the Mystery of Iniquity it hath been in a slumbring condition But then the sleeping I look upon that to be an expression of the dying of the Servants of Christ all along from the Time of the Resurrection of Christ to this very Time And the latter is consequent upon the former For I am fully perswaded That if the Power and Glory and vigour of Christianity in a settled state of Christianity if that had immediately followed upon the Resurrection of Christ and the giving of the Spirit that pouring out of the Spirit that was in the Apostles days I do fully believe there had been no such Thing as dying Even as when the Kingdom of Christ comes there shall be no more Death So if the Kingdom of Christ had immediately proceeded upon the first Preaching of the Gospel there had been no sleeping If there had been no slumbring there had been no sleeping And I shall give you two great Reasons why I understand the Word sleeping concerning dying They slumbred that is the Power of Christianity did not shew it self upon them And so they slept that is they died The first Reason I would give you of it is this Because the Intention of our Lord in this Parable is chiefly That we may look to the Power of Christianity in our own hearts to such a power of it as that we should be able to appear with Christ when he comes to the Wedding That our Lamps should not then go out The great Meaning the great Scope of the Parable is this That we should look to have the very Life and Truth of Grace so in our hearts that we may have a Light of it when Christ comes that will not go out in the very time in that very instant Time wherein we should go with him to the Wedding Now it is very plain That the Wise Virgins indeed had this Light For it is said of them ver 10. They that were ready which is spoken of the wise Virgins they went in with him to the Marriage and the Door was shut So that if the wise Virgins had slept in that sense that the foolish Virgins did I say if they had slept in the same sense they would not have been ready to go into the Wedding with Christ So that these wise Virgins they did watch and they did not sleep in the main sense of the Parable For they were ready to go in with him to the Wedding Altho therefore they did die yet in the great concernment of Eternity they did not sleep away their time they did not lose their opportunity of providing a Treasure of Oil. A Second Reason that I give you Why this sleeping is not meant of the spiritual estate of these Virgins but only of their dying is Because it is said At Midnight there was a Cry made And then they arose and trimmed their Lamps Now this Midnight is that state of death in regard of the Body in which all the servants of Christ lie till that Resurrection till that First Resurrection that is spoken of This is indeed like a Midnight For when the Bodies of Saints lie in the Dust it is as if a Midnight were upon them as to that visible state and appearance of Body though their Spirits are indeed with Christ yet their Bodies lie as in a Midnight And if you speak of the Apostles of Christ Peter Paul John and the rest of them they are all of them as it were in a Midnight sleep as to their Bodies And therefore the Midnight is so properly to be understood Whereas in regard of the Spiritual State of the Church of Christ which is before his Coming before the Glory of his Coming it shall not be a Midnight For as I have often endeavoured to make plain unto you That assoon as ever those Time Times and half Time of the Antichristian Power are at an end immediately a great Light and a great Glory of the Gospel shall shine out that it shall not be a Midnight Indeed the Light will not be perfectly clear or precious till the Glory of the Kingdom of Christ But I cannot but hope and expect That within very few years there will be such a state of Christianity such a state of the Gospel the Everlasting Gospel preached through the World There will be such a new Mission and Commission of the Servants of Christ That it shall not be to be accounted a Midnight in that regard Nor shall the Coming of Christ be so on the sudden but that there will be great Light concerning it When that Angel that flyes through the midst of Heaven Rev. 14. shall have preach'd the Everlasting Gospel to every Nation c. These are the Reasons why I cannot understand this Word sleeping to be a representation of the spiritual state of the Church and Servants of Christ But I do understand by the slumbring That there is such a deadish such a drousie such a benumm'd state of Christianity as
Reformation Because Christ saith in the first Words Then shall the Kingdom of Heaven be likened unto Ten Virgins When Why it shall be at that Time as in the 24th of Matthew though we divide Chapters yet the sense is not divided nor our Saviour's Sermon divided but our Lord is still going on in his Discourse Mat. 24. 48 49 c. But and if that evil Servant shall say in his heart my Lord delayeth his coming and shall begin to smite his fellow-servants and to eat and drink with the drunken The Lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him and in an hour that he is not aware of and shall cut him in sunder and appoint him his portion with the Hypocrites There shall be weeping and gnashing of Teeth There was never a greater Hypocrisie in the World than the Papacy To which they say you know in Reverence Your Holiness as we say to Princes Your Majesty or Your Highness And they say Your Holiness a Blasphemous Assumption and therefore he shall appoint him his portion with the Hypocrites Because he hath been the Evil Servant that hath said My Lord delayeth his coming And so he begins to Eat and Drink with the Drunken and to Smite the Men-servants and Maid-servants That is to Persecute the true Servants of Jesus Christ and of the Gospel Then shall the Kingdom of Heaven be likned unto Ten Virgins which took their Lamps c. when that Judgment is So that the Time before the punishing of this Bad Servant and the cutting him off and Devoting him to the Wrath and Indignation of God Before this there falls such a Slumber as this Now therefore Having made the way I shall Endeavour to go on and to speak to these two things First To shew wherein as to our particular we are to observe a Spirit of Slumber and that the power of Christianity does take small hold of us And then In the Second place I shall Endeavour to shew you wherein the Wise and Foolish Virgins Differ though they are both in a Slumber and they Die alike they Sleep alike yet there is a very vast and great difference betwixt them In the First place This is a very great Argument that we are under the Slumber of Christianity That we are not really in a Holy Transport in all the Services and Enjoyments and Ordinances of Christianity Indeed we make a shift to pass through the Form to hold up the Form of Prayer and of Preaching and of the Lord's Supper and of good Discourse sometimes one with another But we have not that mighty Affection we are just like Persons in a Slumber You know they understand something of what you say to them and they make some kind of Answer But they are so low and so imperfect herein that we may be sure they are not in the Vigour of their Senses and of their Understanding and of their Reasoning and of their Discourse Surely If we were raised to the Power of Christianity we should have more of those High Elevations of mind that the Apostle speaks of and that the Holy Men of Old in former times speak of We should have such flaming Desires after God and after Christ that our hearts would be Ravished and we should be drawn as it were out of our selves in these things Whereas we do but Nod as I may so express it in our way of Christianity Or when we seem to do something we are presently in a kind of Slumber so that there wants the Power and Life of it When David saith How sweet is thy Word to my taste Sweeter than the Hony or the Hony Comb It was another State than we are in All the 119 Psalm is a perpetual Rapture and Extasie of Heart All that time he was awake So Whom have I in Heaven but Thee And there is none upon Earth that I desire beside Thee And My Heart and my Flesh Faileth but thou art the strength of my Heart and my Portion for ever My Soul breaketh for the longing that it hath unto thy Judgments at all times All our Converse with Christ and with the Holy Ordinances of Christ and all our Drawings nigh to God They would be with a Holy Transport So in the 42. Psalm saith David As the Hart panteth after the water-Brooks so panteth my Soul after thee O God You cannot really suppose but that if we were fully possest with Religion indeed we should be carried out of our selves in Love and Service and Thankfulness and Obedience and all the Powers of Holiness and Religion Whereas now If a Person be but Civil to Religion If he will but sit patiently and hear a Discourse of it Or if he can but endure to be called off from the World to God we look upon it as a great Attainment But I say If Christianity were not under Slumber in the Spirits of Men we should be in a high Transport That as the Apostle speaks in the 2 Cor 5. The love of Christ Constrains us because we thus judge The Word as the Learned Observe signifies such a kind of Transports as when Elijah was taken up by the Spirit and carried hither and thither So the love of Christ constrains us that is Transports us every way Ver. 14. Wherefore saith he henceforth know we no man after the Flesh Ver. 16. Yea though we have known Christ after the Flesh yet now henceforth know we him so no more Surely This is the Slumber of Christianity that we are taken so much with outward appearances with out-sides of men The Apostle observed the Slumber of Christianity upon this account in his Day James 2. 2. If there come into your Assembly a man with a Gold Ring in goodly Apparel c. Here Christianity began to be in a Slumber not but that due regard ought to be to the several Ranks of Men But in this regard we know Men too much after the flesh so that it argues Christianity much in a Slumber Do but read I beseech you don 't think I speak either vainly or without due consideration of what I say Do but read those places of Scripture that are so Eminent in setting out the Glory of Christianity While we look not saith the Apostle in 2 Cor. 4. 18 at the things which are seen but at the things which are not seen for the things which are seen are temporal but the things which are not seen are eternal Now I say who is it that loves thus to look upon the things that are seen as nothing and the things that are not seen as all So saith he We know that if our earthly house of this Tabernacle were dissolved chap. 5. 1. we have a building of God an house not made with hands eternal in the Heavens ver 2. For in this we groan earnestly saith the Apostle Who groans earnestly I do not speak at all to be censorious or to tax Men beyond Reason or any way to justifie my self
have the Bible in English or the New Testament in their Houses Then it was a certain sign That that Man was in danger of his Life to have it so Why did not God give it with that freedom as we have it And then if you look back to Sixteen Hundred Years ago there was nothing in the World at large but Idols and serving of Devils And the Gospel was not Preached Till after the Apostles Times it did not come into these Islands of Britain It is not for us to know how to Rule and to Govern Times and Seasons But God hath disposed of every thing Blessed are your Eyes for you see and your Ears for they hear But I would but only give you one or two Scriptures of the great advantage if we should but live to see the Kingdom of Jesus Christ And therefore I beseech you all That you would earnestly pray That that Kingdom may be coming forth In the 29th of Isaiah if you observe the reading at the 15th Verse you shall find that there was a Book offered and the Learned said it was sealed and therefore say they How can we read it And the unlearned said we cannot read it for we are not learned If learned Men cannot read it how should we read it But saith God in the following part of the Chapter This very Book shall be opened it shall come to pass in that day that is when the Kingdom of Christ shall come The deaf shall hear the words of the Book and the eyes of the blind shall see out of obscurity and out of darkness that is There shall be so mighty a change of things that that Book that the learned and the unlearned could not meddle with the very deaf shall hear the Words of this Book It is a very wonderful Scripture to this purpose it shews us plainly the great things that shall be done by God at that Day And I make no doubt but that these Scriptures that Men are afraid that any should meddle with and they think it Presumption And how should we meddle with such hard Scriptures I make no doubt but the Eyes of the blind shall see out of obscurity and out of darkness And so Isa 35. 8. And an high way shall be there and a way and it shall be called the way of holiness the unclean shall not pass over it but it shall be for those The way-faring men though fools shall not err in that way So great a Light of the Gospel shall shine out Pray therefore don't be so against the Preaching of the Kingdom of Christ in your Judgments or in your Discourses but rather bow your Knees and buckle your hearts and your thoughts down to the very lowest at the Throne of Grace to desire that this Kingdom may come Why do you envy one another the great Happiness that shall be in the Kingdom of Christ For a great Offspring like the Drops of Dew from the Womb of the Morning must at that time be brought home to Christ And many of those that are Virgins but in Form must come to have it in the Truth and Reality and Sincerity of it And therefore let us earnestly pray according to that Prayer stiled the Lords Prayer Let us with earnestness and understanding pray Thy Kingdom O Lord let it come c. SERMON X. On Matth. 25. 13. Watch therefore for ye know neither the Day nor the Hour wherein the Son of Man cometh I Come now to the Use or as we speak Application which our Lord makes of this Great and Excellent Parable Watch for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man cometh And it may be upon the hearing of the Words you may be ready to say That I am upon a Scripture that overthrows the Attempts of drawing such a Scripture Line of Time as I have endeavoured to hold out and to perswade the Truth of as should lead to the very Coming of the Bridegroom the great Son of Man But indeed the intention of it as I shall shew you is quite another thing and does not concern it self in that matter either one way or other The main Point in it is that great practical one That every one of us ought to be upon our Guard upon our Watch while we are here in the World in relation to that great Appearance of our Lord Jesus Christ We are to wait all our days according to our opportunity of enjoying the Gospel in the compass of Time God gives us which may as you know be longer or shorter as our Lives are in the dispose of God he may take us away this very Night if he pleases and yet for all this we must have made such a provision and preparation for the Coming of the Bridegroom which will else be with a dreadful and ruinous surprise upon us whensoever it be We are infinitely obliged give me leave to use so great a Word in so great a Point we are I say infinitely obliged therefore to take heed in so great a matter If it was as many Years to the Coming of Christ as it hath been since he spake these Words and though we were sure it would be so That therefore which I will propose to open to you shall be summ'd in this main Doctrine Doct. Every one that hears the Word of the Gospel concerning the Coming and Kingdom of Christ take it in your own sense as much as you please is bound to watch as if it might be the very next Day and Hour yea though he had lived in the days of Christ and had then known certainly that that Coming and Kingdom should not have been in so many Ages as have run out since For the knowing what Day or Hour is not a knowing or not knowing by Computation or Account of Time but by an effectual providing a Treasure of Oil that we may not be found foolish Virgins at that day Our watchful knowing is knowing by Union to the great Son of Oil Christ himself And if any Man did know never so certainly the precise time of the Coming of the Bridegroom yet he would not know in our Lord's sence at what hour he 'll come but would be in the same surprise as if he knew nothing at all That Day most certainly comes unawares upon all overcharged with furfeiting and drunkenness and Cares of this Life upon all that sleep and are not watchful by Faith and Holiness It comes at a day when it is not looked for and at an hour the evil servant is not aware who eats and drinks with the drunken They only know that day whose Loins are girded and whose Lights are burning who when their Lord cometh upon account of the Wedding open to him immediately Blessed are those servants whom their Lord when he cometh shall find so doing Verily saith Christ he will gird himself and will make them sit down to Meat and will serve them be ye therefore ready for the Son
of Man cometh at an hour ye think not that is if you are not ready For the very sence of knowing or not knowing the time is being ready or not ready if not ready we are not aware The knowing of time or not knowing is but the cover and outside of this true effective knowing or not so knowing I will therefore first endeavour to open to you the true state of this thing and then lay down to you several particular Directions for the right Exercise of this Watch And in a Second Head give you the Arguments of Persuasion to this Watch and so close the whole with Application 1. To shew you then in the First Place the true sence of this great Proposition from this our Lord's Application of the Parable And in the general You know the Conclusion of a Discourse is the Practical Application and that you know is regularly drawn out of the main substance of it This Application is then drawn out of the substance of the Parable and that most evidently is the having Oil in our Vessels as hath been explain'd The watching is therefore our looking well to that having Oil in our Vessels for they watch'd who were so ready though the Bridegroom delaying his coming they slumbred and lay down in Death they did not watch who so slumbred and went out of the World by Death that they had not a provision ready for the Bridegrooms Coming so that the knowing or not knowing the Time is not at all touched upon But more particularly to attain our Lord's sence in the most plain and practical instances of a Spiritual Life according to the Gospel as Directions to watching 1. Look diligently that we are taken out of the Gall of Bitterness and from under the Bond of Iniquity That we are taken out of the state of Children of Wrath by being implanted into Christ and translated into the Kingdom of his dear Son in whom is Redemption in his Bloud even the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of his Grace that we awake from that sleep and stand up from the dead that Christ may give us life Let us look well that we are brought into the State of Grace for that is the principal and fundamental Point of Watching and the Essential Difference between a wise and a foolish Virgin to be brought into Christ and to have his Spirit 2. Let us be continually carnest and fervent in Prayer watch unto Prayer as the Apostle Peter speaks 1 Pet. 4. 7. And as our Lord commands Watch and pray that you may be accounted worthy to escape all these things and to stand before the Son of Man at his Coming Luke 21. 36. Pray earnestly with importunate Crys that you may not be given over and found in a state of Ruine and Condemnation at that Great Day Christ was whole Nights in Prayer with strong Crys and Tears he offered up Supplications unto him that was able to save him from death and was heard in that he feared And how then should we think to meet him without that exercise let us therefore be instant in Prayer 3. Let us be very diligent in meditating on the Word of God Blessed is the Man that meditates in his Law day and night that 's watching to meditate day and night and whereas Christ says I know you not it is said The Lord knows the way of such holy righteous servants of his through his Grace in Christ And it is an evidence of being in him Psal 1. 6. 4. Let us shew our watching by keeping our selves from our iniquity and from all the Temptations to it Watch and pray saith our Lord that ye enter not into Temptation Luke 22. 43. Be sober saith the Apostle Peter and watch unto Prayer Gird up the loins of your mind and hope perfectly for the glory that shall be brought to you at the Revelation of Jesus Christ 1 Pet. 1. 13. with c. 4. 7. And be sober be vigilant or watchful for your Adversary the Devil goeth about like a roaring Lion seeking whom he may devour c. 5 2. All this shews the great Watchfulness our Souls should maintain against our own Iniquity that we may be upright before him and not be as foolish Virgins And it is the more admonishing that in like Discourses of our Lords with this Parable when he discovers such foolish Virgins he says Depart from me ye that work iniquity 5. Our Watchfulness must be exercis'd in adding Grace to Grace for otherwise as the Apostle saith we shall be blind and not see so afar off as to behold the King in his beauty and the Land that is very far off 2 Pet. 1. 9 c. with Isa 33. 17. Thus an abundant and rich Entrance shall be ministred unto us into the Everlasting Kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ We shall be ready and not go to buy and find the Door shut 6. We Watch by continual Meditation upon being dissolved and being with Christ and upon the Glory of his Coming We need not be written to of the Times and Seasons for we our selves shall know that the Day of God so cometh as a Thief in the night and as sudden destruction cometh on them that say Peace Peace but they that watch thus and are sober are not in darkness and in the night but are of the Day and not asleep 1 Thes 5. 5. c. 7. We must Watch against the Sin of the very Age and Day wherein we live when we live in a prophane Age take heed of that when you live in a formal hypocritical time take heed of having a Name to live and being dead for Christ comes on such as a Thief at unawares They shall not know at what time he will come upon them Rev. 3. 3. If a Sensual Luxurious Worldly Age Take heed of being overcharged with those evils and the Cares of this Life 8. Let us possess our selves with the most clear and distinct Apprehensions of the Appearances of the Kingdom of Christ as the Kingdom of the Resurrection and of the Appearances of Saints in Bodies of Light and Glory Rev. 16. 15. Behold I come as a Thief Blessed is he that watcheth and keepeth his Garments that is that looketh to the presenting his Body now as a sacrifice a living and acceptable sacrifice well pleasing to God in Christ Rom. 12. Thus we shall appear in Bodies of Glory and not of Contempt in the Redemption of our Bodies and Men cannot see our shame when Christ cometh and all his Saints with him Head 2. I come therefore to the Second Head to lay down the Arguments of Perswasion that we may be moved to this watch Argument 1. The Time of Watch is only the Time of the present Life Whatever we would do for the After State it is to be done in the Present State in the Time of the present Life There is no Counsel nor Device in the Grave whither we are going and therefore whatever Our Hands find to
are To hear a Man swear against their Religion profanely and to see a Man Drinking and Carousing and saying according to the very usual ways of Mens Discourse To drink as it were Healths to Protestants Is not this an abominable Shame and that speaks our great dishonour And that may make even Papists scandalized at the loose and licentious way of those that call themselves Protestants To hear Men Swear and Damn and blaspheme and yet at the very same time to profess a Zeal against Popery Certainly this we ought to take care of That we are not carried away by the Name of a Wicked Licentious Blasphemous and Prophane Protestantism And beyond this we should look That that Pride Vanity Cruelty Earthliness and Oppression and whatever the Sins are that are among us that we do not cover them and disguise them under the Name of this Why yet for all this I am not a Papist I am a Protestant surely God will Tear that Name out of the Mouths of such Protestants As he saith in Ezekiel You sow Pillows and Kerchiefs that is some Disguising things upon their heads And saith he I 'll tear these Kierchiefs Ezek. 13. So God will tear off from those that have the Profession of Protestantism but have nothing of the Power Life and Zeal of the Reformation and their Open Testimony for the Kingdom of Jesus Christ that very Profession from them In the last Place that I may draw to a Conclusion Notwithstanding all that I have said to you concerning the Thoughts of Death and of Judgment and of Heaven and Hell yet I would desire that we may have a sence of the Glory and of the Kingdom of Christ that is to appear and that you would look to have it in your hearts to have the Kingdom of God in your hearts Let me propose a great Scripture to you upon this account And after a short Explanation of it I 'll conclude in a few Words Luke 17. 20. There was a great Question put to Christ in this case He was demanded of the Pharisees when the Kingdom of God should come he answered them and said The Kingdom of God cometh not with Observation Neither shall they say lo here or lo there for behold the Kingdom of God is within you That 's the Kingdom of God For in some way certainly there 's none of us but Profess it else why do we pray it should come When that which is the Great Petition the very Central-Petition of the Lord's Prayer surely that 's the very Key that turns all about Now I say if you would believe a Kingdom of God in any sence And that you will be ready to say When shall that Kingdom come Remember what Christ saith it does not come by Observation for Men shall not say Lo here or lo there Though indeed it shall be a Glorious Sight a Glorious Shew as the Apostle saith which in his Time he will shew Yet for all that you shan't say Lo here comes Christ and here come such and such Saints And here comes such a Glory and Heaven and Earth glowing in a flame You shan't say here or there thus and thus it is though you shall have reason to say so yet saith Christ the main thing is The Kingdom of God is within you What will you be the better for that Kingdom of God if it be not within you You must bring it to that Day The Kingdom of God comes not with Observation it does not come with a shew without us but our God will come and all his Saints shall come with him They shall come with Bodies of Glory and Bodies of Light Bodies full of Glory it does not come with an outward shew but within us Every one that hath not the Kingdom of God within him at that Day they will appear by that very thing to be foolish Virgins for they must bring that Kingdom in the Righteousness of Christ with peace of Conscience through his Bloud by Grace and by Vertue of his Holy Spirit And now I beseech you That you would ballance these two things continually one with another You pray that the Kingdom of Christ may come The Kingdom of Christ comes when his Day comes when the Day and Appearance of Christ comes 2 Tim. 4. 1. Now Amos. 5. 18. Saith God Wo unto you that desire the Day of the Lord to what end is it for you the day of the Lord is darkness and not light As if a man did flee from a Lion and a Bear met him or went into the house and leaned his hand on the wall and a Serpent bit him It is just such a thing saith the Prophet as if a man in a storm should go into a house and take shelter there and when he found the storm ready to carry him away he goes and leans upon a Wall and there a Serpent comes out of a Hole and bites him to Death Even so shall the Kingdom and Day of Christ be It is in vain to say Thy Kingdom come If that Kingdom be not within us for It comes not with Observation but it is within us O Therefore That we could be perswaded to get out of the formality of that Petition and to look for that Kingdom within Thy Kingdom come by my Enjoyment of such a presence of thy Kingdom within my own heart That when it comes I may come with it and it may come along with me for else I say it will be darkness and not light I make no doubt there was a great many that the Prophet spake usually to them of the Day of the Lord. You know it is an usual expression in Scripture The Day of the Lord And upon the often hearing of it Men come to say We would fain see it And so many are ready to say concerning that Kingdom if it be such a Glorious State and Thing we would fain see it Now remember it comes not with observation but you must have it within you for if you have it not within you it is in vain for you for for what end do you desire the day of the Lord To shut up this in a brief Recollection of all In the First Place I desire you seriously often to meditate upon this Parable as I have in some weak manner endeavoured to open it to you And to remember also That even my Christianity say to your selves will not do me any service I had as good have been a Heathen as to the main purpose of my Eternal Condition if I have not Oil in my Vessel if I have not truly a great replenishing of my Soul from the Great Son of Oil And so if you speak of Protestantism If you have not Oil in your Vessel it will be but a very empty thing and do you no good except you have Oil in your Vessels except you are united to Jesus Christ except you have the Kingdom of God within you And then In the Second Place Another great Use for
be ashamed of him before Men whoso despise his Kingdom and of those of which Confession is to be made with the Mouth uneo Salvation And therefore as I have Humble Hopes That Jesus Christ hath been Graciously pleas'd to draw out my Heart Thoughts Meditations to search Every Retirement of his Word therein above All that have been before me And to give me Greater Confidence and Assurance and a more open Profession and Publication of what I have Found So that he will graciously Accept Remember Pardon spare me through the Multitude of his Mercies and not deliver up to shame and Confusion of Face before Men and confess me before his Father and before his Holy Angels That such a State of his Kingdom and such a Revolution with it and by it shall this very Year Appear to All the World as hath never been since the Apostacy of Humane Nature and that therefore All Mighty Works shall shew forth Themselves in it The Spirit shall be poured out from on High The Wilderness shall Become a Fruitful Field viz. in the highest Purity and Prosperity of his Churches and that which look'd like a Fruitful Field become Desert even the Antichristian State and whatever partakes of it the Glory of All this World and the Grandeur of it and so the Everlasting Gospel shall be preached to every Nation Tongue and People and every Thing move to the Glory of that Kingdom To whom then Most Reverend and Right Reverend could I present equally as to you the consideration of these things who I am assured are so Richly Furnished with all Advantages of Learning both in that Sure word of Prophecy and in History and Chronology Correspondent therewith And whose very Title Imports the Office of Those who are on the VVatch Tower waiting for the Speaking of the Vision which will not Tarry beyond its Time And therefore should be able to Answer the Question VVatchman VVatchman what of the Night Or how Near is the Morning and who as Persons of an Elevated Station ought to Vindicate your selves by a Higher Zeal for the Kingdom of Christ and even by a Holy Haste to bring Him to his Throne above others That you may not Fall under any Ombrage of the Anti-christian Hierarchy who as Feet of Clay are found in the Undermine of the Kingdom of Christ and are Broken by the very First Openings of it as upon which that Image Rests that Stands in delay of that Kingdom How therefore should you be able to answer that Question What do you more than others for the Kingdom of the Chief Shepherd who hath it on his Vesture and on his Thigh King of Kings and Lord of Lords and who Profess to Attend upon him more Near and in Ordinary I most Humbly therefore submit this Apology to your Severest Examination and that as Prophets that is Persons above Ordinary Instructed in the 〈◊〉 Word of Prophecy for no otherwise can it be done you would Judge The Grounds Themselves I freely tender to so Sage and Learned a Christian a Protestant Presidency There is a kind of Intuitive Knowledge and Plerophory of Satisfaction I must with all Reverence yet and Humble Fear Hope I have a Right unto as proper to the having seen together the Curious Lines of Prophecy equal to the Curious Lines and Symmetry in the Works of God which the most Exact Astronomer Anatomist Naturalist 〈◊〉 hath or can Observe I desire the Things I offer might be brought into Seriousest Consultation and Debate as in the Days of Herod concerning the place where Christ should be born so now concerning the Time of his Kingdom Appearing It cannot be but most Great to be near the 〈◊〉 of the Kingdoms of this world to be the Kingdoms of the Lord and of his Christ How would it releive in All the most Inextricable Labyrinths of the present Difficulties of Nations to our Nation particularly to our King to the Councel of the Nation in Parliament That He whose Right it is is now about to take to Himself his Great Power and to Reign and to destroy them who have been so long destroying the Earth I know the Paganizing Nations and Spirits will be very Angry even at the Mention of these Things as Vtopian Imaginary Fanatical and think to Scoff it off But as an Hidden and Concealed Train that Gives Fire and hath its Effect in a Moment so the Chain of Divine Councels the Predictions of Omnisciency in All Times take Full Effect in their own Just Moments how Unawares soever the World be concerning them For He who is wonderful in Counsel and excellent in working can neither be out-witted nor over ruled What I offer can be onely from Sense of Duty to declare what I have so Full Assurance of Duty as to the Great Revealer of Prophetical Secrets the wonderful Numberer of the Times of Prophecy so Duty to the Publick in the so Generally Acknowledged Distress of Affairs For which my Constant Supplications Ascend as also for You whose Most Christian Assistance and Administration according to Your Higher Sphere I Beseech and who I Hope Count it Your Greatest Honour to Serve Him who is the Prince of the Kings of the Earth 〈◊〉 and therefore will not with a Gaâ—â—iâ— like Spirit not Care for any of these Things This First Month of the Year 1697. Most Reverend Right Reverend Your Most Humble Servant In That Kingdom of our Lord T. BEVERLEY FINIS
and so far as any of us have Opportunity to Propogate the koowledge of this thing among all the Prophane and Wicked of the World so far as I say they will bear it or that we can have place to speak so much to them To consider if foolish Virgins will not be accepted in that Day O! What will be the End of those that are so boldly and insolently prophane and wicked It were a happy thing indeed in regard of the present state of things and of the hopes of something better That we could prevail upon Persons that we know are prodigiously Contemners of God and bold in Sin and Railers at and Scoffers of every thing that is good and that wallow like Swine in the Mire and that are drinking up the Vomit of their Sins perpetually and doing the same things over and over again O that Persons would be prevailed with to read the First of the Proverbs And to draw the Land-scaph of their Case by looking upon Belshazzar and reading his Story I say That they would be prevailed with Men that are Carousing and shewing their Contempt of God and of every thing sacred Oh that they might be prevailed with For as the Apostle saith If the righteous be scarcely saved and foolish Virgins perish where shall the Wicked and Vngodly appear And 2. In the Second Place Then let every one of us as I hope upon the generality there may be drawn this Title of a Virgin without any injury done to Christ I hope we do make a Profession of God and Christ seriously We do Pray and Hear and wait upon God in his Word and read the Scripture and we are serious in drawing nigh to Christ at his Table I say I hope the Title of the Virgin may be put upon many of us in these regards But Let it not be grievous to any of us either Hearer or Speakers to consider this That there are Foolish Virgins as well as Wise You may have a very desirable and commendable Profession of Christianity upon you We may have this and yet be foolish Virgins Consider seriously If there be folly in our Virginity it will utterly spoil it it will be such a Dead Fly in the Ointment of Virginity that it will certainly spoil and poison all As our Lord speaks If the Salt have lost its savour The Word in the Greek is if it be foolish Salt it goes to the Dunghil There may be Virginity but if it be foolish Virginity it will come to be said Our Lamps are gone out We have heard and profest Christianity with you but lo now Our Lamps are gone out We cannot hold out Immediately the Fire of that Day as we say the Sun will put out those little Fires So the Fire of that Day the Glory of that Day will put out our Lamps But this is that Point That I shall especially Discourse to you next To shew you Wherein is the difference between a Lamp that goes out and a Lamp that is furnished with the Treasure of Oil still within it self That hath still new supply that hath a Fountain to supply it That doth not go out upon the very spot as we say And if the Lord enable me to clear so great a Point to the Conviction of every one that both hears and speaks How great might the advantage be For I would not discourage any from his Profession God forbid that any one should be stopp'd or hinder'd in the way of Christianity so far as they have proceeded but yet you see this is a necessary faithfulness to be told of our danger and perswaded and convinced of it if by any means we might escape out of the Snare that the Snare might be broken and we escape The Third Application I make is this 3. That according to the assurance I have given you and that I profess in the Presence of God with greatest sincerity upon duest Consideration to be more and more assured That the Kingdom of Jesus Christ draws very near and very hard and very fast upon us That therefore you would have another Consideration of these things than those that lived a great way of of the Time For though it is true if any of us come to die it will be the same case as if the Day of Judgment were just now upon him but yet still the Scripture makes use of this as a further and higher Argument It is high time now to awake the Night passeth the Day is at hand your Salvation is nearer And therefore I beseech you That you would seriously take it into Consideration and to Heart That the ends of the World must needs be upon us For if the Apostle said that the Ends of the World came upon them so many Hundred Years since how can it be but that the Ends of the World must be upon us We are on the very last Sands of the Glass of the World And therefore Let this Preaching of John the Baptist and Christ be in all your Ears and Hearts Repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand Look to be wise Virgins for the Bridegroom will not long delay his coming He hath delay'd it so long but will not delay it long now And then 4. In the last Place I beseech you be not so afraid of the Coming of the Kingdom of Christ This will be your great advantage If any would choose they would choose to see the Kingdom of Christ in its succession For I have always taken care to distinguish to you these two There is a great Difference betwixt the Kingdom of Christ coming in its Glory as it shall be at the Time designed by this Text and Parable and another thing intended by its Succession Rev. 11. 15. As a King Entring upon his Reign which you know is immediately and as soon as the former King went off and as they speak Demised It is another thing his Inauguration You know there is a distance of Time between the Entring in of the Reign and Succession and the Coronation the great Time of Glory And so there 's a difference betwixt Christ's coming when the Midnight-Cry shall be and his coming into the Succession of his Kingdom For there shall be a wonderful pouring out of the Spirit of God as soon as ever the Kingdom of Christ shall come into its Succession There shall be a mighty Preaching of the Everlasting Gospel Christianity shall grow much higher much more pure much more efficacious there shall be bringing in multitudes of Gentiles that are now Unbelievers in Christ Mahometan or Pagan Antichristians and the Ancient Israel coming in as I have often said Who then can be perswaded that it shall be possible to see the Jews and Gentiles flocking in to Christ and that there should be any that should not believe in Christ and receive his Gospel And therefore I say know assuredly That it will be a great advantage to you And for my part There 's nothing that I more earnestly
defire or have a greater value for than to see the Dawns of the Kingdom of Christ Oh! That God would give any of us leave to see this We should have great advantage of making our Calling and Election sure of working out our salvation with fear and trembling of being perswaded of the things that pertain to the Kingdom of God we should have great opportunities every way And therefore as Christ speaks when he propounded the Parable to them Matth. 13. 17. I say unto you That many Prophets and Righteous Men have desired to see those things which ye see and have not seen them and to hear those things which ye hear and have not heard them So if God shall continue any of our lives but a few years to see the Kingdom of Christ appearing in this First Glory O happy and blessed shall we be For from the very beginning and foundation of the World to this day Many Prophets and Righteous Men have desired to see those things which we shall see then and have not seen them and to hear those things that we shall hear and have not heard them In the mean time Let none of us be discouraged if God call us sooner out of the World For as the Apostle saith All those that are Christ's he will certainly bring with him And it will certainly be a happier and securer state to be sleeping in Jesus and dying in Jesus For though we do not see these things here our Spirits shall see them above and our Bodies shall be raised in Glory for us to come with Christ in And as to those who are not as they desire to be for my part I know not any thing can be spoken for better Tydings or any thing that should more earnestly engage our Faith and Prayer than to have that great opportunity to wind up our Faith and Love and Repentance to their own height even that of the Coming of the Kingdom of Christ into its Succession and to see those blessed things and to hear them that many excellent persons have desired to see and hear and have not And therefore let none be offended that the Kingdom of Christ is near at hand for we shall have greater and more blessed advantages and opportunities to make our Calling and Election sure when that time comes Let us therefore desire to hear those loud Voices from Heaven Proclaim That the Kingdoms of this World are become the Kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ On which will soon follow that pouring out of the Spirit and the Preaching the Everlasting Gospel SERMON VIII On Matthew 25. v. 6 c. And at Midnight there was a Cry made Behold the Bridegroom cometh go ye out to meet him Then all those Virgins arose and trimmed their Lamps And the Foolish said unto the Wise Give us of your Oil for our Lamps are gone out c. I Have led you through several parts of this great and admirable Parable The last thing I Discoursed to you was concerning the Midnight-Cry and endeavoured to shew you That though there might be some use made of it as a Description of any Judgment that should come upon the Churches of Christ before his Coming Yet That the Principal Intention is That Cry That Voice of the Son of God That Shout that the Lord will descend in That Voice of the Archangel That Trump of God that shall raise all that are asleep in their Graves and shall bring them forth I Endeavoured to open to you That every one shall rise in the very same Circumstances wherein they lay down in Death and in the Grave And therefore That the Day of Judgment coming upon Prophane and Insolent Persons upon the Fools that say in their hearts There is no God will be like the Writing of the Fingers on the Wall before Belshazzar that we read of Dan. 5. And as it comes upon ignorant Persons in Christianity and upon the Worldlings those Fools that say We have much Goods laid up for many Years and therefore Soul Take thy ease Eat Drink and be Merry O! what an Earthquake will it be upon them to see the Kingdom of Christ Now They shall be raised both the Fools that say That there is no God and the Worldlings c. They shall be raised just in the same Terror in the same Consternation as if the Earthquake was now upon them or in the Time of Life now on Earth But I proposed to shew you also Wherein the state of the foolish and the wise Virgins differ wherein this great difference lies That one enter into the Wedding and the other are shut out And that is it which now by the assistance of God I would undertake and go forward to give you a clear Representation of this great Matter For as I told you Virgins bespeaks a being of the Pure and True Religion the true Religion of the Gospel the Doctrine of God in the Gospel For all whatsoever false Doctrine or false Worship does adulterate this it is called in Scripture not by the Name of Virginity but by the Name of Whoredom by the Name of Adultery and Fornication Whatever defiles the Religion of Jesus Christ is not stiled Virginity but by other Names And therefore it is certain That these Virgins must be of the truest and of the purest Religion of Jesus Christ In the second Place I told you That they must needs be of a tollerable sober Conversation They are not of the Prophane the Drunkards or the Swearers or the Sensualists of the World but they are those that walk in such unblameable life that they are worthy to be counted and to be stiled Virgins What a critical Case therefore What a very nice and curious Point is this that distinguishes between the wise and the foolish Virgins If therefore God shall be pleased in any measure to enable me to open this to you and that you may aright conceive and understand so great a Point I hope That by his Blessing our coming together may be for the better and not for the worse I shall therefore apply my self to it First By considering the scope of the Parable in this Matter And I find That it lies here The one had Oyl in their Lamps but they had not Oyl in their Vessels The other had Oyl in their Vessels as well as in their Lamps So that it comes to this One hath a Treasure a Store of Grace beyond the Profession the other hath not I shall Answer very plainly and down-right Discourse in this thing by leading you to some great Expressions of Scripture which do to me assure what our Lord intends In the Third Chapter of the Epistle to the Ephesians v. 16 c. The Apostle in that Great and Excellent Prayer begs of the Father of Glory the Father of Glory An Expression most suitable and agreeable to the Kingdom of Christ appearing in its Glory to which this Parable refers That he would grant you according to the