BT 378 
 ■ T4 H8 
 1805 
 Copy 1 
 
ST 378 
 .T4 H8 
 1805 
 Copy 1 
 
 The Wife and Foolifh Virgins defcribed. 
 
 BEING THE SUBSTANCE OF 
 
 TWO SERMONS 
 
 DELIVERED AT 
 
 : WELL-STREET MEETING, ON FEBRUARY 
 14 and 28, 1797. 
 
 by WILLIAM HUNTINGTON, s. s. 
 it 
 
 MINISTER OF THE GOSPEL 
 
 •AT PROVIDENCE CHAPEL, LITTLE TITCHFIELD- 
 
 STREET, AND MO NK.W 'ELL- STREET MEETING. 
 
 PUBLISHED BY REQUEST. 
 
 THE LIGHT OF THE RIGHTEOUS REJOICETH, WHEN THE 
 LAMP OF THE WICKED SHALL BE PUT OUT. PR0V. Xlii. 9. 
 
 TSQgtQW : 
 
 RE-PR I NTED, 
 
 From the LONDON Second Edition, 
 
 By TRUE & PARKS, 
 
 1 8 o > - 
 

 \ 
 

 THE WISE VIRGINS DESCRIBED. 
 SERMON L 
 
 MATTHEW XXV, 4. 
 
 ^X BUTTHE WISETOOKOIL IN THEIR VESSELS 
 WITH THEIR LAMPS. 
 
 THE intention of this parable is, to (hew to the 
 faints the cafe and ftate of the church of God 
 towards the clofe of time, when the Judge will be 
 (landing before the door ; when the fun of righte-? 
 oufnefs will be going down over a fmful worU ; when 
 the fhadows of the evening, of the gofpel difpenfll 
 tion, will be ftretched out, and the midnight cry juft 
 ready to be ufhered in. 
 
 Then, then fh all the kingdom of heaven le likened 
 unto ten virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth 
 to meet the bridegroom. By the kingdom of heaven 
 here is not meant ultimate glory, nor the gofpel ; 
 though both thefe are called the kingdom : nor is 
 the empire of grace in the heart intended; but the 
 vifible crowd of profelfors, whether real or nominal. 
 The fubjecls of thrift's kingdom are what is here 
 meant, confiding of two forts : fome real fubjects, 
 internally fo by grace ; and others only externally 
 fo in appearance and by profefiion. The number 
 ten fhews the fmall quantity of profeffors that will 
 be found in the world at that time ; for it will be as 
 it was in the days of Noah and Lot. When the 
 Son of man cometh the world will be very bufy, 
 
 profeflbr 
 
( 4 ) 
 
 profefTors very few, and vital godlinefs at a very low 
 ebb. 
 
 The title given them is that of virgins, becaufc 
 of their outward and apparent adherence to Chrift, 
 his truth and worfhip, and to an open profefiion of 
 his name. 
 
 Their going forth intends their turning their back 
 upon the world, and joining themfelves to, andaflb- 
 ciating with the children of God. 
 
 What they had in view at their fetting out was, 
 to meet the bridegroom. This is what they all aimed 
 at. They expected xhat he would appear as their 
 lover, not as an angry judge, and to be embraced by 
 him, and received into his prefence. This was 
 their hope and expectation, as appears by the con- 
 fufion they were in when fhut out, and by their ear- 
 ned entreaties to be admitted. But they were dis- 
 appointed of their hopes, and their expectations were 
 cut off; and no wonder, for one half of this com- 
 pany was wrong at their firft fetting out, and fo 
 t^ey were at their journey's end. For five of them 
 were foolijh. Thefe took not their veffels, nor had 
 they any oil with them ; and therefore their lamps 
 went out when they had the greated need of them, 
 namely, at midnight. Nor did the Spiritual Aaron, 
 our great high-prieft, either trim their lamps, or 
 feed them ; and therefore they of courfe went out ; 
 and, when out, they were left in the dark, which to 
 them is an earned and a prelude to everlading dark- 
 nefs. 
 
 My defign is to handle thefe two forts of virgins 
 Separately, that you may fee the one from the other. 
 I intend to difcourSe on the wife virgins at this time, 
 and at fome future period 1 will treat of the foolijh. 
 Now for the words of my text. 
 
 But the wife took oil in their veffels with their lamps. 
 In handling this Subject I will endeavour to des- 
 cribe, • 
 
 I. Thei 
 
( 5 ) 
 
 I. 
 
 The virgins. 
 
 11. 
 
 Their wifdom. 
 
 III. 
 
 Their lamps. 
 
 IV. 
 
 Their veflels. 
 
 V. 
 
 Their oil. And, 
 
 Laftly, How they fared at their journey's end. 
 
 Firft, I am to treat of thefe virgins. 
 
 The term, virgin is given to a young * unmarried 
 woman, who has kept herfelf chafte and undeHled. 
 Hence we read of virgins whom no man hath 
 known. 
 
 Sometimes it fignifies^a young woman newly mar- 
 ried, and who hath' loft her husband by death : La- 
 ment like a virgin girded with fackcloth for the huf- 
 band of her youth. Joel i. ' i 8. 
 
 This name is often given to a city which hath 
 not been forced by a fiege, nor taken, conquered, 
 facked or rifled. Hence we read, Come down, and 
 fit in the duft^ O virgin daughter of Babylon , fit on the 
 ground : there is m throne^ O daughter of the Chaldeans; 
 for thou fh alt no more be called tender and delicate, 
 Ifaiah xlvii. i. So we read of the virgin the daugh- 
 ter of Zion, and of the virgin of Ifrael; and indeed, 
 there are three/core queens and J four/core concubines^ 
 aitd virgins without number ■, but my undefiled is but 
 one -, /he is- the only one of her mother; and the choice one 
 of her that bare her. But the virgins in my text'are 
 ib called on a religious account, becaufe of their faith- 
 ful and clofe attachment to the Son of God, and on 
 account of the purity of their confeiences, their lives, 
 doctrines, and worfhip : they had not fuffe red them.* 
 felves to be feduced, defiled, and corrupted, from 
 the fimpltcity that is in Chrift. 
 
 The virgins here mentioned; which are called 
 wife virgins, are heavenly and fpiritual virgins, as 
 the bridegroom they go forth to meet is the heavenly 
 Spiritual bridegroom. < They are elected or chofen 
 
 perfons ; 
 
( 6 ) 
 
 perfons -, chofen in Chrift, and given to him before 
 ever the world was made, and were fecretly efpoufed 
 to him from all eternity in God the Father's pur- 
 pole, and in the cordial acceptance of them bv Chrift 
 himfelf j on which account he calls himfelf their 
 husband before they are openly efpoufed to him. 
 ^ Fear not, for thy Maker is thy hufband, the Lord of 
 Hefts is his name, &c. 
 
 But there is an open efpoufal of them in time, by 
 the power and prefence of Chrift attending the gof- 
 pel preached, as faith the apoftle ; / have ejpoufed 
 you to a good hujhand, that Imayfrefentyou as a chafte 
 virgin to Chrift. Indeed, before Chrift is known 
 we are wedded to the law of works, until we rind that 
 the law worketh wrath in us, and minifters death to 
 us ; that is weak through the rlelh, and therefore can 
 give us no help ; a killing letter, and can give us 
 no life. This makes us die to all hope in it, and it 
 appears a dead letter to us j then, when faith comes, 
 we get from under it, and are no more bound to its 
 rigorous exactions, being redeemed from it by the 
 crucifixion of Chrift, and delivered from it by the 
 grace of Chrift. Wherefore my brethren, ye alfo are 
 become dead to the law by the body of Chrift \ that ye 
 ftjculd be married to another, even to him who is raifed 
 from the dead, that we foould ' bring forth fruit unto God. 
 Rom. vii. 4. Hence it is that a poor foul, mour- 
 ning under his fins, and condemned by the law, is 
 compared to a dcfolate widow, until Chrift betroths 
 the foul to himfelf: Fear not, for thou /halt net be a- 
 fioamed j neither be thou confounded, for thou fhalt not 
 be put tofhame -, for thou fl^ alt forget the ftoame of thy 
 youth, and ftoalt not remember the reproach of thy wi- 
 dowhood any more ; for thy Maker is thine hujhand, 
 the Lord of Ilofts is his name. Jfaiah liv. 4. Here 
 we forgot the ihame of our youth, guilt being pur- 
 ged away j and, as for Satan, law, and confeience, 
 they can no longer reproach us v/ith being without 
 
 Chrift 
 
( 7 ) 
 
 Chrift and having no hope in the world, for we 
 are to remember the reproach of our widowhood 
 no more ; old things arc paffed away, and all things 
 are become new. The name of widow is rubbed 
 off, and the name of virgin is given. And, when 
 this reproach and fhame are purged away, and all 
 our reproachers arefilenced, then it is that the un- 
 ion takes place between the heavenly bridegroom* 
 and the .poor diftrefied foul ; love is fried abroad in 
 the heart, and nothing but love is difcovered in the 
 altogether lovely Jefus. This love knits the mtfr- 
 riage-knot, cures all our love ficknefles, and its 
 cruel attendant raging jealoufy. Love carts out 
 fear and torment, joins the foul to Chrift, and it is 
 bound up in the bundle of life with the Lord our 
 God. Such, faith Paul, are prefented as a cbafte 
 virgin to Chrift. 
 
 This myflical marriage was pointed out under 
 the former difpenfation. The high-pricft, who 
 was a typt of Chrift in his prieftly office, was flridt- 
 ly forbidden to take any perfon to wife but a vir- 
 gin : And he Jhall take a wife in her virginity. A 
 widow, or diver ced woman , or profane, or an harlot, 
 theft Jhall he not take ; but he Jhall take a virgin of his 
 cwn people to wife. Levit. xxi. 13, 14. In allufion 
 to this, all the followers of the High Prieft of our 
 profefrlon are called virgins. 
 
 But again. This virgin is one who ftriclly ad- 
 heres to her marriage covenant, by which Jhe is be- 
 trothed to the Lord for ever, even betrothed to him in 
 righteoufnefs, in judgement, in loving- kindne/s, and in 
 mercies : yea> I will even betroth thee unto me infaith- 
 fulnefs, and thou fhalt know the Lord. Ho Tea ii. 19, 
 20. The covenant of grace, in which fhe was gi- 
 ven to Chrift, and in which Chrift was given to 
 her, is highly efteemed by her : fhe knows that, in 
 the ancient fettlements, in the divine counfels of 
 old, a eertain man made a marriage for his Jon -, and, 
 
 in 
 
( 8 ) 
 
 in the day of her efpoufals, (he fets her feal to the 
 truth of this : it is the whore that forfaksth the guide 
 of her youth, and forgetteth the covenant of her God, 
 whofe ways take hold on hell, going down to the cham- 
 bers of death -, but this virgin abides by,the doctrines 
 of Chrift, and hath both the Father and the Son : 
 fhe hath God to her father, and Chrift to her huf- 
 band. . 
 
 Moreover, this virgin is embraced, in all her 
 bridal attire, as a bride prepared for her husband. 
 God imputes the wedding garment of his dear Son 
 to her; her faith apprehends it, and puts it on ; 
 God the Father draws her to her beloved, and he 
 receives her as the Father's gift, faying, This is now 
 bone of my bone, and flefh of my flefh ; ihe mall 
 be called Evah, the mother of all living faints , and 
 Hephzibah, for my delight is in her. This is a great 
 myftery ; but Ifpeak concerning Chrift and the church. 
 Loving-kind nefs crowns her head, imputed righte- 
 oufnefs enrobes her perfon, meeknefs and quietude 
 adorn her foul, modefty and bafhfulnefs appear in 
 her countenance ; and fhe often blufhes at a fight 
 and fenfe of her own unworthinefs. An illumina- 
 ted underftanding and faith are her eyes ; the bond 
 of the covenant and its promifes the chain of her 
 neck ; her fhoes are peace, and truth her girdle : 
 and fofure as a bridegroom decketh himfelf with 
 his ornaments, fo fure is this bride thus adorned 
 with her jewels. 
 
 Furthermore, her faith. and affection to her royal 
 confort are forely tried. Many of Satan's procurers 
 try hard to degrade and debafe her fpoufe, in order 
 to leffen him in her efteem, and to rival him in her 
 effections ; many old pimps fit at the feats of their 
 doors, and lie in wait at every corner, in order to 
 enfnare and beguile her, faying, Let her be defiled, and 
 let our eye look upon Zion. But theje know not the 
 thoughts of the Lord, Micah iv. 1 1. Neither Satan, 
 
 the 
 
( 9 ) 
 
 the arch feducer, nor any of his foreftallers ; neither 
 
 Jezebel the witch, nor Babylon the whore ; could 
 
 ever finally alienate her affections from her cov nant 
 
 Head, or fo damp her love as to get her to reiin- 
 
 qutfh her hold of him, to embrace the bofom of a 
 
 ftranger, to follow other lovers, to admire their bed 
 
 when me faw it, or to difcover herieif to another, fo 
 
 as to expofe herfelf to be judged, as a woman that 
 
 breaketh wedlock is judged ; nay, fo far from it, 
 
 that fhe will not fuffer lawful love to the creature to 
 
 grow into inordinate affection without checking it, 
 
 difapproving and difallowing of it, fo as even to cry 
 
 to her hufband about it : Draw me, and we will run 
 
 after thee. If thou doft not draw me, I fhall be 
 
 drawn away from thee. She is not like that eafy, 
 
 quiet whore in the city, who was to be ftoned to 
 
 death for her finful compliance, and for not crying 
 
 out. Deut. xxii. 24. In fhort, at the worft of times 
 
 this virgin can fay, Whom have I in heaven but thee ? 
 
 And, if milled and detained a captive, yet, as foon 
 
 as fhe gets loofe, fhe will fay, I will go and return to 
 
 my fir ft hufband,for then it was better with me than 
 
 now. I come next to treat of 
 
 II. The wifdom of thefe virgins. The other virgins 
 are called fools-, but thefe are faid to be -wife. The 
 'firft appearance of their wifdom is in learning to bring 
 diftant things near. They dare not cauie the feat: uf 
 violence to approach while they put far away the 
 evil day. The day of judgment and they are daily 
 converting together, however terrible the meditation, 
 or fhocking the appearance. This is one part of 
 the wifdom that God calls for : O that they were 
 wife, that they underftood this, that they would but con- 
 fider their tatter end. Ihe wife man ferefees the evil, 
 and hideth bimfelf* but the wicked pofs on, and are 
 puni/hed. To forefee the evil day is to bring it near, 
 to cite ourfelves at the bar both of God's law and 
 our own confeience^in order to judge ourfelves, that 
 A '2 v.c 
 
( io ) 
 
 we may not be judged, and that we may accept the 
 punifhment of our iniquity, and not be condemned 
 with the world ; and to fearch and fee which way 
 a poor finner may fly from the wrath to come ; and, 
 when Chrift, the hiding-place from the Jtorm, is dif- 
 covered, to betake ourfelves, with all our grievances 
 and troubles, and with all our confeflions and peti- 
 tions, to him, in order to embrace him as the only 
 refuge that God hath kt before us : and when faith 
 gives us accefs to love of his heart, we are hid -, and 
 under his fhadow we fhall dwell in fafety till every 
 calamity be overpaft. That which prompts us to 
 this is the alarm of God in our confeience, which 
 awakens a whole army of terrors and fears about us ; 
 and this fear is the beginning of wifdom^ and operates 
 upon us as it did upon Noah when God apprifed 
 him of the future deluge : He was moved with fear y 
 and prepared the ark. We are moved with the fame 
 fear, and betake ourfelves to Jefus,for fear of being 
 drowned in deftruction and perdition. 
 
 This wifdom farther difcovers itfelf by making 
 the heart honeft and humble, to tremble at, and to 
 some to, the light of divine revelation. The heart 
 that is endowed with this wifdom, and implanted 
 with this fear, moves in concert with the lively ora- 
 cles of God. If God threatens, the finner trembles ; 
 if God forbids, he tries to forbear ; if he contends, 
 he ftands mute ; if he fmites him, he falls under it ; 
 if he pleads againfl him, his unrightebufnefs com- 
 mends the righteoufnefs of God ; if he fays, Come, 
 let us reafon together, he keeps his diftance ; if he 
 fets his fins in order before him, he knows they are 
 not all there.; If he fills him with wrath and rebuke, 
 he expects worfe ; if he writes bitter things againfl 
 him, he aggravates every circumftance in the hand 
 writing ; if he is inclined to be propitious, he refufes 
 to be comforted ; if mercy melts him, he coyly re- 
 fufes it ; and, if God appears pacified toward him, 
 
 he 
 
 
( II ) 
 
 he abhors himfelf in his own fight for his iniquity. 
 Not fo the fool : he hates the light ; Prophefy 
 fmooth things, prophefy deceits, caule the Holy One 
 of Ifrael to cede from before us, faith he; heal our 
 wounds (lightly -, cry peace, peace. Thefe have s re- 
 jected th$ word of the Lord, and what wifdom is there 
 in them ? Jer. viii. 9. 
 
 Their higheft wifdom confiils in this, they know 
 their Saviour, and their intereft in him ; they know 
 whom they hath believed, and that their faith in him 
 hath purified their heart ; the blood of fprinkling 
 fpeaks in them, and the Spirit bears witneis to their 
 fonihip ; and this is to be made wife unto Jalvation 
 through faith that is in Chrifl. 
 
 Such a foul knows that there is no other way into 
 the holy of holies, but that which Chriii hath con- 
 secrated through the vail, that is to fay, his flefh ; 
 and, as he received him, fo he endeavours to walk in 
 him ; and every thing that has a tendency to dagger, 
 Humble, or impede him in his way -, to fetter him, 
 clog him, damp his zeal, or check his diligence ; he 
 endeavours to avoid. The fool beheveth every word, 
 hut the wife man looks well to his way. 
 
 If any tiling tumbles his judgment, he prays for 
 inftrudtion j if he cannot make ftraight paths for his 
 feet, he waits for God's counfel ; if the itandard be 
 lifted up, he mends his pace -, if his heart be en- 
 larged, he runs ; if the fun mines, he lays by every 
 weight, and the Cm that fo eafily befets. him, the word 
 of which is unbelief. The wfdem of the wife is to 
 underjland his way. . 
 
 Such a foul knows that God's way is not his way; 
 that it is not obvious to the light of nature ; that, 
 unlefs God mines upon it, it ca; not be difcerned, 
 although fo many eminent men have been employed 
 in calling it up : hence he tries it by the word, feeks 
 direction of the bed guides, feels for God's arm, 
 kans on his beloved, and obierves the dictates of 
 
 the 
 
( 12 ) 
 
 the Holy Spirit ! and, when he has the approbation 
 of Chrifl: and conference, wifdom' s ways are ways of 
 plea/an tne/s, and all her paths are peace : and this way 
 cf nfe is above to the wife, that he may depart from hell 
 beneath. 
 
 The wifdom of this poor foul lies in his knowing 
 what is acceptable to God. Without forgivenefs of 
 fin he knows there can be no admiflion to heaven ; 
 for the unclean Jhall not enter there ; without holinefs 
 (by the Spirit) no man /hall fee the Lord; without an 
 imputed righteoufnefs no acceptance ; the unrighteous 
 fhall not enter the kingdom j and withour tiuth in the 
 heart all religion is vain ; for truth mult be fettled 
 in heaven ; but he cannot come there who loveth and 
 maketh a lie, Thefe things he feeks, after thefe he 
 follows, and thefe beft gifts he covets, as things that 
 accompany falvation ; and all thefe things he has in 
 Chrifc, and he enjoys them by virtue of union with 
 him : And this is the wife man^who builds his houfe, 
 digs deep, and founds it upon a rock ; that, when the 
 rains defcen'd, and the floods come, and the winds blew 
 and beat upcri the houfe, it ftandsfaft, being founded 
 upon a rock. 
 
 Once more : The wife man knows the connexion 
 thafrGhrift fufcains, and in what covenant relation 
 he Hands to him -, that he is made of God unto him 
 wifdom as well as righteoufnefs j and to know him 
 and the power of his refurreclion is the quinteffence 
 of all wifdom ; and all wifdom fhort of this he 
 deems folly. If any man will be zuife in this world, 
 let him become a fool that he may be wife ; for all hu- 
 man wiidom is foolifhncfs with God, as it is faid, 
 prof effing themf elves to be wife, they became fools, vain 
 in their imagination-, and their foolifh hearts were dark- 
 ened. Which leads me, 
 
 II I. To defcribe cheir lamps. This parable feems 
 to have an allufion to a Jewiih weeding, which came 
 on after the efpoufals. The night being arrived for 
 
 the 
 
( !$ ) 
 
 the young couple to come together, the bridegroom 
 and his friends fet off with their lights, from his fath- 
 er's houfe, to meet the bride ; at which time fhe and 
 her female attendants fet off from her father's houfe 
 to meet him, in order to be conducted to the houfe 
 which he had provided for her. And fo it is here. 
 Chrift leaves heaven, his father's houfe, and comes 
 with all the faints and angels attending him 5 when 
 the bride, and her companions, friall be brought to 
 him, with joy and rejoicing jhall they be brought, -and 
 Jhall enter into the king's palace ; namely, the new 
 earth firft> wherein dwelleth righteoufnefs, and mall 
 fpend a thoufand years with him; at which time 
 he fhall prefent her to himfelf a glorious church, 
 having neither /pot nor wrinkle -, and afterwards he 
 will prefent her unto his Father, at the delivering up 
 of the kingdom, and place her at his own right 
 hand. On the right hand flood the queen in gold of 
 Ophir. 
 
 The firfl account we have in fcripture of a lamp 
 is in Gen. xv. 17. Abraham was commanded of 
 God to take an heifer y a fhe goat, a ram y a turtle dove, 
 and a young pigeon. The beafts he divides in twain, 
 but not the birds. And when the fun was going down 
 a deep Jleep fell upon Abraham, which was followed 
 with an horror of great darknefi. And it came to pafs, 
 that when the fun went down, and it was dark, behold 
 a fmoaking furnace and a burning lamp, that pajfed be- 
 tween thofe pieces. In that fame day the Lord made a 
 covenant with Abraham, faying, Unto thy feed I will 
 give this land. It is thought, by many, that the fuf- 
 ferings of Ifrael in Egypt were reprefented by this 
 furnace, and their great deliverance by the lamp. 
 But I believe the ffain beads prefigured Chrift. ] 
 Abraham's darknefs and horror, the bondage and 
 wrath of the law ; the fmoking furnace, the fufTer- 
 ings of Chrift under man's crimes and God's wraths 
 the lamp, the glorious falvation that fliould follow 
 B hie 
 
his crucifixion ; for it is his death that ratifies anrf 
 confirms the covenant of grace, and fecures the 
 heavenly country to all Abraham's myltical feed. 
 And for this construction of the words we have the 
 authority of the prophet lfaiah, who quotes this 
 burning lamp, and applies it to the falvation of 
 Chrift. For Zkrisjake will 1 not hold my peace ; and 
 for ferufalems fake I will not reft, until the righteous 
 thereof go forth as brightness, and the falvation thereof 
 as a lamp that burneth. lfaiah lxii. 1. 
 
 The brightnefs, brilliancy, luftre, and glory, of 
 this i ighteoufnefs, fpring from the glory of the great 
 perfonage that wrought it out : it is the rightecuf- 
 nefs of God. Glory, and the rays of infinite divinity, 
 attend it to every foul to whom it is imputed -, and 
 the time will come when the righteous fhall jhine 
 ferth (in it) as the fun, in the glory of their Father's 
 kingdom } for ever and ever. 
 
 The falvation here mentioned is called a lamp 
 that burneth. Salvation from guilt and filth, from 
 fear and bondage, wrath, death, hell, and damna- 
 tion, comes into the foul like a flaming torch ; the 
 fun of righteoufnefs arifes upon us with healing in 
 his beams, and conveys fuch divine heat and ever- 
 lafting light as fhall never be quenched nor extin- 
 guifhed : and it is attended with fuch a flame of hea- 
 venly love as melts the foul, kindles in the breaft, 
 and makes the heart burn within us. This makes 
 a man a burning and a mining light ; yea, it makes 
 a minifter a flame of fire. In mort, falvation by 
 grace is a lamp that never goes out j for we are 
 Javed in the Lord with c.n everlafting falvation, and 
 fhall not be afhamed nor confounded world without end. 
 
 Some tell us that this lamp is a lamp of profef- 
 fion \ but this is faying nothing, as we have no fcrip- 
 ture that calls a profefiicn by that name. The lamp, 
 as above defciibed, is the lamp which thefe wife 
 
 virgins 
 
( H ) 
 
 -yirgins took ; had they taken any other, they had 
 «.been juft as foolifn as the reft. Which leads me, 
 
 IV. To defcribe their vejfels. By their veifels I 
 underftand their hearts ; for religion without the 
 heart is like the white of an egg without fait; it can 
 ,be no more than bodily cxercife, which profketh 
 nothing. If we draw near to God with our mouth, 
 and honour him with our lips, w T hile our hearts are 
 far from him, in vain we worfhip him ; 'and to fee 
 off for heaven and dream of getting there, while 
 our hearts are fet on the things of time and fenfe, is 
 going without a heart ; for where a man's heart is 
 ■there is his treafure. God promifes to take away 
 the (tony heart out of our fiefh, and to give us ail 
 heart of flefh ■: Yea, a new heart will 1 give you, and 
 a new fpirit will I pit within you. I will give them 
 an heart to know me, for 1 will jiir don them whom I 
 referve \ and I will ^vnumcife their hearts to love me, 
 that they may live... 
 
 . Where there is no heart'in religion, there is no 
 faith, for with the heart man believeth unto righteouf- 
 >nefs ; and where there is no heart there is no Chrift, 
 for he dwells in the heart by faith ; and without the 
 rheart there can be no grace, for grace is the hidden * 
 man of the heart. 
 
 Furthermore. God looks with companion on 
 them, and only them, that tremble at his word > 
 nor will he dwell with any but thofe that are of a 
 broken and a contrite heart, to revive the fpirit of 
 the hum hk,. and the heart of the contrite ones, A 
 whole-hearted finner needs not the phyfician ; nor 
 does the commirTion of Chrift reach him, for he was 
 Tent to bind up the broken-hearted, 
 
 Thefe wife virgins knew the deceitfulnefs, the 
 
 , bitternefs, the treachery, and the plague of their 
 
 own hearts ; and they knew the change that God 
 
 had made therein. Hence we may fee that every 
 
 thing which thele wife virgins were, and all thaj 
 
 .they 
 
( 16 ) 
 
 they had, came down from the Father of lights. 
 They vere all of them by nature finncrs, dead in 
 trefpaffes and fins; but God chaftened them, and 
 taught them out of his law, and then he drew them 
 to Chrift, that they might find reft in him till the 
 pit be digged up for the wicked ; and Chr.ft received 
 them as his Father's gift : this entitled them to the 
 name of virgins. . 
 
 God revealed his fon in them the hope of glory, 
 and they had the light of the knowledge of the glory of 
 God in the fate of Jefus Chrift : this made them wife 
 
 '"ST gave them the knowledge of falvation by the 
 fomvenefs of their fins, which was attended with a 
 feeling fenfe of the dying iove of Chr.ft, that, hav.ng 
 much forgiven, they might love much: this was 
 their lamp, and this made them wtft virgins -with 
 
 Godth-'cumcifed their hearts to love him, and 
 wrought faith in their hearts to believe in him for 
 Life acid falvation : this raifed their affe&ons above, 
 and fent them out to meet the bridegroom ; for 
 where mould they be but where their hearts and 
 treafores were ? They never fet out in hope and 
 expectation of meeting the bridegroom till they 
 were furnifhed with thofe things that would pro- 
 cure their reception, and make them meet for it. 
 
 I c ° me ™ v ^ eat rf £heir ciL T he Jewifh high 
 oriefts, the prophet Eliflia, and the kings of Ifrael, 
 Were all anointed with oil to their offices by the 
 command of God -, and he that is now our prophet 
 prieft, and king, was anointed alio and that with the 
 Holy Ghoft without meafure. The holy penman, 
 iu his account of the anointing of Chrift, is very 
 particular, as you read, Thy throne, God, is for ever 
 and ever : tbefceptre of thy kingdom is a "gbt/^e- 
 Thou loveft righteoufnefs and bat eft wickednefs : there- 
 
( 17 ) 
 
 fore God, thy Ged 3 hath anointed thee with the oil of 
 gladnefs above thy fellows. Pfalm iv. 5, 6, 7. It is 
 plain that the marriage of Chrift is fet forth in this 
 pfalm. All thy garments fmell of myrrh > akes and 
 caffia, cut of the ivory palaces, whereby they have made 
 thee glad. Here is Chrift, and a company in the 
 ivory palaces making him glad ; and next we have 
 the church and her company mentioned; King's 
 daughters were among thy honourable women ; upon thy 
 right hand did ft and the queen in gold of Ophir, In 
 the next place, he orders her to quit her father's 
 houfe, and come forth to meet him : Hearken, 
 daughter^ and conjtder, and incline thine ear ; forget 
 alfo thine own people, and thy father's houfe. He 
 then tells her what a kind reception me fhali meet 
 with by fo doing : fo fhall the King greatly dejire 
 thy beauty ; for he is thy Lor i, and worjhip thou him. 
 Next mention is made of more bridemaids, even 
 from among the Gentiles ; and fome of the great 
 ones of the earth, too, (hall entreat the queen's fa- 
 vour : And the daughter of Tyre fhall be there with 
 a gift 3 even the rich among the people Jliall entreat 
 thy favour. Now he applauds her : The king's 
 daughter is all glorious within, her clothing is of 
 wrought gold. And next comes her glorious 
 admiifion into the royal palace : She fhall be 
 brought unto the king in raiment of needle-work : 
 and with her are brought the pure attendants that 
 follow her, even the fame perfons mentioned in my 
 text : The virgins her companions that follow her 
 fhall be brought unto thee, with gladnefs and rejoic- 
 ing fh all they be brought ; they fliall enter into the 
 king's palace. Pfalm xlv. Out of this pfalm, and 
 the book of Proverbs, the Lord took this parable 
 of the foolifh and wife virgins. And it is beautiful 
 to fee the gradation that appears in this pfalm ; 
 for,firft, here is the chofen fpoufe fet before Chrift, 
 at the fight of whom he is much taken. 2. He u 
 
 anointed 
 
( »8 ) 
 
 -anointed to be a pried, to redeem by his facrifice, 
 and as a prophet to inftru£t her; and hence he calls 
 upon her to hearken to him. 3. He is anointed 
 to his kingly office, and tells her that the king 
 greatly de tires her beauty, and then gives her the 
 title of queen, fuitable to his rank, and promifes 
 to bring her to his palace, and there to place her 
 on his right hand. And thefe things were enforced 
 with the m oft endearing affeftion, to induce her 
 to quit her own family and father's houie, and go 
 forth to meet her 'bridegroom. 
 
 There were two things in the Saviour's view 
 which rejoiced his heart when the oil of gladnefs 
 was upon him ; the one was, the day of his efpou- 
 fais : Go forth, daughter of Zion, and behold king 
 Solomon with the crown wherewith his mother crown- 
 ed him in the day of his ejpoufah, and in the day of 
 the gladnefs of his heaiti. 
 
 The other thing was, the glory that was to be 
 put upon his human nature at his afcenlion to 
 heaven, and the fulnefs of joy he was to have there. 
 Hence you hear hi m Speaking .: Therefore my heart 
 
 ■ is glad, and my glory rejoiceth ; my fief h alfofliall 
 ■reft in hope. lor thou wilt not leave my foul in hell.; 
 neither wilt thou fiffer thine holy one to fee corrup- 
 tion. Thou wilt Jhew me the path of life : in thy 
 iprefence h fullntfs of joy ; at thy right hand are 
 ..plea fares for -evermore. This was the joy that was 
 Jet before him, for the which he endured the crofs, 
 defpifing the faamt, and isfetdownat the right hand 
 
 ■ of the. throne of God. 
 
 Now let us look at the oil of thefe wife virgins, 
 and fee what it is. Solomon makes this flaming 
 oil of the wife to he joy. He tells us that the light 
 of a juft man burns with joy, when the light of the 
 wicked is extinguifhed : The light of the righteous 
 rejoiceth, when the lamp of the wicked fhall be put 
 out. 
 
 4nd 
 
( *9 r 
 
 And the prophet Ifaiah calls k the oil of joy ;: 
 for, prophefying of Chrift, and what he fhould do- 
 when he came, he tells us that he fhali comfort all 
 that mourn. To appoint unto them that mourn in 
 Zion, to give unto them leauty for a/lies, the oil of 
 joy for mourning, the garment of praife for the f pint 
 of heavinefs ; that thef might be called trees of 
 righteoifnefs, the planting of the Lord, that he might 
 be glorified. Ifaiah Ixi. 3. Hence It appears that 
 the fpiritual and heavenly joy, with which the Holy 
 Spirit fills the new-born foul, is this oil which the 
 wife virgins took in their veffels. This appears 
 flill more evident, becaufe it is oppofed to mourn- 
 ing, and is promifed to the mourners in Zion ; 
 and nothing can be more defiled by poor foul* 
 mourning under fin than this joy of the Lord y 
 yea, even the foolifh virgins craved it when their 
 lamps went out ; Give us of your oil. Which veri- 
 fies the faying of the wife man, There is a creafure 
 to be defired, and oil in the dwelling of the wife.: 
 Prov. xxi. 20. And this proverb h fulfilled ia 
 my text, for the wife had oil in their veffels. 
 
 We know that oil is a furious thing to burn ; 
 and fure I am that nothing deflroys grief, forrow, 
 mifery, and mourning, more effectually than the 
 joy of the Lord in the heart. This oil makes a 
 man's face to fhine, however fallen, iickly, fad, 
 deje&ed, or gloomy, it m^ght appear before, — 
 Profperity and joy, adverhty and penfive con- 
 fideration, are oppofed to each other : In the day 
 ef profperity be joyful ', in the day of adverfty corfi- 
 der ; God hath Jet the one agairfl the oher. When 
 our fpiritual might abates, and our joys flag, wc 
 may prophefy as David did, My horn flialt thou 
 . exalt like the horn of an ui\icorn ; I fhali be anoint- 
 ed withfrefh oil. 
 
 Moreover, oil is of a very predominant nature ; 
 put it into what you will, ualefs it mixes, it will 
 
 be 
 
( 20 ) 
 
 be uppermoft ; and fo the great felicity of heaveu 
 is fet forth by it : In hisprefence isjulntfs of joy, and 
 at his right hand there are pleafuresfor evermore. 
 According to Paul, joy is the fecond fruit of the 
 Holy Spirit of God : Love, joy, peace. Anointed 
 with this oil, fiiall the fons of God return to their 
 fafher's houfe : They Jfiajl come with Jongs, and 
 tverlafling joy upon their head ; they Jl\ all obtain joy 
 and gfadnefs, and forrow and fighing fhall Jlee a- 
 way. The Lord fill us with all joy and peace in 
 believing. 
 
 Once more. What can fill the bridegroom's 
 heart fo much as joy; when he is going to take the 
 defire of his tycs home to himfelf ? Or what can 
 fill the bride's heart but joy, when fhe is going to 
 the bqfom of him who is fupreme in her affeclions ? 
 And how doth the fcripture fet this comparifori 
 of, and interweave it withj the foul's efpoufal to 
 Chrift ? Thou shalt no more be termed forfakai ; 
 neither shall thy land any more be termed defolate ; 
 bid thou shalt be called Hephzibah, and thy land 
 Bealah ; for the Lord delighteth in thee, and thy 
 land shall be married. For, as a young man mar- 
 rietk a virgin, fo shall thy fons marry thee ; and, as 
 the bridegroom rejeiceth over the bride, fo shall thy 
 God rejoice over thee. Ifaiah lxii. 4, 5. 
 
 This oil of heavenly joy is an ineftimable trea- 
 sure, and fo it will appear to the wife whenever the 
 midnight cry comes. When the children of this 
 world will be in their greateft fecurity, buying, fel- 
 ling, building, planting, marrying wives and giving 
 in marriage j when all on a fudden the archangel 
 and the trump of God will alarm them all ; then, 
 then to reflect upon the work of regeneration, and 
 to look forward with a good hope through grace, 
 and feel a love to his appearing ; to fee and know | 
 that now is an end to all fin and finning j to all far- 
 row, fadnefs, and fufTering i and to have nothing] 
 
 before 
 
( ?I ) 
 
 before us but eternal felicity, and the bridegroom 
 coming to be admired in ali that belive, and to re- 
 ceive the darling of his foul home to himfelf; this, 
 this will make the oil burn brighter than ever. I 
 now hafterr to fhew, 
 
 VI. How they fared at their journey's end. We 
 are informed that the bridegroom tarried -, he was not 
 quite lb quick in his motions as they were in their 
 expectations ; and perhaps the caufe of this was, 
 fomebody had been too bufy in fixing the time of 
 his coming, as many fpeculators have been very for- 
 ward at fixing the precife time for many events 
 which God hath not revealed ; beyond this time, 
 limited by fome and expected by others, the bride- 
 groom tarried s and they all flumhered and f opt. Faith 
 was out of exercife, hope was not looking out, nor 
 expectation on her watch-tower : patience had no 
 troubles to exercife it, love was grown cold, dili- 
 gence was worn out, grace lay dormant, and ail the 
 fenfes became drowfy , nothing awake but pcor ho- 
 ned confeience, and he was not attended to. I fieep? 
 but my heart awaketh. It is the voice of my belcvid 
 that knocheth, faying, Open to me, my fifier 5 my /. 
 Though the fpoufe was aileep, her heart was not 5 
 and, however dead aileep, yet ilie knew the voice 
 of her beloved, and fays, It istbevou beloved 
 
 ocked. Thele words of the church Chiiil 
 himfeif quotes : Leiyour loins begirt about y andji 
 lights burning 5 and ye your fives like unto men that 
 t for their Lord when he void re: urn from the voed- 
 ;> that when he ccmeth and knocketh they may open 
 to him immediately, Blefjed are thofe fervanh whom 
 the Lord when he com ■ zv a feting. Luke 
 
 xii. 36. 
 
 And at midnight there veas a cry made. Behold, the 
 
 \'iroom cometh, go ye out to meet him. At Mid- 
 
 . was this cry made. The creation of the world 
 
 isy ailed morning, and the angels who then iang their 
 
 B 2 anthems 
 
. ( & ) 
 
 anthems are called the morning Jlars that Jang toge- 
 ther. Jobxxxviii. 7. The prophetic age is called 
 noon, Amos viii, 9. In Chrift's days it was called 
 /upper time. Luke xiv. 16, 17. But this cry is at 
 the clofe of time, and therefore called midnight : 
 and there is an allufion to the midnight cry in Egypt, 
 when the fuft-born in every houfe lay dead, and 
 Ifrael all in per feci fafety, who kept the paflbver and 
 tbefprinkling of blood, left he that dejlroyed thejirfi-born 
 jhould touch them. 
 
 However, God will always have fome watch- 
 men on the walls of Zion to give the time of the 
 night, as was the cafe here -, there were fome that 
 cried the hour even at midnight, for at that time the 
 cry was made : furely God will not do any thing, but 
 he revealeth his fee ret to his Jerv ants the prophets. 
 
 Before the flood, Noah was let into the fecret of 
 the deluge. Before the deftru&ion of Sodom, Abra- 
 ham firft, and then Lot, was apprifed of it. To 
 the deftructiou that came upon Egypt Mofes wa* 
 privy. Jeremiah was informed of the duration of 
 Ifrael's captivity in Babylon. Daniel was informed 
 when the Mefiiah would come. And both Daniel 
 and the Mefiiah himfelf gave many broad hints ofl 
 Jerufalem's defolation. And fo likewife of the day [ 
 of judgment, fome watchmen will be informed ofl 
 that, left the Lord, coming fuddenly, fhould find 
 his fpoufe deeping. 
 
 Beheld, the bridegroom cometh. This watch-word 
 was not given to the world, for he is not a bride- 
 groom to them ; the warning was given to Zion, 
 and to the inhabitants of that city; and they, and 
 only they took the warning, and were alarmed and 
 roufed up by it. 
 
 Then all thoje virgins ar&Je and trimmed their lamps. 
 The foolifh, as well as the wife, "being in commu- 
 nion one with another, received the warning 
 But I ihall not take notice of them at this time. 
 
 The 
 
( aa ) - 
 
 The wife trimmed their lamps : by which it appears 
 that their evidences were begloome^., and their Tp ir- 
 ks dull ; the grace of God in their hearts, and their 
 pad experiences, much obfeured ; their lights very 
 dim, and their love cold ; much fin unconferTed and 
 unrepented of, and the great day of accounts put 
 far away. But this cry alarmed them, and awaken- 
 ed all their fears about them : their backflidings 
 reproved them, their bafe ingratitude flared them 
 in the face ; and their careleflhefs and cold indiffer- 
 ence terrified them. This led them to- felf-exami- 
 nation, and that led them to humble conftffion : 
 fear moved them, and prayers were fervently put 
 up for pardon, peace, and a revival of the works 
 when a freih application of the atonement was ap- 
 plied, meeknefs and humility were granted, and they 
 reflored to the joys of his falration, and furnifhed 
 and upheld by his free fpifit. They law that their 
 guilt was purged, and their wadding garment on ; 
 truth was about their loins, and love in their hearts ; 
 the Spirit's witnefs within, and a ferene heaven 
 without •, faith in exercife, and hope in vigour : and, 
 being thus ready prepared, as a bride adorned for 
 her husband, they cry, Come, Lord Jefus y come quick- 
 
 fyt 
 
 And they that were ready went in with him to the 
 marriage, and the dcor was /hut. This marriage is 
 not in heaven, or in ultimate glory ; for Chrift at 
 this time comes to raife the dead who died in faith, 
 and to change the faints that fhall at this time be 
 found alive upon earth ; and, when the one is chan- 
 ged, and the other raifed, they enter into the hea- 
 venly Jerufalem, which at this time will be letdown 
 out of heaven from God. -Ibey will mount up to 
 meet the Lord in the air -, when he will burn the 
 world, and all the wicked in it, as he did Sodom 
 and Gomorrah ; and then create all things new, — 
 The elements JhallmeU) and the heavens pajs away with 
 
 9 
 
( %t ) 
 
 4Lgredkp6ife.i the earth, and all her works, /hall be 
 burnt up, and a new heaven and a new earth appear, 
 agreeable to his promife, where dwelletb righteouf- 
 ne/Sn This will be the 3aft jubilee, and the lad fab- 
 bath ; and- now (hall the meek inherit the earth , and 
 the' ele& long enjoy the zverk of their hands ; for they 
 wilJ| in this ftate, outlive all the antediluvians ; for 
 they fhall livt and reign with Chriji a thoujand years* 
 This v.ill appear a heavenly country, and Zion <s 
 city that hath found atiens., whoje maker and builder is 
 God. This will be the heavenly Jerafialem, the holy 
 city, and the camp of the faints ; and the thoufantl 
 years reft that remains to the people of God, of 
 which the fabbath w T as a fign ; , and here we fhall 
 reii from our works, as God did from his. At 
 this time we mall meet ail the flock : this will be 
 the General afifembly and church of the fir jl -born ,, wbcfe 
 names are written in heaven. And the clofe of the 
 thou&n'd years the wicked fhall be raifed and judg- 
 ed 3 and, when banifhed and imprifoned, the faints 
 will afcend to ultimate glory, the fcaffold will be 
 (truck, and time will be no more ; but heaven will 
 be rise faints' final home, and God will be all in 
 all. 
 
 New fuffer a word of counfel and advice. As the 
 
 right cry in Egypt was emblematical of this. 
 
 uight c;y at tht end of the world, fo God's di- 
 rection to Ifrael will ferve as a guide to us. Ifrael . 
 was a typical people, and prefigured the whole If- 
 rael of God ; they were all the fons of God by na- 
 tional adoption : ifrael is my fin, my firjl-born ; let 
 my fin go, that he may firve me : and, as fuch, they 
 represented all the fons of God, who were piedefli- 
 nated to the adoption of children; which preadop- 
 tion is manifefted to them at their believing on the 
 Lord Jeius Chrifr. 
 
 Every houfehold of Ifrael was to take a lamb ; 
 2nd every littie congregation belonging to the houfe- 
 hold 
 
( n ) 
 
 hold of faith mull by faith take hold of the lamb 
 of God ; and this lamb, our paffover facrificed for 
 us, muft be eaten ; his flefh js meat indeed, and his 
 blood drink indeed. This facrifke is a fweet en- 
 tertainment for a reftlefs, difquieted foul, who hun- 
 gers and thirds after righteoufnefs, life, pardon, 
 peace, reconciliation with God, and eternal falva- 
 tion ; and will nourifh faith and hope : it will fatif- 
 fy a barren, empty, periihing mind ; and quiet, 
 compofe, and becalm an accufing confcience, and 
 gratify it to the higheft degree. This lamb was 
 to be roafted with fire ; and the faith of a believer 
 , fees and feels the curfe/the burning ire and frnoak- 
 I ing jealoufy, of a fin-avenging God revealed in a 
 J fiery law, poured forth upon the Lamb of God, 
 who fuffered in the room and (lead of his people ; 
 fo that he is redeemed from the wrath to come, and 
 delivered from going down to the pit, by the life 
 bf Chrift, laid down a ranfom' for many. The 
 Mood of the lamb was to be put upon the two fide- 
 ofls, and upon the upper-door-pofl: of the houfes. 
 hrift does condefcend to vilit his elecl:, while wc 
 veil in the houfes of thefe our earthly tabernacles, 
 d demands entrance by the everlafting doors of 
 c^ hearts ; and when the King of glory comes in, 
 h _ not only puts a little fweet-fmelling myrrh 
 upon the handles of the lock, but with this blefTed 
 atonement he fprinkles the heart from an evil con- 
 fcience j which favjng benefit being applied, pro- 
 cures his admittance ever after, and makes his com-* 
 pany fo defirable. This facrifice was to be eaten 
 with unleavened bread, which Paul fays is ftncerity 
 and truth. Sincerity is oppofed to hypocrify, and 
 truth to falfehood ; hypocrify, malice, and wicked- 
 nefs, is called old leaven. And thus fo all ye eat % 
 with your loins girded , your faces Gn y cur feet, and your 
 fiaff in your hand, the truth (as it is in Chrift), r<?~ ' 
 ttived in the love if it% and with it the love of ?k» 
 C • truth, 
 
( 26 ) 
 
 intih, or the love that God promifes in the word of 
 truth to reveal in us, is, according to Paul, the 
 faint's girdle : hewing your loins girt about with "truth. 
 The loins of the mind being girded up, keeps from 
 a loofe and fcandalous profeflicn, and from em- 
 bracing the damnable lies and herefies that abound 
 in our day. To walk humbly with Chrift, and to 
 enjoy peace in him, and in our own conference, is 
 having cur feet food with the preparation of the gofpel 
 ef peace. The ftaffmuftbe ip our hand. Chrift, 
 in his office of a fhephere\, has hisy?^; and, as 
 king of Zion, he hath hisra?, or fceptre ; of which" 
 David fpeaks. The Lord is my fhipherd, I jhall not 
 want, for I am a fheep of his pafture ; the Lord is 
 my king, working falvation in the midft of the earth ; 
 and he will magnify this ftaff by his tender care of 
 me, and fhew himfelf worthy of a right fceptre by 
 deftroying my enemies and defending me. / will 
 fear no evil, thy rod and thy Jlaff they comfort me. This 
 ftaff is the gofpel, which is the power of God to 
 falvation, and by which mighty power we are kept 
 through faith. But the lamb mull be eaten with 
 bitter herbs ; with bitter herbs Jhall they eat it. Thefe 
 are not palatable, but profitable ; they are not in- 
 tended to fill the belly, but ;to purge and ftrengthen 
 the ftomach. When bitter trials ceafe we get life- 
 lefs ; and when lifelefs, Satan gets little injury, and 
 God gets but little glory. The only remedy againft 
 numbering and fleeping is diligence and watchful- 
 nefs ; for all the time we are diligent our fouls ga- 
 ther fatnefs, and God is glorified, which is what 
 Satan cannot bear. It is when the foul is prefling 
 forward to Jefus, that Satan buffets him ; and it is 
 when he would do good that evil is prefent with 
 him. Let his diligence abate, and Satan is undif- 
 turbed ; let him ceafe to do good, and the old man 
 -will not fo ftrongly annoy him: this brings on 
 Numbering and fleeping, the offence of the crofs is 
 <***fed, A worfe 
 
( n ~7 J 
 
 A worfe (laughter than that of Egypt will be made 
 |t the midnight cry; I mean among thofe who will 
 be found in their firft-born ftate. Let us, therefore* 
 keep the paflbver and the fprinkling of blood. 
 
 Again— Jfrael was to abide in their houfes ; and 
 the laint mould abide in tlje houfe of God, for there 
 the midnight cry will, firft be made,, and there the 
 warning be ftrfl; given. Once more — At this pari- 
 over Ifrael was to begin to reckon time i it was to be 
 the beginning of months unto them ; and at the latt 
 midnight ay fuffering- time, (Inning time, the devils 
 time, and the time of iinners plaguing the faints, 
 will be over - 5 and a whole thoufand years complete 
 will ta.ke place, and run Quiy before Satan and hii 
 adherents come forth to judgment. They i'hail all 
 be in prifon during this term* while Chrift will reiga 
 before all the antediluvian and poftdiluviam faints* 
 and that in a glorious manner ; for fo it is written :. 
 The earth (hall reel to andfr$ like a drunkard % and/hall 
 he removed like a cottage, and the tranfgreffion thereof 
 (hall be heavy upon it, and it /hall fall and not rife again. 
 And it /hall come topafs in that day, that the Lord /hall 
 puni/h the hoft of the high ones that are on high % and, 
 the kings of the earth upon the earth. And they /hall 
 be gathered together as pr if oners are gathered in the pit 3 
 and /hall he /hut up in the prifon ; and after many days 
 foall they be vi/ited. Then the moon /hall be confounded 3 
 and the fun a/hmned,when the Lord of Ho/Is /ball reign 
 in mount" Zion, and in Jerufalem? and before his ancients 
 glorioufly. Ifa. xxiv. 20, 21,22, 23. God grant we 
 niajy be found among this numb«r f c„.»AME?f, 
 
 m 
 
THE FOOLISH VIRGINS DESCRIBED. 
 
 SERMON II. 
 
 MATT. XXV. 3. 
 
 THEY THAT WERE FOOLISH TOOK THEIR LAMfS, AND 
 TOOK NO OIL WITH THEM. 
 
 SOME time ago I gave you a difcourfe upon the 
 w tf e virgins, and now I will endeavour to give 
 you a defcription of the foolijh ones, that you may 
 fee the difference between them, and judge for 
 ycurfelves which clafs you belong to. 
 
 Such fcriptural accounts of hypocrites as thefe 
 which defciibed their fetting out in a profeffion, the 
 jiraTiS ffigfo being given- to them, their taking their 
 tlahtfi as well as the wile, the (hew that they made 
 in theii rrofefiion, their conftant company with the 
 ii^hc'eous, iht length to which they run., and their 
 continuance in their courfe, even till the midnight 
 cry proclaimed the day of judgement at hand, and 
 even then to awake and begin to trim their lamps, 
 expecting to be admitted into the marriage cha 
 her as well as the others 5 when, inftead of that, they 
 were fent away as workers of jniquity : fa ch ac- 
 counts as thefe, I fay, are very trying to young 
 Chiiitkris. I fee more and more the need of deep 
 and heart- fearching preaching in our days, for we 
 iwarm with profeilurs : but what: are they ? They 
 know not what they hear in the general, nor in what 
 they believe. The fan, therefore, muft come, and 
 will come, to purge the Moor. 
 
 About feven years ago I was much exercifed in 
 foul, for many months. Scenes of calamities and 
 troubles were continually before me, and deftruc- 
 tion in various forms. After having carried this 
 hckivy huiden for fix or feven months, it H wore off 
 
 a lit- 
 
(2 9 ) 
 
 a little y God fpeaketh once, yea twice ; but man per- 
 'ceiveth it not. 
 
 At length the prefent war broke out, about which 
 I have had many night virions. Thefe things led 
 me to fearch the fcriptures, and to feek tne face of 
 our heavenly Father, by prayer and Application, for 
 a little inflruclion in thefe things. It appears to me, 
 that one of the heavieft times that ever fell upon 
 Chrxftendom, the moft univerial and the fnarpeit, 
 is now before us. It may not laft long ; and it may 
 lead on to the kft conflict that ever mount Zion will 
 have with the children of men. 
 
 This is mentioned in Daniel : And at thai time 
 [hall Michael ft and up, the great prince which ftandeth 
 for the children of thy people -, and there Jh all be a time 
 of trouble, fuch as never was fine -e there Was a nation, 
 even at that fame time - 3 ana at that time thy people fio all 
 be delivered, every one that Jhall be found written in 
 the buoz. Dan. xii. i. Whatever iufrerings fell upon 
 the jews under Antichus, or whatever they iurrered' 
 in their laft defpiatiohs by the Romans, it is my opin- 
 ion that this texc hath never had its full accompfiih- 
 ment yet -, and for this reafon, becaufe it is men- 
 jioned by John in his Revelations, which book was 
 (I believe) wriuen after Jerufalem's deflrucTion. 
 The words ase thefe: Becaufe thou haft kept the 
 vjord of my patience, I alfo will keep > thee from the 
 hour of temptation, which jhall come upon all the worlds 
 to try them that dwelt upon the earth. Rev. iii. 10. 
 Now this cannot have reference to the jews, which 
 were at this time difperfed : and, belides, thefe 
 things were fent to the feven churches in Afia. If 
 the time of trouble mentioned in Daniel had been 
 fully accomplished by Antiochus, it would not have 
 been repeated here as fomething yet to come ; and, 
 if it had been fulfilled in Jerufalem's defolation, it 
 would not have been revealed as a prophecy to the 
 Gentile churches in Afia. Nor do I believe that 
 
 this 
 
( 3° ) 
 
 this ftorm ever fell, with all its weight, upon any 
 one of thofe (even, churches to which thefe epiftles^ 
 were fent ; but that it is fomething yet to come. 
 
 However, there is fome confolation to the chit* 
 dren of God in both thefe parages ; for at that time 
 Michael Jh all ft and up. He will not be a carelefs or 
 an infenfible fpeclator : he will ffand up, as he did 
 at the martyrdom of Stephen, and exert his power 
 in the behalf of thofe who fuffer for his fake; for, if 
 he be prefent, yea, a very prefent help in time of 
 trouble, much more fo in this time of trouble, which 
 is to be fuch as never hath hem fmce the world 
 began. And he is the great prince which ft andeth for 
 J be children of Daniel's people ; by which is meant, 
 not the jews, but the people of God's covenant, as 
 Daniel was ; .and his fort of people, real believers, 
 and brethren in the faith, being the fpirituai children 
 of Abraham according to tht promife. Michael 
 ftands up for thefe ; to fupport them, to give ftrength 
 according to the day; to regulate the heat of the 
 furnace ; to ftay the rough wind in the day of the 
 eaft wind ; to he the rage of his enemies out, and to 
 reft rain the remainder of their wrath ; to give them 
 presence of rnind in times of trial ; to furniih them, 
 with wifdom how to act ; and to make a way for 
 their efcape ; for it is faid, that at that time thy people 
 jhall be delivered) even every one that [hall be found: 
 written in the book. Dan. xii. i, God's elect fhal| 
 be delivered, v/hofe names are written in the Lamb's 
 book of life, (lain from the foundation of the world,, 
 And, with tins account in Daniel, John agrees in 
 his revelation about the deliverance of God's elect : 
 And, becaufe iho'u haft kepi the word of my patience, I 
 alfo will keep thee frem the hour of temptation, &c» 
 The word of ChriiVs patience is the gofpel ; keep- 
 m<y of it is believing in it, holding it fait, and abiding 
 by it, in the face of all oppofuion, and endeavours 
 ef the wicked to wreft it out of our hands. 
 
{ 3i ) 
 
 2. It feemsby this as if thofe who walk in crafti** 
 aefs, and handle the word of God deceitfully, and 
 thofe that are hypocrites in their profefiion, and mere 
 formalifts, will lufFer a little, if not the nioft, in this 
 perilous hour. And no wonder, for fuch perfons 
 are often the mod lecurc 3 and this ilorrn will fall 
 very fuddenly, for Chri'ft, who threatens it, imme- 
 diately adds, Beholdy ltome quickly, (Rev. iii. 11) ; 
 that is, 1 come quickly to inflict this punilhment. 
 
 3. The righteous are, in fome meafure, in God's 
 fccrets, but the wicked are not. God will give his 
 people fome notice of it, as he did to his difciples of 
 Jerufalem's ded ruction, that they might flee from it, 
 while the reft fled to Jerufalem for fafety,and perim- 
 cd with the city. Moreover, this time of- the moil 
 perilous and dreadful druggie is called an hour, a 
 very fhort time, perhaps not a month ; in which the 
 Lord may hide his own in this day of his fierce an- 
 ger : Becaufe thou haft kept the word of 'my patience, 1 
 will aljo Keep thee from the hour cf temptation, which 
 fhall come upon all the world to try them, Thofe that 
 keep the word of his patience are called the few 
 names in Sardis which have not defiled their garments : 
 they fhall -walk with me in white, fir they are worthy, 
 
 That which is to lead on, and pave the way, to 
 this trying hour, is feathering the power of the righ- 
 teous : And, when he fhall hav t e accompli/bed to fc alter 
 the power of the holy people, all thefe things /hall .be 
 finished. Dan. xii. 7. By this power is meant, not 
 the power of God, for who can fcatter that ? By 
 this power I tinderftand the ftrength and power of 
 human laws, which keep the nations in order, and 
 the wicked in awe, and which tolerate and protect 
 thofe that fear God in their worihip unmoleded : 
 and when thefe fences are broken down, and this 
 power fcattered, we know what mud be expected* 
 
 And 1 heard the man clothed in linen, which was upon 
 the waters of the river % when he lifted up his right 
 
 band. 
 
( 32 ), 
 
 bandy and his left hand unto heaven, and /ware by him 
 that liveth for ever, that it shall be for a time, times > 
 and an half j and. when he shall have accomplished to 
 Jcatter the power of the holy people, allthefe things shall 
 be finished. Dan. xii. 7. The man clothed in linen 
 is Chrift in his prieflty habit. The duration of 
 Zion's fullering under Antichriil is to be a time, 
 times, and half a time -, which, in the prophetic 
 ftyie, is three years and a half, or one thoufand two 
 hundred and fixty years. And it appears that when 
 thefe years are run out, or nearly io, the power of 
 the holy people fliall be fcattered, and this perilous 
 hour Jfhall come on ; and this, with the (laughter of 
 the witneiTes, will be the end of Zion's fufferings 
 by the hand of the wicked, and the laft triumph of 
 her enemies ; and of this we are allured by the pro- 
 mise and oath of Chrift himielf. Now we muft go 
 to John. 
 
 And there was given me a reed like unto a rod : 
 *nd the angel flood, faying, Meafure the temple of 
 God, and the altar, and them that vjorfliip therein. 
 Here John, or ihofe minifters whom he perfonat- 
 ed, is ordered to take the word of God, and to de- 
 scribe a real church, the altar, and the ufe of it, 
 and the real fpiritual worfhippers of God. By the 
 temple I understand the church at large ; by the 
 altar. Chrift, and the ufe that mult be made of him 
 by all believers ; and by the worfhippers to de- 
 fcribe the true from the falfe. An allufion is here 
 made to the temple at Jerufakm, cm the outfide 
 of which was a cloiflered walk, called the court of 
 the Gentiles : next to this, and in the temple, was 
 the large court which held the national church of 
 the Jews ; next to this was the fancluary, where 
 was the altar of burnt-offering, and where the pricfls 
 entered to perform their fervice ; and next to this 
 the holieft of all. Now, under the gofpel, all real 
 belkvers are called a royal priejlhood ; yea, they 
 
 are 
 
C 33 } 
 
 are made kings tnd priejls unto God. The temple 
 was a type of the whole vilible profeiling church ; 
 in which there are fome real worfhippers, who are 
 prieits in the fancluary ; fome national worfhip- 
 pers, who worfhip with their bodies only, and are 
 gracelefs and undevout worfhippers ; and without 
 this court is the court of the Gentiles, the papifts. 
 The outward court is not to be meafured, becaufe 
 the Gentiles r who are'in the cloiftered walk, are 
 to have it. But the court which is without the tem- 
 ple leave out (caft out), and meafure it not ; for it 
 is given unto the Gentiles. Rev. ix. 2. This out- 
 ward court I take to mean protectants who are 
 unregenerate men, let them be of what feci, name, 
 or party, they may, whether churchmen or diffen- 
 ters : thefe are given to the Gentiles, they are rank- 
 ed among the papifts, and will be gained over to 
 them. And, as to the fpiritual worihipper?, the 
 real citizens of mount Zion, they fhall trample 
 upon them : And the holy city fi all they tread under 
 foot forty and two months. Here Daniai's three 
 years and a half are called forty and two months, 
 which I beleive mean the fame length of time. This 
 is the whole time of Zion's fuflering under ths 
 man of fin; but when they began, or when they 
 will end, I know not; the vifion will fpeak in 
 time. During this term of years the gofpei (hail 
 be preached notwithstanding all the opposition 
 made again ft it; for fo it follows : And I will give 
 power unto my two witnefes, and they J ha* I prophefy 
 a thoufand two hundred and three fore q&ys clothed' 
 in fackcleth. Rev. xi. 3. 
 
 And, when they fiall have fini fie d their tejlimony ; 
 when Daniel's time, times, and an half; when the 
 forty and two months ; wh^n the one thoufand 
 two hundred and fi-xty years are expired ; then 
 their teftimony (hall be fmiihed ; an 1 then the beajl 
 that afcendeth cut of the botiomlefs pit fall make war 
 C 2 ftgainji 
 
C 34 ) 
 
 againji them, andfliall overcome them, and kill them. 
 Rev. xi. 7. This will be Daniel's time of trouble ; 
 the prophets' laft mourning days; the laft furnace 
 that men will heat for Zion, and Antichrifi's laft 
 triumphant feftival. This killing of them doth 
 not mean fo much the murdering of them as the 
 iilencing or (laying of them in their miniftry, or as 
 minifters ; fo that the word of life fhall not be 
 held forth by them as witneffes of God ; for fo it 
 follows : And their dead bodies Jliall lie in the fired 
 of the great city, zvhich fpiritually is called Sodom 
 and Egypt, where alfo our Lord was crucified. Rev. 
 xi. 8. This (hews, that, wherever thefe witneffes 
 are, there they will be (lain or filenced ; and, as 
 ihe place where they lay dead is called the ftreet 
 of the great city, it is plain that the countries where 
 the witneffes lay muft be gained over to the Ro T 
 man church, or elfe they cannot, with #ny pro^ 
 priety, be called theflreets of that great city. 
 
 The time that they are to lie filenced, or dead,, 
 as witneffes, is three years and a half. And they 
 tfthe -people, and kindreds, and tongues, and nations, 
 /hall fee their dead bodies three days and a half, and 
 Jhall not fuffer their dead bodies to be put in graves. 
 And they that dwell upon earth Jhall rejoice over 
 them, and make merry, and fhall fend gifts one to 
 another ; becaufe thefe two prophets tormented 
 them that dwell on the earth. By thefe two prophets 
 I underftand minifters and churches (read Rev. 
 :xi. 4) jj for the churches are the ground and pillar 
 of what the prophets preached, or the living epif- 
 t)es of what the prophets wrote. It feems farther 
 evident that this myfiical (laughter of the witneffes 
 will be univerfal, wherever they are 3 becaufe dif- 
 ferent people, kindreds, tongues, and nations, (hall 
 fee them ; and (hall make merry, lend gifts, and 
 rejoice on this occafion. 
 
 This, as before faid, will be Zion's laft trouble 5 
 
 and 
 
i 35 ) 
 
 and the hypocrite's laft triumph ; for fo it follows j 
 And, after three days and a half, the fpi?'it of life 
 from God entered into them, and they flood upon their 
 feet; and great fear fell upon them thai j aw them* 
 4nd they heard a great voice from heaven, faying 
 unto them, Come up hither. And they qfc ended up 
 to heaven in a doud, and their enemies beheld them. 
 The Spirit of God infpires them afrefli for their 
 great work, and they afcend into a ftate q( hea- 
 venly-mindednefs, and appear again as a cloud of 
 witnefies for God : and now Babylon falls ; and 
 the kingdoms of this world become the kingdoms of 
 our Lord and of his Chrifi ; and heffiall reign for 
 ever and ever. Rey. xi. 15. 
 
 Now here are two different times of fuffering 
 mentioned. The one the (laughter of the witnef- 
 ies, which will laft three years and a half ; the 
 other, the hour of temptation, which, isjo, C9me upon 
 all the world to try them. Now I take thefe two 
 fcenes of fuffering to fce diftincl things, and to 
 come on at two diftincl periods, for the following 
 reafons ; namely, from the hour of temptation 
 thofe are to be kept who keep the word of ChrilVs 
 patience ; and the world is to be tried ; yea, all 
 that dwell upon earth (hall be tried : whereas, in 
 the (laughter of the witneffes, the people of God 
 are to fuffer, and the world are to rejoice, make 
 merry, and fend gifts to one another. And there 
 is alfo a difference in the do ration of thefe two fuf- 
 fering feafons; the one is called an hour, the other 
 three years and a half. But what this trying hour 
 is, or when the heavieft of it will come on, is un- 
 known, though the thing itfelf hath been in a mea- 
 fure revealed by fome already, and will be reveal- 
 ed more plainly to them who h*ve kept the word 
 of his patience ; but to the whole crowd of pro- 
 feffors at large I believe it will be hid, and wilj 
 fajl upon them when they are moil fecure. If 
 
 there fore 9 
 
C 36 ) 
 
 therefore, thou JJialt not watch, I will come on thee as 
 a thief 1 and thou Jh alt not know what hour I will come 
 upon thee. Rev. iii. 3. 
 
 It is not eafy to tcil in what part of fcripture the 
 late revolution in France, and the dreadful war 
 that fucceeds it, (lands. No commentator, that I 
 have ieen, has defcribed it : fome, in our day, have 
 thought that this was the earthquake and the down- 
 fail of the tenth part of the city mentioned in Rev. 
 xi. 13 ; but that cannot be (though it may be an 
 earned of it), for the witnelies mud be (lain, and 
 lie three years and a half, and rife, and afcend, ere 
 that earthquake comes on ■ for fo it is written :. 
 And they afcehded to heaven in a cloud, and their 
 enemies beheld them ; and the fame hour was there a 
 great earthquake, and the tenth part of the cily Jell r 
 Sec. Rev. xi. 12, 13. 
 
 We have more need to fear a certain army in 
 the bowels of our own country, than all the com- 
 bined forces on the frontiers : the damnable herefies- 
 of every fort that are revived and fpread in the 
 open face of the Sun of Righteou fnefs ; the hourly 
 infults that are offered to the dignity and majefty 
 of his highefi; nature, and all the perfections of it ; 
 the daily elopements of women from their huf- 
 bands, and the unclean fpirit of whoredom that fo 
 univerfally reigns and rules among the higher clafs 
 of people, who ought to fet an example to the low- 
 er ranks • the numberlefs fwarms of profefTors, 
 who have no more than a form of godlinefs, and 
 who hate the power thereof; the many upfiarts and 
 prefumptuous pretenders which have lately appear- 
 ed in public, and the deluded multitudes which 
 have been led affray by them ; the prefumption of 
 fbme who have pretended to take the Jews to the 
 land of Canaan; the daring pretentions of other 
 novices to convert them ; the univerfal clamours. 
 of the call and commiflion of others to convert 
 
 the- 
 
( 57 ) 
 
 the heathen nations, without any account given la 
 the Chriflian world of their own converfion, much 
 lcfs of their call or commifliori from God to fnch a 
 work. Another thing which I fear is, the threat- 
 ened ftroke of heaven upon the oppreflbr. The laft 
 hard froft gave the coal merchant his opportunity 
 of grinding the face of the poor to the uttermoft ;. 
 which will never be forgotten m the days of this 
 generation The year following the whole ftaffof 
 life was confined in the hands of the farmer, the mo- 
 nopolift, the mealman, and the miller, who exhibit- 
 ed fuch unparalleled hardnefs of hearr, covetoufiiefs,, 
 and cruel oppreffion> as is not to be found in the an- 
 nals of time. But will not Godvifit for ihefe things? 
 and jh all not his foul be avenged on fuch a nation as this ? 
 Yea, he will -, for becaufe of thefe things cometh the 
 wrath of God upon the children of difobedience. I have 
 run on here till I have almoft foil myfelf and my 
 text too. I was to defcribe the foolifh virgins -, and 
 I believe there never were greater numbers of this 
 fort in a profeflion than in the prefent day ; and 
 fiirely never was there lefs of the pure gofpel 
 preached, nor lefs faithful dealing than at this time £ 
 for it appears to me that the whole work of the 
 greateft part of our prefent preachers is to collect 
 varniih, and ornament, j-uft fuch virgins as thofe in 
 my text, and nothing elfe ; and, in handling thefe 
 words, I will endeavour to defcribe them in the 
 following manner : 
 
 I. Treat of their virginity, 
 
 II. Of their folly. 
 
 III. Their lamps* 
 
 IV. The blaze they triads. And, 
 Laftly, The caufe of their going out, 
 Firft, I am to treat of their virginity, h feins 
 
 that our Lord Jefus Chrift is determined that no foul 
 ihall ever be a lofer by him j all that follow him 
 fiiall gain fomething ; and they generally gain what 
 D the* 
 
( 38 ) 
 
 they feek after ; None shall kindle a fire upon his alt ay, 
 or shut his deer s for nought. Many followed him for- 
 me rly for the loaves and fifties, and they were fed 
 twice j many, in our days, follow him for nothing 
 elfe but to get bufinefs, and they fucceed. Some 
 foliow him from a real fenfe of their need of his 
 mercy j and, when they have got that, they follow 
 him in faith and affection > and thefe get both the 
 kingdom of heaven,and all other neceffaries into the 
 bargain j and many follow him only to get a relig- 
 ious name, and fuch obtain it. The antediluvian 
 profeiTors, who married the daughters of Cain, were 
 called, on account of their profeilion, the Jons of God. 
 The thoufands that palled over the fea of Tiberius 
 after Jefus, were called his difciples : Many of his 
 difciples went back^ and walked no mare with him. 
 Judas obtained both a title and a fiddle ; the name 
 -of an apoftle, and an empty gift : He took part of this 
 miniftry with us, fays Peter. Now, as all thefe have 
 gained fomething by trading, it can hardly be 
 thought that the fools in my text mould go alto- 
 gether unrewarded. No, no. Virgins they are cal- 
 led, and that by the Son of God himfelf. There is 
 certainly fomething glorious, heavenly, and honour- 
 able, in real godlinefs, or elfe the worft of creatures 
 would never wifh to imitate it. The devil himfelf 
 fees fomething fo beautiful in God, and in his glo-* 
 rious perfections* that he has always tried to imitate 
 him, juft as a monkey does a man ; and has had 
 more human worfhippers and admirers than ever 
 God had ; yea, we read of the devil and his angels $ 
 fo that he has got angelic adorers as well as human ; 
 and he has obtained the name of a god, for he is 
 called the god of this world : and fometimes he tries 
 to transform himielf into the likenefs of an angel of 
 light : and, as Satan tries to mimic God, fo his chil- 
 dren try to mimic the faints. Hesice the fools in 
 tny text are called virgins ; and every whore in 
 
 London 
 
( 39 ) 
 
 London would like to be called, and to be though r. 
 the fame. But God hath fet iuch a brand, of ;:. 
 my on their foreheads, that nothing under heaven,. 
 but evangelical repentance can ever deface it. 
 
 The name virgin, of right, belongs to the 
 j(e of Chrift ; and here it is given only on the 
 account of a profe(Iiori ? They had nothing but the 
 name, not the thing fignified by it ; by name they 
 were , in religion fools 3 and by practice workers 
 
 of iniquity ; and iuch the Judge calls them when he 
 bids them depart from him,. A profeilor of god;i- 
 nefs and a worker of iniquity is as great a contra- 
 diction in terms as an undefiled whore. Spiritual 
 virginity lies in a foul's holding itfelf not its own, 
 but facred to its only and eternal lover ; barring 
 the hearty mind, affections and judgment, againlt 
 all rivals and bold intruders ; preferring all its 
 ^charms, fuch as the frrongeit affections, fecret re- 
 cefTes of the mind, mod earner! defires, choiceft 
 praifes, ftable confidence, fweeteft words, and firm- 
 cft-:-trufti for the fervice of the bejr. beloved, and none 
 elfe : Let my beloved come into his gar 'den , and eat 
 his pie af ant fruits. But the virginity of this fool lies 
 only in name, in outward mew, and in word ; they 
 kept their carcafTes out of the world, but not their 
 hearts; they joined themfeives to the faints, but. 
 they were never of one fpirit with them ; they went 
 forth to meet the bridegroom with their feet, bun 
 never walked by faith y they learnt to talk of Jefus 
 as the faints did, and as a parrot learns to fpeak 
 man's word's ; and the parrot knows juft as much 
 what it means as the fe fools did of the Lord Jefus ; 
 for he tells them at laft, Depart from me>I knowye 
 not ; and, if he did not know them, it is not likely 
 that they mould know much of him. Which leads 
 me to confider, 
 
 II. Their folly or fsolishnefs. Thefe fools were 
 not. idiots $ for fuch perfons have not fenfe enougk 
 
 to 
 
( 40 )* 
 
 ^o act the part of an hypocrite in fo complete z 
 manner as thefe did, even to deceive the wife vir- 
 gins themfelves, until the midnight cry undeceived 
 them. Nor can thefe fools mean perfons of weak 
 capacities, for the fame reafon : an arch hypocrite, 
 in the general, is a cunning, fubtle, fharp, keen, 
 crafty perfon, as Judas, Simon Magus, Ananias, 
 Ahithophel, &c. Thefe virgins are called fools on 
 •a religious account, becaufe they deceived them- 
 felves, and were deceived ; and becaufe they took 
 fo much pains to gain an empty name, which only 
 at laft entitled them to the greater condemnation, 
 which is threatened to an hypocrite in Zion ; or elfe 
 their fcolifhnefs lay in their -certain expectation of 
 heaven in their own thoughts, when of ail fools they 
 were the farther!; from it. 
 
 A fool in religion is one that is ignorant of the 
 eoriuption.jdf.his own nature 4 of the en-mity, rebel- 
 lion, deceit, and hypocrify, of his own heart -, of his 
 being destitute of ail righteoufnefs, ho : linefs, wifdom, 
 ftrength, and power, either to will or to act for God ; 
 he is ignorant of the fling of death that is in his 
 . heart, and of the firong man armed that keeps h:-s 
 foul in a falfe peace ; and therefore he never was 
 chafed out of his refuges of lies - } he is in covenant 
 with death, and with hell at an agreement, and refts 
 carnally fecure in. fkih and blood : and he that trufts 
 in his own heart is a fool. 
 
 in all this fool's profeiHon there is no felf-exam- 
 ination, no diving into the heart and conduct, no 
 pondering over, or reflecting upon, the long black 
 lift of crying crimes that lie behind; and in all his 
 hearing there is no appropriation , he is charmed 
 with the found, as fome horfes are with a fiddle ; 
 and the more noife the more mufic. The fword of 
 God makes no incifion in him, reproof and rebuke 
 make no imprefiion on him -, he hears the letter by 
 the preacher's voice, and, with a feigned faith, and 
 
 . incarnal 
 
( 4i ) 
 
 Hicarnal fecurity, he reclines himfelf upon it. Every 
 one that heareth thefefayings of mine, and doth them not 3 
 fhall he likened unto afoolijh man which built his houfe 
 npon the/and : and the rain defc ended, and the floods 
 came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that houfe, and 
 it fell , and great was the fall of it. This fool never 
 felt the burden of fin and die wrath of God fink 
 him, and therefore never fearched deep to feel for the 
 rock to reft his burdened foul upon ; it is a dead 
 ibul, re (ting upon that which is a favour of death 
 unto death. 
 
 There are none more certain, or more at a point, 
 than this fool. To attempt to convince him, couri- 
 fel him, or to undeceive him, is pulling him down 
 from his excellency ; and you may juft as well turn 
 a Twine as perfuade him : he fees his way clear, he 
 knows where he is going, and where he fhall end 5 
 the way of a fool is right in his own eyes, if it be wrong 
 in the eyes of every body elfe. 
 
 Wifdom afferts that the confidence of this fool is 
 as ftrong as his way is right : he is not one that is 
 given to dagger ; few fits of incredulity fall to his" 
 mare ; and no wonder, for his faith is never tried.; 
 he walks boldly, and well he may, for againft him 
 there is no riling up. He has neither the world, the 
 ftefri, nor the devil, to cope with. Not the world, 
 for that loves its own; not the flefn, for his confi- 
 dence is in it ; not the devil, for he is the author and 
 flnifher of this faith ; and he is not divided againft 
 himfelf. If -his confidence meets with any checks, 
 it is now and then brought on by a fcroke from the 
 lips of the righteous ■: this fometimes touches him 
 alittle ; and this he highly refents, and calls it mak- 
 ing the righteous lad, whom God would not have 
 made fad ; fuch are not builders up, butdeftroyers 
 cf God's heritage : and he deems it the effects of a 
 bad fpirit, of narrownefs, of pride, &i bigotry, and 
 contraction of foul ; and, in order to keep all light 
 
 and 
 
C 42 ) 
 
 and conviction out, and to fortify himfelf againft all 
 truth and equity, he florins till he has filenced his 
 adverfary, and contends with the more violence for 
 his full affb ranee of faith \ fully perfuaded in his 
 own mind that no legal bondage, fear, trial, or trou- 
 ble, will ever move him -, his heart is fixed ; and he 
 daringly perfifteth in his preemption. A wife man 
 feareth, and depart eth from evil; but the fool rageth 
 find is confident. Pro v. xiv. 16. 
 
 This fool often deceives the fimple by a collec- 
 tion of fuch general terms as are peculiar to reli- 
 gious characters : the words truth, righteoufnefs, 
 faith, experience, grace, the Spirit of God, the 
 old man, temptations, perfecution, good hope, 
 the fear of God, election, the gofpel, the trial 
 of faith, the inward man, the children of God, 
 the prcmifes, the covenant of grace, fanctification, 
 juflification, the faints' final perfeverance, progref- 
 iive work, inftantaneous work, the good work of 
 grace, the bufferings and conflicts of God's people, 
 &c. when he knows not what he means, by any one 
 of thefe phrafes ; nor can he explain, define, or 
 clear, one of them. But poor, fimple fouls, who 
 are ufed to gofpel language, they hear and find 
 that thefe are fuch terms as they have been ufed 
 to ; and therefore fwallow them down, and admire 
 his found fpeech, and his experience, only becaufe 
 they hear the Hames of thefe things mentioned ; 
 but, when troubled fouls come to feek unto him 
 to folve their doubts and fears, they find the voice 
 to be Jacob's voice, but the heart and hands both 
 belong to Efau. Excellent fpeech becometh not a fool-, 
 much lefs do lying lips a prince. . 
 
 The whole work of this fool lies in one {ingle 
 branch of exercife, and that is, the talk of the lips. — 
 Self-denial the daily crofs, the furnace of affliction, 
 the perpetual warfare between flefh and fpirit, the 
 plague of the heart, the ftirrings of corruption, the 
 
 hiding 
 
( 43 ) 
 
 hiding of God's face, legal bondage, doubts and 
 fears of mifcarrying, never trouble him ; he eats 
 the lamb without the bitter herbs, and drinks his 
 wine without mingling \ his days are profperityi 
 not adverfity ; his foul knows its own joy, but not 
 its own bitternefs ; his heart is in the houfe of feaf- 
 ting, not mourning ; his religion lies all in his 
 mouth, as cathedral worfhip does in an organ; it 
 is all wind muftc : For a dream cometh through a 
 multitude ofbufinefs, and a fool's voice is known by a 
 multitude of words. 
 
 The fool is bomb proof againft all the artillery 
 of a good foldier of Jefus Chrift ; no bow bends 
 him, no arrow enters his reins ; no weapons, how- 
 ever mighty, bringdown his imaginations, nor any 
 high thing in him that exalteth itfel'f againft the 
 knowledge of God ; no thoughts of his heart are 
 brought into captivity to the obedience of Chrift j 
 Satan keeps full pofTefrjon of his palace, and God 
 the Saviour lets Satan hold his own : he is joined to 
 idols i let him alone. The hammer of truth never 
 fmites him, the fire of God never melts him, the 
 fword of the fpirit never pierces him, the incarnate 
 word never fearches his heart, nor tries his reins $ 
 all attempts at his confcience is beating the air, get- 
 ting one's felf a blot, or braying a fool in a mor- 
 tar ; for a prefumptuous (inner thus fwoln and 
 puffed up with pride, feated in the fcorner's chair* 
 and hardened in perilous preemption, is feared 
 with a hot iron, and paft feeling. Hence the fcrip- 
 tures reprefent one word in a living foul to have 
 more efrecl than a flogging at a cart's tail hath with 
 a callous hypocrite : A reproof enlereth more into a 
 wife man than an hundred.fi ripes into a fool. 
 
 The folly of this fool is further defenbed by his 
 inverting all truth, and acting counter to all the 
 paths of it, and to all the pillars and grounds of it. 
 Hence Paul tells us that the Galatians were be^ 
 
 Svitchcd, 
 
( 44 ) 
 
 witched, that they fhould not obey the truth, but 
 lies ; that another gofpel and another fpirit fuited 
 them belt -, and poor Paul became their enemy, and 
 they of courfe hated him, for telling thern the truth. 
 Thefe were wife men -, they fubmitted to circumci- 
 fion, that the crofs of Chrift. might profit them no- 
 thing ; they went over to the law to bejuftified by 
 the works of it ; and, having begun in the fpirit, or 
 with the difpenfation of the gofpel, they were going 
 to perfect the fame by the works of the flein. This 
 was a way that feemed right in their own eyes, but 
 the end thereof is the way of death. From this the 
 apoflle tried to diffuade them ; but he was their ene- 
 my, and truth was the eaufe of it. Thofe who 
 preached another gofpel, and influenced them with 
 another fpirit, were the men : thofe that Paul wiihed 
 to be cut off for troubling them, were their only 
 comforters. Truth was error -, the gofpel became 
 a handmaid to the law ; the work of the Spirit led 
 to the perfection of the flein ; justification by faith 
 •was to lead them to the law to complete the work 
 of righteoufnefs ; and falling from grace was to be 
 the completion of life - 3 and rendering Chrift unpro- 
 fitable to them was the only way to gain by trading. 
 Ofcolifh GalatianSy who hath bewitched ycu> that you 
 fhould not obey the truth I 
 
 The fool in my text is one that is very fond of dif- 
 playing his own abilities, that he may appear to be 
 as wife in the eyes of others as he is in his own con- 
 ceit : and we feldom read of one fool contending 
 with another, for this would hurt the common caufe, 
 which every fool is under fome obligation or other 
 to fupport. The antagonift of this fool is, in the 
 general, fome poor, fimple foul or other, that loves 
 and fears God ; and if, by brow„beating, an inch of 
 ground can be gained over one of this flamp, this is 
 a feather in his cap. 1 he fool's lips enter into conten- 
 tion ', and his mouth calleih for ftroKes. I ft all now 
 
 Confider 
 
( 4S ) 
 
 "Confider the lamp of this fool. They took their 
 lamps and went forth, Sec. They did not all take 
 one and the fame fort of lamps : the wife took the 
 lamps that were peculiar to them,, and the foolifh 
 toot the lamps that were peculiar to them ; as at 
 a.jewifh wedding, every one took his own lamp 
 or torch. I proved, in my lad difcourfe, from 
 the prophet Ifaiah, that falvation is a lamp that 
 burnetii : but no fool ever: took this ; if he did, it 
 would never go out ; for we are iaved in the Lord 
 with an everlafcing falvation, and (hall not be a- 
 foamed or confounded world without end. This 
 lamp we receive from the Saviour, and it is given 
 to the daughters of Zion. The Lord hath chofen 
 Zion ; this is my reft for ever, I will abundantly 
 blefs her provifion, and fatisfy her poor with bread. 
 There will I make the horn of David to bud ; I have 
 ordained a lamp for mine- annointed. His enemies 
 will I clothe with fliame ; but upon himfelffliall his 
 crown flour ijli. Pfalm exxxii. 16, 17, 18. 
 
 The lamp that the foolifh virgins took is the 
 law : For the commandment is a lamp ; and the law 
 is light. Prov. vi. -23. Salvation by grace is the 
 lamp of the wife, and the law is the lamp of the 
 fool. When God writes his law of faith on the 
 linner's heart by his Spirit, and puts his fear with- 
 in him ; when' he appears to be merciful' to his 
 
 . unrighieoufnefs, and to remember his fin no more ; 
 this is his lamp ; he ukes it, and in faith and love 
 goes forth to meet the- bridegroom. And, on the 
 other hand, the fool who has golihe works of the law 
 (as Paul lays) written on his heart, he mull of courie 
 go forth with this, for he lias no other. The works 
 of the law are written in his'he^rt, and all the 
 dreadful contents of the law are in him; the curie, 
 the wrath, the fear, the bondage, and the torment 
 
 , of the law are in. him ; only, bji'ig carnally fee u re, 
 :,nd dead in fin, he neither knows it nor feels it, 
 ,D 2 ..He ace 
 
( 46 ) 
 
 Hence you read, The curfe of God is in the taber- 
 nacle of the wicked. He that believes not is condemn- 
 ed already, and the wrath of God abideth en him. 
 Bondage, fear, and torment are in him ; love never 
 made him free, then he muft be bound : love 
 never call fear and torment out of him, then they 
 mult be in him. 
 
 The alarms of heaven have not roufed his con- 
 fcience ; no army of terrors have awakened him ; 
 the itrong man armed keeps poffeflion of the pa- 
 lace, and his goods are in peace. He was drawn 
 by love, but never chaftened ; he is reconciled to 
 God, though he never felt his enmity ; he loves 
 the Lord, though he never knew what it was to 
 hate him ; he believes, but never felt himfelf fhut 
 up in unbelief : this is the new wine put into the 
 old bottle, and the new cloth put upon the old gar- 
 ment. He rages and is confident in his life ; and 
 it fometimes happens that he has no bands in his 
 death, but his ftrength is firm ; his life and his 
 lamp both go out together : Yea, the light of the 
 wicked Jliall be put out, and the f park ofhisfrefliall 
 not fliine. The light JJiall be dark in his tabernacle, 
 and his lamp fliall be put out with him. job xviii. 
 5, 6. One blefied effect of the new birth is to 
 clear the foul of bondage, fear, wrath, and tor- 
 ment : .and the other is to make it meet for hea- 
 ven., But a man feels no more the wrath and bon- 
 dage of the law than he does of his own guilt, fin, 
 and mifery, till he is alarmed, "awakened, and quick- 
 ened, by the Spirit of God. And how (hocking 
 muft that finnefs (late be, whofe foul is daubed 
 over with a profeflion, while all thefe dreadful 
 combuflibles lie at the bottom undifcovered and 
 unfufpe&ed. This is healing the wound (lightly. 
 But the midnight cry alarms the fool, and fiirs all 
 ; h r.rmv of terrors op, and out goes his lamp, 
 
 and 
 
( 47 ) 
 
 and all the blacknefs and darknefs of Sinai fuc~ 
 ceed. I come now 
 
 To fpeak a little of the blaze that thefe fools 
 made before their lamps went out, for their going 
 out prefuppofes that there was fomething of a light. 
 This light I take to be a little head knowledge, 
 which at times greatly pleafes the fool, and of which 
 he is fwoln with pride : Knowledge puff eth vp. — ■ 
 Hence you read of fome that rejoiced in John's 
 light for a feafon ; and of others who heard the 
 word, and anon with joy received it. Their pafiions 
 were moved ; their natural affections were flirred 
 up and drawn forth, and with much glee it was re- 
 ceived, and they rejoiced in it ; and well they 
 might, for they felt no wounds. The word was 
 not a hammer to them, nor a fire, nor a fword ; 
 there was no piercing, fmiting, cutting, reproving, 
 nor rebuking ; the wolf lay fall afieep, and the 
 fheep-fkin was put on. I have thought, at times, 
 that the devil applies the word to fuch hypocrites 
 on purpofe to deceive them, and that it is he that 
 fills them with their joy, in the fame manner as he 
 will fometimes throw a perfon into fits, and fome- 
 times deprive others of their rationality, and yet 
 fet them to laughing ready to kill thernfelves, and 
 keep them at it for an hour together ; for I know 
 fome in a profeffion who are always joyful, all the 
 year round, and fometimes quite filled with it, and 
 yet have no more experience or hope than the devil 
 himfelf. Such joy is not called the joy of the 
 Lord, nor the joy of faith, nor rejoicing in the 
 Spirit ; but it is called the joy of the hypocrite : and 
 their laughter is called the laughter of fools ; and 
 their light is called darknefs : Take heed left the 
 light which is in ibee be darknefs. If the light that 
 is in thee be darknefs, how great is that darhifs, 
 We know that the hypocrite is the devil's own 
 child : and no wonder if the devil furnifh him with 
 
this lis 
 
 ( 4-3 ) 
 
 < y ht and joy upon hearing the word ; for he 
 
 * hears it, and anon with joy receives it, and fud- 
 
 ; denly fprings. up into a profeflion. 
 
 The carnal mind -is influenced with a feigned 
 faith ; the corrupt affections put on a diffembled 
 love; Satan, transformed into an angel of light, 
 mines into the ua.derftanding ; much knowledge of 
 the fcripturcs is given to puff up,but no knowledge 
 of the iinfulnefs of the human heart. Juft fo the 
 devil acted with Eve : he highly applauded the tree 
 cfknoxvkdge^ and the wonderful effects of it, but not 
 one word in praife of the tree of life ; and fo here 
 Satan highly extols the - fcriptural knowledge of 
 bis child, >hut not one word of the knowledge of 
 his own wicked heart, for this the devil was the 
 author of; and to attempt to difcover it would be 
 
 : expofins: his own work, and acting againft himfelf. 
 That the devil is the author of the whole {lock 
 of this hypocrite's profefling materials, may be 
 gathered from this : they have fome bowels of 
 mercy, and mantles of love, for every rank of fin- 
 ners, and for every tribe of hypocrites under hea- 
 ven ; but for the poor broken-hearted, honeft, faith- 
 
 tfal (Inner that believes on Jefus Chrift, they have 
 no affection, pity, companion, bowels of mercy, or 
 mantles of love, neither for thern, nor-yet for their 
 characters. Take them to your table and keep 
 them ; btd them, board them, make them your 
 counsellors, guides, companions, and familar friends^ 
 as. David did Ahkhophel ; give them titles ofhon- 
 
 . our, gifts j make them your purfe- bearers, and ftew- 
 ards of the houfehold, as Chrift did Judas; and all 
 
 ■will nor do; they -will it ill hate you in their hearts 
 with perfect: hatred, and be plotting for your life : 
 and the reafon is, the God of Heaven is in the one : 
 and the devil himfelf in the other; and who can 
 bring God and mammon, Chrift and Belial, light 
 
 ■saddarknefs, faith and infidelity, together! The 
 
 north 
 
( 49 ) 
 
 north and fouth poles will as foon meet together as 
 any union ever fubfift between fuch parties. 
 
 When the devil has influenced, varnifhed, polilh- 
 ed, fet forth, and equipped, fuch a profeffor, as this, 
 he perfuades him that his hearing the word, his re- 
 ceiving it with joy, his fpringingup in zeal, in know- 
 ledge, in a profeflion, in a reformation, and in a re- 
 paration from the world, and joining with God's 
 faints -, that this is converfion, it is regeneration, and 
 the joy that he felt is the power of God, and the con- 
 fidence that attended it is the work of faith wrought 
 in the heart with power. And he furnifhes the 
 world with preachers to confirm fuch in their pro- 
 feflion. To counterfeit every diilincTt operation of 
 the Spirit of God is the devil's mafterpiece; and to 
 fet a (inner down in a falfe hope, and under an infer- 
 nal influence, is the fool's deepeft cell, the next to 
 that of utter darknefs. 
 
 When the devil fends one of his ntinifters to coun- 
 terfeit the firfl operation of God's Spirit, the decei- 
 ver may bedifcovered by the following appearance : 
 he comes with a gloomy countenance, and com- 
 mands a folemn awe , his deportment is grave, his 
 voice hollow, his looks declarative of penfivcnefs 
 and deep thought ; he deals much in mortality, death 
 and judgment to come; his eyes flare, his face is 
 pale, and his accents are weighty -, a folemn gloom, 
 difmal fenfations, follow, and are communicated to 
 all the audience -, a cold chill runs through the blood, 
 and every thought of the heart is brought into cap- 
 tivity to the houfe appointed for all living. This 
 is a folemn meeting, and a folemn opportunity ; and 
 is called the powerful operations of the Holy Spirit : 
 whereas this influence, according to fcripture, ufed 
 to be brought on by necromantic art, fuch as ledg.. 
 ing in the tombs, conlulting the dead ; and was pro- 
 duced in king Saul by the peeping and muttering of 
 the witch of; Endor, who brought up Samuel ; and 
 E may 
 
( So ) 
 
 may now be obtained by attending the play of Mae*-. 
 beth. But Jhould. not a people Jeek unto their God, to 
 the living from the dead I Old wives' fables about 
 the night-mare, will-o'-the-wifp, and apparations, 
 will bring on this influence even upon children, till 
 they will conceive that the whole houfe is haunted. 
 
 The fecond branch of this deception Satan car- 
 ries on by thofe who come to us with all the terrors 
 and bondage of the law, driving us to the obedience 
 of faith with the repeated discharges of hell and 
 damnation, terrifying and frightening us out of fin, 
 out of feif and the world, and into holmefs of heart, 
 lip, and life, by refo\utions, vows, fears, and toiling 
 in our ftrength. Thefe tell us that they have been 
 ihook over hell, and they are got out of all the ftorm 
 without either the witnefs of God's Spirit,, the voice 
 of the blood of fprinkling, or the fweet yea of ever- 
 lafting love. This pafTes for deep experience, for 
 the real convictions of the Spirit of God ; whereas 
 it has been found in Cain, Judas, Efau, Ahab, 
 and in every reprobate that is given up to a fearful 
 looking-for of judgment ; in all the furprifed hypo- 
 crites in Zion, in ail the fallen angels, and in all the 
 damned in hell It is not an experience of the 
 TVTath and curfe of God, but an experience of deli- 
 verance from it, that worketh hope. 
 
 The third branch of this mimicry is difplayed by 
 the unhum bled, unpardoned, unfanclified, and un- 
 renewed Antinomian, who has the word ajfur&nce on 
 his tongue, evangelical fcraps in his head, hardnefs 
 in his fpirit, rilthinefs in his life, and Satan in his 
 heart. Thefe mount the icorner's chair ; arrogance 
 comes out of their mouth, and they talk exceeding 
 proudly ; they brow-beat and banter both law and 
 conference, and bid defiance to both ; and, like Ba- 
 laam, call God their own : they urge their plea, 
 put in their claim, aud puff at meeknefs, righteouf- 
 nefs, peace, charity, contrition, godly furrow, and 
 
 repentance ; 
 
( 5* } 
 
 repentance - 3 they become men, and put away child- 
 ith things -, and, having made fhipwreck of all 
 feding, they are fafe alhore, out of the reach of all 
 fear, ftorm, wind, or wave, under this hardening, 
 daring, prefumptuous fpirit ; the alarmed, the 
 awakened, the feeker, the watcher, the waiter, the 
 fick, and the wounded, are often deceived ; they 
 leave their couch and quit their cells, and up into 
 the full a flu ranee of faith they leap> without die ope^ 
 ration of pardoning love, or repentance unto life. 
 But, alas ! they Toon find that they rmve all this 
 ground to go over again. Such believers make 
 hafte, and, like Immael, come forth before the time 
 of the promiie. If you tell therr* that they ipnmg 
 up too foon, that they will wither for want of root, 
 deepnefs of earth, and raoifture ; this is making the 
 heart of the righteous fad, whom God would not 
 have made fad. Under the influence of this fpirit 
 Koran raifed his company to confront Mofes, to 
 afTert the holinefs of all the people, and, to invade 
 the priell's office. Under the fame influence the falfe 
 apoftlc fwayed the Corinthian church. Numbers 
 of them, all on a fsdden, were fit for orders : thefc 
 were zealous of fpiritual gifts ; others flocked to the 
 idols 5 temples j another kept his father's wife ; and 
 thefe defired a proof of Chrift's fpeaking by PauL 
 The fourth branch of this deception of Satan is 
 intended to imitate brotherly love. This is carried 
 on by thofe who allure through the tuft oftheflejh and 
 much wantennefs. This influence, according to Paul, 
 is carried on privately, by creeping 'into houfes y and 
 leading captive filly women ; by ufing exhortations 
 which favour of deceit \ uncle annefs> and guile, i ThefX 
 ii. 3. Milton reprclents this in its firfl operation 
 on Adam and Eve after the fall as fo intoxicating 
 that they thought that new divinity was fpringing up 
 within them. Some of Paul's wanton widows,, 
 under this- influenza, kicked againft Chrift^ waxed wan- 
 
 ton 
 
( 5* ) 
 
 4on y And turned afide after Satan. fili's Tons were 
 both Priefts of Belial -, men of this caffc, who ufed 
 fuch guile in their office, as led them to facrifice to 
 Venus at the porch of the tabernacle. Thefe pro- 
 feiTors are great admirers of love feafts. Peter tells 
 us that they were fpots in v their feafts of charity, 
 feeding themfelves without fear i that they turned 
 the grace of God into lafcivioufnefs, had eyes full of 
 adultery i curfed children, that could not ceafe from 
 fin, beguiling -unliable fouls. The way to find fuck 
 men out is, to look at their congregations ; and, 
 when you fee two or three women to one man, you 
 may be furethat -Belial is in the pulpit ; for God has 
 iixed it as an eternal rule, and we may judge by it, 
 that there mail be, like people like pritft. 
 
 The fifth influenza is intended to counterfeit the 
 melting operations of the fpirit of love, which is 
 produced by thofe who are fkilled in. empty oratory. 
 Such feel out and play upon the corrupted paffjons 
 of flefr! and blood -, they make their bowels yearn 
 ?nd found like an harp. This produces a voluntary 
 humility, natural meeknefs, weeping, and lifting up 
 the hands ; glee, joy, and the raptures of the way- 
 iide hearers, follow. This is called a refreihing 
 time j every plant is watered at fuch ieafons as 
 thefe. I once heard of an old lady who went into a 
 rneenng-houfe accidentally to hear a fermon, and 
 there was an orator in the pulpit -, and the good old 
 matron was wrought upon, and went after the fer- 
 mon was over and offered herfeifto the minifter as 
 a member j informing him of the power that fhe 
 had felt, and of her converfion under the difcourfe. 
 He wanted to know what part of his difcourfe it 
 was that had done the execution -, but her heart was 
 fo big, and her tears flowed fo faft, that fhe was 
 obligee to give Ibme vent to her paiTions before fhe 
 could fpeak. The word, fhe laid, fhe mould never 
 forget as long as me lived 5 and at laft, with 2. 
 
 mighty 
 
( S3 ) 
 
 mighty burft of noifc, paffion, and tears, flicfaid the 
 word wasMefopotamia-, that is the name of a country,, 
 From this fort of fire the foolifh virgin gets her 
 Ipark ; for this is ft range frre •: Walk in the light of 
 yeurjire, and in the /parks that yen have kindled : this 
 /hall you have at my hand, you fo all lie down infer row. 
 
 Hence it is plain that the joy of the Lord which 
 is produced in the foul, "under the operations of the 
 Holy Ghoft, is trie oil of the wife virgin ; and the 
 joy that fprings up in the heart .at the (lirrings and 
 motions of natural affections is the light and blaze 
 of this foolifri one. Tneir zeal, fervour, gifts, and 
 profeflion, fpring up from the heat of inward paf- 
 fions ; and fo the Saviour intimates : He receives the 
 word with joy, yet hath he not root in him/elf , but en- 
 dures for a while, and in temptation falls away. This 
 the Lord calls withering j and when the fun was up 
 it was fcorched, and becaufe it had no root it wither- 
 ed. All the trees of the field are withered -, becaufe joy 
 is withered away from thefons of men, Joel i. 1 1, 
 
 There is no mention made in my text of any vefjel 
 that thefe fools took : They took their lamps, hut took 
 no oil with them. I have (hewn ^it as my opinion, 
 that the lamp of this fool is the law ; and by their 
 having no oil, we may fee that God doth not min- 
 ifter the fpirit by -the works of the law, but by the 
 hearing of faith ; nor does grace flow in that chan- 
 nel ; faith comes by hearing of faith, and grace is 
 communicated by God's giving teftimony to the 
 words of his grace j and all real joy is produced by 
 the Spirit of 'God ; nothing of all which comes by 
 the preaching of the law, nor by the works of the 
 law. The reafon that there is na mention made of 
 a vejfel is, becaufe all this profeflion is carried on 
 without the heart ; they took their lamps and went 
 forth, but their hearts flayed at home in the world : 
 Their heart is far from me, therefore in vain they wor- 
 fijip me, God requires a heajf fenfible of its own 
 
 plague, 
 
( 54 ) 
 
 plague, a broken and a contrite heart; a believing 
 heart, and a heart circumcifed to love him ; and with- 
 out this vetfel all religion is nought, and without the 
 oil of joy ail worfhip is a taflc. I come now, 
 
 Laftiy, To ihew the caufc of thefe lamps going 
 out, and what it was that extinguifned them. Some- ' 
 times the light of thefe hypocrites is from God; 
 and I believe that the light of fome others is not 
 from God, but from Satan. It is faid that the Lord 
 spened the eyes cf Balaam, and be Jaw the angel of the 
 Lord finding in bis way, and bis drawn fword in his 
 kand ; and he bowed his bead and fell fiat en his face. 
 Hence he ^o often boafts and fays, Balaam, the Jon 
 of Beer, hath faid, and the man whofe eyes are open, hath 
 faid ; he hath faid which heard the words of God, and 
 knew the knowledge cf the Moft High, which faw the 
 vjfion ef the Almighty, falling into a trance, but haviug 
 his eyes open. And what does he fee ? He fees his 
 own way to be perverie before God ; he fees be- 
 fore hand a drawn fword, which was to fhew him, 
 had he underftood it, that he mould fall in his re- 
 bellion by the fword of Ifrael, and afterwards be cut 
 afunder with the fword of juftice, and have his por- 
 tion appointed * ith hypocrites and unbelievers. 
 And this every hypocrite fees in this world, who, in 
 ftricl juftice is given up to. a fearful looking-for of 
 judgment and fiery indignation, which (hall devour 
 the adversaries ; and all other hypocrites, who die 
 without thefe a*ful virions, will have them here- 
 after ; for we read of fome who in hell lift up their 
 eyes, But Balaam's eyes were opened in this world; 
 and he fees the fafety of Ifrael, the death of the 
 righteous, and the deftruttion of Amalek, and per- 
 haps his own banifnment; Ifballfee him, but not now \ 
 Ijhall beheld him, but not nigh. He would fee him at 
 the day of judgment, though not now; and he 
 would in hell behold him, but net nigh ; for there is 
 £ g^eat gulf fixed between thefe two parties. How 
 
 lofty, 
 
( 55 ) 
 
 lofty, how pompous this poor, proud, boafting hy - 
 pocrite fpeaks ; how docs this knowledge puff him 
 up ! and fo it doth all otners, as well as he, who never 
 knew the plague of their own heart. 
 
 The light tuat Jehu had in the fcriprurcs, which 
 he difcerned when he executed God's judgments on 
 the houfc of Ahab, feems to be. From the iame foun- 
 tain with this of Balaam. But the light of Fome hy- 
 pocrites feems to come from another quarter 3 for, 
 if Satan can transform himfelf into the likehefs 
 of an angel of light, there mult be fome Fort of 
 mining rays about him, which mull be intended to 
 deceive fome of his own children, who are given up 
 to his ftrong delufions. Saul faw that David would 
 iurely be king, and that the kingdom would be efta- 
 blifhed in his hand, and that he mould go on and 
 profper. But who could mew him this ? The Lord 
 was departed from him long bcioie, and an evil 
 fpirit troubled him. This light was from Satan $ 
 and fo was the light of Haman's wife men, and of 
 Zeriin his wife, who told Haman that, if Mordecai 
 was of the feed of the Jews, he mould not prevail 
 againft him, but mould iurely fall before him. The 
 light that was in Judas fecms to come from this 
 transformation of Satan. Tate heed, fays the Saviour, 
 left the light that is in thee, be darknefs : and in this 
 darknefs are all thofe who in their hearts hate the 
 faints of God, let them have what light, knowledge, 
 or understanding, they may : For he that hate th his ' 
 brother , is in darknefs, And voalkefh in darknefs^ and 
 knoweth not whither he goeih, becaufe thai darknefs hath 
 blinded his eyes. And this was ihc cafe with Judas'; 
 he hated Chnil in his heart, though he followed him 
 in order to get into the mimicry, to get the namo 
 of an apoflle, and to bear the bag, and rob the 
 common itock ; he hated Chr ill, betrayed him, and 
 fold him i and Chrift plainly called him a devil, foi 
 :he devil fhined upon him, and a&uated him, and 
 
 at • ' 
 
( £6 ) 
 
 %t lafi: entered into him, and took full poflefflon of 
 him. But the devil would not kill him when he had 
 got him, for that would have been Satan's fin, and 
 not Judas's; but the devil tempted him to kiilhim- 
 felf, that the fin of fuicide might be added to all the 
 reft : and here we may fee the wifdom of the fer- 
 pent. Thus it appears that God opens the eyes of 
 fome hypocrites, as Balaam, Jehu, and the Egyp- 
 tians in the Red Sea, when the eye cf the Lord locked 
 through the cloud, and tnubled the hofi ofPharoah -, and 
 t hey f aid, Let us fly from Ifrael, for the Lord fight eth 
 for ifrael againft the Egyptians. 
 
 The falfe rays of thefe hypocrites may be difcov- 
 ered by the* difcerning Chriftian by the following 
 obfervations. I have, in the general, perceived 
 that they are noted for finding out fome new myf- 
 teries, or forne new difcoveries, or fome new in- 
 terpretations, of fcripture, which, as they think, 
 never were fecn before. This makes them intoler- 
 ably proud i and-, when once Satan has deceived 
 them in this way, their wifdom is exalted as if it 
 was almoft infinite ; for, after this, all who attempt 
 to undeceive them are fools. Hence the Spirit tells 
 you, J hey ho.d fafi deceit -, they refufe to let it go a 
 When the devil has got a man fafe in his net, he 
 wi 1 roll and tumble him farther and farther, till he 
 is bound both hand and foot, fo that he camict de^ 
 liver his fiul, nor fay, Is there not a He in my right 
 band ? A deceived heart hath turned him afide, and he 
 feedeth upon cfhes. Hence the cautions that God 
 gives his children, Reprove not a/corner : and again > 
 Hs that remains an heretic, after the fir ft or fecond ad- 
 monition, rejetl -, knowing thatfuch an one is Jubverled, 
 nhdfinneth, being condemned of himfelf 
 
 The vi a) s that the devii leads thefe hypocrites are various. 
 Thofe which I have obferved are thefe : fome are led to {tum- 
 ble at the myftery of God, and of the Father, and of Chrift. — 
 Here Satan drives them, by ptide, into nicft daring and def. 
 perate preemption, and all nanner of errors, an«l God refills 
 then as forcibly* Otfetis 
 
( 57 ) 
 
 Others are continually working at the great my fiery of god- 
 iinefs, God manifeft in the flclh, until they Humble, and take 
 offence at the Rock of our ftrength, which they are fure to do 
 faorier or later ;_ for they have no light but in the head, which 
 lift»<hem up ; ao feeling fenfe of their own ignorance to keep 
 them humble ; nor the Spirit of God to guide them. Almofc 
 every arch heretic mentioned in the hiftory ofRwfebius (lum. 
 bled and fell here. 
 
 Others, like Felagius, begin in the Spirit and end in the 
 flefh, Satan fets them to exalt themfelves, and debafe the 
 grace of God. Thefe leave the doclrine of the Trinity alone; 
 .as the papifts, arminians, and others. 
 
 Others he deceives by ftnfHng their heads with high. notions, 
 and fetting them up to be fomething wheri they are nothing. 
 This iraws many poor, Cmple fouls to look up to them as 
 wonders from the Lord of Hofts ; and then Satan tempts them 
 to final apoftafy. This ftumisles and daggers many poor fouls, 
 who ufed t© view them as eyes to the blind, and feet to the 
 lame. However, God's elect mull pluck out thefe right eyes,., 
 and caii them. froro : them, and cut off, thofe right feet vvhofe 
 apoftafy ofends them, and call them from them* and enter into- 
 life halt and maimed, rather than, having fuch. eyes and fuch 
 fee?, to be call, into hell fire. 
 
 This light of the fboliih, which goes out, never fliitfes into 
 their heart. It i9 not that candle of the Lord which fearches 
 all the innermoll parts of the belly : it mines only in the head. 
 But Gcd, <*vho caiifed the light to Jbine out of darknefs, fvines 
 into the heart (of his people), to give them the light of the 
 knowledge of tie glory of God hi the 'face of Jefus Chriji. 
 This \% fear chin g jerujale?n as with candid. It difcovers 
 the enmity, rebellion, vvickednefs, and hypocrify, of the heart,, 
 while dread ful:rehukc$ and reproofs follow. Ail things which 
 tsre reproved are made nian'iftf by tl'g, light which doth ap„ 
 fe,?r ■ fr whatfohv/r doth -nokc maniffl is light. Wherefote 
 Be faith, 'A<utak% thou that flecpeft, arife fro?n the dead, ,a?:d ■ 
 Cbrifi foall gv:c thee light. And this light leads the be- 
 liever into an experience which no foolim virgin, nor. -hypo- 
 crite in Zior., ever attained to,. and that is, to love God, be- 
 God fr'} loved him; ar,d to love Chrift, who laved him, 
 xnd gave . himfelf for him ; and .to love the faints for Chrifl's 
 -/ic, and becaufe of the grace of God which is in them ; and 
 io it is written/' d gain, a lie**fo c'om.ma?:dment write I un'to 
 you', w'itt&h thVig a true in him ar.d in y oft, becaufe the darknefs 
 is fop, ana* H:e trUe light now fkirietfc?' He that lo'veth his 
 ir other ahidtih in the light, and there is tibtfe accafon offtumh- 
 i -?;g it: hnn. This new commandment is given by Chrift : 
 - >> cbmrniutdment I gii<e unto j on ^ that feh k>vt one afi'Glktr 
 
< S3 ) 
 
 .as I have laved ' ytrn. John iii. 34. This commandment t John 
 fays, is true in him and in us. Ic is true in him, becaufe he 
 loved us, and gave his life for us ; and it is true in us, becaufe 
 we love him, and the brethren for his fake : and where this 
 is, the true light is now (hining, and there is none occafion of 
 ftumbling in fuch, for fuch are pafTed from death unto life. 
 The world loves its own, but hates the faints ; and the real 
 faints hate the world, and love one another. 
 
 One caufe of the lamps of thefe foolifh virgins going ©at at 
 the midnight cry is, Satan at this time laid afide his transfor- 
 mation, the bufmefs was done, the prey was fafe in the trap. 
 Befides, at this dreadful period Satan cannot ufe fuch trifling 
 deception as this ; he muft appear in all his madntfs, rage, 
 and defperation, for he himfelf believes and trembles at God's 
 judgments, and is as much afraid of future torment as the 
 hypocrite himfelf 3 hence his outcry, Art thsu come to torment 
 us before the time ? 
 
 2. This alarm made thefe fecure hypocrites fet about a worJ£ 
 which they had never done before, and that is, felf-examina- 
 tion ; upon which they foon difcovered that their lamps were 
 nut, and that they had no oil <with them ; which is what they 
 never found out tillnow. This fudden alarm awakened tliem 
 ■■#ut of their fe.curity, and begun to terrify them ; their falfe 
 notion cf being drawn all the way to heaven by love failed 
 them, and left them doubtful \ their fpeculative knowledge 
 fled ; the joy that fprung from the fhirrings-up of natural af- 
 'fetlioris -withered .away ; 4>lind zeal, externa.l reformation, 
 feigned faith, and diifembled love, were foon blafted ; when 
 all on a fudden the enmity 3 rebellion, deception, hypocrify, 
 -and deceitfulnefs of their own hearts began to appear ; for 
 this drofs and tin had never been .difcovered, nor purged off 
 in the furnace of affliction. Upon the back of this the ter- 
 rors of God, the bondage and flavifh fear of the law, the wrath 
 and curfe of it, began to flip-up in them ; for all thefe things 
 are in the tabernacles of the wicked, as was the cafe here ; and 
 they are in every one elfe, except thofe where perfect love hath 
 caft them out. Their deceitfulnefs in their profeffion, the 
 wicked works that they allowed themfelves in, ftared them in 
 the face, for fuch they were ; and workers of iniquity, Chrifl 
 xalls them. Confcieace now began to lay about him, and to 
 aft his part ; and at this their hope perifhed, and it gave up 
 the ghoft, and all their truft became a fpider's web. The mo- 
 tions of their natural paffions, under the empty oratory of the 
 rninifters of Satan, which ufed to pafs for godly forrow, be- 
 came of no ufe here, for at this time their fpirits appeared 
 hardened, and as callous as a rock ; and the checks and re- 
 bukes of conscience, which ufed to be called the workings of 
 
 Satan, 
 
( 59 ) 
 
 Satan, and the ftruggles of the old man, and be -redded. as 
 fuch, mirft now be attended to as a worm that never dies. 
 
 All thefe things were found out when they came to trim 
 their lamps. Well may Solomon call their joy the joy of the 
 hypocrite ', which is but for a moment. They heard the wcrd^ 
 and anon vj'ith joy received it \ but they had no root in them- 
 felves ; and now the word has left them, and all their joy is 
 withered ..away : Give us of your oil \ for cur lamps are gone 
 out, Thefe knew who had oil, though they -had none them- 
 feives. This they might eafily difcern by the compofed frame 
 that the wife were in, by the health and cheerfulnefs that fhew- 
 ed itfelf in their countenances. 5 N by the life, fervour, and 
 power, that appeared both in them and in their devotions, 
 even in the wcrft of times ; and they might know this from 
 what they had heard and feen of their paft experiences ; and 
 from the many fufpicions which the wife had had of the ftate 
 of thefe foolifh ones in times paft, and by the repeated re- 
 proofs which they had received from them. And. I have feen 
 not a little of this in my time ; not a few s who have hated me 
 and my doctrine too, have on a fick bed craved an intereft in 
 my prayers, and wifhed to fee me. 
 
 Give us of your oil ; fpeak to us, try to comfort us, and 
 pray for us, and communicate fome of your joy and comfort 
 to our hearts. But the wife kneyv pretty well what preachers 
 and what doctrines ufed to fuit them beft ; and therefore they 
 ftiy unto them, Go to them that fell, end buy for your/ elves. -— - 
 They did not go tp Chriit to buy without money and without 
 price ; but they went to fome of their favourite preachers, 
 who had extolled the power of man's free- will,. his faithfulnefs 
 to grace received, and the talents which fall to the {hare of all 
 men, and the improvements of thefe ; for none but fuch a« 
 thefe, and the Pope of Rome, ever pretend to feH thefe things ; 
 and thefe foolifh fouls knew that thefe wife virgins were averfe 
 to all thefe tenets, and therefore they never offered to buy of 
 them, but to beg : Give us of your oil. But they fent them t© 
 thofe that pretend to fell ; Go to your old builders-up, to 
 thofe that ufed to daub you with untempered mortar; thofe 
 who prophehed fmooth things to you, and whom you ufed lo 
 much to applaud ; who have got fuch power, fuch talents, 
 fuch a frock of inherent grace to improve, and a power t© 
 come to Chrifi if they will, and to flay away if they pleafe ; 
 to keep the whole law, and to work out a righteoulhefs for 
 themielves. And to thefe they .went, in hope^ they would 
 confirm their former doctrine, and not to Chrift ; for while 
 they went to buy the bridegroom came, and they that were 
 ready went in with him to the marriage, and the door was 
 fhut 3 and afterward came the ether virgins, faying. Lord, 
 
 Lerd 
 
( 6o ) 
 
 Lcra. ci>en to us. But it was too late ; the top-flone was 
 brought forth, the door of faith, the door of hope, and mercy's 
 door, were doled: and none were within but the regenerate, nor 
 ?nv without but the workers of iniquity. An open door is 
 before us ; the gate of life llill admits weary and heavy- 
 laden nnners. Enter this, and' you (hall enter the other : 
 Strive to enter hi at the (trait gate, for this (lands at the head 
 ef the way of life ; and they that enter here Jb all be fa-ve d% 
 znHjball go in and out end find pajlure. 
 
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