and advance. Again, from the appearance and the fate of the Unprepared Guest we

learned, that not every one who, following the Gospel-call, comes to the Gospel-feast,

will be allowed to partake of it; but that God will search and try each one individually.

There is, indeed, a society of guests - the Church; but we must not expect either that

the Church will, while on earth, be wholly pure, or that its purification will be achieved by

man. Each guest ma y, indeed, come to the banqueting -hall, but the final judgment as to

his worthiness belongs to God. Lastly, the Parable also taught the no less important

opposite lesson, that each individual is personally responsible; that we cannot shelter

ourselves in t he community of the Church, but that to partake of the feast requireth

personal and individual preparation. To express it in modern terminology: It taught

Churchism as against one -sided individualism, and spiritual individualism as against

dead Churchism. All these important lessons are carried forward in the Parable of the

Ten Virgins. If the union of the Ten Virgins for the purpose of meeting the Bridegroom,

and their à priori claims to enter in with Him - which are, so to speak, the historical data

and necessary premisses in the Parable - point to the Church, the main lessons of the

Parade are the need of individual, personal, and spiritual preparation. Only such will

endure the trial of the long delay of Christ's Coming; only such will stand that of an

immediate summons to meet the Christ.

It is late at even - the world's long day seems past, and the Coming of the Bridegroom

must be near. The day and the hour we know not, for the bridegroom has been far

away. Only this we know, that it is the Evening of the Marriage which the Bridegroom

had fixed, and that his word of promise may be relied upon. Therefore all has been

made ready within the bridal house, and is in waiting there; and therefore the Virgins

prepare to go forth to meet Him on His Arrival. The Parable proceeds on the assumption

that the Bridegroom is not in the town, but somewhere far away; so that it cannot be

known at what precise hour He may arrive. But it is known that He will come that night;

and the Virgins who are to meet Him have gathered - presumably in the house where

the Marriage is to take place - waiting for the summons to go forth and welcome the

Bridegroom. The common mistake, that the Virgins are represented in verse 1 as

having gone forth on the road to meet the Bridegroom, is not only irrational - since it is

scarcely credible that they would all have fallen asleep by the wayside, and with lamps

in their hands - but incompatible with the circumstance,2 that at midnight the cry is

suddenly raised to go forth and meet Him. In these circumstances, no precise parallel

can be derived from the ordinary Jewish marriage-processions, where the bridegroom,

accompanied by his groomsmen and friends, went to the bride's house, and thence

conducted the bride, with her attendant maidens and fri ends, into his own or his parents'

home. But in the Parable, the Bridegroom comes from a distance and goes to the bridal

house. Accordingly, the bridal procession is to meet Him on His Arrival, and escort Him

to the bridal place. No mention is made of the Bride, either in this Parable of in that or

the Marriage of the King's Son. This, for reasons connected with their application: since

in the one case the Wedding Guests, in the other the Virgins, occupy the place of the

Bride. And here we must remind ourse lves of the general canon, that, in the

interpretation of a Parable, details must not be too closely pressed. The Parables