parata accipiunt. Sed quia ore veritatis dicitur, Multi sunt vocati, pauci vero electi, non omnes qui ad hunc cultum sunt admissi, ad regnum sunt eligendi; nisi tantùm ii, qui sic student se per ista mundare et excolere, ut cùm ad Regis præsentiam introducti fuerint, tales inveniantur, quos ipse magis velit eligere quàm reprobare. Vide ergo ubi posita es, et intelliges quid facere debes. Posuit enim te Sponsus tuus in triclinio, ubi mulieres ornantur, varia pigmenta et diversas species dedit, cibosque regios de mensâ suâ ministrari tibi præcepit, quidquid ad sanitatem, quidquid ad refectionem, quidquid ad reparandam speciem, quidquid ad augendum decorem valere potest, tribuit. Cave ergo ne ad colendam teipsam negligens sis, ne in novissimo tuo, cùm in conspectu sponsi hujus repræsentata fueris, indigna (quod absit) ejus consortio inveniaris. Præpara te, sicut decet sponsam Regis, et sponsam Regis cœlestis, sponsam sponsi immortalis.

XIII.

THE TEN VIRGINS.

MATTHEW Xxv. 1-13.

THE circumstances of a marriage among the Jews, so far at least as they supply the groundwork of the present parable, are sufficiently well known, and have been abundantly illustrated by writers on Jewish antiquities; and indeed no less through the accounts given by modern travellers in the East,-for the customs alluded to hold in full force to the present day, and form as important a part of the nuptial ceremony as they did in ancient times. The bridegroom, accompanied by his friends ("the children of the bride-chamber," Matt. ix. 15; "the friends of the bridegroom" John iii. 29; see Judg. xiv. 11), goes to the house of the bride, and brings her with pomp and gladness (1 Macc. ix. 37-39) to his own home, or occasionally, should that be too narrow to receive the guests, to some larger apartment provided for the occasion. She is accompanied from her father's house by her young friends and companions (Ps. xlv. 15), while other of these, the virgins of the parable, at some convenient place meet and join the procession, and enter with the rest of the bridal company into the hall of feasting. Such seems to me the exactest account of the ceremony, though by some the circumstances which supply the groundwork of the parable are given somewhat differently. They describe the custom to be as follows:-the virgins meet the bridegroom, not as he is returning with, but as he is going to fetch, the bride; and accompany him first unto her home, and only after that

* The Taρdévoι éraîpaι of Pindar, Pyth. 3.

† See Wolf's latest Journal, p. 174, in addition to the accounts given by earlier travellers and quoted by Harmer and Burder. Bingham (Antt. b. 22, c. 4, § 7) shows the importance which was attached among the early Christians to the leading home of the bride-so that without it the marriage in some legal points of view was not considered as completed.

to his own. But this supposition has every thing against it; besides being inaccurate in itself, and needlessly complicating the parable, it also considerably weakens its moral force; for the parable is certainly meant to leave on our minds the impression that the joining of the bridal company, for the purpose of passing in with it to the house of feasting, was a swift and momentary thing, to be done upon the instant, and of which if the opportunity were once lost, it could not be recovered. Such would not be the case, if there were this going first for the bride, and only then-after a considerable pause and delay, which would have naturally taken place at her house, a leading of her home to her future dwelling. Neither can it be replied to obviate this objection, that perhaps the nuptial feast was celebrated at the house of her parents and friends, for this was as much contrary to all the customs of the Jews (see John ii. 10) as of the Greeks, and such a supposition would seriously affect the parable in its spiritual application.†

The marriages in the East taking place of old, as they do now, invariably at night, hence the constant mention of lamps and torches carried by the friends and attendants; therefore we are told here that these virgins "took their lamps." (Cf. 2 Esdr. x. 2.) These, however, do not appear to have had the same religious significance which they had in the Greek and Roman marriages, or even in those of the early

* See BECKER'S Charikles, v. 2, p. 468, in proof that the celebration of the marriage in the bridegroom's house and not in the bride's, was at least the rule.

† One would not lay any stress on the fact that some of the earliest versions read, "went forth to meet the bridegroom and the bride;" since this reading has been universally rejected,-except as it gives an evidence of the light in which the circumstance was looked at by some, who probably were familiar with the ceremony as it actually took place in Palestine or the neighboring countries. This extract from HUGHES' Travels in Sicily, &c. (v. 2, p. 20), confirms the view first given, in so far as we can argue back from the modern custom to the ancient: "We went to view the nocturnal procession which always accompanies the bridegroom in escorting his betrothed spouse from the paternal roof to that of her future husband. This consisted of nearly one hundred of the first persons in Joannina, with a great crowd of torch-bearers, and a band of music. After having received the lady they returned, but were joined by an equal number of ladies, who paid this compliment to the bride." These "ladies" evidently answer to the virgins of our parable, and they join the procession, not till the bridegroom with his friends have received the bride at her father's house, and are escorting her to her new abode.

† Thus, Rev. xviii. 23, the φῶς λύχνου and the φωνὴ νυμφίου καὶ νύμφης are joined together.

§ Among the Greeks and Romans torches were in chiefest use. Thus CATULLUS, Epithal., 98: Viden'? faces Aureas quatiunt comas; and again: Manu Pineam quate tædam; so Apuleius, 10: Veluti nuptiales epulas obituræ dominæ, coruscis facibus prælucebant; and Euripides; vuμpikal λаμπádes. Cf. BECKER'S Charikles, v. 2, p. 465. Among the Jews lamps fed with oil were more common. The early Christians seem to have used indiscriminately either, as the expressions,

Christians; but were in use, partly as being actually needed, partly as adding to the splendor of the scene. That the virgins should be ten in number is not accidental:-this number formed a company, which a less number, according to the Jewish notions, would not have done.* Of course the first question for the interpreter of the parable will be, Who are meant by these virgins? There are two mistakes to which the word has given rise. There is first theirs, who thus argue, All are described as virgins all, therefore, belong at the inmost centre of their life unto Christ. Some, it is true, were found unready at the last moment, and therefore suffered loss (1 Cor. iii. 13), even a long deferring of their blessedness. Yet the hame with which the Lord has honored all gives assurance that none were ultimately excluded from the kingdom of heaven and the final salvation. They who take this view of the case of the foolish virgins, in general connect it with the doctrine of the thousand years' reign of Christ on the earth and a first resurrection. From the blessedness of these they sould be shut out for the unreadiness in which they were found, whether at the hour of their death, or at Christ's second coming; they should be thus shut out because of their imperfections, and the much that remained in them unmortified and unpurified still, which needed therefore the long and painful purging of this exclusion, and of the dreadful persecutions to which all who were thus left out should be exposed. But the root of the matter being in them, they did not forfeit every thing, nor fall short of the final bliss of heaven. There might be an argument in favor of this view, drawn

faculæ nuptiales, lucernæ conjugales, denote. It is only in later Greek, that AauTás came to signify not a torch or link,—but as here it would seem, a lamp fed with oil, which would at an earlier time have been expressed by aúxvos or ¿xaúXVIOV. (See PASSOW, S. v. λаμmás.) Yet the mention of oil would not of itself exclude the possibility that these also were torches. For Elphinstone (Hist. of India, v. 1. p. 333), has noted, "The true Hindu way of lighting up is by torches held by men, who feed the flame with oil from a sort of bottle [which would answer to the ayyeîor here] constructed for the purpose."

*Thus it was ruled that wherever there were ten Jews living in one place, there was a congregation, and there a synagogue ought to be built. Much more on the completeness of the number ten may be found collected by Vitringa, De Synagoga, p. 232, seq., and in BAHR's Symbolik d. Mos. Cultus, v. 1, p. 175.

Thus Poiret (Divin. Econom., 1. 4, c. 12, § 18, v. 2, p. 376): Illi qui tempore Adventus in statu quidem gratiæ versabuntur, at multis simul imperfectionibus, multisque negligentiis implicati, quas huc usque nondum correxerint nec abluerint, hi inquam à regno glorioso Christi in terrâ, dum mille anni periodi hujus effluent, exclusi, portam sibi obserari videbunt. Itaque foris relinquentur in tenebris pur gationis, eo rumque beatitudo ad Resurrectionem usque generalem et post annos mille regni Christi atque Sanctorum differetur. Hoc ipsum satis apertè docet Parabola Virginum fatuarum. Videmus enim eas ob negligentiam suam à convivio nuptiali fuisse exclusas, etiamsi et Virgines fuerint, et lampadem fidei habuerint,

from the circumstance of these foolish being styled virgins as well as the others, if others sometimes undertook the office of welcoming the bridegroom, and yet the Lord had chosen to give that appellation to these, and to specify them as virgins. But seeing that to such the task in the natural order of things appertained, there is no weight in the argument derived from the title which they bear.

The second error is one of which Chrysostom is the chief champion. He, taking the title "virgins" in the literal, while every thing else is taken in a figurative sense, limits the application of the parable to those who had made a profession of outward virginity," instead of seeing that the virginity here is the profession of a pure faith, the soul guiltless of

et Dominum invocaverint. Janua enim jam clausa nunquam iterum aperiebatur dum hoc tempus durabat; quoniam commotio, quæ hoc in mundo futura est antequam finis ejus ac periodorum adveniat, per quam Deus hoc in mundo et in omnibus quæ ibidem adsunt, mutationem hanc gloriosam operabitur (quæ veluti janua erit ac introductio in regnum ejusdem) non nisi semel futura est. Adhuc semel, inquit, et movebo cælum et terram; omnesque qui tum temporis per puritatem perfectam ad gloriam adipiscendam idonei erunt, impressionibus divinæ hujus motionis receptis mutabuntur: at post hoc tempus ad Resurrectionem generalem usque, nulla nova commotio aut mutatio fiet. Tunc enim aderit dies quietis naturæ ac creaturarum omnium quæ in eandem jam erunt introductæ. Abhinc verò oportebit, ut Virgines fatuæ, et quicunque nondum veste nuptiali fuerint induti, Æternitatem ipsam exspectent. Neque enim probabile videtur Virginibus istis negligentibus, in quibus tamen tot jam erant dispositiones bonæ pariterque iis, qui eo tempore nondum rite parati, bona tamen initia jam fecerant, æternum pereundum esse: sed nec probabile est quamcumque illi, post januam semel clausam, præparationem sint adhibituri, Christum iterum ex quiete suâ exiturum, et in gratiam eorum novam crisin ac separationem aliquam peculiarem in naturâ instituturum esse. Von Mayer (Blätter für höhere Wahrheit, v. 7, p. 247) interprets the parable in the same manner, and Olshausen.

* Augustine (Serm. 93, c. 2) warns his hearers that the parable is not to be limited to such, but belongs to all souls, quæ habent Catholicam fidem, et habere videntur bona opera in Ecclesia Dei; and he quotes 2 Cor. xi. 2. In another place he says, Virginitas cordis, fides incorrupta ;-and Jerome (Comm. in Matth., in loc.): Virgines appellantur, qui gloriantur in unius Dei notitiâ, et mens eorum idolatriæ turba non constupratur: and again (Ad Jovin., 1. 2) : Decem virgines non totius generis humani, sed solicitorum et pigrorum exempla sunt, quorum alteri semper Domini præstolantur adventum, alteri somno et inertiæ se dantes, futurum judicium non putant. There is apparently Chrysostom's limitation of the parable, in the use made of it in a prayer for the consecration of nuns, given by Mabillon (Liturg. Gall., 1. 3, p. 311), where, among other allusions to the parable, this occurs: Regalem januam cum sapientibus Virginibus licenter introeant. Yet this may be no more than an adaptation. Tertullian (De Animâ, c. 18) mentions a singular use or rather abuse which some of the Gnostics made of this parable: The five foolish virgins are the five senses, foolish inasmuch as they are easily deceived, and often give fallacious notices; while the five wise are the reasonable powers, which have the capability of apprehending ideas.