Matthew 25:1-13 Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened to ten virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom.… Reserves of life or light, of courage or character, of insight or endurance, or whatever the demand may be, for failing here, it is as when wells fail in a dry time, because they have no deepness or power to reach the perennial spring. That in our common life we may do as well as those about us, or even seem to be doing better, if we are reckless as to these reserves, while others are carefully storing them away. But such times are no test of a man or a manhood, any more than the piping times of peace, when they flame out in scarlet and gold about London, are a test of the Queen's guards; or than our own men were tested when they went southward through our streets with their music and banners. It is Waterloo and the Crimea, Chancellorsville and Ball's Bluff, and such grim backgrounds as these against which they must stand, before the matchless manhood of such men can come into bold relief and reveal itself finally. And so we can all run easily enough through our easy-going times, make good headway as we imagine, and hold our own with the best, but these days have no virtue in them to reveal this secret of our reserved power. They are like the main part of a voyage I made once across the Atlantic, in which the weather was so pleasant and all things ran so easily that I suspect the most of us felt about equal to the captain, and concluded it was no great thing to run a steamer after all, when you once got the lines. But when a great storm struck us as we passed Cape Race, and all night long the good ship shuddered and punted through the wild waters, and when, next morning, peering deckward, we saw the faithful fellow standing by the mainmast with his arms twisted about the ropes, swinging in the tempest, watching it with steady eyes, alert and cheerful, though he had been on deck all night, turning his ship round in the teeth of the tempest and the trough of the sea, so that she might escape the awful strain and the avalanche of waters which were filling men with dismay, then we knew our captain. The reserves were coming out. Here was a man nothing could daunt, and who, if the worst had come, would, no doubt, have seen still to our safety so far as he was able, and been the last to leave the wreck. That man had light in him and life equal to the demand — oil, in a word, in the vessel with his lamp, and so he brought the good ship, at last, to her haven, and won the "Well done." (R. Collyer, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom. |
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