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.… It may be wanting in the love which purifies the heart, and it may be the gift of logic and not the gift of God, an intellectual apprehension and nothing more. A man may work out many principles and nothing efficiently; a lamp is for guidance; men are not saved by the lamp, nor without the lamp. Perhaps you remember how an old king of Sweden, walking on the road to Upsala, once had a long conversation with a farmer about religion, and it haunted him, for the farmer spoke of his feelings on religion with so much peace and rest and satisfaction. When the king lay on his deathbed, and his mind was disturbed, the Archbishop of Upsala came to him. "What is faith?" said the king, and the archbishop discoursed to him eloquently and logically. "Ah," said the king, "that is all very ingenious! But it is not comfortable — it is not what I want; it's nothing, after all; what I want is the farmer's faith — nothing but the farmer's faith will do for me now." The lamp of faith is only an instrument. It needs the oil; "That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God." Therefore arise and trim the lamp. (Paxton Hood.) 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. |
    |