The Parable of the Ten Virgins Opened and Applied

4. He loved thee when in thy low estate, Psal. 136. 23. even when as no eye pitied thee, Ezek. 16. nay when thou wert vilest, at the height of thy sin, under deepest depths of misery, and straightest captivity, after Friends had almost ceased to counsel, Word and Spirit could do no good, after Conscience had warned thee. Oh love him when he is in his lowest estate, when his enemies persecute him, and his seeming Friends forsake him. Before you came to this Land, you thought Christ and persecution, Christ and the meanest condition, nay Christ and death would be sweet: the Lord it may be doth or will try your love; and here you find Christ and losses in Estate, Christ and crosses in your Family, Christ and many fears, and toils, and cares. Do you love him now as well as ever you did for all this? Oh never was my heart worse! I doubt not but a discerning Christian may see how all the world is against Christ, nay many Traitors in his own Family, who love the bag more than Christ. Many foolish Virgins who love their sleep and sloth more than Christ; nay the hearts and Spirits of his own Friends declining, that there is not that life of Christ, that presence, and savour, and power of Christ in Hearts, in Prayers, in Lives, and no complaints of this: Now is the fittest time of love, when no eye sees, when no heart loves him, or cares for him, Psalm 119. 126, 127. Therefore I love thy commands, when he is shut out of every heart, when none to receive him, if any love it will appear now.

4. He loved thee when in thy low estate, Psal. 136. 23. even when as no eye pittied thee, Ezek. 16. nay when thou wert vilest, at the height of thy sin, under deepest depths of misery, and straightest captivity, after Friends had almost ceased to counsel, Word and Spirit could do no good, after Conscience had warned thee. Oh love him when he is in his lowest estate, when his enemies persecute him, and his seeming Friends forsake him. Before you came to this Land, you thought Christ and persecution, Christ and the meanest condition, nay Christ and death would be sweet: the Lord it may be doth or will try your love; and here you find Christ and losses in Estate, Christ and crosses in your Family, Christ and many fears, and toils, and cares. Do you love him now as well as ever you did for all this? Oh never was my heart worse! I doubt not but a discerning Christian may see how all the world is against Christ, nay many Traytors in his own Family, who love the bagg more than Christ. Many foolish Virgins who love their sleep and sloth more than Christ; nay the hearts and Spirits of his own Friends declining, that there is not that life of Christ, that presence, and savour, and power of Christ in Hearts, in Prayers, in Lives, and no complaints of this: Now is the fittest time of love, when no eye sees, when no heart loves him, or cares for him,