A59665:577
The Parable of the Ten Virgins Opened and Applied
The parable of the ten virgins opened & applied being the substance of divers sermons on Matth. 25, I-13 wherein the difference between the sincere Christian and the ... hypocrite ... are clearly discovered ... / by Thomas Shepherd ; now published from the authors own notes ... by Jonathan Mitchell ... Tho. Shepherd, son to the reverend author ...The parable of the ten virgins opened & applied being the substance of divers sermons on Matth. 25, I-13 wherein the difference between the sincere Christian and the ... hypocrite ... are clearly discovered ... / by Thomas Shephard ; now published from the authours own notes ... by Jonathan Mitchell ... Tho. Shephard, son to the reverend author ...
London: printed by J. Hayes for John Rothwell, 1660
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
1. Before any man can close,1 i. e. see and say he doth close with the Lord as ⟨p. 85⟩his own, he must feel a want of the Lord and his presence, not only of his comforting, but of his holy presence, for some people there be that never felt a want of Christ at all, they are great and grievous sinners, but they trust to Christ, and though he kill them, yet they will trust to him: others are in misery, and they feel a want of redemption, and hence close with Christ for that, Psalm 78. 35. Others are in horror, and know not what to do, and they feel a want of the comforts of Christ, and hence close with Christ for that, and if they find it they depart from Christ by looseness of life, if not by despair of heart, as Saul, 1 Sam. 28. God answers me not by Urim, &c. Others feel a want of some righteousness from Christ, the having of which supports and sustains them without Christ, till with the Prodigal, when all is spent, then they think of Bread at home, and the want of which makes them to have less esteem of, and desire after Christ, but they are full of Objections against the thoughts of closing with him, but hence they close with Christ for that. Others there are that feel a want of the Lord himself, and hence close with him for himself; so that let a man have all blessings in the world, the purity of Ordinances, never so many illapses, and droppings of divine light, and life, and comfort in these Ordinances, that he wonders the Lord should be so good to him, yet he shall find (if right) his soul secretly unquiet and unsatisfied till he hath the Lord himself. As the savour of meat makes a man that wants it, cry the more after it, long the more for it; so the savour and sweet of all creatures, all Ordinances, all Duties, do not stay, but stir up the soul to seek Christ, when he is himself, Jer. 50. 4. They shall seek the Lord weeping. Hence first they felt a want of him. The full soul loathes the honey-comb. Let the Lord be never so sweet, let him do them never so much good, the more good he doth them, the less they regard him,