A59665:715
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.
2. Ought you not to long to taste and pass through the sorrows of death, that you may be with him? And are Christs Ordinances more bitter than death, that you are loath to break through the difficulty of them, that in them you may enjoy him? The truth is so 'tis with many a man, that such is the strength of his hidden contempt of Christ, and his love to his sloth, that he had rather die than pray, and be damned eternally than to follow the Lord in an Ordinance till he hath found him graciously. How come Gods own people to lament this, if there were not this?
2. Ought you not to long to tast and passe through the sorrows of death, that you may be with him? And are Christs Ordinances more bitter than death, that you are loath to break through the difficulty of them, that in them you may enjoy him? The truth is so 'tis with many a man, that such is the strength of his hidden contempt of Christ, and his love to his sloath, that he had rather die than pray, and be damned eternally than to follow the Lord in an Ordinance till he hath found him graciously. How come Gods own people to lament this, if there were not this?
3. I remember a sweet speech of one with God, That a Christian ought to prepare for a Sacrament as he would prepare to die, for, saith he, there is but this difference, when we die we then go to Christ, in a Sacrament Christ comes to us. What he said of a Sacrament, I say of every Ordinance, in every Ordinance Christ comes to us, when we die we go to him. Now ought you to long when you are absent from him to be with him, and will you not care for him, nor long to see him and enjoy him when he comes to you? And so be worse than poor naked Indians, Christ comes not to them, no dews fall down on their Gilboahs, no Manna at their Tent doors, and hence they live without him, and desire him not; and when he comes to you, do you see no beauty in him now why you should desire him? Will you thus requi•e him for his love, ah foolish children and ••wise?