Selected quad for the lemma: mercy_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
mercy_n	good_a	sin_n	sinner_n	3,410	5	7.5691	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A81852	The evangelical history: or, The life of our Blessed Saviour Jesus Christ comprehensively and plainly related. With practical inferences and discourses thereupon. In four books. I. Of the birth of John the Baptist. Of the conception and birth of Jesus Christ; with an account of what passed to his entrance upon the ministerial function. II. The history of the acts and miracles of our Saviour, in the first two years of his ministry. III. A relation of his acts and miracles, in the third year of his preaching. IV. An account of his acts and preaching, from the triumphant entrance into Jerusalem. Of his Crucifixion, Resurrection, apparitions, and glorious ascension into heaven. With a large practical introduction, by way of preface. Written in French by the learned L.E. du Pin, and Englished by a divine of the Church of England, with additions. Adorn'd with copper cuts.	Du Pin, Louis Ellies, 1657-1719.	1694 (1694)	Wing D2641A; ESTC R229041	170,749	286

make of the Gifts of his Mercy and that we need fear but one thing which is to hide or not improve the Talent that God hath entrusted us withal XIX A Description of the Last Judgment After these Parables in which Jesus teacheth his Disciples the importance of watching always Matth. 25 31-46 that they may not be surprized by his Second Coming which must needs be very terrible as the Fathers say to those who have not laboured after Salvation in this Life and who suffer Death to overtake them without a due Preparation for eternal Life He then informs them What he will do upon the Earth when he shall come again in his Majesty accompanied with his Angels He tells them That he shall sit on the Throne of his Glory and all Nations of the World being assembled before him he will separate the Righteous from the Wicked as a Shepherd separateth the Sheep from the Goats That he will say to the Righteous on his Right Hand Come ye blessed of my Father inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the beginning of the World for I was an hungry and ye gave me Meat thirsty and ye gave me drink naked and ye cloathed me sick and ye visited me imprisoned and ye came unto me to see me These good Men being amazed will then ask him When he suffered these Wants and they thus assisted him And then he will answer them I say unto you that forasmuch as ye did it to any of these least of my Brethren ye did it unto my self Afterward he will say to the Sinners on his Left-hand Depart from me ye cursed into Eternal Fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels And he will add That the Cause of their Condemnation is this that they did not afford him Relief in his need not giving to his Brethren Not that Sinners say the Fathers shall not be punished for their other Crimes of which they are found guilty and the Good shall not be rewarded for the other good Works which they have done but by assuring us That he will judge Men according to the Works of Mercy which they have done or omitted He endeavours to teach us That without this vertue all the Good we do will be unprofitable for our Salvation and that there is no Sin which Alms-giving done by the Spirit of God cannot blot out Sinners shall be damned because they have not given Alms as a Sick Man may be said to dye of his Disease because he would not use the Medicine which might cure him These Two Sentences shall be followed with different Executions the Sinners shall go into Eternal Torments prepared for them but the Just shall go up into Heaven to be enstated in Life and Eternal Glory XX. The Jews hold a Council against Jesus Matth. 26 1-5.14-16 Mar. 14.1 2 10 11 Luke 22 1-6 While Jesus was thus instructing his Apostles the Priests and Doctors of the Law were devising all ways to apprehend Jesus by Subtilty and put him to Death He did not hide himself from them because his Hour was come He appeared in the Temple in the Day-Time and the People came together early in the Morning to hear him and at Night he went into the Mount of Olives On Wednesday his Enemies met in the Hall of Caiphas the High Priest and held a Council against him But because they feared the People they sought to seize upon him by Craft and that not on he Feast-Day lest they should cause an Uproar among the People In the mean Time Satan entred the Heart of Judas Iscariot that covetous Apostle who being a Thief kept the Mony of Jesus Christ and inspired him with a detestable Resolution to betray and sell his Master This Traitor therefore goes to the Priests and Rulers and saith unto them What will ye give me and I will deliver him into your Hands This Proposition did please them wonderfully and they promised to give him Thirty Pieces of Silver which comes to about Three Pounds and Fifteen Shillings of our Mony Which Sum he accepted From that Time he sought Opportunity to betray him This Jesus warned his Disciples of Ye know that within Two Days is the Feast of the Passover and the Son of Man shall be delivered up to the Jews to be Crucified XXI What was the Jewish Passover The Passover was the greatest and most solemn of all the Jewish Festivals Exod. 12. and God himself appointed it as a notable Remembrance of the Favours he had done for his People and as a sensible Sign of those that he further intended to do for all Mankind by the Death of his Son The Word Pascha signifies a Passage and if we would understand why this Name was given to that Solemnity we must call to Mind the manner how the Israelites were delivered out of Aegypt and from the Slavery of Pharaoh God that he might oblige that Prince to free his People sent several Plagues upon him and his Kingdom and particularly slew all the First-Born in Aegypt both of Man and Beast But that the Jews might not be involved in this Massacre which was intended only to work their Deliverance they were ordered by Moses from God to do these Things On the Tenth Day of the Moon in March they took every one an He-Lamb according to their Families without Blemish or Spot which they Sacrific'd on the Full-Moon of the same Month at Even and struct the Blood of it upon the Lintel and Two Side-posts of their Houses The same Night they eat the Flesh roasted with Fire in haste with unleavened Bread and bitter Sauces having their Garments guirded and trussed up their Shoes on their Feet and a Staff in their Hands as being ready to depart In this Night which was from the Fourteenth to the Fifteenth Day of the Moon in March God laid this heavy Judgment upon all Aegypt in slaying all the First-born and because he passed over all the Houses of the Israelites which he saw dyed with the Blood of the Lamb which had been sacrificed the Night before he would have this Lamb called by the Name of Pascha or Passover The Aegyptians seeng this Slaughter urged the Jews to be gone themselves who being ready to depart as we have already seen went out of that Country carrying the Dough along with them which they had not Time to leaven In remembrance of this miraculous Deliverance God commanded them to celebrate a great Feast every Year called the Passover that they might have it as a Monument of this Passage of the Lord and he enjoyned them during this Solemnity which was to continue Seven Days That they should eat unleavened Bread and should begin on the Fourteenth Day of the Moon of March in the Evening to Sacrifice and Eat the Lamb in remembrance of their Deliverance out of Aegypt This Evening which began the Feast of Passover was called the First Day of Unleavened Bread and the Name of Passover was given equally to the

to satisfie Justice for the Sin of Men and to pacifie God for the offence committed against him by suffering himself for it He condescended to be conceived by a Virgin Born in a Stable become an Infant converse with Men and live among them such a Life as we shall hereafter relate He preached did Miracles suffered Affronts and Injuries endured an Infamous and painful Death was Buryed in a Tomb rose again and Lastly ascended into Heaven After he commanded his Disciples to go and Preach in his Name thro' all the World and all this to perform and Compleat the Great Work of our Salvation Behold how great Love God hath shewed to Rebellious Man The Father hath given his only Son and this Son gave himself for them Let no Man ask the reason why God did not make choice of some easier way to save us which might cost him less It is certain that the Almighty could have found out some other means but it is also certain that we ought to look upon this which God hath made use of as the most advantageous for us and most agreeable to our needs since that God hath preferred it before all others who is not only the most Powerful but Wise Being who cannot be mistaken in the fittest means for attaining the End he aims at Let us not then examine what other ways God might have taken to effect this Great Work but let us devoutly consider how Glorious to himself and how profitable to us that way is which he hath taken And 1st God in the Incarnation of his Son hath magnified his Power and Goodness for he hath demonstrated to Man that tho' he is pleased to permit the Evils which he could hinder he can produce great good out of them and make those very Sins which dishonour him to be serviceable for his glory in it He hath shewed his Mercy and his Justice for he pardons the Guilty and at the same time he received a satisfaction equivalent to the Offence committed By it he hath discovered to us the admirable and unsearchable strength of his Wisdom which hath found out a way to satisfy at once both his Justice and his Love and hath so ordered it that the Criminal may be saved and yet God who hath been offended not be dishonoured for by the Death of Jesus Christ God is revenged and Mans Sin punished He bore our grief in his own Body and offered such a Sacrifice to his Father as could not but be accepted because it was Pure and Innocent and which payd him as great honour as he had received affront by Man's Sin for it was of infinite value being united to the God-head The perfect submission of the Son of God even to the Death of the Cross hath made sufficient amends for the Disobedience of a mere Man Men are saved because another hath undergone the punishment due to them and God hath lost nothing of his Honour since he was offended by a mere Creature but hath been infinitely Honoured by a God And as it is glorious to God so also is 2. The Incarnation of Jesus Christ as advantageous to Man by the wonderful fitness which it hath to all the defects and evils from which the Divine Wisdom hath thought fit to deliver him for Gods anger was not only to be appeased but Man who was diseased was to be cured Now as the perfection of Man consisted in knowing and loving God so the disease of Man was to be stripped of these so that he neither knew God nor loved him but laboured under blindness of Mind and corruption of Heart which Christ by his Incarnation hath removed and cured For 1. He hath restored Man to the knowledge of God He hath opened the Eyes of Man to make him know the true God for the Word who is the Light of the Soul John 1.14 was made flesh and dwelt among us The Light which we shut our Eyes against came down from Heaven to present it self to us accommodating it self to the weakness of our sight and because we were able to discern nothing but Corporeal things he cloathed himself with a Body that so by our Senses he might insinuate himself into our Souls and disperse our darkness and blindness Jesus Christ being thus become visible he conversed sometime with Men did Miracles to make them believe on him and by sensible benefits healing the Sick freeing the Possessed drawed them to him and so having insensibly link'd them to his Human Nature which he assumed to work out Salvation for them he Preached the Truth to them They heard his Word with pleasure and this Word purifying their Hearts by Faith which they had in this Man who Preached to them prepared them by little and little and at last led them insensibly to the knowledge of the-God-head which was hidden under the Vail of the Humanity 2. But since it is not enough for Man to know God unless he Love him Jesus Christ by his Incarnation hath healed our corruption of Heart and hath drawn our Affections off from the Love of the Creature to that of the Creator for being Cloathed with a Body he placed his God-head among those Objects which the Soul in the State of Corruption doth naturally fix its Love upon and by sensible benefits and kindnesses endeavoured to bring it to the Consideration and Love of Invisible and Eternal good things He shewed it what it ought to love as its true Happiness and not only raised its hopes to attain it but Taught it the proper means of arriving at it Lastly He convinced it of the great Love God had for it and consequently how much it ought to love him for what greater sign of love could he have given us than in sending his only begotten Son to Dye for us who were his Enemies And what more effectual Attracture to oblige us to love him again who hath thus loved us first What Heart is so hard as not to be melted with such immense kindness A slight reflection upon it will make us resolve with the beloved Disciple and say Let us Love God for he hath first Loved us 1 Jo. 4 19. And as the Incarnation of Christ gives us an ample proof of Gods love to us so also it shews us the greatness of the Crime with which we have offended him The greatness of the Satisfaction discovers the greatness of our Guilt Man could never have conceived the heinousness of his Sin if God had not required so great a satisfaction We usually look upon Adam's sin as a small sin and are apt to accuse God of injustice for punishing a momentary Action with eternal Torments not considering that the Person who was threatned with eternal Torments for his Rebellion might have enjoyed an eternal Happiness for his Obedience But the Incarnation of the Son of God hath justified the Justice of God for his Blood which was shed for the expiation of our Sin is a faithful Mirrour to represent the greatness of

the Sea and therefore either because they did not think themselves worthy of Jesus's Presence or because they were afraid of greater Losses than they had already sustained they besought him to depart out of their Country The Man who had been possessed besought him who had been his Deliverer to suffer him to go along with him but Jesus answered him Return to thine own House and declare what great Things God hath done for thee He obeyed his Order and went through every City and through all that Country thankfully publishing and commemorating the great Favours that Jesus had done unto him VIII Jesus heals a Man sick of the Palsy at Capernaum Mark 2.1 2. The Son of God departing out of the Country of the Gadarens as they had desired him took Ship again and being arrived at the other Side of the Lake found a great Number of People waiting for him and they received him joyfully He returned to Capernaum where as soon as he was known to be a great number of People came unto him insomuch that not only the House where he was but even all the Space about the Door could not receive them Luk. 5.17 There were also sitting by him certain Pharisees and Doctors of the Law which were come out of every Town of Galilee and Judea and from Jerusalem To all these Jesus preached the Word of God and manifested that Power which God had given to him Mark 2 3-12 Luke 5 18-26 by Healing the Sick Among others that came to be healed there was brought unto him a Man sick of the Palsy lying in his Bed but not knowing how to carry him to him by reason of the Multitude they who brought him contrived to go up to the top of the House and to uncover the Roof and having made an Hole to let down the Bed on which the Sick Man lay and so place him before the Son of God Matth. 9 2-8 Jesus seeing their Faith saith unto the Sick of the Palsy Son be of good Cheer thy Sins be forgiven thee These Words much displeased the Pharisees and Lawyers which were present who thought in themselves That since God only can forgive Sins Jesus who assumed this Power to himself must needs be a Blaspheemer but he knowing the Thoughts of their Hearts saith unto them Why are your Minds busied about such evil Thoughts Which is easier to say to this Man who was sick of the Palsy Thy Sins be forgiven thee or to say Arise take up thy Bed and walk but that ye may know that the Son of Man hath Power on Earth to forgive Sins he saith unto the Sick of the Palsy Arise take up thy Bed and go unto thine House And the same Moment the Sick Man arose before the Multitude took up the Bed whereon he lay and went to his own House glorifying God All the Spectators were greatly amazed at this Miracle and although the Power of Healing be much less than that of Forgiving Sins yet because it is not so easy to make Men to believe a Cure falsly of which our Senses are Witnesses as Remission of Sin which is secret and invisible therefore all the People who were convinced by their own Sight of the Efficacy of these Words of Jesus Christ Arise and take up thy Bed were fully perswaded of the Truth of the former Thy Sins are forgiven thee For which Reason they glorified God which had given such Power unto Men and said in the Fear into which this Miracle had cast them We have seen strange things to day such as we never saw before IX Jesus commands a Publican to follow him Matth. 9 9-13 Mark 2 13-17 Luke 5 27-32 Jesus departing from this House walked by the Side of the Lake and seeth a Publican as he went along sitting in the Custom-House and he saith unto him Follow me This Man who was the Son of Alphaeus and named Levi or Matthew arose immediately left all and accompanied him that called him Not long after he made a great Feast in his House to which there came many Publicans and others of very wicked Lives and sat down at the Table with Jesus and his Disciples The Pharisees and Doctors of the Law could not endure that our Saviour should converse with Sinners or Publicans which the Jews detested and therefore they murmured greatly and demanded of his Disciples Why their Master and they did eat and drink with such sort of Persons Jesus hearing their Complaints said unto them They that are whole need not a Physician but they that are Sick I came not to call the Righteous but Sinners to Repentence go ye and learn what these Words signify I will have Mercy and not Sacrifice Hosea 6.6 and ye will know that my charitable conversing with Sinners to convert them is more acceptable to God than all your Sacrifices and Ceremonies This Answer nevertheless did not appease the Murmurings of the Pharisees Matth. 9 14-17 Mark 2 18-22 Luke 5 33-39 but they came to him with the Disciples of John and put this Question to him Why do the Disciples of John and of the Pharisees fast often and make Prayers but thy Disciples fast not Jesus answered them Can the Friends of the Bridegroom fast or mourn so long as the Bridegroom is with them That were unfit but the Time will come when the Bridegroom shall be taken away from them and then shall they fast To this Reason taken from the Presence of the Bridegroom which is the Name which S. John Baptist himself gave to Jesus the Son of God adds another taken from the Weakness of his Disciples who were yet in the Entrance upon his Religion and were very imperfect for he tells the Pharisees That to impose any rigorous Austerities upon Men who were as yet weak is to undo all and imitate the Imprudence of him who sews Pieces of new Cloath to an Old Garment or puts New Wine into old Bottles X. Jesus Christ cures a Woman of a Bloody Flux and raiseth a Maid from the Dead While Jesus was thus discoursing with the Pharisees and John's Disciples Jairus Matth. 9 18-22 Mark 5 22-34 Luke 8 41-48 the Chief Ruler of the Synagogue came and falling down at his Feet besought him to go to his House and lay his Hands upon his only Daughter who was about Twelve Years old and was then at the Point of Death Jesus went immediately along with him being accompanied with his Disciples and a great multitude of People At the same time it happen'd That a Woman who had been sick of a Bloody Flux for Twelve Years and had spent all her Estate to get a Cure of it and had endured much by Physicians and could get no help having heard the Fame of Jesus came behind him among the Multitude and touched him by the Border of his Garment for she had so great a Faith that she was throughly perswaded in her self If I can but touch his Garment I shall be

whole And indeed so she was for as soon as she had done it she felt the same instant that she was cured of her Disease But Jesus who knew as the Gospel says That Vertue was gone out of him turned himself about in the Throng and asked Who it was that had touched him Peter and the other Disciples answered him Master the People throng and press thee and dost thou ask who it is that touched me But Jesus said unto them Some Body hath touched me for I perceive that vertue is gone out of me and he looked all-round about him to see her who had touched him with so much Faith that by it she had received the Cure of her Distemper The Woman seeing her self discovered cast her self down at the Feet of Jesus with Fear and trembling and acknowledged before the Multitude what had happened unto her The Son of God comforted her and said unto her Daughter be not afraid thy Faith hath saved thee go in Peace and be perfectly whole of thy Disease Matth. 9 23-26 Mark 5 35-45 Luke 8 49-56 While he was thus talking with this Woman there came a Man to Jairus and told him That his Daughter was dead and therefore 't was needless for him to trouble Jesus to go any further Our Saviour having heard the Message that that Man brought said unto the Ruler of the Synagogue Fear not only believe and thy Daughter shall be healed When they were come to the House they found there Pipers and Mourners who lamented her with doleful Tunes and hideous Outcries according to the Custom of the modern Jews Jesus entring in said unto them Why make ye so much a do howling and lamenting the Maid is not dead but sleepeth At these Words of his they laughed and mocked knowing well that she was dead but being ignorant that it was as easy for Jesus to raise the Dead as it is for Men to awake those that are asleep He then put forth the People out of the Chamber and suffered only three of his Disciples viz. Peter James and John with the Father and Mother of the Child to go in with him Then he goeth to the Bed where she lay taketh her by the Hand and called to her saying Damosel arise By these powerful Words he restored her Life and she rose And when they had given her something to eat she walked to the Wonder of her Father and Mother At his departure he commanded them very strictly to tell no Man what was done but the Fame of this Miracle spread it self in all that Country XI Jesus healed Two Blind Men and a Dumb Man Going from thence Matth. 9 27-31 Jesus was followed by Two Blind Men who cryed after him Thou Son of David have mercy on us When he was come into the House they came unto him and he said unto them Believe ye that I am able to do this that ye desire They answered Yea Lord and immediately he touched their Eyes saying According to your Faith be it done unto you and their Eyes were opened that very Moment but Jesus charged them to tell no Man of the Cure to teach Men to labour in sincere Humility to conceal the good Actions that they do and yet he permitted them to spread abroad his Fame in all that Country To instruct us by their Example That one part of that Acknowledgment which we ought to pay to God for the Mercies which we receive of him is to publish them that he may be known praised and glorified by those to whom we declare them After the Blind Men were gone they brought unto him a Dumb Man Matth. 9 32-34 possessed with a Devil As soon as the Devil was cast out the Dumb Man spake and the People were ravished with Wonder and said We never saw any such thing in Israel But the Pharisees began again to say that which they often repeated afterward That he cast out Devils through the Prince of the Devils XII Jesus cures a Man that had been diseased Thirty and Eight Years After this Jesus went up to Jerusalem to solemnize the great Feast John 5 1-47 then kept which is evidently the Passover Now there was at Jerusalem a Pool called the Sheep's Pool that is to say a Pond for Sheep because it was near a Gate of the City called the Sheep's Gate but others say because it was used to wash the Sacrifices in Into this Pool did an Angel at a certain Season come down and moved the Waters of it and put such a Vertue into it that whosoever first after the Waters were troubled by the Angel entred into it was healed of whatsoever Disease he had For this Reason it was that the Five Porches or Cloysters of a certain Building adjoyning to the Pool called in the Hebrew Tongue Bethesda the House of Mercy were always full of Sick Persons who waited for the Moving of the Waters among them was a certain Man who had an infirmity Thirty and eight Years which Jesus knowing said unto him Wilt thou be made whole This Man answered Sir I have no Man when the Water is troubled to put me into the Pool and while I am going my self another who hath more Strength or better Help steppeth down before me Jesus saith unto him Take up thy Bed and walk and immediately his Disease was healed and he took up his Bed and walked It was on Saturday which the Jews call the Sabboth-day that is to say a Day of Rest because all Labour is forbidden them on that Day by the Law wherefore when the Jews saw him carrying his Bed they contended with him for breaking the Law but he said to them He that made me whole said unto me Take up thy Bed and walk They then asked him What Man it was but the Man knew not who it was for Jesus did immediately convey himself away from the Multitude of People that were in that Place Not long after Jesus met this Man in the Temple and saith unto him Behold thou art made whole sin no more hereafter lest a worse Plague be inflicted on thee The Man went to the Jews and told them That it was Jesus which had healed him The Jews for this Reason sought to persecute Jesus and so much the rather because in his Defence of this Action on the Sabboth Day he had said My Father worketh continually doing Good and preserving as well on your Sabboth as other Days and I work only as he doth Wherefore they had a greater hatred against him not only because he had broken the Sabboth but had called God his Father making himself equal with God Hereupon Jesus makes an excellent Discourse to them to prove his Divinity and shews them That he had received all Power of his Father to Act Judge and raise the Dead That he did not depend upon his own Assertions to clear this Truth but he had John's Testimony the Nature of the Works and Miracles themselves which he did yea the

out his Vengeance upon the Jews Who shall see their City trodden down by the Gentiles who shall slay them or carry them Captives into all Nations where they shall suffer all the Evils and Plagues which God hath threatned to bring upon them in Holy Scripture and to be brought into so great troubles and afflictions as never were nor ever shall be the like And indeed all these things happened to the Jews a little after in the same manner as the Son of God foretold his Disciples for about Forty Years after Jerusalem having filled up the Measure of her Sins by the Death of Christ and his Disciples was taken by the Romans after a long Siege and War wherein above Thirteen Hundred Thousand Jews perished in several parts of the World Eleven Thousand of which Dyed of Famine and Sword in the Siege of their City only XV. Jesus Christ foretells his second Coming Jesus having thus answered the first Question put to him by the Apostles Matth. 24 21-35 Mark 13 24-31 Luke 21 25-33 he passes to the two others which concern his Glorious coming and the end of the World He tells them that his Second coming shall be like Lightning which appears suddenly and in a moment flies from East to West i. e. he shall be manifested and known in all the Earth and not privately and be seen in one place only as several Seducers would perswade us of whom some will say that Christ is here and others that he is there That he will raise up also false Christs who shall do such astonishing Miracles that they shall deceive if it be possible even the Elect themselves But those Holy Souls shall acknowledge the true Messiah and gather themselves to him as the Eagles flock about a Dead Carkass for their Prey That to make his Coming the more Glorious several extraordinary and dreadful Signs shall go before it As the Sun and Moon shall be Darkned the Stars shall fall the Heavens shall be shaken the Waves of the Sea shall make a terrible Noise and Roaring and all Men shall be in a general Consternation and amazement That after this Universal change of Nature They shall see the Sign of the Son of Man first and then Himself coming in the Clouds with Power and Majesty and he shall send his Angels who shall utter a Voice like the Sound of a Trumpet and shall gather together his Elect from all parts of the World He adds That then his Faithful Servants may lift up their Heads with confidence because as we know that Summer is nigh when we see the Fig-trees and others Trees begin to Bud so shall they know by all these things that they shall then see his Glory and that the Kingdom of God is as it were at their Doors and nigh at Hand XVI Jesus Christ teacheth his Disciples to Watch. Mark 13 32-37 Luke 21 34-38 Jesus having said these things had only two things more to Teach his Apostles viz. the time when these things should happen and what the Son of Man should do upon the Earth when he should come as he had said of himself full of Majesty and Glory As to the first he tells them that no Creature knows the time but God only and that it is very convenient for them to be Ignorant of it that they may be watchful over themselves and not suffer their Hearts to be over-charged with Surfeiting and Drunkenness and cares of this Life That they should Watch and Pray always that they may make themselves worthy to appear with confidence before the Son of Man He foretells them what Signs should happen before his Second Coming that he may not surprize those who will not Watch for themselves and that the day of his Judgment shall be as a Snare which shall inclose in it all the Inhabitants of the World And after he hath propounded to them the example of certain good Servants who in the absence of their Master discharge their Trust which he hath committed to them faithfully and watch always for his coming because they knew not the time when he will return he concludes Watch ye therefore lest the Lord come on a sudden and find you sleeping And then adds what I say unto you I say unto all Watch. XVII The Parable of the Ten Virgins Jesus that he might impress this Truth more strongly upon their Spirits Matth. 25 1-13 upon which their Salvation depended propounds two Parables The First is of the Ten Virgins who took their Lamps and having lighted them went out to meet the Bridegroom and Bride and accompany them at their Marriage Five of them which the Son of God calls Fools were contented to have their Lamps light but the other Five wisely Foreseeing that the Bridegroom might tarry carryed Oyl along with them in their Vessels that they might put it into their Lamps if they were in danger of going out And thus it came to pass for the Bride groom delayed his Coming and they all slumbred and slept About midnight there was a great Cry heard Behold the Bridegroom cometh go ye out to meet him They arose immediately and trimmed their Lamps But the five foolish Virgins seeing their Lamps ready to go out desired some Oyl of the wise Virgins who sent them to the sellers and while they went to buy the Bridegroom came and the wise Virgins went in with him to the Marriage The other Virgins came afterward but the Door was shut and they were forced to knock saying Lord Open to us but he answered them I know you not The Application of this Parable is very easy and the conclusion which the Son of God hath drawn from it is plain Watch therefore for ye know neither the Day nor the Hour wherein the Son of Man cometh XVIII The Parable of the Servants Matth. 25 14-30 The second Parable is of a Man who being about to take a long Journey put his Estate into the Hands of his Servants and distributed to them several Sums of Money according to their several abilities to Trade with At his return he found them to have doubled what they had received and therefore said unto them one by one O good and faithful Servant because thou hast been faithful in a few things I will put many things into thy dispose enter thou into the Joy of thy Lord. But finding among them one who hid his Lords Mony in a Pit he cast him out and put him into a dark Dungeon as a sloathful and unprofitable Servant We have already seen something like this in a Parable before Of the Servants who having also received a Sum of Mony had made different improvements of it Here the Sums are diverse but the Gain is equal and we are taught by both these Parables that to be saved we must make good Use of the Graces which God hath bestowed upon every one in such Measure as he pleaseth that we shall have the greater Rewards the greater Improvement we