The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1910-09-30

ing a poor widow cast two mites lnto
the treasury, he commended her lib
crafty. declaring that she had given
more than those who had cast IN
larger amounts, for they had given OF
their abundance while she had given
all that she had for her days living.
Leaving the Court Of the Women
he made his way through the Court
of the Gentiles, and passed out OF the
temple at the eastern gate. AS ne
was going his disciples pointed OUT 10
him several objects OF special inter-
est and called his attention to the
magnificence Of the buildings. Yes,
said Jesus. and all these things snail
b. utterly destroyed so that not one
stone shall be left upon another.
Nothing more was said at the time,
but half an hour later, when they
had reached the top OF the Mount OF
Olives and sat down to rest, one or
his disciples turned To him and said:
Master tell us when these things
shall be and what shall be the sign
of thy coming and the end of the
world" Jesus replied at length. tell
ing of many things that would nap
pen before his coming and before
the end but when he came to the
question of time he dismissed II with
the simple statemen that no one could
tell that, as he Father had kept it
wholly to himself. In view of this
fact" he continued. "one should al
ways keep in state of preparedness
for the coming of the Son of man ="
And to impress this great truth he
told them several stories or parallels,
one of which we are now to study.
The Lesson Text i'm Everyday Dress
Speaking OF the day of the Lord q
coming, Jesus said that ii might be
compared TO what happened in the
case of ten maidens who one night
took their lamps or torches and went
to meet bridegroom. Five of these
maidens were thoughtless. giddy girls,
who took no more OIL than their tiny
lamps or torches would carry. The
others were of the thoughtful sort.
. who wisely carried a supply of oil
with which to replenish their lamps.
1t happened. as was often the case.
that the bridegroom tarried, and they
| became very drowsy and dropped OFT
/ no sleep. At midnight they were
awakened by some one crying. See.
The bridegroom cometh. Come out to
meet him" They arose hastily. and
when they went 10 trim their lamps
the five thoughtiess ones found to
their dismay that their lights were
going out. and they began to beg
/ their more prudent sisters to divide
their oil with them. But the pru-
dence of the prudent ones did not
forsake them In the excitement OF
the moment, and they replied that
there was not enough 10 go AROUND
and that they had better go and buy
oil for themselves. While the maid
ems who were not ready were gene
the bridegroom came and the five
maidens who were ready went with
him to his home. BY and by the
others came, but the door was shut,
and though they earnestly PLEADED
with the host to let them in. he in
| sisted that he did not know them.
Therefore, said Jesus, watch. for
no not know the hour or the day
when the Son OF man cometh."
The Heart OF the Ia,~eoai.
Jesus is coming. We don't know
| how, we don't know when, we only
/ know that he Is coming. II we don
/ know when he Is coming we ought to
/ get ready now, and we ought TO keep
ready. rms Is good, everyday logic,
and with regard to the matters of
everyday life nobody questions 1t.
| oniy Inc happy -so-iucky sort stop
their ears and will not hear IT. Every
~Ns We as NhstAS ttAaN tAHeihANH az
| We DO not know when fire will break
| out 1t Is the part of wisdom TO pro-
| vide fire escapes now and not wait
until the fire comes. We do not know
| when war will come, therefore it Is
| not wise to wait until 1t does come
/ to build our forts and our ammunition
! factories. Nobody knows when John
! ny, who has new knife will cut an
artery. hut his wise mother keeps on
| hand the things that are need IN
! such an emergency It'll the doctor
/ comes" All these things appeal to
! us although we are not certain that
any OF them will ever happen. Fire
may never break out; war may never
come; Johnny may never sever an
artery. But here Is an event that ii
absolutely sure. 10 happen and we
have not the slightest idea when il
| VIII happen. There Is absolutely no
| possibility of escape from it, Sure
| iy. III 1t Is the part OF wisuom to pre-.
| pare for the things that are possible.
| We ought to prepare for the things
| that are inevitable. Not to prepa re
| for the things that are inevitable.
Jesus tells us In this parable. Is sui
| cidai. The man who puts off prepa-
ration for death is foolish. Look al
| those silly maidens. They knew per-
enough oil: they knew that the BRIDE
| groom was coming, and they did not
! know just when he would come. They
J We're as anxious to go to the wedding
/ as their five wise sisters but they
! were thoughtless. happy go-lucky
set. who never did to-day what they
/ could put off till tomorrow and they
deliberately lay down and slept, trust
/ ing to luck to get through somehow
when the time came. Was anything
! ever more absurd? And yet Christ
/ tells us this is the way many OF us
are doing In regard to his own COM
ing. 1t makes no difference to us
what coming he refers to: We are GO
| ing to die. and in that hour he will
! come--anyway And we don't know
when. 1t may be to-day or Tomorrow
or seventy years hence. We never
know when we go to bed at night
whether We viii ever awaken again.
| We think we will simply because when
| we have gone to bed at night we have
always awakened again. But that is
poor logic. What a silly thing IL ia
| for us to lie down to sleep at night,
and to chloroform ourselves to sleep
SO far as this question is concerned
In the day. ard just trust to luck to
get through somehow when the time
comes You and l are not At to live
until we are prepared to die. Pre-
paredness for death Is the first quail
fication for life.
But how may j be prepared for
Ghrist's coming? This suggests an
other question. What is he coming
for Certainty ha is. apr,{u.x Too n e