The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1921-12-10
THERE MAY Be MISTAKES here And There
But CHURCH WILL NOT BE DESTROYED, SAYS
BULGlN IN STIRRING TABERNACLE SERMON

CAMBRIDGE CITY. Ind, Dec. 10
Enthusiastic delegations swelled the
crowd that attended the tabernacle
services here last night. DR.. E. J. Bull
gin preached another of his stirring
sermons, taking as his text, Matthew
%: 10: Watch, therefore, for We know
neither the day nor the hour wherein
the Son of Man cometh."
DR.. Bulgin said: This text is taken
from that memorable parabolic dis
course of our Lord called the Ten
Virgins
This parable has been criticised by
the German rationalistic school of de-
structive critics and a great many less
er lights on THIS beautiful parabolic
discourse of our Lord. l propose to
look at a few Of these criticisms to-
night. But first let us lock at the his
torical side a little. An Oriental we'd
ding was prompt thing and soon over
with. And yet Jesus tells the story
and concludes with a parable. A par
able is a story that is true within
itself.
If an Oriental wedding was
prompt thing and soon over with, why
did Jesus tell the story that watching
a
custom then and it is not a custom
now TO have wedding that long. Why
did the Lord tell a story wherein the
wedding was so protracted? If you
will look behind the scenes you will
find out. 1t was not the wedding that
was protracted, but the bridegroom
tarried.' In the case of Isaac and Re
becca, there were 500 miles between
the bride and groom and even in these
days Of travel by steam and electricity
you couldn't calculate to the dot when
the trains would arrive much less
when the travelling was done by
camels. But Jesus here is telling a
story in harmony with the vernacular
and customs of that age and | thank
God that it incidentally did drop out
that the bridegroom tarried. That is
one Of the high points because Jesus
is answering the question when you
are coming back to this earth and He
says that coming may be long delayed,
but you be ready.
Another criticism on the parable
has been that the church is represent
ed as being asleep, for the whole zen
virgins slept and that is what caused
old Russell to say that the churches
are all going TO the devil. The ten
virgins represent the church, and they
were all asleep, but when ! heard him
say that ! said to him, but hold Bud,
the five wise slept. as well as the five
foolish. If there were any particular
sin in the sleeping the Lord God AL
mighty would not have represented
the five wise virgins as sleeping, for
hey wouldn't be wise to take the sleep
as the sleep was not necessary. No,
Jthe church is not asleep. The church
shows you that she is about her Mas
ter's business, and doing the best she
can TO draw US under the shadow of
the beautiful teachings of Jesus Christ.
There may be mistakes here and there
and there may be waves of coldness
of feeling, but don't let anybody tell
YOU that the church is going TO be de
stroyed. The nation may crumble and
fall. but the church of God is going to-
remain.
The third criticism was the selfish
ness Of the five good girls The five
wise virgins wouldn't divide their oil
with their sisters Why didn't they
divide oil? They could not and they
should not have because the oil rep
resented a thing that could not be
divided.
Another criticism is the clumsiness
OF the story wherein any five girls
would be big enough fool, to go on a
journey that necessitated oil and the
vessel that carried the oil was open
and not take enough oil.
We'll. I will tell you. Thank God.
the vessel there referred 10 is the
human heart and human soul. repre-
senting you and NE. You can look
into your own heart right now, wheth.
er you are ready to meet Cod If you
were to die tonight you know whether