Late, Late, so Late!
Matthew 25:1-13
Illustration
by John MacArthur

Don't be caught unprepared. That's the message in the parable of the ten maidens. Nineteenth century English poet Alfred Tennyson, in his Idylls of the King, adapted that parable to write this for Queen Guinevere, who learned too late the cost of sin:

Late, late, so late! and dark the night and chill!
Late, late so late! but we can enter still.

Too late, too late! ye cannot enter now.

No light had we: for that we do repent;
And learning this, the bridegroom will relent.

Too late, too late! ye cannot enter now.

No light: so late! and dark and chill the night!
O let us in, that we may find the light!

Too late, too late: ye cannot enter now.

Have we not heard the bridegroom is so sweet?
O let us in, tho' late, to kiss his feet!

No, no, too late! ye cannot enter now.

ChristianGlobe Networks, Inc., The Fate of the Unprepared, by John MacArthur