quired to leave "houses, and brethren, and sisters, and lands," for Christ's sake? Yes, and they even felt an inward joy in parting with them. It is said of some, that they "took joyfully the spoiling of their goods, knowing in themselves that they had in heaven a better and an enduring substance." Hear too how St. Paul speaks: he says, "What things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung that I may win Christ."

And such too has been the experience of many of God's children. A wise Christian writer, who lived many hundred years ago, St. Augustine, speaking of his own conversion, tells us how easy he found it, through this joy, to give up all those pleasures of sin, to which he had once clung so closely. "How sweet," he says, did it at once become to me to be without the sweetness of those toys; and what I dreaded to be parted from, was now a joy to part with. Thou, who art sweeter

than all pleasure, Thou didst cast them forth, that instead thereof Thou mightest enter in Thyself."

Thank God, we hear of men giving up the dearest things they have, so as to make this one treasure their own. The thing parted with may be very different in one case to what it is in another. The ungodly man will have to part with his sin. The lover of money will have to give up his covetousness. The indolent man, his ease.

The lover of pleasure,

his gay company. The

wisdom he trusted in.

learned man, the The self-righteous

man, his own goodness. Each must sell what he has, that he may gain the treasure. He must sell them; and yet I would rather say, He willingly sells them-as our Lord says in the Parable, "For joy thereof he goeth and selleth all that he hath." There is no force needed, and no compulsion necessary. The Christian cheerfully gives up all. What are my sins (he says), or my gains, or my good name among men, or my fancied righteousness? These are all brittle reeds, which will break from under me. They are rags," that will not cover me.

but "

"filthy

I will cast

them all away. Let them perish-that I may possess Christ, and be found in Him!

Have you and I parted with all—yes, all that we are commanded to give up for Christ's sake-all that stands in the way between us and Him-all that interferes with our salvation? It is hard, I know, to do so. But we shall never win Christ, never possess Him, till we have done it. It is hard for flesh and blood. Our wicked, world-loving, hearts grudge to part with what has been dear to us. But God can make us willing, cheerfully willing, to strip ourselves of everything, that we may grasp so great a treasure.

But much as these Parables are alike, there is, as we have remarked, one point of difference between them. In the first Parable the man stumbles unexpectedly upon the treasure, without even looking for it. In the other the merchant seeks diligently, and then his search is rewarded by his finding a most precious pearl.

Our Lord must have purposely intended by this to shew how different Christians come into possession of gospel blessings.

Some are brought to Christ suddenly, unexpectedly, and without any preparation for it. Some are awakened in the midst of their sin and thoughtlessness, and are won over by God's exceeding grace. The Lord said concerning the Gentiles, "I was found of them that sought me not." "The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined." Saul, the persecutor, suddenly found the treasure, when, so far from seeking for it, he was rushing in the very opposite direction. The woman of Samaria, mentioned in John iv., is another instance. She little thought of lighting on the hid treasure, when she came to draw water at the well. And are there not instances, within our own knowledge, where "sin has abounded," and yet grace has "much more abounded"?

But these are extraordinary cases—unusual cases. Most Christians, like the pearl merchant, after much seeking, at length. find eternal life. This is God's rule, "He that seeketh findeth, and to him that knocketh it shall be opened." The Ethiopian Eunuch,

for instance, was reading the Scriptures-he was searching in the field, when Philip pointed out to him Christ the "hid treasure." Cornelius had been long feeling after the truth, when at length God sent Peter to reveal it to him. He had been a seeker of goodly pearls, and at length found one of great price.

What an unspeakable mercy it is if, by any means, we are led by the Holy Spirit to discover Christ-to find salvation! Oh, what a treasure it is, if we can but lay hold of it. No matter what it cost us, if we can but make it ours. A man may pay too dear for gold, but not for this Pearl of great price. We may be poor in this world; but if we possess this treasure, we are unspeakably rich.

Let us lose no time. Our day is but a short one. The night is near; and that is but a bad time for searching. Seek Christ with all your hearts. Seek Him now. Seek Him in His ordinances. He is hid, as the milk in the breast, as the marrow in the bone, as the manna in the dew, as the honey in the honeycomb. "Sell that ye have. Provide yourselves bags which wax not old, a treasure in the heavens that faileth not."

F