rded of persons who entered the house of
God bent on making sport of the preacher, and who went away believing in
the Saviour whom he preached. A youth has left his home in the country
and plunged into a great capital to push his fortune, and has found
there, what he did not seek, pardon of sin and peace with God through
the Saviour. Another has gone to India as a soldier, dreaming of war and
victory, and honour and wealth; but has returned a meek disciple of
Jesus, glory to God and peace with men radiating like sunlight from all
his spirit and all his life. A young female, chafed and fretting under
the enforced dulness of a sober home, has received and accepted an
invitation which promises to set her free from restraint for a time, and
permit her to flutter at will in the midst of a fashionable throng. At
the threshold of the prepared festivities a message meets her,--a
message charged with a mighty sorrow, which drives the crowd of joyful
anticipations forth from her heart, as a swollen stream bears down the
dry leaves of autumn. She is thrown aside in solitude, in emptiness, in
agony. In the silent night, and in the aching emptiness of her soul, the
knocking of Christ from without is for the first time heard. The weary
heart opens at last, and lets the Stranger in. She has found a treasure
which, though often near her before, had hitherto escaped her notice.
From the peace of God in which she now dwells she looks out from time to
time on the pleasures of sin which she formerly chased, and borrows from
the experience of ancient Israel a phrase best fitted to express her
mind,--"The Portion of Jacob is not like them."

The history of the Church is studded with such examples: the hearts of
believers, when they are ready to faint, are cheered from time to time
by such good news from countries far and near. It is a reproof to us,
but a glory to the Lord, that he is often found of those who sought not
after him. Perhaps the man in the parable was digging for stones when he
fell upon the treasure: they who find the true riches meet often with a
similar surprise.

4. The next feature that claims attention is the instant ardent effort
of the discoverer to make the treasure his own, now that he knows what
it is and where it lies.

In the parable, the man conceals his discovery, because he knows that if
the secret leak out, the owner will not part with his field at any
price. One can easily imagine the scene and the act that