"it is under a tree in the orchard." After breakfast
they went to the plantation, but John could not again recognize the
tree. "Drat your stupid old head," cried his wife, "why didn't you put
a nick on the right one at the time?" But John was not to be beaten.
He resolved to dig under every tree. How the neighbours laughed! But
springtime came. Out burst the trees. "Wife," says he, "our bloom is
richer than I have known it this many a year; it is richer than our
neighbours'!" Bloom dies, and then out come about a million little
green things quite hard. In the autumn the old trees were staggering,
and the branches down to the ground with the crop; and so the next
year, and the next; sometimes more, sometimes less, according to the
year. The trees were old, and wanted a change. His letting in the air
to them, and turning the subsoil up to the frost and sun, had renewed
their youth.' And so poor John found his treasure. It was not exactly
the pot of guineas that he sought; but it was just as valuable, and
probably afforded him a deeper gratification. He did not find what he
sought, but who shall say that his search was unsuccessful? He that
seeketh, findeth. There is no case on record of a really fruitless
search.

Mr. Gilbert West and Lord Lyttelton once undertook to organize a
campaign to expose the fictitious character of the biblical narrative.
In order to make their attack the more damaging and the more effective
they agreed to specialize. Mr. West promised to study thoroughly the
story of the Resurrection of Jesus. Lord Lyttelton selected as the
point of his assault the record of the conversion of Paul. They
separated; and each began a careful and exhaustive search for
inaccuracies, incongruities, and contradictions in the documents. They
were engaged in exposing error, they said, and in searching after
truth. Yes, they were searching after truth, and they sought with
earnestness and sincerity. They were searching after truth, and they
found it. For when, at the appointed time, they met to arrange the
details of their projected campaign, each had to confess to the other
that he had become convinced of the authenticity of the records and had
yielded to the claims of Christ! Here was a search! Here was a find!
They sought what they never found, and they found what they never
sought. Was the search unsuccessful? Seekers after truth, they
called themselves; and did they not find the Truth? Li