fect. It was unusually large, but to be valuable it must be
perfectly round and have no defects. When Jesus was upon the earth He
told of a merchant who went in search of a very valuable pearl, and when
he had found it, he sold all that he had and bought that pearl, in order
that he might have the largest and most valuable jewel in all the world.

[Illustration: Diving for Pearls.]

Cleopatra, Queen of Egypt, had a pearl that was worth three hundred and
seventy-five thousand dollars, and one day she dissolved this costly
pearl, and drank it in a glass of wine to the honor of Mark Antony, one
of the Roman rulers. There are pearls to-day worth two and three
hundred thousand dollars, and possibly more.

The pearl in this parable is the symbol of salvation. Now, salvation has
cost more, and is worth more than all the farms, and houses, and stores,
and wealth of all this nation, and all the nations of all the globe, and
all the created universe about us. It cost the life of the Son of God,
and it is desirable, therefore, that you and I should obtain it, because
of the many blessings it secures to us, both in this world and in the
world to come.

For two thousand years men from all the largest nations of the earth
have gone to the island of Ceylon, seeking pearls. It is a barren and
deserted island, but during the months of February, March and April,
every night at ten o'clock, many boats sail out about ten miles, to the
place where men, with large leaden weights at their feet, dive down
through the water until they come to the banks where the large pearl
oyster has his home. They quickly pick up several of these oysters and
drop them into a basket of network, and in about sixty or seventy
seconds are again drawn up by their companions into the boat.

Men and women could not have pearls if it were not that these men are
willing to risk their lives by diving way down under the water to obtain
them. No one could secure salvation had not Jesus left His throne in
heaven and come down to this wicked world to suffer and die, that He
might make atonement for our sins upon the cross, so that you and I
might not perish but have everlasting life--so that you and I might have
salvation, both here and in heaven.

When I went to the jeweler, he told me that the defects on the pearl
which I had found could not be removed and the rough places polished.
Diamonds have to be cut and polished. Many precious and costly jewels
when found lo