The Democratic advocate., 1886-06-19
TILE SERMON.


THE SERMON.
Trxr.-Matt xiii, 44-46 1.-THE kingdom of heaven
is like unto treasure hid in field the when, WneR
hath found he hideth ana IoT Jst hoy That
held Again, the kingdom of heaven Is ike unto d
merchant man seeking goodiy pearls VINO wnen d a1d I'd
had found one pearl OF great price, "ent AiA 'oiN
all that he had, and bought IL
1.-THE kingdom of heaven" of which Christ here
speaks He also spoke of as the kingdom Of God the
Father" " 4S, and His own kingdom" Jonn
xviii, 36 We may therefore without hesitancy as
ser that Christianity itself-the true divine region
the truth of God as unfolded by Christ-is what is
meant And the obvious teaching of both the para
bles before us is that Christianity is Of trdnscendent
1nlle and consequently so important that The personal
possession and practical Of it, upon The part Of any
man. 1r be mark Of the highest tpision erer u Il cost
him e laying aside Of erery thing else TO secure It, The
man in the first parable oyfully goes and sells all
that he hath" to buy the field which contains "the
hidden treasure" and the merchant man in the
second, event and sold all that he had to buy the
zone pearl of great price" The in the one
case and the pearl in the other, were the objects OF
value which by these men were accounted worth
more than all that they had and in both cases, this
"aIl" was parted with to make themselves possess
er. of that which they valued. And our Saviour
assures u.s. by the presentation of these cases, that
to have His truth in our hearts and be governed
and guided by it, is of like importance. OF course,
in neither would the objects have been secured
at such cost, had they not have been deemed trans
ceadently Uandble: and So it would not be reasona-
BILE to expect that any man would part with all that
he has to become subject of Chrst's kingdom, un-
less he has similar conviction as to its value.
think every man would haye such a conviction if
he would look thoroughly into the subject, and
indulge the hope that by Gods blessing this service
may lead some, who may not hitherto have duly
considered it. to do so although now, as in our sa-
yiours time there those who will not give heed
to things that most deserve their attention, and
concern their welfare for time and eternity We
follow our Saviour's example, however in continu-
ing to forth the truth that will save all who do
receive and obey it. have said that the teaching
in these parallels is obvious but of course it only
so to minds disposed to receive and obey it, who
alone may properly be called disciples" 1t was to
such that our Lord here spoke; but He knowing
mans nature and need perfectly, saw fit sometimes
to speak to 1.-THE multitude" dncluding many who
would not have listened to the truth at ALL deliv
cred in a more direct manner) sin parables,"-
which all would listen, and WHICH would from their
interesting character impress the memory at least
and the truth contained in which, although not
dlscoyerable while there prejudice in their
hearts and indispositon to learn and obey it, would
become obvious whenever that prejudice and in
disposition should give place to candor, and their
hearts be open to conviction. Many Gospel SER
mon which at the time of its delivery fell upon ears
that let it enter furthor than into the memory,
and perhaps only some striking portions of it even
thus far and was indeed to them at the time, as
parable containing a hidden sense that was all
mystery to them, because they were really unwill-
ing to recognize in it any meaning that would save
them from sin that they loved more than truth,
afterwards, when their souls longed to know how
fnds sn1y frOn N
to them by the Holy Spirit and became to them the
power of God unto salvation indeed it always is
to every one that believeth.
The doctrine we now present on the authority of
the divine Founder of holy religion is that it is
of Lranscendent Udlue. There is nothing that we
have that is possible to be possessed by u.s. that
is at all comparable in worth to it. The acknowl-
edged standard of the value of anything is its intrD
sic adaptedness to supply need. five need nothing
but what we have, then what we have will be
valued by us than anything or all things else,
and we should take thought of seeking after
anything beyond what we have, matter how
much might be said TO induce us to do so. But if
we have any felt need unsupp piled, shall esteem
whatever will supply that need as most valuable to
us. To the hungry man, food is worth more than
anything else to the thirsty man. water; to the sick
man, that which will make him weo the weary, rest
to the ignorant knowledge; to the fallen from vir-
tue, restoration. The higher the kind of need, the
higher the value of that which will supply it. We
read in Eccles. X. 10, that money answereth all
things the reference being to things of worldly
nature: and there is a view in which this is SO
hence men consider money as the most valuable
thing of worldly nature. 1t is in itself really ofno
value but representing every thing else that man
can possess of this world, it is esteemed of value
equal to that of those things which it will buy,
by the exchange of for them put us in possession
Of And we express the value of worldly things by
saying they are worth so much money, or there is
so much money in them. The treasure referred 10
in first parable and the pearl in the second,
were esteemed to be valuable on account of their
worth in money. The man in the first parable
"ides the treasure until he could buy the field 1t
the laying up of treasures upon earth that our
Saviour in His sermon the Mount rebuked, and
we cannot think that He meant to favor it in the
parable, but simply to show how highly the man
who had found the treasure valued it, and what he
would consequently joyfully part with, even all
that he had to buy the field in which he hid it. So
would man who should in any degree come to un-
derstand truly the nature of the kingdom of God
value it, that is as being worth more than any or
all things else. And such man would, in accord
ance with the Saviours counsel in the Sermon on
the Mount lay up for himself treasures in hedrea,
where it would be secure to him for ever. This
brings to view another point in the common esti-
mate of the value OF thing, namely, the permanent
lasting benefit of it. The best of earthly treas
ures even if laid up could not be enduring, or if
brought forth and converted into money, could pro-
cure nothing that would endure any longer at most
than we could have do with it in this life and in
many cases not certainly even thus long, since all
earthly things, treasures themselves included are
subject to decay to be stolen from us. But treas
ures laid up in heaven would be forever secure, as
well as ever-enduring. In the example of Solomon
himself who was the author of the words Money
answereh all things, we have illustration, perhaps
the most striking Of any that ever was furnished, of
the utter unsatisfactorness of money or any thing
that money will buy to supply the demands of the
spirit however far it may so towards meeting those
of time and sense. But to supply the immortal
spirits needs is what the kingdom of God estab
lshed to do, claims to do and does to all who re-
ceYe it and are obedient subjects of it. And thus
we see its transcendent value considered Intrinsic
ally that is say thus that it has in its very
nature what and all that, is adapted to mans high
est needs regarded spiritual being, whether in
the body out of the body. 1t is spiritual king
dom, and an everlasting kingdom. So far as it is
in this world it is yet not of this world, and when
this world shall have passed away, this glorious
kingdom will still endure, and all its subjects still
live and be even infinitely more blessed in it than
they are or can be during life earth. Christian
iy provides for the soul-the true sef-he real life
of man. which the Saviour tells us "consisteth not
in the abundance of that which man hath" or can
possibly possess of this world Hence the force of
our Saviors solemn questions, "What is man prof
tied if he shall gain the whole world and lose his
own soul?" that is have no Identification with that
kingdom in which the soul is saved, and hence be
deprived of all its benefits. And what" of all
things shall give in exchange for his soul2'
that is cling at the cost of losing his SOUL
The risk oflosing his soul for the sake Of 1t is not
even implied, Think, that any man can gain "the
whole world" whether we consider its possessions
its power, its honors, or its pleasures. We know
very well that no man can do this. The richest the
most honored, the greatest that ever lived all
fell far short of this Not of them acquired
could possibly acquire much moiety
of the whole world; Even Alexander's con-
quests so often referred to embracing the whole
world, really included but small part of it. for
only small part Of it was known or known of in
his time. But even were it possible for any man to
possess it ALL his gain would be infinite loss if his
soul was unsaved; because there is nothing in any
part or even in the whole of it, that supply
what the immortal man needs. We say immortal
man. because if he is not immortal, there is sig
nifcancy in these parallels. nmans nature is such
that his chief good can be attained by the possession