Belington progressive. [volume] (Belington, W. Va.) 1912-1927, 1912-08-01
SUNDAY SCHOOL.
Lesson v.-Third Quarter, For
Aug. 4, 1912.
THE INTERNATIONAL SERIES.

Text Of the Lesson, Matt. xiii, 44-53.
Memory Verses, As, 46-0olden Text,
Matt vi, 33-commentary Prepared
by Rev. o. M. Stearns.
1t was after He sent the multitudes
away and went into the house that He
explained to the disciples the parallels
and spake these Others Of today's les
son. 1t has been said that parable is
like nut that has to be broken to get
the meat-it keeps the meat from the
fndolent and for the diligent. 1t is also
true that there are outside truths for
the world that they may receive If they
Will and enter in, and there are truths
only for those who are within The
parallels of the hidden treasure and
the pearl give US wholly another view
of what is going on in this present age
and OF its contamination in spite of all
the work of the adversary Remem-
bering what we said In previous les
son concerning the explanation Of a
word or phrase holding good through
the whole discourse. we now note the
field of verse Al and the explanation In
verse 3S. THE field is the world" The
word treasure" takes us back to Elk.
xix. 5. Israel His peculiar treasure. See
also Ps. cxxxv, 4; Nal. Ill. II. margin.
Thus the law. the prophets and the
Psalms enlighten us concerning the
treasure. Since Israels rejection OF
Christ and her consequent scattering
among all nations she has been treas
ure to no one but Himself. but to Him
she is as the apple Of His eye. and till
sun, moon and stars cease to shine she
shall not cease to be nation before
Him Czech. Ii. 8; Jer. XXI. $500 Who
can this be who gives up all that He
has In order to buy the field? No one
can buy the field but He who has the
right to redeem it. the true Boaz. the
mighty man of wealth. who as evidence
that He had purchased or redeemed
the field wore the crown of thorns.
The story of the pearl is virtually the
same except that the pearl Is the
church. as the treasure Is Israel.
Pearls come from the sea. and in Rev.
xvii, Is, 1t is written. THE waters
which thou sawest are peoples and
multitudes and nations and tongues"
In Eph. v. 27, the completed church is
spoken of as glorious church. not hav-
ing spot or wrinkle or any such thing.
but holy and without blemish In these
words one cannot help seeing perfect
pearl without spot or blernish or wrin-
kle. In this case as In that Of the
treasure. the man gave up all that he
had to purchase it Salvation. or eter-
nal life. or the Son Of God. In whom
we have redemption. is not obtained in
that way, but as the free gift Of God
(Rom. Iii, "a; v, II Neither money nor
good works can obtain eternal life.
The cost of our redemption fell wholly
upon Jesus Christ. and by His perfect
life and death In our stead and resur-
rection from the dead He has provided
eternal redemption for all who will re-
ceive Him. We are saved. however. at
so great price in order to become His
disciples, and the cost of being a disci-
pie falls wholly upon the believer, for
it is written, ''Whosoever he be Of you
that forsaketh not all that be hath he
cannot be my disciple G4uke xiv. 33).
Returning to the treasure and the pearl
which Ee obtains by giving up all that
He had. for We know the grace Of our
Lord Jesus Christ that. though He was
rich. yet for your sakes He became
poor that We through His poverty might
be rich" QI Cor. viii, 81. 1t is certainly
true that whatever of value or pre-
ciousness there will be In Israel or the
church 1t will be because of union with
Him In whom alone is any precious
ness. Another phase of truth should
be considered In connection with Is
rael and the church, and that is that
Abraham was promised seed as the
stars of heaven and as the dust Of the
earth or the sand of the sea, heaven
ly and an earthly seed Here also we
see that church, the heavenly. and Is
rael. the earthly. seed. When these
have been fully gathered we shall have
the kingdom ruled over by righteous
king and with Him the church, His
body. and Israel His earthly people.
all righteous
The seventh parable. the net gather
ing Of every kind. may refer to this
whole age or specially to the end of the
age. but the great truth seems to be
the separation Of good and bad The
Lord Jesus did not believe in all who
said that they believed on Him John
II. 1925. and we cannot tell always
who are true and who are not. but the
day will declare 1t. 1t is ours to gath
er all we can. How fearful are the
words about the severing. the furnace
of fire. the waifing and crashing of
teeth (verses Az 80. SO; xii. 10; xiv,
81; XIV, 30. Az. and II the language Is
figurattve what must the reality be? 1t
is most plainly taught in Scripture that
for the righteous there is an eternity
Of bliss and for the wicked who reject
Christ md die In their sins an eterni-
ty Of woe. How important His ques-
ffOD 'Havn va understood oil thoro