The parables addressed to the disciples.
I. THE HIDDEN TREASURE.
1. The story. Treasures were often hidden in fact, still more often in fiction. A man walked through the field; he lighted suddenly on the treasure. He hid it, again. It was his, probably, by right of finding. But in this parable, as in others, not every detail is to be pressed. Earthly stories cannot exactly express every feature of spiritual truth. One parable supplies the omissions of another; taken together, they fill up the picture. His joy was great. He sold all that he had to buy the field, that the treasure might be clearly his beyond doubt and question.
2. The meaning. The field may be the visible Church. It may be the Holy Scriptures. The finder was in the Church. He knew his Bible well, but he had not yet found Christ. The ordinances of the Church were but forms to him; the Bible was like other books. Suddenly, by the grace of God, like St. Paul or St. Augustine, he lights upon the hidden treasure. He recognizes its surpassing value. A great joy fills his heart, a joy deep and entrancing, a glimpse of the gladness of heaven. But there is something awful in that joy, something too sacred for words. At first he dares not speak of it; not through jealousy of others—God forbid!—but through fear lest he should lose it. Loud talk, boasting, spiritual pride, might rob him of the treasure. In deep humility he hides it in his heart. But he sells all that he has. He buys the field. Now the Church is to him the Church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth; now the Bible is precious exceedingly; for the treasure in it is now his. Like St. Paul, he has counted all things else as dross, as very dung, that he might find Christ. He has found him, and in him he has found a treasure precious beyond what words can tell; a hidden treasure, which none can know save those who, like the happy finder, part with all other treasures to make that one holiest treasure theirs forever.
II. THE PEARL OF GREAT PRICE.
1. The merchant. He was anearnest seeker. His life was not aimless. He knew that there is a meaning and a purpose in this our earthly life. It is not to be wasted; it must be used in real work. He was not content to live on from day to day enjoying the passing hour without thought of the future. He was no listless loiterer, but a seeker, seeking ever with steadfast perseverance after the true end of human life. He was thoughtful, earnest, single-hearted; such a seeker sooner or later findeth.
2. The pearl. There were many. But the merchant sought only for goodly pearls. He was a man of high aims from the beginning. Pleasure was not the pearl, nor earthly rank or wealth. But wisdom perhaps attracted him, or the desire of doing good, or the love of wife or child. These were goodly in their degree; but at last, in his search, he found one pearl, in comparison of which all that had seemed most lovely became pale and poor. At once he went, and with calm resolve sold all that he had to make that pearl his own. That pearl is the Lord Christ himself, the one thing needful, the good part which Mary chose, while Martha was careful and troubled about many things. That pearl is beyond comparison of all things goodly the goodliest and the best. He who would buy that pearl must sell all that he has. He must learn to love the Lord his God with all his heart, and to subordinate all other loves to that one holiest love. He must hush into calm the tumult of earthly desires, that the one strong desire of Christ, the Desire of all nations, may fill his heart. To such earnest seekers the pearl of great price is given. Again the parable is not exact in its details; no earthly story can be. Eternal life, which is the knowledge of Christ, is the gift of God. It is a reward altogether overpassing and throwing into shade our utmost efforts. Poor and helpless as we are, we could not buy it, were it not that he giveth the unspeakable Gift, the gift of Christ, without money and without price, to those who seek in persevering prayer and earnest faith. But he is pleased, in his Divine condescension, to speak of us as buying the pearl. He accepts our poor unworthy love, and gives us in return that priceless Gift to be our own.
III. THE NET.
1. Cast into the sea. It was a draw-net, large and long. It gathered of every kind till it was full. The sea is the world; the net is the Church. The net is drawn through the sea till it is filled with fishes. The Church spreads through the world till the number of the elect is accomplished. Till that time the net is in the sea, the Church is in the world. There are many not yet gathered into the net. The sea is wide and large; the net has not yet swept through it. The gospel has not yet been preached over all the earth. There are many dark places where the fishers of men have not yet drawn the net. All waters must be tried. The glad tidings of the kingdom of heaven must be carried everywhere throughout the world. Then shall the end come. The net gathered of every kind. In the Church are good and bad. Men like Judas, or Demas, or Hymenaeus, or Diotrephes, as well as men like St. Peter, or St. John, or St. Paul. Men, too, of all nations, of all conditions of life, manifold in character and circumstances.
2. Drawn to the shore. They sit down, they gather the good into vessels, but cast the bad away. It is a figure of the judgment. Again we hear of the angels, the ministers of God's most awful justice; again we hear of the furnace of fire, of the wailing and gnashing of teeth—words which contain a meaning most fearful, most tremendous.
IV. THE TREASURES OF THE HOUSEHOLDER.
1. The Lord's question. He was teaching his disciples now in private. He asks them, "Have ye understood all these things?" They who are to teach must learn themselves. The true teaching comes only from Christ. The deepest spiritual truths can be learned only by direct intercourse with the Lord. It is well if we can answer, "Yea, Lord." He accepts our imperfect knowledge; imperfect it must be. If only it is real, as far as it goes, it will be the beginning of deeper, holier wisdom.
2. The comparison. The careful householder brings out of his store things new and old; so doth the instructed scribe. The teacher must be a disciple; he must have been instructed in the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven; he must himself be in the kingdom; he must have the kingdom in his own heart. Then he will possess a rich store of true wisdom; and out of that store he will bring things new and old; the old truths, unchanging, ever the same, but in the new light of living, personal experience; old and yet always new; the truths that drew the first disciples to the Lord; the truths that flash with a new light into the heart of each awakened Christian now when first he turns from darkness unto light, from Satan unto God.
V. THE SEVEN PARABLES.
1. "Jesus had finished these parables." The words of the evangelist seem to regard the seven parables as a whole, a cycle of parabolic teaching. The number seven is the number of perfection. The parables fill up and supplement one another. No one human illustration can give an adequate view of the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven. The seven taken together give a complete picture. In the first we see the various characters of men, receptive or unreceptive of the truth. In the second, the agency of the tempter. In the third, the gradual spreading of the kingdom through the world. In the fourth, its inner working in the individual heart. In the fifth it is found by one who sought not for it, in the sixth after diligent inquiry and anxious search; in both we see its exceeding preciousness, a preciousness which makes the Christian willing to sacrifice all for the kingdom's sake. In the seventh we see the consummation of all things, the final separation, the condemnation of the wicked, the glory of the righteous.
2. The historical explanation. We may see a brief Church history in these seven parables. We begin with the first sowing of the Word by the great Sower; then comes the growth of heresy and sin within the Church; then the gradual progress of the Church, spreading itself on every side, silently leavening the framework of society; then we read the history of this or that great saint of God, one lighting suddenly on the hid treasure, another seeking and finding; and at last the judgment. Let us learn of the great Teacher how to read the history of the world, looking back to the first sowing, looking onwards to the coming judgment, diligently seeking for the hid treasure, the pearl of great price.
LESSONS.
1. The treasure is hidden; oh that we may find it! The pearl is of great price; let us count the cost and buy it.
2. The Lord is at hand; prepare to meet him.
3. The true disciple ever learns, for Christ his Teacher is ever with him.