give up business, gain, even livelihood, for what? Nay, the reason was not given; there was no inducement added; there was but the plain command, "Follow Me!" And what did Matthew the publican? He did, and at once, that which the Master bade. According to the world's way of looking at things, his conduct might seem rash, unbusiness-like, absurd. But there was that within him which whispered a higher wisdom than that of the world's maxims, Jesus spake and Matthew heard, "And he left all, rose up, and followed Him." And all life was changed for him thenceforward, Matthew the publican became St. Matthew, the Apostle and Evangelist, aye, the first who wrote out the Gospel, the glad tidings, for us to read and hear hundreds of years after those eye witnesses have passed from earth. From that memorable moment, I say, he followed Christ, and hereafter he shall follow the Lamb whithersoever He goth. And he has become one of the twelve foundation stones of the holy city, new Jerusalem; and of that temple which is built upon the foundation of the apostles and "prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief 66 corner stone." " St. Matthew seems to be a remarkable illustration of the imagery of the text. He was not, we gather, a merchantman seeking goodly pearls, dissatisfied with what the world offered, and resting not until the one pearl of great price had been attained. He seems to have been quietly pursuing his occupation, with little thought beyond it. Digging in the field, as it were, he came suddenly and unexpectedly upon a treasure beyond price, and for joy thereof he gladly gave up all he had, to make that treasure his own. St. Matthew gave up all, then, to become the possessor of this treasure. And be we sure that this beautiful history may be and is acted still, sometimes, again and again in God's Church,less visibly and openly, but not less really. So men, plodding through the world on their daily business, their daily digging, may light, at some turn in life, upon that which changes life for them. They had been placed, it is true, in the field of opportunities and advantages, in the field of God's Church, but they knew not, amid the monotonous circle of common duties, amid the surrounding traffic, and the pleasure-seeking, and the sin,-of the treasure buried in the field. At last God's Spirit sud denly or gradually took the scales from their eyes, opened their hearts to perceive, and behold, they discovered what a treasure lay hid in that which had seemed to them but a bare field; and the base land was transformed into a jewel-chest; and they hesitated no longer, but with joy gave up all, in order to possess that surpassing good. Often, before, they had walked over, had been near the good news which the Church has in its keeping, but not yet had they in their own experience found it; far less made it their own. Partakers in an indifferent way of outward observances, perhaps; hearers with the ear; the heart had not been touched; they had not found the treasure yet. But when they once know what the field contains, how different and changed does this itself become to them! What life in the Church's ordinances, its ordinary and special services, its prayers and praises, its Sacraments and teaching; and no sacrifice of time, ease, pleasure, money, toil, is too much to make the found treasure in deed and very truth their own. Thus there have been and are cases in which the lover of money, he who hitherto has cared chiefly for getting or hoarding, comes upon this treasure. His heart hears this command to wake up to that which he is already pledged to do; and to leave the absorbing and sole pursuit of things which cannot profit really; and to come, for the true riches, even for treasure in heaven which faileth not, to Him Who has so long stood speaking, but whose voice was for a long time lost upon the bent head and busy heart. At last, however, the gaze was raised from the money bench; and the look of those grave eyes was met, and the command of that kind voice sank into the soul. Not always, even then, was the ready resolve and quick action of St. Matthew repeated; perhaps there was an indecision, a reluctance; and the Form passed on, and the crowd swept by, and there was a resistance of months or days. But, I am speaking now of cases, the rarer cases, like that of St. Matthew;not of those commoner ones, in which, after a strong impression made, the crowding world comes back, when the lonely voice has gone, and, though with secret uneasiness, the treasure is let go by, and the plodding toil preferred. No, sometimes, when the stream has passed by, and the Look and the Voice are far away, and the crush of life's business would press into the heart again, there are cases when that heart, once opened to hear the Lord's command, cannot rest until it is obeyed. At once, some struggle, all that eager strife after times; sometimes after a impedes is left, and the earth's riches forsaken, and the digger of mere earth has gone after the hid treasure, and the soul has left the world's traffic and has arisen and followed Him. Needs not now-a-days indeed to give up life's occupations and possessions, literally, as St. Matthew did. But they are no longer the one chief end of life; they are indeed held in trust for God; every opportunity of laying them out in His service and to His glory is no longer shunned, but sought and thoroughly employed, and if in very deed the need came which demanded that all should be left to follow Christ, the word would scarce be spoken before the bench of custom was empty for whoever might occupy it, and the happy follower with joy pressing on in the footsteps of his Lord. Thus is it, in some cases, with the seeker of money, I do not mean merely the miser, but him to whom business is the chief thing, and that whether in a large or a small way. When he raises his head, and sees the look and hears the voice; when, amid his digging, he lights upon the one |