do, do all to the glory of God."

* * * * *

From a circumstance not expressly mentioned in the parable, but
obviously contained in the nature of the case, springs a thought of
tender and solemn import. The piece of leaven was hid in the meal, and
the whole quantity, in consequence, was converted into leaven; but the
leaven will not spread through meal that is dry; the meal is not
susceptible, receptive, until it is saturated with water.

Within some persons, some families, some congregations, some
communities, the leaven of truth has been deposited for a long time, and
yet they are not moved, they are not changed. The leaven remains as it
came, a stranger; all around, notwithstanding its presence, is still, is
dead. It is when the Spirit is poured out as floods that the leaven of
the kingdom spreads with quickening, assimilating power. I will pour out
my Spirit upon you, saith the Lord: the promise is sent to generate the
prayer, as a sound calls forth an echo. Behold, I come quickly, says
Christ: Even so, come, Lord Jesus, respond Christians. Catch the promise
as it falls, and send it back like an echo to heaven. I will pour out my
Spirit upon you: Pour out thy Spirit, Lord, on us, as floods on the dry
ground; so shall the word already lying in our Bibles and our memories
run and be glorified in our life and through our land.

V.

THE HIDDEN TREASURE.

"Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hid in a field; the
which when a man hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth
and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field."--MATT. xiii. 44.

These two parables, the hidden treasure and the costly pearl, are even
more closely allied to each other than the two which precede them.

Generically they teach the same truth; but they teach it with distinct
specific differences. It will be most convenient to notice in connection
with the first, the lessons that are common to both; and in connection
with the second, the points of distinction between them.

These twin parables, then, exhibit on the one hand the intrinsic
preciousness of the Gospel, and on the other the high esteem in which
that precious thing is held by a spiritually quickened man. They set
forth first how valuable the kingdom of God is, and next how much it is
valued by those who know its worth.

These two, along with the concluding representation of the general
judgment, were spoken, not