Mother Stories from the New Testament | Page 7

another country. He asks

them if they have any goodly pearls for sale, and one man opens his
box and takes out this "pearl of great price." It is just the kind of pearl
the merchant had been seeking, so he quickly produces his two bags of
gold and offers them to the man for his pearl. But the man smiles.
"What! part with so large and so beautiful a pearl for two bags of
gold?" He could not think of it. The pearl is again placed in its box, and
the merchant has to go away disappointed. But the longing to have that
pearl is too great. A thought occurs to him. He will go home and sell all
that is his, and the money he shall thus obtain, added to his two bags of
gold, will surely buy the precious jewel.
And so it is with men when they seek that pearl of pearls, the
forgiveness of God. They will give up a great deal in order to obtain it,
but they find that God requires them to give up everything that is sinful
or worldly. And if their hearts are really set upon obtaining it, they will
do as this merchant did, and part with everything that would hinder
them from coming to God, or walking in the way that leads to heaven.
[Illustration: THE MERCHANT SEEKING GOODLY PEARLS.]

THE PARABLE OF THE NET.
These fishermen have just returned to shore with their net full of fish.
Now this is not a casting-net, which is thrown out from the boat and
drawn in again, but a drag-net which is of great length, and which is
drawn constantly through the water until it is well filled with fish. It is
then hauled up to the shore, and the fishermen sit around it, and take
out the fish. Many of these, of course, are unfit for food, or not liked.
They cast those into the sea again, but the good fish which they can sell
for food are carefully placed in vessels brought for the purpose.
Christ said, "The kingdom of heaven is like unto a net, that was cast
into the sea, and gathered every kind (of fish): which, when it was full,
they drew to shore, and sat down, and gathered the good into vessels,
but cast the bad away. So shall it be at the end of the world: the angels
shall come forth, and sever the wicked from among the just, and cast

them into the furnace of fire. There shall be wailing and gnashing of
teeth."
At another time Jesus taught His disciples the same truth; when He
spake of His coming and of the gathering of all nations before Him, the
good entering into eternal life, but the wicked being cast away. "When
the Son of Man shall come in His glory," said Jesus, "and all the holy
angels with Him, then shall He sit upon the throne of His glory. And
before Him shall be gathered all nations; and He shall separate them
one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats. And
He shall set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left."
[Illustration: THE PARABLE OF THE NET.]

THE MAN POSSESSED BY DEVILS.
One day Jesus came with His disciples in a boat to the country of the
Gadarenes, near Galilee. They landed near the tombs, that is, caverns
cut into the rock, where the dead were buried. And there met them a
man, who, for a long time, had been possessed by many unclean spirits.
He lived in the tombs and wore no clothes. He had been so fierce and
wild that his friends had been obliged to chain him up, but he had burst
his fetters, and the devils had driven him out to the tombs.
Jesus bade the unclean spirits to come out of the man. And when the
man caught sight of Jesus, he cried out, and fell down before Him,
saying, "What have I to do with Thee, Jesus, Thou Son of God most
high? I beseech Thee to torment me not."
And Jesus asked him his name. And he said, "Legion," because many
devils were in him. They besought Jesus that He would not make them
go into the sea, but would let them enter into a herd of swine that were
feeding on the cliffs close by. He suffered them to do so, and the devils
went out of the man and entered into the pigs, and the whole herd ran
violently over the cliff into the water and were drowned. And when the
herdsmen saw what was done, they fled into the city and told all the

people. Then the people came out to Jesus, and