p. 665 | As for Hid Treasures by Charles L. Taylor

Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California · Oct 26, 1915

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 42, No. 42.

“As for Hid Treasures”

By Charles L. Taylor

The Ardent Prospector—His Apparently “Insane” Earnestness—The Still More Valuable Treasures Should Be as Ardently Sought

By CHARLES L. TAYLOR

INSANE! Is that the word? He was a “prospector.” I visited him at his cabin. My first view of the little home revealed various “specimens” brought in from the hills. They were scattered here, there, and everywhere.

To the unschooled mind, those chunks of rock were as so much trash, which should be gathered up and put out of sight as soon as possible. But to that “prospector,” they were all objects of greatest interest. One piece was of quartz, another of porphyry, a third of iron, a fourth of sulphide; but each and all sustained a peculiar relationship to the great subject of earthly treasure.

ENTHUSIASTIC ABOUT HIS TREASURES

Within a few minutes after the welcome to his home, he was busy showing his visitor what he had found. His miner’s hammer was breaking open the chosen specimens, that thus a clearer view might be had of the actual nature of each. Head and heart and hand were all occupied in the effort to reveal the secrets of the business, and to dilate upon the revelation which he was sure the work of the assayer would make.

Then he invited his new friend to take a walk with him up to his “claims” in the mountains. Perhaps the invitation was not altogether appreciated, but for courtesy’s sake it was accepted nevertheless. And so we went out into the wilds of desert, and mountain, and canon, and gulch, and sagebrush, and barrenness, to find larger opportunity for investigation and discussion of the question which to that prospector was paramount—the question of how to find hidden treasure.

MERE HOLE IN THE GROUND

Our journey brought us to a hole in the mountain side. To me it was a very ordinary hole, a very unpromising place indeed. But not so to my host. It was really a wonderful hole in a very wonderful place. Why, he had followed the “float”—loose rock on the surface; and that float was the guide to the ledge; and as the float gave evidence of great values, so the ledge, when found, must contain the unlimited treasure which he sought, and which he must have.

A hole?—No, no! This was the beginning of a great mine. Down in one corner, where he had placed his last blast, he had found the beginnings of the vein of treasure. So he was not satisfied simply to tell me about it, but must jump down and hand up to me an actual sample, that I might see for myself that his story was true. And all the time, he found new things to say about his “prospect.”

CAREFULLY GUARDED HIS CLAIM

To make sure that this “prospect” should not be stolen away, he had erected, according to law, his claim “monuments,” or rock pillars, upon each of which was found a tin box, and in the box a written statement, signed by him, saying that he had “located” this claim, and forbade others to trespass upon his rights.

That prospector talked of naught else, worked at naught else, and apparently thought of naught else, than treasure hidden in the rock. His whole nature was tense over the matter. Noting his apparent indisposition to interest himself in any other question, I asked him one day if he did not think himself slightly insane upon the question of ores. He smiled; but his reply only made plain the fact that he had so long given himself up to seeking gold and silver, that it was impossible for him, apart from grace, to change the bent of his life.

WAS HE INSANE?

Yes, he was insane, if to be given up entirely to one great purpose is insanity. He was a one idea man. Gold seeking was all he knew. And while more than once he had “struck it rich,” only to find that his vein could not be worked except by some man of wealth, to whom it must be sold for a song, yet he always kept on, hoping to find, some day, the life of comfort and ease that he felt ought to be his.

GOD’S ILLUSTRATION

This is God’s illustration of the true way to search for Him—with the exception, of course, that no one shall ever really search in vain. They that seek Him with all the heart “shall find.” They shall find the “good part, which shall not be taken away.” The “one thing needful,” when found, shall be an “everlasting inheritance.”

Think of it—“as for hid treasures”! This is no tame, lifeless conception. It is the insane idea. It is the life-and-death thought. It is that expressed by the apostle when he said, “Forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God, in Christ Jesus.”

Insane?—Yes, call it that if you will; but after all, it is no more than the spirit which filled Jesus’ breast, and made Him long for His baptism of blood, for the complete realization of the purpose He came to accomplish. See Luke 12:50. It is that which puts intensity into the experience. It loosens the tongue to speak for Christ, so that “in season, out of season,” the believer will be making known to others the “values” of the promises of God.

PRAY FOR THE GIFT OF EARNESTNESS

Ah, why should not Christians pray for the gift of earnestness? Why should they allow a poor, uncultured miner to put them to shame? Let us begin anew the search for the hidden gold of life. Let us carefully follow the “float”—the simple and most apparent truths of revelation—treasuring each little gem as we find it, but ever “following on to know the Lord,” knowing that the great “ledge,” the infinite treasure of inexhaustible love and life, awaits the greater efforts of faith. The pick and the shovel, the blasting and the chiseling, the digging and the driving, are absolute prerequisites to the finding of the great ultimates of spiritual values.

BEGIN TO-DAY

To-day is a good time to begin to take others with us in this blessed experience. Let us invite our neighbors and our callers to inspect with us what we have already found. Let us invite them for a walk into the very mountains of prospect, and lead them, if possible, to join us in uncovering the veins of truth, which for ages and generations have been hidden from the gaze of mankind.

Possibly some may think us mad, as Festus thought Paul; but the knowledge that we have really found the mine of character, which yields the imperishable treasure of the world to come, will more than compensate for the reproach, and will keep us to the end. Then we shall be rewarded with the “crown of life, that fadeth not away.”