The imagery implies a comparatively simple state of society and
primitive treasures. Moths gnaw rich garments. Rust, or more properly
corruption, would get into a man's barns and vineyards, hay-crops and
fruits. Thieves would steal the hoard that he had laid by, for want of
better investment. Or to generalise, corruption, the natural process of
wearing away, natural enemies proper to each kind of possession, human
agency which takes away all external possessions--these multifarious
agents co-operate to render impossible the permanent possession of any
'treasure on earth.'
On the other hand, what a man has laid up in heaven, and what he is
partially here, have no tendency to grow old. Men never weary of God,
never find Him failing, never exhaust truth, never drink the love of God
to the dregs, never find purity palling upon the taste, 'Age cannot
wither, nor custom stale, "their" infinite variety.'
'Treasure in heaven' has no enemies which destroy it. Every earthly
possession has its own foes, every earthly joy has its own destructive
opposite; but nothing touches this treasure in heaven.
It has nothing to fear from men. Nobody can take it out of a man's soul
but himself. The inmost circle of our life is inviolable. It is
incorruptible and undefiled and fadeth not away, for it all comes from
the eternal God and our eternal union to Him. He is our portion for
ever.