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THE K I NG ' S BUS I NES S kitchen. With utter lack of experience, strength and skill, the child is more of a hindrance than a help. By putting things out of place and even breaking dishes, it makes more work than it saves. What a supreme delight to the mother heart is the patter of the child ish feet and the prattle of the baby voice! How unendurable is the silence in the household when they have ceased! The children of God are dearer to Him than the children of an earthly house hold are to the fondest parent. What a mess we make of our Christian work! What a bother we must be with our stu pidity and perversity! Nevertheless with infinité patience and contentment He rejoices at our presence in His house and our progress in the life of faith. THURSDAY, Jan. 6. Luke 2:39-52. The Childhood of Jesus. The growth and development of Jesus from infancy to maturity was natural and gradual as th a t of any child. There are thirty silent uneventful years before He begins His public ministry. At His baptism God proclaimed Him as His Son and announced His good pleasure in His quiet submissive life. He is our in spiration and example in devotion to duty and filial obedience and uncom plaining patience during the hidden years at Nazareth. It is harder to wait than to act. We may be consciously in the will of God when not engaged in active service. It is possible to bring forth fruit a hundred fold without doing any work a t all. What matters it how men complain and criticise if God ex presses Himself as well pleased? The first and chief concern is to please Him who hath chosen each follower to be a soldier. 2 Tim. 2:4. FRIDAY, Jan. 7. Acts 4:23-30. E ternal Childhood. Life is a pilgrimage from east to west, from the radiant splendors of the sunrise to the gathering dusk of night. As we pass from infancy to maturity and from thence to age the glowing visions of youth fade and disappear. Our best and brightest hope as the evening shades darken around us, is the promise of a coming day whose sun shall not go down. Heaven is rejuvenescence. There will be neither disappointment nor dis illusionment in the land beyond the sea. “ If it were not so, I would have told you.” As a child looks forward eagerly to the toils and cares of manhood, so those of advanced years may anticipate th e time when they shall renew their
youth at the eternal fountains and live the simple happy life of children in the Father’s house. SATURDAY, Jan. 8. Eph. 6:1-10. The Filial Spirit. It is vain to address God as Father and withhold filial reverence and obedi ence. “ If I be a father, where is my honor?” Mai. 1:6. When,we reeeive the Spirit of adoption whereby we cry Abba, Father, we receive a t the same time the Spirit of obedience. The pater nal attitude is always deserving or recognition and response. The only re turn that paternal love should have is filial love. This reciprocal relationship confers happiness upon parent and child. ^The supreme and perfect exam ple is seen in the relationship and fel lowship between God the Father and Christ the Son. In the seventeenth chapter of John, with what unutterable tenderness and fathomless affection does the word “Father” seem to fall from the lips of the well beloved Son! We may properly invoke the Almighty as the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ before we address Him as our own. SUNDAY, Jan. 9. Matt. 18:15-22. Jesus Teaching Forgiveness. A certain Indian about to be bap tized, lifted his right arm, above his head th a t it might not be submerged. The missionary expostulated with him and inquired the reason. “That hand,” said he, “I keep for my foe.” Though the savage seemed to understand the significance of baptism, he could hardly have been converted. There is no bet ter evidence of conversion than the for giveness of one’s enemies. When smart ing from a sense of injury, the victim of unjust and cruel treatm en t,'the butt of ridicule and the object of contempt, it seems impossible to stifle a feeling of resentment and to resist an impulse to retaliate in kind. It is impossible for the unsaved man who knows nothing of the grace and forgiveness of God. The Christ who forgave and prayed for His tormentors can generate the same spirit and repeat the act in the life of every follower of His. “Forgiving one another even as God for Christ’s sake hath for given you.” MONDAY, Jan. 10. Matt. 18:23-35. The Ungracious Servant. In the action of this servant, there is not so much a failure in righteousness as a falling from grace. This made it
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