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bear was for eighteen years at work in a carpenter shop.— Brooks. v. 51. Went to Nazareth. The one perfect life is the life lived in Nazareth. — John Stuart Mill. Subject unto them. The marvel of this condescension lies in its coming after such a scene and such an assertion of His higher Son- ship.— J. F. and B. Let the child’s first lesson be obedience and the second shall be what thou wilt.— Quarles. Jesus was the first great teacher of men who showed a genuine sympathy for child hood. When He said, “ Of such is the Kingdom of {leaven,” it was a revela tion.— Eggleston. Jesus lived in the power of the truth that what God wants is not always the big things but to have no will apart from His.— Sel. It is not given to all to serve in public places. The great majority mus tlive their lives outside any prominent sphere and as part of a very small circle of relatives and acquaintances. Jesus was for eight- teen years a carpenter who pleased God. At His baptism, God lit up all the years at Nazareth with the sweet words of approval “ My beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.”—Morgan. v.' 52. Jesus increased. If you want to grow spiritually, bury yourself in the Scriptures.— Simpson! A man is con verted in an instant, but he must grow hy the year.—-Sel. It is while you are resisting little temptations and doing little things that you are growing stronger.— P. Brooks. Dare we let children grow up with no vital contact with the Savior? Not to bring them to Him; not to teach them to walk towards Him as soon as they can walk towards anyone is wronging a child beyond words. Not to help a child to know the saving power of Christ, is tq hold a man back from salvation.— Maltbie Babcock. “ Take my yoke upon you” ¡gathers force and strength from the fidelity of the carpenter shop.—Morgan. Every Ijoy or girl reared in the coun try or small village anticipates a visit
' v. 45. Found him not. When His human parents left, He could not but stay behind where His real parent was. —Torrey. v. 46. Hearing and answering ques tions. As a child, He kept His place, asking and answering questions, hut not teaching. As the Son of His divine Father, He was conscious of being about His Father’s business. As the child of His human mother, He was subject unto her.—-Gray. v. 48. Thy father and I. The great est mistake she made was in mentioning Joseph as “ thy father” . But how sub lime the answer of the twelve year old bqy. He corrects His fallible mother. HiS Father, He declares, is He in whose house He had gone. It is the first self witness to His deity.— Gaebelein. v. 49. How is it ye sought me? Do people know where to find us? Is it necessary to go hunting us? Is there a place where it. is certain we shall be? It should be so for dll of us who pro fess to be' His followers.—Maclaren. My father’s business. The first recorded words of the Lord. The reference is to Psa. 40:5-11, Jn. 4:34) hence the divine necessity. The last recorded words as the Son of Man were, “ It is finished” .— the Father’s business which He came to be about.— Cpmpan. Bible. We cannot touch bottom in this great word from the lips of a boy, but it is clear that as He grew into self consciousness, there came with it the growing Consciousness of His Sonship to the Father in heaven. That-same sense of sonship and father hood must be the very deepest thing in us if we are Christian people after Christ’s pattern. We too can be sons -through Him, and only through Him.— Maclaren. Though the most dutiful, tender and obedient of sons, He was conscious that He was something more than the son of Mary. Jn. 2:3-4.— Torrey. The Son of God, charged with the greatest commission that any human being in heaven or earth ever had to
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