1111 right Influences, e.s that the tre.nsition from childhoo<l to youth shall be marked by e. new glanoe upward, e. loving e.nd earnest "My Father" I II. Further, NOTJll THE SUPREME INTEREST OJ' THE Llll'E, It mRtt.ers not whether we rm\<l "a.bout my Father's business" or " in my Father's house ; " the idea is tho same -that the Irresistible e.ttraction of the Son is the e.ffairs which connect him with the Father, At twelve years of age the business was "hearing and asking questions." 'fhere is nothing forced or forwarrl in the holy childhood. The "understanding anrl answers" are pronounced wonderful. But the Boy is only the "son of the Law;" he is not yet the Doctor. By-and-by he will be. Later on, he will be called to drink the bitter cup-to suffer and die. But everything in Its right order. The life will evolve out of tl;ie principle that, in all, the Father's will is to rule, the Father's mind is to be read, the lt'ather's kingdom is to he promoted. Here, surely, there is a suggestion as to the idea which should dominate in the education of the young. At home and at school, all culture, all trainin11:, should be associated with a higher reference; the boy, the girl, should feel that the life is among the heavenly Father's thinzs. The sense of responsibility to him for the nature, and the opportunity of improving the nature, should be laid deep in the cha.racier, More than this, the generous instincts of youth should be supplied with a fitting aliment. Too often they run to seed because the intelligence was not enlisted in objects which formed a definite interest to the mind. Let young people be taken to their Father's house; let Church services re- cognize their place and part; let them be invited to a share in the hopes and the activities of Christ's ce.UBe, Plant them in the courts of the Lord, "in their Father's things." III. Once more, OBSERVE THE, SUl'BEME NECESSITY OJ' THE SPIRIT OJ' THE LIFE IN THE BoY JESUS. "Why hast thou thus dealt with us?" asks his mother reproach- fully. "How is it that ye sought me?" is the rejoinder; "wist ye not that I must be where and as you find me?" ·we note the surprise in the answer. It is the fla.sh- ing forth of a something, a secret, in the childhood which the mother had not noticed, Bo simple, so obedient, bad the Child been. To the Boy, so full of the i:lories and solemnities of the Father's house, it seemed strl\nge that they had not recognized whose he was-that they had not understood the obligation inlaid in the life itself. And when the constraint of God's love is acknowledged, when the soul awakes to the vision of the Father and the Father's business,-the spell of Christ's "I must" is irresistible. '\,Ve come on it again and again in the course of the ministry. It was the law of the spirit of the life. And the same law operates in every one who is of the truth. In that sweet bondage stands the soul's perfect freedom : " I must work the works of him that sent me; " "I must be about my Father's business." Then, in perfect natural- ness, yet with marvellous boldness, comes forth the first self-revelation of the Lord. Joseph and Mary understood it not. How often is the young heart, a.roused and astir In consequence of a higher call, misunderstood, misjudged I Mary did not comprehend, hut she sympathized ; she loved and prayed. Type of the true mother, "whose eyes are homes of silent prayer." The sense of the higher sonship only enforces the obligations of the lower. In the higher love all other loves endure. "This is love,'' says St. John, " that we walk after his commandments "-alter" the first commandment with promise, Honour thy father and mother." There is nothing lovelier in the human life of Christ than th·e renewed acceptance of the restraints of home. "He went down with them, and came to Nazareth, and was subject unto them "-to them, with the narrow round of their daily care and concerns; and he with the great thoughts glowing in his breast, and the kingdom of his Father opening to his gaze. Mark : 1. What self-repression. belmged to the Ume in Nazareth I We see the Son taking the place in the carpenter's house a few years later than the visit to the temple; Jo11eph apparently is removed by death from the headship of the house. ls it beyond the probabilities of the case that he performed the part-al ways a touching one-of the eldest son and \Jrother supporting the mother to whom he is subject, and guiding the younger members of the family? Nothing is left undone, and he who thus learned obedience to duty leaves an example which serves as a beacon-light both to youth and age. 2. How this time consecrat~s lnbour and poverty I He wrought at the common things; in them he could see his B'nther's things, and do all as part of his Father's.business. The truth receiv~ • ndw raJiance thBt "work is the girdle of manliness," Faber sings truly- 50 THE GOSPEL ACOORDING TO BT. LUKE. [OR, JL 1--Ga,
" Labour ill 1weet, for thou hut tolled : And oare i8 light, for thou haat oared. Let not our worka with aelf be eoiled, Nor in unsimplo ways enan&red." /\. IIow emphaffe u the 1-on on the /t'tJ,if/ulnesa of silence euggested by lhu time I Between twelve years of age and thirty the Son of God was content to wait. The pnbli~ life l&Sted for three years; he waited for thirty yoara. A groat disproportion, w~ might say; _but ~oo'e ways a.re not our ways. All the while he was growing in wmlnm. As h18 bodily strength was compocted and matured, eo was his mental • for in all things be was ma.de like to his brethren. He·studied his Father's Word and his Fat\Jer's works._ Nature disclosed to him her bidden meanings and beauties; he thought. he pra_,·cd, he lived, by the Father. The results of the long silence were evidenced in the exquisite parables of later years, in the wisdom which none could resist in the authority which separated hie doctrine from that of the scribes. 'l'he a.ccu~ula.ted capital was great; when he went fon.. in the power of the Spirit he only drew the interest. Are we not, in these de.ye, in too great ha.,te both to be wise and to be rich? Do we not speak too soon as well as speak too much? Carlyle only apprehends the significance of Nazareth when he reminds UB that in silence a.11 great thought and work are done. We need more than" flashes of silence." Think, think of Jesus silent eo long. Stier exclaims, " Oh what gracious words may have issued from hie lips during those eighteen years which are not recorded I But the words which, by the Father's ordination, he was to testify to the world were sealed up till his hour was come. Then, one after another, bursts forth ea.eh as it were a. deeper stream from the Ion" pent-up foWJ.tains of eternal wisdom and truth In °