further improvement in the divine law, had led him to the temple, to consult the wisdom of Israel's sages, who, with all their wisdom, were amazed at the understanding and answers of the child. Yet, though he thus gained the respect and attention of these masters of Israel, he was immediately attentive to the solicitude of his mother, who addressed him in the language of gentle reproof, expressive of the sorrow and anxiety which his absence had occasioned. did not impatiently resist the authority which she claimed, but his reply was calculated to express the superior claim of his heavenly Father, as well as that her fears were ungrounded, since he was under the protection of God. "How is it that

He

ye sought me? Wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business?"

It will readily be allowed, that the conciseness of the sacred narrative often tends to give to expressions like those of Mary and of Jesus, something, which to our ears, accustomed to the language of our own day, may seem to partake of harshness. But we may rest assured that no such feeling was indulged either by the Saviour or his mother. The language of Mary was the outpouring of a mother's anxiety, who in the absence of that Son whom she loved, forgot every thing but the impressions of the moment, and sought only to regain her Child. The answer of Jesus was an appeal to her own experience, to

her knowledge of his character, of his mission, and of his habits. "How is it that ye sought me with such sorrow and alarm? You know whence I am, and that I am indeed the Son of God; you know from the very name which I bear, that I have a mission of a spiritual import. You know that those angels who announced my birth, are engaged to protect me; that already, no designs formed against me have prospered; and that God has marvellously interposed to ensure my safety. Why then distrust the protection which I have hitherto enjoyed? And as ye know also that I have been always devoted to the service of God, and yet have never neglected or despised you, ye might have conjectured that nothing but the superior claim of my heavenly Father, nothing but the anxious desire of hastening on the work of preparation for my approaching ministry, could have caused my absence. This might at least have calmed your anxiety, and soothed your sorrow, and under these feelings you might naturally have sought me in this place, in the very house that my Father, whose work it is, and shall be, my meat and drink, to perform." Though his parents did not understand this at the time, yet surely it is only consistent with the rest of the narrative, and with the loveliness of his character, to give this meaning to his answer. For we read that he went down with them to Nazareth, and there abode in duti

ful intercourse with his mother and his reputed father. He was subject to them; and while Mary pondered over the wonderful things which she had heard and seen, the child Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man. He grew up to manhood, as of poor and lowly parentage, yet eminent for knowledge and piety. He sought not earthly distinction or perishable wealth; but he showed with his increasing years the grace that dwelt within him; and manifested, as he grew in stature, the more complete developement of that wisdom, to which some of the wisest, and perhaps best of Israel's teachers, had listened with admiration and regard.

Before we proceed to deduce the more obvious lessons from this subject, we may remark the view, which the contemplation of the youth of Jesus gives us, of the value and the capacities of the human soul.

For the salvation of that soul was Christ content thus to submit to the infirmities of human nature. He took upon him our flesh; not only in the vigour and strength of manhood, not in the splendour of majesty and power, but in the weakness of infancy and in the lap of poverty. Those mighty hands that had spread out the heavens like a curtain were stretched out in the feebleness of a child; that voice which had spoken in the morning of creation, and worlds

had started into existence, condescended to ask instruction; that wisdom which had ordained the stars their courses, was employed gradually to unfold the faculties of an infant's mind. Who then shall say to what treasures of divine wisdom the soul of man may be admitted? Who shall say to what advancement in holy knowledge she may attain? Who shall set limits to that pursuit of the truth, which Jesus has himself sanctified by his example, and facilitated by his grace? If we are taught that even our mortal bodies shall be changed into his likeness, through the spiritual union of our souls with him, who shall doubt that a corresponding expansion of intellectual enjoyment may be among the brightest rewards of those, who seek to be transformed into his image, and desire only his approbation. If we could duly feel the holy energy, which this thought should give to our zealous cultivation of that wisdom which is from above, how should we direct all our exertions to the promotion of such a glorious object! how should we study the details of his sacred character, and, praying for that growth in holiness, of which his increase in wisdom and stature was the earnest and the type, we should be made, by the renewing influence of his grace, and according to the measure of his spirit, perfect even as he is perfect, and pure even as he is pure.

We may learn, from this narrative, the beauty

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and the excellence of early piety and of filial love. The single circumstance connected with the youth of Jesus Christ, which is thus recorded in the authentic history of his life, is calculated to impress us with the deepest sense of the supreme importance of that divine knowledge, which made him the child of God's acceptance and love. To ponder over the prophetic descriptions of that ministry which he was about to undertake, to seek, by meditation and by prayer, the necessary preparation for the difficulties and dangers of his office, these were doubtless the employments in which he delighted, and from which, not even the necessities of his reputed parents could altogether distract the inward workings of his soul. And when the solemn festival of his nation called him, probably for the first time since his infancy, to the city of God, we read not that he sought out the scenes of pleasure and of gaiety, which might have allured a less holy mind, but the pursuit that was evidently the all-engrossing subject of his care, was here even more zealously undertaken. To sit at the feet of those holy men, in whom almost the last spark of Israel's sacred flame expired along with the fading glory of her national power; to catch, as it were, the last breath of that piety which still lingered around the courts of God; and thus to renew his own ardent affection for his heavenly Father, in the sanctuary of his pre