"her ways are

tress, as she leadeth you to truth, that ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace." Go ye out into the fields; ponder ye in the universe: be ye on the mountain; by the river, meandering in pleasantness; listen ye to every creature; be filled your veins with the warmth of the bright luminary that is above you; be wetted with the dews, the soft rains, that to the beauteousness of earth are a refreshing and a sustenance; and know, that to you is given an intelligence to observe all these. And shall ye not then be led forth to higher fields of thought, to more expansive ranges for your intelligence-to a closer study? And shall ye not discover that God is around you, and in you? that he educes you to a consideration concerning his own being? and thence the perception will arise, which is not transitory, that of Him, as in the participation of his love, ye are an assimilation: and upon this foundation will be established the knowing, and the doing, of your earthly duties.

THE YOUTHFUL HOME OF JESUS.

FAMILY CHRISTIAN CULTURE.

LUKE, 2nd chapter, 41st verse to end.

"Now his parents went to Jerusalem every year at the feast of the passover. And when he was twelve years old, they went up to Jerusalem after the custom of the feast. And when they had fulfilled the days, as they returned, the child Jesus tarried behind in Jerusalem; and Joseph and his mother knew not of it. But they, supposing him to have been in the company, went a day's journey; and they sought him among their kinsfolk and acquaintance. And when they found him not, they returned back again to Jerusalem, seeking him. And it came to pass, that after three days they found him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the doctors, both hearing them, and asking them questions. And all that heard him were astonished at his understanding and answers. And when they saw him, they were amazed; and his mother said unto him, Son, why hast thou thus dealt with us? behold, thy father, and I have sought thee sorrowing. And he said unto them, How is it that ye sought me? wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business? And they understood not the saying which he spake unto them. And he went down with them, and came to Nazareth, and was subject unto them: but his mother kept all these sayings in her heart. And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man."

I HAVE taken these words, as altogether narrating an incidence, to me, of much importance. Of course, you are aware of the circumstance of the cause of the requirement, that by the law of Moses, every adult

male of the house of Israel, was required yearly to be present at Jerusalem, and there to join in the observance of the feast of the passover, which was a festival kept in remembrance of the deliverance of the Hebrews from their bondage in Egypt; or, of the time, when they left Egypt, and were constituted a nation. Thus, in the narrative quoted, we are informed, that the parents of Jesus, went every year to Jerusalem, at the feast of the passover. How natural an incident, and surely it shows the affectionate connection between the parents of Jesus, and their pious regard of the observance, that his mother should go with his father on such an occasion: and especially, what an evidence of their initiating their child into the sentiments of their religious observance, that at the age of twelve years Jesus should accompany them! It is a lovely, warm picture of parental solicitude, or of their enduing the mind of their child with the views of the faith which was their own solace.

It is also a not unlikely circumstance, that, when the parents missed Jesus, in his not being with them in their journeying back to Nazareth; they might consider him to be with some of their immediate friends, who were of the company, returning from the feast; and that not until the end of the day, when they would stay for rest during the evening, discovering then that he was not among them, they returned, anxiously, to Jerusalem, seeking him. Neither is there any improbability of the truth of the narration, that it was after three days that they found him; the great city emptying itself of the vast multitudes who had flocked to her, from all quarters at

that annual, notable commemoration. But the place at which they found him, and the occupation in which he was engaged, are to us notable circumstances. I confess, that, to me, when a child, and in many subsequent years, it read strangely, and was doubtfully regarded by me, that they found him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the doctors, both hearing them, and asking them questions. They appeared as impossible circumstances,-there being nothing about me, neither is there now anything in society around us, to shew, that, with any one, such incidentes could take place. There is not the opportunity to take one's station in our temples, or places for religious services, among the doctors, or the accredited teachers of religion, and thus to be both hearing them, and asking them questions.

They

do not so meet; and, if they did, it is a fair inference, from what we know, that they would not allow of such interferences. The attempt would be treated as an impertinence; and especially in a youth, or a child, of twelve years.

It is necessary, then, to seek for information, concerning the incidences, in the narrative, of the child Jesus being found in the temple, sitting in the midst of the doctors, both hearing them, and asking them questions.

The temple at Jerusalem was not appropriated only for the purposes of the services of religion. Its uses were various. Its compartments were numerous. I have, on some previous occasions, informed you variously of their nature. Suffice it then now to observe, that the rabbi, or the learned of the nation,

were in the daily habit of meeting to discuss, or to have conference concerning, their laws, or their holy books; and that in their schools, in their syna-. gogues, it was customary with them, to encourage the people, and especially the young, whom they looked upon as their pupils, to ask for information, and to give also their opinions. There was a portion of the temple which was so appropriated. The usual mode was, that the rabbi, or learned in their laws, &c., sat on raised or elevated seats, on a kind of platform; and the people, or their pupils, on seats ranged below them, which was called sitting at their feet; a term, you will remember, of ordinary occurrence in the New Testament, in this sense: as, for instance, sat at the feet of Jesus, &c.; and of Paul, it is said, that he was brought up at the feet of Gamaliel, who was one much renowned for his learning. It was in such circumstances that the child Jesus was found, by his parents, sitting amidst, or which, to give you the true position, might be rendered, with, or before, the "doctors, both hearing them, and asking them questions" as I have explained, that it was an ordinary circumstance for some of the people, and especially for some of the young, to be thus occupied. The narration, you will observe, does not imply that there was anything unusual in such a like, circumstance, with Jesus: but the incidence which was notable of him is, that "all who heard him, were astonished at his understanding and answers. And," of his parents it is said, "when they saw him, they were amazed: and his mother said unto him, Son, why hast thou thus dealt with us? behold, thy father and I have sought