feast of the passover. And when Jesus was twelve years old, they went up according to the custom of the feast, and remained till it was over. And as they returned, the child Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem. And Joseph and his mother knew it not; but supposing that he was in the company, they went on, a day's journey, and sought him among their relatives and acquaintance. But not finding him, they turned back to Jerusalem, seeking him. And on the third day they found him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the doctors, both hearing them, and asking them questions. And all who

Feast of the Passover.—This was the first of the three great annual feasts of the Jews. It continued eight days, and took place at the full of the moon which occurred at the vernal equinox. It was instituted to commemorate the passing over of the houses of the Israelites, when the first-born of the Egyptians were destroyed: and at it the first-fruits of the barley harvest were offered. The Pentecost, occurred seven weeks, or fifty days later, and commemorated the giving of the Law. At this feast, the first-fruits of the wheat harvest were offered. The Tabernacles, occurred near the end of September, or beginning of October, when the produce of the fields and vineyards had been gathered. It commemorated the sojourn of the Israelites, in tents or tabernacles, in the desert, and was observed as a thanksgiving for the blessings of the year. Every adult Jew, dwelling in Judea, was obliged to attend at each of these feasts, and the numbers at such times assembled at Jerusalem, often exceeded two millions. The people on their way to and from the festivals, travelled in caravans, whole families often going together, and it was no doubt, among one of these caravans, that Mary and her husband sought the boy Jesus, sorrowing.

The Doctors, elsewhere called Scribes, were the authorized expounders of the sacred books of the Jews. Though the Law made it the duty of parents to teach their children its

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THE BIRTH AND YOUTH OF JESUS. heard him were astonished at his understanding and his answers. And when his parents saw him, they were amazed; and his mother said: "Son, why hast thou thus dealt with us? thy father and I have sought thee sorrowing." And he said to them, “ How is it that you have sought me? know you not that I must be about my father's business?" But they understood not what he said to them. And he went down

precepts and principles, the education of the common people consisted of little more than the learning of texts written on phylacteries, the committing to memory of endless genealogies, and such scanty teaching as was given in the synagogues. Of the Scribes, however, a certain sort of erudition was required. At five years of age the child destined for this office was learned to read, at ten, he began the study of the Mishna, and at thirteen was expected to enter the school of some Rabbi at Jerusalem. If poor, he was supported at this school by the synagogue of his town or village. The education was chiefly catechetical, the pupil asking questions and the teacher examining the scholar; and the class-room was a chamber in the Temple, or the Private school of the Rabbi. In teaching, the Rabbi occupied a high chair, and the pupils sat about him, on lower benches, the younger on the ground, and literally "at his feet." Physical science formed a part of the course of instruction; but much more attention was given to the Scriptures, and to the written "traditions of the elders." At the age of thirty, the pupil was solemnly inducted into the "chair of the Scribes," by the imposition of hands, and then was given tablets on which to note down the sayings, of the wise, and, the "key of knowledge," (Luke xi. 52.) with which he was to open and shut the treasures of Divine wisdom. The Scribe might rise to the high places, become an arbitrator of family disputes (Luke xii. 14), the head of a school, a member of the Sanhedrim; or he might sink into an humble transcriber of the Scriptures, or into a

with them to Nazareth, and was subject to their direction; but his mother kept all these things in her

still humbler notary, writing out contracts of sale, or espousals, and bills of repudiation. The more distinguished of the order occupied the highest social position, and in the time of Christ, their passion for distinction was insatiable. Combining within themselves nearly all the energy and thought of Judaism, the close hereditary caste of the priesthood was powerless to compete with them; and, unless a priest became also a Scribe, he remained in obscurity. Under these influences the character of the order was marked by a deep and incurable hypocrisy, which merited the scathing invectives of Jesús. See Smith. Bible Dictionary, and Adam Clark, in loco. In the midst of the Doctors. When teaching in public the Scribes sat on benches of a semi-circular form, raised above their auditors and disciples, so that Jesus was no doubt literally seated in their midst."

Nazareth 66 was a little town, situated in a fold of land broadly open at the summit of the group of mountains which closes on the north the plain of Esdraelon. The population is now from three to four thousand, and it cannot have varied very much. It is quite cold in winter, and the climate is very healthy. Like all the Jewish villages of the time, the town was a mass of dwellings built without pretension to style, and must have presented that poor and uninteresting appearance which is offered by villages in Semitic countries. The houses from all that appears, did not differ much from those cubes of stone, without exterior or interior elegance, which now cover the richest portion of the Lebanon, and which in the midst of vines and fig-trees, are nevertheless very pleasant. The envirous, moreover, are charming, and no place in the world was so well adapted to dreams of absolute happiness. Antoninus Martyr, at the end of the sixth century, draws an enchanting picture of the fertility of the environs, which he compares to paradise. Some valleys on the western side fully justify his description. The fountain about which the life and gayety of the little town formerly centered, has been destroyed; its broken channels now give but a turbid water.

THE BIRTH AND YOUTH OF JESUS.

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heart. And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man.

With the exception of something sordid and repulsive which Ismalism carries with it everywhere, it did not, in the time of Jesus, differ much from what it is to-day. We see the streets in which he played when a child, in the stony paths, or the little squares which separate the dwellings. The house of Joseph, without doubt, closely resembled those poor shops, lighted by the door, serving at once for the work-bench, as kitchen and as bedroom, having for furniture a mat, some cushions on the ground, one or two earthern vessels and a painted chest.

The horizon of the town is limited, but if we ascend a little to the plateau swept by a perpetual breeze, which commands the highest houses, the prospect is splendid. To the west are unfolded the beautiful lines of Carmel, terminating in an abrupt point which seems to plunge into the sea. Then stretch away the double summit which looks down upon Megiddo, the mountains of Gilboa, the picturesque little group with which are associated the graceful and terrible memories of Solam and of Endor, and Thabor with its finely-rounded form, which antiquity compared to a breast. Through a depression between the mountains of Solam and Thabor, are seen the valley of the Jordan and the high plains of Perœa which form a continuous line in the east. To the north, the mountains of Safed, sloping towards the sea, hide St Jean d' Acre, but disclose the gulph of Khaifa. of Jesus. This enchanted circle, the of God, represented the world to him for years. His life, even, went little beyond the limits familiar to his childhood; for, beyond, to the north, you almost see upon the slope of Hermon, Cesarea Philippi, his most advanced point into the Gentile world; and to the south, you feel behind these already less cheerful mountains of Samaria, sad Judea, withered as by a burning blast of destruction and of death." RENAN.

Such was the horizon cradle of the kingdom

Subject to their direction. — The early years of Jesus are

*Luke 2. 40-52.

veiled in obscurity. It is known that his parents were poor, (Luke ii. 24) that his reputed father was an artisan, that he, himself, wrought at his father's trade, (Mark vi. 3.) and that he was not trained in any of the schools of the Jewish nation; (John vii. 15., Matt xiii. 54,) but beyond this, all is conjecture. He probably understood no other language than the Syro-Chaldaic and the ancient Hebrew; and had no other learning than the Old Testament, and the Pharisaic traditions. To attempt to trace the secret of his power to the influence of his time, or the culture of the schools of his nation, as has been done, is worse than useless, for he rises above all times and all schools, and in his world-creative and world-transforming power stands alone in history. Like the New Jerusalem which he founded, "he descended from God out of heaven.