mote their temporal comfort, but secure their daily happiness. We have here a beautiful example of filial obedience, and the most impressive enforcement of this sacred duty. "Honour thy father and thy mother;" "Ye shall fear every man his mother, and his father;" "Honour thy father and thy mother, as the Lord thy God hath commanded thee." I Disobedience to parents is a sin which ensures the Divine wrath. "Cursed be he that setteth light by his father or his mother." 2 As the family is the foundation of all wellordered civil society, and as obedience is the essential element of all peaceful government, the inspired apostle has made filial obedience a universal duty: "Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right. Honour thy father and mother; which is the first commandment with promise; that it may be well with thee." "Children, obey your parents in all things: for this is well pleasing unto the Lord." 3 In this respect also we have the example of Jesus, enforced by another 1 Exod. xx. 12; Lev. xix. 3; Deut. v. 16. 2 Deut. xxvii. 16. 3 Ephes. vi. I, 2; Col. iii. 20. apostle as the great rule of life: "Leaving us an example, that ye should follow His steps." 1 I The Scriptures favour us with another instructive glimpse by which we learn more of the conduct of our Lord during those years over which the veil is so closely drawn. Immediately after His temptation "Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee." "And He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up: and, as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read." 2 Mark the words,-"As His custom was." This incidental phrase carries our thoughts back into the years over which the veil is spread. During these years He was faithful in His attendance upon the public worship of God. His youth and early manhood were exemplary. As often as the Sabbath returned, and the doors of the synagogue were opened, Jesus was found in His place there. When advanced to maturity, according to the custom of the day, He would in His turn 2 Luke iv. 14, 16. I I Pet. ii. 21. "stand up for to read," and take part in the public service. On this particular occasion there was delivered to Him the book of the prophet Esaias, and when He had opened the book He found the place where it is written, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me." I "And He began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears." 2 He who said unto John the Baptist, “It becometh us to fulfil all righteousness," was doubtless faultless, both in form and spirit, in His careful obedience to all the requirements of the law. The command was peremptory: "Three times in the year all thy males shall appear before the Lord God." 3 "Three times in a year shall all thy males appear before the Lord thy God in the place which He shall choose; in the feast of unleavened bread, and in the feast of weeks, and in the feast of tabernacles." 4 To rebuke the fear that, the land being thus left defenceless, their enemies would seek upon these occasions to despoil them, the Divine promise was given : Isa. lxi. 1-3. 2 Luke iv. 21. 4 Deut. xvi. 16.. "Neither shall any man desire thy land, when thou shalt go up to appear before the Lord thy God thrice in the year."" The people's confidence was fortified by the assurance that there was no danger of loss whilst cheerfully obeying the command to worship God. We can scarcely doubt that Jesus was obedient, and that He, unostentatiously, regularly appeared among the multitude with the appointed sacrificial offerings. A specific ordinance says, They shall not appear before the Lord empty." "And none shall 2 appear before Me empty."3 The requirement was, "An half shekel shall be the offering of the Lord. The rich shall not give more, and the poor shall not give less."4 This tribute was the ransom of the soul. The amount raised was for the service of the Tabernacle.5 It was a memorial to make atonement. Thus benevolence and worship were united. In this our Lord failed not. The apostle Paul shows that in Christianity also, the union of benevolence and worship is obligatory. “Upon the first day of the week let every one of you 2 Deut. xvi. 16. Exod. xxxiv. 24. 3 Exod. xxiii. tj. 5 Exod. xxx. 16. lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come." I The eighteen silent years, then, are not barren of instructiveness. They teach us, as nothing else can, the dignity of manual labour, the beauty and value of filial obedience, and the importance of regular attendance upon public worship, with readiness to bear our part in its maintenance by our contributions. and personal service. To our Lord, in His human nature, these were years of discipline, obedience, and patient waiting. The first recorded public utterance of our Lord, when entering upon the veiled eighteen years, had been, "Wist ye not that I must be about My Father's business?" When He next appears, His language is, "It becometh us to fulfil all righteousness." After He had entered upon His public ministry, He said, "I have a baptism to be baptized with." It was the baptism of blood. "And how am I straitened (pained) till it be accomplished!"3 On the mountain, when transfigured, when "the fashion of His countenance 2 Luke ii. 49. 3 Luke xii. 50. I Cor. xvi. 2. |