I. SUNDAY AFTER EPIPHANY.

TEXT: 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 turned 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 favor with God and man. Luke 2, 41-52.

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The imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth." These words the Lord spake after the deluge, when He smelled the sweet savor of Noah's burnt-offering. Man is of a corrupt nature, and hence it necessarily follows that "every imagination of the thoughts of his heart is only evil continually." Gen. 6, 5. This corruption which is in the nature of man naturally begins to exert itself early in his very infancy. To this Solomon bears witness, saying: "Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child," and of himself and the Ephesians St. Paul says: We were by nature the children of wrath, even as others." This is the testimony which God Himself bears concerning the childhood and youth of man, and its truth is attested by the experience of all ages. Excepting our Lord Jesus Christ there was never a child born upon this earth whose heart was not prone to all manner of evil. Where is the mother who does

not know that a child is inclined to do just that very thing which it is forbidden to do? If not that which is good is early implanted into the heart nothing will grow in it save only the weeds of wickedness and vice. How some can assert that children are innocent and have no sin is hard to understand. Infants are indeed innocent in comparison to grown up sinners, but to say that they are without sin is contrary to the declaration of the Lord: "That which is born of the flesh, is flesh," and what it brings forth will self-evidently be on the same order. "The child is a chip of the old block," and in youth the evil propensities of nature are peculiarly active.

By the grace of God there have been many who were pious and virtuous in their youth, as we see in Joseph, Daniel, Timothy, the virgin Mary and many others. And there are still many young people of praiseworthy piety and virtue, but their piety is not of natural growth. They are made pious by a godly education and the work of the Holy Ghost in the heart. On the other hand we have numerous examples of great men of God who had to regret the sins of their youth with bitter tears. When David, the man after the heart of God, looked back to his youthful days he was constrained to sigh: "Remember not the sins of my youth, nor my transgressions." Ps. 25, 7. Job, whose piety the Scriptures laud so highly, in the days of his affliction said: "Thou writest bitter things against me, and makest me to possess the iniquities of my youth." Job 13, 26. St. Augustine, one of the greatest divines the church ever had, could think of his youth only with tears of remorse and shame. But why multiply examples? Is it not a fact that many of the most God fearing Christians must lament over some grievous sin committed in their younger years, or must even sorrow over an entirely misspent and lost youth? Legion is the name of those who must sink into an early grave covered with disgrace, or must carry bodily sufferings unto old age, because of missteps made in their youth.

Never was the truth of this word: "The imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth," more patent than in our times. Newspapers and statistical tables demonstrate this to

an evidence. Not only is impurity, stubbornness against parents and superiors and other sins daily on the increase, the number even of heinous crimes perpetrated by mere striplings is continually growing. It is no more an unheard of or even a rare thing that murders and burglaries are committed by boys. Yea verily, the heart of man is evil from his youth, and Paul prophesied truthfully when he described the generations of "the last days" as being "proud, disobedient to parents, unthankful, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God." 2 Tim. 3, 1.

Woe, therefore, would be unto all men, if there were not a Savior of youth. But thanks be to God that our Lord Jesus Christ is a Savior not of the old only, but also of the young. Our to-day's Gospel speaks to us of our youthful Savior, and it pictures Him in colors which may well delight our eyes and console our hearts. Let us see what this text tells us of

THE HOLY CHILDHOOD OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST.

Permit me to state:

I.

In what His holiness consisted; and

II. What salutary use we should make of it.

I.

Our Lord Jesus Christ possesses a threefold holiness or righteousness. He possesses the essential holiness of His divine nature, which He has in common with the Father and the Holy Ghost. As the true God He is holy in His nature from eternity to eternity; yea, He is even holiness itself. Secondly, He possesses the perfect holiness of His human nature. Conceived by the Holy Ghost He was born without sin, and He never did sin, neither was guile found in His mouth. Thirdly, He possesses that holiness or righteousness which He earned as mediator between God and men by His holy obedience, His bitter suffering and His innocent death. These are the three kinds of holiness which Christ possesses. The two first, the essential holiness of His divine and the essential perfection of His human nature, He has and keeps for Himself eternally, but His

merited holiness He has not for Himself. This holiness He has for us; for He did not live, suffer and die for His own sake, but for our sake. He was not under any necessity whatsoever to acquire or earn holiness for Himself, because He was already holy both in His divine and in His human nature. This holiness which He won by His active and passive obedience He purchased as our representative for us and He gives it unto us freely. Now when I here speak of the holiness of Christ's childhood and youth I do not mean the essential holiness of His divinity, nor do I mean the essential perfection of His humanity, but I am speaking of that holiness or righteousness which He, as our substitute, obtained for us, and the acquiring of which He commenced in His infancy and youth by His holy life and walk.

Jesus walked in holiness toward God, toward men and toward Himself. Above all things He walked holy and unblamable toward His Father in heaven. This is evidenced by two things which we are told of Him in this text. It tells us that He walked in the obedience of the law. "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." In the law of Moses it was commanded unto Israel: "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." Deut. 16, 16. Those Jews dwelling at a great distance from Jerusalem were permitted to celebrate the two last named festivals at home, but at the Passover, or Easter, all males twelve years old and over were bound by the law to appear before the Lord in His sanctuary. This command of the ceremonial law was invariably observed by Jesus. Indeed it seems that He accompanied His parents every year, even before He was twelve years old; for the text says, that Joseph and Mary went up to Jerusalem every year and that, when He was twelve years old, the child Jesus tarried behind at Jeru

salem. This would seem to indicate that He had accompanied His parents before. In all cases the instance recorded here shows that Jesus punctually observed the law from His childhood. He was the Giver of the ceremonial law, its Lord and not its subject, but He voluntarily put Himself under the law "to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons." Gal. 4, 5. He went to Jerusalem regularly at the feast of the Passover, because He was that true Lamb of the Passover which was to be sacrificed for the sins of the world.

But Jesus did not only walk in the obedience of the ceremonial law. Outwardly the Pharisees also observed the rites and ceremonies of the Mosaic law, although they understood not their true meaning. Jesus did more. He walked in all the holiness of the moral or natural law which was binding not on the Jews only, but on all the nations of the earth. He did what none other can do, He loved God above all things with all His heart. This is here instanced by His tarrying at Jerusalem without the knowledge of His parents. It was the will of His Father in heaven that He should be in the temple just at that time, and then and there should show forth the first rays of His divine glory for a testimony to the elders and rulers of the people, and when it came to doing the will of His Father which had sent Him He had no more any regard of men, not even of His parents. When His mother complained of the anxiety with which they had been obliged to seek Him, He rebuked them, saying: "How is it that ye sought me? wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business?" He declared to His mother, she ought to have known that He must be about the work which His heavenly Father had given Him to do, and if she had remembered this she would not have needed to be in anxiety about Him, neither could she have entertained the thought that He had dealt unkindly with her. Some one might here raise the question: Why did Jesus stay at Jerusalem without the knowledge of His mother? Why did He not tell her beforehand, what He was about to do? I simply answer: This I do not know, nor does it concern me. There may have been