PART II.

USEFUL CHRISTIANS IN MIDDLE-CLASS LIFE.

RELIGION AND BUSINESS.

'Not slothful in business; fervent in spirit; serving the Lord."—ROM. xii. 11

"Lose this day loitering, 'twill be the same story
To-morrow, and the next more dilatory.

The indecision brings its own delays,
And days are lost lamenting o'er lost days.
Are you in earnest? Seize this very minute!
What you can do, or think you can, begin it!
Boldness has genius, power and magic in it
Only engage, and then the mind grows heated:
Begin it, and the work will be completed."

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RELIGION AND BUSINESS.

"Wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business?"-LUKE IL 49.

"Let all who hold this faith and hope

In holy deeds abound;

Thus faith approves itself sincere,

By active virtue crown'd!"

THE biography of Jesus Christ, though the most remarkable of all life-histories in the libraries of men, contains little more than a narrative of his three years' public ministry. We are told, indeed, of the circumstances connected with his birth, his presentation in the temple, his flight into Egypt, and his return; but of the events which stretched over a period of well-nigh thirty years, we have no information save the solitary episode to which the words of the Lord Jesus quoted above refer. It is the only glimpse of sunshine in the darkness of a generation,-the only unveiling of the Sun of Righteousness that had arisen with healing in his wings, but which had been clouded so long that men almost forgot the dawn. But this manifestation was as noiseless as the advent. The nativity of the Son of God was no national event in Judea, and made no general sensation. Save a poor family whom by his birth he gladdened, and a few lonely shepherds, and the king whose sudden jealousy the intelligence aroused, and some unknown strangers from afar, none seemed conscious of an unwonted The sympathy of those who pitied the travailing woman, who "brought forth her first-born son in a

Occurrence.

stable because there was no room for her in the inn," soon died away, and the massacre of their infants rather than the advent of Messiah filled the memories of the people of Bethlehem. Thus, too, passed the visit to Jerusalem. The holy family joined the Galilean caravan, but none perceived the Messiah there. The worshippers thronged the temple, but no hosanna hailed the Son of David. And when the paschal feast was over, and pilgrims were returning, Jesus was not missed until a whole day's journey had been traversed. Nor when the discovery was made, did the loss disturb any save Joseph' and Mary and their own relations. His seat among the doctors was certainly unusual, and his intelligence was marked by all; but when the anxious parents found their missing boy after three days' distracting search, his insubordination seemed worthy of rebuke. The high destiny of her Divine Son had not yet got full hold of Mary's mind. The peculiar place in which she found him did not awaken former intimations of his dignity and office. That he should be there at all was her difficulty. "Son, why hast thou thus dealt with us? behold thy father and I have sought thee sorrowing."

But noiseless though it was, this appearance of the Saviour has great interest to us. The answer that he made to Mary's question reveals much of a relation and a work that concern us all. He answered the question by proposing other two: "How was it that ye sought me?"- especially to seek me sorrowing. "It had been," says a German divine, "so natural for him to be and abide where he was, that he had not thought of their seeking him at all; and shows that he regards it as quite needless, at least, to seek him sorrowing in grief and anxiety, as if it were possible for him to be in wrong and in danger." "How was it that ye sought me? Wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business ?”

Instead of acknowledging any error, he shows that he was occupied with the very work for which he had been sent to earth. He could not be where he had no business. He had a work, and as soon as he awoke fully to it, he set about it. We say fully awoke, for as Jesus was man, his mind grew in wisdom as his body in stature; and as his questioning heart sought to understand himself, he realized-notwithstanding the mists of rabbinical darkness-in the light that shone from the lively oracles, the great truth regarding his person and mission, his relation to the eternal Father and his work on earth.

Christ is our great Example as well as Redeemer; and in this solitary word, the first which the Holy Ghost records from his lips, as well as in all that he uttered afterwards, does he instruct us in our duty. These are the first recorded words of the Incarnate Son. Of what do they speak? They speak of his Father, and the close relation that bound them together. They speak of his work,—that which was henceforth to engage him, his Father's business. They declare the astonishment which he felt, that she who knew him should have expected him to be engaged in any other service, -a service higher far, though not inconsistent with his obedience to Joseph and Mary. They speak of the everlasting engagement of every child of God, and thus convey a solemn lesson to ourselves, saying, "Wist ye not that ye must be about your Father's business?" They suggest an answer to every caviller that finds fault with our work of faith and labour of love; and present considerations strong enough to excuse our absence from many engagements, and to justify our close attention to our holy calling. They expose the ignorance, and prejudice, and misconception, or those who wonder at our work; who know not our most sacred obligation,-the chief end of man; who knew not