apron, and for the first time set to work with the plane so that the fine shavings flew whirring about, his blood flowed swiftly for delight, and his eye looked like that of a young man.  And so the carpenter began cheerfully to work again, not only in his own shop, but anywhere in the neighbourhood where building or repairing was required, or tables, chests, or benches were needed.  The little property he had brought from Egypt would be increased here, so that when the time came his son should make a good start in life.  Mary helped him with careful and economical housekeeping, and made undergarments and cloaks for the women of Nazareth.  Jesus had a room to himself to which he could withdraw when work was over.  Joseph hoped, by making him comfortable at home, to counteract the attractions of the outside world.  The vine trellises could be clearly seen through the windows of the room, and a hill with olive-trees, and clouds from Lebanon passing over the sky, and the stars that rose in the east.  The first gleam of sun, moon, and stars, when they rose, fell into that peaceful chamber.  The Books of Moses, the Maccabees, the Kings, the Prophets, and Psalmists which Jesus gradually collected in Nazareth, Cana, Nain, and in villages below round the lake, filled a shelf.  The men of Galilee had become indifferent to the works which their forefathers wrote with toil and reverence; they had had to wait too long for the fulfilment of the prophecies, and began to doubt that a Messiah would ever come to the Jews, so that they were quite pleased to give the parchments to that nice boy of Joseph’s.  If they wanted to know anything, they had only to ask him, and he explained it so clearly and concisely, and sometimes so impressively, that they never forgot it again.  That was much easier than awkwardly searching for themselves, and labouring hard to decipher the words only to be unable to understand them when they had done so.

Many a night, by the light of the moon, did Jesus read in his books.  They were the same as those we read to-day when we open the Old Testament.  So that it is as if we sat with Jesus on the same school bench.  He read of Adam and his sin, of Cain and his murder, of Abraham and his promise, of Noah and the deluge.  He read of Jacob and his sons, of Joseph whom his brothers sold into Egypt, and of his fate in that land.  And he read of Moses the great lawgiver, of David the shepherd, minstrel and king, and of Solomon’s wisdom and of his temple, and of the Prophets who judged the people for their misdeeds, and prophesied the future kingdom.  Jesus read the history of his people with a burning heart.  He saw how the race had gradually gone from bad to worse.  If he had at first rejoiced with all enthusiasm, later on he became angry at the degeneration.  Grief made him sleepless, and he peered thoughtfully into the starry heavens, asking:  “What will deliver them from this misery?”

The stars were silent.  But out of the distance, out of the stillness of eternity, it was proclaimed:  I love them so deeply, that I shall send my own Son to make them happy.