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aluable pearl? In due time he used this story to illustrate the wisdom of staking all on one superlative venture. Look at his parables, and see how he made use of the interests of men in making clear the things pertaining to the kingdom of God. The sower, the lost silver, the prodigal son, children in the market-place, the rich fool, the vineyard and the laborers--these and many more show how richly the relationships of men with their fellow-men instructed him. #117. The Bible Taught Him.#--He was most familiar with its teachings, and knew how to use them on the spot, without reference to commentary or concordance. We find in his sayings reference to, or quotations from, the following books of the Old Testament: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, 1 Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings, 2 Chronicles, Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, Jonah, Joel, Hosea, Micah, Zechariah, and Malachi--22 in all. Had all the utterances of our Lord been given to us, I doubt not that we should have found that he quoted from every book of the Old Testament. For bear in mind that we have only a very small part of what our Lord said preserved for us. His recorded words are only 38,422, or the equivalent of ten short sermons. But for three years he was speaking incessantly. #118. Prayer Taught Him.#--His habit of spending all night in prayer was not one acquired of a sudden. No doubt he spent many a night in prayer while he was still at the carpenter's trade. But the prayer-habit is one calculated to shed much light on things that lay hold on eternal truth. All spiritual seers are men of much prayer. #119. Finally, His Visits to Jerusalem Taught Him.#--Not in vain did he go at least 18 times to that city before his public ministry began. It was in this way that he saw the formality of the Pharisaic party, and the self-seeking of scribe and chief priest. So when he denounced them so fiercely in later times, he did it not out of an experience of day before yesterday, but out of years of observation. Such were some of the influences that surrounded him, and the teachers that prepared him during those thirty years of silence for his great work. Thus, when the fulness of time came, he stepped forth full armed for the contest with the powers of darkness. Test Questions Where were Christ's thirty years of silence spent? What was our Lord's trade? What can we say of the religious life of his mother and of his fa
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