stion was asked, 'Can any good
thing come out of Nazareth? But it is said that the thirty years of
Christ's obscurity was the foundation of his three years'
manifestations. He was there, however, not alone, for he was under the
fostering love and anxious solicitude of His heavenly Father. Nazareth
is beautifully described thus:

It was "a handful of pearls in a goblet of emerald. No great road led
up to this sunny nook. Trade, war, adventure, pleasure, pomp, passed by
it, flowing from west to east, from east to west, along the Roman road.
But the meadows were aglow with wheat and barley. Near the low ground
ran a belt of gardens, fenced with loose stones, in which myriads of
green figs, red pomegranates, and golden citrons ripened in the summer
sun. High up the slopes hung vintages of purple grapes. In the plain
among the corn, and beneath the mulberry-trees and figs, shone daisies,
poppies, tulips, lilies, anemones, endless in their profusion,
brilliant in their dyes. Low down on the hillside sprang a well of
water, bubbling, plentiful and sweet; and above this fountain of life,
in a long street straggling from the fountain to the synagogue, rose
the homesteads of many shepherds, craftsmen, and vine-dressers. It was
a lovely and humble place, of which no poet, no ruler, no historian of
Israel had ever taken note."

Even so, it was a very humble sphere that our missionary filled, but she
was precious in God's sight. Her work was among the poor and the lowly.
Lost sight of perhaps by men on this account, but the more like her
divine master in her work and ways. O, how true are Christ's own words:
"Whosoever he be of you that renounceth not all that he hath, he cannot
be my disciple. Salt therefore is good: but if even the salt have lost
its savour, wherewith shall it be seasoned? It is fit neither for the
land nor for the dunghill: _men_ cast it out. He that hath ears to hear,
let him hear.

"Now all the publicans and sinners were drawing near unto him for to
hear him. And both the Pharisees and the scribes murmured, saying, this
man receiveth sinners, and eateth with them."

Yes! sinners--unworthy, hell-deserving sinners--it is to such, that He
cries _if any man thirst_, let him come unto me and drink. How
refreshing are the well-known words:

Aid the dawning, tongue and pen;
Aid it, hopes of honest men;
Aid it, paper--aid it, type--
Aid it, for the hour is ripe,
And our earnest must not slac