ntred that would have for Him the greatest
attraction. This was His "Father's House," and here He Himself felt
utterly at home. We are not surprised to be told that He lingered in
these courts.

"And when they had fulfilled the days, as they returned, the child Jesus
tarried behind in Jerusalem; and Joseph and His mother knew it not."
They had perfect confidence in Jesus; and yet it seems strange that they
should have assumed that He was somewhere about and would appear at the
proper time. When the night drew on and the camp was set up there was no
Child to be found. Then we imagine the distress, the trouble of heart,
with which Mary and Joseph hurry back to Jerusalem and spend the ensuing
days in seeking through its streets. We share something of our Lord's
surprise when we learn that the temple was the last place that they
thought of in their search. Did they think that Jesus would be caught by
the life of the Passover crowds that filled the streets of Jerusalem?
Did they think that it would be a child's curiosity which would hold him
fascinated with the glittering toys of the bazaars? Did they think that
He had mistaken the caravan and been carried off in some other direction
and was lost to them forever? We only know that it was not till three
days had passed that they thought of the temple and there found Him.
"And when they saw Him, they were amazed: and his mother said unto Him,
Son, why has 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? Know ye not that I must be in my Father's house?"

S. Mary and S. Joseph were proceeding on certain assumptions as to what
Jesus would do which turned out to be untenable. It is one of the
dangers of our religion--our personal religion--that we are apt to
assume too much which in the testing turns out to be unfounded. We reach
a certain stage of religious attainment, and then we assume that all is
going well with us. When one asks a child how he is getting on he
invariably answers: "I am all right." And the adult often has the same
childish confidence in an untested and unverified state of soul. We are
"all right"; which practically means that we do not care to be bothered
with looking into our spiritual state at all. We have been going on for
years now following the rules that we laid down when we first realised
that the being a Christian was a more or less serious matter. Nothing
has happened in