ought to be done to help the people. Is it possible that there had gone on ringing in the ears of the family day after day and year after year, the song heard by the shepherds in the night, "Peace on earth, good-will to men?" Was he perhaps thinking of those words and trying to make out what they could mean? At noontime when there was a pause in the labor, those words would perhaps come back to him, and would not let him rest. At eventime when the sun went down, and the day's work was over, and the firelight was playing on the walls of that humble home, again that song might come back to him, always and ever the same refrain, "Peace on earth, good-will to men." While others

were sleeping quietly, he would still be going over the same words. He could not shake them off. Sometimes the song would be in a tone of joy and gladness, and his heart would beat with pleasure. Then again the tone would change and the words would come as a chant of sorrow, "Peace on earth, goodwill to men."

What could the chant of sorrow mean? How could it be that a song of peace and good-will should ever be sad and mournful? And yet he knew the reason why. It was because it made him think how far away human society was from what it ought to be. A song of peace was contrary to the feelings of the men and women who lived all about him. He heard rather the tones of anger, the outcry of rage, the demand for revenge. He saw how poor and wretched the people were. Alas, he could see that there was no peace on earth, that there was little of good-will among men.

He heard the people talking; he listened to their sighs as they told of what they had to endure. Then too he knew of their dreams and hopes. All about

him, every day, he could hear them speak of the coming of the great" Prince of the House of David." He was acquainted with what they expected from this new prince; how they believed that he would be the great deliverer who should gather armies together, drive out the enemy, stop the oppression, give them back their earnings, place them once more as a great people and a wonderful country before all the world. The talk everywhere in the land was about this coming Prince. They did not know his name, but they kept on believing. They were quite sure about it; and it lay ever on the mind of Jesus. I can fancy how at the end of the day he may have gone out of the village to the hill-side; and in the soft glow of the setting sun, or while the twilight deepened, the darkness settled down, and the stars came out to form a great canopy of splendor over his head - how he should have stood there silently thinking, trying to make out in his mind what it meant, who was this coming king, the new Prince of the House of David.

Was it possible that it should cross his mind as a question whether the people were quite right in what they expected? If a king were to come with his armies, and relieve them from their burdens and oppression, would he after all be a true prince of peace, and spread good-will among men. It was an awful doubt. He could not tell it to anybody. But it must have made him so unhappy!

And so night after night, month after month, year after year he kept brooding. At last he may have come to think that there was a mistake in the dreams of the people, that in their thoughts they had the wrong idea of the coming King. What a daring idea

that must have been! How alone he must have felt! Perhaps he was the only man in all the country among that people, who had that thought in mind, and understood this mistake! How it must have come over him; what sorrow he must have felt, knowing that the time would arrive when his friends and countrymen might have to awake from their dream or illusion! Should he be the one to tell them this, to arouse them from their slumber, to call them away from the hopes which they were cherishing? That was what he had to decide for himself now. Alas! who would there be to hear him or believe him? He stood there in his silence on the hill-side, one man alone against all the world.

Then he began to think of something else. This expectation about a new leader and a new kingdom could not be altogether a dream. There must be some truth in it. Was it possible that another kind of a prince might come; another kingdom in some form be brought about, which might in some way restore the people, and give them joy and peace; even though it would not give them glory and renown; even though it might not relieve them from all their sufferings, save them from all their burdens, or entirely put away from them the hand of the oppressor. Might there not come right away in his village, there by the sea of Galilee, and all over Judea as well as at Jerusalem, and even at the great city of Rome, this other kingdom, which he called to himself the kingdom of heaven? Was it possible that there was a kingdom of peace which each man could make for himself in spite of all he had to endure. Perhaps the people were wrong in thinking of this new kingdom as something on the outside. Then, all of a sudden, it flashed upon the mind of Jesus: The kingdom of heaven is within one's self.

What was this kingdom; what did it mean for him? We will leave that to be explained by what he said and did, when at last he was ready and prepared and went out as a teacher of men.

But as he thought at the noon-time, or at the eventime by the firelight, or out alone on the hills with the stars for his canopy, he was growing year by year into early manhood. All the time the excitement about him was increasing; everybody was wondering why it was that the new prince did not come. The hand of the oppressor was becoming heavier and heavier. Some were saying that relief would never come. Hopelessness and dread began to spread slowly in the hearts of many persons. The world was growing dark and dreary. All the beauty of Galilee was losing its meaning; it gave them no help, it seemed only to add to their pain.

Yet as the impatience grew, as the suffering increased, even so the thought became more and more fixed in the mind of Jesus about this other idea of a kingdom. Then came another new and sudden suggestion. Might he himself become the prince of this other kingdom and so in this other way become the people's savior and deliverer? Was it left for him to lead the people into this new way, to call upon them to take this new idea of a kingdom? He was reminded of the dreams which his mother told him about. recalled the dream of the shepherds. What did it mean? He did not know. But it made him think more and more. At last he made up his mind. He would undertake to become this prince of peace.

He

Now we can understand the meaning of his long silence. Had he spoken while he was thinking it all out for himself, had he tried to be a leader and a teacher all the time while he was only making up his mind, how he would have confused everybody; how

he would have been himself misled! I think this silence, this waiting until he was fully prepared, until he knew that he had grown into complete manhood, is one of the chief facts that make us regard him so highly and look upon his name with such awe and

reverence.

Jesus was now ready. Years of thinking had gone by. He was still in the minds of his neighbors and those around him, only "the carpenter's son;" but within himself he was something more and greater. He felt himself called upon to go forth and give the people a new teaching, to tell them of their mistake, to arouse them from their dream, to kindle in their hearts a new idea of a prince and a more perfect thought as to a kingdom. At that time when any one spoke of the coming helper and leader, they thought of him by the name of the "Messiah." Jesus was to go forth and take that name, but to give it another meaning. All alone by himself, he had made up his mind, he had chosen his course; he would be the leader of the people, he would show them a better way, he would be for them the real Messiah. One great truth was clear to him. One thought he would teach everywhere. lesson he desired to give the people. He would tell them that the true Kingdom of Peace was not on the outside, but in the human heart itself. He would say to them over and over again: The kingdom of heaven is within you!

One

BAPTISM OF JESUS.

Jesus was now to go forth.

What next had he to do?

It has been an old custom starting we hardly know where or when, for persons who are about to change