These men were skillful in building, else they never could have gone as
far as they did in their stupendous work, and God was willing that they
should exercise their skill, as He is willing that people shall do now;
but when they thought themselves equal to Him, they learned how weak
they really were in comparison. The story teaches the great lesson of
dependence upon God and submission to His will and His laws.




THE BOYHOOD OF JESUS.


There are many beautiful stories of child-life, but the story of the
Boyhood of Jesus is the most beautiful of all. It teaches a wonderful
lesson of obedience to parents and love and respect for them, as well as
of the charm of a pure and consecrated childhood, and the lesson is all
the more helpful because it is full of the human interest of everyday
life.

Although the boy Jesus was gifted with a wisdom far beyond His years--a
wisdom which was His because He was the Son of God, yet He lived much as
other boys lived, doing the tasks that were given Him by His parents and
being subject to them in all things.

Probably the people around Him did not think very much about what He
said or did during those years. When they saw Him helping Joseph, the
carpenter, or doing the little things which Mary, His mother, bade Him
do, He seemed much like other little boys to them; they thought Him
bright and pleasing, and it may be that there was something in His looks