deemed a religious duty, frequently and most earnestly insisted upon, to learn some trade,
provided it did not minister to luxury, nor tend to lead away from personal observance of
the Law.89 There was not such separation between rich and poor as with us, and while
wealth might confer social distinction, the absence of it in no way implied social
inferiority. Nor could it be otherwise where wants were so few, life was so simple, and its
highest aim so ever present to the mind.
87. Comp. St. Matt. xiii. 55; St. John vi. 42.
88. See the chapter on 'Trades and Tradesmen,' in the 'Sketches of Jewish Social Life.'
89. Comp. Ab. i. 10; Kidd. 29 b1.
We have already spoken of the religious influences in the family, so blessedly different
from that neglect, exposure, and even murder of children among the heathen, or their
education by slaves, who corrupted the mind from its earliest opening.90 The love of
parents to children, appearing even in the curse which was felt to attac h to childlessness;
the reverence towards parents, as a duty higher than any of outward observance; and the
love of brethren, which Jesus had learned in His home, form, so to speak, the natural
basis of many of the teachings of Jesus. They give us also an insight into the family- life
of Nazareth. And yet there is nothing sombre nor morose about it; and even the joyous
games of children, as well as festive gatherings of families, find their record in the words
and the life of Christ. This also is characteristic of His past. And so are His deep
sympathy with all sorrow and suffering, and His love for the family circle, as evidenced
in the home of Lazarus. That He spoke Hebrew, and used and quoted the Scriptures in the
original, has already been shown, although, no doubt, He understood Greek, possibly also
Latin.
90. Comp. this subject in Döllinger, 'Heidenthum u. Judenthum,' in regard to the Greeks,
p. 692; in regard to the Romans, pp. 716 -722: in regard to education and its
abominations, pp. 723-726. Nothing can cast a more lurid light on the need for
Christianity, if the world was not to perish of utter rottenness, than a study of ancient
Hellas and Rome, as presented by Döllinger in his admirable work.
Secondly: Nature and Every-day Life. The most superficial perusal of the teaching of
Christ must convince how deeply sympathetic He was with nature, and how keenly
observant of man. Here there is no contrast between love of the country and the habits of
city life; the two are found side by side. On His lonely walks He must have had an eye for
the beauty of the lilies of the field, and thought of it, how the birds of the air received
their food from an Unseen Hand, and with what maternal affection the hen gathered her
chickens under her wing. He had watched the sower or the vinedresser as he went forth to
his labour, and read the teaching of the tares which sprang up among the wheat. To Him
the vocation of the shepherd must have been full of meaning, as he led, and fed, and
watched his flock, spoke to his sheep with well-known voice, brought them to the fold, or
followed, and tenderly carried back, those that had strayed, ever ready to defend them,
even at the cost of his own life. Nay, He even seems to have watched the habits of the fox
in its secret lair. But he also equally knew the joys, the sorrows, the wants and sufferings
of the busy multitude. The play in the market, the marriage processions, the funeral rites,