say we practically know about these thirty years. But there is
much that we may legitimately _infer_, and when guardedly used,
inference is a legitimate source of knowledge. If you will let me go
into a man's library, I may be able to infer with much accuracy the
calling of that man. If the majority of the books are medical or
legal, I infer that the man is a doctor or a lawyer. If the majority
of the books that are worn are light fiction, my inference is of a
totally different nature. If, to change the illustration, I go to the
home of a lady, and in the afternoon find that I can write my name in
the dust on the polished piano-lid, I infer somewhat about the
housekeeper in whose home I am.

#114.# Making, then, reverent use of inference, what may we learn
about these thirty years of our Lord's life, and of the influences
that were at work all that time? Who were his teachers? For, bear in
mind, that at the time of Jesus' entry into his public ministry, he
came as a full-fledged man, who was prepared for his life's work.

#115. Nature Taught Him.#--Nature is God's first book, and if man had
not sinned, he would have needed no other. To Jesus, nature was an
open volume, and he read it in all its spiritual significance. While
other boys saw only that which was outward, he saw that which was
inward and had spiritual meaning. To him the lily spoke of his
Father's care, the leaven that he saw in his mother's house spoke to
him of the way in which the kingdom of God grew in this world. The
mustard seed was an illustration of the growth of truth. Many of his
most simple and precious teachings were drawn thus from nature.
Sparrows, seed and tares, fig-tree, salt, and many other objects of
nature told him of things unseen.

#116. Men Taught Him.#--He doubtless mingled much with them in
Nazareth, and it is not hard to imagine the boy going to the
camping-place of the passing caravans, and listening to the tales that
the men from far countries had to tell. The stories that he afterward
made use of were in many cases doubtless gathered from such sources.
But he made them illustrate things unseen and spiritual. Look at his
parables, and see how true this may easily be. The ten virgins may
well have been a story that he heard, and of which he made such solemn
use in his ministry. Is it unnatural to suppose that in these
gatherings of men he may have heard some one tell of a pearl merchant
and his fortune in finding a peculiarly v