famous picture. The artist is Mr. Holman Hunt, who has painted many
pictures on Bible subjects, and has spent many years in Palestine in
connection with his work. His painting of "The Finding of Christ in
the Temple" is well worth seeing for the rich beauty of its colouring
and the delicate fineness of its workmanship, and every one who loves
the Bible must feel that it is still more worth seeing for the sake of
the scene which it represents.

As you look at the picture you have before you the interior of a
spacious portico in the Temple at Jerusalem. The roof is supported on
graceful pillars, and from it there hang many lamps of beautiful
metal-work. The farther end is closed by an ornamental lattice-screen.
At the right hand side a wide doorway opens on the steps which lead
down to one of the Temple courts. A beggar sits on the steps just
outside the opening, and beyond him there are workmen busy at the
building of the Temple, which, as you know, was not finished for many
years after the boyhood of Jesus. You remember that when He had grown
to manhood, the Jews said to Him, _Forty and six years was this Temple
in building_,[1] and even then we know that it was not completed. In
our picture we see the scaffolding of the masons, and one of the cranes
by which they raised the stones into position. The workmen themselves
are engaged with a large marble block which is lying on the ground, and
for which there is a vacant space in the wall above. Beyond the
unfinished building there is a grove of trees, and in the further
distance we get a glimpse of the roofs of the city and of the hills
behind. Coming back to the interior of the portico we see an
interesting group of figures at the farther end. A father and mother
have come to present their child in the Temple, and they have bought a
lamb to offer in sacrifice. The father, with the lamb on his shoulder,
and the mother, with the little one in her arms, are following a priest
and another attendant who are leading the way further into the Temple,
while the man who has sold them the lamb is holding back the
mother-sheep. Doves are flying in by the doorway or hovering about
inside. They are among the

"Happy birds that sing and fly
Round Thine altars, O Most High."

A boy near one of the pillars is waving a long streamer in the air to
frighten them away. But our attention is principally drawn to the
foreground of the picture. This part of the portico is r