Even at twelve years of age, his conduct seems to have had something strange about it; namely, his absenting himself from his home. When his parents found him, and told him that “_they had sought him sorrowing,_” he said, in reply, “Wist ye not that I must be about my Father’s business?” This answer appears not to have been understood by his relations; but if Joseph was not his father, his mother could not wonder at his straying from home; she would have said to Joseph, “As you are not his father, he has reference to the Holy Ghost.” His conduct also partook of the same strangeness at the marriage-feast. When the wine was all out, his mother told her son of it; his reply was not very dutiful—“_Woman_,” says he, “_what have I to do with thee?_” At such a place, on the night of a marriage ceremony, there seems something so unearthly about him, that he never appeared at ease in any company; such an absence of mirthful enjoyment was calculated to spread a gloom throughout the whole party. But that which appears very strange in Jesus, is his using language that even his disciples did not understand, such as, “The kingdom of heaven is at hand;” that he “came down from heaven;” for, says Jesus, “_No man hath ascended up into heaven, but he who came down from heaven, even the son of man, who is in heaven._” And again, “_Repent ye, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand;_” and to the rich man, who asked him what he was to do to secure the kingdom of heaven, Jesus said, that in addition to loving and fearing God, and doing his duty to his neighbor, he “_must sell all he had, and give it to the poor._” The reader must ever keep in mind the true merits of the case between Jesus and the Jews. It was not, whether they were more immoral than their heathen neighbors, nor as to their being more or less learned than surrounding nations; for, we do not find that Jesus ever made any inquiries as to their mechanic arts, or the state of agriculture practised among them. Neither do we find that Jesus interested himself as to their progress in the science of astronomy. The last of these we can conceive would have been very useful; and it might be supposed that he could impart some knowledge in regard to it, since, in his passage from heaven to earth, he must have crossed: some of the planetary orbits, and no doubt observed their satellites then undiscovered; but to communicate such important information was not included in his mission. His only object was, to convince the Jews that he, and he alone, was the true and undoubted Messiah promised by the prophets to redeem and restore the Jews, as a nation, to their former greatness and glory. Every either subject was useless, and only stood as an hindrance in the way of the great purpose of his coming.