more openly that He was full of wisdom and grace. At present, however, I desire to impress upon your memory these words: "He was subject to them. " Thereby Jesus became the model of respect for authority, or of the virtue of obedience.
2. Jesus Christ, as the eternal Son of God, was Himself authority personified, yet "He was subject." And to whom was He subject? To a human authority — "to creatures. And ought man, a poor, miserable creature, instigated by pride and a false notion of liberty, refuse to acknowledge the authority set over him by his Creator!
3. Respect and obey authority as God wills that you should do. Obedience is a virtue, an exceedingly precious virtue, and St. Augustine terms it "The mother and root of all virtues"; or, as St. Bonaventure terms it, "A ship which carries one safe to heaven." Obedience, respect for authority, is for all men a most necessary virtue, and for every young man more especially; for obedience is order, and order must exist wherever God rules and reigns. Disobedience, the offspring of pride, kindled the flames of hell, and peoples its awful realms. Hence St. Bernard says: "Take away self-will, and hell would cease to exist."
4. Therefore, continue constantly to practise obedience, in imitation of the glorious example set you by the incarnate Son of God during His sojourn in the holy house of Naza-
