not ; for of such is the kingdom of God.
15 Verily I say unto you, Whoso- ever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not en- ter therein.
16 And he took them up in his arms, put his hands upon them, and blessed them.
The scene brought before us in these four verses is deeply interesting. — We see young children brought to Christ, " that He should touch them/' and the disciples rebuking those that brought them. We are told that when Jesus saw this He was " much displeased," and rebuked His disciples in words of a very remarkable tenor. And finally we are told, that " He took them up in His arms, put His hands upon them, and blessed them."
the people were able to bear it. The possession of it was undoubt- edly a great privilege, and one of which the Jews might justly glory. Yet in glorying they were to remember also, that their law contained some grounds for humiliation. Its very permission to obtain di- vorce on light grounds, was a standing witness of the hardness and cruelty of the people. It was thought better to tolerate such divor- ces, than to have the nation filled with murder, adultery, cruelty, and desertion. In short, the very law of which the Jew boasted, was shown by our Lord to contain permissive statutes, which were in reality written to his shame.
The expression throws light on the position of God's people in this world of sin. It shows us that there may be things tolerated and permitted by God, both in churches and states, not because they are the best things, but because they are the things best suited to the church or state in which they are found. It is vain to expect per- fection in any government or in any church. If we have the essen- tials of justice in the one, and of truth in the other, we may be content. God tolerated many things in the government of Israel, until the time of reformation. Surely we may tolerate many things too. To spend our lives in searching after an imaginary state of per- fection, either civil or ecclesiastical, is, at best, a waste of time. If God was pleased to suffer some things in Israel " for the hardness of their hearts," we may well endure some things in churches and states
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