On the present occasion He encouraged the parents to bring their children to Him whatever their bodily or spiritual state might be. He did not say to them, " Take these children hence." He did not say, " They can get no good from me until they are older," He did not say, " Bring them back to me when they can understand what I teach, and when they can express their assent to my teaching," He did not say, " Wait till they can believe before you ask me to bless them." The parents wanted a blessing, not an empty form, not a prayer, not a mere outward rite — they wanted a blessing, they wanted Christ to touch them, and in touching them, to give them something which was of use. And Christ responded to their wishes — He touched their children, He put His hands on them, He blessed them, and He said, " Of such is the kingdom of heaven." His words, surely, tell us that before the age of ripe understanding, before the child can tell his faith or his spiritual wants, God can do the child good ; seeds of goodness, through God's power, through Christ's blessing, may be sown ; and, in any case, Christ declares that children will have a place in the Kingdom of God, and, having a place, they have a name, and the outward emblem of the place and the name : He put His hands on them and blessed them.
^ Parents of the coming generation, bring your children to Jesus ! I speak not in the voice of the Churches, I speak not in the name of the Creeds, I speak not in the phrase of religious
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revivalism. 1 speak in the interest of the schoolmaster, in the interest of education, in the interest of social development. The mothers of Galilee made a shrewd choice for their model They came not with their children to Peter, or James, or John ; they sought not to kindle them by Andrew, or Philip, or Nathanael. They went up to the highest — to Jesus. Ye mothers of England, be not less shrewd than they ! Would you kindle the inspiration of your children ? Beware of the torch to which you bring them. Do not say, " They are very small lives, and therefore a little will do it." Do not lead them to a wax match or a taper or a candle. Small lives need the greatest heat to fan them into flame. Seek for them nothing less than the sun — bear them into the presence of Jesus. They will learn all things from Him — the beauties of the field and the pity of the heart and the fervour of the mind. Caesar will not teach them such courage ; Socrates will not show them such calmness; David will not impress them with such chivalry ; Moses will not inspire them with such meekness ; Elijah will not imbue them with such earnestness; Daniel will not touch them with such manliness ; Job will not nerve them with such patience; Paul will not fire them with such love. They will climb to the top of the mansion quicker than they will scale the ladder on a neighbouring wall; bring them first to the mountain ; point them to Jesus.^
The baby has no skies
But mother's eyes;
Nor any God above,
But mother's love. His angel sees the Father's face. But he the mother's, full of grace; And yet the heavenly kingdom is of such as this.'
2. It was an invitation to the children to come. — But what does " come to Jesus " mean ? There is not a commoner ex- pression on the lips of many good persons than to bid children " come to Jesus." Now, however correct and Scriptural the expression may be, it cannot mean in every point the same thing now as it did when Jesus Christ was on that day sitting in the house discoursing to the people, and when certain children were brought to Him. On that occasion the child, if he were not a mere infant, understood what it was to be brought to Jesus. He saw Jesus with his bodily eye as He sat amongst the crowd; he heard Jesus speak; he might mark the kindly 1 George Matheson. ' John B. Tabb.
238 THE GREAT TEXTS OF THE BIBLE
light of His eye, and be encouraged by the kindly smile that played around His lips ; and he might, in his trembling and fear, be soothed by the tones of the voice of Jesus. If there was any gladness at all — any pleasure, any interest — in the act of coming or being carried into the presence of Jesus, it was the pleasure and interest that a child derives from seeing a human face, from hearing a human voice, from being touched by human hands, and from being raised into the arms of a Man in whose embrace he found himself safe, and in whose presence he was not afraid. This is all changed now. Jesus is present as ever, but His presence is spiritual, and coming to Him is no longer a literal but a spiritual act.
^ Coming to the Lord is not action, but mental attitude. The history is known to all, how some half a century ago a bright young girl, under pressure of the Divine Spirit, asked her pastor what she should do to be saved. " Why," he said, " come just as you are to the Mediator between God and man, the Lord Jesus, the Lamb of God." And his words seemed to her like an idle tale, for by materialistic teaching of the physical departure of Jesus, by the Ascension, her Lord was taken away from her, and she knew not where they had laid Him. But that night, in her own home, she knelt down, and there was God, where He always is, " closer than breathing, nearer than hands and feet." While she was musing, the fire kindled, and at last, under the constrain- ing breath of the Holy Spirit, Charlotte Elliott wrote —