It would seem from the OT that the lips had come to be regarded as a sort of oriufinating centre of life and morals. We read of 'lying lips' (Ps Sl'S), of ' the lip of truth' (Pr 1219), of ' unclean lips ' (Is 65), and of ' the poison of asps ' as ' under the lips ' (quoted in Ro 313) ; and in the XT also, of ' the fruit of the lips' (He 1315), and of 'lips that speak no guile' (1 P 3"'), etc.
But whatever be the implied allusion or exact meaning of the words here, this mucli is certain, that our Lord in speaking to His o^vn contem- poraries said, ' This prophecy of Isaiah was con- cerning you ' — language that would seem to require us to interpret the passage so as to make it include and describe the unbelieving Jews of His day, and, probably, all people of all times who were, or are, or will j-et be, guilty of offering to God a worship in which they do not draw near to Him in heart.
Geo. B. Eager.
LITTLE ONES The phrase ' one of these little
ones' occurs in the records of our Lord's discourses in the Synoptic Gospels six times (Mt lO'^^ 18"- 1»'", 31k 9^-, Lk 1 7-), although, to satisfy these refer- ences, it need not have been employed by our Lord on more than two or three difi'erent occasions. It seems to have been used witli marked solemnity and to be charged with high emotion. To under- stand its implications, we shall need to inquire whom our Lord designates as ' little ones,' whence the designation was derived, and what its sig- nificance is.
1. It seems to be quite generally assumed that at least in some of the instances of its occurrence the phrase designates, quite simply, actual children. Thus, multitudes of Christians appear to be accus- tomed to read Mt 18'" as a declaration that the 'angels of children' (whatever these 'angels' may be) hold a particularly exalted place in heaven. The connexion of this whole passage with the opening verses of the chapter, wliere a ' little child ' is presented as a type of tlie children of the King- dom, seems to many to require this interpretation, and the parallel passages, Mk 9^'- ^^, Lk 9'*^ 17^ to add their support to it. A careful scrutiny of the passages in which the phrase occurs, ho^\ ever, will show that its reference is never to actual children, but in every case to our Lords disciples.
The earliest recorded employment of the phrase is reported in Mt 10^""^-. Our Lord is here bring- ing to a close His instructions to His Ajjostles as He sent them forth on their first, their trial, evan- gelistic tour. His words are words of highest en-
couragement. 'He that receiveth you,' He saj^s, ' receiveth me ; and he that receiveth me, re- ceiveth him that sent me.' Our Lord makes common cause with His messengers : that is the general declaration. Then comes the enforcement by illustration. It was a matter of common under- standing that ' he that receiveth a prophet in the name of a prophet' — that is, not in the name of another j^rophet, but on this sole ground, that he is a prophet, or, as we should say in our English idiom, as a prophet — ' shall receive a pro2)het's reward ; and he that receiveth a right- eous man in the name of a righteous man' — that is, again, merely because he is a righteous man — • 'shall receive a righteous man's reward.' Tlie broad principle, then, is that the receiver shall be put, in the matter of reward, on the level of the received ; bj- his reception of the prophet or riglit- eous man, he takes Ids place by his side and be- comes sharer in his reward. Now conies the application, marked as such (and not the continua- tion of the examides) by a change of construction. ' And whosoever ' — perhaps we might paraphrase ' Likewi.se who.soever ' — ' shall give to drink unto one of these little ones a cup of cold water only in the name of a disciple, verily I say unto you, he shall in no wise lose his reward.' The parallelism of the clauses here with those in the preceding sentences compels us to read ' one of these little ones' as a synonym of 'a disciple.' The sense is, as the receiver of the prophet shall share the prophet's reward, and the receiver of the righteous man tiie righteous man's reward, so the receiver of the disciple shall share the disciple's reward. The general purport of the declaration, moreover, de- mands this sense. Its object was to hearten and encourage the Apostles on their mission. P'or that, they needed assurance, not that goodness to chil- dren would be marked and rewarded, but that they, the Apostles, were under Divine care. The very variations from the phraseology of the earlier sentences which are introduced into the application have their part to play in emphasizing this needed lesson. These variations are five in number. In the first place, instead of the simple 'he that' receiveth, we have here the emphasized universal ' whosoever ' ; there is no danger of failure here. Next, instead of the simple, comprehensive ' re- ceiveth,' the least conceivable benefit is here specified — ' shall give to drink a cup of cold water only ' : the slightest goodness to the disciples shall be noted and rewarded. Next, instead of the simple statement that the benetiter shall share the reward of the benefited, we have a solemn asseveration that in no case ■will a due reward be missed : the nature of the reward is left in large vagueness, and it is hinted only that it shall be appropriate, treated as of obligation, and surely given. Lastly, instead of the cold 'disciple,' we have the tender ' one of these little ones. ' The disciples our Lord has in mind are His oivn dis- ciples : His own disciples He cherishes Avith a devoted love ; and this love is pledged to their protection. The effect of these variations from the formally exact parallel is to raise the saying to its emotional climax. The lesson conveyed is that Christ's disciples are under the watchful care of His jealous love.