power; we must enter naked and divested of them all — divested, I mean, in our own apprehension and conceit ; and must be willing to take " Christ as our wisdom, our righteousness, our sanctification, and redemption." This is humiliating, it is true; but it must be done ; and, if we will not submit to it, we can never enter into the kingdom of heaven : " the wise must become fools f," the pure polluted g, the righteous guilty h in their own estimation, before Christ can be valued, or his salvation desired. We say not that a person must commit ivickedness in order to fit himself for Christ's kingdom ; God forbid : but he must renounce every degree of self-conceit, self-dependence, self- seeking, and self-applause; and, " whatever he had which once he accounted gain, must now be considered by him as loss for Christ."
O that all were thus divested of self, and made willing to seek their all in Christ ! Let parents condescend to learn from their little children what dispositions they themselves should cultivate towards their heavenly Father ; and bear in mind, that their highest perfection is, to be brought to a willing and habitual resemblance to that instructive emblem.]
2. By example —
[" He took the little children up in his arms, put his hands upon them, and blessed them." "What amazing condescen- sion ! How amiable in itself, so to notice those, who could be so little conscious of his love. How conciliatory to the parents, whose hearts were more open to impression from the kindness shewn to their offspring, than from any favour that could be conferred upon themselves ! Hoiv encouraging to the children, whose parents would not fail to remind them often that they had been thus highly honoured, to be embraced in the Saviour's bosom, and to receive his heavenly blessing ! Me thinks, this very circumstance would operate upon them through life to devote themselves unto the Lord Jesus Christ, and to " cleave unto him with full purpose of heart." In a word, hoiu edifying to all ! To parents, it shewed what their chief desire for their children should be, namely, to bring them to the knowledge of him, and to the enjoyment of his salvation. To ministers, it spoke with peculiar emphasis, that they should attend to the lambs of their flock, and consider neither the meanest nor the weakest of the people as beneath their notice : however labo- rious their occupations might be, they should reserve some portion of their time for the instruction of babes. To all his believing people also, whether men or women, it shewed how acceptable a service they would perform, if they laboured to instruct the rising generation. If he himself did not overlook
f 1 Cor. iv. 10. b Job ix. 20, 21, 30, 31. h Rom. iii. 19.