The Pulpit Commentary — Matthew — Volume 2 — Section 235

influencing ell re)ations?. A?<Iuired evils may be effectually dealt with. Evils th11.t belong to our bodily const1tut1on make the morel struggle of 11. whole life. II. ,VEAKNESS OF WILL IN NATURAL DISPOSITIONS. This is the real cause of the necessary severity of spirit~! ~cipline. The mnn is not strong enough to get end to hold the mastery over h!B eVIl self, and so he is worried aud worn by a struggle which has -~ be continually kept up\ because _he is not strong enough· to m11.ke any nctory decJS1ve. The hardest moral hves are lived by the weak-willed. IIL l:tH>ULGENOE OF THE EVIL BIAS UNTIL IT GRO"'S MASTERFUL. This may be illustrated by the difference in the tone of the moral struggle in the case of a man converted in youtb, and of a man converted in advanced life. In the one case the bias is a mere tendency, and can be easily checked; in the other it has become a fixed habit, and must be dug out. When a man in middle life has vigorously taken in hand his conduct and relations, and wisely reshaped them, he often has the bitter lesson to learn that the evil in him remains untouched.-R. T. Ver. 10.-Despising the littk ones. We may well assume that our Lord included in his term "little ones," both children and childlike disciples. "Looking to the frequency with which our Lord's words were addressed to the thoughts of his hearers, it seems likely that the faces of some at least of the disciples betrayed, as they looked on the child, some touch of half-contemptuous wonder, that called for this prompt rebuke.• Limiting the reference of the expression to _the children, we may notice some of the ways in which we may come to despise them. L WE MAY ="DEB-ESTIMATE THEIR V.ABIED INFLUENCE FOB GOOD. It is a small, almost silent, influence; one that cannot be put in common earth scales and measured, or laid ont on a bank-counter and checked. Man is interested in big things and noisy things; but the really great forces are pervasive gravitation and silent light. 1. The child exerts a high moral and educational in.fl.nence on its father and mother. Every child is a Divine testing of parental character; and may be a Divine culture of it. 2. The child is a moral power in a home. illustrate from times of strain and sorrow. 3. The child often proves to be a minister of Christ in a neighbourhood. Illustrate from Norman McLeod's "Wee Davie;" or the mere recent clever tale entitled "Bootle's Baby." II. WE ll..AY F.An. TO RECOGNIZE WHAT TB.AINING THEM DOES FOB ue. No man who is resolutely set upon soul~ulture will ever make the mistske of "despising the little ones." Think of the self-restraints which training children demands. Think of the examples that must be set. Think of the practical wisdom that must be gained. Think of the perseverance that may be called for. Many a man and many a woman have been ennobled by having family life and claims grow up around them. IIT. WE :M..AY, ONLY TOO EASILY, DO INJUSTICE TO THE LITTLE ONES. If we "despise them" we shall fail t.o observe or meet their peculiarities. We shall repress their strange thoughts and questionings. We shall over-estimate their failings. We shall be out of sympathy with their play. Injustice to the little ones means spoiling the chances of their manhood and womanhood. It is bad if the despising takes the form of "neglect;" it is far worse if it is "moral hindering." IV. WE Jl.AY PUT OFF, fil"TIL THE BY-AND-BY THAT NEVEB COMES, TBB INFLUENCE ON TBE CBILDBEN WBJCII IS TllE NEED OF TllEm CHILD-TIME. '!'hat kind of despising the little ones is perhaps one of the grave sins of the family life of the day.-R. T. Ver. 13.-Tlie jog of reccvering lost things. Dr. M. Dods, writing on the parable of Luke xv., has the following BUggestive passage. Each of the three parables "illustrates the fact that a more active interest in any possession is aroused by the very circumstance that it is w,t. ~he sheep tlui:t is lost is not 01;1 that account disregarded by the shepherd. but receives for the time greater attention than those which remain in the fold. The piece of money that has gone a-missing becomes on that very account of greater immediate importance t;o the woman than all she has safe in her jar in the cupboard.. If one of a family turns out ill, it ie a small mitigation that all the rest turn out well; it is after the lost the parent's heart persist~ntly goes. So ii; it with God. The very circumstance that men have strayed from him evokes iD him a more manifest and active solicit11de in their behalf. The attitude of God o.:.i, xvm, 1-35.J THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. MATTHEW. 239