The Pulpit Commentary — Luke — Volume 1 — Section 250

, ers. 46-50.-Humility and charity. Were these apostles sinners above all ecclesiastics because of this reasoning which arose amoog them ? Were their con- troversies about precedence one whit more foolish and unseemly than the controversies with wliich the air of councils and courts is laden, and by which passions are often e1,kindled to fever heat? Alas! is it not the earthenness of the vessel in which the heavenly treasure is deposited which is made manifest in the strife," Who shall be greatest " ? Jesus' action is a symbol to be read, marked, learned, and inwardly digested by aiL "He took a little child, and set him by his side," as if to say, "::iee, tliere is the gre~tness of the kingdom of heaven;" nay, as may be gathered from St. Matthew, a.s if to say more strongly still, "There is no other greatness kCo~nized in the heavenly kingdom than Lhat of character. Except yon are fashioned accorciing to the character delineated in childhood, you cannot even enter the king- dom." Reflect on the import of this saying, this symbol. D,,es it seem strange that (Matt. xviiL 4) Christ should distinguish humility as the characteristic of the chdd ? But is not the essence of humility unconsciousness of self? And is not this unconsciousness the trait conspicuous in a truly childlike child? The little one has a will, a temper, but there is not much of the feeling of self. Watch the caresses and eudoarments; they are less love seeking to be loved, than love merely loviug, ahsorbed in loving. Observe the play; the costly toy is seldom the most prized; the i-,leasure found iu toy or romp is the outgoing of self. Nature is spontaneous, free. Therein, says Jesus, we have a revelation of heaven, a sign of the real greatness, '!'he image likest God, the fact, in this universe, nearest God, with most in it of the stamp or the high and holy One, is the little child whom Christ has called. The everlasting love humbles itself as the little child. It loves, it is absorbed in loving. 'l'he lucar- nation only makes us see what is hidJen in the very being of God-self-emptying, makiucr self of no reputatiou. The King of kings is the Servant of servants. He is a,:oong° us the one that serveth. "n,, ye therefore imitators of God as tha children of Lis iuve." For it is pride that stands betwe,,n us and the true greatness. We are great ou ,y in tLe measure in which we lose ourselves, in which we find our life, in a cause or truth which is hicrher than ourselves. The world has three chief patterns of greatness. Culture-the de,·:lopmeut, through science and art, of a certain inward B'\\"_eetness and licrht. Power- the aLility to use men as pawns on a chess-board, to project far and n~ar the iu,age of self. Luxury--imbedding the years in the voluptuous comfort which n,oney commands. 'l'hat which is comuiou to all these forms, from the most gross to the most refined, is that the supreme reforence of the mind is to having rathor thau being, getting rather than giving, beiug served rather than serving. Christ•~ id~a iJ, in s1arJ:i aulagouibm to this. 'l.'o be o1 use, to be free from that celf-lovo wluch 111 oJJ nr 1-62.J THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. LUKE. 251