defined with authority and precision what constituted “adultery.” These werds remained to condemn the disobedient, and will remain to “ judge him in the last day.” The indissoluble bond of the marriage relation Jesus here affirms, and in the old words, spoken at “the beginning,” “ the twain shall become one flesh.” To the propriety, the goodness, the blessedness of this law many Christian centuries bear their unequivocal testimony. The purest institution and the best, so hallowed, so beneficent, promoting in the highest degree individual happiness, the peace and sanctity of family life, the purity of public morals; preserving national healch, stability, and greatness; guarding against wild lust, and a long :train of envy, jealousy, revenge, and other passionate crimes; preserving the honour and dignity of women, the love and careful training of children; imposing responsibilities, but cherishing virtue and peace and joy. The family life is the symbol of the heavenly community; the marriage bond the type of the Redeemer’s relation to his people, who are “ the bride, the wife of the Lamb.” It is God’s ordination, and is very sacred; nor may it be set aside, but “for the kingdom of heaven’s sake ;” nor may its bond be broken, but for the one cause of fornication, from which it is the most efficient guard. Its rites were honoured by Jesus, and its “ holy estate adorned and beautified with his presence and first miracle.” The wisest legisla- tion tends to the conservation of the family, whose multiplied relations, whose sweet fellowship, whose united interest, and whose common possessions give rise to the lofty idea of the home. Conjugal, parental, filial, fraternal affection are cherished. Obedience on the one hand, care and providence on the other; discipline and wise authority; the sense of dependence arising from want; responsibility arising from the power to meet that want; common interests and common aims, go to make each home a miniature kingdom. Teaching to those in authority the beneficence of rule, and to those under authority the lessons of submission, the home lays the foundation for stable national life; while mutual interests and obligations teach all to respect the rights and just claims of the entire community ; whilst each learns his responsibility to the whole, and his deep interest in the general welfare. The nation that honours the home and the sanctities of family life is honoured of God. The Christian teaching, reverting to the condition of things as it was “ from the beginning of the creation,” shows how truly it is in harmony with natural law, which is the expression of the Divine will.—G.
Vers, 183—16.—Little children. Parental anxiety led thoughtful women te bring “unto him little children, that he should touch them,” according to a custom which has its approval in the hearts of all races and all times, of presenting young children to persons of sanctity and age that they may invoke a blessing upon their young life, Such are brought to Jesus, “ that he should lay his hands on them and pray.” Touched, perchance, by a remembrance of the humiliating lessons which the presence of a child must now have suggested, “the disciples rebuked them.” Why obtrude children on the attention of One who is so competent to deal with adult wisdom? But he who came to correct error and false views, who had redeemed and established the essential marriage laws, now raises child-life to its rightful place. ‘‘ Moved with indignation” at the indiscretion of the disciples, he said, “Suffer the little children to come unto me; forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God”—words which (1) are inscribed as on a banner of defence, that has floated from that hour over the heads of “little children ;” words which (2) have been an admonitory corrective of per- sonal vanity and assumption; (3) have expounded the spirit of the heavenly king- dom; (4) have expressed the qualification needed by all who would enter within its gates; (5) have been seized upon as affording a justification for the admission of children into the visible community of the Church by the sacrament of baptism ; and (6) have, especially in these later days, become the stimulus to diligent endeavour to bring the young under religious training and to give them the benefits of religious instruc- tion. By so much did the Master’s words of truth rebut the disciples’ error, and found upon it a teaching of unlimited benefit. Thus did Christ pay his tribute to the preciousness of life, even in its infancy and imperfectness, and throw the shield of his protection around it. Thus did he compel the attention and effort of his Church in all ages to be paid to young hte, knowing its susceptibility and the important bearmg of its right treatment on the general condition of human society. “Forbid them not” transforms itself into a command to the heart of the Church, ever attentive to catch the
om. x. 1—52.] THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S!. MARK, 87 5
Lord’s will, to remove every hindrance from the way of a child’s participation in ‘spiritual benefits. And “suffer them to come unto me” becomes an equally authori- tative command to bring them unto him; to place them in close alliance with him, and, if with him, then with his kingdom. For if he, the Head of the house, receive them, they of the household may not reject them; and if he take them up in his arms, surely they may come within the embrace of his Church. If they lie in his bosom at the head of the table, they may not be denied a place in the house, or be denied a portion of its bread or a measure of its care; while their purity, helplessness, trustfal dependence, and tractableness form the typical example of that spirit which he desires shall characterize all the subjects of his kingdom, all the members of his household, in every age.—G.