Children Brought to Christ, and Not to the Font
A Sermon
(No. 581)
Delivered on Sunday Morning, July 24th, 1864, by the
Rev. C. H. SPURGEON,
At the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington
"And they brought young children to him, that he should touch them: and
his disciples rebuked those that brought them. But when Jesus saw it,
he was much displeased, and said unto them, Suffer the little children
to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of
God. Verily I say unto you, whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of
God as a little child, he shall not enter therein. And he took them up
in his arms, put his hands upon them, and blessed them"–Mark 10:13-16.
MY attention has been specially directed to this passage by the fact
that it has been quoted against me by most of the authors of those
sermons and letters which are, by a stretch of imagination, called
"replies" to my sermon upon "Baptismal Regeneration." Replies they
certainly are not, except to one another. I marvel that a Church so
learned as the Anglican, cannot produce something a little more worthy
of the point in hand. The various authors may possibly have read my
discourse, but by reason of mental absorption in other meditations, or
perhaps through the natural disturbance of mind caused by guilty
consciences, they have talked with confusion of words, and have only
been successful in refuting themselves, and answering one another. They
must have been aiming at something far removed from my sermon, or else
I must give them credit for being the worst shots that ever practiced
with polemical artillery. They do not so much as touch the target in
its extreme corners, much less in its centre. The whole question is, Do
you believe that baptism regenerates? If so–prove that your belief is
Scriptural! Do you believe that baptism does not regenerate? Then
justify your swearing that it does? Who will reply to this? He shall
merit and bear the palm.
The Scripture before us is by several of the champions on the other
side exhibited to the people as a rebuke to me. Their reasoning is
rather ingenious than forcible: forsooth, because the disciples
incurred the displeasure of Jesus Christ by keeping back the little
children from coming to Him, therefore Jesus Christ is greatly
displeased with me, and with all others like me, for keeping children
from the font, and the performance there enacted; and specially
displeased with me for exposing the Anglican doctrine of Baptismal
Regeneration! Observe the reasoning–because Jesus was much displeased
with disciples for hindering parents from seeking a blessing upon their
children, therefore he is much displeased with us who do not believe in
godfathers and godmothers, or the signing of the cross on the infant
brow. I must say at the outset that this is rather a leap of argument,
and would not ordinarily be thought conclusive, but this we may readily
overlook, since we have long ceased to hope for reasonable arguments
from those who support a cause based upon absurdity. My brethren, I
concluded that there must be something forcible in such a text as this,
or my opponents would not be so eager to secure it; I have therefore
carefully looked at it, and as I have viewed it, it has opened up to me
with a sacred splendour of grace. In this incident the very heart of
Christ is published to poor sinners, and we may clearly perceive the
freeness and the fulness of the mighty grace of the Redeemer of men,
who is willing to receive the youngest child as well as the oldest man;
and is greatly displeased with any who would keep back seeking souls
from coming to him, or loving hearts from bringing others to receive
his blessing.
I. In handling this text in what I believe to be its true light, I
shall commence, first of all, by observing that THIS TEXT HAS NOT THE
SHADOW OF THE SHADE OF THE GHOST OF A CONNECTION WITH BAPTISM. There is
no line of connection so substantial as a spider's web between this
incident and baptism, or at least my imagination is not vivid enough to
conceive one. This I will prove to you, if you will follow me for a
moment.
It is very clear, Dear Friends, that these young children were not
brought to Jesus Christ by their friends to be baptized. "They brought
young children to him, that he should touch them," says Mark. Matthew
describes the children as being brought "that he would put his hands on
them and pray," but there is not a hint about their being baptized; no
godfathers or godmothers had been provided, and no sign of the cross
was requested. Surely the parents themselves knew tolerably well what
it was they desired, and they would not have expressed themselves so
dubiously as to ask him to touch them, when they meant that he should
baptize them. The parents evidently had no thought of regeneration by
baptism, and brought the children for quite another end.
In the next place, if they brought the children to Jesus Christ to be
baptized, they brought them to the wrong person; for the Evangelist,
John, in the fourth chapter, and the second verse, expressly assures us
that Jesus Christ baptized not, but his disciples: this settles the
question once for all, and proves beyond all dispute that there is no
connection between this incident and baptism.
But you will say, "Perhaps they brought the children to be baptized by
the disciples?" Brethren, the disciples were not in the habit of
baptizing infants, and this is clear from the case in hand. If they had
been in the habit of baptizing infants, would they have rebuked the
parents for bringing them? If it had been a customary thing for parents
to bring children with such an object, would the disciples who had been
in the constant habit of performing the ceremony, have rebuked them for
attending to it? Would any Church clergyman rebuke parents for bringing
their children to be baptized? If he did so, he would act absurdly
contrary to his own views and practice; and we cannot therefore imagine
that if infant baptism had been the accepted practice, the disciples
could have acted so absurdly as to rebuke the parents for bringing
their little ones. It is obvious that such could not have been the
practice of the disciples who were rebuked.
Moreover, and here is an argument which seems to me to have great force
in it, when Jesus Christ rebuked his disciples, then was the time if
ever in his life, to have openly spoken concerning infant baptism,
godfathers and godmothers, and the whole affair. If he wished to rebuke
his disciples most effectually, how could he have done it better than
by saying, "Wherefore keep ye these children back? I have ordained that
they shall be baptized; I have expressly commanded that they shall be
regenerated and made members of my body in baptism; how dare you then,
in opposition to my will, keep them back?" But no, dear friends, our
Saviour never said a word about "the laver of regeneration," or, "the
quickening dew," when he rebuked them–not a single sentence. Had he
done so, the season would have been most appropriate if it had been his
intention to teach the practice; in the whole of his life, there is no
period in which a discourse upon infant regeneration in baptism could
have been more appropriate than on this occasion, and yet not a single
sentence about it comes from the Saviour's lips.
To close all, Jesus Christ did not baptize the children. Our Evangelist
does not inform us that he exclaimed, "Where are the godfathers and
godmothers?" Is it not recorded that he called for a font, or a Prayer
Book? No; but "He took them up in his arms, put his hands upon them,
and blessed them," and dismissed them without a drop of the purifying
element. Now, if this event had any connection with baptism whatever,
it was the most appropriate occasion for infant baptism to have been
practiced. Why, it would have ended for ever the controversy. There may
be some men in the world who would have raised the question of
engrafting infants into the body of Christ's Church by baptism after
all this, but I am certain no honest man would have done so who
reverently accepted Christ as his spiritual leader. I, my brethren,
would sooner be dumb than speak a single word against an ordinance
which Christ himself instituted and practiced; and if on this occasion
he had but sprinkled one of these infants, given him a Christian name,
signed him with a cross, accepted the vows of his godparents, and
thanked God for his regeneration, then the question would have been
settled for ever, and some of us would have been saved a world of
abuse, besides escaping no end of mistakes, for which we are condemned,
in the judgment of many good people, for whom we have some affection,
though for their judgment we have no respect.
So you see the parents did not ask baptismal regeneration; Christ did
not personally baptize; the disciples were not in the habit of
baptizing infants, or else they would not have rebuked the parents;
Christ did not speak about baptism on the occasion, and he did not
baptize the little ones.
I will put a case to you which may exhibit the weakness of my
opponents' position. Suppose a denomination should rise up which should
teach that babes should be allowed to partake at the Lord's Table. Such
teaching could plead precedents of great antiquity, for you are aware
that at one period, infant communion was allowed, and logically too;
for if an infant has a right to baptism, it has a right to come to the
Lord's Table. For years children were brought to the Lord's Table, but
rather inconvenient accidents occurred, and therefore the thing was
dropped as being unseemly. But if someone should revive the error, and
try to prove that infants are to come to the Lord's Supper, he might
prove it from this passage quite as clearly as our friends can prove
infant baptism from it. Moreover do not forget that even if infant
baptism could be proved from this text, the ceremony prescribed in the
Prayer Book is quite as far from being established. Whether the baptism
of infants may or may not be proved from other Scriptures I cannot now
stay to enquire, but even if it can be, what are we to say for
godfathers or godmothers, or the assertion that in baptism children are
made "members of Christ, children of God, and inheritors of the kingdom
of heaven?" Truly I might as well prove vaccination from the text
before me, as the performance which the Prayer Book calls "infant
baptism." I do not hesitate to say that I could prove any earthly
thing, if I might but have such reasoning granted to me as that which
proved infant baptism from this passage. There is no possible
connection between the two. The teaching of the passage is very plain
and very clear, and baptism has been imported into it, and not found in
it. As a quaint writer has well said, "These doctrines are raised from
the text as our collectors raise a tax upon indigent, nonsolvent
people, by coming armed with the law and a constable to distrain for
that which is not to be had. Certainly never was text so strained and
distrained to pay what it never owed; never man so racked to confess
what he never thought; never was a pumice stone so squeezed for water
which it never held." Still hundreds will catch at this straw, and cry,
"Did not Jesus say, Suffer the little children to come unto me?'" To
these we give this one word, see that ye read the Word as it is
written, and you will find no water in it but Jesus only. Are the water
and Christ the same thing? Is bringing a child to a font bringing the
child to Christ? Nay, here is a wide difference, as wide as between
Rome and Jerusalem, as wide as between Anti-christ and Christ, between
false doctrine and the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.
II. Now, for our second and much more pleasing task, WHY THEN WAS JESUS
CHRIST DISPLEASED?
Read the passage and at once the answer comes to you. He was displeased
with his disciples for two reasons: first, because they discouraged
those who would bring others to him; and secondly, because they
discouraged those who themselves were anxious to come to him. They did
not discourage those who were coming to a font, they discouraged those
who were coming to Jesus. There is a mighty distinction ever to be held
between the font and Christ, between the sprinkling of the priest and
living faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
First, his disciples discouraged those who would bring others to him.
This is a great sin, and wherever it is committed Jesus Christ is
greatly displeased, for a true desire to see others saved is wrought in
the believer by God the Holy Spirit, who thus renders the called ones
the means of bringing wandering sheep into the fold. In this case they
discouraged those who would bring children to him to be blessed. How
can we bring children to Jesus Christ to be blessed? We cannot do it in
a corporeal sense, for Jesus is not here, "he is risen;" but we can
bring our children in a true, real, and spiritual sense. We take them
up in the arms of our prayer. I hope many of us, so soon as our
children saw the light, if not before, presented them to God with this
anxious prayer, that they might sooner die than live to disgrace their
father's God. We only desired children that we might in them live over
again another life of service to God; and when we looked into their
young faces, we never asked wealth for them, nor fame, nor anything
else, but that they might be dear unto God, and that their names might
be written in the Lamb's Book of Life. We did then bring our children
to Christ as far as we could do it, by presenting them before God, by
earnest prayer on their behalf. And have we ceased to bring them to
Christ? Nay, I hope we seldom bow the knee without praying for our
children. Our daily cry is, "O, that they might live before thee!" God
knows that nothing would give us more joy than to see evidence of their
conversion; our souls would almost leap out of our bodies with joy, if
we should but know that they were the children of the living God. Nor
has this privilege been denied to us, for there are some here who can
rejoice in a converted household. Truly we can say with the apostle
Paul, "I have no greater joy than this, that my children walk in the
truth." We continue, therefore, to bring them to Christ by daily,
constant, earnest prayer on their behalf. So soon as they become of
years capable of understanding the things of God, we endeavour to bring
them to Christ by teaching them the truth. Hence our Sabbath-schools,
hence the use of the Bible and family prayer, and catechizing at home.
Any person who shall forbid us to pray for our children, will incur
Christ's high displeasure; and any who shall say, "Do not teach your
children; they will be converted in God's own time if it be his
purpose, therefore leave them to run wild in the streets," will
certainly both "sin against the child" and the Lord Jesus. We might as
well say, "If that piece of ground is to grow a harvest, it will do so
if it be God's good pleasure; therefore leave it, and let the weeds
spring up and cover it; do not endeavour for a moment to kill the
weeds, or to sow the good seed." Why, such reasoning as this would be
not only cruel to our children, but grievously displeasing to Christ.
Parents! I do hope you are all endeavouring to bring your children to
Christ by teaching them the things of God. Let them not be strangers to
the plan of salvation. Never let it be said that a child of yours
reached years in which his conscience could act, and he could judge
between good and evil, without knowing the doctrine of the atonement,
without understanding the great substitutionary work of Christ. Set
before your child life and death, hell and heaven, judgment and mercy,
his own sin, and Christ's most precious blood; and as you set these
before him, labour with him, persuade him, as the apostle did his
congregation, with tears and weeping, to turn unto the Lord; and your
prayers and supplications shall be heard so that the Spirit of God
shall bring them to Jesus. How much more like the Scripture will such
labours be than if you were to sing the following very pretty verse
which disfigures Roundell Palmer's "Book of Praise!"–
"Though thy conception was in sin,
A sacred bathing thou hast had;
And though thy birth unclean has been,
A blameless babe thou now art made.
Sweet baby, then forbear to weep;
Be still, my dear, sweet baby, sleep."
I cannot tell you how much I owe to the solemn words of my good mother.
It was the custom on Sunday evenings, while we were yet little
children, for her to stay at home with us, and then we sat round the
table and read verse by verse, and she explained the Scripture to us.
After that was done, then came the time of pleading; there was a little
piece of "Alleyn's Alarm," or of Baxter's "Call to the Unconverted,"
and this was read with pointed observations made to each of us as we
sat round the table; and the question was asked how long it would be
before we would think about our state, how long before we would seek
the Lord. Then came a mother's prayer, and some of the words of a
mother's prayer we shall never forget, even when our hair is grey. I
remember on one occasion her praying thus: "Now, Lord, if my children
go on in their sins, it will not be from ignorance that they perish,
and my soul must bear a swift witness against them at the day of
judgment if they lay not hold of Christ." That thought of a mother's
bearing swift witness against me, pierced my conscience and stirred my
heart. This pleading with them for God and with God for them is the
true way to bring children to Christ. Sunday-school teachers! you have
a high and noble work, press forward in it. In our schools you do not
try to bring children to the baptistry for regeneration, you point them
away from ceremonies; if I know the teachers of this school aright, I
know you are trying to bring your classes to Christ. Let Christ be the
sum and substance of your teaching in the school. Young men and young
women, in your classes lift up Christ, lift him up on high; and if
anybody shall say to you, "Why do you thus talk to the children?" you
can say, "Because my soul yearns towards them, and I pant for their
conversion;" and if any should afterwards object, you can remember that
Jesus is greatly displeased with them, and not with you, for you only
obey the injunction, "Feed my lambs."
The case in our text is that of children, but objectors rise up who
disapprove of endeavours to bring any sort of people to Christ by faith
and prayer. There are some who spend their nights in the streets
seeking after the poor harlot, and I have heard many harsh observations
made about their work; some will say it is ridiculous to expect that
any of those who have spent their days in debauchery should be
converted. We are told that the most of those who are taken into the
refuges go back and become as depraved as ever; I believe that to be a
very sad and solemn truth; but I believe, if I or anyone else shall
urge that or anything else as a reason why my brethren should not seek
the harlot, that Jesus would be greatly displeased; for any man who
stands between a soul-seeker and the divine object of getting a
blessing for the sinner's soul, excites the wrath of Christ. Some have
hopes of our convicts and criminals; but every now and then there is an
outcry against those who even believe it possible for a transport or a
ticket-of-leave man to be converted. But Jesus is greatly displeased
with any who shall say about the work, "It is too hard; it is
impossible." My brethren in Christ, labour for souls of all sorts: for
your children and for those who are past the threescore years and ten.
Seek out the drunkard; go after the thief; despise not the poor
down-trodden slave; let every race, let every colour, let every age,
let every profession, let every nation, be the object of your soul's
prayers. You live in this world, I hope, to bring souls to Jesus; you
are Christ's magnets with which through his Holy Spirit he will attract
hearts of steel; you are his heralds, you are to invite wanderers to
come to the banquet; you are his messengers, you are to compel them to
come in that his house may be filled; and if the devil tells you you
will not succeed, and if the world tells you that you are too feeble
and have not talent enough, never mind, Jesus would be greatly
displeased with you if you should take any heed to them; and meanwhile
he is greatly displeased with your adversaries for endeavouring to stop
you. Beloved, this is why Jesus Christ was greatly displeased.
A second ground of displeasure must be noticed. These children, it
strikes me, and I think there is good reason for the belief, themselves
desired to come to Christ to obtain a blessing. They are called "little
children," which term does not necessarily involve their being infants
of six months or a year; indeed, it is clear, as I will show in a
moment, that they were not such little children as to be unconscious
babes. They were "infants," according to our version of Luke, but then
you know the English word "infant" includes a considerable range of
age, for every person in his minority is legally considered to be an
infant, though he may be able to talk to any amount. We do not,
however, desire to translate the text with so great a license. There is
no necessity in the language used that these should have been anything
but what they are said to be–"little children." It is evident they
could walk, because in Luke it is said, "Jesus called them;" the gender
of the Greek pronoun used there refers it to the children, not to the
persons, nor to the disciples. Jesus called them, he called the
children, which he would hardly have done if they could not comprehend
his call: and he said, "Suffer the little children to come," which
implies that they could come, and doubtless they did come, with
cheerful faces, expecting to get the blessing. These perhaps may have
been some of those very children, who, a short time after, pulled down
branches from the trees and strewed them in the way, and cried,
"Hosanna," when the Saviour said, "Out of the mouths of babes and
sucklings hast thou ordained strength." Now Christ was greatly
displeased with his disciples for pushing back these boys and girls.
They did, as some old folks do now-a-days, who cry out–"Stand back,
you boys and girls! we do not want you here; we do not want children to
fill up the place; we only want grown-up people." They pushed them
back; they thought that Christ would have too much to do, if he
attended to the juveniles. Here comes out this principle, that we must
expect Christ's displeasure, if we attempt to keep anybody back from
coming to Christ, even though it be the youngest child. You ask how
persons can come to Christ now? They cannot come corporeally, but they
can come by simple prayer and humble faith. Faith is the way to Jesus,
baptism is not. When Jesus says, "Come unto me all ye that labour and
are heavy laden," he did not mean, "be baptized," did he? No; and so
when he said, "Suffer the little children to come unto me," he did not
mean, "Baptize them," did he? Coming to Jesus Christ is quite a
different thing from coming to a font. Coming to Christ means laying
hold upon Christ with the hand of faith; looking to him for my life, my
pardon, my salvation, my everything. If there be a poor little child
here who is saying in her little heart, or his little heart, "I would
like to come to Christ, O that I might be pardoned while I am yet a
little one"–come, little lamb; come, and welcome. Did I hear your cry?
Was it this?
"Gentle Jesus, meek and mild,
Look upon a little child;
Pity my simplicity,
Suffer me to come to thee."
Dear little one, Jesus will not despise your lispings, nor will his
servant keep you back. Jesus calls you, come and receive his blessing.
If any of you say a word to keep the young heart back, Jesus will be
displeased with you. Now I am afraid some do that; those, for instance,
who think that the gospel is not for little children. Many of my
brethren, I am sorry to say, preach in such a way that there is no hope
of children ever getting any good by their preaching. I cannot glory in
learning or eloquence, but in this one thing I may rejoice, that there
is always a number of happy children here, who are quite as attentive
as any of my audience. I do love to think that the gospel is suitable
to little children. There are boys and girls in many of our
Sabbath-school classes down below stairs who are as truly converted to
God as any of us. Nay, and if you were to speak with them about the
things of God, though you should get to the knotty points of election
and predestination, you would find those boys and girls well taught in
the things of the kingdom: they know free will from free grace, and you
cannot puzzle them when you come to talk about the work of Jesus and
the work of the Spirit, for they can discern between things which
differ. But a minister who preaches as though he never wanted to bring
children to Christ, and shoots right over the little one's heads, I do
think Jesus is displeased with him.
Then there are others who doubt whether children ever will be
converted. They do not look upon it as a thing likely to happen, and
whenever they hear of a believing child, they hold up their hands at
the prodigy, and say, "What a wonder of grace!" It ought to be, and in
those Churches where the gospel is simply preached, it is as common a
thing for children to be converted as for grown-up people to be brought
to Christ. Others begin to doubt the truth of juvenile conversions.
They say, "They are very young, can they understand the gospel? Is it
not merely an infantile emotion, a mere profession?" My brethren, you
have no more right to suspect the sincerity of the young, than to
mistrust the grey-headed; you ought to receive them with the same
open-breasted confidence with which you receive others when they
profess to have found the Saviour. Do, I pray you, whenever you see the
faintest desire in your children, go down on your knees, as your
servant does, when the fire is almost out, and blow the spark with your
own breath–seek by prayer to fan that spark to a flame. Do not despise
any godly remark the child may make. Do not puff the child up on
account of the goodness of the remark, lest you make him vain and so
injure him, but do encourage him; let his first little prayers be
noticed by you; though you may not like to teach him a form of
prayer–I shall not care if you do not–yet teach him what prayer is;
tell him to express his desires in his own words, and when he does so,
join ye in it and plead with God on his behalf, that your little one
may speedily find true peace in a Saviour's blood. You must not, unless
you would displease my Master, keep back the smallest child that longs
to come to Christ.
Here let us observe that the principle is of general application; you
must not hinder any awakened soul from seeking the Saviour. O my
brethren and sisters, I hope we have such a love for souls, such an
instinct within us to desire to see the travail of Christ's soul, that
instead of putting stumbling-blocks in the way, we would do the best we
could to gather out the stones. On Sabbath days I have laboured to
clear up the doubts and fears which afflict coming sinners; I have
entreated God the Holy Spirit to enable me so to speak, that those
things which hindered you from coming to the Saviour might be removed;
but how sad must be the case of those who delight themselves in putting
stumbling-blocks in men's way. The doctrine of election for instance, a
great and glorious truth, full of comfort to God's people; how often is
that made to frighten sinners from Jesus! There is a way of preaching
that with a drawn sword, and say, "You must not come unless you know
you are one of God's elect." That is not the way to preach the
doctrine. The true way of preaching it is, "God has a chosen people,
and I hope you are one of them; come, lay hold on Jesus, put your trust
in him." Then there be others who preach up frames and feelings as a
preparation for Christ. They do in effect say, "Unless you have felt so
much depression of spirit, or experienced a certain quantity of
brokenness of heart, you must not come to Christ," instead of
declaring, that whosoever will is permitted to come, and that the true
way of coming to Christ is not with a qualification of frames and
feeling and mental depressions, but just as you are. Oh! it is my
soul's delight to preach a gospel which has an open door to it, to
preach a mercy-seat which has no veil before it; the veil is rent in
twain, and now the biggest sinner out of hell who desires to come, is
welcome. You who are eighty years of age, and have hated Christ all the
time, if now the Spirit of God makes you willing to come, Christ seems
to say, "Suffer the grey- headed to come unto me, and forbid them not:"
while to you little children, he stretches out his arms in the same
manner, "Suffer the little children to come unto me." O my beloved, see
to it that your heart longs to come to Christ, and not to ceremonies! I
stand here this day to cry, "Come ye to the cross, not to the font."
When I forget to lift up the Lord Jesus, and to cast down the forms of
man's devising, "let my right hand forget her cunning," and "let my
tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth"–
None but Jesus, none but Jesus,
Can do helpless sinners good;"
The font is a mockery and an imposition if it be put before Christ. If
you have baptism after you have come to Christ, well and good, but to
point you to it either as being Christ, or as being inevitably
connected with Christ, or as being the place to find Christ, is nothing
better than to go back to the beggarly elements of the old Romish
harlot, instead of standing in the "liberty wherewith Christ hath made
us free," and bidding the sinner to come as a sinner to Christ Jesus,
and to Christ Jesus alone.
III. In the third and last place, let us also gather from our text,
that WHEN WE DISCOURAGE ANY, WE ALWAYS GO UPON WRONG GROUNDS. Here was
the case of children. I suppose that the grounds upon which the
apostles kept back the children would be one of these–either that the
children could not receive a blessing, or else that they could not
receive it worthily.
Did they imagine that these little children could not receive the
blessing? Perhaps so, for they thought them too young. Now, brethren,
that was a wrong ground to go upon, for these children could receive
the blessing and they did receive it, for Jesus took them in his arms
and blessed them. If I keep back a child from coming to Christ on the
ground that he is too young, I do it in the face of facts; because
there have been children brought to Christ at an extremely early
period. You who are acquainted with Janeway's "Tokens for Children,"
have noticed very many beautiful instances of early conversion. Our
dear friend, Mrs. Rogers, in that book of hers, "The Folded Lamb," gave
a very sweet picture of a little son of hers, soon folded in the
Saviour's bosom above, who, as early as two or three years of age,
rejoiced and knew the Saviour. I do not doubt at all, I cannot doubt
it, because one has seen such cases, that children of two or three
years of age may have precocity of knowledge, and of grace; a
forwardness which in almost every case has betokened early death, but
which has been perfectly marvellous to those who have talked with them.
The fact is that we do not all at the same age arrive at that degree of
mental stature which is necessary for understanding the things of God.
Children have been reported as reading Latin, Greek, and other
languages, at five or six years of age. I do not know that such early
scholarship is any great blessing, it is better not to reach that point
so soon; but some children are all that their minds ever will be at
three or four, and then they go home to heaven; and so long as the mind
has been brought up to such a condition that it is capable of
understanding, it is also capable of faith, if the Holy Spirit shall
implant it. To suppose that he ever did give faith to an unconscious
babe is ridiculous; that there can be any faith in a child that knows
nothing whatever I must always take ground to doubt, for "How shall
they believe without a preacher?" And yet they are brought up to make a
profession in their long-clothes, when they have never heard a sermon
in their lives. But those dear children to whom I have before referred,
have understood the preacher, have understood the truth, have rejoiced
in the truth, and their first young lispings have been as full of grace
as those glorious expressions of aged saints in their triumphant
departures. Children are capable, then, of receiving the grace of God.
Do mark by the way, that all those champions who have come out against
me so valiantly, have made a mistake; they have said that we deny that
little infants may be regenerated; we do not deny that God can
regenerate them if he pleases; we do not know anything about what may
or may not happen to unconscious babes; but we did say that little
children were not regenerated by their godparents telling lies at a
font–we did say that, and we say it again, that little children are
not regenerated, nor made members of Christ, nor children of God, nor
inheritors of the kingdom of heaven, by solemn mockery, in which
godfathers and godmothers promise to do for them what they cannot do
for themselves, much less for their children. That is the point; and if
they will please to meet it, we will answer them again, but till such
time as that, we shall probably let them talk on till God gives them
grace to know better.
The other ground upon which the apostles put back the children would
be, that although the children might receive the blessing, they might
not be able to receive it worthily. The Lord Jesus in effect assures
them that so far from the way in which a little child enters into the
kingdom of heaven being exceptional, it is the rule; and the very way
in which a child enters the kingdom, is the way in which everybody must
enter it. How does a child enter the kingdom of heaven? Why, its faith
is very simple; it does not understand mysteries and controversies, but
it believes what it is told upon the authority of God's Word, and it
comes to God's Word without previous prejudice. It has its natural
sinfulness, but grace overcomes it, and the child receives the Word as
it finds it. You will notice in boyish and girlish conversions, a
peculiar simplicity of belief: they believe just what Christ says,
exactly what he says. If they pray, they believe Christ will hear them:
if they talk about Jesus, it is as of a person near at hand. They do
not, as we do, get into the making of these things into mysteries and
shadows, but little children have a realizing power. Then they have
great rejoicing. The most cheerful Christians we have are young
believers; and the most cheerful old Christians are those who were
converted when they were young. Why, see the joy of a child that finds
a Saviour! "Mother," he says, "I have sought Jesus Christ, and I have
trusted him, and I am saved." He does not say, "I hope," and "I trust,"
but "I am;" and then he is ready to leap for joy because he is saved.
Of the many boys and girls whom we have received into
Church-fellowship, I can say of them all, they have all gladdened my
heart, and I have never received any with greater confidence than I
have these: this I have noticed about them, they have greater joy and
rejoicing than any others; and I take it, it is because they do not ask
so many questions as others do, but take Jesus Christ's word as they
find it, and believe in it. Well now, just the very way in which a
child receives Christ, is the way in which you must receive Christ if
you would be saved. You who know so much that you know too much; you
who have big brains; you who are always thinking, and have tendency to
criticism, and perhaps to scepticism, you must come and receive the
gospel as a little child. You will never get a hold of my Lord and
Master while you are wearing that quizzing cap; no, you must take it
off, and by the power of the Holy Spirit you must come trusting Jesus,
simply trusting him, for this is the right way to receive the kingdom.
But here, let me say, the principle which holds good in little children
holds good in all other cases as well. Take for instance the case of
very great sinners, men who have been gross offenders against the laws
of their country. Some would say they cannot be saved; they can be for
some of them have been. Others would say they never receive the truth
as it is in Jesus in the right manner; ay, but they do. How do great
sinners receive Christ? There are some here who have been reclaimed
from drunkenness, and I know not what. My brethren, how did you receive
Christ? Why in this way. You said, "All unholy, all unclean, I am
nothing else but sin; but if I am saved, it will be grace, grace,
grace." Why, when you and I stood up, black, and foul, and filthy, and
yet dared to believe in Christ, we said, "If we are saved, we shall be
prodigies of divine mercy, and we will sing of his love for ever." Well
but, my dear friends, you must all receive Jesus Christ in that very
way. That which would raise an objection to the salvation of the big
sinner is thrown back upon you, for Christ might well say, "Except ye
receive these things as the chief of sinners, ye cannot enter the
kingdom." I will prove my point by the instance of the apostle Paul. He
has been held by some to be an exception to the rule, but Paul did not
think so, for he says that God in him showed forth all longsuffering
for a pattern to them that believe, and made him as it were a type of
all conversions; so that instead of being an exception his was to be
the rule. You see what I am driving at. The case of the children looks
exceptional, but it is not; it has, on the contrary, all the features
about it which must be found in every true conversion. It is of such
that the kingdom of heaven is composed, and if we are not such we
cannot enter it. Let this induce all of us who love the Lord, to pray
for the conversion both of children and of all sorts of men. Let our
compassion expand, let us shut out none from the plea of our heart; in
prayer and in faith let us bring all who come under our range, hoping
and believing that some of them will be found in the election of grace,
that some of them will be washed in the Saviour's blood, and that some
of them will shine as stars in the firmament of God for ever. Let us,
on no consideration, believe that the salvation of any man or child is
beyond the range of possibility, for the Lord saveth whom he wills. Let
no difficulties which seem to surround the case hinder our efforts; let
us, on the contrary, push with greater eagerness forward, believing
that where there seems to be some special difficulty, there will be
manifested, as in the children's case, some special privilege. O labour
for souls, my dear friends! I beseech you live to win souls. This is
the best rampart against error, a rampart built of living
stones–converted men and women. This is the way to push back the
advances of Popery, by imploring the Lord to work conversions. I do not
think that mere controversial preaching will do much, though it must be
used; it is grace-work we want; it is bringing you to Christ, it is
getting you to lay hold of him–it is this which shall put the devil to
a nonplus and expand the kingdom of Christ. O that my God would bring
some of you to Jesus! If he is displeased with those who would keep you
back, then see how willing he is to receive you. Is there in your soul
any desire towards him? Come and welcome, sinner, come. Do you feel now
that you must have Christ or die? Come and have him, he is to be had
for the asking. Has the Lord taught you your need of Jesus? Ye thirsty
ones, come and drink; ye hungry ones, come and eat. Yea, this is the
proclamation of the gospel to-day, "The Spirit and the bride say, Come.
And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come.
And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely." I do trust
there may be encouragement in this to some of you. I pray my Master
make you feel it. If he be angry with those who keep you back, then he
must be willing to receive you, glad to receive you; and if you come to
him he will in no wise cast you out. May the Lord add his blessing on
these words for Jesus' sake. Amen.