The Children and Their Hosannas
(No. 1785)
A SERMON DELIVERED ON WEDNESDAY EVENING, MAY 7, 1884,
BY C. H. SPURGEON,
AT UNION CHAPEL, ISLINGTON.
"But when the chief priests and scribes saw the wonderful things thatHe
did, and the children crying in the Temple, and saying, "Hosanna to the
son of David!" they were sorely displeased, and said unto Him, "Do You
hear what these are saying?" And Jesus said unto them, "Yes. Have you
ne ver read, Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings you have perfected
praise?" Matthew 21:15,16.
(BY REQUEST OF THE SUNDAY SCHOOL UNION).
THESE scribes and Pharisees always come in very conveniently as a sort
of shadow to bring out the bright lights of the picture. One feels glad
that they are not alive to worry us now, but somewhat glad that they
were alive just then to put some of their strange cross questions to
the Savior and to awaken His spirit to utter precious Truths of God
which are all the better understood because of the occasion which
called for them. Here was their question, "Do You hear what these are
saying?" I suppose that if interpreted at full length the question
means, "Do You permit these mere children to salute You with hosannas?
What do You think of Yourself when Your name is in the mouths of noisy
boys and girls who make the Temple courts to ring, again?"
I have met with that spirit in these days, for the Pharisees are not
all dead, nor the scribes either. They may be dead literally, but their
spiritual successors–are they not still among us? Listen to their
criticism–"It is true that the good man has many converts, but they
are only a parcel of young people–mere boys and girls!" Oh yes, I know
you, my old friend, I have met with you before! This is the very
language of the ancestors of your house–they, also, enquired
sarcastically–"Do you hear what these are saying?" A despising of true
religion, when it is found among the very young, is a pernicious evil
which springs up, again, in each generation–however diligently we may
pull up the weed!
Explanations are sometimes given of the light esteem in which men hold
juvenile godliness. They say, "It is not the children's youth that we
look down upon so much, but they are, of course, ignorant and,
therefore, do not know what they are saying." No doubt the Pharisees
would have exclaimed, "They do not even know the meaning of the word,
'hosanna!' How can they know that it is proper to apply the term to the
Man of Nazareth? They have never read the Talmud, or the Gemara–what
could they know?" I have heard the same thing said of certain people in
these modern times. The polite and intelligent, or rather, those who
think themselves so, cry–"Oh, it is a congregation of quite the lower
orders! They are ignorant, uninstructed people. Very earnest, very
prayerful, very sincere–but still, so poor and illiterate that it
takes a large quantity of them to make up anything very considerable."
That judgment tallies with the criticism of the Pharisees of old and I
would recommend all friends to steer as far away as they can from the
track of those ancient cavilers. The spirit which looks down upon any
class of people who sincerely love the Lord, is not from Heaven!
Neither would the Lord Jesus sanction it for a moment! One is our
Master, even Christ, and we are all Brethren–and if some people do not
know quite so much as we do, it is just possible that there may be a
little conceit in our knowledge, and it were far more commendable to
seek their edification than to sneer at them!
Then, again, I suppose that the Pharisees would have said, "We do not
condemn their youth or their ignorance, but their excessive enthusiasm
is quite annoying. If they walked steadily through the court and
chanted, 'Hosanna,' in a subdued tone, one could bear it. But to shout
at that rate is going too far! These children cry, 'Hosanna,' in the
Temple in quite a tumultuous fashion. Everything should be decorous and
proper there." Yes, yes, I have often heard the same
thing, but there is not much in it. We can be overdone with propriety.
Some of us are hampered and hindered by it and in proportion as we get
into that state we, of course, resent anything that looks like
enthusiasm! No doubt, fanaticism is a bad thing–but it is the
exaggeration of something which is good. When zeal grows to madness, it
is dangerous. But the stuff that it is made of, if it could be kept in
order, might be just the one thing necessary in many a Church!
Fire is a bad master. We all admit that. It is, however, an exceedingly
good servant, and it would be a pity to quench all the fires that burn
upon our hearths because, perhaps, they might produce a conflagration.
Enthusiasm is of God– let us not repress it because we are fearful
that it may grow into fanaticism! Is not the very suggestion
suspicious? It is so like what the Pharisees would have done. We are
pretty sure to be on the wrong track when we say, "Do you hear what
these are saying?" I remember what Zwingli said in time of battle and I
have sometimes felt inclined to say the same, though I have not said
it. He cried, "In the name of the Holy Trinity, let all loose." When we
get contracted and official; when red tape and decorum tie us hand and
foot, I feel inclined to cut the bonds and let men and women shout and
sing as they have a mind to. Especially let the children, in the fervor
of their spirits, have full liberty to cry, "Hosanna," in the Temple
and anywhere else! I demand liberty for life and double freedom for
young life, which will, otherwise, not be fresh, bright and beautiful.
I have nothing more to do with that point just now.
I was asked to speak on behalf of the Sunday School Union and I must
make my discourse suitable to the occasion. I remember hearing a sermon
preached on a missionary Sunday which was about everything in the world
except missions. I believe the Brother thought that, as the Missionary
Society had the occasion, he needed not give it anything more, but
might use the opportunity for discussing something else. Although I may
seem to be somewhat confined in my run of thought, I cannot help it–I
must keep the service sacred to its purpose. I have never learned the
art of hitting two targets with the same shot. I must, therefore, keep
to one theme and preach about the children to those who are endeavoring
to teach them the right way. It is upon the children that the brunt of
this sarcastic question still falls, "Do you hear what these are
saying?"
There are still among us those who hardly think that children can be
truly converted. They put on their magnifying glasses when there is a
child before the Church and they look hard for a flaw in its character!
They put the child under a microscope and examine him much more
particularly than they would a person of adult years. When the child is
received into the Church, it is with a kind of feeling that only the
generous spirit of Christianity would enable us to be so wonderfully
condescending and so purely unselfish, for, of course, such young
people cannot add much to the Church, and it is by no means an occasion
for killing the fatted calf and beginning to eat and be merry! That
spirit still lingers among us–I wish we could exterminate it!
The Savior's answer to the Pharisees was splendid. Even in its opening
words He smote them, "Have you never read?" Why, they were always
reading! They lived on the letter and reckoned the reading of Scripture
to be a very virtuous act! Reading and writing were the business of the
scribes and Pharisees and it hit them hard when the Savior said to
them, "Have you never read?" Might He not even hint that they did not
read, after all? They were readers or nothing, yet the Savior hints
that they were not readers in the true sense! "Have you never read?"
You have never reached the inner sense. You have not read so as to
understand. Have you never read that wondrous passage in the Psalms,
"Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings have You ordained strength"?
It was well to carry the war into the enemy's country and to charge
them home in such a telling style! And they evidently felt it, for they
gave Him no answer! Jesus, having silenced them, being satisfied that
nothing could be done with them, left them and went to Bethany. They
were barren ground given up to burning–it was useless to sow them with
good seed. Jesus stopped their mouths, prevented their hindering the
children and then went His way to His village retreat.
That text which He quoted seemed to say to them–God is most glorified
in weak things. If praise shall come out of the mouths of babes and
sucklings, then is God greatly honored. If the heavens are telling of
His Glory, that is something–but if babes are doing it, that is
somewhat more! There is more of power displayed in the Lord's raising
up the weak things to confound the mighty than in His using the great
things to set forth His majesty! It is very remarkable under the Old
Testament dispensation what care the Lord always took of the poor and
despised. There was an appointed gift for rich men. The offering was
also arranged to suit persons of moderate position. But this was not
all–the sacrifice was also accommodated to those of the humblest
rank–so that the poorest woman might bring her pair of turtle doves or
two young pigeons. I think four times in one chapter in Leviticus we
read, "He shall bring an offering of what he can
get." The Lord thus accepted the sacrifices of the poor and we may rest
assured that He accepts the offerings of the children. It is according
to the spirit of our great Lord to dwell with the lowly and the
humble–and to be pleased with the praises of the little ones. Others
may despise them, but He never does, for He even enrolls them in His
Kingdom.
And now to our work of dealing with this matter of questioning the
blessedness of children's piety. May the Holy Spirit help me!
I. Our first head is this–CHILDREN ARE CAPABLE OF A VERY DEEP PIETY.
Instead of saying, "Do you hear what these are saying?" with a kind of
contumely, we should cry with holy delight, "Lord, we know that You
hear what the children say. If You turn Your ears away from us by
reason of our pollution, yet You hear their simple cries and eager
notes of praise, for they are true and hearty." I am sure that children
are capable of that early Grace with which true religion usually
begins, namely, that of deep repentance. Have you ever heard the sobs
and cries of little ones when they have been convicted of sin? I have
almost wondered, when I have seen their pure lives, and yet have marked
their solemn sense of guilt. Outward sin in its grosser forms was
scarcely known to them, even by name, and yet when they have felt the
power of God's Holy Spirit, boys that were usually gay and thoughtless,
when they felt the evil of their hearts, have sobbed and wept as if
they could not be comforted!
They have mentioned their little deeds of disobedience to their
parents, or their acts of passion with their brothers, or some other
fault, and they have cried aloud as if their hearts would burst!
Foolish persons have said, "Do not fret, my dear, I am sure you have
never been a bad child," but the child has known better. The conscience
awakened within him has revealed to him much more of sin than the
unrenewed trifler could perceive–infinitely more than the child ever
showed in his outward life! I cannot help remembering how the Lord
dealt with me as a child. If ever any lad knew the guilt of sin, I did.
I was tenderly cared for and kept from all sorts of evil company, yet
the great deeps within my nature were broken up and rose in vast waves
of sin and rebellion against God. I was amazed at my own sinfulness! I
have met with scores of persons, converted in riper years, who, I am
sure, never felt a hundredth part of what I felt as a child when I was
under the hand of God's Spirit.
I experienced a thorough loathing of myself because I had not lived to
God and loved and served Him as He deserved. I speak upon this point
what I know and testify what I have seen and felt in myself. Grief for
sin and a holy dread of the consequences can be felt by children quite
as well as by their seniors. In many children whom I have known,
repentance has been true, thorough, deep, intelligent and lasting–they
have found their way to the foot of the Cross and seen the great
Sacrifice–and have wept all the more to think that they should have
offended against the love which so freely forgives.
As to faith, I am sure that no one who has seen converted children will
ever doubt their capacity for faith. In the hand of God's Spirit, a
child's capacity for faith is, in some respects, greater than that of a
grown-up. At any rate, the faith of children is usually far more simple
than that of adults. They take the Word of God as they find it and they
believe it to be the very Truth of God. They read it fairly and they do
not put glosses thereon, or degrade it with interpretations gathered
from the schools or from the current philosophies. God's Book means to
them just what it says. No undertone of doubt mars the music of the
promises–they accept the Word as it ought to be accepted–as the sure
testimony of God's mouth. They believe and have little unbelief to
struggle with! They believe and are sure and, therefore, theirs is the
Kingdom of Heaven!
You must have noticed how vivid their faith is. The Gospel is all fact
to them and they seem to see it before their eyes! They feel it and
believe it and, in their childlike way, they act upon it. They expect
great things and look for them in everyday life. They sometimes look
for them in a shape in which they will never see them, but still, that
is much better than never to expect at all and so to miss seeing the
Glory of God. Jesus is to children no mere Character in history–He is
with them, and their eyes behold Him! The Master's word is to them what
He meant it to be–and they expect to realize it and to see it
fulfilled in their own experience–hence some holy children are far in
advance of us poor questioners who are cracking the nut while the
little ones have eaten the kernel!
And how effective their faith is! Have you never known a child in whose
holy life you have seen the reality of his faith? He was a child–God
forbid that he should be otherwise–but he was a holy child. For a boy
to put on the air and manners of a man is not sanctification–that is
to spoil him, not to sanctify him! And for a girl to be other than a
girl–and to assume the air and tone of her careful mother–would be
very mischievous. God does not sanctify children into men,
but He sanctifies children in their own childlike way! I have noticed,
especially, the struggles of some children with whom it has been my
great joy to converse. They have been to school, and they have met
there with almost the same temptations which you encounter in business,
or the market, or in the Stock Exchange–only the temptations have been
adapted to their state, according to the subtlety of the Evil One who
knows how to fit his snares to the birds he would entrap.
Converted children have a horror of wickedness. A bad word that they
have heard has made them sob themselves to sleep. They have been
disturbed by the look of sin–and some wicked thing that has been said
about the Divine Lord has cut them to the quick! They have not acted
quite rightly–they have felt it and they have not again been easy till
they have mentioned it to mother or father, or perhaps to their teacher
and obtained a sense of forgiveness. The dear ones need to be clear
with everybody, that they might not seem to be better than they were.
Oh, the sweet simplicity of childhood! The dear child has said, "Jesus
has forgiven me, I know. I stole away into a corner and I told Him that
I had done wrong, but that I loved Him, and I believe that He has even
now blotted out my sin. I hope that I shall not do wrong again. Pray
for me that I may be kept right and may be pure and good, like the holy
Child Jesus."
Does anybody here despise such desires in a child? If so, my Friend, as
far as it is right to do so and, perhaps a little farther, I despise
you! I cannot help it, for there seems to me something so beautiful in
youthful faith that you might as well sneer at a lily for its purity as
despise a child for his artlessness! Children may teach some of us how
to believe in God. I am sure they may put us all to shame by their
unfeigned confidence in the result of prayer. I have smiled at the
story of the child who went to a Prayer Meeting which was summoned that
they might pray for rain–and took her umbrella with her. Ah, but that
is the marrow of true prayer! We pray, but we do not take our
umbrellas, yet it is the essence of faith to expect to be heard and to
be prepared to be answered! Children often remind us that faith is not
to be a show thing, a theme for pious talk, a source of gracious
emotion, but a matter-of-fact force operating upon the ordinary
concerns of everyday life. I am sure that I am not wrong when I say
that children are capable of repentance and of a very high degree of
faith.
As to love, my dear Friends, is it not one of the matters in which
children excel? When they learn to love our blessed Lord, they copy
closely the love of Mary of Bethany–they sit at His feet and receive
His Words. They are not yet Marthas, nor cumbered with much serving. I
had almost said, "God grant that they may never grow to be such. But,
having chosen the good part, may they keep to it, and still sit and
look up into that dear face which they realize in all its beauty far
better than we do." They truly love Jesus and there is no room to
question the fact! The Lord never said to a child, "Do you love Me?" He
did say it to Peter and there was good reason for His doing so–but a
child, once becoming a disciple of Christ, is sure to love fervently
with a pure heart. Childhood is all heart.
I have noticed in children other virtues besides these, when they have
been brought to Christ. For instance, courage. We do not always look
for that in children, yet they have shown it. This was seen
conspicuously when the martyr Laurence was burned at Colchester! The
Popish tormentors had so tortured him in prison that he had to be
carried to the stake in a chair–and all the grown-ups were afraid that
they might be burned, too, if they were seen to associate with him. But
the little children had no such fears and so they came round the man of
God and cried, "Lord, strengthen Your servant! Lord, strengthen Your
servant!" So they were his comforters while he confessed his Lord amid
the flames!
When one was burned in Smithfield, a boy was seen going home after the
burning and someone said, "Boy, why were you there?" He answered, "Sir,
I went to learn the way." Those were brave days, surely, when boys
learned the way to witness for Jesus at the stake! Yet they were
children, you know, and children like ours. The Brentwood martyr was a
holy boy of whom one said to his mother, "Will you not urge him to
forsake the faith?" She said, "I have had many children, but I never
thought one so well bestowed as this dear boy though he is to be burned
to the death, seeing it is for the Lord Jesus." He cheered his older
companion who stood back to back with him in the flames–and then he
died unflinchingly. Children have taken their fair share all along in
martyr days. Read the old stories of Church history. When the good ship
of the Church plowed her way through seas of blood, the children on
board bravely endured their share of the tempest and the tossing. Grace
made them heroes before nature had fully made them men!
So, to come nearer to your own hearts. There is another Grace which is
akin to courage, but more often required by children, now, and that is
patience. Oh, the patience of pious children! I have known one lie for
years upon his back–the most cheerful person in the house! He could
never stir–by the order of the doctor he was forced to lie in one
position– but never a murmur escaped his lips. You must have seen
children behave splendidly when they have had to go to the hos-
pital, or to undergo a painful operation. They have resigned themselves
to the great Father and they have trusted in Jesus in a way that must
have made you blush–certainly, if you have been guilty of
impatience–you must have felt reproved.
Oh, dear Friends, I plead for the children's piety with all my heart,
for I am sure that they are capable of being quick of understanding in
the fear of the Lord. They are not necessarily ignorant, nor even
shallow. It has been my great privilege of late to admit to the Church
a large number of little children, and I have done so with unreserved
confidence in their intelligent apprehension of the Gospel. I have
talked with them, I hope with gentleness, but I have put questions to
them concerning the deep things of God–and wherever the question has
been vital, there has been no hesitancy as to the answer. I had, years
ago, a good Brother in our number who, at Church Meetings, usually felt
it necessary to ask a young child some testing question. I did not
admire his habit and I thought he would grow out of it, as indeed he
did.
He asked this question of a child–"Have you a good heart?" It was a
little boy and he at once replied, "Yes, Sir." My friend looked at me
as much as to say, "There, you see the child's ignorance!" I knew
better and, therefore, said to the boy, "What do you mean when you say
that you have a good heart?" "Sir," he said, "the Lord Jesus Christ
gave me a new heart when I believed in Him, and I am sure that it is a
good one." My venerable friend who put the question was greatly
delighted–and completely shut up–he asked no more questions of
children for a very considerable time. If he had done so, I might have
had more good illustrations to give you!
It is not true that godly children come into the Church believing
something or other, not knowing what–for I have marked a maturity of
understanding in some children that, I am sure, I have not always seen
in persons of riper years. God instructs the babes–He teaches the
young men wisdom–He gives the youths knowledge and discretion. Age is
wise, undoubtedly, but not always. Youth is foolish, but yet the Lord
grants a considerable share of wisdom to young Samuels and youthful
Davids. Frequently, also, what they know is truer wisdom than that of
their elders. I read some time ago that the Jews permit children to
read the Scriptures when they are five years old–but they may not read
a word of the Talmud till they are fifteen. God help me to keep on
reading the Scriptures and never get to the Talmud at all!
Alas, many professors are so old that it is all Talmud with them–the
Bible is buried under a heap of novel theories. With the children there
is no Talmud and much Bible! They just keep to the simple Word of God
and what they know is worth the knowing. Whereas much of what others of
us know never was worth the knowing and it would be a great blessing if
we could forget it altogether! Children can be quick of understanding
in the fear of God.
If you inquire for anything else, such as, "Can children know joy in
the Lord?" Oh can they not? Would God we had their joy and their
delight in Divine things! Have you ever seen them on the brink of death
when they have been within hail of Heaven? When the golden gate has
been in sight? What words they have uttered–priceless as rare gems! A
half-a-dozen words from a dying child have been worth a dictionary for
the weight of meaning that has been concentrated therein! If their
heavenly Father can bless them in dying, He can bless them with joy
unutterable in living! And so, indeed, He does!
One thing strikes me very strongly about children–when men grow old
and ripen for Heaven, they usually enter upon a child-like career
before they die. Their mature tastes and purified hearts bring them
into a childhood which is not childish but child-like. Where childhood
begins ripe, manhood ends. The last words that were said by old Dr.
Nott were–
"And now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep." A
child's verse that his mother taught him, served him for a watchword at
the gates of death! It is very pleasing to read of our late dear
friend, Dr. Guthrie, that, just before his departure, he said, "Sing me
one of the children's hymns." Oh, yes, when we become old, we grow like
children again! We need the children's hymn and the children's faith!
The child is, in some respects, our model and example. "Except you are
converted and become as little children, you shall not enter into the
Kingdom of Heaven." "Suffer the little children to come unto Me, and
forbid them not: for of such is the Kingdom of God." What need of more
argument as to the excellence of child religion?
II. But now, secondly, as children are capable of deep piety, so
CHILDREN ARE CAPABLE, IN THE HANDS OF GOD, OF RENDERING GOOD SERVICE.
Some children have been chosen for very special service–not many, but
some. It would prove the capacity of a child if there were but one
Samuel. He ministered before the Lord and thus was a child priest. He
spoke the Word of the Lord to Eli, having received it in a vision of
the night, and thus was a child
Prophet. He was a messenger of God when Eli's sons were men of Belial.
Little children can, and often do, convey healing messages to those
about them. The little maid that waited upon Naaman's wife did good
service to the Syrian hero when she said, "Would God my lord were with
the Prophet that is in Samaria! For he would recover him of his
leprosy."
Little children, I have no doubt, often guide blind souls into the
Light of God and even great Believers have been indebted to children.
Can we ever forget Samson, that brawny, strong-sinewed man who became
blind as the result of his own folly? He could not serve his God
without the help of a boy and, therefore, he said to the lad that held
him by the hand, "Suffer me that I may feel the pillars whereupon the
house stands, that I may lean upon them." And the boy led the blind
hero to the place where, bowing himself with all his might, Samson
avenged his blindness upon the Philistines. How often strong men have
been guided to great actions by a child!
Most of you can remember times when to you, also, it was true, "A
little child shall lead them." You had not thought of it, had not the
boy suggested it to you. You could not have done it before, but somehow
the words he said, as he looked up into your face, quickened you to
energy. A Christian man had never set up family prayer had not his
little boy went to visit an uncle–and when he came back, he said,
"Father, why do you not do as uncle Isaac does?" "What is that, child?"
"Why, he reads a chapter every morning and every evening and prays with
His family." Father attended to family worship after that! The child's
remark was a great help.
You may have beheld a scene like that which comes up to my memory–At a
temperance meeting a drunk came in with a little boy whom he greatly
loved, and both of them listened to the speeches. The little boy,
turning round, said, "Father, do not drink any more. Come up to the
platform and let us both sign the pledge." "That I will, child."
Putting the boy on his shoulders, he forced his way through the
crowd–and they both signed and put on the blue. He was true all his
life to it–no, he became a servant of the Lord Jesus Christ after
being saved from his drunkenness! Oh, little children, you have done
much and you will do more! We cannot, therefore, thrust you away and
say to our Master, "Do You hear what these are saying?" God forbid that
we should!
Little children serve the Lord wondrously by their prayers. There are
no Prayer Meetings to my mind more touching, or more likely to prevail,
than the Prayer Meetings of little children when they get together and
cry unto the Lord! Melancthon thought so, for he said to Luther, when
he found him down in the dumps, "Courage, Brother, the children are
praying for us, and God will hear them." Mr. Whitefield mentions in his
diary the great encouragement that he received at Moorfields from the
children. He says that he was pelted with mud and stones, but he was
greatly comforted, for a company of little children always sat around
the platform and passed him up the requests for prayer. When mud and
stones fell fast about them, they never stirred, but still kept looking
up to the man of God and offering their prayers that God might help
him. The Lord God will hear children! He hears young ravens when they
cry–will He not much more hear the young of the human race?
That perfect praise which He brings out of their mouths, He must
accept, for He has Himself put it there. He will accept their childish
pleading–blessings must descend when children pray! The children of
London, I do verily believe, are the best city missionaries that we
have–and the best evangelists that we shall ever find. They come to
our schools and everything is happy and holy there–but they often go
home to houses from which they have been sent to get rid of them–and
for no better reason. And when they go home, what do they do? If you
were to turn into a singing pilgrim and visit certain homes with the
wish to sing gracious hymns, the door would be shut in your face! But
little Tommy will sing at home and Father will say, "Come and sing me
one of your little pieces"–for in his opinion, Tommy's voice is much
sweeter than yours.
And little Ruth, when she goes home, tells her father what her teacher
said. Father does not care for parsons and he does not believe in
religion. But then, you see, he is very fond of Ruth–and Ruth prattles
so prettily that he loves to listen to her–and even tells his mates
what she says. Even her breaking down and her lisping are pretty to him
and his heart must be impressed now that Ruth sings to him! In many
hundreds of cases it has been so. When children are converted, they do
more than sing and tell what they have heard–I heard of a little child
whose father was prone to curse and swear. And when he had indulged in
a fit of horrible language, she went behind the door in terror. Her
father fiercely demanded, "What are you doing there? Come out!" When
she came out her eyes were red with weeping. "What are you crying for,
child? What are you crying for?"
"Because, dear Father, I could not bear to hear you swear!" "Well,
child, you never shall hear me swear again. Mother, I think that child
goes to a good school. What school is it? I must go and hear the
minister." How many cords of love God is binding about hearts by means
of the children from our Sunday schools! If you ever become weary in
teaching because you think you are not doing much, recollect that you
do not know how much you are doing! You are teaching the children, but
you are also teaching the fathers and the mothers–and through them the
Word of God is entering where none of us can take it! God will bless
the Word which the children carry home. They are capable of great
service, even as children. Therefore do not pray that they may be
converted when they grow up, but pray that they may be converted while
they are children! Pray that while they are yet little ones, they may
be spiritually girded with a linen ephod and may spend their earliest
days in the house of the Lord.
III. Lastly, lest I weary you, the third head shall be this–CHILDREN'S
PIETY AND SERVICE ARE PECULIARLY GLORIFYING TO GOD. It glorifies God's
condescension when He takes a little child and instructs it in His fear
and manifests Himself to it as He does not to the world. I have heard
some speak of condescending to children. Oh, Brothers and Sisters! We
go up when we talk to children! It is almost condescension on the
little children's part to consort with such poor creatures as we are!
But for God to stoop to children is, indeed, wonderful! His great
condescension is seen in the nursery and the infant class.
So, too, I think is His sovereignty–that while He permits the wise of
this world to be foolish in their wisdom and not many great men after
the flesh, not many mighty are called–He has chosen the weak things of
this world. I feel deep sympathy with our blessed Lord, tonight, while
I say, "I thank You, O Feather, Lord of Heaven and earth, that You have
hid these things from the wise and prudent, and have revealed them unto
babes. Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in Your sight." He passes
the towers of haughty princes and He comes down to accept a babe
kneeling at its mother's knee–and there works a miracle of Grace! He
will have mercy on whom He will have mercy–and He wills to give that
mercy to children–condescending sovereignly, He takes a child from its
little cot and leads it to the eternal Throne!
And, oh, what power is manifested in the conversion of a child! Perhaps
that did not strike you. I will tell you how it may strike you. If you
have any doubt about it, will you kindly try to convert a child,
yourself? There are teachers here, perhaps, who have performed the
experiment. You have found yourselves baffled at every point! You find
the little sinner as hard to subdue as the greatest rebel on earth. You
find the same unbelief in its little heart as in your own, though it
takes its own peculiar form. There, too, you see the same waywardness,
the same fickleness after their own form and fashion. You find the same
hardness of heart, the same forgetfulness, the same carelessness, the
same indifference in a child as in those who are grown up. For a child
to become a saint is a mighty instance of Divine Power, as you will say
after you have once tried to make your child into a saint by your own
endeavors! The wisest and most tender efforts, apart from Divine Grace,
must end in utter failure and, therefore, when God works the miracle,
let His name be praised!
By the conversion of little children, the Lord gets to Himself much
glory because they so admirably rebuke His enemies. Do I address any
men who has not yet given his heart to God? You will be rebuked, I am
sure, if you find that your children have done so! I know fathers, now,
whose children, though they are but little, pray for them every day,
saying, "God save dear Father." I know mothers who gather their little
children about them–and they pray together for Father! Perhaps Father
is very kind, but yet not a Christian. Or else Father is cruel when he
is intoxicated and they are all afraid when he enters the house in such
a state. Oh, how they pray for Father that he may come home sober! The
prayers of the mothers and the children are bringing the fathers and
the husbands to Christ–for who can see what some of us have seen in
children and not feel ashamed of living so long in opposition to the
Redeemer's love?
Yes, and I may add, I think, that children sometimes rebuke God's own
people and so glorify God. Some of God's people here, tonight, have
never made a confession of their faith. What would you think if I
introduced six children to you whom I saw, one after another, last
week, and who all came forward with eagerness to say, "We have been
washed in the blood of Jesus and we want to join His Church"? I said,
"Come along, my children; I am glad to see you." When I talked with
them and heard what God had done for them, I had great confidence in
proposing them to the Church! I have not found young converts turn
back. I usually find that these young ones who are introduced early to
the Church hold on and become our best members!
Do not refuse to receive them, lest it should ever happen to you as it
did to one who was cruelly prudent. A child had loved the Savior for
some two or three years and she desired to make a confession of her
faith. She begged her mother that she might be baptized. The mother
said that she thought she was too young. The child went to bed
broken-hearted, and in the morning a great tear stood in her eye. She
had joined the Church triumphant above! Do not let your child ever have
to complain of you, that you will not believe in its truthful love to
Jesus! Do you expect perfection in a child before it joins the Church?
Then I hope you are perfect, yourself and, if you are, pray go to
Heaven, because I am sure you will fall to quarrelling with everybody
here on earth! Few of the perfect people are agreeable neighbors–I
suppose they are so good that they have no patience with us who are not
up to their standard.
No, dear Friend, a converted child will give you evidences of true
religion, not of perfect religion–for that you ought not to expect.
Let the child avow its faith in Christ and, if you have not confessed
Him in Baptism, yourself, stand rebuked that a child is ready to obey
its Lord while you are not!
Dear Sunday school teachers, allow me to congratulate you upon the
blessed work in which you are engaged. It is very hard work if you do
it thoroughly, especially to you who are busy all week and really need
the Sabbath for rest. You teach the children while suffering from a
headache–and they do not always behave as you would wish. But pray
work on for poor London's sake, for the Church's sake, for Christ's
sake and for the children's sakes. I put that in last because it has
most to do with my sermon. Labor on for the children's sake! Do, for
the love of them, never give up Sunday school teaching. "Oh, but I am
getting into middle life!" Do you think that Sunday school teaching
ought to be done by nobody but boys and girls?
"Oh, but I have done enough!" It is a mercy for you that the sun does
not say that he has done enough, or else he would not shine
tomorrow–or that God and His Christ do not say they have done enough!
What would become of you if the Lord ceased blessing you? We are
needing Sunday school teachers almost everywhere in London! Our people
who get on in the world are too respectable to teach children. What a
wretched pride this is! Those who talk so are disreputable creatures–I
am sick of them! In America, a president has taught a Sunday school–it
was to His honor. In England chancellors and prime ministers have
thought such service no disgrace. Let queens and princes teach Sunday
school–it shall be for their renown! If you are the most wealthy man
in London, you are the person who should take a class–that is to say,
if you are a true Christian. You of knowledge, you of understanding,
you of intelligence, you should come to encourage the rest.
Do not leave this sacred service to our second-best people. I do not
say that you have done so, but do not begin to move in that direction.
Let those who know most, teach most–and let those who have grown most
in Christ, themselves, be most earnest that others should grow up in
His fear. If you love my Master, I leave this subject with you in
fullest confidence. If not, I do not ask you to attempt to teach what
you do not know. Jesus does not say to Judas or to Pilate, "Feed My
lambs." But He does say it to you, Peter, because you can say, "Lord,
You know all things. You know that I love You."