You have seen the bird grieving over the destruction of its nest.
You have studied the pathetic eyes of the lost dog, and the sad
submission of the tired, beaten horse.
Is there not soul in those stricken creatures, and spiritual
feeling deeper than that displayed by many men?
First came all ANIMAL life, as we know it, and then came MAN.
Science and religion agree on this point, at least.
All owe their being to the same eternal FORCE. On this point
again religion and science agree.
Is the life in animals merely a passing dream, or does it express
in its humble way the promise of life eternal?
In Italy a scientific villain experimented on a dog to ascertain
the power of maternal affection.
The dog was most cruelly tortured. Its newborn puppy was beside
it. Its nerves were racked, its spine injured, BUT WHENEVER
PERMITTED TO DO SO, THE POOR TORTURED, ANIMAL MOTHER TURNED ITS
HEAD TOWARD ITS WHINING CHILD AND LICKED IT AFFECTIONATELY.
Until it died there was nothing that could overcome maternal love
in the heart of that poor dumb mother.
Is there not soul in such love as that?
JESUS' ATTITUDE TOWARD CHILDREN
A SUNDAY SERMON
"Suffer the little children to come unto me; and forbid them not;
for of such is the Kingdom of God."--Mark X., 14.
Jesus gave to the child its place in the world's society.
With all the power of divine authority He built around the
feeblest among us a wall that has protected them through the
ages.
Before His day the child existed only by sufferance. It had no
rights.
It was but a counter, an infinitesimal atom. It was considered
simply the property of the parent. Its father had power of life
and death over it. The homeless dog that roams the streets
to-day is more effectively shielded from cruelty than was the
friendless child before Jesus came to live and to die for the
weak and poor.
The law had said:
"The parent is ruler of the child, and may dispose of it as he
sees fit."
But Jesus said--and these are the most beautiful and affecting
words in all the moral law of the world:
"Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones; for I
say unto you, that in heaven their angels do always behold the
face of my Father which is in heaven."--Matthew xviii., 10.
No threats so terrifying as those aimed at men who should harm
little children:
"It were better for him that a millstone were hanged about
his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the
sea."--Matthew xviii., 6.
It is impossible now to conceive the horrid indifference to
childhood's rights which preceded the birth of Christianity.
Infanticide was not the exception, but a settled custom. So much
so, that in Rome the "exposure" of children in desert places was
almost a virtue, since it gave the child some slight chance of
surviving.
Not a few, but thousands and tens of thousands of children were
thus "exposed." They fell a prey to wild beasts, or to the human
beasts, still more ferocious, who took the children to make
slaves or criminals of them.
Jesus came, and a miracle was worked--a miracle that no man will
deny.
This was the miracle:
Jesus said:
"For I say unto you, their angels behold the face of my Father
which is in heaven."
Jesus spoke, and thousands of millions of men, through nineteen
centuries, have believed, and obeyed the command.
Every man was warned that the child dying goes straightway into
the presence of God, and there, looking upon His face, bears
witness to the treatment meted out to him here.
Well might it be said of the man who mistreated such a child:
"It were better for him that a millstone were hanged about
his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea."
Every man should study with awe and reverence the sad, lonely
misunderstood life of Jesus, the friend of children. He had no
home, and for companions only a few humble fishermen, to whom He
spoke in simple parables, as to children.
"The foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests
but the Son of Man hath not where to lay his head."--Matthew
viii., 20.
It was this childless, homeless Man that ever used His marvellous
power to protect children.
It was He who gave to children their definite share in the
kingdom of God.
Before His coming the wisdom of the world was devoted to telling
the child ITS duty.
But Jesus explained to grown men THEIR duty toward children.
The family life was His ideal.
All men were His brothers, and, with Him, sons of God.
The loving kindness shown by God toward helpless men and women
THEY should show to helpless children.
Neither the rights nor the WISDOM of children must be despised:
"I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou
hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast
revealed them unto babes; even so, Father; for so it seemed
good in thy sight."--Luke x., 21.
Wherever Jesus went, children followed Him, and the tiniest
little soul, in its mother's arms or tottering along in wide-eyed
curiosity, could arrest His loving attention.
How beautiful is the picture that the Bible story presents to the
mind!
Jesus is at Capernaum, on the sunny shore of the Sea of Galilee.
The Disciples--simple, honest men, often excited as to precedence
and filled with deep longing to stand first in the Master's
esteem--ask Him:
"Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?"--Matthew
xviii., 1.
Around them is gathered the typical Oriental group, and many
olive-skinned women, with their children:
"And Jesus called a little child unto Him, and set him in the
midst of them and said: 'Verily I say unto you, except ye be
converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into
the kingdom of heaven.
"'Whosoever, therefore, shall humble himself as this little
child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
"'And whoso shall receive one such little child in my name
receiveth me.'"
Teach your children to think of and to love the divine Soul that
pleaded their cause. Teach them that in all the words He uttered
there can be found only love for them. No threats, no warnings--
only love.