The sentiments expressed by Jesus Christ towards children, and
the language that He uses towards them, as these appear in the
Gospel narrative, must strike even the most careless reader. Let
me refer to the passages themselves:--
"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." [Footnote
122]
[Footnote 122: Mark x. 13-16; Matthew xix. 13-15.
Luke xviii. 15-17.]
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Another day, "came the disciples unto Jesus, saying, Who is the
greatest in the kingdom of heaven? 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." [Footnote 123]
[Footnote 123: Matthew xviii. 1-4; Mark ix. 33-37.]
Again another day, Jesus, deploring the coldness that his
preaching and his miracles frequently encountered, and that even
in his closest vicinity, exclaimed, here no longer addressing his
disciples, but God himself, "I thank thee, O Father, Lord of
heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the
wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes." [Footnote
124]
[Footnote 124: Matthew xi. 25.]
What is the full meaning of these words? They are not simply the
expression of that impulse of gentle benevolence excited in all
hearts at the sight of children, and their innocent confidence in
all who come near them.
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Jesus Christ no doubt experienced the influence of this feeling,
for He was strange to none of man's noble emotions; but his
thoughts passed far beyond the children whose approach he
permitted, and they merely furnished Him with the living occasion
to address to men themselves his solemn warnings.
The child, I have already mentioned in these
Meditations,[Footnote 125] is, for us, the image of innocence,
the type of the creature fallible, yet who has not yet sinned,
who knows not yet either error of understanding, or the seduction
of passion, or the blinding influence of pride, or the troubles
of doubt, or the extreme folly of sin, or the anguish of
repentance; who follows in the first impulses of infancy only the
spontaneous instincts of tender confidence in the parent to whom
he is indebted for security and for love, for the first joys and
the earliest blessings.
[Footnote 125: Meditation II., Christian Dogmas, p. 48.]
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Jesus does not pretend to bring men back to that fair condition,
to restore to them their primitive innocence: but He comes to
ransom them from sin; He brings them the hope of pardon and
salvation. Confidence in God, a confidence sincere, unpretending,
and loving, is that disposition which opens the soul of man to
the divine blessing. This is also the disposition that the child
evinces towards its parents; he calls upon them, and he hopes in
them. Hence those words of Jesus: "Suffer little children to come
unto me, and forbid them not, for of such is the kingdom of
heaven." The way of innocence is a far better way than that of
science to lead man up to God.
Science is a splendid thing; it is also a noble privilege of man
that God, in creating him an intelligent and a free agent, has
given him a capacity to desire and to pursue through study the
truths of science, and even to attain them in a certain measure,
and in a certain sphere.
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But when science attempts to exceed that measure and to quit that
sphere; when it ignores and scorns the instincts,--natural,
universal, and permanent instincts, of the human soul; when it
essays to set up everywhere its own torch in the place of that
primitive light that lights mankind: then, and from that cause
alone, science fills itself with error; and this is the very case
which called forth those words of Jesus: "I praise thee, Father,
Lord of heaven and of earth, that thou hast hidden these things
from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes."
[Footnote 126]
[Footnote 126: Matthew xi. 25. The words [Greek text] are
better rendered, "from the learned and the prudent," than
"wise and intelligent;" "sages et intelligents," as in the
French version by Osterwald.]