When our Lord makes the principal characteristic of true conversion to consist in a temper resembling that of little children, the comparison is not designed to consider them, as they are by nature, but as they happen to be by constitution, by the texture of their tender frame, and their accidental inability to exercise those faculties of the mind, or those organs of the body, which, when age and strength co-operate, man very soon uses as instruments of unrighteousness. It is in this light, and this alone, that we can interpret the force of the resemblance in the text, consistently either with scripture or matter of fact. The former assures us, that “man is born as the wild ass’s colt.” Job, xi. 12. And experience soon demonstrates the truth of this striking comparison, when that “folly which is bound up in the heart of a child,” Prov. xxii. 15, shooteth forth into those branches of iniquity, and fruits of unrighteousness, which, like the flower in the seed, or the fruit wrapt up in the germ, only wanted time and strength to bring them to maturity. Yet, as long as corruption is checked by infantile weakness, and nature has not power, in that first stage of the life of man, to put forth its innate propensities, infants and little children become eventual teachers to adults; and many with hoary heads need not be ashamed to go and learn wisdom from the weakest and youngest of their own species; especially if they attend to the several points of view, in which scripture places little children, as objects worthy of our imitation.
1. In the first place, as they are no sooner ushered into life, than they cry for that nutriment, which the God of nature hath so wisely adapted to their weak condition; in like manner, must we evidence the reality of our regeneration, by an insatiate thirst for that spring of salvation opened in the scriptures of truth. Thus the Apostle Peter says, “As new-born babes desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby.” 1 Pet. ii. 2. And St. Paul uses the same idea, when writing to the Corinthian Church, he says, “I have fed you with milk and not with strong meat.” 1 Cor. ii. 2. See also Heb. v. 13, 14. As the new-born babe, by instinct of nature, cries for the breast, so the new-born soul first evidences its introduction into divine life, by its love to the scriptures. For this spiritual food, other things are thrown aside; and what constituted the soul’s repast, when dead in sin, is, after its regeneration, esteemed as chaff, or dreaded even as poison. The midnight lamp, that had been often exhausted in the perusal of publications of the most frothy or the most pernicious tendency, is now extinguished, that the soul might indulge in sweet meditation on the word of God. In the streams, which flow from this fountain, there are no dregs of latent error or poison of lurking impurity. And, while they communicate life and health by their salubrious influence, they convey also the most refined enjoyment to the renewed mind. The sacred pages, like the fragrant name, which gives them all their preciousness, are as “ointment poured forth.” Solomon’s Song, i. 3. They emit an odor that regales the senses and ravishes the heart. The promises are those “breasts of consolation,” from whence the new-born soul derives all its nourishment; and while it “hears them, reads, marks, learns, and inwardly digests them,” [259] its life is fed, and its happiness enlarged. This made the Royal Psalmist say, “How sweet are thy words unto my taste! yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth.” Psal. cxix. 103. So that they who can delight more in frothy novels, and the pernicious productions of the stage, than in a perusal of the word of God; or who can make any other book whatever take the lead of the Bible, have no more pretensions to refinement of taste, than they have to true religion. And such persons need not go far to find out whether they be converted or not; their disrelish to the scriptures is as decisive a mark against them as possible. And till their vitious taste is refined, and their depraved nature renewed, they cannot resemble little children, according to the idea suggested in the text, and must, therefore, be far from the kingdom of heaven.
2. Another sense, in which we should become as little children, is in the imitation of their humility. This is the temper more immediately recommended in the context, because it is the direct reverse of that which led the disciples to dispute about pre-eminence, and to ask their Lord an unimportant and vain question. Whatever seeds of pride lurk in the nature of infants, yet such is their imbecility of constitution, that, for want of power to exert themselves, they are rather patterns of humility; but more especially, if such little children as our Lord referred to, are partakers of the grace of God. Pride shews itself in forms of various nature. Elation of heart, when the sun of worldly prosperity shines, and proportionable depression and pusillanimity, when the scene shifts to the gloom of adversity—envy at another man’s good fortune, and repining at our own—impatience of reproof, and a quick and acrimonious resentment of injuries—an overweening desire to grasp at worldly things, only to feed and pamper a worldly mind—a violent promptitude to boast of personal endowments, to the depreciating of others, and the aggrandizing of Self, that darling idol of an unhumbled heart—are all pride, that hydra with many heads, shewing itself in these and various other ways impossible to be enumerated. But, to be humble, look at the infant lulled to rest in his mother’s arms, or the child taken up with the objects of his puerile amusement, dead to the broils of the contentious, and to all the ambitious pursuits of the proud: the former, anxious only for that nutriment, which, when received, operates as a pleasing opiate to its senses; the latter extending his solicitude and ambition only to some little matter, which it costs no care or expense to possess, leaving sceptres, titles, riches, and honors, to those who exert all their subtlety and all their pride to procure them. To be thus easy, like a little child, about worldly pre-eminence, and to be solicitous only, or primarily, about the honor that cometh from God, is the privilege of a Christian, and a mark of conversion. And why should infatuated mortals indulge a contrary temper, when, “before honor is humility;” but especially when it is considered that the loftiest head must be laid low in the grave, and that “dust to dust” will conclude the noblest song of earth. If you disdain to learn humility from a little child, yet take as your pattern that illustrious example of condescension, the holy child Jesus, who for us men and for our salvation exchanged the glory of the heaven of heavens for a manger and a cross.
3. We must become teachable as little children. This amiable disposition is one principal branch of true humility, and essentially consists in submitting our reason to the authority of revelation. A point this, not so easy to be accomplished, when we reflect on the pride of the human heart, and see multitudes propagating such tenets, as if they meant to teach the scriptures, and not that the scriptures should teach them. This more especially happens, when the pride of reason and the parade of learning unite their influence to puff men up with a fond conceit of the superiority of their wisdom. But how mortifying to the vanity of these sons of science to hear the following declaration from the mouth of the Son of God! “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.” Mat. xi. 25. Were a man possessed of all the learning of Greece and Rome, he may, notwithstanding, be a fool in God’s account; and, until he is so, in his own estimation, his profound wisdom is nothing but foolishness, and, instead of aiding him in the investigation of truth, often proves a dreadful bar in his way. “If any man among you seem to be wise in this world,” says St. Paul, “let him become a fool, that he may be wise.” 1 Cor. iii. 18. And the reason which the apostle urges for this extraordinary requisition, is, that “the wisdom of the world is foolishness with God.” Verse 19. Conceive human nature at the very summit of secular wisdom, and you see it elevated to the very pinnacle of pride; from whence men find it very difficult to descend into the valley of self-abasement. And yet descend they must, if ever they would know themselves or Christ Jesus the Lord; and instead of going to the throne of divine grace with philosophic pride and conscious wisdom, they must approach it as children, and as fools.
The language of this humble temper is, “That which I see not, teach thou me.” Job, xxxiv. 32.—“Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law.” Psal. cxix. 18. And he who has been enabled to adopt it, like a child under tutors and governors, submitting to their instruction, and acquiescing in their discipline, sits at the feet of Jesus, to learn the mysteries of his kingdom, and receive the fulfilment of that promise, “It is written in the prophets, And they shall be all taught of God.” John, vi. 45.
4. As true religion is the most efficacious bond of society, by inspiring such tempers as promote benevolence and peace among men, St. Paul recommends the following maxim to the church of Corinth, “In malice be ye children, but in understanding be men.” 1 Cor. xiv. 20. Malice is a deeply-rooted ill-will, accompanied with rancorous hatred, and a thirst of revenge; a temper that rages in the hearts of natural men, but cannot be harboured or indulged in a regenerate breast. Here again we are to learn of little children. If a momentary passion ruffles their temper, or awakens their feeble resentment; yet how soon is the cause of their indignation forgot! and in how few instances does the sun ever go down upon their wrath! In the bounds which nature hath fixed to their short-lived anger, they become examples highly worthy our imitation, that we should be “slow to wrath;” James, i. 19; “be angry and sin not;” Ephes. iv. 26; and that we should “put on, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, long-suffering; forbearing one another, and forgiving one another; if any man have a quarrel against any; even as Christ forgave us, so also should we.” Col. iii. 12, 13. But, where the contrary tempers of studied revenge and inveterate malice predominate, and are secretly indulged, they are as certain evidences of the reigning dominion of sin, and of an unconverted state of heart, as habitual drunkenness and debauchery.
5. As children look up to their parents for their entire provision; are indebted to them, under God, for their being; and receive their education and their fortune from their hands; so, to demonstrate our conversion, we must live a life of dependance upon the Supreme Being for every thing contributory to our comfort here, and our salvation hereafter. That we all live, move, and have our being in God, is a truth admitted by all. But yet, multitudes who subscribe to the doctrine, nevertheless “live as without God (ἀθεοι atheists) in the world;” possessing atheistical hearts with orthodox heads; “professing that they know God; but in works denying him, being abominable and disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate;” Tit. i. 16; never heartily imploring his blessing upon the bounties of his providence, or thanking him for the continuance of favors, which, by their ingratitude, they are daily forfeiting, together with the lives that his mercy so eminently spares. To instil the opposite temper, of dependance, gratitude, and confidence, our Lord sends us not only to little children, but also to the fowls of the air, and the flowers of the field; that, from the growth of a lily, or the provision made by the great Father of the universe, for the young ravens that call upon him, we may learn to live upon his all-beneficent hand; to acknowledge his parental care; and to trust that all-surrounding and all-protecting Providence, which makes the hairs of our head, as well as the whole world itself, the objects of his preserving and merciful superintendence.
But how much more should we learn to look up to the great Author of redemption for our spiritual provision! Whatever is necessary to the delight, the refreshment, the guidance, the establishment, the salvation of sinners, is all laid up in the rich fulness of the Son of God. If they want spiritual repast, he is the “bread of life.” If they want consolation, he is the fountain of living waters, and the God of all comfort. If they want wisdom, all the treasures of it centre in him, and he is Wonderful, Counsellor. If they want a righteousness to justify before the great Jehovah, his name is The Lord our Righteousness. Jer. xxiii. 6. If they want a friend to speak for them to God, to plead their cause, and render their services acceptable, he is their Advocate with the Father; and, for the unchangeableness of his affection, hath in all ages proved himself a friend that sticketh closer than a brother. If they want one, whose wisdom and power are sufficient to baffle all the stratagems of hell, and to vanquish the most formidable enemies, Jesus is the Captain of salvation, and his strength is the arm of the Lord God omnipotent. If they want a foundation, whose stability is adequate to the immense weight that rests upon it, Lo! Jesus is a sure foundation and the rock of ages. Upon the covenant and promises sealed with his blood they may securely rest their peace and happiness, all their vast interests for time and eternity.
That the mind may be formed into a susceptibility of these great truths, the temper of a little child must first be implanted in it. For, while its natural pride and enmity remain, there is nothing to which a sinner is so averse, as to that of renouncing self, and being dependant for his whole salvation upon the Lord Jesus Christ. From hence arose the unwillingness of the Jews to “submit themselves unto the righteousness of God;” Rom. x. 3; and from the same bitter root sprung self-righteous Saul’s “confidence in the flesh.” Phil. iii. 4. But, as soon as the power of God brought that once-elated Pharisee to the dust, and effectually broke his heart, he who thought that he ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus, is made to cry out to that very person, whom he once blasphemed, “Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?” From that moment, the lofty self-justiciary became a little child, and ever after gloried only in the cross. He learned to “count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus the Lord;” Phil. iii. 8; esteemed himself nothing, and Jesus all; and “the life which he lived in the flesh, was by the faith of the Son of God.” Gal. ii. 20. The idol of self-righteousness in his heart was pulled down, that Christ, and Christ alone, might ever after possess, in all things, the pre-eminence; as he must, in ours also, if ever we would enjoy a well-grounded hope of entering the kingdom of heaven. Which leads me to consider,
III. How much every individual is concerned in the subject, since our Lord declares, that, without conversion, in the scriptural light in which it has been represented, none can be partaker of his glory.