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THE K I N G ’S BUS I NES S
coming of the Almighty. The childlike become the Godlike and they are the greatest among the sons of men.— Jowett. True greatness, in other wdrds, consists in not seeking greatness a t all. —Lewis. v. 6. Who shall offend. (Cause to stumble). “Whosoever shall give him occasion for relapsing into unbelief,” as was done by hierarchical arrogance.—- Lange. The atmosphere of carnality and selfishness in which the disciples were moving as their question showed, would stifle the tender life of any lowly believer. They were not only injuring themselves hut becoming stumbling blocks to others by their ambition. It is a good test of our Christian character to ask, “Would it help or hinder a lowly believer to live beside us?”—Maclaren. v. 7. Woe unto the world. Nothing is more evil in fact than being the oc casion of evil to those th a t are Christ’s. There are none more to be feared than these.—Booth. I t must needs be. Of fenses are a part of the “must needs be” of a Christian life, permitted by our heavenly Father th a t He may test, teach, purify and prepare us for His heavenly kingdom. These are a part of the “all things which work together for good.” Though God thus uses the “wrath of man to praise Him,” He is still right eous in holding to accountability the of fending party.—Palmer. v. 8. If thy hand or foot offend thee. You may take the hand and eye and foot as symbolical of what belongs closely and intimately to our being and nature, our habits, affections, disposi tions, tendencies. These offend us, harm and obstruct growth and mar the beauty of the spiritual life. What is the pre vention? “Cut them off.” It must be no momentary self chastisement or pen ance, no mere determination to try to repress. We must adopt no half meas ure whatever. We must by the power of the Holy Spirit cast them out.—- Hooke. If the thing hurts your relig ious life, off with it. He is a fool who insists on keeping a mortified limb which kills him. It is no use to try to regulate and moderate. Safety lies only in entire abstinence.—Maclaren. Com plete yet lost, maimed yet saved. Note the possibility of a man. Cultured, full- summed in all his powers, yet for the lack of one thing perishing, like a per fect tree struck by lightning and blasted forever. On the other hand ,a man may he maimed in many a faculty, ignorant of much that would have beautified, but
leaders today, how much of seeking for position and renown there is in the church. —r-Torrey. If Christ ever in tended that Peter and his successors at Rome should he heads of the chur'ch and His chief vicars on earth, He would now have let His disciples know it. His answer disallows and condemns the thing. Christ will not lodge such an authority or supremacy anywhere in His church.—Henry. v. 2. Jesus called a little child. There is no power by which we are so likely to move the hearts of an adult generation gone from God as the power of little children.-—Rogers. It is sig nificant that there was a little child at hand to call. There always seem to have been children at hand when our Lord Jesus was around.—Torrey. Set him in the midst. This is what God did in redeeming the world. By the in carnation there was set in the midst of the prophets, philosophers, armies, gov ernments, a little child. The sign that God had come to redeem the world was not in the blare of trumpets or edicts of emperors hut in the swaddling clothes that swathed a babe in a manger.—U. R. Thomas. , v. 3. Except ye become as children. Jesus is an eternal “child” (Acts 4:27). We must resemble our King.—Farr. We are not to understand that children are by nature in the kingdom hut that they have the spirit of humility and teachableness that fits them to easily enter the kingdom (Jn. 3 :6 ).—Sel. All the highest graces have their root in childlike humility. From this springs: (1) Truth, with its natural fruits, sin cerity and simplicity; (2) Faith, with its confidence in a higher wisdom and compliance with a higher will; (3) Love, with its gentleness and generosity. True humility, which is really self ef- facement, implies the whole circle of graces.^P ierson. Ye shall not enter. None but the lowly are in the kingdom —a most heart searching lesson. What grave doubts and questionings it must have suggested to the disciples.—Gib son. Children were Jesus’ chief parable of the heavenly kingdom. The new so ciety was a magnificent imagination and he who entered it must lay aside the world’s standards and ideals of charac ter and become as a little child.—Wat son. v. 4. The same is greatest. How in finite is the contrast between His stand ard and the standards of the world. Childlikeness opens the doors to the in
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