The Life of Jesus Christ for the Young by Richard Newton

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And now, if any of my young friends who may read this book should
ever visit London, and go to see the great tunnel, as they gaze in
wonder at it, let them remember Sir I. Brunel, and that little
ship-worm; and then, let them say to themselves: "This mighty tunnel
is an illustration of the truth that humility helps to make us
useful."

"George Washington and His Humility." Here is a story connected with
the great and good Washington--"the Father of his country," which
illustrates very well this part of our subject.

During the war of the American Revolution, the commander of a little
squad of soldiers was superintending their operations as they were
trying to raise a heavy piece of timber to the top of some military
works which they were engaged in repairing. It was hard work to get
the timber up, and so the commander, who was a proud man and thought
himself of great importance, kept calling out to them from time to
time, "Push away, boys! There she goes! Heave ho!"

While this was going on, an officer on horseback, but not in military
dress, rode by. He asked the commander why he did not take hold, and
give the men a little help. He looked at the stranger in great
astonishment, and then, with all the pride of an emperor, said:

"Sir, I'd have you know that I am a corporal!"

"You are--are you?" replied the officer, "I was not aware of that,"
and then taking off his hat, and making a low bow, said, "I ask your
pardon Mr. Corporal."

After this he got off his horse, and throwing aside his coat, he took
hold and helped the men at their work till they got the timber into
its place. By this time the perspiration stood in drops upon his
forehead. He took out his handkerchief and wiped his brow. Then
turning to the commander he said:

"Mr. Corporal, when you have another such job on hand, and have not
men enough to do it, send for your Commander-in-chief, and I will
come and help you again."

It was General Washington who did and said this. The Corporal was
thunderstruck! The great Washington, though honored above all men on
the continent, was humble enough to put his hand and shoulder to the
timber, that he might help the humblest of his soldiers, who were
struggling for the defence of their country, to bear the burdens
appointed to them.

This is an excellent illustration of the truth we are now
considering. And certainly we should all try to learn the lesson of
humility which Jesus taught, when we see how it helps to make us
useful.

_And then there is one other reason why we should learn this lesson,
and that is because of the_--BLESSING--_that attends it_.

Mary, the Mother of Jesus, in her noble song about the birth of her
wonderful Son, said that God "filleth the hungry with good things,
and sendeth the rich empty away." By the "_hungry"_ she meant the
_humble_ and by the "_rich"_ the _proud_. And the "good things" with
which God fills them mean the blessings He bestows on the humble. Our
Saviour taught the same truth when he said, "he that humbleth himself
shall be exalted." Luke xiv: 11. Being exalted here means being
honored and blessed. These passages teach very clearly the truth of
which we are now speaking. They show us that we must learn the lesson
of humility if we hope to have God's blessing rest upon us. And it is
not more true that two and two make four, than it is that God's
blessing _does_ attend and follow those who learn the lesson of
humility.

How many illustrations of this truth we find in the Bible! Moses had
learned the lesson of humility before God sent him on his great
mission, which has given him a name and a place among the most
famous men of the world.

Gideon had learned the lesson of humility before God made choice of
him to be the deliverer of his people Israel from the hands of their
enemies; and then, for years to be their honored ruler. John the
Baptist was so humble that he said of himself that he was not worthy
to stoop down and unloose the latchet of our Saviour's shoe; and yet
Jesus said of him that he was one of the greatest men that ever had
been born.

The apostle Paul was so humble that he considered himself "less than
the least of all saints," and "the chief of sinners;" and yet God
honored and blessed him till he became the most famous and useful of
all the apostles.

If we turn from the Bible, and look out into the world around us, we
may compare proud people to the tops of the mountains; these are bare
and barren, and of little use to the world. We may compare humble
people to the plains and valleys. These are fertile and beautiful,
and are the greatest blessing to the world, in the abundance of
grain, and fruit, and other good things which they yield.

And then, if we take notice of what is occurring in the scenes of
daily life, we shall meet with incidents continually which furnish
us with illustrations of the part of our subject now before us, that
God crowns the humble with his blessing. Let us look at one or two of
these illustrations.

"The Little Loaf." In a certain part of Germany, some years ago, a
famine was prevailing, and many of the people were suffering from
hunger. A kind-hearted rich man sent for twenty of the poorest
children in the village where he lived, to come to his house. As they
stood on the porch of his house, he came out to them bringing a large
basket in his hand. He set it down before him and said: "Children, in
this basket there is bread for you all. Take a loaf, each of you, and
come back every day at this hour, till it shall please God to send us
better times."

Then he left the children to themselves and went into the house, but
watched them through the window. The hungry children seized the
basket, quarreled and struggled for the bread, because each of them
wished to get the best and largest loaf. Then they went away without
ever thanking the good gentleman for his kindness.

But one little girl, named Gretchen, poorly but neatly dressed,
remained, humbly standing by, till the rest were gone. Then she took
the last loaf left in the basket, the smallest of the lot. She looked
up to the window where the gentleman stood; smiled at him; threw him
a kiss, and made a low curtsey in token of her gratitude, and then
went quickly home.

The next day the other children were just as ill-behaved as they had
been before, and the timid humble Gretchen received a loaf this time
not more than half the size of the one she had on the previous day.
But when she came home, and her poor sick mother cut the loaf open, a
number of new silver pieces of money, fell rattling and shining out
of it.

Her mother was frightened, and said, "Take the money back at once to
the good gentleman; for it must certainly have dropped into the dough
by accident. Be quick Gretchen! be quick!"

But when the little girl came to the good man and gave him her
mother's message, he kindly said, "No, no, my child, it was no
mistake. I had the silver pieces put into the smallest loaf as a
reward for you. Continue to be as humble, peaceable, self-denying,
and grateful as you have now shown yourself to be. A little girl who
is humble enough to take the smallest loaf rather than quarrel for
the larger ones, will be sure to receive greater blessings from God
than if she had silver pieces of money baked in every loaf of bread
she ate. Go home now, and greet your good mother very kindly for me."
Here we see how God's blessing attends the humble.

"Humility Proving a Blessing." Some time ago a young man went into
the office of one of the largest dry-goods houses in New York and
asked for a situation. He was told to call again another day.

Going down Broadway that same afternoon, when opposite the Astor
House, he saw an old apple woman, in trying to cross the street,
struck by an omnibus, knocked down, and her basket of apples sent
scattering into the gutter.

The young man stepped out of the crowd, helped the old woman to her
feet, put her apples into her basket, and went on his way, without
thinking of it.

Now a proud man would never have thought of doing such a thing as
that. But this young man had learned the lesson of humility, and did
not hesitate a moment to do this kind act.

When he called again to see about the situation, he was asked what
wages he expected.

He stated what he thought would be right. His proposal was accepted.
The situation was given him, and he went to work.

About a year afterwards, his employer took him aside one day,
reminded him of the incident about the old apple woman; told him he
was passing at the time, and saw it; and that it was this
circumstance which induced him to offer the vacant situation to him,
in preference to a hundred others who were applying for it.

Here we see what a blessing this young man's humility proved to him!

And thus we see that there are five good reasons why we should learn
the lesson of humility. These are the _command_ of Christ; the
_example_ of Christ; the _comfort_ that humility gives; the
_usefulness_ to which it leads; and the _blessing_ that attends it.

The first verse of the hymn we often sing contains a very suitable
prayer to offer when we think of the lesson of humility we have now
been considering:

"Lord forever at thy side
Let my place and portion be;
Strip me of the robe of pride
Clothe me with humility."

CHRIST AND THE LITTLE CHILDREN

If, when Jesus was here on earth, he had shown a great interest in
kings, and princes, in rich, and wise, and great men, it would not
have been surprising; because he was a king and a prince, himself; he
was richer than the richest, and wiser than the wisest, and greater
than the greatest. But he did not do this. He took no particular
notice of them; but he showed the greatest possible interest in
children. When mothers brought their little ones to him, the
disciples wanted to keep them away. They thought, no doubt, that he
was too busy to take any notice of them. But they were mistaken. He
was very busy indeed. He had many lessons to teach. He had sermons to
preach; and sick people to heal; and blind eyes to open; and deaf
ears to unstop; and lame men to make whole; and dead men to raise to
life again. He had all his Father's will to make known to men; and
all his Father's commandments to keep. He had to suffer, and to die
for the sins of the world; that he might "open the kingdom of heaven
to all believers." He was the busiest man that ever lived. Nobody
ever had so much to do as he had. And yet, he was not too busy to
attend to the little children. He had time to give to them. So he
rebuked his disciples for trying to keep the children away from him.
He told the mothers to bring them near. They did so. And then, one by
one, "he took them up in his arms, put his hands upon them and
blessed them." And when he had done this, as though that were not
enough, he spoke those precious, glorious, golden words:--"_Suffer
the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not, for of such
is the kingdom of heaven_," "verily I say unto you, whosoever shall
not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not enter
therein."

These things are told us by three of the evangelists. St. Matthew
mentions them in chapter xix: 13-15. St. Mark x: 13-16, and St. Luke
xviii: 15-17.

On another occasion, when he was in the temple, the children sang
hosannas to him as the son of David. The chief priests and scribes
were greatly displeased, when they heard it, and "said unto him,
hearest thou what these say? and Jesus said unto them, yea: have ye
never read, out of the mouths of babes and sucklings thou hast
perfected praise?" Matt, xxi: 15, 16. Here he quoted from the Old
Testament (Ps. viii: 2) to prove to them from their own scriptures,
that God loves little children, and delights to have them engage in
his service, and sing his praises.

And there was one other occasion on which Jesus spoke about the
children, and showed his interest in them. This was after his
resurrection. We read about it in St. John xxi: 15-18. He met his
disciples, one day, on the shore of the sea of Galilee. Peter, who
had shamefully denied his Master on the night in which he was
betrayed was present with them. Jesus said to him, as if to remind
him of his great sin, "Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me?" "Yea,
Lord, thou knowest that I love thee," said the penitent disciple.
"Feed my lambs," was his Master's reply. Here again, how beautifully
Jesus showed his great love for the little ones of his flock!

From these different passages, we see clearly how dear little
children are to the heart of our blessed Saviour! He is the only
great Teacher who ever showed such an interest in children. And the
religion of Jesus is the only religion which teaches its followers to
love and care for the little ones. The worshipers of the idol Moloch,
mentioned in the Bible, used to offer their children as
burnt-sacrifices to their cruel god. Mahometans look upon their women
and children as inferior beings. The Hindoos neglect their infants,
and leave them exposed on the banks of the Ganges, or throw them into
the river to be devoured by the hungry crocodiles. In the city of
Pekin many infants are thrown out into the streets every night.
Sometimes they are killed by the fall. Sometimes they are only half
killed, and linger, moaning in their agony, till the morning. Then
the police go around, and pick them up, and throw them all together
into a hole and bury them.

In Africa, the children are sometimes buried alive; and sometimes
left out in the fields or forests for the wild beasts to devour them.
In the South Sea Islands three-fourths of all the children born used
to be killed. Sometimes they would strangle their babies. Sometimes
they would leave them, where oxen and cattle would tread on them, and
trample them to death; while, at other times, they would break all
their joints, beginning with their fingers and toes, and then go on
to their wrists, and elbows, and shoulders. How dreadful it is to
think of such practices! And when we turn from these scenes of
heart-rending cruelty and think of the gracious Saviour,--the "gentle
Jesus, meek and mild," stretching forth his arms in loving
tenderness, and uttering the sweet words,--"Suffer the little
children to come unto me, and forbid them not; for of such is the
kingdom of God,"--what a wonderful contrast it makes!

And when we think of all that Jesus did and said to show his interest
in children, we may well ask ourselves such questions as these,--Why
was it so? What did he do it for? And when we come to look carefully
into this part of the life of Christ, we can see four great things in
it; and these are the reasons why Jesus did and said so much about
children.

_In the first place we see_--GREAT LOVE--_in the interest Christ
manifested towards the young_.

It was the same love which brought him down from heaven, and made him
willing to become a little child himself; the same love which made
him willing to live in poverty--and suffer the dreadful death upon
the cross that led him to show such interest in the little ones. But
if he had not told us himself how he feels on this subject, we could
not have been sure of it. Children might well have said, when they
heard about the love of Christ, "Yes, we have no doubt that Jesus
does love grown up people, men and women in general. We believe this
because the Bible tells us so; but how do we know that he loves us
children?" If he had not told us so himself, we could not have been
sure of it. But we know it now. And when we hear, or read of the love
of Christ, we may be sure that it takes the children in.

During a famine in Germany, a family became so poor that they were in
danger of starving. The father proposed that one of the children
should be sold, and food provided for those that remained. At last
the mother consented; but then the question arose which one of the
four should be selected. The eldest, their first-born, could not be
spared; the second looked like the mother, the third was like his
father, and they could not give either of them up; and then the
youngest--why, he was their pet, their darling, how could they give
_him_ up? So they concluded that they would all perish together,
rather than part with one of their little ones. When those children
knew of this, they might very well feel sure that their parents loved
them. But Jesus did more than this for us, he was willing to die upon
the cross, and he did so die, that "not one of his little ones should
perish."

"Being Loved Back Again." Little Alice Lee sat in her rocking chair.
She was clasping a beautiful wax doll to her bosom, and singing sweet
lullabies to it. But every little while she looked wistfully at her
mother. She was busy writing, and had told Alice to keep as quiet as
possible till she got through.

It seemed a long time to Alice; but after awhile her mother laid down
her pen, and pushed aside her papers, and said:--"Now I am through
for to-day, Alice, and you can make as much noise as you please."

In a moment Alice laid down her doll, and running to her mother,
threw her arms round her neck, and nestled sweetly in her loving
bosom.

"I'm so glad," said Alice, "I wanted to love you so much, mamma."

"Did you, darling?" and the mother clasped the little one tenderly in
her arms. "I am very glad that my little girl loves me;" replied her
mother, "but I thought you were not very lonely while I was writing;
you and dollie seemed to be having a good time together."

"Yes, we had, mamma; but I always get tired of loving dollie after
awhile."

"Do you, dear? Tell me why?"

"O, because she never loves me back again."

"And is _that_ why you love me?"

"That is _one why_, mamma; but not the first one, or the best one."

"And what is the first, and best?"

"Why, mamma, can't you guess?" and the little girl's blue eyes grew
very bright, as they gazed earnestly into her mother's face. "It's
because you loved me when I was too little to love you back; _that's_
why I love you so."

And what a reason this is why we should love Jesus! He loved us when
we were too little to love him back. The Bible says--"We love him
because _he first_ loved us." He loved us before we knew him, or had
ever heard of him. He loved us before we were born. Before the world
was made Jesus thought of you and me, and loved us. This is what he
means when he says:--"I _have loved thee with an everlasting love."_
Jer. xxxi: 3. This means a love that never had a beginning, and that
will never have an end. This is very wonderful. And when we think of
it, we may well sing out our thankfulness in the words of the hymn:

"I am glad that our Father in heaven
Tells of his love in the Book he has given;
Wonderful things in the Bible I see;
This is the sweetest, that Jesus loves me.
I am so glad that Jesus loves me,
Jesus loves--_even me_"

And when we think of all the kind words and actions of Jesus, by
which he showed his interest in little children, the first thing that
we see in them is--great love.

_Now, let us take another look at this part of our Saviour's life,
and the second thing that we see in it is_--GREAT WISDOM.

It is wise to take care of the children and try to bring them to
Jesus when young, _because then they are easily controlled_.

Suppose we plant an acorn in a corner of our garden. After awhile a
green shoot springs out from it. We go to look at it when it is about
a foot high. We find it getting crooked; but with the gentlest touch
of thumb and finger, we can straighten it out. We wish it to lean in
a particular direction. We give it a slight touch, and it leans just
that way. Afterwards we conclude to have it lean in the opposite
direction. Another slight touch, and it takes that direction. It is
true, as the poet says, "Just as the twig is bent, the tree's
inclined." But, suppose we let it grow for twenty or thirty years,
and then come back to it. It is now a great oak tree. There is an
ugly twist in its trunk. We try to straighten it out; but in vain. No
power on earth can do that now. You can cut it down; or saw it up; or
break it into splinters; but you cannot straighten it.

Suppose, that you and I should go to one of the highest summits of
the Rocky Mountains. In a certain place there, we should find two
little fountains springing up near each other. With the end of a
finger we might trace the course in which either of those little
springs should flow. We could lead one down the eastern side of the
mountains, and the other down the western side. It would be very easy
to control them then. But suppose now we travel down the side of the
mountain till we reach the plain, at its base. Now see, yonder is a
great river, rolling on its mighty flood of waters. That is what the
little spring has grown to. It is too late to control it now. The
time for controlling it was up yonder near the spring.

It is easy to control the spring; it is very hard to control the
river. Jesus wished to control the spring when he directed us to
bring the children to him. And in this he showed his wisdom.

It is wise to take an interest in children, and bring them early to
Jesus--_because they have great influence in the world_.

Who can tell the influence that children are exerting in the world?
We have an illustration of this in the words that were once spoken by
Themistocles, the celebrated Grecian governor and general. He had a
little boy, of whom his mother was very fond and over whom the child
had very great influence. His father pointed to him, one day, and
said to a friend, "Look at that child; he has more power than all
Greece. For the city of Athens rules Greece; I rule Athens; that
child's mother rules me, and he rules his mother."

I feel sure our Saviour must have felt very much as some one has
done, who writes in this way about

THE GOOD THAT CHILDREN DO.

"A dreary place would be this earth
Were there no little people in it;
The song of life would lose its mirth
Were there no children to begin it;

"No little forms, like buds to grow,
And make the admiring heart surrender;
No little hands, on breast and brow,
To keep the thrilling love-chords tender.

"No babe within our arms to leap,
No little feet towards slumber tending;
No little knee in prayer to bend,
Our loving lips the sweet words lending.

"Life's song indeed would lose its charm,
Were there no babies to begin it;
A doleful place this world would be,
Were there no little people in it."

And if children have so great an influence in the world it was wise
in Jesus to desire to have them brought early to him that they might
learn to use that influence in the best possible way.

And then it was wise in Jesus to desire this, again, _because
bringing children to him prevents great trouble, and secures great
blessing_.

We are all familiar with Dr. Watts' sweet hymn, which says:

"'Twill save us from a thousand snares
To mind religion young."

Here is a striking illustration of this truth in the history of:

"One Neglected Child." A good many years ago, in one of the upper
counties of New York, there was a little girl named Margaret. She
was not brought to Christ, but was turned out on the world to do as
she pleased. She grew up to be perhaps the wickedest woman in that
part of the country. She had a large family of children, who became
about as wicked as herself; her descendants have been a plague and a
curse to that county ever since. The records of that county show that
two hundred of her descendants have been criminals. In a single
generation of her descendants there were twenty children. Three of
these died in infancy. Of the remaining seventeen, who lived to grow
up, nine were sent to the state prison for great crimes; while all
the others were found, from time to time, in the jails, the
penitentiaries, or the almshouses. Nearly all the descendants of this
woman were idiots, or drunkards, or paupers, or bad people, of the
very worst character. That one neglected child thus cost the county
in which she lived hundreds of thousands of dollars, besides the
untold evil that followed from the bad examples of her descendants.
How different the result would have been if this poor child had been
brought to Jesus and made a Christian when she was young!

"The Result of Early Choice." Here is a short story of two boys, of
the choice they made when young, and the different results that
followed from that choice.

A minister of the gospel was preaching on one occasion to the
convicts in the state prison of Connecticut. As he rose in the desk
and looked around on the congregation, he saw a man there whose face
seemed familiar to him. When the service was over he went to this
man's cell, to have some conversation with him.

"I remember you very well, sir," said the prisoner. "We were boys in
the same neighborhood; we went to the same school; sat beside each
other on the same bench, and then my prospects were as bright as
yours. But, at the age of fourteen, you made choice of the service of
God, and became a Christian. I refused to come to Christ, but made
choice of the world and sin. And now, you are a happy and honored
minister of the gospel, while I am a wretched outcast. I have served
ten years in this penitentiary and am to be a prisoner here for
life."

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