many there be that go in
thereat," on the other hand, "Strait is the gate and narrow is the way
which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it" (S. Matt. vii.
13, 14). And when they had entered upon this narrow way, He warned
them that they must be on their guard against being misled by foolish
professors, because mere profession of obedience would neither prove
them to be subjects of His Kingdom, nor win for them admission "in
that day" into His glory and joy, "Not every one that saith unto Me,
Lord, Lord, shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven, but he that doeth
the will of My Father which is in Heaven" (S. Matt. vii. 21-23).
Therefore they must set to work to do the will of God, and so be true
subjects of Messiah's Kingdom. And then, as doers of His words, and
not hearers only, they would be building like wise men "upon a rock"
(S. Matt. vii. 24).

The description thus given by the King Himself of the character and
life of His subjects sets vividly before us the difficulties which a
Christian must overcome. It may not be always easy to decide whether
the expression "Kingdom of Heaven" refers to the Kingdom as it is now
on earth, or as it will be hereafter in Heaven; but it is clear that
our Blessed Lord would teach in this Sermon both the difficulty of
becoming a professing Christian at all, and also the need of earnest
strivings after holiness in order that a subject of His Kingdom of
Grace should find a welcome when that Kingdom shall have become the
Kingdom of Glory. And when we think of the very different standards
hitherto aimed at either by Jews or Gentiles, we see at once the
reason which prevented so many of His hearers from accepting "The
Kingdom of Heaven." For it is clear that a man who had been brought up
either as a Jew or as a Gentile would have to lay aside almost all his
previous habits and modes of thought--he must become a new man
altogether--to enter in.

Who then would enter in? Who would become subjects of the Kingdom of
Heaven?

The Lord Jesus declared at once, what modern missionary experience
still finds to be the case, that little children were the most likely
to become His subjects, and the fittest to enter into "The Kingdom of
Heaven." Some mothers once brought their little ones for His blessing;
and when the disciples were hindering their coming, "He was much
displeased and said unto them, Suffer little children to come unto Me,
and forbid them not; for of such is the Kingdom