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 c
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