Produced by Jonathan Ingram, Charlie Kirschner and
Distributed Proofreaders
[Greek: Epea Aptera]
Comfort ye, comfort ye my people
These Ears of Corn. gathered and rubbed in my hands upon broken Sabbaths, I offer first to my Wife, and then to my other Friends.
And he came to Capernaum: and, being in the house, he asked them, Whatwas it that ye disputed among yourselves by the way? But they heldtheir peace: for by the way they had disputed among themselves whoshould be the greatest. And he sat down, and called the twelve, andsaith unto them, If any man desire to be first, the same shall be lastof all, and servant of all. And he took a child, and set him in themidst of them: and when he had taken him in his arms, he said untothem, Whosoever shall receive one of such children in my name,receiveth me; and whosoever shall receive me, receiveth not me, but himthat sent me.——MARK ix. 33-37.
Of this passage in the life of our Lord, the account given by St Markis the more complete. But it may be enriched and its lesson renderedyet more evident from the record of St Matthew.
"Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as littlechildren, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. Whosoevershall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in thekingdom of heaven. And whoso shall receive one such little child in myname receiveth me. But whoso shall offend one of these little ones thatbelieve in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hangedabout his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea."
These passages record a lesson our Lord gave his disciples againstambition, against emulation. It is not for the sake of setting forththis lesson that I write about these words of our Lord, but for thesake of a truth, a revelation about God, in which his great argumentreaches its height.
He took a little child—possibly a child of Peter;