Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1902-06-11
AS LITTLE CHILDREN
By Ren George z. TayIor.

BY Rev George x. Taylor,
Except We be converted, and become as
little children, We shall not enter into the
kingdom of Heaven. Matthew xviii:3.
When jesus said of little child, "Of
such is the kindom of Heaven, lit was u
revelation. In il was the strange and
heavenly lesson which the Christian
world has never yet fully learned that
there is a childhood which we have to
leave behind before we can enter into
fullness and sweetness of a pure Chris
tan life.
We are surrounded by professional
piety. AS a nation. we are religious. Our
government is strict in its enforcement
of Christian morals. How has our re"
ligion affected our life? What influence
has il had upon the lives of others: From
the pulpit we had had for 1900 years
beautiful doctrines of love and charity;
while the laws of business and the laws
governing social requirements have come
down to us, almost unchanged, and in al
most unbroken succession, from brutal
pagan times.
Over and above the perfunctory morals
and prescriptive church dut"s, how much
then, have we grown spiritually as peo-
pie? How much have we developed into
the higher life personally? Have we the
spirit of the Christ. the genius of his
gospelT'
When, by sober thought, we take in the
full import of the Masters declaration
that, unless We become as little chill
dren," We shall not enter the kingdom
of Heaven" we must see with dismay
how little is the advancement We have
H. -, - tus% nf
How many of US protesting godliness
have, according to this qualification, ever
entered the kingdom of Heaven
1t is a momentous question to US ALL
Are we, in the abundance of our relig-
ion, becoming childlike? We are ever
disposed to measure ourselves by what is
conspicuous. and tells in our favor with
others. Jesus teaches us to measure our
selves by what is childlike All the effort
we may put forth to add TO c1r religious
stature dos rot imply growth, but par
takes more of the nature of spiritual
pride. One quaint old English writer de-
clares that the Christian grows tall by
STOPPING; that the heaviest wheat is not
found upon the most upright stalks, and
so the growth in the divine life Is not
marked by imposing greatness.
The statement is imperative: we must
become as little children, or We most
surely miss our spiritual opportunities,
and our claim to godliness becomes
mere professional piety, yacuous and
comparatively worthless, perfunctory
and negative in its nature, while the af-
frmative which alone gives life and inn
pulse to the soul is lacking.
Oh, sweet, happy, loving childhood! Is
it possible for us to ever taste its sweet
ness here on earth again? To many OF
us the beautiful sunlit days of childhood
are but a sweet memory. The golden
gates of youth have long since closed be-
hind us. Its glamours and fairy scenes
| are past. The ruins of its airy castles,
the dreary wrecks of our human hopes,
are around us: we are in the grip of
stern and rugged realities. The world
is stripped of the sweet illusions through
which we We're wont to see it, and often
in our sad hearts are echoed the touch
ing lines;
Backward. flow backward, o tide of the
years!
l am so weary of toll and of tears
Tolls without recompense, tears all in
vain.
Take them, and give me my childhood
again.
And the sweet, sad tears fall as w
look back to the happy days of childhood
long ago. Most of us are wearied men
and women. Our lives are marked by
sorrow and anxiety. We are pilgrims and
strangers, some of US journeying through
an unfriendly world; and we are too often
burdened by the thought that now, in the
midst of cares and the Affections incident
to this life, we may look for no more
abiding happiness here; and thus Ne find
no fruit 70 our religion, and miss the
grand central principle of personal piety.
And now comes the declaration of the
great Teacher, Except We be converted
and become as little children, ye cannot
enter into the kingdom of heaven with
ITS CLEAN of heavenly light, revealing to
the weary and heavy-laden that a sweet
er, SUMMER childhood than any of us
have known here is within the reach of
all, If we but place ourselves In CORE
spondenee with right conditions by turn
ing from all that is gross and sordid, sin
full and selfish.
We all scorn mean actions, and are Civ
en- to impulses of the constitutional good
that may be in u.s. These alone do not
constitute true virtue. The Christian life
calls for more than that We must de-
velop into permanent principles the i'm
pulses of what is right from our some
what misty and undcveloped conceptions
of what constitutes spiritual goodness.
While holding unswervingly and with
conscientious honesty to the letter of
what we conceive to be the gospel Of Je-
sus, we sometimes lose sight of the fact
that what we hold to so dearly, and feel
ready to lay down our lives for, is Of lit
tie value when Invested of the spirit Of
Jesus; and we lose its virtues and forfeit
its promise because we neglect soul AID
heart culture, while We are faithful and
true to all its intellectual interests.
If we but put the spirit first. and be
governed by it in all we say and do, it
will cost us no effort to grow into sweet
religious childhood. Behold the lilies
of the field, how they grow" We will
have no need to toll and spin for our
selves what we might conceive TO be be-
coming and attractive religious adorn-
ments, if we but remember at all times
that the hidden man of the heart, IN
that which is ut corruptible, even the
ornament Of 8 meek and quiet spirit,
which in the sight Of the Lord is Of great
price" isAof the first Importance in the
religious life, and we wiz grow imper-
ceptibly to ourselves into Christian beau
ty, sweetness and power. and the bright
ilnshine Of happy childhood viii sur
round Us again.
This does not mean that we shall al
ways under such conditions live siniess