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| Who Was the Little Child Called by Jesus.
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18. Who Was the Little Child Called by Jesus.
Now another interpretation different from what is called
the simpler may be uttered; whether as dogma, or for the sake of
exercise, so to speak, let us also inquire what was the little child
who was called by Jesus and set in the midst of the disciples.
Now consider if you can say that the little child, whom Jesus called,
was the Holy Spirit who humbled Himself, when He was called by the
Saviour, and set in the midst of the reason of the disciples of Jesus;
if, indeed, He wishes us, being turned away from everything else, to be
turned towards the examples suggested by the Holy Spirit, so that we
may so become as the little children, who are themselves also turned
and likened to the Holy Spirit; which little children God gave to the
Saviour, according to what is said in Isaiah, “Behold, I and the
little children which God has given to me.”5935
And it is not possible for any one to
enter into the kingdom of heaven, who has not been turned away from the
affairs of this world, and made like unto the little children who
possess the Holy Spirit; which Holy Spirit was called by Jesus, and,
descending from His own perfection to men as a little child, was set by
Jesus in the midst of the disciples. It is necessary, then, for
him who has turned away from the desires of this world to humble
himself not simply as the little child, but, according to what is
written, “as this little
child.”5936
But to humble
oneself as that little child is to imitate the Holy Spirit, who humbled
Himself for the salvation of men. Now, that the Saviour and the
Holy Spirit were sent by the Father for the salvation of men has been
declared in Isaiah, in the person of the Saviour, saying, “And
now the Lord hath sent me and His Spirit.”5937
You must know, however, that this
expression is ambiguous; for either God sent, but also the Holy Spirit
sent, the Saviour; or, as we have taken it, the Father sent
both—the Saviour and the Holy Spirit. He, therefore, who
has humbled himself more than all those who have humbled themselves in
imitation of that little child, is the greatest in the kingdom of
heaven. For there are many who are willing to humble themselves
as that little child; but the man, who in every respect has become like
to the little child who humbled himself, in the name of
Jesus—especially in Jesus Himself,—in reality, would be
found to be he who is named greater than all in the kingdom of
heaven. But as he receives Jesus, whosoever receives one such of
the little children in His name, so he rejects Jesus and casts Him out,
who does not wish to receive one such little child in the name of
Jesus. But if, also, there is a difference in those who are
deemed worthy of the Holy Spirit, as believers receive more or less of
the Holy Spirit, there would be some little ones among those who
believe in God who can be made to stumble: to avenge whose being
made to stumble the Word says, with reference to those who had caused
them to stumble, “It is profitable for him that an ass’s
millstone should be hanged about his neck, and that he should be sunk
in the depth of the sea.”5938
Let
these things be said in regard to the passage of Matthew before
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