Matthew § 74

Such a Center has a saving power: and anyone who draws away from it is condemned, as drawing away from the means of humility. And in Matthew: "Unless you turn and become like little children, you will not enter into the kingdom of heaven." In this center "He has wrought salvation," that is, in the humility of the cross.

First, by the authority of Christ himself, who says in Matthew 18: Unless you be converted and become as little children, you shall not enter the kingdom of heaven; but to make oneself little is nothing other than to become vile in one's own eyes and to wish to be regarded as vile by others.

Because Christ said we could only get into His world by being like children, many Christians have the idea that, provided you are 'good', it does not matter being a fool. But that is a misunderstanding. In the first place, most children show plenty of 'prudence' about doing the things they are really interested in, and think them out quite sensibly. In the second place, as St Paul points out, Christ never meant that we were to remain children in intelligence: on the contrary. He told us to be not only 'as harmless as doves', but also 'as wise as serpents'. He wants a child's heart, but a grown-up's head. He wants us to be simple, single-minded, affectionate, and teachable, as good children are; but He also wants every bit of intelligence we have to be alert at its job, and in first-class fighting trim. The fact that you are giving money to a charity does not mean that you need not try to find out whether that charity is a fraud or not. The fact that what you are thinking about is God Himself (for example, when you are praying) does not mean that you can be content with the same babyish ideas which you had when you were a five-year-old. It is, of course, quite true that God will not love you any the less, or have less use for you, if you happen to have been born with a very second-rate brain. He has room for people with very little sense, but He wants every one to use what sense they have.

For instance, we often hear grown-up people complaining of having to hang about a railway station and wait for a train. Did you ever hear a small boy complain of having to hang about a railway station and wait for a train? No; for to him to be inside a railway station is to be inside a cavern of wonder and a palace of poetical pleasures. Because to him the red light and the green light on the signal are like a new sun and a new moon. Because to him when the wooden arm of the signal falls down suddenly, it is as if a great king had thrown down his staff as a signal and started a shrieking tournament of trains. I myself am of little boys' habit in this matter.

For my part, I should be inclined to suggest that the chief object of education should be to restore simplicity. If you like to put it so, the chief object of education is not to learn things; nay, the chief object of education is to unlearn things. The chief object of education is to unlearn all the weariness and wickedness of the world and to get back into that state of exhilaration we all instinctively celebrate when we write by preference of children and of boys. If I were an examiner appointed to examine all examiners (which does not at present appear probable), I would not only ask the teachers how much knowledge they had imparted; I would ask them how much splendid and scornful ignorance they had erected, like some royal tower in arms. But, in any case, I would insist that people should have so much simplicity as would enable them to see things suddenly and to see things as they are.

It is not only possible to say a great deal in praise of play; it is really possible to say the highest things in praise of it. It might reasonably be maintained that the true object of all human life is play. Earth is a task garden; heaven is a playground. To be at last in such secure innocence that one can juggle with the universe and the stars, to be so good that one can treat everything as a joke—that may be, perhaps, the real end and final holiday of human souls. When we are really holy we may regard the Universe as a lark; so perhaps it is not essentially wrong to regard the University as a lark.

Peter, oddly enough, made exactly the opposite request; he said he had long wished to be a pigmy about half an inch high; and of course he immediately became one. When the transformation was over he found himself in the midst of an immense plain, covered with a tall green jungle and above which, at intervals, rose strange trees each with a head like the sun in symbolic pictures, with gigantic rays of silver and a huge heart of gold. Toward the middle of this prairie stood up a mountain of such romantic and impossible shape, yet of such stony height and dominance, that it looked like some incident of the end of the world. And far away on the faint horizon he could see the line of another forest, taller and yet more mystical, of a terrible crimson colour, like a forest on fire for ever. He set out on his adventures across that coloured plain; and he has not come to the end of it yet.

If anyone says that I am making mountains out of molehills, I confess with pride that it is so. I can imagine no more successful and productive form of manufacture than that of making mountains out of molehills. But I would add this not unimportant fact, that molehills are mountains; one has only to become a pigmy like Peter to discover that.

He actually thought that fairy tales ought not to be told to children. That is (like a belief in slavery or annexation) one of those intellectual errors which lie very near to ordinary mortal sins. There are some refusals which, though they may be done what is called conscientiously, yet carry so much of their whole horror in the very act of them, that a man must in doing them not only harden but slightly corrupt his heart. One of them was the refusal of milk to young mothers when their husbands were in the field against us. Another is the refusal of fairy tales to children.

Strictly they do not see the prisoner in the dock; all they see is the usual man in the usual place. They do not see the awful court of judgment; they only see their own workshop. Therefore, the instinct of Christian civilisation has most wisely declared that into their judgments there shall upon every occasion be infused fresh blood and fresh thoughts from the streets. Men shall come in who can see the court and the crowd, and coarse faces of the policeman and the professional criminals, the wasted faces of the wastrels, the unreal faces of the gesticulating counsel, and see it all as one sees a new picture or a play hitherto unvisited.

In order to strike, in the only sane or possible sense, the note of impartiality, it is necessary to touch the nerve of novelty. I mean that in one sense we see things fairly when we see them first. That, I may remark in passing, is why children generally have very little difficulty about the dogmas of the Church. But the Church, being a highly practical thing for working and fighting, is necessarily a thing for men and not merely for children. There must be in it for working purposes a great deal of tradition, of familiarity, and even of routine. So long as its fundamentals are sincerely felt, this may even be the saner condition. But when its fundamentals are doubted, as at present, we must try to recover the candour and wonder of the child; the unspoilt realism and objectivity of innocence. Or if we cannot do that, we must try at least to shake off the cloud of mere custom and see the thing as new, if only by seeing it as unnatural. Things that may well be familiar so long as familiarity breeds affection had much better become unfamiliar when familiarity breeds contempt. For in connection with things so great as are here considered, whatever our view of them, contempt must be a mistake. Indeed contempt must be an illusion. We must invoke the most wild and soaring sort of imagination; the imagination that can see what is there.

There is only one reason why all grown-up people do not play with toys; and it is a fair reason. The reason is that playing with toys takes so very much more time and trouble than anything else. Playing as children mean playing is the most serious thing in the world; and as soon as we have small duties or small sorrows we have to abandon to some extent so enormous and ambitious a plan of life. We have enough strength for politics and commerce and art and philosophy; we have not enough strength for play.

But that paradise was not clear until Christianity had gradually cleared it. The pagan world, as such, would not have understood any such thing as a serious suggestion that a child is higher or holier than a man. It would have seemed like the suggestion that a tadpole is higher or holier than a frog. To the merely rationalistic mind, it would sound like saying that a bud must be more beautiful than a flower or that an unripe apple must be better than a ripe one. In other words, this modern feeling is an entirely mystical feeling. It is quite as mystical as the cult of virginity; in fact it is the cult of virginity. But pagan antiquity had much more idea of the holiness of the virgin than of the holiness of the child. For various reasons we have come nowadays to venerate children; perhaps partly because we envy children for still doing what men used to do; such as play simple games and enjoy fairy-tales. Over and above this, however, there is a great deal of real and subtle psychology in our appreciation of childhood; but if we turn it into a modern discovery, we must once more admit that the historical Jesus of Nazareth had already discovered it two thousand years too soon. There was certainly nothing in the world around him to help him to the discovery. Here Christ was indeed human; but more human than a human being was then likely to be. Peter Pan does not belong to the world of Pan but the world of Peter.

The child is, indeed, in these, and many other matters, the best guide. And in nothing is the child so righteously childlike, in nothing does he exhibit more accurately the sounder order of simplicity, than in the fact that he sees everything with a simple pleasure, even the complex things. The false type of naturalness harps always on the distinction between the natural and the artificial. The higher kind of naturalness ignores that distinction. To the child the tree and the lamp-post are as natural and as artificial as each other; or rather, neither of them are natural but both supernatural. For both are splendid and unexplained. The flower with which God crowns the one, and the flame with which Sam the lamplighter crowns the other, are equally of the gold of fairy-tales. In the middle of the wildest fields the most rustic child is, ten to one, playing at steam-engines. And the only spiritual or philosophical objection to steam-engines is not that men pay for them or work at them, or make them very ugly, or even that men are killed by them; but merely that men do not play at them. The evil is that the childish poetry of clockwork does not remain. The wrong is not that engines are too much admired, but that they are not admired enough. The sin is not that engines are mechanical, but that men are mechanical.

Christianity, even enormous as was its revolution, did not alter this ancient and savage sanctity; it merely reversed it. It did not deny the trinity of father, mother, and child. It merely read it backwards, making it run child, mother, father. This it called, not the family, but the Holy Family, for many things are made holy by being turned upside down.

And it must be remembered that the most purely practical science does take this view of mental evil; it does not seek to argue with it like a heresy, but simply to snap it like a spell. Neither modern science nor ancient religion believes in complete free thought. Theology rebukes certain thoughts by calling them blasphemous. Science rebukes certain thoughts by calling them morbid. For example, some religious societies discouraged men more or less from thinking about sex. The new scientific society definitely discourages men from thinking about death; it is a fact, but it is considered a morbid fact. And in dealing with those whose morbidity has a touch of mania, modern science cares far less for pure logic than a dancing Dervish. In these cases it is not enough that the unhappy man should desire truth; he must desire health. Nothing can save him but a blind hunger for normality, like that of a beast. A man cannot think himself out of mental evil; for it is actually the organ of thought that has become diseased, ungovernable, and, as it were, independent. He can only be saved by will or faith. The moment his mere reason moves, it moves in the old circular rut; he will go round and round his logical circle, just as a man in a third-class carriage on the Inner Circle will go round and round the Inner Circle unless he performs the voluntary, vigorous, and mystical act of getting out at Gower Street. Decision is the whole business here; a door must be shut for ever. Every remedy is a desperate remedy. Every cure is a miraculous cure. Curing a madman is not arguing with a philosopher; it is casting out a devil. And however quietly doctors and psychologists may go to work in the matter, their attitude is profoundly intolerant--as intolerant as Bloody Mary. Their attitude is really this: that the man must stop thinking, if he is to go on living. Their counsel is one of intellectual amputation. If thy head offend thee, cut it off; for it is better, not merely to enter the Kingdom of Heaven as a child, but to enter it as an imbecile, rather than with your whole intellect to be cast into hell--or into Hanwell.

All the towering materialism which dominates the modern mind rests ultimately upon one assumption; a false assumption. It is supposed that if a thing goes on repeating itself it is probably dead; a piece of clockwork. People feel that if the universe was personal it would vary; if the sun were alive it would dance. This is a fallacy even in relation to known fact. For the variation in human affairs is generally brought into them, not by life, but by death; by the dying down or breaking off of their strength or desire. A man varies his movements because of some slight element of failure or fatigue. He gets into an omnibus because he is tired of walking; or he walks because he is tired of sitting still. But if his life and joy were so gigantic that he never tired of going to Islington, he might go to Islington as regularly as the Thames goes to Sheerness. The very speed and ecstasy of his life would have the stillness of death. The sun rises every morning. I do not rise every morning; but the variation is due not to my activity, but to my inaction. Now, to put the matter in a popular phrase, it might be true that the sun rises regularly because he never gets tired of rising. His routine might be due, not to a lifelessness, but to a rush of life. The thing I mean can be seen, for instance, in children, when they find some game or joke that they specially enjoy. A child kicks his legs rhythmically through excess, not absence, of life. Because children have abounding vitality, because they are in spirit fierce and free, therefore they want things repeated and unchanged. They always say, "Do it again"; and the grown-up person does it again until he is nearly dead. For grown-up people are not strong enough to exult in monotony. But perhaps God is strong enough to exult in monotony. It is possible that God says every morning, "Do it again" to the sun; and every evening, "Do it again" to the moon. It may not be automatic necessity that makes all daisies alike; it may be that God makes every daisy separately, but has never got tired of making them. It may be that He has the eternal appetite of infancy; for we have sinned and grown old, and our Father is younger than we. The repetition in Nature may not be a mere recurrence; it may be a theatrical encore. Heaven may encore the bird who laid an egg. If the human being conceives and brings forth a human child instead of bringing forth a fish, or a bat, or a griffin, the reason may not be that we are fixed in an animal fate without life or purpose. It may be that our little tragedy has touched the gods, that they admire it from their starry galleries, and that at the end of every human drama man is called again and again before the curtain. Repetition may go on for millions of years, by mere choice, and at any instant it may stop. Man may stand on the earth generation after generation, and yet each birth be his positively last appearance.

As he ran he realized that the landscape around him was changing in shape though not in colour. The houses seemed to dwindle and disappear in hills of snow as if buried; the snow seemed to rise in tattered outlines of crag and cliff and crest, but he thought nothing of all these impossibilities until the boy turned to bay. When he did he saw the child was queerly beautiful, with gold red hair, and a face as serious as complete happiness. And when he spoke to the boy his own question surprised him, for he said for the first time in his life, "What am I doing here?" And the little boy, with very grave eyes, answered, "I suppose you are dead."

He had (also for the first time) a doubt of his spiritual destiny. He looked round on a towering landscape of frozen peaks and plains, and said, "Is this hell?" And as the child stared, but did not answer, he knew it was heaven.

All over that colossal country, white as the world round the Pole, little boys were playing, rolling each other down dreadful slopes, crushing each other under falling cliffs; for heaven is a place where one can fight for ever without hurting. Smith suddenly remembered how happy he had been as a child, rolling about on the safe sandhills around Conway.

Right above Smith's head, higher than the cross of St. Paul's, but curving over him like the hanging blossom of a harebell, was a cavernous crag of snow. A hundred feet below him, like a landscape seen from a balloon, lay snowy flats as white and as far away. He saw a little boy stagger, with many catastrophic slides, to that toppling peak; and seizing another little boy by the leg, send him flying away down to the distant silver plains. There he sank and vanished in the snow as if in the sea; but coming up again like a diver rushed madly up the steep once more, rolling before him a great gathering snowball, gigantic at last, which he hurled back at the mountain crest, and brought both the boy and the mountain down in one avalanche to the level of the vale. The other boy also sank like a stone, and also rose again like a bird, but Smith had no leisure to concern himself with this. For the collapse of that celestial crest had left him standing solitary in the sky on a peak like a church spire.

He could see the tiny figures of the boys in the valley below, and he knew by their attitudes that they were eagerly telling him to jump. Then for the first time he knew the nature of faith, as he had just known the fierce nature of charity. Or rather for the second time, for he remembered one moment when he had known faith before. It was when his father had taught him to swim, and he had believed he could float on water not only against reason, but (what is so much harder) against instinct. Then he had trusted water; now he must trust air.

He jumped. He went through air and then through snow with the same blinding swiftness. But as he buried himself in solid snow like a bullet he seemed to learn a million things and to learn them all too fast. He knew that the whole world is a snowball, and that all the stars are snowballs. He knew that no man will be fit for heaven till he loves solid whiteness as a little boy loves a ball of snow.

(interlin.) Except ye be converted from this ambition and jealousy in which you are at present, and become all of you as innocent and humble in disposition as you are weak, in your years, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven; and since there is none other road to enter in, whoso shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven; for by how much a man is humble now, by so much shall he be exalted in the kingdom of heaven.

(Ver. 3.) Amen I say to you, unless you are converted and become like little children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. It is not commanded to the apostles to have the age of children, but to have the innocence, and what they possess through years, let them possess through industry: so that they may be like little children in malice, not in wisdom.

One whose tender age should express to them the innocence which they should have. But truly He set Himself in the midst of them, a little one who had come not to be ministered unto, but to minister; (Mat. 20:28.) that He might be a pattern of holiness. Others interpret the little one of the Holy Spirit, whom He set in the hearts of His disciples, to change their pride into humility. (Vid. Origen. in loc.) And he said. Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. He does not enjoin on the Apostles the age, but the innocence of infants, which they have by virtue of their years, but to which these might attain by striving; that they should be children in malice, not in understanding. As though He had said, As this child, whom I set before you as a pattern, is not obstinate in anger, when injured does not bear it in mind, has no emotion at the sight of a fair woman, does not think one thing while he speaks another; so ye, unless ye have the like innocence and purity of mind, shall not be able to enter into the kingdom of heaven.

Beside this obvious explanation let another be given as well. As an act of theological and ethical reflection, let us ask what sort of a child Jesus called to him and has set in the midst of the disciples. Think of it this way: The child called by Jesus is the Holy Spirit, who humbled himself. He was called by the Savior and set in the middle of the disciples of Jesus. The Lord wants us, ignoring all the rest, to turn to the examples given by the Holy Spirit, so that we become like the children—that is, the disciples—who were themselves converted and made like the Holy Spirit. God gave these children to the Savior according to what we read in Isaiah: "Behold, I and the children whom the Lord has given me." To enter the kingdom of heaven is not possible for the person who has not turned from worldly matters and become like those children who had the Holy Spirit. Jesus called this Holy Spirit to him like a child, when he came down from his perfect completeness to people, and set it in the middle of the disciples.

And again to the disciples who asked craftily which should be greatest in the kingdom of heaven, and who lusted with crafty mind to rise a step above the others, He taught the simplicity of children, in whom there is no desire for dominion and rule, and whose thought hath never experienced the love of the honour of the world. "Verily I say unto you, that except ye be converted and become childlike and simple as children ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven."

After our Lord had rejected the companies of the wise, and the bands of cunning and crafty men, and had chosen those fishermen who were innocent and without instruction, He moreover taught them also to increase their simplicity, and not to abide in that first grade of their childlikeness only. And He took a child and set him in the midst of them, and looking at them all, He said, "Except ye be converted, and become like this child, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven." And this our Lord did because He saw that they sought to depart from the mind of their simplicity through a question of position of honour and to receive one a grade above the other. A question such as this the simple never seek to enquire into, but this question was born of a mind which desired to examine into matters with craftiness. And our Lord rebuked this outcome of a troublesome question, and said to His disciples, chiding and reproving them, "If ye are Mine ye must be simple men, and if ye desire the kingdom of heaven, ye must be like unto this child; as ye desire to receive the life which is to come abide in sincerity. If ye wish to become wise in the word of life abide in your ignorance, for from being simple I do not desire that ye become cunning, but from being simple become ye wise. For he that runneth to become cunning from being simple goeth downwards, but he that runneth to become simple from being cunning goeth upwards. The cunning man receiveth not My doctrine, and for the reason that ye are simple children I have chosen you. Ye have rejected cunning in others, beware lest it be in you and I reject you because of it. Let this child be a proof to you that as he desireth nothing of the world, and asketh for nothing of the children of men, neither rank nor honour, neither riches nor power, but only the mere food and clothing of which his childhood hath need, so also do ye become children like unto him, and upright and simple like unto him, that ye may be to Me chosen disciples, and that ye may be found by Me to be even as I have chosen you." Behold then, by this command also did Jesus our Lord incite us to simplicity, and He warned us to become innocent and upright.

Likewise, the word of the Lord should be noted. And first he touches on its necessity; secondly, its efficacy. He says amen I say to you, unless you be converted, that is, free from this elation; Zech 1:3: turn to me, etc., and become as this little child, not in age, but in simplicity; 1 Cor 14:20: do not become children in sense, but in malice be children. There are many characteristics of little children. They do not desire great things; Rom 12:10: not minding high things. They are free from concupiscence; above, 5:28: whosoever shall look on a woman to lust after her, has already committed adultery with her in his heart. And children do not have such concupiscence. Likewise, they do not remember enmity. Hence unless you become as this little child, that is, imitators of the qualities of little children, you shall not enter the kingdom of heaven. For no one shall enter unless he is humble; the humble in spirit shall be upheld by glory, Prov 29:23. Or you shall not enter the kingdom of heaven, i.e., the teaching of the Gospel, as below, 21:43: the kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and shall be given to a nation yielding the fruits thereof. For entrance is through faith; hence unless you become, and if you shall not have believed as little children, you shall not enter the kingdom of heaven, because Mark 16:16: he who shall not believe, shall be condemned. Prov 29:23: the humble in spirit shall be upheld by glory.

Hyperichius said, 'The tree of life is high, and humility climbs it.'

The Lord teaches that we cannot enter the kingdom of heaven unless we revert to the nature of children, that is, we must recall into the simplicity of children the vices of the body and mind. He has called children all who believe through the faith of listening. For children follow their father, love their mother, do not know how to wish ill on their neighbor, show no concern for wealth, are not proud, do not hate, do not lie, believe what has been said and hold what they hear as truth. And when we assume this habit and will in all the emotions, we are shown the passageway to the heavens. We must therefore return to the simplicity of children, because with it we shall embrace the beauty of the Lord's humility.

He calls infants all who believe through the hearing of faith; for such follow their father, love their mother, know not to will that which is evil, do not bear hate, or speak lies, trust what is told them, and believe what they hear to be true. But the letter is thus interpreted.

"Whoever humbles himself like this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven." Just as this child whose example I show you does not persist in anger, does not long remember injury suffered, is not enamored inordinately by the sight of a beautiful woman, does not think one thing and say another, so you too, unless you have similar innocence and purity of mind, will not be able to enter the kingdom of heaven. Or it might be taken in another way: "Whosoever therefore humiliates himself like this child is greater in the kingdom of heaven," so as to imply that anyone who imitates me and humiliates himself following my example, so that he abases himself as much as I abased myself in accepting the form of a servant, will enter the kingdom of heaven.

(Verse 4.) Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this little child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Just like this little child, whose example I give to you, does not persist in anger, does not hold grudges, does not delight in seeing a beautiful woman, does not think one thing and say another; in the same way, unless you have such innocence and purity of heart, you will not be able to enter the kingdom of heaven. Or in another way: Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this little child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Whoever imitates me and humbles himself as I have humbled myself, taking the form of a servant, he will enter the kingdom of heaven.

Or otherwise; Whoso shall humble himself as this little child, that is, whoso shall humble himself after My example, he shall enter into the kingdom of heaven. It follows, And whoso receiveth one such little one in my name, receiveth me.

And whoever shall receive one such little child, i.e., whoever is an imitator of childlike innocence, he is the greater, because the more humble, the more exalted: because he who humbles himself, shall be exalted, Luke 18:14. But a question can arise: for it seems that this is not true, because perfection consists in charity; therefore where there is greater charity, there is greater perfection. It must be said that humility necessarily accompanies charity. And you can see this if you consider who is humble. For just as in pride there are two things, a disordered affection and a disordered estimation of oneself, so, conversely, it is in humility, because one does not seek one's own preeminence, and likewise does not consider oneself worthy. This necessarily follows upon charity. Every man desires the preeminence of what he loves. Therefore the more a man has of humility, the more he loves God, and the more he despises his own preeminence, and the less he attributes to himself: thus the more a man has of charity, the more he also has of humility.

Here the Lord not only repressed the apostles' thoughts but also checked the ambition of believers throughout the whole world, so that he might be great who wanted to be least. For with this purpose Jesus used the example of the child, that what he had been through his nature, we through our holy living might become—innocent, like children innocent of every sin. For a child does not know how to hold resentment or to grow angry. He does not know how to repay evil for evil. He does not think base thoughts. He does not commit adultery or arson or murder. He is utterly ignorant of theft or brawling or all the things that will draw him to sin. He does not know how to disparage, how to blaspheme, how to hurt, how to lie. He believes what he hears. What he is ordered he does not analyze. He loves his parents with full affection. Therefore what children are in their simplicity, let us become through a holy way of life, as children innocent of sin. And quite rightly, one who has become a child innocent of sin in this way is greater in the kingdom of heaven. And whoever receives such a person will receive Christ.

Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me. Whoever lives so as to imitate Christ's humility and innocence, in him Christ is taken up. And he is careful to add—so that when the apostles heard of it, they would not think that they had been honored—that they would not be taken up for their merit but for the honor of the master.

(Verse 5.) And whoever receives such a little child in my name, receives me. And whoever is such, that he imitates the humility and innocence of Christ, in him Christ is received. And wisely, lest when it is reported to the apostles, they should think themselves honored, he added that they should be received not through their own merit, but through the honor of the master.

For whoever is such that he imitates Christ's humility and innocence, Christ is received by him; and by way of caution, that the Apostles should not think, when such are come to them, that it is to themselves that the honour is paid, He adds, that they are to be received not for their own desert, but in honour of their Master.

Wherefore He brought it in, and set it in the midst; and not at this merely did He conclude His discourse, but carries further this admonition, saying, "And whoso shall receive such a little child in my name, receiveth me."

"For know," saith He, "that not only, if ye yourselves become like this, shall ye receive a great reward; but also if for my sake ye honor others who are such, even for your honor to them do I appoint unto you a kingdom as your recompence." Or rather, He sets down what is far greater, saying, "he receiveth me." So exceedingly dear to me is all that is lowly and artless. For by "a little child," here, He means the men that are thus simple and lowly, and abject and contemptible in the judgment of the common sort.

But how can he who has been converted, and become as a little child, be yet liable to be scandalized? This may be thus explained. Every one who believes on the Son of God, and walks after evangelic acts, is converted and walks as a little child; but he who is not converted that he may become as a child, it is impossible that he should enter into the kingdom of heaven. But in every congregation of believers, there are some only newly converted that they may become as little children, but not yet made such; these are the little ones in Christ, and these are they that receive offence.

And whoso shall receive one such little child in My name receiveth Me. But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in Me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea. Not only, He says, must you be humble, but if for My sake you honor others who are humble, you shall receive your reward. For when you receive the children, that is, the humble, you are receiving Me. Then He says by contrast, "But whoso shall offend one of these little ones," that is, give insult to those who make themselves small and who humble themselves although they are great, "it would be better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck." He brings to the fore the sensory punishment, wishing to show that those who insult and give offense to the humble in Christ will endure great punishment. And you, O reader, understand that even if a man gives offense to one who is truly small, that is, weak, and does not instead use every means to bear him up, he will be punished. For it is not a great man who easily takes offense, but a small man.

And whoever shall receive one such little child, receives me. Since little children are so worthy, they should not be scandalized; hence and whoever shall scandalize, etc. And first he shows that they should not be scandalized because of the punishment; secondly, because of divine providence. The second part begins at see that you despise not one of these little ones. First he says that scandal should not be inflicted on little ones; secondly, that it should not be negligently avoided, at and if your hand, etc. And first he sets forth the punishment in particular; secondly in general, at woe to the world because of scandals, etc. It should be noted that punishment is twofold, namely, the punishment of loss and the punishment of sense. He touches on both: whoever shall receive one such child, not for the child's own sake, but for my sake, receives me.

(Quaest. Ev. i. 24) Otherwise; Whoso offendeth one of these little ones, that is so humble as He would have his disciples to be, by not obeying, or by opposing, (as the Apostle says of Alexander,) it were better for him, that a millstone should be hanged about his neck, and he be drowned in the depths of the sea, (2 Tim. 4:15.) that is, it were better for him that desire of the things of the world, to which the blind and foolish are tied down, should sink him by its load to destruction.

I might remark that much of it consists of the act of translation; of discovering the real meaning of words, which the Church uses rightly and the world uses wrongly. For instance, the convert discovers that "scandal" does not mean "gossip"; and the sin of causing it does not mean that it is always wicked to set silly old women wagging their tongues. Scandal means scandal, what it originally meant in Greek and Latin; the tripping up of somebody else when he is trying to be good.

Now this is the worst effect of modern worry. The mad doctor has gone mad. He is literally and practically mad; and still he is quite literally and practically a doctor. The only question is the old one, Quis docebit ipsum doctorem? Now cruelty to children is an utterly unnatural thing; instinctively accursed of earth and heaven. But neglect of children is a natural thing; like neglect of any other duty, it is a mere difference of degree that divides extending arms and legs in calisthenics and extending them on the rack. It is a mere difference of degree that separates any operation from any torture. The thumb-screw can easily be called Manicure. Being pulled about by wild horses can easily be called Massage. The modern problem is not so much what people will endure as what they will not endure. But I fear I interrupt.... The boiling oil is boiling; and the Tenth Mandarin is already reciting the "Seventeen Serious Principles and the Fifty-three Virtues of the Sacred Emperor."

(Mor. vi. 37.) Otherwise; What is denoted by the sea, but the world, and what by the mill-stone, but earthly action? which, when it binds the neck in the yoke of vain desires, sends it to a dull round of toil. There arc some who leave earthly action, and bond themselves to aims of contemplation beyond the reach of intellect, laying aside humility, and so not only throw themselves into error, but also cast many weak ones out of the bosom of truth. Whoso then offends one of the least of mine, it were better for him that a mill-stone be tied about his neck, and he be cast into the sea; that is, it were better for a perverted heart to be entirely occupied with worldly business, than to be at leisure for contemplative studies to the hurt of many.

These important items of comparison are not idle. Such an offender is to be sunk in the sea with both a millstone and an asses' pack load, and even this is better for him! What is better in the accepted sense of the word is always beneficial. What then is the utility of being sunk with an asses' millstone hung around one's neck? So harsh a death will profit him in terms of future punishment. In some way it will be beneficial to meet that death which is the ultimate of evils.But how should we understand this spiritually? That is the deeper question. The millstone stands for blind toil, for pack animals are driven around in a circle with their eyes closed. And we frequently find the Gentiles referred to under the name ass. The Gentiles do not know what they do. They are in ignorance, and their life's work is like blind labor. Not so the Jews. For them the path of knowledge has been set forth in the law. Insofar as they gave offence to Christ's apostles, it was more just for them to be sunk in the sea with an asses' millstone tied to their neck.

Mystically; The work of the mill is a toil of blindness, for the beasts having their eyes closed are driven round in a circle, and under the type of an ass we often find the Gentiles figured, who are held in the ignorance of blind labour; while the Jews have the path of knowledge set before them in the Law, who if they offend Christ's Apostles it were better for them, that having their necks made fast to a mill-stone, they should be drowned in the sea, that is, kept under labour and in the depths of ignorance, as the Gentiles; for it were better for them that they should have never known Christ, than not to have received the Lord of the Prophets.

This can be viewed as a general sentence against all who raise a stumbling block. Yet according to the context of the discourse, it can also be understood as spoken against the apostles. In asking who was greater in the kingdom of heaven, they seemed to have just previously been contending among themselves for honor. If they persisted in this misbehavior they could lose those whom they were calling to the faith, if they should see the apostles fighting among themselves for honor.But when Jesus said, "It would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck," he is following the rite of the province and telling how among ancient Jews this was the punishment for major crimes, that they be sunk in the deep with a rock attached to them. It is better for him, because it is much better to receive a short, quick punishment for one's sin than to be reserved for eternal tortures. For the Lord will not punish the same fault twice.

(Verse 6.) But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were drowned in the depth of the sea. Note that whoever is scandalized is little: for the greater ones do not receive scandals.

Let him be hanged with a millstone around his neck, and let him be thrown into the depths of the sea. Although this general idea can be applied against anyone who causes scandal, it can also be understood in the context of the apostles, who seemed to be competing with each other over rank when they asked who was the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. If they had remained in this vice, they could have caused those whom they called to the faith to stumble through their scandal, as they saw the apostles fighting amongst themselves for honor. But when he said, 'It is expedient for him that a millstone be hung about his neck,' he speaks according to the custom of the province, with which the punishment for more grievous crimes among the ancient Jews was that they should be plunged into the deep with a stone fastened to them. It is expedient for him, because it is much better to receive a brief punishment for a fault than to be preserved for eternal tortures. For the Lord will not judge twice for the same thing (Nahum 1).

Observe that he who is offended is a little one, for the greater hearts do not take offences. And though it may be a general declaration against all who scandalize any, yet from the connection of the discourse it may be said specially to the Apostles; for in asking who should be greatest in the kingdom of heaven, they seemed to be contending for preeminence among themselves; and if they had persisted in this fault, they might have scandalized those whom they called to the faith, seeing the Apostles contending among themselves for the preference.

When it is said, It is better for him that a mill-stone be hanged about his neck, He speaks according to the custom of the province; for among the Jews this was the punishment of the greater criminals, to drown them by a stone tied to them. It is better for him, because it is far better to receive a brief punishment for a fault, than to be reserved for eternal torments.

After this, to obtain yet more acceptance for His saying, He establishes it not by the honor only, but also by the punishment, going on to say, "And whoso shall offend one of these little ones, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea."

"For as they," saith He, "who honor these for my sake, have heaven, or rather an honor greater than the very kingdom; even so they likewise who dishonor them (for this is to offend them), shall suffer the extremity of punishment. And marvel thou not at His calling the affront "an offense;" for many feeble-minded persons have suffered no ordinary offense from being treated with slight and insult. To heighten therefore and aggravate the blame, He states the mischief arising therefrom.

And He doth not go on to express the punishment in the same way, but from the things familiar to us, He indicates how intolerable it is. For when He would touch the grosser sort most sharply, He brings sensible images. Wherefore here also, meaning to indicate the greatness of the punishment they shall undergo, and to strike into the arrogance of those that despise them, He brought forward a kind of sensible punishment, that of the millstone, and of the drowning. Yet surely it were suitable to what had gone before to have said, "He that receiveth not one of these little ones, receivoth not me;" a thing bitterer than any punishment; but since the very unfeeling, and exceeding gross, were not so much penetrated by this, terrible as it is, He puts "a millstone," and "a drowning." And He said not, "A millstone shall be hanged about his neck," but, "It were better for him" to undergo this; implying that another evil, more grievous than this, awaits him; and if this be unbearable, much more that.

Seest thou how in both respects He made His threat terrible, first by the comparison with the known image rendering it more distinct, then by the excess on its side presenting it to the fancy as far greater than that visible one. Seest thou how He plucks up by the root the spirit of arrogance; how He heals the ulcer of vainglory; how He instructs us in nothing to set our heart on the first honors; how He persuades such as covet them in everything to follow after the lowest place?

Now although the saying, "Whoso shall cause one of these little ones to stumble, it were better for him that the millstone turned by an ass should be hanged about his neck, and that he should be sunk in the depths of the sea", admitteth of other significations, yet it is particularly applicable to the simple, that no man may dare to scoff at the simplicity of the upright. For when thou hast laughed at and hast mocked and made scorn of his simplicity, and hast blamed his pacific nature and hast despised his integrity, and he is accounted by thee fit for nothing and useless, the indignation of thy blasphemies against him will drive him to strip off and to cast away his innocency and to deny his simplicity, as if it were the cause why he should be mocked, and to flee from that childlikeness by reason of which he was deemed by the audacious to be a fool, and instead of what he was, to become what he was not, and through thy indignation and thy blasphemies against him thou wilt make him to stumble in his first rule and conduct, and to forsake it, and instead thereof to lay hold upon other things which are the opposite of his innocency. And although he be leading a life of silent meditation he will reject this, and will honour and choose speech rather than silent meditation, and craftiness rather than his early simplicity, and subtlety rather than his ignorance, and from being a sweet-tempered and peaceful man thou wilt make him a furious and wrathful man. Now therefore when thou thus hast caused him to stumble, and he hath been driven by thy indignation to change his good qualities into bad ones, it were better for thee that the millstone turned by an ass should be hanged about thy neck, and that thou shouldst be cast into the depths of the sea, rather than that thou shouldst cause one of these little ones who believe on the Son to stumble.

There follows but he who shall scandalize one of these little ones, etc. If he is such a person, it is clear that he is greater. And how shall one who is greater be scandalized? For the perfect are not scandalized. Chrysostom says that to scandalize is the same as to inflict injury, and this can be inflicted on the perfect and the imperfect alike. Origen says that some have already become little children, and some are in the process of becoming so: those who have already become little children are those who have arrived at perfection, and they cannot be scandalized; those who are in the process of becoming so, because they are imperfect, can be scandalized, such as those who have been recently converted. Jerome says that although they are not scandalized, someone can nevertheless scandalize them, because there is active scandal and passive scandal. The Lord seems to touch on all the apostles, and especially Judas, as below, 26:31: all of you shall be scandalized, etc. And what is this punishment? It would be better for him that a millstone should be hanged about his neck. Likewise, as Jerome says, the Lord speaks according to the custom of the Palestinians, who did not have mills on water but had mills driven by horses. Hence a millstone is called that which a horse or donkey can turn. And that he should be drowned in the depth of the sea. And this was the punishment inflicted on one who had committed theft: because such a millstone was hung about his neck, and he was cast into the sea. This was also done to the blessed Clement, although not because he was a thief, etc. Hence he is worthy of eternal punishment. Therefore it is better to endure any temporal punishment in the present than to endure eternal punishment; Heb 10:31: it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God; and Dan 13:23: it is better for me to fall into your hands without doing it, than to sin in the sight of the Lord. In another way, mystically: and this in three ways. In one way, by the millstone is understood the blindness of the Gentiles, because the animals that are set to turning this mill are blind: Judges 16:21 records that they put out the eyes of Samson and made him grind. Hence it would have been better for the Jews if they had never seen Christ, and had been cast into the depth of the sea, i.e., into the depth of unbelief. Hence 2 Pet 2:21: for it had been better for them not to have known the way of justice, than after having known it, to turn back. In another way, by the millstone is understood the active life. And it happens that someone passes over to the contemplative life, and when he is there, he scandalizes his contemplation, because it is not to his taste; therefore it would be better for him that a millstone should be hanged about his neck, and that he should be cast into the depth of the sea, i.e., into the depth of temporal affairs. Augustine says thus: it would be better, i.e., it is fitting, and it is a fitting punishment for him that a millstone, i.e., the cupidity of the world, because he who scandalizes is covetous, should be hanged about his neck, i.e., upon his affection, and be drowned in the depth, namely, of cupidities.

Of what world are we speaking when we say "Woe to the world for temptations to sin"? We speak of that world of which it is said, "And the world knew him not." We are not speaking of that world of which it is said, "God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself." There is an evil world, and there is a good world. In the evil world are all the evil ones of this world. In the good world are all the good ones of this world. We often hear it said of a field: his field is full. Of what? Of wheat. Yet we say also, and say truly too, his field is full of chaff. So with a tree, one says that it is full of fruit while another says it is full of leaves. Both speak truly. The supply of leaves has not usurped the place of the fruit, nor has the supply of fruit driven out the mass of leaves. The tree is full of both. But one thing is plucked by the wind; the other is picked by the harvester. So therefore when you hear, "Woe unto the world because of offenses," do not be afraid. Love the law of God, and you will have no temptation to sin.

Offences must come, but woe to those by whom they come; sins do cause grace to abound, but we must not make that an excuse for continuing to sin. The crucifixion itself is the best, as well as the worst, of all historical events, but the rôle of Judas remains simply evil. We may apply this first to the problem of other people's suffering. A merciful man aims at his neighbour's good and so does "God's will", consciously co-operating with "the simple good". A cruel man oppresses his neighbour, and so does simple evil. But in doing such evil, he is used by God, without his own knowledge or consent, to produce the complex good--so that the first man serves God as a son, and the second as a tool. For you will certainly carry out God's purpose, however you act, but it makes a difference to you whether you serve like Judas or like John.

(non occ.) The Lord had said, that it is better for him who gives offence, that a mill-stone be hanged about his neck, of which He now subjoins the reason, Woe unto the world from offences! i. e. because of offences.

(interlin. 1 Cor. 11:19.) Or they must needs come because they are necessary, that is, useful, that by this mean they that are approved may be made manifest.

Or; The lowliness of His passion is the scandal of the world, which refused to receive the Lord of eternal glory under the disgrace of the Cross. And what more dangerous for the world than to have rejected Christ? And He says that offences must needs come, forasmuch as in the sacrament of restoring to us eternal life, all lowliness of suffering was to be fulfilled in Him.

Or; By the man is denoted the Jewish people, as the introducers of all this offence that is about Christ's passion; for they brought upon the world all the danger of denying Christ in His passion, of whom the Law and the Prophets had preached that He should suffer.

(Verse 7) Woe to the world because of scandals. For it is necessary that scandals come, but woe to the man through whom the scandal comes.

Not that it is necessary for scandals to come, otherwise those who cause scandal would be without guilt, but since it is necessary for scandals to occur in this world, everyone is exposed to scandal due to their own fault. At the same time, Judas, who had prepared his mind for betrayal, is struck by a general consensus.

As much as to say, Woe to that man through whose fault it comes to pass, that offences must needs be in the world. And under this general declaration, Judas is particularly condemned, who had made ready his soul for the act of betrayal.

"And if 'it must needs be that offenses come,'" (some one of our adversaries may perchance say), "why doth He lament over the world, when He ought rather to afford succor, and to stretch forth His hand in its behalf? For this were the part of a physician, and a protector, whereas the other might be looked for even from any ordinary person."

What then could we possibly say, in answer to so shameless a tongue? nay what dost thou seek for equal to this healing care of His? For indeed being God He became man for thee, and took the form of a slave, and underwent all extremities, and left undone none of those things which it concerned Him to do. But inasmuch as unthankful men were nothing the better for this, He laments over them, for that after so much fostering care they continued in their unsoundness.

It was like as if over the sick man, that had had the advantage of much attendance, and who had not been willing to obey the rules of the physician, any one were to lament and say, "Woe to such a man from his infirmity, which he has increased by his own remissness." But in that case indeed there is no advantage from the bewailing, but here this too is a kind of healing treatment to foretell what would be, and to lament it. For many oftentimes, though, when advised, they were nothing profited, yet, when mourned for, they amended.

For which reason most of all He used the word "Woe," thoroughly to rouse them, and to make them in earnest, and to work upon them to be wakeful. And at the same time He shows forth the good will He had towards those very men and His own mildness, that He mourns for them even when gainsaying, not taking mere disgust at it, but correcting them, both with the mourning, and with the prediction, so as to win them over.

But how is this possible? he may say. For if "it must needs be that offenses come," how is it possible to escape these? Because that the offenses come indeed must needs be, but that men should perish is not altogether of necessity. Like as though a physician should say (for nothing hinders our using the same illustration again), it must needs be that this disease should come on, but it is not a necessary consequence that he who gives heed should be of course destroyed by the disease. And this He said, as I mentioned, to awaken together with the others His disciples. For that they may not slumber, as sent unto peace and unto untroubled life, He shows many wars close upon them, from without, from within. Declaring this, Paul said, "Without were fightings, within were fears;" and, "In perils among false brethren;" and in his discourse to the Milesians too He said, "Also of you shall some arise speaking perverse things;" and He Himself too said, "The man's foes shall be they of his own household." But when He said, "It must needs be," it is not as taking away the power of choosing for themselves, nor the freedom of the moral principle, nor as placing man's life under any absolute constraint of circumstances, that He saith these things, but He foretells what would surely be; and this Luke hath set forth in another form of expression, "It is impossible but that offenses should come."

But what are the offenses? The hindrances on the right way. Thus also do those on the stage call them that are skilled in those matters, them that distort their bodies.

It is not then His prediction that brings the offenses; far from it; neither because He foretold it, therefore doth it take place; but because it surely was to be, therefore He foretold it; since if those who bring in the offenses had not been minded to do wickedly, neither would the offenses have come; and if they had not been to come, neither would they have been foretold. But because those men did evil, and were incurably diseased, the offenses came, and He foretells that which is to be.

But if these men had been kept right, it may be said, and there had been no one to bring in an offense, would not this saying have been convicted of falsehood? By no means, for neither would it have been spoken. For if all were to have been kept right, He would not have said, "it must needs be that they come," but because He foreknew they would be of themselves incorrigible, therefore He said, the offenses will surely come.

And wherefore did He not take them out of the way? it may be said. Why, wherefore should they have been taken out of the way? For the sake of them that are hurt? But not thence is the ruin of them that are hurt, but from their own remissness. And the virtuous prove it, who, so far from being injured thereby, are even in the greatest degree profited, such as was Job, such as was Joseph, such as were all the righteous, and the apostles. But if many perish, it is from their own slumbering. But if it were not so, but the ruin was the effect of the offenses, all must have perished. And if there are those who escape, let him who doth not escape impute it to himself. For the offenses, as I have said, awaken, and render more quick-sighted, and sharper, not only him that is preserved; but even him that hath fallen into them, if he rise up again quickly, for they render him more safe, and make him more difficult to overcome; so that if we be watchful, no small profit do we reap from hence, even to be continually awake. For if when we have enemies, and when so many dangers are pressing upon us, we sleep, what should we be if living in security. Nay, if thou wilt, look at the first man. For if having lived in paradise a short time, perchance not so much as a whole day, and having enjoyed delights, he drove on to such a pitch of wickedness, as even to imagine an equality with God, and to account the deceiver a benefactor, and not to keep to one commandment; if he had lived the rest of his life also without affliction, what would he not have done?

But let us tear these in pieces not by our words only, but by our deeds too. For neither are these things of necessity. For if they were of necessity, He would not have said, "Woe to the man, by whom the offense cometh." For those only doth he bewail, who are wicked by their choice.

And if He saith "by whom," marvel not. For not as though another were bringing in it by him, doth He say this, but viewing him as himself causing the whole. For the Scripture is wont to say, "by whom," for "of whom;" as when it saith, "I have gotten a man by God," putting not the second cause, but the first; and again, "Is not the interpretation of them by God," and, "God is faithful, by whom ye are called unto the fellowship of His Son."

And that thou mayest learn that it is not of necessity, hear also what follows. For after bewailing them, He saith, "If thy hand, or thy foot offend thee, cut them off, and cast them from thee: for it is better for thee to enter into life halt or maimed, rather than having two hands or feet to be cast into the fire. And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out; it is better for thee to enter into life with one eye, than having two eyes to be cast into the furnace of fire;" not saying these things of limbs; far from it; but of friends, of relations, whom we regard in the rank of necessary members. This He had both said further back, and now He saith it. For nothing is so hurtful as bad company. Wherefore with much earnestness He commands us to cut off them that hurt us, intimating these that bring the offenses.

Seest thou how He hath put away the mischief that would result from the offenses? By foretelling that there surely will be offenses, so that they might find no one in a state of carelessness, but that looking for them men might be watchful. By showing the evils to be great (for He would not have said without purpose, "Woe to the world because of the offenses," but to show that great is the mischief therefrom), by lamenting again in stronger terms over him that brings them in. For the saying, "But woe to that man," was that of one showing that great was the punishment, but not this only, but also by the comparison which He added He increased the fear.

Then He is not satisfied with these things, but He showeth also the way, by which one may avoid the offenses.

But what is this? The wicked, saith He, though they be exceeding dear friends to thee, cut off from thy friendship.

And He giveth a reason that cannot be gainsaid. For if they continue friends, thou wilt not gain them, but thou wilt lose thyself besides; but if thou shouldest cut them off, thine own salvation at least thou wilt gain. So that if any one's friendship harms thee, cut it off from thee. For if of our own members we often cut off many, when they are both in an incurable state, and are ruining the rest, much more ought one to do this in the case of friends.

But if evils were by nature, superfluous were all this admonition and advice, superfluous the precaution by the means that have been mentioned. But if it be not superfluous, as surely it is not superfluous, it is quite clear that wickedness is of the will.

Jesus pronounced "woe for temptations to sin" on people scattered throughout the whole world who are subject to temptations. But the disciples, who do not contemplate the things that are seen, are not of the world. Neither is their Master of the world. Therefore the "woe for temptations to sin" does not apply to Jesus' faithful disciples. Rather, "great peace have those who love your law; nothing can make them stumble." But there are some who appear to be disciples yet are still of the world. They love the world, and they love inordinately what is in it. They love the life that is led in these earthly places or the money which is in them, or the possessions or any resources whatsoever. The words "they are not of the world" do not apply to them. But "woe for temptations to sin" will apply to them since they are indeed of the world.

Scandal (offence) is a Greek word, which we may call a stumbling-block, or a fall, or hitting of the foot. He then scandalizes his brother, who by word or deed amiss gives him occasion of falling.

Woe unto the world because of temptations! For it must needs be that temptations come; but woe to that man by whom the temptation cometh! As One Who loves mankind He laments for the world which is going to be harmed by temptations. But one might ask, "Why lament when there is need to assist and extend a helping hand?" To which we would reply that to lament for someone is of itself assistance. For often we benefit those whom our admonition has not benefitted, when we weep for them and thus bring them to an awareness of themselves. And if "it must needs be that temptations come," how can we avoid them? They must needs come but we need not perish, rather we must resist the temptations. Understand "temptations" to mean those who are an obstacle and a stumbling-block to our doing good. The "world" means those people who are low and crawl along the ground, who are easily hindered by every obstacle.

Woe to the world because of scandals. Having set forth the punishment in particular, he now sets it forth in general. And he does three things. First, he makes a general proclamation; secondly, he adds its necessity; thirdly, he removes any excuse, because for those who scandalize, it would be better that a millstone should be hanged about their neck, etc. Woe to the world because of scandals. By the world is understood lovers of the world, because the more one is joined to the world, the more one suffers scandal; hence the Lord says: in me you shall have peace, in the world you shall have distress, John 16:33. Woe to the world and to lovers of the world. For it must needs be that scandals come. Certain heretics believed that there was an absolute necessity that sins should occur, and that from divine foreknowledge and from the nature of the stars necessity was imposed. But this is false, because it would be imputed to God, who is the author of nature. Chrysostom says that it is necessary that it happen thus, so that the necessity of divine providence is a conditional necessity. Hence it is necessary that if he foresaw that this person would sin, he will sin; but it does not follow that he sins of necessity. Origen says that this necessity presupposes the malice of demons and the weakness of men: hence it must needs be that scandals come, because it is necessary that the devil deceive men, and that man obey him. And thus from the supposition of the malice of the devil and the weakness of men this necessity arises. Others explain it must needs be, i.e., it is useful, because through scandals men are tested; 1 Cor 11:19: for there must be also heresies, that they who are approved may be made manifest among you. Or according to Haymo, he speaks of the scandal of the cross; 1 Cor 1:23: we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews indeed a stumbling block, and unto the Gentiles foolishness. But an objection is raised: if it is necessary, then they are free from sin, since it must necessarily happen. I do not say that this is necessary by absolute necessity; because woe to that man by whom the scandal comes. Hence although the demons instigate, nevertheless it is imputed to him as punishment; Rom 6:13: neither yield your members as instruments of iniquity unto sin. This is said especially of Judas who betrayed him.

A brother asked Poemen, 'What is the meaning of the text, "Whoever is angry with his brother without a cause" (Matt. 5:22)?' He answered, 'If you are angry with your brother for any kind of trouble that he gives you, that is anger without a cause, and it is better to pluck out your right eye and cast it from you. But if anyone wants to separate you from God, then you must be angry with him.'

And it must be remembered that the most purely practical science does take this view of mental evil; it does not seek to argue with it like a heresy, but simply to snap it like a spell. Neither modern science nor ancient religion believes in complete free thought. Theology rebukes certain thoughts by calling them blasphemous. Science rebukes certain thoughts by calling them morbid. For example, some religious societies discouraged men more or less from thinking about sex. The new scientific society definitely discourages men from thinking about death; it is a fact, but it is considered a morbid fact. And in dealing with those whose morbidity has a touch of mania, modern science cares far less for pure logic than a dancing Dervish. In these cases it is not enough that the unhappy man should desire truth; he must desire health. Nothing can save him but a blind hunger for normality, like that of a beast. A man cannot think himself out of mental evil; for it is actually the organ of thought that has become diseased, ungovernable, and, as it were, independent. He can only be saved by will or faith. The moment his mere reason moves, it moves in the old circular rut; he will go round and round his logical circle, just as a man in a third-class carriage on the Inner Circle will go round and round the Inner Circle unless he performs the voluntary, vigorous, and mystical act of getting out at Gower Street. Decision is the whole business here; a door must be shut for ever. Every remedy is a desperate remedy. Every cure is a miraculous cure. Curing a madman is not arguing with a philosopher; it is casting out a devil. And however quietly doctors and psychologists may go to work in the matter, their attitude is profoundly intolerant--as intolerant as Bloody Mary. Their attitude is really this: that the man must stop thinking, if he is to go on living. Their counsel is one of intellectual amputation. If thy head offend thee, cut it off; for it is better, not merely to enter the Kingdom of Heaven as a child, but to enter it as an imbecile, rather than with your whole intellect to be cast into hell--or into Hanwell.

(Verse 8, 9) But if your hand or your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life maimed or crippled than to have two hands or two feet and be thrown into the eternal fire. And if your eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into the fire of hell. Indeed, it is necessary for scandals to come, but woe to the person through whom the scandal comes! Therefore, every affection is cut off and every proximity is amputated, so that no one of the believers may be exposed to scandals through the opportunity of piety. If, he says, someone is so connected to you like a hand, foot, eye, and is useful and caring, and sharp in discerning: but he causes scandal to you, and he drags you into hell because of the disparity of his behavior: it is better that you both avoid his proximity and carnal benefits, so that while you want to profit your relatives and necessary ones, you don't end up causing ruins. Therefore, neither brother, nor wife, nor children, nor friends, nor any affection that can exclude us from the kingdom of heaven, should be preferred to the love of the Lord. Each believer knows what harms themselves, what troubles their soul, and is often tested. It is better to lead a solitary life than to lose eternal life for the needs of this present life.

So all affection, our whole kindred, are severed from us; lest under cover of duty any believer should be exposed to offence. If, He says, he be united to thee as close as is thy hand, or foot, or eye, and is useful to thee, anxious and quick to discern, and yet causes thee offence, and is by the unmeetness of his behaviour drawing thee into hell; it is better for thee that thou lack his kindred, and his profitableness to thee, than that whilst thou seekest to gain thy kindred or friends, thou shouldest have cause of fallings. For every believer knows what is doing him harm, what troubles and tempts him, for it is better to lead a solitary life, than to lose eternal life, in order to have the things necessary for this present life.

But that you may learn that there is no absolute necessity for offences, hear what follows, If thy hand or thy foot offend thee, & c. This is not said of the limbs of the body, but of friends whom we esteem as limbs necessary to us; for nothing is so hurtful as evil communications.

Or, The priests may with good reason be called the eyes of the Church, since they are considered her watchmen, but the deacons and the rest her hands, for by them spiritual deeds are wrought; the people are the feet of the body, the Church; and all these it behoves not to spare, if they become an offence to the Church. Or, by the offending hand is understood an act of the mind; a motion of the mind is the offending foot, and a vision of the mind is the sinning eye, which we ought to cut off if they give offence, for thus the acts of the limbs are often put in Scripture for the limbs themselves.

Oh wickedness! Once did the Jews lay brands on Christ; these mangle His body daily. Oh hands to be cut off! Now let the saying, "If thy hand make thee do evil, amputate it," see to it whether it were uttered by way of similitude merely.

Wherefore if thy hand or thy foot cause thee temptation, cut it off, and cast it from thee: it is better for thee to enter into life halt or maimed, rather than having two hands or two feet to be cast into everlasting fire. And if thine eye cause thee temptation, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: it is better for thee to enter into life with one eye, rather than having two eyes to be cast into the gehenna of fire. Hand, foot, and eye understand to mean friends whom we rank as dear as our own members. And even though it may be these, our close friends, who harm us, we must disregard them as gangrenous members and cut them off, lest they harm others as well as themselves. From this it is clear that even if it is necessary that temptations come, that is, those who would harm us, it is not necessary that we be harmed. But if we shall do as the Lord has said, and cut off from ourselves those that would harm us even though they are our friends, we shall not be harmed.

You say that woe to that man by whom the scandal comes; hence scandal should not be inflicted on little ones. And although it should not be inflicted, they nevertheless should not be negligent in avoiding scandal; indeed one can avoid it through something useful for action, or for knowledge, or for support. Hence he sets forth under the likeness of members of the body: and if your hand or your foot scandalize you, cut it off, and cast it from you. You should not understand this to mean that the members of the body should be cut off, but by members are understood friends and neighbors. For a man is necessary to another man for working, for supporting, for teaching. That which corrects in matters of action is the hand; that which supports is the foot; hence Job 29:15: I was an eye to the blind, and a foot to the lame. Hence if your hand, i.e., the one who directs your work, or foot, i.e., the one who sustains you, scandalize you, i.e., is an occasion of sin for you, cut it off and cast it from you. And he gives the reason: it is good for you, etc., because it is better to suffer any temporal evil than to merit eternal punishment.

No doubt, in a given situation, it demands the surrender of some, or of all, our merely human pursuits: it is better to be saved with one eye, than, having two, to be cast into Gehenna. But it does this, in a sense, per accidens—because, in those special circumstances, it has ceased to be possible to practise this or that activity to the glory of God. There is no essential quarrel between the spiritual life and the human activities as such.

All natural affections... can become rivals to spiritual love: but they can also be preparatory imitations of it, training (so to speak) of the spiritual muscles which Grace may later put to a higher service; as women nurse dolls in childhood and later nurse children. There may come an occasion for renouncing this love; pluck out your right eye. But you need to have an eye first: a creature which had none—which had only got so far as a "photo-sensitive" spot—would be very ill employed in meditation on that severe text.

This sentence of the Lord can faithfully be understood about any one of us. Yet in cutting off a hand or foot or in plucking out an eye, it is clear that family relations or unbelieving ministers and leaders of the church are signified.And so by "hand" we understand that priests are signified; like a hand their work in every area is necessary to the body of the church, about whom we find it written in the Song of Solomon: "his arms"—that is, the body of the church—"are rounded gold set with jewels." By "foot" we recognize that deacons are signified. In busying themselves with the sacred mysteries of the church they serve the body like feet, about which it is written in the same Song of Solomon: "His legs are alabaster columns, set upon bases of gold." And so, if hands or feet of this sort, that is, any priest or deacon, either through heretical faith or through depraved living, has become a stumbling block to the church, the Lord orders that such a man be plucked from the body of the church and thrown out. The example of his life and heretical doctrine endangers all the body of the church, that is, the whole people, when it follows or imitates such doctrine.

And it must be remembered that the most purely practical science does take this view of mental evil; it does not seek to argue with it like a heresy, but simply to snap it like a spell. Neither modern science nor ancient religion believes in complete free thought. Theology rebukes certain thoughts by calling them blasphemous. Science rebukes certain thoughts by calling them morbid. For example, some religious societies discouraged men more or less from thinking about sex. The new scientific society definitely discourages men from thinking about death; it is a fact, but it is considered a morbid fact. And in dealing with those whose morbidity has a touch of mania, modern science cares far less for pure logic than a dancing Dervish. In these cases it is not enough that the unhappy man should desire truth; he must desire health. Nothing can save him but a blind hunger for normality, like that of a beast. A man cannot think himself out of mental evil; for it is actually the organ of thought that has become diseased, ungovernable, and, as it were, independent. He can only be saved by will or faith. The moment his mere reason moves, it moves in the old circular rut; he will go round and round his logical circle, just as a man in a third-class carriage on the Inner Circle will go round and round the Inner Circle unless he performs the voluntary, vigorous, and mystical act of getting out at Gower Street. Decision is the whole business here; a door must be shut for ever. Every remedy is a desperate remedy. Every cure is a miraculous cure. Curing a madman is not arguing with a philosopher; it is casting out a devil. And however quietly doctors and psychologists may go to work in the matter, their attitude is profoundly intolerant--as intolerant as Bloody Mary. Their attitude is really this: that the man must stop thinking, if he is to go on living. Their counsel is one of intellectual amputation. If thy head offend thee, cut it off; for it is better, not merely to enter the Kingdom of Heaven as a child, but to enter it as an imbecile, rather than with your whole intellect to be cast into hell--or into Hanwell.

If somebody, in the whole body of the congregations of the church, is industrious and handy for practical action and he changes and his hand causes him to sin, the eye should say to this hand, "I have no need of you." And after it has said it, let him cut it off and throw it from him. All will still be well if his head is still blessed and his feet worthy of his blessed head, so that the head, doing its duty, may not be able to say to the feet, "I have no need of you." But if some foot is found which is a temptation to sin for the whole body, the head should say to this foot, "I have no need of you," and should cut it off and throw it away from him. It is far better for the rest of the body to go on into life lacking the foot or hand that offers temptation to sin than for the whole body to be exposed to temptation and to be sent into eternal fire with two whole feet or hands. Likewise it is good if what could be the eye of the whole body shows itself worthy of Christ and of the whole body. But if at some time it happens that this eye so changes that it becomes a temptation to sin for the whole body, it will be better for it to be ripped out and thrown from the whole body … than for the whole body together with the soul to be condemned.

Likewise someone is necessary to you for teaching, and so is your eye; hence and if your eye scandalize you, pluck it out. And he gives the reason: it is better for you, etc. Or it can refer to the whole Church, because eyes are prelates, hands are deacons, feet are simple folk. Hence a prelate should rather be deposed, or a deacon removed, than that the Church be scandalized. Or by the eye is understood contemplation, by the hand action, by the foot one's course of life; hence if you see that this contemplation, or action, or course of life is an occasion of sin for you, cut it off, and cast it from you.

(de Civ. Dei, xxii. 29.) Or; They are called our Angels who are indeed the Angels of God. they are Gods because they have not forsaken Him; they are ours because they have begun to have us for their fellow-citizens. As they now behold God, so shall we also behold Him face to face, of which vision John speaks, We shall see him as he is. (1 John 3:2.) For by the face of God is to be understood the manifestation of Himself, not a member or feature of the body, such as we call by that name.

And rightly the Lord has said, "The Son of man has come to save what had perished," so that all the more he might show that not one of these little ones who believe in Christ should be despised. For their sake the Son of God came down from heaven and saved them by his Passion. It was for this that he took on the body of our human weakness, so that he might in every way save this one who had perished. For the elements of the world have kept the law given them by the Lord. Humanity alone has been found the transgressor. Alone we had fallen from immortality into death. And for this reason to save us the Son of God at a mature time descended from heaven according to the will of the Father. Hence, quite rightly Solomon speaks of a time of destroying and a time of saving. There was a time when the devil destroyed humankind. But again there came a time when the Son of God, the only begotten Son of God, saved the human race for life.

For just as the Lord commands that unbelieving and treacherous persons who are a stumbling block to the body of the church should be cut off or plucked out, so he also warns us not to despise any of the little children, that is, humble people in the laity who simply and faithfully believe in the Son of God. For it is not right to despise anyone who believes in Christ. A believer is called not only a servant of God but also a son though the grace of adoption, to whom the kingdom of heaven and the company of the angels is promised. And rightly the Lord adds, "For I tell you that in heaven their angels always behold the face of my Father who is in heaven." How much grace the Lord has toward each one believing in him he himself declares when he shows their angels always beholding the face of the Father who is in heaven. Great is the grace of the angels toward all who believe in Christ. Finally, the angels carry their prayers to heaven. Hence the word of Raphael to Tobias: "When you prayed along with your daughter-in-law Sara, I offered the memory of your prayer in the sight of God." Around them there is also the strong guard of the angels; they help each of us to be free from the traps of the enemy. For a human in his weakness could not be safe amid so many forceful attacks of that enemy if he were not strengthened by the help of the angels.

archangels are entrusted with the administration and guardianship of particular nations and kingdoms: Yea, even that an angel attends each man as his guardian; as when the church says concerning Peter in Acts: It is his angel. The Lord likewise in the Gospels exclaims: For their angels always behold the face of my Father who is in heaven; thus plainly showing that each one of us has his angel, evidently as his guide and his guardian

(ap. Anselm.) Or otherwise; Because so great evils come of brethren being scandalized, Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones.

(ap. Anselm.) Therefore are they not to be despised for that they are so dear to God, that Angels are deputed to be their guardians; For I say unto you, that in heaven their Angels do always behold the face of my Father which is in heaven.

(Hom. in Ev. 34. 12) But Dionysius says, that it is from the ranks of the lesser Angels that these are sent to perform this ministry, either visibly or invisibly, for that those higher ranks have not the employment of an outward ministry.

(Mor. ii. 3.) And therefore the Angels always behold the face of the Father, and yet they come to us, for by a spiritual presence they come forth to us, and yet by internal contemplation keep themselves there whence they come forth; for they come not so forth from the divine vision, as to hinder the joys of inward contemplation.

The Angels offer daily to God the prayers of those that are to be saved by Christ; it is therefore perilous to despise him whose desires and requests are conveyed to the eternal and invisible God, by the service and ministry of Angels.

(Verses 10, 11.) See that you do not despise one of these little ones. For I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father who is in heaven. The Son of Man came to save what was lost. Above, he had said that all close relationships and connections that could cause scandal should be cut off by hand, foot, or eye. Therefore, he tempers the severity of the sentence with a subordinate command, saying: See that you do not despise one of these little ones. Thus, he said, I command severity, so that I may teach the mixing of mercy. As much as is in you, do not despise, but seek the health even of those. But if you see them persevering in sins, and serving vices, it is better for you to be saved alone than to perish with many. For their angels in heaven always see the face of the Father. Great is the dignity of souls, so that each one has been assigned a guardian angel from birth to watch over them. Where do we read in the Apocalypse of John: 'To the angel of the church in Ephesus, write...' (Rev. 2:1). The apostle also commands women to cover their heads in the churches, because of the angels (1 Cor. 11).

The Lord had said, under the type of hand, foot, and eye, that all kin and connection which could afford scandal must be cut off. The harshness of this declaration He accordingly tempers with the following precept, saying, Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones; i. e. As far as you may avoid despising them, but next to your own salvation seek also to heal them. But if ye see that they hold to their sins, it is better that ye be saved, than that ye perish in much company.

High dignity of souls, that each from its birth has an Angel set in charge over it!

"Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones; for I say unto you, that their angels do always behold the face of my Father which is in Heaven."

He calleth little ones not them that are really little, but them that are so esteemed by the multitude, the poor, the objects of contempt, the unknown (for how should he be little who is equal in value to the whole world; how should he be little, who is dear to God?); but them who in the imagination of the multitude are so esteemed.

And He speaks not of many only, but even of one, even by this again warding off the hurt of the many offenses. For even as to flee the wicked, so also to honor the good, hath very great gain, and would be a twofold security to him who gives heed, the one by rooting out the friendships with them that offend, the other from regarding these saints with respect and honor.

Then in another way also He makes them objects of reverence, saying, "That their angels do always behold the face of my Father which is in Heaven."

Hence it is evident, that the saints have angels, or even all men. For the apostle too saith of the woman, "That she ought to have power on her head because of the angels." And Moses, "He set the bounds of the nations according to the number of the angels of God."

But here He is discoursing not of angels only, but rather of angels that are greater than others. But when He saith, "The face of my Father," He means nothing else than their fuller confidence, and their great honor.

The bodies of people differ from each other in size, so that some are short, some are tall, and some are in between. Again the short are different in their shortness since they are more short or less short, and the same likewise of the tall, and again of those in between. So it is also in human souls, it seems to me: There is something which distinguishes their shortness, and again, so to speak, their tallness, and, again analogous to the bodily differences, their moderateness. But the bodily difference does not depend on the individuals themselves but on the nature of the seed. So this person becomes tall, that one short and another in between. But with our souls, our own agency that is our actions and our character causes one to be large or small or belonging to those in the middle. And it is in our power whether we grow in stature and receive an increase in size or do not grow and remain small. For we must believe that to attain to manhood and mature manhood at that depends on the person within: passing out of the times of childhood and advancing to manhood and putting aside the stuff of childhood and perfecting the stage of manhood. Just so we must suppose that there is still some measure of spiritual growth to which the most perfect soul can advance in glorifying the Lord and so become great.

The little ones are those that are but lately born in Christ, or those who abide without advance, as though lately born. But Christ judged it needless to give command concerning not despising the more perfect believers, but concerning the little ones, as He had said above, If any man shall offend one of these little ones. A man may perhaps say that a little one here means a perfect Christian, according to that He says elsewhere, Whoso is least among you, he shall be great. (Luke 9:48.)

But this exposition does not seem to agree with that which was said, If any one scandalizes one of these little ones; for the perfect man is not scandalized, nor does he perish. But he who thinks this the true exposition, says, that the mind of a righteous man is variable, and is sometimes offended, but not easily.

Some will have it that an Angel is given as an attendant minister from the time when in the laver of regeneration the infant is born in Christ; for, say they, it is incredible that a holy Angel watches over those who are unbelieving and in error, but in his time of unbelief and sin man is under the Angels of Satan. Others will have it, that those who are foreknown of God, have straightway from their very birth a guardian Angel.

As much as to say, Despise not little ones, for I also for men condescended to become man.

But see, he says, that you do not at all despise those forced out of the church for wickedness. He does not want them to be cast out with any hatred or curse. But he spares those who are guilty of some damage or disorder and often hardened in their own depravity. It is as if it were possible to see even these change again for the better. By "little ones" he means those imperfect in their knowledge or those recently baptized. He does not want these to be looked down upon as ignorant in his teaching.

Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones; for I say unto you, that in heaven their angels do always behold the face of My Father Who is in heaven. For the Son of Man is come to save that which was lost. He commands them not to disdain those thought to be of little importance, that is, those poor in spirit who are great in God's eyes. They are so greatly loved by God, He says, that they have angels watching over them so that they may not be harmed by the demons. Every believer, and indeed, every one of us human beings, has a guardian angel. The angels of those who are little and humble in Christ are so intimate with God that they always stand before Him and behold His face. From this it is apparent that although we all have angels, the angels of us sinners are ashamed on account of our lack of boldness, and neither do they have boldness to behold the face of God and perhaps even to pray for us. But the angels of those who are humble minded behold the face of God because of the boldness with which they can approach Him. And, the Lord goes on to say, "Why should I say merely that such ones as these have angels? I Myself have come for this very reason, to save that which was lost, and to make those who are thought by many to be of no account My intimate friends."

See that you despise not one of these little ones. Above he had taught the avoidance of scandal on account of punishment; here, however, he teaches its avoidance from the consideration of divine providence: and regarding this he does two things. First, he sets forth the point; secondly, he assigns the reason, at for I say to you, etc. He had said that whoever shall scandalize one of these little ones, it would be better for him that a millstone should be hanged about his neck, etc.; see that you despise them not: for littleness easily leads to contempt. Behold I have made you small among the nations, contemptible among men, Jer 49:15. But it is asked, of which little ones does he speak here. It must be said, of little ones who are little in the esteem of men, but great before God: these are friends of God; Luke 10:16: he who despises you, despises me. But against this it is objected, because such persons are not scandalized, nor do they perish, and yet it is stated below in this chapter that the Son of man came to save that which was lost. It must be said, as Origen resolves, that by the little ones are understood the humble, who are perfect; and such persons are not scandalized, yet they sometimes fall short. Or although not all are scandalized, yet someone is scandalized. According to Jerome, he speaks of little ones in Christ, such as those newly converted to Christ. And then it connects with the preceding part. It has been said that the part that scandalizes should be cut off, and then little ones, and the weak, and sinners, although they should not be scandalized, should nevertheless not be despised. For I say to you, that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father. Here the reason is assigned from divine providence. First, as to the ministry of angels; secondly, as to the ministry of Christ, at for the Son of man came to save that which was lost. He had said that they should not be despised, because those for whom the Lord has such great care should not be despised. I say to you that their angels. Why "their"? Because they have been deputed to their guardianship: because, as Jerome says, to each individual person an angel has been deputed for his protection; Ps 90:11: for he has given his angels charge over you, to keep you in all your ways; Heb 1:14: are they not all ministering spirits, sent to minister for them who shall receive the inheritance of salvation? These have the office of bringing divine things and announcing them to us. Likewise, they carry our prayers and present them to God; Rev 8:4: and the smoke of the incense of the prayers of the saints ascended up before God from the hand of the angel. Hence if the Lord provides for them so generously that he wills them to be served by angels, they should not be despised; in Sir 35:18 it is said of the widow that her tears ascend from her cheek up to heaven. Or their angels, because they are their fellow citizens, because there is one society of angels and men; hence they are fellow citizens of the heavenly city. Hence such is their dignity, because they always see the face of my Father who is in heaven. And here four things can be indicated. First, the continuity of the vision, because they always see. Someone might say, since they are sometimes sent on missions, why do they not always see the face of God: and therefore he says always. Likewise, the sublimity of their vision is noted. We see something of the highest things, but in a certain obscurity, and through creatures, as is stated in Rom 1:20: for the invisible things of him, from the creation of the world, are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made. But the angels see from a certain height; hence he says in heaven. Likewise, an open vision is noted; for we see now through a glass in a dark manner, but then face to face, 1 Cor 13:10. It should not be said that God has a bodily face, but face means his open vision. For when someone is seen in a mirror, he is not seen with an open vision; but when face to face, then he is seen openly. So God is seen in a mirror when he is seen through creatures; but when in himself and through himself, then it will be a vision face to face. Chrysostom says that a certain excellent joy is noted, because these are perfect men: if the angels are their ministers, it indicates that there is a certain greater joy for them than for the angels. Hence they see him present to them. Hence not only vision is a gift, but also comprehension; Phil 3:12: but I follow after, if I may by any means apprehend. But why does he say my Father, who is in heaven? To exclude the error of those who posited angels, i.e., demons. For they said that the angels are in heaven, the demons in the middle, and therefore they are intermediaries and our ministers. Therefore to exclude this he says they always see the face of my Father, who is in heaven. Likewise, another reason is to promote our desire, because if they see, we also shall see; for this we ought to hope.

"For the Son of Man is come to save that which was lost."

Again, He is putting another reason stronger than the former, and connects with it a parable, by which He brings in the Father also as desiring these things. ... And by the angels again that are entrusted with these same mean brethren, He makes them objects of veneration, and from His own will and passion (for when He said, "The Son of Man is come to save that which was lost," He signifies even the cross, like as Paul saith, speaking of a brother, "For whom Christ died"); and from the Father, for that neither to Him doth it seem good that one should perish...

Him let us also imitate, refusing none of the tasks that seem lowly and troublesome for our brethren's sake; but though we have to do service, though he be small, though he be mean for whom this is done, though the work be laborious, though we must pass over mountains and precipices, let all things be held endurable for the salvation of our brother. For a soul is an object of such earnest care to God, that "He spared not His own Son."

By that which was lost, understand the human race; for all the elements have kept their place, but man was lost, because he has broken his ordained place.

Wherefore, if the image of a "son" is not entirely suitable to a Jew either, our interpretation shall be simply governed with an eye to the object the Lord had in view. The Lord had come, of course, to save that which "had perished; " "a Physician.

But lest it seem to be a small thing that angels have been deputed to the guardianship of men, he proves this also by the ministry of Christ. And first he proves this; secondly, he introduces a similitude. He says therefore that little ones should not be despised, because the Son of man came to save that which was lost. 1 Tim 1:15: Christ Jesus came into this world to save sinners. Above, 1:21: for he shall save his people from their sins.