Jesus knew what blessings would follow to those who were early brought to him, and we see that there was great wisdom in the words that he spake when he said—­“Suffer the little children to come unto me.”

In the next place there was—­GREAT ENCOURAGEMENT—­in what Jesus did and said about children.

If a company of boys or girls should try to get into the presence of a monarch, some great king, or emperor, they would find it a pretty hard thing to do.  At the door of the palace they would meet with soldiers or servants, the guards of the queen or king.  They would say to the children—­“what do you want here?” And if the children should say, “Please sir, we wish to go into the palace and see the queen,” the answer would be:  “Go away; go away.  The queen is too busy.  She has no time to attend to little folks like you.”  And the children would have to go away without getting to see the queen.

But, Jesus is a greater king than any who ever sat upon an earthly throne.  He has more to do than all the kings and queens in the world put together.  And yet he never gave orders to the angels, or to any of his servants to keep the children away from him.  On his great throne in yonder heavens he says still, what he said when he was on earth—­“Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not.”  And he says this on purpose to encourage the children to come to him.  And the thought that Jesus loves them and feels an interest in them has encouraged multitudes of little ones to seek him and serve him.  Here are some illustrations of this: 

“Learning to Love Jesus.”  “A little girl came to me one day,” said a minister of the gospel, and said, “’Please sir, may I speak to you a minute?’ I saw that she was in some trouble; so I took her kindly by the hand, and said, ‘Certainly, my child.  What do you wish to say?’

“‘Please, sir,’ said she, as her lip quivered and tears filled her eyes, ‘it’s a dreadful thing; but I don’t love Jesus.’

“‘And are you not going to love him?’ I asked.

“‘I don’t know; but please sir, I want you to tell me how.’  She spoke sadly, as if it was something she never could do.

“‘Well,’ I said, ’St. John, who loved our Lord almost more than any one else ever did, says that “we love him because he first loved us.”  Now if you go home to-night, saying in your heart, “Jesus loves me,” I think that to-morrow you will be able to say—­“I love Jesus."’

“She looked up through her tears, and repeated the words very softly, ‘Jesus loves me.’  She began to think about it on her way home, as well as to say it.  She thought about his life, about his death on the cross, and about his sweet words to the little ones, and she began to feel it too.

“The next evening she came to see me again; and, putting both her hands in mine, with a bright happy face, she said: 

“‘Oh! please sir, I love Jesus now; for I know he does love me so!’”