436
The Desire of Ages
The mothers were comforted. They returned to their homes
strengthened and blessed by the words of Christ. They were encour-
aged to take up their burden with new cheerfulness, and to work hope-
fully for their children. The mothers of today are to receive His words
with the same faith. Christ is as verily a personal Saviour today as
when He lived a man among men. He is as verily the helper of mothers
today as when He gathered the little ones to His arms in Judea. The
children of our hearths are as much the purchase of His blood as were
the children of long ago.
Jesus knows the burden of every mother’s heart. He who had a
mother that struggled with poverty and privation sympathizes with
every mother in her labors. He who made a long journey in order to
relieve the anxious heart of a Canaanite woman will do as much for
the mothers of today. He who gave back to the widow of Nain her
only son, and who in His agony upon the cross remembered His own
mother, is touched today by the mother’s sorrow. In every grief and
every need He will give comfort and help.
Let mothers come to Jesus with their perplexities. They will find
grace sufficient to aid them in the management of their children. The
gates are open for every mother who would lay her burdens at the
Saviour’s feet. He who said, “Suffer the little children to come unto
Me, and forbid them not,” still invites the mothers to lead up their
little ones to be blessed by Him. Even the babe in its mother’s arms
may dwell as under the shadow of the Almighty through the faith of
the praying mother. John the Baptist was filled with the Holy Spirit
from his birth. If we will live in communion with God, we too may
expect the divine Spirit to mold our little ones, even from their earliest
moments.
In the children who were brought in contact with Him, Jesus saw
the men and women who should be heirs of His grace and subjects of
His kingdom, and some of whom would become martyrs for His sake.
[513]
He knew that these children would listen to Him and accept Him as
[514]
[515]
their Redeemer far more readily than would grown-up people, many
of whom were the worldly-wise and hardhearted. In His teaching He
came down to their level. He, the Majesty of heaven, did not disdain
to answer their questions, and simplify His important lessons to meet
their childish understanding. He planted in their minds the seeds of