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| The Little Ones and Their Angels.
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26. The Little Ones and Their Angels.
“See that ye despise not one of these little
ones.”5974
It seems to
me that as among the bodies of men there are differences in point of
size,—so that some are little, and others great, and others of
middle height, and, again, there are differences among the little, as
they are more or less little, and the same holds of the great, and of
those of middle height,—so also among the souls of men, there are
some things which give them the stamp of littleness, and other things
the stamp of greatness, so to speak, and generally, after the analogy
of things bodily, other things the stamp of mediocrity. But in
the case of bodies, it is not due to the action of men but to the
spermatic principles, that one is short and little, another great, and
another of middle height; but in the case of souls, it is our
free-will, and actions of such a kind, and habits of such a kind, that
furnish the reason why one is great, or little, or of middle height;
and it is of our free-will either by advancing in stature to increase
our size, or not advancing to be short. And so indeed I
understand the words about Jesus having assumed a human soul,
“Jesus advanced;”5975
for as from the
free-will there was an advance of His soul in wisdom and grace, so also
in stature. And the Apostle says, “Until we all attain unto
a full-grown man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of
Christ;”5976
for we must think
that he attains unto a man, and that full-grown, according to the inner
man, who has gone through the things of the child, and has reached the
stage of the man, and has put away the things of the child, and
generally, has perfected the things of the man.5977
And so we must suppose that there is a
certain measure of spiritual stature unto which the most perfect soul
can attain by magnifying the Lord, and become great. Thus, then,
these became great, of whom this is written, Isaac, and Moses, and
John, and the Saviour Himself above all; for also about Him Gabriel
said, “He shall be great;”5978
but the little ones are “the newborn babes which long for the
reasonable milk which is without guile,”5979
such as stand in need of nursing-fathers and nursing-mothers, spoken of
in Isaiah when he says, about the calling from the Gentiles, “And
they shall bring the sons in the bosom, and take their daughters on the
shoulders, and kings shall be thy nursing-fathers and their princesses
thy nursing-mothers.”5980
For these
reasons you will, then, attend to the word, “Do not despise one
of these little ones,”5981
and consider
whether it is their angels who bring them in their bosom, since they
have become sons, and also take on their shoulders what are called
daughters, and whether from them are the nursing-fathers who are called
kings, and the nursing-mothers who are called princesses. And
since the little ones, pointed out by our Saviour, are under the
stewardship as of nursing-fathers and nursing-mothers, on this account
I think that Moses, who believed that he had been already assigned a
place among the ranks of the great, said, with regard to the promise,
“My angel shall go before you,”5982
“If thou thyself do not go along
with me, carry me not up hence.”5983
For though the little one even be an
heir, yet as being a child he differs nothing from a servant when he is
a child,5984
and to the extent
to which he is little “has the spirit of bondage to
fear;”5985
but he who is not
at all any longer such has no longer the spirit of bondage, but already
the spirit of adoption, when “perfect love casteth out
fear;”5986
it will be plain to
thee, how that according to these things “the angel of the
Lord” is said “to encamp round about them that fear Him,
and to save them.”5987
But you will
consider, according to these things also, whether these are indeed
angels of the little ones “who are led by the spirit of bondage
to fear,” “when the angel of the Lord encamps round about
them that fear Him and delivereth them;” but of the great,
whether it is the Lord who is greater than the angels, who might say
about each of them, “I am with him in affliction;”5988
and, so long as we are imperfect, and need
one to assist us that we may be delivered from evils, we stand in need
of an angel of whom Jacob said, “The angel who delivered me from
all the evils;”5989
but, when we have
become perfected, and have passed through the stage of being subject to
nursing-fathers and nursing-mothers and guardians and
stewards,5990
we are meet to be
governed by the Lord Himself.E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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