grow. It was quite right at six months old that it should eat nothing but
milk; but years have passed by, and it remains in the same weakly state.
Now this is just the condition of many believers. They are converted; they
know what it is to have assurance and faith; they believe in pardon for
sin; they begin to work for God; and yet, somehow, there is very little
growth in spirituality, in the real heavenly life. We come into contact
with them, and we feel at once there is something wanting; there is none of
the beauty of holiness or of the power of God's Spirit in them. This is
the condition of the carnal Corinthians, expressed in what was said to the
Hebrews: "You have had the Gospel so long that by this time you ought to be
teachers, and yet you need that men should teach you the very rudiments of
the oracles of God." Is it not a sad thing to see a believer who has been
converted five, ten, twenty years, and yet no growth, and no strength, and
no joy of holiness?

What are the marks of a little child? One is, a little child cannot help
himself, but is always keeping others occupied to serve him. What a tyrant
a baby in a house often is! The mother cannot go out, there must be a
servant to nurse it; it needs to be cared for constantly. God made a man to
care for others, but the baby was made to be cared for and to be helped. So
there are Christians who always want help. Their pastor and their Christian
friends must always be teaching and comforting them. They go to church, and
to prayer-meetings, and to conventions, always wanting to be helped,--a
sign of spiritual infancy.

The other sign of an infant is this: he can do nothing to help his
fellow-man. Every man is expected to contribute something to the welfare of
society; every one has a place to fill and a work to do, but the babe can
do nothing for the common weal. It is just so with Christians. How little
some can do! They take a part in work, as it is called, but there is little