Then to receive a child in the name of Jesus is to receive Jesus; to
receive Jesus is to receive God; therefore to receive the child is to
receive God himself.

That such is the feeling of the words, and that such was the feeling in
the heart of our Lord when he spoke them, I may show from another
golden thread that may be traced through the shining web of his golden
words.

What is the kingdom of Christ? A rule of love, of truth--a rule of
service. The king is the chief servant in it. "The kings of the earth
have dominion: it shall not be so among you." "The Son of Man came to
minister." "My Father worketh hitherto, and I work." The great Workman
is the great King, labouring for his own. So he that would be greatest
among them, and come nearest to the King himself, must be the servant
of all. It is _like king like subject_ in the kingdom of heaven. No
rule of force, as of one kind over another kind. It is the rule of
_kind_, of _nature_, of deepest nature--of _God_. If, then, to enter
into this kingdom, we must become children, the spirit of children must
be its pervading spirit throughout, from lowly subject to lowliest
king. The lesson added by St Luke to the presentation of the child is:
"For he that is least among you all, the same shall be great." And St
Matthew says: "Whosoever shall humble himself as this little child, the
same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven." Hence the sign that passes
between king and subject. The subject kneels in homage to the kings of
the earth: the heavenly king takes his subject in his arms. This is the
sign of the kingdom between them. This is the all-pervading relation of
the kingdom.

To give one glance backward, then: