(2.) There is a difference in children; some are bigger than some; there are children and little children. My little children, I write unto you.” Some of the little children can neither say Father nor so much as know that they are children.
This is true in nature, and so it is in grace; therefore, notwithstanding what was said under the first head, it does not follow that if I am a child, I must certainly know it and also be able to call God Father. Let the first, then, serve to poise and balance the confident ones, and let this be for the relief of those more feeble; for they that are children, whether they know it or not, have Jesus Christ for their Advocate, for Christ is assigned to be our Advocate by the Judge, by the King, by our God and Father, although we have not known it. True, at present, there can come from hence, to them that are thus concerned in the advocateship of Christ, but little comfort; yet it yields them great security; they have “an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.” God knows this, the devil feels this, and the children shall have the comfort of it afterward. I say the time is coming when they shall know that even then when they knew it not, they had an Advocate with the Father, an Advocate who was neither loath nor afraid nor ashamed to plead for their defense against their proudest foe. And will not this, when they know it, yield them comfort? Doubtless, it will; yes, more, and of a better kind than that which flows from the knowledge that one is born into crowns and kingdoms.
Again, as he is an Advocate for the children, he is also, as before was hinted, for the strong and experienced; for no strength in this world is secured from the rage of hell, nor can any experience, while we are here, fortify us against his assaults. There is also an incidence in the best to sin, and the bigger man, the bigger fall; for the more hurt, the greater damage. Therefore, it is of absolute necessity that an advocate be provided for the strong as well as for the weak. “Any man”—he “that is most holy, most reformed, most refined, and most purified—may as soon be in the dirt as the weakest Christian, and, so far as I can see, Satan’s design is against them most. I am sure the greatest sins have been committed by the biggest saints. This wayfaring man came to David’s house, and when he stood up against Israel, he provoked David to number the people (II Sam 12:4, 7; I Chron 21:1). Therefore, they have as much need for an advocate as the youngest and most feeble of the flock. What a mind had he to try a fall with Peter! And how quickly did he break the neck of Judas?
The like, without doubt, he had done to Peter, had not Jesus, by stepping in, prevented As long as sin is in our flesh, there is danger. Indeed, he says of the young men that they are strong and that they have overcome the wicked one, but he does not say they have killed him. As long as the devil is alive, there is danger, and though a strong Christian may be too hard for and may overcome him in one thing, he may be too hard for, yes, and may overcome him two for one afterward. Thus he served David, and thus he served Peter, and thus he, in our day, has served many more. The strongest are weak, and the wisest are fools when suffering from being sifted as wheat in Satan’s sieve; yes, and they have often been so proved, to the wounding of their great hearts, and the dishonor of religion. To conclude this: God of his mercy hath sufficiently declared the truth of what I say, by preparing for the best, the strongest, and most sanctified, as well as for the least, weakest, and most feeble saint, as Advocate-“My little children, I write unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.”
