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CHILDREN IN HEAVEN 
 
 £j)e Infant gmir f\cbctniA h\\ tljc ^looi of |esus. 
 
 WORDS OF CONSOLATION TO BEREAVED PARENTS 
 
 WILLIAM E, 
 
 J^CHENCK, D.D. 
 
 "Suffer little cUildren, and forbid them not, to come unto me; for of such is the kingdom 
 of heaven." — Matt. xix. 14. 
 
 " It is not the will of j'our Father which is in heaven, that one of these little ones sliould 
 perish." — Matt, xviii. 14. 
 
 PHILADELPHIA: 
 
 PRESBYTERIAN BOARD OF PUBLICATION, 
 
 No. 1334 Chestnut Street. 
 
Entered according to the Act of Congress, in the year 1865, by 
 
 THE TRUSTEES OF THE 
 
 PRESBYTERIAN BOARD OF PUBLICATION, 
 In the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 PAOB 
 
 VREFACE 9 
 
 EPITAPH ON AN INFANT 13 
 
 AN INFANT'S SPIRIT U 
 
 A SUNBEAM AND A SHADOW A. D. F. Ra>T)OLPH. 15 
 
 OPINIONS ON INFANT SALVATION Thomas Smtth, D.D. 16 
 
 SHADE AND SUNSHINE Margaret Junkin'. ^ 
 
 THE GOOD SHEPHERD Bickersteth. 46 
 
 "OF SUCH IS THE KINGDOM." Mrs. Mart S. B. D-^i^ja. 46 
 
 THE ANGELS OP GRIEF ^ J. G. Whittier. 47 
 
 ON A FAIR INFANT John Muton. 48 
 
 EARLY LOST, EARLY SAVED Geo. TV. Bethune, D.D. 50 
 
 LITTLE ONES GOING HOME 02 
 
 ARE INFANTS S.WED? David M'Conought, D.D. 64 
 
 THE REAPER AND THE FLOWERS Longfellow. 79 
 
 OUR LITTLE SISTER Ada. 81 
 
 PASSING UNDER THE ROD Mrs. Mart S. B. D.4Na. 82 
 
 OVER THE RIVER Miss N. A. W. Priest. 83 
 
 3 
 
4 CONTENTS. 
 
 PAQB 
 
 TUB CHEERFUL GIVER Mrs. L. IT. Sigourney. 85 
 
 THE MEETING PLACE Horatius Bonar, D.D. 87 
 
 THE SINGING OF CHILDREN 90 
 
 THE LITTLE SLEEPER Richard C. Trench. 92 
 
 THE DEATH OF A SON Paul Gerhardt. 94 
 
 MY CHILD John Pierpon't. 98 
 
 ARE INFANTS ELECTED? Ashbel 6. Faikchild, D.D. 101 
 
 THE ELECTION OF INFANTS Cuthbert. 107 
 
 GLORIFIED CHILDREN 109 
 
 WEEP NOT FOR THE DEAD Mary E. Brooks. 112 
 
 HAPPY ARE THEY James Momgomery. 113 
 
 THE DEATH OF AN INFANT 116 
 
 ON THE DEATH OF MY SON Richard Huie, M.D. 119 
 
 THE INFANT'S MINIATURE 121 
 
 A CHILD'S DEATH R. B. Sheridan. 12.3 
 
 DEATH OF AN INFANT 124 
 
 BABY'S SHOES .- WniiAM C. Bennett. 125 
 
 LOW SUE LIES Mrs. Noeion. 127 
 
 THE FAVOUR OF GOD IN CHRIST TO LITTLE CHILDREN Geo. W. Bethune, D.D. 129 
 
 THE HINDOO MOTHER Mrs. M. St.Leon Loud. 148 
 
 THE IDLE LYRE Margaret Junkin. 150 
 
 EPITAPH ON AN INFANT Ch.uiles Wesley. 153 
 
 CHILDREN IN HEAVEN 154 
 
 THE MOTHER AND HER DYING BOY. 166 
 
 THE DE.\TH OF A CHILD Cunningham. 159 
 
CONTENTS. 5 
 
 PAQB 
 THE CHILD'S FIRST GRIEF Mrs. HEM.OfS. 160 
 
 INFANTS IN HEAVEN James M. MACDoNiXD. D.D. 162 
 
 DEATH OF THE FIRST BORN .Willis Gatlord Clark. 180 
 
 THE MORNING-GLORY Marl*. W. Lottell. 182 
 
 LITTLE BESSIE A. D. F. Randolph. 186 
 
 RESIGNATION Longfellow. 18S 
 
 "'TWAS BUT A BABE." 191 
 
 MAKING A CHILD'S GRAVE N. P. Willis. 193 
 
 CONSOLATION ON THE DEATH OF INFANT CHILDREN. Cojipiled bt a bereaved parent. 198 • 
 
 THE DEATH OF AN INFANT Cunningham. 206 
 
 LOOK ABOVE 208 
 
 THE SYJIPATHY OF JESUS M.urg.uiet Junkin. 209 
 
 THE GOOD SHEPHERD Maria W. Lowell. 211 
 
 THE DYING INFANT Lerot J. Halset, D.D. 214 
 
 TO AN INFANT IN HEAVEN Thomas Wakd. 221 
 
 A WALK IN A CHURCHYARD Richard C. TRE^•CH. 223 
 
 THE LITTLE PILGRIM William C. Richards. 220 
 
 THE GOSPEL THE ONLY SCHEME OF PITY FOR CHILDREN....Geo. W. Bethune, D.D. 228 
 
 TO AN INFANT IN ITS GRAVE-CLOTHES Mrs. L. H. Sigourn-ey. 234 
 
 THE DEATH-ANGEL'S MISSION 236 
 
 LUCY Horatius Bonar, D.D. 239 
 
 THE CHILD OF JAMES MELVILLE Mrs. A. Stuart Monteath. 241 
 
 THE BERE.WED MOTHER Mrs. H. M. Dodge. 244 
 
 THE CHILD IS H.\PPIER NOW Samuex L PRniE, D.D. 247 
 
 A BUTTERFLY AT A CHILD'S GRAVE Mrs. L. H. Sigournet. 250 
 
6 CONTENTS. 
 
 PAQB 
 
 WEEP NOT FOR HER! 261 
 
 HYMN TO NIGHT CrEO. W. Bethune, D.D. 254 
 
 WHAT WAS THY LIFE? Kichard C. Trench. 257 
 
 THE INFANT IN HEAVEN Thomas Chalmers, D.D. 258 
 
 Little annie J- h. p. 260 
 
 MY DARLING'S SHOES 263 
 
 THE DEATH OF A YOUNG GIRL Willi.u« H. Burleigh. 265 
 
 WORDS OF CONSOLATION Cotton Mather. 268 
 
 IS IT WELL WITH THE CHILD? MRS. L. H. SioonRNET. 274 
 
 MY ANGEL BROTHER WiLLLiM E. Schenck, D.D. 276 
 
 ONLY A YEAR Mrs. H. B. Stowe 280 
 
 CAN I WISH IT BACK? Pnmp Doddridge, D.D. 282 
 
 A MOTHER'S HE.\^RT Richard C. Trench. 284 
 
 DEATH OF A CHILD Charles Wesley. 286 
 
 REALMS OF THE BLEST 287 
 
 SAY NOT 'TWERE A KEENER BLOW T. H. Batlt. 288 
 
 EXTRACT FROM A LETTER Robert H.all. 290 
 
 DIRGE FOR A CHILD Mrs. Hemans. 291 
 
 GONE, BUT NOT LOST Mrs. Ellen Stone. 293 
 
 EPITAPH ON A CHILD Richard Huie, M.D. 295 
 
 THE LOSS OF CHTLDREN Flavel. 296 
 
 THE DEATH OF A CHILD Conder. 298 
 
 A STORY 300 
 
 THE VOICE OF SPRING W. J. Pabodie. 302 
 
 NOT LOST, BUT GONE BEFORE James Montgomebt. 304 
 
CONTENTS. 7 
 
 VMK 
 
 THREE LITTLE GRAVES Mrs. L. lU. Sigoijexey. 306 
 
 TO BEREAVED PARENTS Rev. Dr. Sciiauffleb. G03 
 
 THE LOST ONE Mart Howitt 310 
 
 A FATHER'S LAMENT William Howitt. 313 
 
 MY CHILD Mrs. S. H. 0. 317 
 
 GOD IS NOT DEAD 320 
 
 LITTLE VFILLIE'S LAST WORDS C. W. B. 322 
 
 THE LITTLE BOY THAT DIED 324 
 
 INFANT BAPTISM 326 
 
 PRAYER AT A CHILD'S BAPTISM 327 
 
 THE GRAVE 328 
 
 THE STAR IN THE EAST Fenelon. 329 
 
 A MOTHER'S LAMENT James Montgomery. 333 
 
 DEATH OF AN INFANT 336 
 
 WEEP ON Cowper. 3-07 
 
 UTTLB MARY 337 
 
 APPEAL TO IRRELIGIOUS PARENTS 340 
 
 GRIEF FOR THE DEAD 341 
 
 LITTLE LUCY AND HER SONG A. D. F. Randolph. 344 
 
 THE CHILD'S WISH 341 
 
 THE BOY AND HIS ANGEL Caroline M. Sawyer. 34N 
 
 IT IS WELL WITH THE CHILD 351 
 
 THE STING OF DEATH.... 352 
 
 WEEP NOT 353 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 This volume has been compiled to meet what was plainly a want in our 
 religious literature. Many inquiries after such a work have, from time 
 to time, been addressed to the writer, and no book could be found which 
 precisely answered the description of the one desired. 
 
 In this compilation two principal objects have been aimed at. The 
 first was, to exhibit fully and fairly the views of the great body of 
 evangelical Christians, more especially of those embracing the system of 
 doctrines commonly called Calvinistic, upon the interesting subject of 
 Infant Salvation. Great numbers of professing Christians who believed 
 that children dying in infancy were saved, have not distinctly understood 
 the grounds on which that belief was entertained, or how naturally and 
 logically it might be deduced from the precious doctrines of divine 
 sovereignty and abounding grace through our Redeemer, Christ. It is 
 important that the foundations and relations of this belief should be 
 inteUigently examined and comprehended. Moreover, there have been 
 unceasing attacks made upon the doctrines of predestination, elec- 
 tion, regeneration, and faith in Christ, by those who looked with 
 an unfriendly eye upon those doctrines as set forth in the standards 
 of the Calvinistic churches, on the ground that they unavoidably 
 consigned dying infants for ever to the pit of woe. Few Calvinistic 
 
 ministers have escaped these assaults, often made with much ingenuity 
 2 9 
 
10 P Tv E F A C E , 
 
 %nd pertinacit}'. The following pages will show erery candid reader that 
 all such assaults arc not only utterl.7 groundless, but that the very doc- 
 trines assailed, afford the only firm foundation on which we can place tlie 
 eternal safety of the early dead. 
 
 The second object was, to furnish consolation to those sorrowing 
 parents who had been bereaved by the removal of their little ones. How 
 numerous a class these form among God's dear children, will scarcely be 
 suspected by the unthinking and uninquiring. 
 
 " There is no flock, however watched and tended, 
 But one dead lamb is there ; 
 There is no fireside, howsoe'er defended, 
 But has one vacant chair." 
 
 Millions of such mourners live, carrying about in their bosoms sor- 
 rows, the existence of which the world knows nothing of. The 
 world is full of Rachels weeping for their children. We were once 
 listening to a discourse of the venerable Dr. Archibald Alexander, upon 
 the text, "In my Father's house are many mansions." The audience 
 was carried along with the preacher as he glowinglj' described the 
 heavenly home of the believer. At a certain point in his sermon he 
 unexpectedly remarked, "Those mansions contain numerous apartments, 
 suited to their various occupants — there are among others, ample 
 and delightful accommodations provided for the countless hosts of little 
 children who will be gathered there." The effect was electric. As he 
 went on to describe the bliss of these hosts of little ones in heaven, we 
 could not help noticing how many a parent's head was drooped, and how 
 many an eye was moistened with tears. My own thoughts turned to a 
 row of little graves where five infant brothers and a sister lay, and I re- 
 
PREFACE. 11 
 
 joiced to feel that they were sharing the happiness of the "Father's 
 house." We earnestly hope that God may bless this book, in some 
 humble measure, to the comforting of his bereaved children. 
 
 It will be seen that the sources whence the materials for this volume 
 have been drawn, are numerous and widely diversified. These materials 
 were ample enough to have made many such volumes. Indeed a strong 
 testimony to the great importance and unspeakable interest of the sub- 
 ject may be found in the fact, that nearly every divine or poet of note 
 has written something upon this theme. Does not this show how 
 general is the yearning of the human heart for light and consolation in 
 reference to those blossoms of humanity which have fided at the chill 
 touch of death? 
 
 W. E. S. 
 
 PhiladelpMa, 1865. 
 
EPITAPH ON AN INFANT. 
 
 Bold Infidelity, turn pale and die I 
 Under this stone an Infant's ashes lie; 
 
 Sat, Is it lost, oe sated? 
 If death's by sin, it sinned, for it lies here; 
 XF heaven's by works, in heaven it can't appeab. 
 
 Ah, reason! how depraved! 
 Revere the bible's sacred page — the knot's untied, 
 It died through Adam's sin : — it lives, for Jesus dkd. 
 13 
 
AN INFANT'S SPIRIT. 
 
 An infant's soul — the sweetest thing on earth, 
 To which endowments beautiful are given. 
 As might befit a more than mortal birth — 
 AVhat shall it be, when, 'midst its winning mirth, 
 And love, and trustfulness, 'tis borne to heaven? 
 AVill it grow into might above the skies ? 
 A spirit of high wisdom, glory, power — 
 A cherub guard of the Eternal Tower, 
 With knowledge filled of its vast mysteries? 
 Or will perpetual childhood be its dower j 
 To sport for ever, a bright, joyous thing, 
 Amid the wonders of the shining thrones. 
 Yielding its praise in glad, but feeble tones, 
 A tender d3ve beneath the Almighty's wing? 
 U 
 

 Children in Heaven. 
 
 5>«<o 
 
 A. D. F. RANDOLPH. 
 I. 
 
 I HEAR a shout of merriment, 
 
 A laughing boy I see ; 
 Two little feet the carpet press, 
 
 And bring the child to me. 
 
 Two little arms are round my neck. 
 
 Two feet upon my knee : 
 How fall the kisses on my cheek; 
 
 How sweet they are to me ! 
 
 II. 
 
 That merry shout no more I hear, 
 
 No laughing child I see ; 
 No little arms are round my neck, 
 
 Nor feet upon my knee! 
 
 No kisses drop upon my cheek; 
 
 Those lips are sealed to me. 
 Dear Lord, how could I give him up 
 
 To any but to Thee! 
 
 15 
 
Q 
 
 ©pinions on Jnfitnt Salbaliom 
 
 THOMAS SMYTH, D.D.* 
 
 Among the Jews, the hope of salvation seems to have been 
 confined to themselves, and to their children who had received 
 circumcision. -"They imagined that the law of Moses made 
 the very infants of the Gentiles be treated as sinners and hate- 
 ful to God, because they were uncircumcised, and descended 
 from uncircumcised parents. They of course imagined that all 
 their own children were saved, and that all those of the Gentiles 
 perished. It is partly on this account that the apostle, after men- 
 tioning the universal reign of death from Adam to Moses, dis- 
 tinctly adds, that it came upon infants, as well as upon adults, 
 without distinction of Jew and Gentile ; and then shows that 
 infants, whether they descend from Gentiles or Jews, are treated 
 as sinners, not by virtue of the law of Moses, but in conse- 
 quence of the sin of Adam, the common father of the human 
 race." 
 
 A corresponding faith was early developed in the Christian 
 church. Erroneous views of baptism, as in itself communica- 
 tive of regeneration, led to the belief of its absolute necessity in 
 order to salvation. Of course, those who failed to enjoy the 
 benefits of this ordinance were believed to be excluded from 
 
 * Extracted from "Solace for Bereaved Parents, or Infants Dio to live." 
 
 IG 
 
OPINIONS ON INi'ANT SALVATION". 17 
 
 all participation in the benefits of that gospel, with which it was 
 so essentially connected. And hence it was supposed that the 
 children even of Christian parents who were not baptized, as 
 w^ell as all other'* in the same unfortunate condition, were cast, 
 Avith unbelievers, into hell for ever ; or, at least excluded from 
 the divine presence, and the blessedness of heaven. 
 
 This opinion prevailed generally in the church until after the 
 Reformation. It Avas the opinion of Augustine, of Gregory, 
 Ariminiensis, Driedd, Luther, Melanchthon, Tilmanus, Heshu- 
 sius, " who have all fallen into the worst of St. Austin's opinion, 
 and sentence poor infants to the flames of hell for original sin, 
 if they die before baptism."* "The Catholic faith," says 
 Augustine, " resting on divine authority, believes the first place 
 to be the kingdom of heaven, whence the unbaptized are 
 EXCLUDED ; and the second hell, where every apostate and alien 
 from the faith of Christ will experience eternal punishments. A 
 third place we are wholly ignorant of, nor shall we find it in the 
 Scriptures."t The decree of the council of Trent, by which it 
 is determined that " whosoever shall affirm that baptism is in- 
 different, that is, not necessary to salvation, let him be ac- 
 cursed," is still binding on the Roman Catholic Church : for 
 their catechism also teaches that children, "be their parents 
 Christians or infidels, unless regenerated by the grace 
 OF baptism, are born to eternal misery and everlasting 
 destruction."! " Nothing," says the Council of Trent, " can 
 
 « See Jer. Taylor's Works, vol. 9, p. 129. 
 
 t August. Hypostgnost. Contra. Pelag. lib. v. torn. iii. Col. 1405. C. Basil, 1569. 
 X See Cramp's Hist, of Council of Trent, p. 129, and the works quoted. 
 3 
 
18 CHILDREN IN HEAVEN. 
 
 be apparently more necessaiy, than that the faithful should be 
 taught, that the law of baptism was ordained by the Lord for all 
 men ; so that unless they be regenerated hy God, through thegiricc 
 of baptism, they are begotten by their parents, be they believers, 
 or unbelievers, to everlasting misery and jxrdition."* "JVb other 
 means of salvation,^^ adds the Catechism, " is supplied to infants, 
 except baptism be administered to themJ^-f "There is a third 
 place for infants," says Bellarmine, " who die without baptism. 
 This limbus Puerorum is for the eternal punishment of loss 
 only :" that is, " the loss of the presence of God."J " Since, 
 then," adds this defender of the Papacy, " infants are without 
 reason, so that they cannot imitate the sins of their fathers, and are 
 nevertheless punished with the most severe of all punishments, 
 that is to say, death temporal and eternal ; it necessarily follows 
 that they have some other sin, for which they are justly punished ; 
 and this is what we call original sin. It cannot, therefore, be 
 doubted that infants (for whom it is shown from the word of 
 Christ and apostolical tradition that Baptism is necessary,) ha\'e 
 sin, which they bring with them from their mother's womb."§ 
 This belief passed down to the Reformed Churches, and was at 
 first very generally held. The Church of England placed the 
 unbaptized on the same footing with the suicide and the excom- 
 municated, and denied to them the office of burial. || And this 
 
 * Concil. Trid. Sess. vii. can. v. p. 51. Romsp, 1564. 
 f Catechismus ad Parochos, pp. 189, 191. Lugduni, 1579. 
 J Bellarm. de Purgat lib. ii. chap. vi. torn. ii. p. 410. A. Colonife, 1628. 
 g Bellarm. de Amiss. Gratiae et Statu Peccati. lib. iv. c. 7. tom. iv. p. 61. G. 62.B. 
 I] See Burns' Eccles. Law, vol. i. p. 266, and Wheatley on the Book of Praj'er, p, 
 477. 
 
OPINIONS ON INFANT SALVATION. 19 
 
 still continues to be the doctrine of the church, and of all hio;h- 
 church prelatists who agree on this subject with the Romanists. 
 " Without baptism," say the Oxford Tracts, " none can enter tlie 
 kingdom of heaven."* "And so momentous is this dogma in 
 their judgment, that one leading object," says Mr. Bridges, him- 
 self an Episcopalian, " of their great movement confessedly was 
 to bring it more fully before the cliurch.""|" The question of the 
 future condition of infants became thus mvolved with that of 
 baptism, and was not considered upon its o^vn merits. Eccle- 
 siastics, who were secluded from all personal interest in domestic 
 life, were of course insensible to the happiness connected with 
 the enjoyment of children, or to the distress consequent upon 
 their loss. The fate of children awakened, therefore, but a 
 relative interest, as it affected other truths considered of more 
 importance. 
 
 The horror naturally associated with this fearful doctrine was 
 neverth(;less very early felt, and at different times manifested. 
 Various theories were adopted to throw over it a veil of charity, 
 and to render it more tolerable to the wounded spirit of mourn- 
 
 -■■ Vol. i. p. 260. See also Dr. Pusey's work on Baptit^m, j5n««!'m, Bethel on Bap- 
 tismal Regeneration, pp. 7, 8, 9, &c. 
 
 f See his Sacramental Instruction, p. 46, 47, where he quotes a host of authorities, 
 including Perceval, Keble, Dr. Pusey, Sewell, Bishop Mant, &c. It would even ap- 
 pear that some evangelical Episcopalians of our present day are unwilling to say 
 anything about the future condition of imhapthed children who die in infancy. See 
 the Churchman's Monthly Rev. May 184.3, p. 372. This doctrine of the aluolute 
 necessity of baptism to salvation was established in the Western church by papal 
 authority, and was retained in the English church after the Reformation, until the 
 year 1604, when it was declared to be necessary "where it may be had." See Hal- 
 low on the Order of Baptism, Ac, and Ogelby on Lay Baptism, p. 159, 160, &c. 
 
20 CHILDREN IN HEAVEN. 
 
 ing parents. In the time of Augustine, Vincentius, Victor, and 
 some others, believed that infants dying without baptism might, 
 notwithstanding, be saved.* This opinion was favoured by 
 some of the School Divines, in reference to cases where baptism 
 could not be had, inasmuch as it was the will of the parents 
 that it should be enjoyed.f Bernard, Biel, Cajetan, and some 
 others, adopted this charitable supposition.^ And so also did 
 Peter Martyr, Wickliffe, the Hussites, and the Lollards, whc 
 adopted, preached, and suffered for, all those doctrines which are 
 now denominated Calvinistic. But this opinion has been con- 
 sidered as involving unconquerable difficulties. Jeremy Taylor 
 says, "What will be the condition of unbaptized infants, so 
 dying, I do not profess to know or teach, because God hath kept 
 it as a secret." § Baxter, with all his charity, and perhaps too 
 liberal views of Christian doctrine, could only go so far on this 
 subject as to say, " I think that no man can jprove that all un- 
 baptized infants are damned or denied heaven. Nay, I think I 
 can prove a promise to the contrary." Beyond " penitent be- 
 lievers and their seed," he says, " what God may do for others 
 unkno^vn to us, we have nothing to do with, but his covenant hath 
 made no other promise that I can find."|| Similar were the 
 sentiments of Bishop Hopkins : " Not only infants baptized," 
 says he, " but all infants of believing parents, though they should 
 unavoidably die before baptism, are in the same safe and blessed 
 
 * See Jer. Taylor's Works, vol. ix. p. 90. 
 f See list of, in Hooker's Works, vol. ii. p. 219. 
 X Jer. Taylor's Works, vol. ix. p. 91 and 93. 
 § Jeremy Taylor's Works, p. 92. 
 11 See Works, vol. v. p. 326 and 323. 
 
OPINIO XS ON INFANT SALVATION. 21 
 
 condition." This, however, is the extent to which he could 
 apply his hopes.* 
 
 To this charitable view of the matter, which Calvinists, and 
 Calvinistic churches generally adopted, the Pelagians could not 
 fully assent, f They excluded infants w^hen unbaptized from the 
 kingdom of heaven, but promised to them an eternal and a natural 
 beatitude. This ojjinion was embraced by Ambrosius Catharinus, 
 Albertus Pighius, and Hieronymus Savanarola, Gregory !N^az- 
 ianzen, Athanasius, Ambrose, Pope Innocent III., and others.^ 
 Hence arose the present doctrine of the Eomish Church, which 
 teaches that there is a limbiis patrum, or place on the borders of 
 hell, for those who had believed in Christ before his advent; 
 and a Ihnhus infantum, for children who die unbaptized. 
 
 When the mists, however, w^iich had gathered round the or- 
 dinance of baptism were gradually dispersed, this subject was 
 examined on more impartial grounds. The natural feelings of 
 the heart were permitted to declare their interest in the decision 
 of the question. The hope expressed by Wickliffe in reference 
 to unbaptized children was eagerly embraced by his followers, 
 who were all Calvinists, and who all regarded baptism in its truly 
 simple and scriptural character. Zuinglius was perhaps the first 
 who proclaimed hope for the salvation of axl estfants, whether 
 CHRISTIAN" OR HEATHEN, who died in their infancy, and 
 before they became chargeable with the guilt of actual transgres- 
 
 • See Works, vol. ii. p. 429. 
 
 f See the Articles of the Synod of Dort, with Scott's Notes. Works of Scott, 
 vol. viii. p. 576. 
 
 X See Jcr. Taylor, vol. ix. p. 90. 
 
22 CHILDREN IN HEAVEN. 
 
 sion. He maintained, that in consequence of the atonement of 
 Christ offered for all, " original sin does not even damn th»: 
 children of the heathen." For this conclusion concerning chil- 
 dren generally, Zuinglius quotes Romans v. ; though he admits 
 that we have but little light upon the subject. He rejects the 
 idea that baptism washes away original sin and condemnation. 
 The blessing, he says, is not tied to signs and symbols ; baptism 
 recognizes and attests the privilege rather than confers it. 
 " What scriptural authority," he asks, " is there for ascribing 
 such an effect to baptism?" "The words of Mark xvi. 16," 
 says he, " relate to those only to whom the gospel was sent. 
 They that hear the gospel and believe it were blessed; they 
 who hear it, and believe it not, are accursed. But this is no 
 prejudice to election, for both they who come to Christ are 
 drawn to him by the Father, which is election: and they 
 who come to the Father are chosen by him ; but so that they 
 may at length come to him by Christ. The (infimt) children 
 of Christians are the children of God by virtue of the covenant. 
 Concerning the children of heathens, we decide nothing: though 
 I confess that I incline to the sentiment which considers the 
 death of Christ as available to the salvation of all who are free 
 from actual sin."* For this doctrine Bossuet charges Zuino;lius 
 with being a Pelagian, and pronounces this a "strange decision."f 
 This opinion of Zuinglius excited considerable controversy.^ 
 
 » See Epist. fo. 17, 18. Zuingl. Op. 1. 382. and Scott's Contin. of Milner, vol. iii. 
 p. 143, 144, 146. 
 
 t See Hist. Var., toI. i. p. 66. 
 
 X Sec an account of, in De Moor's Comment., vol. ii. p. 104, &c. 
 
OPINIONS ON INFANT SALVATION. 23 
 
 Eckard says, ^^ perhaps Zuingllus pronounced too liberally when 
 he included the children of the heathen." The same doctrine 
 was, however, maintained by Cornelius Wigger, and by John 
 lac-Schultens, who embraced in the decree of predestination to 
 eternal life those who die in infancy, whether born of Gentile oi* 
 infidel parents. This was the declared sentiment of Arminius,* 
 Triglandius, Walders, Heidanus, Curcelleus, Maresius.f Mare- 
 sius says, " The question is, whether the decree of election and 
 reprobation affects infants. There is not the smallest ground 
 from Scripture to think it does. Let parents then be comforted 
 for departed children. These words of Christ, (' of such is the 
 kingdom of heaven,') why are they so general, but that they 
 seem to include the children not only of believers but of unbe- 
 lievers also." I 
 
 The Remonstrants believed that such infants as were not en- 
 titled to heaven by their relation to the covenanted mercies of 
 God, would be consigned only to the punishment of loss, their 
 bodies not being raised, and their souls not being annihilated, 
 yet being eternally separated from the beatific vision of God.§ 
 
 Many, however, regarded the decision of this question as pre- 
 sumptuous. Thty left the whole .matter in the hands of God, 
 determining nothing one way or another, but quieting themselves 
 with the assurance, that as far as God's purpose of salvation ex- 
 tended it would be secured ; and that infants, as far as included 
 in it, would be assuredly ransomed. Infants were, however, 
 universally regarded as involved in all the guilt of original sin, 
 
 * See an account of, In De Moor's Comment., vol. ii. p. 104, <fec. 
 t See ditto. J See ditto, p. 105. § See ditto, p. 104. 
 
24 CIIILDREX IN HEAVEN. 
 
 and as requiring for their salvation the exercise of the same 
 mercy, and the bestowment of the same grace, as adults. They 
 M'ere described by some as, " damnabilibus et forte quibus dum 
 dlam damnandis." But even when infants were included by any 
 in the decree of reprobation, their punishment was believed to 
 consist, not in the positive infliction of misery, but only in the 
 deprivation of heavenly rewards.* 
 
 Calvin clearly recognized the fact that all infants are involved 
 in the guilt of ^Adam's sin, and therefore liable to the misery in 
 which it has involved our race. But at the same time he en- 
 courages the belief that they are redeemed from these evils by 
 Christ, are capable of regeneration, and are, when taken away 
 in infancy, " redeemed by the blood of the Lamb." He argues 
 against those who, like the Anabaptists, asserted that regenera- 
 tion cannot take place in early infancy. For says he, " if they 
 must be left among the children of Adam, they are left in death, 
 for in Adam we can only die. On the contrary, Christ com- 
 mands them to be brought to him. Why ? because he is life. 
 To give them life therefore he makes them partakers of himself, 
 while these men, by driving them away from him, adjudged 
 them to death. "t He then goes on to prove, by incontestable 
 arguments, that infants both have been, and can be, regenerated 
 by God. And in his Commentary on the words of our Saviour, 
 " Of such, &c.," without any limitation of his meaning, he un- 
 equivocally declares, that " God adopts infants and washes them 
 
 * See Stapfer, vol. iv. p. 518. On the ground of their condemnation, seeBuddeus 
 Theol. Dogm. p. 591. 
 ■(■ See Institutes, 13. iv. ch. xvi. 
 
OPINIONS ON INF^^NT SALVATION. 25 
 
 in the blood of his Sou," and that " they are regarded by Christ 
 as among his flock." " In tliis passage," he adds, " Christ is not 
 speaking of the general guilt in which all the descendants of 
 Adam are involved, but only threatening the despisers of the 
 gospel who proudly and obstinately reject the grace that is offered 
 them ; and this has nothing to do with infants. I likewise op- 
 pose a contrary argument : all those whom Christ blesses are 
 exempted from the curse of Adam and the wrath of God ; and 
 as it is known that infants were blessed by him, it follows that 
 they are exempted from death."* 
 
 Certain it is, that Calvinists were foremost in overthro^ving 
 the dogma that baptism was essentially connected with salvation, 
 and in establishing the truth, that want of it does not militate 
 against their future safety.f It is well known that the former 
 opinion is still extensively held by those who are opposed to Cal- 
 vinistic sentiments. On this subject Scott, in answer to Bp. 
 Tomline, remarks, "a/eiy j)resumptuous, extravagant Calvinists 
 have spoken shocking things of the damnation of infants : but 
 to consign the innumerable multitudes of those all over the 
 world, and in every age, who die before they commit actual 
 sin, and die unbaptized, to eternal damnation, is far more shock- 
 ing. Even such Calvinists may suppose some of these children 
 to be elected and saved : but the sentiment that none dying 
 
 *" Institutes, book iv. chap. 16, sec. 31, vol. ii. p. 460. See also pp. 461, 456, 436, 
 435. 
 
 f See Cartwright's reply to Hooker on this subject, in Ilanbury's Hooker, toI. ii. 
 p. 221. See also, Bp. Hopkins' Works, vol. ii. p. 429; Davenant on Ool., vol. ii. p. 
 448 ; Heywood's Works, vol. iv. p. 447 ; Pictet's Theology, p. 399. 
 4 
 
26 CHILDREN IN HEAVEN. 
 
 when infants, except such as have been baptized, are saved, ex- 
 chidcs them alL"* " The most unfeeling supra-lapsarian never 
 ventured on so dire an opinion as to consign all the unbaptized 
 infants, in every age and nation, to eternal misery."t This is 
 the language of a Calvinist addressed to that large body of his 
 own church -who oppose Calvinism, and take occasion to impeach 
 its charity. Some Calvinists, it is true, have in former times 
 avoided the decision of this question, leaving dying infants in 
 the hands of a merciful God. But, "why," asks the same 
 ■writer, " might not these Calvinists have as favourable a hope 
 of all infants dying before actual sin as Anti-Calvinists can 
 have?"| What doctrine of the most rigid Calvinism is there, 
 with which such a hope can possibly militate? Is it the doctrine 
 of God's sovereignty, whereby is attributed to him all power and 
 right of dominion over his creatures, to dispose of them, and to 
 extend or Avithhold favour, as seemeth to him good — but why 
 may it not please God, in the exercise of this sovereignty, to ex- 
 tend his favour to all dying infants ? Is it the doctrine of elec- 
 tion, whereby God, out of his mere love, for the praise of his 
 glorious grace, to be manifested in due time, hath, in Christ, 
 chosen some men to eternal life and the means thereof— but why 
 may not dying infants be among these chosen ones? Is it the 
 doctrine of the divine decrees, whereby, for his OAvn glory, 
 God hath fore-ordained whatsoever comes to pass, especially con- 
 cerning angels and men— but why may not the salvation of all 
 dying infants have been thus decreed? Is it the doctrine of 
 
 * See Work?, vol. vii. p. 502. 
 
 t See Works, vol. x. p. 407. J Do. vol. viii. p. 573. 
 
OPINIONS ON INFANT SALVATION. 27 
 
 God's free and rich grace, whereby the holiness, obedience, and 
 righteousness of Christ are imputed to us for justification ; and 
 inherent grace is -wrought in the heart by the Spirit of God, in 
 regeneration ; — but why may not this grace be imparted to all 
 dying infants? If God gives us hope for such in his blessed 
 word, then is it not manifest that their salvation, instead of be- 
 ing thrown upon the contingency of human will ; or being made 
 dependent upon human effort; or connected with the moral 
 character or personal agency of infants themselves ; or left at 
 hazard, through the indiiFerence or neglect of men ; — is based 
 by these doctrines upon the unchangeable purpose, and the all- 
 sufficient grace of God ; and is therefore rendered gloriously 
 CEKTAIN to the bereaved and mourning spirit of the disconsolate 
 parent ? If however, rejecting these doctrines (which Calvinists 
 love because doctrines of the Bible) we make election to rest on 
 the foreknowledge of good works ; — or moral character to depend 
 on moral conduct ; — and salvation to be limited, in its flow, to the 
 channel of Christian ordinances; — then what hope can be enter- 
 tained for those who have been taken away while as yet they 
 could not discern good fi'om evil ; — while without any moral 
 character, and thus wholly unfit for enjoyment or reward ; — and 
 while, as " nameless things," they have never passed through the 
 " purifying entrance" to the kingdom of heaven ? We answer — 
 none that is reasonable or satisfactory. 
 
 But on the ground of Calvinism this hope is all that can be 
 desired, and arises most naturally from its principles. " In per- 
 fect consistency," sayb Dr. Harris, in his Essay on this subject, 
 " with their theological creed, have some Calvinists entertained 
 
28 CHILDREN IN HEAVEN. 
 
 the opinion advocated in the preceding pages ; while others, ex- 
 pressing a hope of its truth to the full extent, have discovered the 
 wished-for evidence, in favour of the children of pious persons 
 only ; but none of any consideration are known to have mairi- 
 tiiined, or even allowed, that the inference in question {i. e. the 
 damnation of any infants) is an evident and necessary deduction 
 from Calvinistic doctrines. In direct opposition to what must, 
 tlicrefbre, be considered an unfounded aspersion, it would require 
 but little labour to prove, that the great peculiarities of this 
 system supply the most tenable and satisfactory grounds 
 OF hope for the salvation of all who depart this life 
 
 ANTECEDENT TO PERSONAL TRANSGRESSION." 
 
 I would here quote the language of one of our oldest and 
 most thoroughly Calvinistic divines, the celebrated William 
 Perkins, a Puritan : " Infants have no works whereby they may 
 be judged, seeing they do neither good nor evil, as the Scripture 
 spcaketh of Jacob and Esau, Rom. ix. 11. Therefore all shall 
 not be judged according to works. Ans. These phrases of 
 Scripture, as a man sows, so shall he reap : every one shall receive 
 according to his works, &c., are not to be extended to all, but 
 must be restrained to such as have works, and knowledge to 
 discern betwixt good and evil, which infants have not. For 
 besides that they are destitute of works, they also want the use 
 of reason ; and therefore they shall not be judged by the book of 
 conscience, but by the book of life. For to say as Hugo de 8. 
 Vict, doth upon the Romanes, qimst. 59, that they shall be con- 
 demned for the sins which their parents committed in their con- 
 ception and uitivity, as though they themselves had actually 
 
OPINIONS ON INFANT SALVATION. 29 
 
 committed them, is contrary to tliat, Ezel. xviii. 20, The son 
 shall not bear the iniquity of the Father. 
 
 '' Again, some may say, if children do not apprehend Christ's 
 b«iefits by their parent's faith; how then is Christ's righteous- 
 ness made theirs and they saved ? Ans. By the inward working 
 of the Holy Ghost, who is the principal applier of all graces, 
 whereas faith is but the instrument. As for the places of Scrip- 
 ture that mention justification and salvation by faith, they are 
 to be restrained to men of years : whereas infants dying in their 
 infancy, and therefore wanting actual faith, which none can have 
 without actual knowledge of God's will and word, are no doul^ 
 saved by some other special working of God's Holy Spirit, not 
 known to us." " Infants," he adds, " already elected, albeit 
 they, in the womb of their mother before they were born, or 
 presently after, depart this life, they, I say, being after a secret 
 and unspeakable manner, by God's Spirit engrafted into Christ, 
 obtain eternal life." 1 Cor. xii. 13: Luke i. 35, 41, 44: and 
 Jer. i. 5.* 
 
 And equally strong speaks the great Coryphseus of Calvinism, 
 who carried out its principles to their extremest limits, I mean 
 the celebrated Toplady. In his vindication of the Church of 
 England from Arminianism, he had asserted his belief in the 
 salvation of all infants dying in infancy. This opinion his 
 opponents interpreted as involving the doctrine of general re- 
 demption. " As if," says Toplady, " all died in infancy." " I 
 testify my firm belief, that the souls of all departed infants are 
 with God in glory : that, in the decree of predestination to life, 
 
 * Works, fol. vol. iii. p. 386. Vol. ii. p. 127, and vol. i. p. 77. 
 
80 CHILDREN IN HEAVEN. 
 
 God hath inchuled all whom he intended to take away in in- 
 lancy ; and that the decree of reprobation hath nothing to do 
 with them."* 
 
 " In the mean while (says he) I should be obliged if he Mwild, 
 with the help of IMr. Wesley's irradiation, show me what be- 
 comes of departed infants, upon the Arminian plan of condi- 
 tional salvation, and election of good worlds foreseen." 
 
 Dr. Gill, who resembled Toplady in carrying out the princi- 
 ples of Cah'inism to their extremest limit, also resembled him 
 in holding this comfortable view of the doctrine of election. In 
 iiis Complete Body of Practical and Doctrinal Divinity, he 
 makes the following remark on the case of infants dying in 
 infancy : " Now such a number as they are, can never be thought 
 to be brought into being in vain, God is and will be glorified in 
 them ; now though their election is a secret to us, and unrevealed, 
 it may be reasonably supposed, yea in a judgment of charity it 
 may rather be concluded, that they are all chosen, than that none 
 are. But the election of them cannot be owing to their faith, 
 holiness, obedience, good works, and perseverance, or to the 
 foresight of these things, which do not appear in them." 
 
 I may refer also to the sentiments of Tyndale, the translator 
 of the New Testament into English;! of Pictet, the learned 
 Professor of Geneva ;t to the touching letter of Whitefield on 
 the death of his infant sou ;§ of Watts to a lady bereaved of 
 
 « Works, fol. vol. i. p. 207. 
 
 t See Works, vol. ii. p. 516. 
 
 X See his Theoi. b. xi. chap iv. pp. 194, 495, and p. 444, 446. 
 
 § See Life .-f. by Philip. 
 
OPINIONS ON INFANT SALVATION. 81 
 
 several infant children ; and of the pious Rutherford to a lady on 
 the loss of a daughter j* of Addington,f and of Robert Hall;4: 
 of Howe,§ and of Cotton Mather, || Buchanan,^ and these are 
 all Calvinists. 
 
 It may ])e well, however, to add a few more quotations from 
 Calvinistic writers. Dr. Williams, in his " Defence of Modern 
 Calvinism" against the attacks and misrepresentations of Bishop 
 Tomline, at p. 75, says : " That they [infants] are capable of 
 regeneration indeed. Is admitted, as well as of remission, justifi- 
 cation, holiness of nature, and heavenly blessedness ; and we re- 
 flect with pleasure, that the Holy Scriptures afford many en- 
 couraging intimations relative to the salvation of dying infants — 
 whether baptized or not. Though ihcy have no hope, we have 
 hope concerning them." The same view is also presented in 
 that noble defence of Calvinistic doctrine, the Lime Street Lec- 
 tures, where it is said, " an elect infant is as capable of being 
 effectually called, or renewed by grace, of being freely justified, 
 and for ever glorified, as a grown person."** Again at another 
 place, the subject is more fully discussed — " As for infants, we 
 take it for granted, in the present argument, that they are con- 
 ceived in sin, and shapen in iniquity ; that that which is born of 
 
 * See Letters, part 2, letter iii. 
 t Work on Baptism, p. 62-64, 67, 76. 
 X Works, vol. i. p. 88, 89. 
 
 ^ Works of John Howe, vol. iv. p. 4, 5, and vol. vii. p. 544-5. 
 II See quoted afterwards. 
 
 f Rev. James Buchanan of Edinburgh, in his Office and Work of the Holy Spirit, 
 Part 1, eh. viii. on the Regeneration of Infants. 
 «■* P. 279, 280, Eng. ed. 
 
32 CIIILDREX IX IIEAVEX. 
 
 the flesh, is flesh; that they arc, by reason of the disobedience of 
 the first man, sinners, and so unworthy of, and unmeet for, the 
 lieavenlv fflorv, and must be exchided from it, unless washed in 
 tlie blood of Jesus and sanctified by the Holy Spirit. To sup- 
 pose them all, or indeed any of them, to perish is to be cruelly 
 WISE ABOVE WHAT IS WRITTEX: and to imagine they are so 
 holy, as to need no cleansing, or that any thing defiled can enter 
 into heaven, is directly flying in the face of Scripture : so that, 
 though we are not told positively what is their portion; yet WE 
 
 MAY SAFELY DETERMINE THAT THEY ARE MADE MEET, IF IX 
 HEAVEX, FOR THAT LXHERITAXCE WHICH IS IXCORRUPTIBLE 
 AND UXDEFILED." 
 
 I M'ill only add to these authorities the following remarkable 
 quotation from the National Covenant adopted in Scotland in the 
 year 1581, again in 1590, 1638, 1639, 1640, 1650 and 1651. 
 " But," says this venerable document, in detailing the enormous 
 errors of the Iloman Antichrist, " in special we detest and refuse 
 his cruel judgment against infants departing without the Sacra- 
 ment, and his absolute necessity of baptism," &c.* 
 
 Dr. George Jimkin, also, of the Presbyterian Church in this 
 country, and one of the strongest defenders of strict old-fashioned 
 Calvinism, in his late work on the doctrine of Justification, 
 heads his 10th chapter thus: "Original Sin — proved from the 
 salvation of those that die in infancy." " It is not inconsistent," 
 says he, " with any doctrine of the Bible, that the souls of de- 
 ceased infants go to heaven." " As to the opinion that all who 
 die in infancy, both children of believers axd uxbeliev- 
 
 * See Irving's Confessions, p. 135. 
 
OPINIONS ON INFANT SALVATION. 33 
 
 .EES, CheIstians and PAGANS, go to happiness and heaven, it 
 may be harmlessly entertained ; it may however operate an evil 
 influence upon the minds of wicked and unbelieving parents." 
 " While therefore I have no objetftion to the opinion that all 
 who die in infancy go to happiness, yet I must think that in ref- 
 erence to the infants of unbelievers, it is mere opinion, although 
 it is in all probability an opinion according to truth."* 
 
 The Rev. Thomas Scott, the author of the Commentary, and 
 another of the boldest defenders of the Calvinistic doctrines, says, 
 *' I do not propose it as an article of faith ; for it is not expressly 
 revealed (though it appears to be favoured in scripture) that as 
 infants, without actual transgression, are involved in the ruin of 
 our race by the first Adam, so infants, as such, dying before 
 actual transgression, before they are capable of knowing right 
 from wrong, are, without personal repentance and faith, but not 
 without regeneration, made partakers of the salvation of the 
 second Adam. I do not say, ' It is so ;' but, 'probably it may 
 be so.' And, when we consider what a large proportion of the 
 human race, in every age and nation, die in infancy, it appears to 
 me a cheering thought." 
 
 Thus, also, speaks Newton : " I hope you are both well recon- 
 ciled to the death of your child. Indeed, I cannot be sorry for 
 the death of infants. How many storms do they escape ! Nor 
 can I doubt, in my private judgment, that they are included in 
 the election of grace. Perhaps those who die in infancy are the 
 exceeding great multitudes of all people, nations, and languages 
 mentioned (Rev. vii. 9,) in distinction from the visible body of 
 
 » p. 141, 143. ..i,.'.. 
 
 6 
 
34 CHILDREN IN HEAVEN. 
 
 professing bclievei-s, who were marked in their foreheads, and 
 openly known to be the Lord's." 
 
 But these quotations it is unnecessary to multiply. In the 
 Presbyterian and other Calvinistic churches, including the Con- 
 gregational, Avhich embrace the doctrinal portions of the West- 
 minster Confession of Faith, there is, it is true, no canonical de- 
 termination on this subject. This Confession says: "Elect 
 infants, dying in infancy, are regenerated and saved by Christ 
 through the Spirit."* It teaches, therefore, the certaustty of 
 
 THE SALVATION OF ALL INF^XJNTTS, WHO ARE ELECT. It also 
 
 teaches tliat baptism is not necessarily connected with grace and 
 salvation, and that exclusion from it does not exclude from re- 
 generation. f It teaches further that infants, though incapable 
 of exhibiting their faith, may be regenerated.! It leaves every 
 one therefore from an examination of the Scriptures to decide 
 how far the electing love of God extends. At this time it is, I 
 suppose, universally believed by Presbyterians, and those M^ho 
 hold to the doctrine of election, that all dying infants are in- 
 cluded among the elect, are made heirs of grace, and become 
 members of the kingdom of heaven. I, at least, am not ac- 
 quainted with any who hold an opposite sentiment. Possibly, 
 when the doctrine is extended to the infants of heathen parents, 
 some might not be prepared /m% to concur in it; but that there 
 is ground from Scripture to believe that even they are included 
 in the promises of Divine mercy, and are, as Mr. Toplady confi- 
 
 * Ch. 10, sec. 3. -j- ch. 28, sec. 5. 
 
 X See note 3, and see LaracTii Op. torn. ii. p. 47. Dick's Theol. vol. iv. p. 75, and 
 Calvin's Instit. 1-3, 4. 
 
OPINIONS ON INFANT SALVATION. 35 
 
 dently says, " all undoubtedly saved," is, I have no doubt, aii 
 opinion to which Presbyterians will, generally, subscribe. The 
 opposite opinion, which has been maintained by some Calvinists, 
 in common with many Arminians of former dnys, and M^hich is 
 held by the Roman Catholic Church at the present time, may be 
 most certainly regarded, as a recent writer has said, as " an ex- 
 crescence, and not an essential feature, of the system of Calvin- 
 ism." 
 
 The assertion, however, is still frequently and most slander- 
 ously published, that Calvinists believe that children, dying in 
 infancy, are danmed ; that this is the doctrine of our Confession 
 of Faith ; and that Calvin expressly taught that there are infants 
 in hell only a span long. Nothing, however, can be more un- 
 true. As to the opinion of Calvinists, we have shown that it is 
 now universally in favour of the hope that all children dying in 
 infancy are saved through the merits of Christ's death, applied 
 by the Holy Ghost. Calvin, also, as has been shown, was among 
 the very first of the reformers to overthrow the unchristian and 
 most horrible doctrine of the Romish and High church divines, 
 that no unbaptized infant can be saved ; to maintain the possi- 
 bility of their regeneration by the Spirit without baptism ; and 
 to' encourage the hope of their general salvation. And as to the 
 passage in the Westminster Confession of Faith, which is sup- 
 ])0sed to teach the damnation of infants, it is contained in ch. x. 
 sec. 3, and is as follows: 
 
 " Elect infants, dying in infancy, are regenerated and saved by 
 Christ through the Spirit, who worketh when, and where, and 
 how he pleaseth. So also are all other elect persons, who are in- 
 
36 CHILDREN IN HEAVEN. 
 
 capable of being outwardly called by the ministiy of the 
 word." 
 
 The subject of this chapter is "effectual calling," by which, it 
 is believed, that " all those whom God hath predestinated unto 
 life he is pleased, in his appointed time, effectually to call out of 
 that state of sin and death in which they are, by nature, to grace 
 and salvation by Jesus Christ," &c. (See sect. 1.) — The Con- 
 fession proceeds in sect. 2d, to say : " This effectual call is of 
 God's free and special grace alone, not from anything at all fore- 
 seen in man, who is altogether passive therein, until, being quick- 
 ened and renewed by the Holy Spirit, he is thereby enabled to 
 answer this call, and to embrace the grace offered and conveyed 
 in it." 
 
 Now the objection which would naturally arise in the mind 
 against this doctrine, would be this — If this is so, then does not 
 this doctrine apparently exclude infants from any participation 
 in tliis salvation, since they clearly are not capable of obeying 
 this call, and of embracing this offered grace. The Confession, 
 therefore, proceeds to obviate this objection, by showing that, as 
 this calling in itself considered, and the power and the disposi- 
 tion to answer this call, and embrace the grace conveyed in it, is 
 a different thing from that answer and embrace — there is no more 
 difficulty in bestowing this quickening and renewing influence 
 of the Holy Spirit upon infants than upon adults. Infants as 
 well as adults may be thus effectually called and regenerated, 
 tJiough adults only are in a state fitting them to act upon this 
 call by the exercise of their renewed powers and sanctified will. 
 Regenerated infants are equally, with adults, endued with a re- 
 
OPINIONS ON INFANT SALVATION. 37 
 
 newed and holy disposition, which will develope itself, when tlie 
 subject is capable, in holy acts. Our Confession, therefore, 
 wisely, charitably, and scripturally concludes, that this grace is 
 co-extensive with God's electing love and mercy, and is bestowed 
 upon the objects of thao love, \\ hether they are removed from 
 this world in a state of infancy, or of maturity. It overthrows 
 the doctrine of Romanists, High Church Episcopalians, and 
 others, who teach that this grace of salvation, by the renewing 
 of the Holy Ghost, is tied down and limited — -first, by what they 
 most vainly and arrogantly call the only true Church, to wit, 
 the Romanist or Episcopal Churches; and secondly, by the ordi- 
 nances of baptism as administered in these churches ; and what 
 the passage does decide, is, as Calvinists now universally agree 
 in believing, that there is every reasonable ground to 
 
 HOPE that all INFANTS DYING IN INFANCY ARE INCLUDED 
 IN THE DECREE OF ELECTION AND ARE MADE PARTAKERS OF 
 
 EVERLASTING LIFE.* This, then, is the view of Calvinists; 
 and while it favours the most unbounded charity and hope, it 
 rests that hope, not upon any thing in the infant itself, nor upon 
 any thing done for it by any church, but upon the sure purpose 
 of a merciful God, and the comfortable promises and declarations 
 of his word. 
 
 Among all evangelical denominations this opinion is now received. 
 We have given the names of evangelical Episcopalians. Gil- 
 
 * Thas Dr. Gumming, of the Scotch Church in London, has lately published a 
 Discourse to prove that all children dying in infancy, or before the years of 
 
 RESPONSIBILITY, ARE, WITHOUT ONE EXCEPTION OR LIMITATION AS TO THE CHARACTER 
 OB THE CONDUCT OF THE PARENTS, SATED. 
 
38 CHILDREN IN HEAVEN. 
 
 lard, wliose treatise I have mentioned, was, I presume, both a 
 Baptist and a Calvinist. Dr. Gill's sentiments have been alluded 
 to, and they are quoted with approbation in the Baptist Confes- 
 sion of Faith. The Rev. Robert Robinson, who has written the 
 History of Baptism, thus expresses himself: " Various opinions 
 concerning the future state of infants have been adopted. The 
 most probable opinion seems to be, that they are all saved 
 through the merit of the Mediator, with an everlasting salvation. 
 This hath nothing in it contrary to the perfections of God, or to 
 any declarations of the holy Scriptures ; and it is highly agree- 
 able to all those passages, which affirm, where sin hath abounded, 
 grace hath micch more abounded. On these principles, the death 
 of Christ saves more than the fall of Adam lost." 
 
 "Wesley does not appear to have determined this question at 
 all. The salvation of all dying in infancy is, however, the prev- 
 alent belief among his followers. The Rev. Richard Watson, 
 who is deservedly regarded as the ablest writer, and a stand- 
 ard authority, among the Methodists, very powerfully advocate? 
 this opinion.* 
 
 This is also the established belief of the Lutheran Church,t 
 as it is of the Quaker denomination.^ 
 
 But whence, we ask, arose this community of opinion ? It 
 originated, as has been shown, among the Calvinists. The battle 
 for liberty and charity of opinion against the dogmas of the 
 
 * See his Institutes, vol. ii. p. 228, and vol. iii. p. 72. 
 
 t See Schmucker's Theology, p. 128, and p. 220. . Storr & Flatt's Theology, sec. 68, 
 p. 394. Mosheim wrote a treatise, which we have not seen, on this subject. 
 X See Barclay's Apology. 
 
OPINIONS ON INFANT SALVATION. 39 
 
 church was fought by them. Eveu when light had not irradi- 
 ated the subject, and it was still shrouded in the darkness of 
 prejudice, many Calvinists, rather than yield to the gloom of the 
 generally entertained opinion that all unbaptized infants perish, 
 groped about for any possible theory that might relieve them 
 of their distress. Some, as I have shown, threw a veil of im- 
 penetrable darkness over the whole subject, and regarded an 
 entrance upon its examination as presumption.* Others were 
 induced to believe that the souls of all such children would be 
 annihilated.f Others, that their souls remained in a state of in- 
 sensibility either to good or evil.J All advocated the possibility 
 of their salvation — the practicability of their regeneration — and 
 all denied the absolute necessity of baptism to either. And can 
 any one deny that the present clear and settled views on this 
 subject have been introduced by Calvinists ? Let him only re- 
 member that every one of the works and discourses on the sub- 
 ject to which I have alluded, were written by Calvinists ; that 
 •almost all the selections I have been enabled to collect are from 
 writers holding the same views ; and that much even of the finest 
 of our Poetical Selections are from authors whose muse was 
 guided by Calvinistic views. Our work, in fact, may be re- 
 garded as a noble testimony to the truly scriptural and chari- 
 table nature of those much abused, because misunderstood, doc- 
 trines which most evangelical churches agree in adopting. And 
 surely it may be expected, that these facts will give joy and con- 
 
 * See De Moor, Stapfer, Doddridge, (sec. 168,) Baxter, 
 t This was Dr. Watts's laboured hypothesis. See Works. 
 J Dr. Kidgiey advocated this opinion. See his Divinity. 
 
40 CHILDREN IN HEAVEN. 
 
 solation to those Christians whose ideas of Calvinism have been 
 such as to lead them to cherish the prejudices that are so (!om- 
 monly and so ignorantly entertained, and enable them to cherish 
 more kind and liberal feelings towa,rds Calvinistic churches. 
 
 And that the reader may still more clearly perceive how much 
 bereaved parents are indebted to Calvinism for the present com- 
 fortable and established hopes for dying infants, let me call his 
 attention to the conflicting opinions which once prevailed on this 
 much controverted subject, as they are given by Baxter : 
 
 " Some think that all infants (baptized or not) are saved from 
 hell, and positive punishment, but are not brought to heaven, as 
 being not capable of such joys. 
 
 " Some think that all infants (dying such) are saved as others 
 are, by actual felicity in heaven, though in a lower degree. Both 
 these sorts suppose that Christ's death saveth all that reject it not, 
 and that infants reject it not. 
 
 " Some tliink that all unbaptized infants do suffer the 'poenam 
 damni,' and are shut out of heaven and happiness, but not sensi- 
 bly punished or cast into hell. For this Jansenius hath wrote a 
 treatise ; and many other Papists think so. 
 
 " Some think that all the children of sincere believers dying 
 in infancy are saved, (that is, glorified,) whether baptized or not j 
 and no others. 
 
 " Some think that God hath not at all revealed what he will 
 do with any infants. 
 
 " Some think that all the adopted and bought children of 
 true Christians, as well as the natural, are saved (if baptized, 
 say some ; or if not, say others.) 
 
OPINIONS ON INFANT SALVATION. 41 
 
 " Some think that elect infants are saved, and no other. 
 
 " Some think that all that the pastor dedicateth to God are 
 saved. 
 
 " Some think that this is to be limited to all that have right 
 to baptism ' coram Deo ;' which some think the church's recep- 
 tion giveth them. 
 
 " And some think it is to be limited to those that have right 
 ' coram ecclesia,' or are rightfully baptized." 
 
 Bereaved Parent ! what would be the aggravation of your dis- 
 tress if still plunged in this vortex of conflicting opinions ? and 
 how much, therefore, should it add to your patient resignation to 
 the will of God in the removal of your children, when you find 
 that all branches of the protestant evangelical church, have now 
 come to a common and united belief, that there is every reason to 
 hope, that, in so doing, God has secured their salvation, and would 
 also lead to your spiritual and everlasting good. 
 
il^itbe antr Sunshine* 
 
 MARGARET JUNKIN. 
 
 Eaeth is the home of sorrow ! life, 
 
 Though joyful it appears, 
 Is given, continued, and sustained, 
 
 And borne away in tears. 
 The sentient throngs of earth and air 
 
 Join Nature's voice to keep 
 Existence festive, — man alone 
 
 Is privileged to weep. 
 
 Sweet as the " music of the spheres " 
 
 Ci'eation's hymn should be. 
 Yet evermore the human voice 
 
 Is wailing mournfully; 
 And 'mid the still majestic strain 
 
 Of praise and psean high. 
 Are mingled death's despamng shriek. 
 
 And hopeless misery's cry. 
 
 The earliest beams of every mom 
 Fall on some mourner's head, 
 
 42 
 
SHADE AND SUNSHINE. 43 
 
 And flit in mockery across 
 
 The dying and the dead; 
 The light of every parting sun 
 
 Finds sorrowful repose 
 On new-made graves, whose turf was still 
 
 Unbroken when he rose. 
 
 The trembling stars look nightly down 
 
 On brows that, 'mid the glare 
 Of day, when all were smiling round, 
 
 Seemed glad as any there: 
 But in the darkened solitude 
 
 The mask aside is thrown. 
 And the crushed spirit speaks its woe 
 
 Before its God alone. 
 
 And yet it is not ceaseless wail 
 
 That earthly voices raise; 
 For some have learned the symphony, 
 
 And joined the song of praise. 
 Ah, tear-dimmed eyes must long have closed, 
 
 Had not a hand of love 
 Upheld the faltering step, and turned 
 
 The wandering gazo above! 
 
 Then, with divinely lighted eye, 
 
 They read their sufferings o'er. 
 And find a meanino- in their grief 
 
 Thoy failed to find before : 
 
44 CHILDREN IN HEAVEN. 
 
 A beauty touches all the past, 
 
 And from the future fled 
 Is every fear, — and stars of hope 
 
 Are shining overhead. 
 
 Who then can call this glorious world, 
 
 With such a radiance, dim 
 And desolate, since on its sky 
 
 Is stamped the seal of Hira, 
 Who, in His rich magnificence. 
 
 Has lavished all abroad 
 A splendour that could only spring 
 
 Beneath the hand of God ! 
 
 No, Earth has something more than gloom, 
 
 And pain, and sickening fear, 
 For holy Peace has often come. 
 
 And made its dwelling here; 
 Nor ever will it quite depart, 
 
 Until our closing eyes 
 Are turned from Earth, to find in Heaven 
 
 A fideless paradise I 
 
BICKERSTETH. 
 
 With thankful hearts our songs we raise, 
 To celebrate our Saviour's praise; 
 Yet who but saints in heaven above, 
 Can tell the riches of his love ? 
 
 His love, with gentle accents, sheds 
 A blessing on our infants' heads; 
 Bids us for infants seek his face, 
 And ask for them renewing grace. 
 
 He, the good Shepherd, kindly leads 
 The wanderer, and the hungry feeds ; 
 Deigns in his arms the lambs to bear, 
 And makes them his peculiar care. 
 
 Jesus, to thy protecting wing 
 
 Our helpless little ones we bring; 
 
 O grant them grace and strength, that they 
 
 ^lay find and keep the heavenward way. 
 
 45 
 
f sncli is iht linijbom. * 
 
 MRS. MARY S. B. DANA. 
 
 I DEARLY love a little child, 
 And Jesus loved young children too ; 
 He ever sweetly on them smiled, 
 And placed them with his chosen few. 
 When, cradled on its mother's breast, 
 A babe was brought to Jesus' feet, 
 He laid his hand upon its head. 
 And blessed it with a promise sweet. 
 
 "Forbid them not!" the Saviour said, 
 "Oh I suffer them to come to me I 
 Of such my heavenly kingdom is — 
 Like them may all my followers be !" 
 Young children are the gems of earth, 
 The brightest jewels mothers have; 
 They sparkle on the throbbing breast, 
 But brighter shine beyond the grave. 
 
 46 
 
the Amth of jirief. 
 
 J. G. WHITTIER. 
 
 With silence only as their benediction, 
 
 God's angels come, 
 Where in the shadow of a great affliction, 
 
 The soul sits dumb. 
 
 Yet would we say, what every heart approveth, 
 
 Our Father's Avill, 
 Calling to him the dear ones whom he loveth. 
 
 Is mercy still. 
 
 Not upon us or ours the solemn angel 
 
 Hath evil wrought; 
 The funeral anthem is a glad evangel, 
 
 The good die not! 
 
 God calls our loved ones, but we lose not wholly 
 
 What he has given ; 
 They live on earth in thought and deed as truly 
 
 As in his heaven. 
 
 47 
 
Wn a Mnk Jnfant. 
 
 JOHN MILTON. 
 
 O FAIREST flower, no sooner shown than blasted, 
 Soft, silken primrose, fading timelessly, 
 
 Summer's chief honour, if thou hadst outlasted 
 Bleak Winter's force that made thy blossom dry; 
 For he, being amorous on that lovely dye 
 
 That did thy cheek envermeil, thought to kiss. 
 
 But killed, alas! and then bewailed his fatal bliss. 
 
 Yet can I not persuade me thou art dead. 
 
 Or that thy corse corrupts in earth's dark womb, 
 
 Or that thy beauties lie in wormy bed, 
 
 Hid from the world in a low delved tomb. 
 Could Heaven, for pity, thee so strictly doom? 
 
 Oh, no! for something in thy face did shine 
 
 Above mortality, that showed thou wast divine. 
 
 Ah ! wert thou of the golden-winged host. 
 Who, having clad thyself in human weed. 
 
 To earth from thy prefixed seat didst post. 
 And after short abode fly back with speed. 
 As if to show what creatures heaven doth breed ; 
 
 48 
 
ON A FAIR INFANT. 49 
 
 Tlierel)y to set the hearts of men on fire, 
 
 To scorn the sordid world, and unto heaven aspire. 
 
 But, oh! why didst thou not stay here below? 
 To bless us with thy heaven-loved innocence. 
 
 To slake his wrath whom sin hath made our foe. 
 To turn swift-rushing, black Perdition hence, 
 Or drive away the slaughtering Pestilence, ' 
 
 To stand 'twixt us and our deserved smart? 
 
 But thou canst best perform that office where thou art. 
 
 Then thou, the mother of so sweet a child, 
 Her false-imagined loss cease to lament. 
 
 And wisely think to curb thy sorrows wild ; 
 Think what a present thou to God hast sent. 
 And render him with patience what he lent ; 
 
 This, if thou do, he will an offspring give. 
 
 That, till the world's last end, shall make thy name to live. 
 
feirin fdst §ixrhj #ubetr. 
 
 GEORGE W. BETHUNE, D.D. 
 
 AYiTHix lier downy cradle there lay a little child, 
 And a group of hovering angels unseen upon her smiled ; 
 A strife arose among them, a loving, holy strife, 
 AVhich should shed the richest blessing o'er the new-born 
 life. 
 
 One breathed upon her features, and the babe in beauty grew, 
 "With a cheek like morning's blushes, and an eye of azure 
 
 hue; 
 Till every one who saw her, was thankful for the sight 
 Of a face so sweet and radiant with ever fresh delight. 
 
 Another gave her accents, and a voice as musical 
 
 As a spring bird's joyous carol, or a rijipling streamlet's fall ; 
 
 Till all who heard her laughing, or her words of childish 
 
 grace. 
 Loved as much to listen to her, as to look upon her face. 
 
 Another brought from heaven a clear and gentle mind. 
 And within the lovely casket the precious gem enshrined; 
 Till all who knew her wondered, that God should be so good, 
 As to bless witli such a spirit our desert world and rude. 
 
 50 
 
EARLY LOST, EARLY SAVED. 51 
 
 Thus did she grow in beauty, in melody and truth. 
 The budding of her childhood just opening into youth ; 
 And to our hearts yet dearer, every moment than before, 
 She became, though we thought fondly, heart could not love 
 her more. 
 
 Then out-spake another angel, nobler, brighter than the rest, 
 As with strong arm, but tender, he caught her to his breast; 
 " Ye have made her all too lovely for a child of mortal race, 
 But no shade of human sorrow shall darken o'er her face. 
 
 "Ye have tuned to gladness only the accents of her tongue, 
 And no wail of human anguish shall from her lips be wrung; 
 Nor shall the soul that shineth so purely from within 
 Her form of earth-born frailty, ever know the taint of sin. 
 
 "Lulled in my faithful bosom, I will bear her far away. 
 Where there is no sin, nor anguish, nor sorrow, nor decay; 
 And mine a boon more glorious than all your gifts shall be — 
 Lo! I crown her happy spirit with immortality!" 
 Then on his heart our darling yielded up her gentle breath. 
 For the stronger, brighter angel, who loved her best, was 
 
 DEATH ! 
 
tittle @nts ^mtt0 ^omt. 
 
 "Suffer little children to come unto me, and forbid them not; for of such is the 
 kingdom of heaven." 
 
 They are going — only going — 
 
 Jesus called them long ago; 
 All the wintry time they're passing 
 
 Softly as the falling snow. 
 When the violets in the spring-time 
 
 Catch the azure of the sky, 
 They are carried out to slumber 
 
 Sweetly where the violets lie. 
 
 They are going — only going — • 
 
 When with summer earth is dressed, 
 In their cold hands holding roses 
 
 Folded to each silent breast; 
 When the autumn hangs red banners 
 
 Out above the harvest sheaves, 
 They are going — ever going — 
 
 Thick and fast, like falling leaves. 
 
 All along the mighty ages, 
 All adown the solemn time, 
 
 52 
 
LITTLE ONES GOING HOME. 53 
 
 They have taken up their homeward 
 
 March to that sereuer clime, 
 Where the watching, waiting angels 
 
 Lead them from the shadow dim, 
 To the brightness of His presence 
 
 Who has called them unto him. 
 
 They are going — only going — 
 
 Out of pain and into bliss — 
 Out of sad and sinful weakness 
 
 Into perfect holiness. 
 Sno'svy brows — no care shall shaie them; 
 
 Bright eyes — tears shall never dim ; 
 Eosy lips — no time shall fade them ; 
 
 Jesus called them unto him. 
 
 Hearts to be for ever stainless — 
 
 Hands to be as pure as they — 
 Little feet by angels guided 
 
 I^ever in forbidden way ! 
 They are going — ever going ! 
 
 Leaving many a lonely spot ; 
 But 'tis Jesus who has called them — 
 
 Suffer, and forbid them not. 
 
|re Infants |ab^b?* 
 
 DAVID M'CONODGHY, D.D. 
 
 " It is not the will of your Father which is in heaven, that one of these little 
 ones should perish." — Matt, xviii. 14. 
 
 The birth of human beings is a momentous event, nor are 
 tliey less interesting in actual possession and enjoyment. He who 
 perfectly knows the human heart, recognizes it as most rare and 
 unnatural that " a mother should forget her sucking child, and 
 cease to have compassion on the son of her womb." How ten- 
 derly are they caressed! what yearnings of affection move a 
 mother's heart ! what surpassing endearment and anxious concern 
 are felt! Care expended augments interest. Dangers appre- 
 hended increase affectionate estimation. Watchfulness and toils 
 only give greater vehemence to ardent and solicitous concern for 
 the object beloved. Nor is the father's heart without its devo- 
 tion and attachment, though its emotions may not be so vivid, or 
 its tenderness so deep and constraining. Even relatives and 
 friends share the sympathy and interest : and they are strangers 
 to the promptings of nature who can regard with indifference 
 the tender and endearing claims of infancy. Its smiles, and 
 even its tears, its comparative innocence and helpless dependence, 
 
 • Tract No. 132, Presbyterian Board of Publication. 
 54 
 
ARE INFANTS SAVED? 55 
 
 its germs of intellect and affection, what it is, and what it may 
 yet be, elicit deep solicitude and present claims to the sympathy 
 of every benevolent heart. I add that they are objects of very 
 sjiecial interest prosjiectivdy. Their character as intelligent, 
 moral and immortal beings gives to them importance beyond all 
 tlie present and immediate interest felt. They may now present 
 many reasons of affectionate regard ; but the developments which 
 their progressive years may exhibit are of paramount concern 
 and importance. We admire the flower so sweet and beauteous, 
 but on its future fruits depends its chief importance. Its 
 eminence of interest results not from what it noAV is, but from 
 what it will be in its maturity. It is not only a living creature, 
 but one which is destined to responsibility. It is to form a 
 character which is to last for ever, sustain a place among men — 
 if it live — be a benefactor or a curse to the world, and receive 
 in eternity the retribution which an unerring Judge will award. 
 What unutterable interest results from these facts ! To every 
 considerate mind what deep solemnity is in the question — what 
 is this child to be? If life be prolonged, and its bodily, mental, 
 and moral powers be developed and brought into operation, what 
 will be its character and influence ? will it bring joy to its parents, 
 or anguish ? — will it be to the world useful, or useless and nox- 
 ious? will it be honoured, or despised? will it be happy, or 
 wretched ? 
 
 There is another anxious question — will their lives be pro- 
 longed, or will they die in infancy? will they live to mature 
 years, or be cut down as a flower ? Plow often is this matter of 
 painful apprehension ! — how often of sad reality, of most poig- 
 
56 CIIILDREX IX HEAVEN. 
 
 nant grief, of hopes blasted, and of fondly clierislied expecta- 
 tions utterly disappointed ! 
 
 And there is still another most tender and serious question. 
 Tf they thus early die, what Mall be their future allotment and 
 condition ? As to the future condition of those who die in in- 
 fancy, there have been much conjecture and many conflicting 
 opinions. I will not enumerate nor examine them. One 
 opinion only can be true. What God teaches must be true. 
 Christ, the faithful and true witness, as the expounder of his 
 Father's will, affirms — " It is not the will of your Father who 
 is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish." 
 
 In attempting to present a correct view of tliis most interest- 
 ing case, I make the following remarks : — 
 
 1st. Inflmts in their original character and condition are 
 liable to perish. There are no testimonies of Scripture, nor ai'e 
 there any facts in their actual condition and character, which 
 warrant the opinion that they are exempt from " original guilt 
 and depravity." In Adam all descending from him by ordinary 
 generation, die. They inherit depravity, and are liable to death 
 and other penal evils. That they are the subjects of sufferings 
 and death is a matter of notorious and indisputable fact ; and the 
 first dnd continuous developments of their moral character are no 
 less proofs of connate depravity, and that every imagination of 
 the thoughts of their heart " from their youth is only evil, con- 
 tiimally." The whole human race, inflints not excepted, are " by 
 nature children of wrath." "There is none rig-hteous : no : not 
 one." If they remain in this condition they must inevitably 
 perish. Death, already, has dominion over them. In, or by 
 
ARE INFANTS SAVED? 57 
 
 tliemsclvcs, from this ruin there is no possibility of escape ; and 
 no created power can effect their redemption. By the righteous 
 judgment of God this ruin has befallen them, and nothing less 
 than his own gracious purpose and power can avert the disastrous 
 result. But if he so wills, " not one of these little ones will 
 perish," but they will be " saved to the praise of the glory of 
 his grace." 
 
 I remark, 2dly, That infants, just like all other human beings, 
 if saved, are saved only through the mediation of Christ. 
 " There is none other name under heaven given among men 
 whereby we must be saved, neither is there salvation in any 
 other." Of the righteousness of that dispensation by which the 
 whole race was lost in Adam it would be impious to doubt. It 
 is a fact. To its full vindication we may be incompetent ; but 
 the all-wise God had good and sufficient reasons for ordering it 
 thus ; and in this as ever, he is " righteous in all his ways and 
 holy in all his works." So the issue will certainly and clearly 
 show 5 and grace will reign through righteousness in all who are 
 saved. If the condemnation and ruin of all in Adam be right- 
 eous, — and who in defiance of facts and the testimony of Scrip- 
 ture will deny it? — the moral government of God must have its 
 full vindication when that condemnation and ruin are averted. 
 He must be just when he saves sinners ; and if, as some allege, 
 infants and all men were restored by Christ to a salvable state or 
 opportunity of salvation, they must antecedently have been guilty 
 and perishing. Christ did not die to save those who were in no 
 danger, or whose perdition could not have been just. If Christ 
 died to save men, without his death hey had perished, and that 
 
58 CHILDEEN IX IIEAVEX. 
 
 justly. God did not require of him a ransom price for what had 
 not been justly forfeited and lost. His death for sinners justice 
 indispensably required, or for them he had never died. Re- 
 demption through Christ is a distinct recognition of the righteous- 
 ness of the Adamic dispensation. The interposition of Christ 
 was a sovereign and gracious dispensation in behalf of those who 
 might have justly been left to perish. Scripture and facts prove 
 that infants need salvation. In Christ there is salvation, but not 
 in any other. If saved it must be through his mediation, and in 
 him there is all that salvation Avhich their case requires. Such 
 as die in infancy have no actual sins to be pardoned, but they 
 need a removal of original guilt, or that liability to penal evils 
 under which they are. They need a righteousness which will 
 entitle them to the glory and felicity of heaven, which can be con- 
 ferred only on account of the righteousness of Christ reckoned 
 to them as their meritorious title to eternal life. And no less do 
 they necessarily require the " washing of regeneration, and the 
 renewing of the Holy Ghost." Without the removal of their 
 depravity and the positive impartation of a holy character, they 
 cannot be admitted to heaven, or enjoy happiness there. This 
 ueedful salvation Christ alone bestows. He can bestow it, and 
 if he does, infants thus become " fit for the inheritance of the 
 saints in light." They are thus prepared to be inhabitants of 
 that kingdom of heaven where God, their Saviour, and all his 
 redeemed, are in the possession of " fulness of joy and pleasures 
 for evermore." 
 
 I remark, 3dly, That redemption by Christ, as respects moral 
 government, in this case, has removed all hinderanccs to their 
 
ARE INFANTS SAVED? 59 
 
 salvation. By his holy life, his perfect obedience to the law 
 under which man is, and by his full endurance of the penalty as 
 incurred by man's transgression, he has brought in a right- 
 eousness which will fully avail for salvation to all to whom God 
 graciously reckons it. In the case of infants their personal ac- 
 ceptance and appropriation of Christ for their salvation is im- 
 possible ; but if God so Avills, the benefit in all its fulness may 
 be bestowed on them. The everlasting righteousness is brought 
 in and the whole law is magnified and made honourable. Ac- 
 cording to my understanding of the Scripture, Christ, as the 
 second Adam, assumed the responsibility which rested on man as 
 to the law which he had violated, which responsibility and 
 obligation were, to render the perfect obedience which fallen man 
 could not now render, and endure its penalty, which would have 
 consigned the whole race to utter and endless ruin. To this 
 obligation he fully responded. The justice of God by his 
 obedience unto death is fully satisfied, and the honour and re- 
 quirements of the law, as they respect man, are vindicated in 
 full measure. God can now be just in bestowing salvation on 
 all, or as many as may accord with his infinite Avisdom and 
 sovereign good pleasure. The demands of the divine law 
 and justice interpose no impediment to the salvation of infants. 
 
 I remark, 4thly, That the salvation of infants is a case which 
 wholly depends on the will of God. Whatever opinions may be 
 entertained as to the ability of man, when adult, to " work out 
 his own salvation," or whatever concurrence he may be supposed 
 to exert with divine grace, this case wholly excludes them all. 
 Infants are not moral agents, in such meas ire, as to be car-'' 
 
60 CHILDREN IN HEAVEN. 
 
 of any efficiency, voluntary agency, or co-operation. If they be 
 saved, it must be entirely by the sovereign mercy and positive 
 operation of God. If it be his will that not one of them should 
 perish, they will be certainly saved. No other will can here in- 
 terpose. Salvation is of God only ; will he not save them ? 
 
 In this connexion I add, that, in so far as I am aware, actual 
 sin, or the rejection of offered mercy, is always, in Scripture, 
 assigned as the reason why any perish. I have asserted the 
 liability of infants to perish, unless grace tlirough the mediation 
 of Christ interpose ; but I allege that Scripture always recognizes 
 voluntary agency, and the consequent responsibility, as reasons 
 of condemnation ; — that they who perish knew thek' duty and 
 did it not. On perdition for original guilt and depravity, with- 
 out actual sin, the Scriptures are silent. We of course have no 
 authority to affirm it : but may not this silence encourage the 
 opinion that infants are of those who are saved by the grace of 
 God abounding through his Son ? Erskine, in liis " Gospel 
 Sonnets," representing the redeemed of every class as alleging 
 their special and pre-eminent reasons to give glory to God for his 
 saving grace, concludes — 
 
 Babes thither caught from womb and bfeast. 
 Claim right to sing above the rest ; 
 Because they found the happy shore, 
 They neither saw nor sought before. 
 
 All redeemed sinners owe their salvation to sovereign grace, 
 and have reason for holy wonder and for everlasting praise r but 
 the salvation of influits is with peculiar circumstances of favour. 
 They are exempted from the tedious, toilsome, dangerous journey 
 
AKE INFANTS SAVED? 61 
 
 of life, which is the allotment of those whose years are prolonged. 
 Witliout a knowledge of their fall and ruin, they are rescued 
 from danger and from sin. Without repentance, faith, hope, or 
 effort, they inherit " fulness of joy and pleasures for evermore." 
 Like tender plants, the natives of bleak and chilling climes, they 
 are transplanted to grow and bloom, and produce their precious 
 fruits, under the genial warmth and propitious influences of the 
 heavenly paradise. The process of their eradication may be with 
 violence and momentary injury, but that will be fully compen- 
 sated by the more favoured condition in which they will attain 
 their beauty and maturity, where no adverse causes will ever in- 
 terpose. 
 
 There is another consideration which is worthy of notice. I 
 refer to the manner in which the sacred record speaks of the 
 death of infants. It never suggests the notion of their death 
 being accompanied with the wrath of God against them specially 
 and individually. Their death is sometimes mentioned as con- 
 stituting a part of the calamity where guilty cities or nations are 
 visited by the signal judgments of God. They are cut off by 
 death in common with their parents who had provoked the Di- 
 vine displeasure, and as an aggravation of the general calamity. 
 Elsewhere, they die as trials of the faith and resignation of their 
 parents ; sometimes as the chastisement of their unfaithfulness, 
 or as a judgment for their sins. But they were not the actual 
 offenders, nor are they recognized as the direct objects of the Di- 
 vine displeasure thus manifested. The death of wicked and un- 
 believing men is represented as ^^Tathful and utterly ruinous." 
 "They are driven away in their wickedness" — "they die in 
 
62 CHILDREN IN HEAVEN. 
 
 their sins "—" their hopes perish "—" they are cast into hell 
 where their worm dieth not." No such wrathful declarations 
 are connected with the death of infants ; but wherever anything 
 seems to be implied as to their future state, it is peaceful and 
 soothing. Such I judge to be the fact always. I will refer to 
 a few cases which now occur to me, as of special import in this 
 respect. 
 
 Tlie first is the death of the first child of David, king of Is- 
 rael, by Bathsheba. During the child's illness he fasted and 
 wept ; — on its death he ceased from his grief and said, " Now 
 he is dead, wherefore should I fast ? Can I bring him back 
 again ? I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me." Did 
 he mean, merely, that he would at his death follow him to the 
 tomb ? That presented no ground of consolation. It might be 
 understood as a recognition of his own mortality, and of his 
 humble acquiescence in the bereavement which he had experi- 
 enced, but not of sustaining faith, fond anticipation and soothing 
 hope. That would imply the expectation of a reunion with him 
 in that better world, in which he himself hoped to dwell after he 
 had completed his pilgrimage and finished the work which was 
 assigned him, of serving his generation according to the will of 
 God. He sorrowed not as tliose who have no hope, but cher- 
 ished cheerful anticipation as well as peaceful submission to the 
 will of God. 
 
 Another case is that of the pious Shunammite, recorded in 
 2 Kings, ch. iv. When her son had suddenly died, she hastened 
 to visit the prophet Elisha. On her near approach, the prophet 
 sent his servant to meet her, and to ask, " Is it well with thee ? 
 
ARE INFANTS SAVED? 63 
 
 is it well with thy husband ? is it well with the child ?" And 
 she answered, " It is Avell." How could she so answer in rela- 
 tion to her child who was dead, and for aught she knew, irre- 
 coverably ? If no future existence nor future bliss awaited the 
 recently living object of her fond affections, how was it well 
 with it? Such a fact might claim humble acquiescence, but 
 presented no consolation, no Ibnd anticipation nor soothing hope; 
 but with good reason she might say, "It is well," if she believed 
 that her departed son was removed to heaven, and was then an 
 heir of immortal life. Parental affection cannot find the needful 
 consolation in the waste, the dreariness and the silence of the grave. 
 It looks and longs and hopes for the continued conscious exist- 
 ence and happier condition of those whom they had so fondly 
 caressed and so dearly loved. Is not this desire, so natural, an 
 earnest of what is the will and purpose of God ? Over the death 
 of infants the sacred record casts no appalling gloom, but rather 
 irradiates it with promises of peace and earnests of immortality. 
 
 The unnatural and horrid crime of the people of Israel in 
 sacrificing their children to Moloch, is thus denounced by the 
 prophet Jeremiah : " And in thy skirts is found the blood of 
 the souls of the innocents." This phrase, "the innocents," is 
 twice used by the prophet to denote the death of infants. This 
 is not designed to affirm their innocence in the sight of God 
 but to denote the cruelty of this conduct as the act of man ; and 
 that their death was not the infliction of the wrath of God, but a 
 murderous deed of vile idolatry which God abhorred and con- 
 demned. Their age and condition render them comparatively 
 innocent. Thev have not the guilt of actual transgressors, and 
 
64 CHILDREN IX HEAVEN. 
 
 their death is never rej^resented with those circumstances of Di- 
 vine displeasure and vengeance which are associated with the 
 death of willul and actual sinners. 
 
 5tli. The declarations of Christ in relation to infants or little 
 children imply that they will be heirs of everlasting life. Con- 
 descension and kindness characterized all his intercourse with 
 men. Obscurity of rank or humility of condition he did not 
 overlook. " To the poor the gospel was preached ;" and the 
 afflicted, and such as worldly pride disdained, were the objects 
 of his special notice and kindness. Little children he treated 
 with distinguishing favour and peculiar regard. This fact is full 
 of tenderness, and has much instructive meaning. His language 
 and actions are most explicit and affectionate. On difPerent oc- 
 casions children are incidentally noticed ; but one case deserves 
 distinct consideration. It is minutely and almost in the same 
 words recorded by three evangelists, Matthew, Mark, and Luke. 
 — Matthew thus records it, xix. 15 : "Then were there brought 
 unto him little children, that he should put his hands on them 
 and pray; and the disciples rebuked them. But Jesus said, 
 Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me ; 
 for of such is the kingdom of heaven." What is the meaning 
 of this express declaration ? On this phrase, George Campbell, 
 an eminent critic, remarks : " It is often rightly translated ' the 
 kingdom of heaven,' as it is, manifestly, often applied to the 
 state of perfect felicity to be enjoyed in the world to come." If 
 we so understand it here, — and I know of no reason which for- 
 bids, — it is an explicit affirmation, by him who not only knows 
 what ^vill be, but himself " holds the keys of death, and of the 
 
ARE INFANTS SAVED? 65 
 
 unseen world," that of them, and of those who by renewing 
 grace are made like to them, will the inhabitants of the heav- 
 enly world consist. Henry on this case remarks, " Little chil- 
 dren are welcome to Christ as respects themselves, for whom he 
 has upon all occasions expressed a concern ; and who having 
 participated of the malignant influences of the first Adam's sin, 
 must needs share in the riches of the second Adam's grace ; else, 
 what would come of the apostle's parallel in 1 Cor. xv. 22, and 
 in Rom. v. 14, 15, &c. ?" Doddridge says, "Let parents view 
 this sight with pleasure and thankfulness ; let it encourage them 
 to bring their children to Christ by faith, and to commit them 
 to him in baptism and by prayer ; and if he who ' has the keys 
 of death and of the unseen world ' see fit to remove those dear 
 creatures from us in their early days, let the remembrance of 
 this story comfort us, and teach us to hope that he who so gra- 
 ciously received these children has not forgotten ours ; but that 
 they are sweetly fallen asleep in him, and will be the everlasting 
 objects of his care and love; 'for of such is the kingdom of 
 heaven.' " On this affirmation. Dr. Scott remarks, " Indeed, 
 the expression may also intimate that the kingdom of heavenly 
 glory is greatly constituted of such as die in infancy. Infimts 
 are as capable of regeneration as grown persons ; and there is 
 abundant ground to conclude that all those who have not lived 
 to commit actual transgressions, though they share in the effects 
 of the first Adam's offence, will also share in the blessings of the 
 second Adam's gracious covenant, without their personal faith 
 and obedience, but not without the regenerating influence of the 
 Spirit of Christ.' 
 
66 CHILDREN IN HEAVEN. 
 
 By " the kingdom of heaven " and " the kingdom of God," in 
 Scripture language, is sometimes meant the gospel church ; and 
 it may be alleged that the import of Christ's declaration is that 
 children may be recognized as members of the church. That 
 believei*s as members of the church are entitled to claim the same 
 privilege for their childi'cn, is a fact under both the Jewish and 
 Christian dispensations. This, as respects the visible church, 
 entitles them to its watchful care, prayers, and means of religious 
 education and training ; and when they arrive at years of reason 
 and moral responsibility, it is their duty and privilege to assume 
 for themselves the obligations and jDrivileges of believing men 
 and women. If they refuse, and live in disobedience and unbe- 
 lief, they forfeit the blessings and hopes of the believing and 
 obedient ; and these can be regained only by repentance toward 
 God and faith in the Lord Jesus. But the question here is 
 respecting those who die in infancy. Does not their recognition 
 as members of Christ's church on earth imply that they will be 
 recognized as such in heaven ? It is on Christ's authority that 
 they are now acknowledged as the lambs of his flock — will he 
 not own them as such when, being yet little children, they are 
 in his providence called to the world of spirits ? Men may mis- 
 take as to those who are entitled to the privileges of divine 
 grace : Clirist cannot. Will he exclude from the company of 
 the redeemed those to whom he had assigned a place among his 
 people here ? Called away by death before they had reached 
 a condition of moral agency, will they not be transferred from 
 the church on earth to the church in heaven ? The church in 
 heaven is only the highest department of the same gracious sys- 
 
ARE INFANTS SAVED? 67 
 
 tern. All who, in truth and in the j udgment of God, are mem- 
 bers of the church on earth, will be admitted to the church in 
 heaven. 
 
 As to the relation of the children of believers to the visible 
 church, what is the import and matter of fact? That relation 
 in itself does not imply, as a matter of certainty, their actual 
 salvation. Many baptized children, and even the children of 
 pious parents, live and die impenitent and unbelieving. In how 
 far this may follow from the want of faith and faithfulness on 
 the part of the parents, I undertake not to decide. As respects 
 those who die in infancy, pious parents can never suppose that 
 their salvation is the reward of their parents' faith and holiness. 
 They are therefore saved wholly by grace ; and by the same 
 sovereign grace alone can their children be saved. But if their 
 children live to years of discretion or maturity, to them, as moral 
 and accountable beings, it is of the utmost importance to have 
 the means of religious knowledge and a pious education. And 
 by pious parents it must be regarded as a precious privilege to 
 have the means of training up their children for God, and holi- 
 ness and heaven. The influence of the church and the gospel 
 dispensation is designed to have its effect specially, in forming 
 men to wisdom and holiness by a process of education assigned 
 by God and made effectual by his blessing. Of its saving effect 
 in any other way I am not aware. Human beings who do not 
 live here to become moral agents are under a different dispensa- 
 tion. 
 
 6th. The consideration of the benevolence of God favours the 
 belief that children dying in infancy will be saved and be heirs 
 
68 CHILDREN IN HEAVEN. 
 
 of heaven. I am aware that vre may entertain unwarranted and 
 presumptuous expectations from the Divine benevolence. Unbe- 
 lieving and even profligate sinners often do. They overlook the 
 fact that God is just, and holy, and true, as well as merciful. All 
 we know of his mercy is from his own revelation, which asserts 
 his perfect righteousness no less strongly and clearly than his 
 mercy. He is always represented as a just God, even when he 
 is a Saviour. Divine revelation does not any where give inti- 
 mations of mercy to fallen man unless through mediation and 
 atonement. In this way grace and mercy abound. " God so 
 loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoso- 
 ever believeth on him may not perish, but have everlasting life." 
 " In this was manifested the love of God, that he gave his only 
 begotten Son, that we might live through him." " God is love." 
 I take it as a fact, that Divine benevolence does not in any case 
 inflict penal evil upon any intelligent creature, nor withhold 
 from them appropriate happiness, unless where the penalty has 
 been incurred and the forfeiture made by sin ; — in that case Divine 
 law and justice must be vindicated. In the case of infants, the 
 vindication has been made, and through Christ they may be saved. 
 That believers may and will be saved is absolutely certain. In- 
 fants cannot believe ; l)ut will they for that reason perish ? May 
 not — will not Divine benevolence impart to them the prepared 
 salvation which they need, but which through natural incompe- 
 tency they cannot seek and accept ? Under the moral govern- 
 ment of God it is a recognized fact, that responsibility is always 
 proportional to the opportunities and means which he has given 
 to men to know and do his will. " The servant who knew his 
 
ARE INFANTS SAVED? 69 
 
 master's Mill auci did it not, shall be beaten with many stripes ; 
 but he who knew not his master's will and committed things 
 worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few." Absolute and in- 
 vincible ignorance of duty can involve no responsibihty ; — as 
 many as have sinned without the revealed law will be dealt with 
 accordingly ; and they who sin und^r and with a knowledge of 
 the law will be judged by the law. The heathen will not be 
 condemned for not believing the gospel which they had never 
 heard, and of which they had no knowledge. No more will be 
 required of them, nor of any, than a faithful improvement of 
 the means of knowledge and obedience which they had. It is 
 their unfaithfulness to what they knew, or might and ought to 
 have known, that leaves them guilty and without excuse. Will 
 infants perish because of their non-acceptance of a Saviour, al- 
 though their natural imbecility renders such acceptance an abso- 
 lute impossibility ? I admit and believe that they " are by na- 
 ture children of wrath ;" but, as they do not live to years of 
 moral agency to resist and reject either natural or revealed re- 
 ligion, will they not be saved by grace ? Will they not be the 
 objects of tlie benevolence and mercy of Him who has sworn 
 that he has no pleasure even in the death of those who defy 
 his authority, reject his grace, and die in their sins? God's 
 vindictive displeasui'c is exercised against wilful sinners only. 
 Wiicre there is no crime, he delights in showing favour and 
 conferring happiness. This is true as to holy angels and all 
 other upright and intelligent creatures ; and even on fallen 
 man he delights to bestow happiness where his justice is rec- 
 ognized and his meny souglit, and the grace which reigns 
 
70 CHILDREN IX HEAVEN. 
 
 through righteousness unto eternal life, by Jesus Christ out 
 Lord, does not will that one of these little ones should 
 perish. 
 
 ]My remarks on this very tender and interesting case imply 
 that all children dying in infancy are heirs of salvation. I 
 know of nothing in the teachings of the Scriptures, or in the 
 circumstances of this case, which requires a different opinion. 
 They all are involved in the same ruin by the operation of the 
 same causes. " In Adam all die." The mediation of Christ 
 has, as respects the law and government of God, made provision 
 for the exercise of mercy to them, in common with all the race. 
 " By the righteousness of one (Christ, the second Adam) the fi-ee 
 gift came upon all men to justification of life." Their salvation 
 depends entirely on the pleasure of God. They cannot have any 
 agency in the case. No other creature can. God alone has the 
 right or power to save. If he wills it, it cannot fail of accomplish- 
 ment. Their case and condition as respects themselves, severally 
 and individually, is the same, be they the offspring of Christians 
 or heathen. God, as a sovereign, may justly make a difference ; 
 but there is no evidence that, in this case, he will. The punish- 
 ment of wilful rebels and unbelievers is indisputably just. The 
 salvation of the penitent and believing is certain in the way 
 which God has assigned. They who die in infancy are in cir- 
 cumstances different from both ; they are all in the same un- 
 distinguished ruin, and may all be the objects of the same in- 
 discriminating and abounding grace. Their parentage, in so 
 far as they are concerned, makes them neither better nor 
 worse. 
 
ARE INFANTS SAVED? 71 
 
 Presbyterians are charged with entertaining veiy harsh opinions 
 on this subject, and with pronouncing a sentence of perdition at 
 least on a part of those who die in infancy. I can truly say 
 that, in all my intercourse with ministers and intelligent private 
 Christians of our denomination, I never heard an avowal of 
 such a belief. If not clear in affirming the salvation of all such, 
 they left them at the disposal of Him who gave them existence, 
 and who can inflict no cruelty or injustice on any of his crea- 
 tures ; and who as moral governor of the world can do only 
 what is wise and right. Our Confession of Faith, which we 
 recognize as a faithful and scriptural summary of Bible doctrines, 
 refers but once explicitly to this subject, where it says — " Elect 
 infants, dying in infancy, are regenerated and saved by Christ, 
 through the Spirit who worketh when and where and how he 
 pleaseth. So also are all other elect . persons who are incapable 
 of being outwardly called by the ministry of the word." In 
 accordance with Scripture, and with the very nature and reason 
 of the case, we believe that all men are not saved ; and that 
 they who are saved are saved according to the purpose and by 
 the grace of God ; — that fallen man would not and could not 
 devise and effect his own salvation, and that God alone can. 
 This every truly converted and saved sinner feels, and believes, 
 and confesses. This is the sum and substance of what we mean 
 by election. Though a full and free salvation be provided and 
 offered ; yet such is the indifference, pride, and wickedness of 
 man, that not one would embrace this salvation if God did not 
 enlighten, dispose, and enable them to accept of the offered 
 mercy. He must be ignorant of himself, and still in ruinous 
 
72 CHILDREN IN HEAVEN. 
 
 delusion and error, who arrogates to himself the purpose, wisdom, 
 and efficiency by which he is saved. By grace men are saved, 
 through fliith ; and that not of themselves : it is the gift of God. 
 The disposition and moral power to return to God by repentance 
 and faith no sinful man has, until the Spirit of God awakens 
 him to see his danger, and believe in Christ as the only and 
 all-sufficient Saviour. All the race, without exception, are lost, 
 and Avould be for ever lost, unless God in mercy quickens them 
 from tlieir death in trespasses and sins. The phrase " elect in- 
 fants" does not necessarily suppose and imply that some are lost. 
 They may all be included among the saved, as a part of the 
 ruined race, together with the exceeding great multitude whom 
 God will raise to life, and holiness, and heaven. And no doubt 
 it is true that, " It is not the will of your Father who is iu 
 heaven, that one of these little ones should perish." 
 
 Admitting as true and scriptural the doctrine now advanced, 
 it follows, 
 
 1st. That the redeemed infants and little children will consti- 
 tute a large number. What proportion that number may bear, 
 more or less, to the number of adults who wall be saved, is 
 knowTi to God only ; and all is wise and right. The Judge of 
 all the earth ever does that which is right — and " his tender 
 mercies are over all his works." The past liistory of our race, even 
 of those who enjoyed a divine revelation, presents, indeed, a sad- 
 dening array of facts. But we remember the desponding com- 
 plaint of Elias in the case of Israel, and find some consolation. 
 The prophet judged the apostasy to be universal, himself excepted; 
 but what saith the answer of God unto him ? " I have reserved 
 
ARE INFANTS SAVED? 73 
 
 to myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee 
 unto the image of Baal !" Even so then at this present time 
 also there is a remnant according to the election of grace. If 
 theii, no doubt at all other times there have been many partakers 
 of divine grace and mercy known to God, though diso\\Tied by 
 the imperfect knowledge and unkind judgment of man. Besides, 
 Ave anticipate millennial times of glory for the church, when 
 Christ, — not by a personal reign on earth, but in the power of 
 his Spirit, — shall subdue the nations to the obedience of faith, 
 and send from all kindreds and people very many to augment 
 " the assembly and church of the first-born in heaven." We 
 are sad in thinking of the comparatively few accessions to tlie 
 world of glory from the generations that are gone ; but have 
 hope and consolation in the prospect of the exceeding great 
 multitude which will throng heaven when all ends of the earth 
 shall hear of and accept the salvation of God. To this joy im- 
 mense interest is given, by the consideration of the myriads 
 of infant spirits which from all countries and generations 
 have entered on the light, and love, and joy of a glorious immor- 
 tality. 
 
 2d. This doctrine of the salvation of all who die in infancy 
 jircsents no reason against the baptism and religious education 
 of children. 
 
 What may be the wise and sovereign pleasure of God as to 
 tlie disposal of their lives is known to him alone. Parents can- 
 not foresee whether they will die early, or live for many years. 
 In either result the way of duty and of privilege is one and the 
 same. If it should be the will of God that their children die 
 
 10 
 
74 CHILDREN IN HEAVEN. 
 
 in infancy or in chiklliood, in tlie revelation of Divine mercy 
 through Christ, pious parents will find the best preparation for 
 acquiescence in the will of God, and for enjoying the most avail- 
 able consolations. This is the only hope for themselves or for 
 their children. To commit them in believing prayer to his wise 
 and merciful disposal is privilege and duty : and as he has insti- 
 tuted the ordinance of baptism as emblematical and significant 
 of the needful salvation, the use and observance of it will be 
 considered a precious privilege. Parents thus recognize the ne- 
 cessity of salvation, and make express reference to the manner in 
 which it is obtained, while at the same time they manifest their 
 humble desire and hope that their children may be thus saved, 
 to the praise of the glory of God's grace. With such a hope, 
 the dedication of their children to God in baptism is a reason- 
 able service, an act of faith, and a means of peaceful trust and 
 intelligent consolation. 
 
 If it should be the good pleasure of God to prolong the lives 
 of their children to years of accountability and of participation 
 in the duties of life, that early consecration of them is a matter 
 of special privilege and of sacred obligation. And all that is 
 fairly implied in their baptism is no less privilege and duty. It 
 is a privilege and duty to commend them to the grace of God 
 in confiding, fervent prayer; to secure for them in God's assigned 
 way the benefit of divine ordinances ; and to employ their own 
 prayers and faithful efforts to make them wise, holy and happy. 
 As said before, " The church or gospel dispensation is designed 
 and adapted to have its special effect in forming men to wisdom 
 and holiness, by a process of education aissigned by God and made 
 
ARE tNFANTS SAVED? 75 
 
 effectual by his blessing ;" and by pious parents it must be re- 
 garded as a precious privilege to have divinely-appointed means 
 of training up their children for God, and holiness, and heaven. 
 In the faithful use of those means there is great and special rea- 
 son to hope for that all-important result. In the neglect of 
 those means there is no warrant to hope. So God teaches : — 
 "Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old 
 he will not depart from it," The contrary is no less true, that 
 "a child left to himself" will probably become the grief and 
 shame of his parents, and do little good, if not much harm, to 
 himself and to the world. This the nature of the case forebodes, 
 and facts generally furnish the sad illustration and proof. Intel- 
 ligent and moral beings, that they may act virtuously, must have 
 a knowledge of their duty and appropriate motives to fulfil it. 
 These they can have only by religious instruction and training. 
 In the want of these there will be ignorance, folly and sin. 
 
 3d. Baptism, though a duty and a privilege, where the Divine 
 appointment is known, is not essential to salvation; nor does it, 
 in itself, insure salvation. 
 
 Abraham was in a state of j ustification and acceptance with 
 God before he was circumcised. Simon, the sorcerer, though 
 baptized, was in the " gall of bitterness and bond of iniquity ;" 
 and so it is with all ungodly and unbelieving men. Baj^tism is 
 not, nor does it necessarily, or even by Divine appointment, in- 
 volve in it spiritual regeneration. It would then be essentially 
 necessary ; because, " except a man be born again, or spiritually 
 regenerated, he cannot see the kingdom of God." If it were 
 regeneration, it would always be followed by evidences of spirit- 
 
76 CHILDREN IN HEAVEN. 
 
 ual life, which is very far from being matter of fact. Many 
 baptized persons are infidels, and impious and profligate men. 
 If it were real regeneration, it would be imperishable. The 
 spiritual life which God communicates he will never permit to 
 die : having begun a good work he will perfect it until the day 
 of Jesus Christ. Baptism is merely emblematical of that gracious 
 change which is effected by the Holy Spirit in the application of 
 the redemption purchased by Christ. This gracious change may 
 be, and no doubt is often effected without the external ordinance. 
 The salvation of those who die in infancy cannot depend on 
 the faithfulness or unfaithfulness of their parents ; it depends 
 wholly on the gracious will and sovereign pleasure of God. 
 Their being baptized or not, is a matter in which they can have 
 no choice nor agency, and consequently neither praise nor blame. 
 In this case, parents have a responsibility which infants cannot 
 have. It is one of those external means which pertain to the 
 visible church, ordained by God to encourage the faith of pious 
 parents in hoping for the salvation of their children, and to be 
 the means of expressing their trust in the mercy of God, and 
 recognizing their obligations to bring them up in the nurture an i 
 admonition of the Lord, if life be prolonged. 
 
 4tli. The fact that so great a number of the human race die 
 in infancy or early cliildhood, is one of the dispensations of 
 Providence which is involved in no little obscurity. All the rea- 
 sons of it we pretend not to explain or assign. That it is proof 
 of tlieir connate guilt and depravity the Scriptures assert. But 
 there are questions which the case seems to suggest, which, per- 
 haps, it may not be presumptuous in us to ask and humbly seek 
 
A Tt E I X F A X T S S A V E D ? 77 
 
 for some soliitiou. As they live not to years of moial agency, 
 nor to act a part in the scenes of life, why are they born or 
 bronght into life ? It is manifest that this was indispensable to 
 their being of the human race. They make a part of that num- 
 ber of human beings which God purposed to create. Had they 
 not been thus born, they would not have been in fact of that 
 particular order of creatures. Their non-existence would have 
 left the predestined number incomplete, and if called into life in 
 any other way they had not been of the race of man. That 
 their continuance on earth is so short, is according to the Divine 
 purpose and pleasure. But may He not, in his sovereign good 
 pleasure, design to exempt them from the cares, dangers, and ills 
 of the present world, and favour them with an early entrance on 
 an immortal existence to be the heirs of an interminable but pro- 
 gressive knowledge and happiness? The life bestowed and 
 begun he would not annihilate, nor w-ould he perjDctuate in end- 
 less woe. " It is not his will that they should perish." They 
 belong to " the kingdom of heaven." They constitute a part of 
 "the travail of the Redeemer's soul" — "the exceeding great 
 multitude of his redeemed which no man can number." In 
 order to their being of the human race they must derive their 
 existence in the ordinary way. That they may be partakers with 
 Adam in his fall, they must be his natural descendants. If not 
 the children of wrath they could not be the objects of mercy. 
 If not of the human race they could not partake in the redemp- 
 tion through Christ. He came to save men only ; — " He took 
 not upon him the nature of angels, but the seed of Abraham." 
 Those who die in infancy are a numerous portion of the genera- 
 
78 CHILDREN IN HEAVEN. 
 
 tions of men. As to all the rest of men, they are fallen and 
 perishing. They need salvation and may be the trophies of a 
 Redeemer's gracious power, and " the travail of his soul." For 
 such purposes of wisdom and sovereign benevolence, and such 
 manifestations of the power and grace of Christ, may they not 
 well exist? And if these be some of the facts and reasons, do they 
 not shed some light upon those obscure dispensations of the all- 
 wise and righteous God ? AVhat appears to us a premature de- 
 parture from life, in the case of infants, is not more unsearchable 
 and strange than many other cases, in which God's way is in the 
 sea and his footsteps in the deep waters. How many are cut off 
 in the morning of life and in all the vigour and hopes of youth ! 
 — how many are wisely, yet to us mysteriously, called away from 
 places of usefulness, and from promises and prospects of accom- 
 plishing great good ! — " What we know not now we will know 
 hereafter." In the administration of the world by God there is 
 no error. " He is wise in counsel as well as mighty in working." 
 Nothing comes too soon — nothing occurs too late. He who 
 notices the fall of a sparrow, orders well the issues of man's life ; 
 — by him the days of our life are numbered no less than the 
 hairs of our head. 
 
^ 
 
 LONGFELLOW. 
 
 There is a Reaper whose name is Death, 
 
 And with Kis sickle keen, 
 He reaps the bearded grain at a breath, 
 
 And the flowers that grow between. 
 
 " Shall I have naught that is fair ?" said he, 
 "Have naught but the bearded grain? 
 Though the breath of these flowers is sweet to me, 
 I will give them all back again." 
 
 He gazed at the flowers with tearful eyes; 
 
 He kissed their drooping leaves ; 
 It was for the Lord of paradise 
 
 He bound them in his sheaves. 
 
 " My Lord hath need of these flowerets gay," 
 
 The reaper said, and smiled ; 
 " Dear tokens of the earth are they, 
 
 Where he was once a child. 
 
 " They shall all bloom in fields of light. 
 
 Transplanted by my care, 
 79 
 
80 CHILDREN IN HEAVEN. 
 
 And saints upon their garments white, 
 These sacred blossoms wear." 
 
 And the mother gave in tears and pain 
 The flowers she most did love; 
 
 She knew she should find them all again 
 In the fields of light above. 
 
 Oh, not in cruelty, not in wrath, 
 
 The reaper came that day; 
 'Twas an angel visited the green earth, 
 
 And took the flowers away! 
 
^ur Wiiih Sister. 
 
 ADA. 
 
 She came and went. 
 This life to her was as a passing dream, 
 So short, so fleeting. And yet she gained 
 
 A place within our hearts. 
 As most we love those tender flowers 
 Which bloom but for a day, 
 So loved we her, and mourned when she departed. 
 
 But wherefore should we mourn? 
 Oh went she not from a dark world 
 Of sorrow, pain, and tears, 
 To a more blessed home, a place 
 Of holiness, of happiness, and peace? 
 
 Then may we dry our tears; 
 For now more blest, and happier far, 
 
 Than any here below, 
 She sings with e'en her infant voice 
 Sweet praises to her Saviour, who declared. 
 That of such babes, heaven's kingdom is composed. 
 
 11 81 
 
MRS. MARY S. B. DANA. 
 
 I SAW the young mother in tenderness bend 
 
 O'er the coach of her shi inhering boy, 
 And she kissed the soft lips as they murmured her name, 
 
 While the dreamer lay smiling in joy. 
 O sweet as the rose-bud encircled with dew, 
 
 When its fragrance is flung on the air, 
 So fresh and so bright to that mother he seemed. 
 
 As he lay in his innocence there. 
 But I saw when she gazed on the same lovely form, 
 
 Pale as marble, and silent, and cold, 
 But paler and colder her beautiful boy, 
 
 And the tale of her sorrow was told ! 
 But the Healer was there who had stricken her heart. 
 
 And taken her treasure away ; 
 To allure her to heaven he has placed it on high. 
 
 And the mourner will sweetly obey : 
 There had whispered a voice — 'twas the voice of her God, 
 
 " I love thee — I love thee — pass under the rod!" 
 
 82 
 
8btr Hit Siber. 
 
 MISS N. A. W. PRIEST. 
 
 OvEE the river they beckon to me — 
 
 Loved ones who've crossed to the further side; 
 The gleam of their snowy robes I see, 
 
 But their voices are drowned in the rushing tide 
 There's one with ringlets of sunny gold, 
 
 And eyes the reflection of heaven's own blue j 
 He crossed in the twilight, gray and cold, 
 
 And the pale mist liid him from mortal view. 
 We saw not the angels who met him there; 
 
 The gates of the city we could not see j 
 Over the river, over the river, 
 
 INIy brother stands waiting to welcome me! 
 
 Over the river, the boatman pale 
 
 Carried another — the household pet: 
 Her brown curls waved in the gentle gale — 
 
 Darling Minnie ! I see her yet. 
 She crossed on her bosom her dimpled hands, 
 
 And fearlessly entered the phantom bark ; 
 We watched it glide from the silver sands. 
 
 And all our sunshine grew strangely dark. 
 
 83 
 
84 CHILDEEN IN HEA TEN. 
 
 We know slie is safe on the further side 
 Where all the ransomed and angels be; 
 
 Over the river, the mystic river, 
 
 My childhood's idol is waiting for me. 
 
 For none return from those quiet shores, 
 
 Who cross with the boatman cold and pale ; 
 We hear the dip of the golden oars, 
 
 And catch the gleam of the snowy sail, — 
 And lo ! they have passed from our yearning heart ; 
 
 They cross the stream, and are gone for aye ; 
 We may not sunder the veil apart. 
 
 That hides from our vision the gates of day. 
 We only loiow that their barks no more 
 
 May sail with us o'er life's stormy sea: 
 Yet somewhere, I know, on the nnseen shore, 
 
 They watch, and beckon, and Avait for me. 
 
 And I sit and think, when the sunset's gold, 
 
 Is flushing river, and hill, and shore, 
 I shall one day stand by the water cold. 
 
 And list for the sound of the boatman's oar ; 
 I shall watch for a gleam of the flapping sail ; 
 
 I shall hear the boat as it gains the strand; 
 I shall pass from sight, with the boatman pale. 
 
 To the better shore of the spirit land ; 
 I shall know the loved who have gone before, — 
 
 And joyfully sweet will the meeting be, 
 When over the river, the peaceful river, 
 
 The angel of Death shall carry me. 
 
MRS. L. H. SIGOURNEY, 
 
 "What shall I render Thee! Father Supreme, 
 For thy rich gifts, and tJiis the best of all ?" 
 Said a young mother, as she fondly watched 
 Her sleeping babe. 
 
 There was an answering voice 
 That night in dreams. 
 
 " Thou hast a little bud 
 Wrapt in thy breast, and fed with dews 
 Of love ; give me that bud, 'twill be 
 A flower in heaven." 
 
 But there was silence, yea, a hush so deep, 
 Breathless and terror-stricken. 
 
 That the lip 
 Blanched in its trance — 
 
 "Thou hast a little harp 
 How sweetly would it swell the 
 Angels' songs! Give me that harp." 
 There burst a shuddering sob 
 As if the bosom, by some hidden sword, 
 Was cleft in twain. 
 
 85 
 
86 CHILDREN IN HEAVEN. 
 
 Morn came, a blight had found 
 The crimson velvet of the unfolding bud j 
 The harp-string rang a thrilling strain, 
 And broke. 
 
 And that young mother lay upon 
 The earth in childless agony. 
 
 Again the voice 
 That stirred her vision — 
 
 *' He who asked of thee 
 Loveth a cheerful giver." 
 
 So she raised 
 Her gushing eye, and ere the tear-drop 
 Dried upon its fringes, smiled — 
 
 Doubt not that smile, 
 Like Abraham's faith, 
 
 " Was counted righteousness." 
 
flit Mcdm^'^hce. 
 
 HORATiUS BONAR, D.D, 
 
 Where the faded flower shall freshen, — 
 
 Freshen never more to fade ; 
 Where the shaded sky shall brighten, — 
 
 Brighten never more to shade : 
 Where the sun-blaze never scorches; 
 
 Where the star-beams cease to chill; 
 Where no tempest stirs the echoes 
 
 Of the wood, or wave, or hill : 
 Where the morn shall wake in gladness, 
 
 And the moon the joy prolong. 
 Where the daylight dies in fragrance, 
 
 'Mid the burst of holy song : 
 
 Brother, we shall meet and rest 
 'Mid the holy and the blest! 
 
 Where no shadow shall bewilder. 
 Where life's vain parade is o'er. 
 
 Where the sleep of sin is broken, 
 And the dreamer dreams tio more: 
 
 Where the bond is never severed ; — 
 
 Partings, clasplngs, sob and moan, 
 87 
 
88' CHILDREN IN HEAVEN. 
 
 Midnight waking, t^yilig•llt weeping, 
 
 Heavy noontide, all are done: 
 Where the child has found its mother, 
 
 Where the mothci finds the child, 
 AVhere dear families are gathered. 
 That were scattered on the Avild : 
 
 Brother, we shall meet and rest 
 'Mid the holy and the blest! 
 
 Where the hidden wound is healed. 
 
 Where the blighted light re-blooms, 
 Where the smitten heart the freshness 
 
 Of its buoyant youth resumes : 
 Where the love that here we lavish 
 
 On the withering leaves of time. 
 Shall have fadeless flowers to fix on 
 
 In an ever spring-bright clime : 
 Where we find the joy of loving, 
 
 As we never loved before, — 
 Loving on unchilled, unhindered, 
 
 Lovmg once and evermore: 
 
 Brother, we shall meet and rest, 
 'Mid the holy and the blest! 
 
 Where a blasted Avorld shall brisrhten 
 
 Underneath a bluer sphere. 
 And a softer, gentler sunshine 
 
 Shed its healing splendo) here: 
 
THE MEETING-PLACE. 
 
 Where earth's barren vales shall blossom, 
 
 Putting; on their robe of green, 
 And a purer, fairer Eden 
 
 Be where only wastes have been : 
 Where a king in kingly glory. 
 
 Such as earth has never known, 
 Shall assume the righteous sceptre. 
 Claim and wear the holy crown : 
 
 Brother, we shall meet and rest, 
 'Mid the holy and the blest. 
 
 12 
 
Sl^e linking of ^I^ilbreit. 
 
 "Who shall sing, if not the children? 
 
 Did not Jesus die for them? 
 May they not, with other jewels, 
 
 Sparkle in his diadem ? 
 Why to them were voices given — 
 
 Bird-like voices, sweet and clear? 
 Why, unless the song of heaven 
 
 They begin to practise here ? 
 
 There's a choir of infant songsters, 
 
 White-robed, round the Saviour's throne ; 
 Angels to their music listen. 
 
 Oh! 'tis sweeter than their own! 
 Faith can hear the rapturous choral, 
 
 When her ear is upward turned ; 
 Is not this the same, perfected, 
 
 Which upon the earth they learned? 
 
 Jesus, when on earth sojourning, 
 Loved them with a wondrous love ; 
 
 90 
 
THE SINGING OF CHILDREN. 91 
 
 And will he to heaven returning, 
 
 Faithless to his blessing prove? 
 Oh ! they cannot sing too early ; 
 
 Fathers, stand not in their way! 
 Birds sing while the day is breaking — 
 
 Tell me, then, why should not they? 
 
Wilt fittle Sleeper. 
 
 RICHARD C. TRENCH. 
 
 No mother's eye beside thee wakes to-night, 
 
 No taper burns beside thy lonely bed, 
 Darkling thou liest, hidden out of sight. 
 
 And none are near thee but the silent dead. 
 
 How cheerless glows this hearth, yet glows in vain, 
 
 For we uncheered beside it sit alone, 
 And listen to the wild and beating rain 
 
 In angry gusts against our casement blown. 
 
 And though we nothing speak, yet well I know 
 
 That both our hearts are there, where thou dost keep 
 
 Within thy narrow chamber far below, 
 
 For the first time unwatched, thy lonely sleep. 
 
 Oh no ! not thou ! — and we our faith deny. 
 
 This thought allowing : thou, removed from harms, 
 
 In Abraham's bosom dost securely lie. 
 
 Oh ! not in Abraham's, in a Saviour's arms — 
 
 In that dear Lord's, who in thy worst distress. 
 Thy bitterest anguish, gave thee, dearest child, 
 
 92 
 
TUE LITTLE SLEIPER. 93 
 
 Still to abide in perfect gentleness, 
 
 And like an angel to be meek and mild. 
 
 Sweet corn of wheat, committed to the ground 
 To die, and live, and bear more precious ear, 
 
 While in the heart of earth the Saviour found 
 His place of rest, for thee we will not fear. 
 
 Sleep softly, till that blessed rain and dew, 
 
 Down lighting upon earth such change shall bring 
 
 That all its fields of death shall laugh anew — 
 Yea, with a living harvest laugh and sing. 
 
®n t\t &t(ti\i of n Bon. 
 
 PAUL GERHARDT. 
 
 Thotj'rt mine, yes, still thou art mine own! 
 
 Who tells me thou art not? 
 But yet thou art not mine alone, 
 
 I own that He who crossed 
 My hopes hath greatest right in thee ; 
 Yea, though He ask and take from me 
 Thee, O my son, my heart's delight, 
 My wish, my thought, by day and night. 
 
 Ah might I wish, ah might I choose, 
 Then thou, my star, should'st live. 
 
 And gladly for thy sake I'd lose 
 All else that life can give. 
 
 Oh fain I'd say : Abide with me. 
 
 The sunshine of my house to be, 
 
 No other joy but this I crave, — 
 
 To love thee, darling, to my grave ! 
 
 Tlius salth my heart, and means it well, 
 
 God meanetb better still; 
 u 
 
ON TUE DEATH OF A SON. 95 
 
 My love is more than words can tell, 
 
 His love is greater still ; 
 I am a father, He the Head 
 And Crown of fathers, whence is shed 
 The life and love from which have sprung 
 All blessed ties in old and young. 
 
 I long for thee, my son, my own! 
 
 And He who once hath given. 
 Will have thee now beside His throne. 
 
 To live with him in Heaven. 
 I cry, alas ! my light, my child ! 
 But God hath welcome on him smiled, 
 And said, " 3Iy child, I keep thee near. 
 For there is naught but gladness here." 
 
 Oh blessed word, oh deep decree. 
 
 More holy than we think ! 
 With God no grief or woe can be, 
 
 No bitter cup to drink, 
 No sickening hopes, no want or care, 
 No hurt can ever reach him there. 
 Yes, in that Father's sheltered home 
 I know that sorrow cannot come. 
 
 We pass our nights in wakeful thought 
 
 For our dear children's sake ; 
 All day our anxious toil hath sought 
 
 How best for them to make 
 
06 CHILDREN IN HEAVEN. 
 
 A future safe from care or need, 
 Yet seldom do our schemes succeed ; 
 How seldom docs their future prove 
 What we had planned for those v/e love! 
 
 How many a child of promise fair 
 
 Ere now hath gone astray, 
 By ill example taught to dare 
 
 Forsake Christ's holy way. 
 Oh fearful the reward is then, 
 The wrath of God, the scorn of men ! 
 The bitterest tears that e'er are shed 
 Are his who mourns a child misled. 
 
 But now 1 need not fear for thee, 
 
 Where thou art, all is well ; 
 For where thy Father's face doth see, 
 
 With Jesus thou dost dwell ! 
 Yes, cloudless joys around him shine, 
 His heart shall never ache like mine ; 
 He sees the radiant armies glow 
 That keep and guide us here below. 
 
 He hears their sinsjlng evermore, 
 
 His little voice too sings. 
 He drinks of wisdom's deepest lore, 
 
 He speaks of secret things 
 That we can never see or know, 
 Howe'er Ave seek or strive below, 
 
ON THE DEATH OF A SON. 97 
 
 While yet amid the mists we stand 
 That veil this dark and tearful land. 
 
 Oh that I could but watch afar, 
 
 And hearken but a while 
 To that sweet song that hath no jar, 
 
 And see his heavenly smile, 
 As he doth praise the holy God, 
 Who made him pure for that abode! 
 In tears of joy full well I know 
 This burdened heart would overflow. 
 
 And I should say : Stay here, my son. 
 
 My wild laments are o'er, 
 Oh well for thee that thou hast won, 
 
 I call thee back no more ; 
 But come, thou fiery chariot, come, 
 And bear me swiftly to that home, 
 Where he with many a loved one dwells, 
 And evermore of gladness tells ! 
 
 Then be it as my Father wills, 
 
 I will not weep for thee; 
 Thou livest, joy thy spirit fills. 
 
 Pure sunshine thou dost see. 
 The sunshine of eternal restj 
 Abide, my child, where thou art blest; 
 I with my friends will onward fare, 
 And, when God will, shall find me there. 
 
 13 
 
^8 P«J>- 
 
 JOHN PIERPONT, 
 
 I CANNOT make him dead! 
 
 His fair sunshiny head 
 Is ever bounding round my study chair ; 
 
 Yet, when my eyes, now dim 
 
 With tears, I turn to him, 
 The vision vanishes — he is not there! 
 
 I walk my parlour floor, 
 
 And, through the open door, 
 I hear a foot-fall on the chamber-stair; 
 
 I'm stepping tow;ard the hall, 
 
 To give the boy a call. 
 And then bethink me that — he is not there I 
 
 I tread the crowded street; 
 
 A satcheled lad I meet. 
 With the same beaming eyes and coloured hail*; 
 
 And as he's running by. 
 
 Follow him with my eye, 
 Si^ircely believing that — he is not there ! 
 
 98 
 
MY CHILD. 99 
 
 I know his face is hid 
 
 Under the coffin-lid: 
 Closed are his eyes, cold is his forehead fairj 
 
 My hand that marble felt ; 
 
 O'er it in prayer I knelt ; 
 Yet my heart whispers that — he is not there! 
 
 I cannot make him dead! 
 
 When passing by the bed 
 So long watched over with parental care, 
 
 My spirit and my eye 
 
 Seek it inquiringly, 
 Before the thought comes that — he is not there! 
 
 When at the cool gray break 
 
 Of day, from sleep I wake, 
 With my first breathing of the morning air, 
 
 My soul goes up with joy, 
 
 To Him who gave my boy. 
 Then comes the sad thought that — he is not there! 
 
 When at the day's calm close, 
 
 Before we seek repose, 
 I'm with his mother offering up our prayer, 
 
 Or evening anthems tuning. 
 
 In spirit I'm communing 
 With our boy's spirit, though — he is not there! 
 
 Not there! — Where, then, is he? 
 The form I used to see 
 
100 CHILDKEN IN HEAVEN. 
 
 Was but the raiment that he used to wear! 
 
 The grave, that now doth press 
 
 Upon that cast-off dress, 
 Is but his wardrobe locked: he is not there! 
 
 He lives! — in all the past 
 
 He lives; nor, to the last, 
 Of seeing him again will I despair. 
 
 In dreams I see him now, 
 
 And, on his angel-brow, 
 I see it written : " Thou shalt see me there !" 
 
 Yes, we all live to God! 
 
 Father, thy chastening rod 
 So help us, thine afflicted ones, to bear, 
 
 That in the spirit-land, 
 
 Meeting at thy right hand, 
 'Twill be our heaven to find that — Thou art there! 
 
Mxt Snfants teledeir? 
 
 ASHBEL G. FAIRCHILD, D.D.* 
 
 It is objected, that Election involves the doctrine of " infant 
 damnation." 
 
 On the contrary it furnishes the only ground on which the 
 salvation of infants can be consistently maintained ; for if those 
 who die in infancy are chosen to eternal life, then we have the 
 strongest possible assurance of their final happiness. On the 
 other hand, if, as some Anti-Calvinists argue, infants are not 
 elect to salvation, they cannot be of that happy number which 
 Christ will finally gather to his heavenly kingdom. Matt. xxiv. 
 31. These brethren, however, in their lively concern for our 
 orthodoxy, complain of a passage in our Confession, ch. 10, sec 
 3, which says, " Elect infants dying in infancy are regenerated 
 and saved by Christ, through the Spirit." From this they argue 
 " that if some who die in infancy are elect, others who die in 
 infancy are reprobate." But this is a gross error, founded upon 
 a misapprehension of the scriptural application of the term 
 " elect." This term, when used with reference to salvation, does 
 not signify chosen out of a particular age or class, but out of 
 
 * From " The Great Supper." Published by the Presbyterian Board of Publica- 
 tion. 
 
 101 
 
102 CHILDREN IN HEAVEN. 
 
 the general mass of mankind. Thus, when John, addressing the 
 "elect lady," speaks of her '■^ elect sister" (2 John 13,) we are 
 not to conclude with our good brethren, that she must have had 
 also a reprobate sister, but that the sister was one of those who 
 were elect out of the fallen family of Adam. Also, when the 
 phrase " elect children of God" occurs in sermons or writings, 
 we do not understand it as implying that there are also reprobate 
 children of God. Accordingly, our Confession of Faith uni- 
 formly uses the word " elect" in its true scriptural sense, to 
 signify chosen out of the whole race of fallen men. When it 
 speaks of infants dying in infancy as elect, its obvious meaning 
 is, that they are elected out of the whole mass of human beings ; 
 and this is perfectly consistent with the opinion that all who die 
 m infancy are chosen to salvation. 
 
 Let us now inquire whether the public standards of other de- 
 aominations are more orthodox on this point than ours. The 
 Methodist Discipline, under the head of "ministration of 
 baptism to infants," directs the minister to pray that the infant 
 to be baptized, " may ever remain in the number of thy faithful 
 and elect children." Ch. 3, sec. 2. Of course if the infant be 
 in the number of the elect, it must itself be elect — an elect infant. 
 Here then is the doctrine of " infant election" in all its length 
 and breadth. I will add, what is not perhaps generally known to 
 the world, that the great founder of Methodism in his treatise on 
 Infant Baptism, published by the General Conference, boldly 
 avows the sentiment that infants cannot ordinarily be saved 
 without baptism. " If," says he, " infants are guilty of original 
 sin, then they are proper subjects of baptism; seeing, in the 
 
ARE INFANTS ELECTED? 103 
 
 ordinary way, they cannot be saved, unless this be washed away 
 by baptism. It has already been proved," he adds, " that this 
 original stain cleaves to every child of man ; and that hereby 
 they are children of wrath and liable to eternal damnation." 
 Doct. Tracts, p. 251. Still further on, in summing up his argu- 
 ment, Mr. Wesley urges that " outward baptism is generally, in 
 an ordinary way, necessary to salvation," and that " infants may 
 be saved, as well as adults." He adds, " Nor ought we to 
 neglect any means of saving them." P. 259. From this reason- 
 ing the inference is unavoidable that infants dying without 
 baptism, ordinarily at least, suffer eternal damnation. The very 
 thought of this is enough to make any one shudder ! But it is 
 not so much my object to convict our Methodist brethren of 
 holding " infant damnation," as to show with what an ill grace 
 charges of that kind are preferred against others, by members 
 of their communion. 
 
 Our Cumberland brethren in their Confession of Faith, chap. 
 10, sec. 3, admit the salvation of infants ; and yet in section 1, 
 of the same chapter, limit the blessings of eternal life to " those 
 whom God calls, and who obey the call, and. those only ;^^ from 
 which number infants are necessarily excluded.* Nor do they 
 recognize the election of infants ; but on the contrary affirm that 
 none are elect " in a saving sense," but those who are " enlight- 
 ened in the knowledge of God," and have " spiritual wisdom to 
 
 * Old Arminian divines, as Episcopius, Curcellteus, and others, contended that 
 infants in a future world, though saved from the pains of hell, would always remain 
 in an infantine state, and thus be incapable of enjoying the blessedness of ueavea. 
 See Ridgely, vol. 2, pp. 139, 140. 
 
104 CHILDREN IN HEAVEN. 
 
 discern and detect deceivers." Confession of Faith, ch. 3, note. 
 ]\Iay I not suggest, that as their own public standards leave this 
 subject so much in the dark, they should be somewhat cautious 
 in charging others with excluding infants from the blessedness of 
 heaven ? 
 
 Let me now ask the opponents of infant election, what they 
 ■will do with those w^ho die in infancy, if they are not the "elect 
 of God ?" AVill they people the realms of glory with the 
 reprobate f "Will they have it that the Lord Jesus will gather 
 the non-elect to his heavenly kingdom ? Ah ! this doctrine of 
 infant election is a serious annoyance to our brethren. They can 
 neither deny nor admit its truth, without involving themselves 
 in inextricable difficulties. If they admit that they are chosen 
 to salvation, then they must at once admit the doctrine of gratui- 
 tous, unconditional election, with all its tremendous consequences. 
 For if infants are elect unto salvation, it cannot be pretended 
 that they were elected on account of foreseen faith or works, or 
 any other good thing in the creature. I say, if God has chosen 
 them to life and glory, he must have chosen them " according to 
 the counsel of his own will," and prompted by his own spon- 
 taneous mercy. Here, then, is a j^art of mankind, comprising at 
 least one fourth of the species, dying in infancy, and all subjects 
 of free, sovereign, gratuitous election ! Let us ask these brethren, 
 Why does God take one infant to heaven, while as yet it is un- 
 stained with actual sin, and leave another to grow up in impeni- 
 tence, to become polluted with crime, and sink at last under his 
 fearful displeasure? What is this but sovereign, discriminating 
 mercy, exerted to the utmost extent ever contended for by the 
 
ARE INFANTS ELECTED? 105 
 
 most rigid Calvinist ? Let me repeat the question ; Why is one 
 taken to glory in infancy, and another, born on the same day, 
 spared to old age only to treasure up wrath against a day of 
 wrath ? Truly our Anti-Calvinist brethren cannot admit this 
 doctrine of the election of infants, without involving their whole 
 scheme in absolute ruin. 
 
 Again : these brethren are compelled to admit that infants 
 cannot be saved without regeneration. But look for a moment 
 at the consequences of such admission by Anti-Calvinists. Ask 
 them the question. What if an infant should die before regenera- 
 tion ? " Oh," they will reply, " infants cannot die before they 
 are regenerated." Why, then, it follows that the unregenerated 
 part of our species are immortal while in a state of infancy ! 
 Let no one start at this, for it is the only ground on which these 
 brethren can resist the damnation of infants, — the immortality 
 of the unregenerate while they are infants ! The Calvinist 
 easily avoids this aj)palling difficulty, since he holds that God 
 has fore-ordained the salvation of infants, and consequently has 
 ordained all the means necessary to its accomplishment. Thus 
 their election secures their regeneration. 
 
 I am aware that some individuals have long been labouring to 
 produce the impression that our church teaches the doctrine of 
 " infant damnation." I say, some incUmduals, for I will not sup- 
 pose that the great body of any Christian denomination are 
 willing to countenance so wicked a slander. It has often been 
 proved, and is well understood by the intelligent part of the 
 community, that the Presbyterians do not now and never did 
 
 maintain that doctrine. Nor, indeed, has there ever existed a 
 u 
 
106 CHILDREN IN HEAVEN. 
 
 Calviiiistic body who maintained it.* Yet in opposition k the 
 dearest evidence, these individuals either secretly or openly, by 
 cowardly insinuation, or by confident assertion, labour to fix this 
 stigma upon the members of our communion. No means are 
 left untried to effect their object. So systematically and exten- 
 sively has this sort of calumny been practised, in some parts of 
 our country, that not a single Calvinistic minister can escape it 
 by the most public and explicit disavowals. Certain individuals 
 can be found who are willing to say they have heard him preach, 
 " that there are infants in hell not a span long." Now, my 
 friends, we must regard all this as an evidence of a persecuting 
 spirit. As these men cannot wield the civil power against us, 
 they will do what they can to punish us for holding doctrines 
 which they cannot overthrow by fair and manly argument. God 
 only knows the extent to which we might have to suffer for our 
 religion, were it not for the protection of the laws ! For if men 
 will propagate the most wilful and deliberate untruths against us, 
 as they certainly do, for no other offence than an honest differ- 
 ence of religious belief, what would they not do, if their power 
 were equal to their wickedness? Presbyterians, however, can 
 look beyond the agency of evil men, to the Sapi eme Disposer of 
 all events, and say with David, when Shimei cursed and cast 
 stones at him, " Let them alone, for the Lord hath bidden them." 
 
 * More than two centuries ago, when the Calvinists were accused by their Arminian 
 opponents of holding " that infants are torn away from the breasts of their mothers, 
 and tyrannically precipitated into hell," the charge was indignantly repelled by the 
 Synod of Dort. See the conclusion of their Articles. 
 
mit mtciton of Snfants. 
 
 CUTHBERT. 
 
 It is alleged that God, in delivering fallen men from sin and 
 condemnation, proceeds on the principle of selection — that, ir- 
 respective of character, or desert, or external circumstances, he 
 chooses some and passes hy others — that his choice is represented 
 as embracing, not all without exception comprehended in any- 
 particular class, but individuals belonging to every class — andj 
 that those who die in infancy, being a distinct and immensely 
 numerous section of the human family, God deals with them as 
 he does with the different communities and nations of the earth : 
 " he has mercy on whom he will have mercy." 
 
 Admitting that God does proceed on the principle of selec- 
 tion, in framing and carrying into effect the scheme of redemp- 
 tion, those who die in infancy cannot, in the proper sense of the 
 term, be considered a distinct class. They are taken from the 
 entire human race, and belong to " every kindred, and tongue, 
 and people, and nation." And I should imagine that Divine 
 sovereignty is as really exercised in fixing upon the families, and 
 the individual or individuals, in each of these families, who are 
 to be removal from this world by death, and conveyed to the 
 
 * From " Light on Little Graves." 
 107 
 
108 CHILDREN IN HEAVEN. 
 
 mansions of glory in early childhood, as it is in calling to the 
 faith and hope of the gospel those who are ordained to eternal 
 life, from the mighty mass of accountable agents dead in tres- 
 passes and sins. The principle of selection is not less strikingly 
 apparent in the one case than it is in the other. And since that 
 principle is neither infringed nor set aside, why not rather sup- 
 pose — especially, as the spirit of the mediatorial economy, and 
 the rule which will be acted upon by the Supreme Judge at the 
 last day, in determining the state of the subjects of his moral 
 government, alike point to the conclusion — that children, who 
 die in infancy, are comprehended in " the election of grace ;" 
 and that they are, without exception, included in God's eternal 
 purpose to save ? 
 
 This view of the subject, whilst it is in perfect harmony with 
 all that we know of the Divine character, and the principles of 
 the Divine government, commends itself to our hearts. It is 
 fitted to produce, in our minds, elevated conceptions of the 
 worth of the Saviour's sacrifice, and adoring wonder at the re- 
 sults which flow from it. It invests, with thrilling interest, the 
 statements of Scripture, relating to the number of the redeemed 
 from among men, and imparts to them peculiar significancy and 
 force. And whilst each one in the vast multitude before the 
 celestial throne gratefully recounts his obligations to sovereign 
 grace, and celebrates the glories of redeeming love, none, per- 
 haps, express their rapturous emotions in louder strains than 
 those who find themselves amid the felicities of heaven, almost 
 immediately after they are ushered into being. 
 
SuEE, to the mansions of the blest 
 
 When infant innocence ascends, 
 Some angel, brighter than the rest, 
 
 The spotless spirit's flight attends. 
 On wings of ecstasy they rise, 
 
 Beyond where worlds material roll, 
 Till some fair sister of the skies 
 
 Receives the unpolluted soul. 
 
 That inextinguishable beam. 
 
 With dust united at our birth. 
 Sheds a more dim, discoloured gleam, 
 
 The more it lingers upon earth. 
 Closed in this dark abode of clay, 
 
 The stream of glory faintly burns :— 
 Not unobserved, the lucid ray 
 
 To its own native fount returns. 
 
 But when the Lord of mortal breath 
 Decrees his bounty to resume, 
 
 And points the silent shaft of death 
 Which speeds an infant to the tomb-^ 
 
 109 
 
110 CHILDREN IN HEAVEN. 
 
 No passion fierce, nor low desire, 
 
 Has quenched the radiance of the flame ; 
 
 Back to its God the living fire 
 Reverts, unclouded as it came. 
 
 Fond mourner ! be that solace thine ! 
 
 Let Hope her healing charm impart, 
 And soothe, with melodies divine, 
 
 The anguish of a mother's heart. 
 Oh, think ! the darlings of thy love, 
 
 Divested of this earthly clod, 
 Amid unnumbered saints above 
 
 Bask in the bosom of their GrOD. 
 
 Of their short pilgrimage on earth 
 
 Still tender images remain: 
 Still, still they bless thee for their birth, 
 
 Still filial gratitude retain. 
 Each anxious care, each rending sigh. 
 
 That wrung for them the parent's breast, 
 Dwells on remembrance in the sky, 
 
 Amid the raptures of the blest. 
 
 O'er thee, with looks of love, they bend j 
 For thee the Lord of life implore : 
 
 And oft from sainted bliss descend. 
 
 Thy wounded quiet to restore. ^ 
 
 Oft in the stillness of the night, ' 
 
 They smooth the pillow of thy bed, 
 
GLORIFIED CHILDREN. HI 
 
 Oft till the morn's returning light 
 Still watchftd hover o'er thy head. 
 
 Hark! in such strains as saints employ, 
 
 They whisper to thy bosom peace; 
 Calm the perturbed heart to joy, 
 
 And bid the streaming sorrow cease. 
 Then dry, henceforth, the bitter tear : 
 
 Their part and thine inverted see. 
 Thou wert their guardian angel here, 
 
 They guardian angels xow to thee! 
 
Mtep not far i\t gejitr. 
 
 MARY E. BROOKS. 
 
 Oh, weep not for the dead ! 
 Rather, oh rather give the tear 
 To those that darkly linger here, 
 
 When all besides are fled. 
 Weep for the spirit withering 
 In its cold cheerless sorrowing. 
 Weep for the young and lovely one 
 That ruin darkly revels on; 
 
 But never be a tear-drop shed 
 
 For them, the pure enfranchised dead. 
 
 Oh, weep not for the dead! 
 No more for them the blighting chill, 
 The thousand shades of earthly ill, 
 
 The thousand thorns we tread; 
 Weep for the life-charm early flown. 
 The spirit broken, bleeding lone; 
 Weep for the death-pangs of the heart. 
 Ere being from the bosom part; 
 But never be a tear-drop given 
 To those that rest in yon blue heaven. 
 
 112 
 
JAMES MONTGOMERY.* 
 
 " Happy, thrice happy were they thus to die, 
 Rather than grow into such men and women, 
 — Such fiends incarnate as that felon-sire, 
 Who dug its grave before his child was born ; 
 Such miserable wretches as that mother, 
 Whose tender mercies were so deadly cruel ! 
 
 I saw their infant's spirit rise to heaven. 
 Caught from its birth up to the throne of God ; 
 There, thousands and ten tliousands, I beheld, 
 Of innocents like this, that died untimely, 
 By violence of their unnatural kin. 
 Or by the mercy of that gracious power, 
 Who gave them being, taking what he gave 
 Ere they could sin or suffer like their parents. 
 I saw them in white raiment crowned with flowers. 
 On the fair banks of that resplendent I'iver, 
 Whose streams make glad the city of our God ; 
 — Water of life, as clear as crystal swelling 
 
 * From " Pelican Isliiiul," canto vii., wliere he clcscriLes a heathen parent sacri- 
 ficing her child. 
 
 15 113 
 
114 CHILDREN IN HEAVEN. 
 
 Forth from the throne itself, and visiting 
 ■ Fields of a Paradise that ne'er was lost ; 
 Where yet the tree of life immortal grows, 
 And bears its monthly fruits, twelve kinds of fruit, 
 Each in its season, food of saints and angels ; 
 Whose leaves are for the healing of the nations. 
 Beneath the shadow of its blessed boughs, 
 I marked those rescued infants, in their schools, 
 By spirits of just men made perfect, taught 
 The glorious lessons of Almighty Love, 
 Which brought them thither in the readiest path 
 From the world's wilderness of dire temptations 
 Securing thus their everlasting weal. 
 
 Yea, in the rapture of that hour, though songs 
 
 Of cherubim to golden lyres and trumpets, 
 
 And the redeemed upon the sea of glass. 
 
 With voices like the sound of many waters 
 
 Came on mine ear, whose secret cells were opened 
 
 To entertain celestial harmonies, 
 
 — The small sweet accents of those little children. 
 
 Pouring out all the gladness of their souls 
 
 In love, joy, gratitude, and praises to Him, 
 
 — Him, who had loved and washed them in his blood ; 
 
 These were to me tlie most transporting strains, 
 
 Amidst the hallelujahs of all heaven. — 
 
 Though lost a while in that amazing chorus 
 
 Around the throne, — at happy intervals. 
 
HAPPY AKE TIIEY. 115 
 
 The slirill hosannas of the infant choir, 
 Singing in that eternal temple, brouglit 
 Tears to mine eye, whilst seraphs had been glad 
 To weep, could they have felt the sympathy 
 That melted all my soul, wlien I beheld 
 How condescending Deity thus designed, 
 Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings here. 
 To perfect his high praises ; — the harp of heaven 
 Had lacked its least but not its meanest string. 
 Had children not been taught to play upon it, 
 And sing, from feelings all their own, what men 
 Nor angels can conceive of creatures, born 
 Under the curse, yet from the curse redeemed. 
 And placed at once beyond the power to fall, 
 — Safety which men nor angels ever knew. 
 Till ranks of these, and all of those had fallen. 
 
In heart divided, and in spirit rent, 
 
 Who could forbid a mother to lament? 
 
 Death ! thou dread looser of the dearest tie, 
 
 Was there no aged and no sick one nigh? 
 
 No languid wretch who longed, but longed in vain, 
 
 For thy cold hand to cool his fiery pain? 
 
 And was the only victim thou couldst find, 
 
 An infant on its mother's arms reclined? 
 
 But 'tis thy way to pass the ripest by. 
 
 And cause the flowers and buds of life to die ; 
 
 Full many a flower is scattered by the breeze, 
 
 And many a blossom shaken from the trees, 
 
 And many a morning beam in tempest flies. 
 
 And many a dew-drop shines a while and dies : 
 
 But oftener far, the dream that fancy weaves, 
 
 Of future joy and happiness, deceives. 
 
 And thou pale mourner, o'er an infant's bier, 
 
 Brighten thy cheek, and dry the trickling tear; 
 
 This came, though veiled in darkness, from above, 
 
 A dispensation of eternal love! 
 
 116 
 
THE DEATH OF ILN INFANT. 117 
 
 He wlio perceived the dangerous control, 
 
 The heart-twined spell was gaining on thy soul, 
 
 Snatched from thine arms the treacherous decoy, 
 
 To give thee brighter hope and purer joy. 
 
 Oh ! see how soon the flowers of life decay, 
 
 How soon terrestrial pleasures fade away. 
 
 This star of comfort, for a moment given, 
 
 Just rose on earth, then set to rise in heaven. 
 
 Yet mourn not, as of hope bereft, its doom. 
 
 Nor water M'ith thy tears its early tomb ; 
 
 Redeemed by God from sin, released from pain, 
 
 Its life were punishment, its death were gain. 
 
 Turn back thine eye along the path of life. 
 
 View thine own grief, and weariness and strife: 
 
 And say, if that which tempts thee to repine. 
 
 Be not a happier lot by far than thine. 
 
 If death in infancy had laid thee low. 
 
 Thou hadst escaped from pain, and sin, and woe ; 
 
 The years thy soul the path of sorrow trod. 
 
 Had all been spent in converse with thy God ; 
 
 And thou hadst shone in yonder cloudless sphere, 
 
 A seraph there, and not a pilgrim here. 
 
 O ! it is sweet to die, — to part from earth, — 
 
 And win all heaven for things of little Morth ; 
 
 Then sure thou wouldst not, though thou couldst awake 
 
 The little slumberer, for its mother's sake. 
 
 It is M'hen those we love, in death depart. 
 
 That earth has slightest hold upon the heart. 
 
118 CHILDKEN IN HEAVEN. 
 
 Hath not bereavement higher wishes tauglit, 
 
 And purified from earth, thine earth-born thought? 
 
 I know it hath. Hope then appears more dear, 
 
 And heaven's bright realms shine brightest through a tear. 
 
 Though it be hard to bid thy heart divide, 
 
 And lay the gem of all thy love aside — 
 
 Faith tells thee, and it tells thee not in vain, 
 
 That thou shalt meet thine infant yet again. 
 
 On seraph wings the new-born spirit flies 
 
 To brighter regions and serener skies ; 
 
 And, ere thou art aware, the day may be 
 
 When to those skies thy babe shall welcome thee. 
 
 While yet on earth, thine ever-circling arms 
 
 Held it securest from surrounding harms; 
 
 Yet even there, disease could aim her dart, 
 
 Chill the warm cheek, and stop the fluttering heart. 
 
 And many a fruitless tear-drop thou hast paid, 
 
 To view the sickness that thou couldst not aid. 
 
 No ill can reach it now, it rests above, 
 
 Safe in the bosom of celestial love : 
 
 Its short but yet tempestuous way is o'er. 
 
 And tears shall trickle down its cheek no more. 
 
 Then far be grief! Faith looks beyond the tomb. 
 
 And heaven's bright portals sparkle through the gloom. 
 
 If bitter thoughts and tears in heaven could be, 
 
 It is thine infant that should weep for thee. 
 
RICHARD HUIE, M.D. 
 
 My little one, my fair one, are then thy troubles o'er, 
 
 And has thy slight and feeble bai'k arrived at Canaan's shore ? 
 
 Hast thou at length a haven reached, where thou canst anchor 
 
 fast, 
 And heed no more the pelting storm, the billow or the blast ? 
 
 My little one, my fair one, though brief thy course has been. 
 Few days of sunshine cheered thee on, few smiling coasts were 
 
 seen; 
 It 'seemed as o'er thy shallop frail the raven flapped his wing, 
 And scared the bright and halcyon tribes, which might thine 
 
 advent sing. 
 
 My little one, my fair one, thy couch is empty now, 
 AVhere oft I wiped the dews away, which gathered on thy brow; 
 No more amidst the sleepless night I smooth thy pillow fair, 
 Tis smooth indeed, but rest no more thy small pale features 
 there. 
 
 My little one, my fair one, thy tiny carriage waits, 
 But waits in vain to bear thy form through yon inviting 
 gates; 
 
 • From " Sacred Lyrics." 
 119 
 
120 CHILDREN IN HEAVEN. ■ 
 
 Where bloom the flowers as erst they did, when thou couldst 
 
 cull their sweets, 
 But roams in vain thy father's eye, no answering glance it 
 
 meets. 
 
 My little one, my fair one, thy lips were early trained 
 
 To lisp that gracious Saviour's name, who all thy guilt sus- 
 tained : 
 
 Nor would I weep because my Lord has snatched my gourd 
 away, 
 
 To blossom bright, and ripen fair, in realms of endless day. 
 
 My little one, my fah- one, thou canst not come to me. 
 But nearer draws the numbered hour, when I shall go to thee, 
 And thou, perchance, with seraph smile, and golden harp in 
 
 hand, 
 May'st come the first to welcome me, to our Emmanuel's land ! 
 
Clibe Snfant's iWiniature. 
 
 Yes ! thou art here, my sainted babe ! 
 
 Thy lustrous eyes of bhie — 
 The long dark fringe which o'er them sleep, 
 
 As silken curtains drew — 
 The full red lip, the dimpled cheek, 
 
 The polished lofty brow — 
 The matchless smile that lighted all — 
 
 They're here before me now. 
 
 Yet years, long years, have passed away, 
 
 Since I, a mother blest, 
 And thou, a babe too fair for earth. 
 
 Didst nestle to this breast. 
 Thy rosy dreams were not more sweet 
 
 Than were the moments then ; 
 But all their joys are numbered now 
 
 With pleasures that have been. 
 
 The most that I retain of thee 
 
 Is one small sunny curl ; 
 A treasure I would not exchttnge 
 
 For ocean's rarest pearl ; 
 
 Though this briglit picture, true to life, 
 
 lieaills thy infant charms 
 16 121 
 
122 CHILDREN IN HEAVEN. 
 
 So vividly, I seem again 
 To clasp thee in my arms. 
 
 'Tis beautiful to look upon — 
 
 But only doth portray 
 The casket, which a jewel held 
 
 That God hath borne away ; 
 For shining in his dazzling crown^ 
 
 Is many an infant gem, 
 And he required this precious one 
 
 To deck that diadem. 
 
 And oh ! to paint a cherub soul, 
 
 In vain the artist tries ! 
 For this, his pencil must be dipped 
 
 In azure of the skies ; 
 Borrow the rainbow's hue, and make 
 
 The glittering stars its own ; 
 For angel beauty never yet 
 
 In earthly colours shone. 
 
 So let me think of thee, my babe ! 
 
 As when thou wert of earth ; 
 And, like this picture, radiant with 
 
 Tlie smiles of infant mirth. 
 Forget the dismal hour when God 
 
 Recalled what he had given. 
 And hope to see thee as thou art. 
 
 And claim thee still in heaven ! 
 
^I^ilb's ^cutl^. 
 
 R. B. SHERIDAN. 
 
 Ix some rude spot where vulgar lierbage grows, 
 
 If chance a violet rear its purple head, 
 The careful gardener moves it ere it blows, 
 To thrive and flourish in a nobler bed ; 
 Such was thy fate, dear child, 
 Thy opening such ! 
 Pre-eminence in early bloom was shown ; 
 For earth, too good, perhaps ; 
 And loved too much — 
 Hea^'en saw, and early marked thee for its own. 
 123 
 
Scatlj of an <^ufitnt. 
 
 MRS. L. H. SIGOURNEY. 
 
 Death found strange beiuity on that poli^lied brow, 
 And clashed it out. — 
 
 There was a tint of rose 
 On cheek and lip. — He touched the veins with ice, 
 And the rose faded. — 
 
 Forth from those blue eyes 
 There spake a wishful tenderness, a doubt 
 Whether to grieve or sleep, whicli innocence 
 Alone may wear. With ruthless haste he bound 
 The silken frino;es of those curtaiuina; lids 
 For ever. — 
 
 There had been a murmuring sound, 
 With which the babe would claim its mother's ear, 
 Charming her even to tears. The spoiler set 
 His seal of silence. — 
 
 But there beamed a smile 
 So fixed, so holy, from that cherub brow, 
 Death gazed — and loft it there. 
 
 He dared not steal 
 The signet ring of Heaven. 
 
 124 
 
WM. C. BENNETT. 
 
 Oh ! those little, those little blue shoes I 
 Those shoes that no little feet use ; 
 Oh ! the price were high 
 That those shoes would buy, 
 Those little blue unused shoes ! 
 
 For they hold the small shape of feet 
 That no more their mother's eyes meet; 
 
 That by God's good will. 
 
 Years since grew still, 
 And ceased from their totter so sweet. 
 
 And oh ! since that baby slept. 
 
 So hushed, how the mother has kept, 
 
 With a tearful pleasure, 
 
 That little dear treasure, 
 And over them thought and wept! 
 
 For they mind her for evermore 
 Of a patter along the floor ; 
 
 125 
 
126 CHILDREN IN HEAVEN. 
 
 And bine eyes she sees 
 Look up from her knees, 
 With the look that in life they wore. 
 
 I As they lie before her tfiere, 
 
 There babbles from chair to chair 
 A little sweet face 
 That's a gleam in the place, 
 With its little gold curls of hair. 
 
 Then, oh ! wonder not that her heart 
 From all else would rather part 
 
 Than those tiny blue shoes 
 
 That no little feet use, 
 And whose sight makes such fond tears start. 
 
goto sl^e ^ics, 
 
 MRS. NORTON. 
 
 Low she lies, who blest our eyes 
 
 Through many a sunny day ; 
 She may not smile, she will not rise, — 
 
 The life has past away ! 
 Yet there is a world of light beyond, 
 
 Where we neither die nor sleep ; 
 She is there, of whom our souls were fond. 
 
 Then, wherefore do we weep? 
 
 The heart is cold, whose thoughts were told 
 
 In each glance of her glad bright eye; 
 And she lies pale, who was so bright. 
 
 She scarce seemed made to die. 
 Yet we know that her soul is happy now. 
 
 Where the saints their calm watch keep ; 
 That angels are crowning that fair young brow, 
 
 Then, wherefore do we weep ? 
 
 Her laughing voice made all rejoice. 
 
 Who caught the happy sound ; 
 127 
 
128 CHILDREN IN HEAVEN. 
 
 There was gladness in her very step, 
 
 As it lightly touched the ground. 
 The echoes of voice and step are gone, 
 
 There is silence still and deep; 
 Yet we know that she sings by God's bright throne. 
 
 Then, wherefore do we weep? 
 
 The cheek's pale tinge, the lid's dark fringe, 
 
 That lies like a shadow there, 
 Were beautiful in the eyes of all. 
 
 And her glossy golden hair ! 
 But though that lid may never wake 
 
 From its dark and dreamless sleep; 
 She is gone where young hearts do not break. 
 
 Then, wherefore do we weep ? 
 
 That world of light with joy is bright. 
 
 This is a world of woe ; 
 Shall we grieve that her soul has taken flight 
 
 Because we dwell below? 
 We will bury her under the mossy sod. 
 
 And one long bright tress w^e'll keep ; 
 We have only given her back to God, 
 
 Then, wherefore do we weep? 
 
tnbont of 80b in ferrst to Miiih mnlbxtn. 
 
 GEORGE W. BETHUNE, D.D. 
 
 The great truth of the Gospel is, that God deh"ghts to save, 
 of which he has given the strongest possible assurance in the 
 mission of his only begotten Son (John iii. 16.) He has com- 
 manded his gospel to be preached throughout the world, and so 
 worded his invitations as to show, that whosoever will, may come 
 and take of the waters of life freely (Rev. xxii. 17.) Therefore, 
 though he had given no tokens of regard for those, who, because 
 of their tender age, cannot come unto him, nor put forth their 
 hands to receive his grace ; the silence itself, connected with the 
 gracious spirit of what he has revealed, Avould warrant us in 
 believing that not one of the little ones should perish. But he 
 is not silent respecting them, nor has he refused them tokens of 
 his special regard, as may be shown abundantly from his Holy 
 Scriptures. 
 
 The favour of God in Christ tow^ard little children, confirms 
 this doctrine. 
 
 This favour appears in the very first promise of mercy, for it 
 
 ■" From "Early Lost, Early Saved," an excellent little volume published by tlie 
 Board of Publieatif>n of the Reformed Dutch Church, New York. 
 17 129 
 
130 CHILDREN IN HEAVEN. 
 
 was by the seed of the woman that God declared the head of the 
 serpent should be bruised (Gen. iii. 15.) When, therefore, our 
 first mother embraced her first-born, she saw proof of the coming 
 salvation in her babe, and exclaimed : " I have gotten a man 
 from the Lord " (Gen. iv. 1.) So, throughout subsequent ages, 
 believers under the Old Testament looked upon their offspring 
 as peculiarly precious, because proofs of Divine faithfulness. 
 Farther to consecrate and encourage this sentiment, God appointed 
 in the family of Abraham the rite of circumcision, by which the 
 parent manifested his faith that God was the God of his child. 
 It was not possible for them to believe the promise of a future 
 Redeemer, without seeing that their babes were included by ite 
 blessings. The child, if he lived to grow up, might cut himself 
 off from the covenant by his own sin (Ex. xii. 15 ; xxxi. 14;) 
 the first-born of woman became the murder-cursed Cain ; but 
 the babe, as a babe, was from his birth an object of the Divine 
 favour and compassion. 
 
 Nor was this regard confined to the children of God's believ- 
 ing people ; though, for obvious reasons, their privileges were 
 greater. Among the grounds of condemnation, which, by his 
 prophet, he denounces against the worshippers of Baal, not the 
 least is, that they had shed the blood of many " innocents " (Jer. 
 xix. 4 ;)* alluding, doubtless, as the fifth verse shows, to the cruel 
 (sustom of sacrificing young children in honour of the demon. 
 It was an aggravation of the crime that these children were 
 descendants of the covenanted fathers, from whose faith their 
 
 * Compare Ezekiel xvi. 17, "wfy children."' 
 
THE FAVOUR OF GOD IN CHRIST. 131 
 
 more immediate parents had apostatized ; yet the prophet does 
 not speak of tliem in that character, but as " innocents," and, 
 therefore, because of their helpless innocency, peculiarly objects 
 of the Divine care.* 
 
 Another remarkable passage, often cited by advocates of our 
 doctrine, occurs in the book of Jonah (iv. 10, 11,) where God, 
 answering with rebuke the unmerciful complaint of the disap- 
 pointed prophet, says : " Should I not spare Nineveh, that great 
 city, wherein are more than six-score thousand persons that can- 
 not discern between their right hand and their left ?" by which 
 is meant infants. What we are particularly to remark, in these 
 two citations, is the reason which God assigns for his tender con- 
 cern respecting " little ones ;" their personal innocence, their in- 
 capacity of actual moral wrong. Their adult fathers were guilty 
 on their own account, and he might with justice have destroyed 
 them ; but the little ones who " could not discern between their 
 right hand and their left," the " innocent," were regarded by him 
 with aifectionate compassion. 
 
 Now, asks an excellent writer, commenting on the 19th of 
 Jeremiah : " Can it be supposed that he, who undertook, in 
 such tremendous language, to avenge their temporal injuries, - 
 was at the same time intending to destroy them for ever ; that 
 he left those murdered babes an eternal prey to devils, in whose 
 obscure and sanguinary orgies, their innocent blood had been 
 
 * The author here adopts the opinion of some very able commentators; but he is 
 aware that others refer the " innocent blood" also to the martyrdom of prophets .and 
 other just persons. Still, the sacrificed children are included, and the inference is 
 gtrengthened by the babes being put in the same category with holy men. 
 
132 CHILDREN IN HEAVEN. 
 
 shed ?"* And again he says, in the 4th of Jonah, " Of the six- 
 score thousand Ninevite children, about sixty thousand were 
 probably removed from life while they knew not their right hand 
 from their left. It seems incredible, that after these expres- 
 sions of regard, such infants, dying without having forfeited this 
 tender concern by personal transgression, should be excluded 
 from the presence of God for ever." 
 
 Some may think that the force of these passages is neutralized 
 by others, where God commanded little ones to be slain with 
 their idolatrous parents, as in the case of the Midianites (Num- 
 bers xxxi. 17 ;) but we have nowhere denied (what, indeed, every 
 houf's observation should convince us of,) that children may be 
 involved by the temporal consequences of their parents' crimes, 
 as those of Nineveh would have been if the repentance of the 
 city had not turned away the Divine vengeance, and as the little 
 ones of idolatrous Israel were when sacrificed unto Baal. God 
 in ancient times, as now, punished national sins with national 
 calamities ; and, when his decree went forth to destroy a nation 
 by the sword, the children were not spared any more than they 
 are from a pestilence or earthquake. Besides, his providence 
 towards Israel was peculiar. His design was, for wise reasons, 
 to keep them in the land of Canaan as a separate people, their 
 Abrahamic lineage pure, and their Divine religion uncorrupt. 
 Therefore, he cleared the land of those idolatrous nations which 
 had possessed it, and provoked him to anger. Had any number, 
 particularly of the males, been permitted to survive, there must 
 
 * Rev. Dr. Harris' "Grounds of Hope for the Salvation of all Dying in Infancy." 
 London, 1821. 
 
THE FAVOUR OF GOD IN CHRIST. 133 
 
 have been constant insurrections, a depravation of their blood, 
 and a tendency to idolatry. Severe as the measure was, and far 
 from justifying imitation by men, it was as necessary to the 
 conservation of Israel as it was deserved by the Canaanite 
 tribes. It is, however, by no means a proof that God pursued 
 the little ones of his enemies with vengeance in another world. 
 They passed from under the sword of Moses, punishing their 
 nation for the capital crime of idolatry, before that judgment- 
 seat where every soul is tried by its own acts. If our doctrine 
 be true, we see the light of saving mercy shed over the darkest 
 and bloodiest pages of temporal providence. 
 
 With the fulness of time, the light of hope for the dying 
 infant, which before was glimmering, became clear and bright. 
 
 Among the characteristics of Christianity, not the least re- 
 markable and beautiful, is its tender favour towards little chil- 
 dren. 
 
 The great Forerunner of our Lord came not in the strength 
 of a full-grown man. The first intimation, that the kingdom of 
 God was nigh at hand, was given in the promise of a little child: 
 " Fear not, Zacharias, for thy prayer is heard ; and thy wife 
 Elizabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name 
 John. And thou shalt have joy and gladness, and many shall 
 rejoice at his 6«-f A. And he shall be great in the sight of the 
 liOrd, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink ; and he 
 t^hall be filled with the Holy Ghost, etrn/rom his mother's womb'' 
 (Luke i. 13, 14, 15.) So, when the promise was fulfilled, and 
 the happy father held his son in his arms, he prophesied over 
 him witli gladness, and said, "Thou, child, shalt be called the 
 
134 CHILDREN IN HEAVEN. 
 
 prophet of the Highest!'' (Luke i. 67-80.) The Harbinger of 
 the gospel was a sanctified little cJiild. 
 
 Then, when to the humble shepherds in the fields, keeping 
 watch over their flock by night, the angel of the Lord came, and 
 the glory of the Lord shone round about them, what was his 
 announcement of good tidings of great joy, which should be to 
 all people ? " Unto you is born this day, in the city of David, 
 a Saviour, which is Christ the Lor^. And this shall be a sign 
 unto you. Ye shall find the Babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, 
 lying in a manger" (Luke ii. 8, 12.) They ran with haste unto 
 Bethlehem, and there they found the blessed Virgin Mother 
 gazing upon her mysterious CHILD, already named by the Holy 
 Ghost, Jesus, the Saviour ; Emmanuel, God with us. 
 
 Wise men from the east, moved by traditions of ancient 
 prophecy, the appearance of the star of which Balaam had 
 spoken (Num. xxiv. 17,) and, doubtless, by inspiration from on 
 high, came with princtlr gifts to worship Him that was horn 
 King of the Jeios; and lo! the star which they had seen in the 
 east went before them till it came and stood near where the 
 YOUNG CHILD lay; and when they saw the star they rejoiced 
 with exceeding great joy. And when they were come into the 
 house, they saw the young child, with Mary, his mother, and 
 fell down and worsJiipped Him (Matt. ii. 1-11.) 
 
 Can any one read these passages, without perceiving that our 
 Divine Lord was a Saviour worthy of all adoration and trust 
 from his very birth "? It was, indeed, necessary for him to be 
 born of a woman, that he might be truly man ; and having been 
 born, to pass through the years which intervene before the full 
 
THE FAVOUR OF GOD IN CHRIST. 135" 
 
 age, when, agreeably to Jewish rule, he might assume his office 
 publicly. We see, also, in his feeble beginning, a parable of his 
 cause, which, though apparently weak and of little worldly ac- 
 count at first, is destined to attain the highest glory. These, 
 however, were not all the reasons why he came as a little child, 
 yet a Saviour, passed through all the weaknesses, sorrows, and 
 trials of infancy, being tried in all points as little ones are ; and 
 rewarded the care of his pious mother with child-like, affection- 
 ate observance. It was to teach us that he is the Saviour of 
 little children, who bear his likeness more closely than the best 
 disciple of mature years ever can, as well as of the adults who 
 believe in his name. It was to claim the whole world of infancy 
 as his own, however men might reject his grace. It was to 
 assure the anxious mother bending over his image in her child, 
 that 
 
 " She may trust her sweet babe through the hour of danger. 
 To the mercy of Him, who was laid in a manger." 
 
 Nor did the " holy child jesus " wait long for an oppor- 
 tunity of saving his little fellows. The cruel Herod, fearful of 
 losing his throne because the true King of the Jews was born, 
 " sent forth and slew all the children that were in Bethlehem, 
 and in all the coasts thereof, from two years old and under" 
 (Matt. ii. 16 ;) and, though the one he sought was carried beyond 
 his malice, hundreds (or as some think, thousands) of babes and 
 sucklings yielded their young lives to a persecution of the infant 
 Saviour. On earth, " in Rama was there a voice heard, lamenta- 
 tion and weeping, and a great mourning ; Rachel weeping for 
 her children and refusing to be comforted, because they were 
 
136 CHILDREN IN HEAVEN. 
 
 not" (Luke ii. 18;) but in heaven there was great joy, as tne 
 happy angels bore on rejoicing wings to their Father's house the 
 young redeemed, a numerous proof that Jesus had entered his 
 kingdom and claimed little children for his own. The rage oi 
 Herod against the infant King, but sent the little ones to shout, 
 among the blessed. His praises, 
 
 " Who brought them there, 
 Without a wish, without a care." 
 
 Dear Matthew Henry, here sweetly though quaintly says : " A 
 passive testimony was given hereby to the Lord Jesus, as when 
 he was in the womb he was witnessed to by a little child 
 leaping in the womb for joy at his approach ; so now, at two years 
 old, he had contemporary witnesses to him of the same age. 
 They shed their blood for him, who afterwards shed his blood 
 for them. These were the infantry of the noble army of martyrs. 
 If these infants were thus baptized with blood, though it were 
 their own, into the church triumphant, it could not be said but 
 tliat, with what they got in heaven, they were abundantly recom- 
 pensed for all they lost on earth. ' Out of the mouth of these 
 babes and sucklings God did perfect praise, otherwise it is not 
 good to the Almighty that he should thus afflict.' " Good 
 Jeremy Taylor speaks to the same import : " Jesus, when him- 
 self was safe, might have secured these poor babes of Bethlehem, 
 with thousands of diversions or avocations of Herod's purposes, 
 or by discovering in some safe manner, not unknown to the 
 Divine wisdom, his own escape ; but it did not so please God. 
 He is Lord of his own creatures, and hath an absolute dominion 
 
THE FAVOUR OF GOD IX CHRIST. 137 
 
 over our lives, and he had an end to serve npon these babes, and 
 an end of justice upon Herod ; and to the children he made such 
 comj)ensation, that they had no reason to complain that they were 
 so soon made stars, when they shone in their little orbs and par- 
 ticipations of eternity ; for so the sense of the church has been, 
 that they having died the death of marts^rs, though incapable 
 of making the choice, God supplied the defects of their will by 
 his own entertainment of the thing."* 
 
 These auguries and promises of favour to little children, in 
 our blessed Lord's birth and nursing age, are most sweetly and 
 richly confirmed by many passages and occasions of his riper 
 ministry. Our beloved Master took peculiar pleasure in mani- 
 festing his tender love for little ones, and showed peculiar dis- 
 pleasure at those who doubted his willingness to receive them. 
 
 There are two remarkable instances of this preserved by the 
 Evangelists ; the one by Matthew xviii. 1-14, by Mark ix. 35- 
 37, by Luke ix. 46-48 ; the other by Matthew xix. 13, 14, by 
 Mark x. 14, and by Luke xviii. 15-17. We shall examine this 
 last first, as the former presents us with additional matter for 
 consideration. 
 
 Matt. xix. 13, 14. "Then were brought unto him little chil- 
 dren, that he should put his hands on them and pray (that he 
 should touch them, Mark and Luke.) And the disciples rebuked 
 them (those that brought them, Mark,) and when Jesus saw it, 
 he was much displeased. But Jesus said, Suffer (the) little chil- 
 dren (to come unto me, Mark and Luke,) and forbid them not to 
 
 * "They were too young to fight, but not too young to be crowned with victory," 
 —Ciiiirian. 
 18 
 
138 CHILDREN IN HEAVEN. 
 
 come unto me, for of such is the kingdom of heaven {God, Mark, 
 and Luke.) (Verily, I say unto you, whosoever shall not receive 
 the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not enter therein, 
 Mark.) And he laid his hands on them (and he took them up 
 in his arms, put his hands upon them, Mark) and blessed 
 them." 
 
 Who they were, that brought these little ones to Jesus, we are 
 not told ; most likely it was their parents, perhaps, some benevo- 
 lent lovers of children, who had faith in his blessing, yes, even 
 in his touch. They were very little children, for Luke uses the 
 same word, which is applied to the Babe in the manger. 
 " Christ," says Matthew Henry in his Sermon on Mark x. 16, 
 " came to teach, to heal, and to bless. These little children 
 were not brought to him to be taught, for they were too young; 
 nor to be healed, for we are not told that they were sick ; but to 
 be blessed, as his laying on them his hands signified." Now mark 
 not only the tenderness of Jesus, but the reason he assigns for it. 
 He takes them up in his arms ; he lays their little heads in his 
 holy bosom ; he blesses them w^ith Divine authority. He does 
 so the more emphatically, to rebuke those who would have kept 
 them from him. The Master himself, the Head of the Church, 
 the perfect Example of the Church, clasps little children gladly 
 tx) his heart. For what reason ? Because of a tenderness, natural 
 in so loving a spirit as his, toward helpless, smiling babes ? 
 That might well be. Or, that he might recommend little chil- 
 dren to the care of his disciples ? This was certainly true. But 
 the main reason he gives himself: " Of such is the kingdom of 
 God." "What can this mean, for our I^ord was not Avont to 
 
THE FAVOUR OF GOD IN CHRIST. 139 
 
 speak ambiguously when instructing his disciples, but that which 
 the words express plainly. " Of such is the kingdom of God," 
 or, little children, as such, belong to God's kingdom by his 
 gracious determination. If they should grow to years of personal 
 responsibility, their circumstances would be different, and personal 
 faith would be necessary for their salvation ; because then they 
 would be no longer, except they were regenerate, such as his 
 kingdom is made up of. But, if such as were of his kingdom 
 died before they sinned by rejecting his grace, could they be re- 
 jected by him, and sent away to the kingdom of Satan ? 
 
 We are not to be turned from this ground, by the question, 
 How can they, who are once of the kingdom of heaven, in af- 
 ter years lose their part of it ? We take the words of our Lord 
 as we find them, nor shall any theological dilemma stumble us 
 into unbelief of them. God can reconcile difficulties which we 
 cannot. 
 
 We, however, can see no difficulty here. The Master does 
 not speak of any particular child or children, but of the charac- 
 ter and state in which all infants are. While they remain in 
 that state and retain that character, they are of the kingdom of 
 God ; when they pass from the one or lose the other, they are 
 l)eyond the condition which is covered by the mercy of Christ. 
 If any of those little ones live to bring condemnation on their 
 souls by obstinate impenitence, it is clear that they never belonged 
 to the elect of grace ; but, if any die before such personal sin, it 
 is equally clear that they are safe, because our Lord says, " Of 
 such is the kingdom of God." He is speaking of them in the 
 circumstances of little children, not as possible adults ; just as 
 
140 CHILDREN IN HEAVEN. 
 
 God, under the Old Testament, promised blessing to the children 
 of circumcision, thousands of whom, in riper years, lost the ad- 
 vantage of the covenant ; though we doubt not that every one 
 of them dying as infants were admitted to glory. When God 
 determines the salvation of a soul, he also determines the means 
 of its preparation for heaven ; and we know nothing of his par- 
 ticular purposes but by their results in personal character. The 
 dying infant has the character to which heaven is promised. 
 
 It may be said in reply, that the Saviour is speakmg of the 
 character, which his disciples should cultivate, if they would 
 enter the kingdom of heaven ; not of the little children them- 
 selves. We admit the first ; we deny the second. Little chil- 
 dren are set before us as types, examples of that temper to which 
 only the kingdom of God is promised ; but what right has any 
 one to say, that the Master did not mean the little children 
 themselves, when he directly points to them ? Besides, if it be 
 true that all, who become as little children, are saved, is not the 
 inference irresistible, that those, whom they become like, are 
 saved also, when they go as little children before God ? Why 
 this painful logic to shut out from heaven those who die in the 
 very arms of Christ ? We should tremble to adopt it, lest we 
 should come under the rebuke of those who would have forbid- 
 den his little ones to come unto him. We can understand cau- 
 tion in so rendering Scriptures, that we give no encouragement 
 to those who wilfully are impenitent ; but what mischief can re- 
 sult from a belief, that He, who when on earth blessed little chil- 
 dren, blesses them eternally when as little children they go to 
 him in heaven ? Let us rather, my reader, rejoice in a faith 
 
THE FAVOUR OF GOD IN CHRIST. 141 
 
 which gives to the Almighty, just and most merciful Saviour, 
 the glory of so vast a salvation. 
 
 The other j)assage of which we spoke, occurs in Matthew 
 18th, from the first to the end of the fourteenth verse: "At the 
 same time came the disciples unto Jesus, saying, Who is the 
 greatest in the kingdom of heaven? And Jesus called a little 
 child unto him, and set him in the midst of them; and said. 
 Verily, I say unto you. Except ye be converted and become as 
 little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. 
 Whosoever, therefore, shall humble himself as this little child, 
 the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoso 
 shall receive one such little child in my name, receiveth me. 
 But whoso shall offend one of these little ones, which believe in 
 me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about 
 his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea. 
 . . . . Take heed that ye despise not one of these little 
 ones, for I say unto you, that in heaven their angels do alway 
 behold the face of my Father which is in heaven. For the Son 
 of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost. How 
 think ye? If a man have an hundred sheep, and one of them 
 be gone astray, doth he not leave the ninety and nine and goetli 
 into the mountains, and seeketh that which is gone astray? And 
 if so be that he find it, verily I say unto you, he rejoiceth more 
 of that sheep than of the ninety and nine that went not astray. 
 Even so it is not the will of your Father which is in heaven, 
 that one of these little ones should perish." (Compare Mark 
 ix. 33 to the end, and Luke ix. 46 — 48.) 
 
 Our Lord here answers the question of the Twelve, Who is 
 
142 CHILDREN IN HEAVEN. 
 
 the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? by showing them the 
 character of a true Christian disciple, and the great regard he has 
 for all those who bear such a character. To do this, he takes for 
 his text a little child ; not any particular child, but the one upon 
 whom his eye chanced to fall. He " calls " the little one to him ; 
 from which, and the term in the original, we may suppose that it 
 was a " child " able to walk, though " little." He sets him in 
 the midst of the listening circle, and says : " Verily I say unto 
 you. Except ye be converted and become as little children, ye shall 
 not enter into the kingdom of heaven. Whosoever, therefore, 
 shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in 
 the kingdom of heaven." Childhood is the emblem of Chris- 
 tianity. Child-likeness is Christian character ; and he who is 
 most like a little child is greatest in his kingdom, the most ad- 
 vanced and honoured disciple, because his "conversion" from 
 a contrary spirit is the most thorough. 
 
 Having stated the character which he most approves, he goes 
 on Lo show his extreme regard for all who possess it : " Whoso 
 shall receive one such little child in my name receiveth me." 
 This verse applies equally to little children and child-like disciples. 
 In the next he speaks of faith, which shows that he is now re- 
 ferring more particularly to the true disciple : " Whosoever 
 shall offend one of these little ones, ivJiich believe in me, it were 
 better that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he 
 were drowned in the depths of the sea." Yet his regard for 
 those, to whom he compares the docile, teachable, meek-minded 
 believer, cannot be less than for the believer himself. He takes 
 the believer's part, because the believer is like a little child. He 
 
THE FAVOUR OF GOD IN CHRIST. 143 
 
 gives several arguments, why all such little children and child- 
 like believers should receive from us this kind and considerate 
 treatment. 
 
 (1.) They are identified with himself. "Whoso receivcth 
 one such little child in my name, receiveth me." They are 
 united to him ; he sympathizes with them ; they aie his own. 
 
 (2.) They are under the care of his angels. " Take heed, how 
 ye despise one of these little ones ; for in heaven their angels do 
 always behold the face of my Father which is in heaven.'' 
 Christ is the Lord of angels, Jehovah of Hosts ; and he brings 
 all his glorious retinue to serve him in his office of Saviour ; as 
 the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews says of the angels : 
 " Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to minister for 
 them who shall be heirs of salvation ?" (Heb. i. 14). In the 
 Old Testament, angels were declared to be guardians of God's 
 people (Ps. xci. 11, 12). Here our blessed Master confirms the 
 truth. His angels are his people's angels, standing ready before 
 God to be sent upon any mission that concerns the welfare of his 
 little ones : little children and child-like believers. Some find 
 here the doctrine of particular guardian angels ; whether that be 
 true or not we are unprepared to say ; but, certainly, all Christ's 
 people are under the guardianship of Christ's angels^ There is 
 not one of all the radiant winged spirits who do God's will in 
 providence, that is not ready to be a servant of those whom Je- 
 sus numbers among his little ones. 
 
 (3.) They are peculiarly dear to him, as Saviour of the lost 
 (11-13) ; which he illustrates by an instance of a good shc2)liord 
 seeldng after a lost one from his flock, and bringing it back with 
 
144 CHILD Pt EN IN HEAVEN. 
 
 joy. So docs he love his " little ones" for the very pains it cost 
 him to win them from ruin ; and they are recommended to our 
 love by the greatness of his love towards them and us. 
 
 (4.) The gracious will of our heavenly Father concerning 
 them (14th verse) : " Even so it is not the will of your Father 
 ^vhich is in heaven, that one of these little ones should perish." 
 The heavenly Father delights in the salvation of his little ones ; 
 and, therefore, they should be precious in our sight. Their 
 Father is our Father ; and he wlio is willing to save us is will- 
 ing to save them. That child-like believers are included by the 
 term " little ones," may be cheerfully admitted ; but the refer- 
 ence is most direct to little children ; for it is not " swc/i little 
 ones," but " these little ones." The Master is not speaking of 
 the Twelve, but to them. He is answering their question ; and 
 they are encouraged to trust in their heavenly Father's care, only 
 so far as they were converted to be like little children. If it be 
 our heavenly Father's will, that none Avho are like little children 
 should perish ; how can it be, that little children, who are set 
 before them as emblems of simplicity and innocence, patterns 
 for imitation, standards of character, should perish ? It is diffi- 
 cult to understand, how any sincere reader can hesitate about 
 such a plain inference. The words of our Lord do not render 
 their salvation certain, if they should come to years of intelli- 
 gence. He LS speaking of little children, and of those like little 
 children in character. If the former should pass beyond the 
 condition of little children, without possessing a child-like char- 
 acter, they would then be beyond the ground covered by this 
 gracious text ; but if they died as little children, in either sense, 
 
THE FAVOUR OF GOD IN CHRIST. 145 
 
 it is not the will of our heavenly Father that they should perish. 
 They are within the promise and safe. Those whom the ever- 
 merciful Jesus unites with himself; whom he commends in his 
 name to the tenderness of his people ; whom he commits to the 
 guardianship of holy angels ; and of whom it is the will of his 
 Father, our Father and their Father, that not one should per- 
 ish ; must, dying in a state so fenced in, and made holy by his 
 Saviour-sympathy, go to be among the blessed in that heaven, 
 to the kingdom of which he has declared they belong, even while 
 on earth. 
 
 These inferences are confirmed by our blessed I^ord's rebuke 
 to the chief priests and scribes, w^hen they were sore displeased 
 at the hosannasof the children in the temple (Matt. xxi. 15, 16): 
 " Jesus said unto them. Yea, have ye "never read : Out of the 
 mouth of babes and sucklings, thou hast perfected praise?" 
 This Scripture is taken from the second verse of the eighth 
 Psalm, where we read : " Out of the mouth of babes and suck- 
 Ihigs, hast thou ordained strength, because of thine enemies ; that 
 thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger." Whatever other 
 meaning or reference these words of prophecy may have, the use 
 which our Master makes of them, demonstrates an intention on 
 the part of God, to derive even from babes and sucklings, a 
 ])raise magnifying his grace by Jesus Christ over all the power, 
 and arts, and cavils of his and our enemies. Out of the mouth 
 of such little ones he can ordain strength ; his gracious influences 
 can reach their young hearts, and throughout eternity, their 
 hosannas, which were so M^elcome to him in the temple on earth, 
 shall swell his triumphs in the temple above. Neither the little 
 
 19 
 
146 CHILDREN IN HEAVEN. 
 
 one, nor the suckling babe, shall be left in the powei of the 
 enemy. The strength of him, who came as a " tender plant " 
 (Is. liii. 2), (or, as the Septuagint translates, a tender or sucking 
 child,*) will redeem out of the power of the avenger, the world 
 of infancy ; their souls shall be his trophies of victory, and their 
 immortal hosannas celebrate his complete conquest over him that 
 had the power of death (Heb. ii. 14). 
 
 No, thou gentle, compassionate Saviour, who wert once the 
 Babe of Bethlehem, and now upon thy throne, art worshipped 
 ns the Holy Child Jesus (Acts iv. 27), it is not thy will that any 
 little one shall perish ! The arms which were open to them on 
 earth, will receive them in heaven. They shall lie there in that 
 holy bosom, to which they were clasped here. Death is thy 
 ministering angel, to bear them up to thee. Sweet, excelling 
 heaven's ordinary praise, to thy ear must be the voices of their 
 countless multitudes, as they bless thee in the song of the re- 
 deemed, thee once a Babe like them, and now their Elder 
 Brother ! 
 
 Dry your tears, bereaved parents, or turn them into floods of 
 joy. The Voice that called them away, was his M'ho said : 
 They belong to my kingdom. The hand that took them from 
 you, was his, who once laid his benediction on the infant's head. 
 He has set them in the midst of his admiring disciples above. 
 They are now the darling little ones of their heavenly Father's 
 house. The angels, who watched over their cradle beds, are now 
 rejoicing over their immortal beauty, as lambs safely folded where 
 
 * See Joseph Mode's Sermon on Psalm viii. 2. 
 
THE FAVOUR OF GOD IN CHRIST. 147 
 
 the spoiler can never come. Heed them not, who would bid you 
 doubt j point them to the recorded censure of the Master, dis- 
 pleased at so unmerciful an unbelief. " Of such is the kingdom 
 of heaven." " Out of the mouth of" your " babe," Christ's 
 " praise" is " perfected " in the temple on high I 
 
MRS. M. ST. LEON LOUD. 
 
 " Weepest thou, pale Hindoo mother, 
 By the Ganges bending low? 
 
 Canst thou not thy feelings smother .''- 
 Brightly doth the river flow. 
 
 Where thy children calmly sleep, 
 
 Buried in its waters deep ; 
 
 And above, the smiling skies 
 
 Look upon thy sacrifice." 
 
 " Tell me not of bright waves flowing. 
 They but mock my bosom's care ; 
 Tell me not of sunlight glowing — 
 
 All within is dark despair ; 
 For I've heard of one whose eye 
 Frowns upon me from the sky. 
 Where can help be found for me — 
 Christian! whither shall I flee?" 
 
 "To the cross! behold, the Saviour 
 Dies to save thee, calls thee home! 
 
 148 
 
THE HINDOO MOTHER. 149 
 
 Listen to these words of favour — 
 ' Come, ye heavy-laden, come !' 
 Hindoo mother, weep no more ! 
 Lo ! to this benighted shore 
 Jesus' heralds gladly fly, 
 To proclaim salvation nigh." 
 
 " To your God my heart is given. 
 
 He hath heard the Hindoo's prayer; 
 But my babes ! in that bright heaven, 
 Christian, shall I meet them there?" 
 "God's deep purpose who can know — 
 Faith and hope must soothe thy woe, 
 For upon that blissful shore 
 Mercy reigns for evermore." 
 
MARGARET JUNRIN. 
 
 There was an idle lyre 
 
 'Mid heaven's choral band, 
 A messenger was summoned 
 
 To hear his Lord's command — 
 That from among earth's children 
 
 Some favoured one he'd bring, 
 Who had a skilful finger 
 
 To sweep the golden string. 
 
 Oh ! high and holy honour I 
 
 "Whose shall the glory be, 
 To make a music fitting 
 
 The ear of Deity ? 
 What mighty minstrel laurelled 
 
 With wreaths which fame has given. 
 Shall now be counted worthy 
 
 To join the ranks of heaven ? 
 
 No master-mind whose spirit 
 Might lift itself to hymn 
 
 150 
 
THE IDLE LYRE. 151 
 
 The praise of the Eternal 
 
 With burning seraphim, — 
 Nor one whose life had lingered, 
 
 Till age had quenched its fire, 
 Is from earth's myriads chosen 
 
 To touch that silent lyre. 
 
 A little child was playing 
 
 Beside his mother's knee, 
 Unconscious of the honour 
 
 That was his destiny. 
 The angel bent above him, 
 
 And breathed the low command, 
 And ere another morning 
 
 The lyre was in his hand. 
 
 Ah ! is the mother weeping 
 
 Because her baby boy 
 Is tasting purer pleasure 
 
 And feeling holier joy. 
 Than she could ever yield him 
 
 With her most soothing tone. 
 While yet the darling's bosom 
 
 Was pillowed on her own ? 
 
 We know that she will miss him — 
 
 Unworn his garments lie. 
 And every way she turneth 
 
 There's something meets her eye 
 
152 CHILDREN IN HEAVEN. 
 
 That marl« his painful absence, 
 And from his vacant bed, 
 
 Like Rachel in her sorrow, 
 She turns uncomforted. 
 
 Mourns she that he is taken 
 
 Where every pain is o'er ? 
 Where not a human passion 
 
 Shall mar his quiet more? 
 Oh ! could she hear the sweetness 
 
 Of his angelic strain, 
 Not life's best gifts would tempt her 
 
 To call him back again ! 
 
 Though transient was his visit 
 
 To this bleak world of ours, 
 The pleasant buds of promise 
 
 Grave pledge of early flowers. 
 Whose perfect bloom we only 
 
 Can see when it is given 
 To join, as kindred spirits. 
 
 The choristry of heaven ! 
 
ipitap^ on an Snfant. 
 
 CHARLES WESLEY. 
 
 Within this tomb an infant lies, 
 
 To earth whose body lent, 
 Hereafter shall more glorious rise. 
 
 But not more innocent. 
 
 When the archangel's trump shall blow 
 
 And souls to bodies join, 
 What crowds shall wish their lives below 
 
 Had been as short as thine! 
 
 20 153 
 
fi|MIbrcn in Seaben. 
 
 Around the throne of God in heaven, 
 
 Thousands of children stand ; 
 Children, whose sins are all forgiven ; 
 
 A holy, happy band. 
 
 Singing glory, glory, glory be to God on high. 
 
 In flowing robes of spotless white 
 
 See every one arrayed : 
 Dwelling in everlasting light, 
 
 And joys that never fade. 
 
 Singing glory, glory, glory be to God on high. 
 
 AVhat brought them to that world above? 
 
 That heaven so bright and fair, 
 AVhere all is peace, and joy, and love; — 
 
 How came those children there? 
 Singing glory, &c. 
 
 Because the Saviour shed his blood. 
 
 To wash away their sin; 
 Bathed in that pure and precious flood, 
 
 Behold them white and clean ! 
 Singing glory, &c. 
 
 154 
 
CHILDREN IN HEAVEN. 155 
 
 On earth they sought the Saviour's grace, 
 
 On earth they loved his name; 
 So now they see his blessed face, 
 
 And stand before the Lamb, 
 Singing glory, &c. 
 
BOY. 
 
 My mother, my mother, O let me depart ! 
 
 Your tears and your pleadings are swords to my heart. 
 
 I hear gentle voices, that chide my delay; 
 
 I see lovely visions that woo me away. 
 
 My prison is broken, my trials are o'er ! 
 
 O mother, my mother, detain me no more ! 
 
 MOTHEE. 
 
 And will you then leave us, my brightest, my best? 
 And will you run nestling no more to my breast? 
 The summer is coming to sky and to bower; 
 The tree that you planted will soon be in flower; 
 You loved the soft season of song and of bloom ; 
 O, shall it return, and find you in the tomb? 
 
 BOY. 
 
 Yes, mother, I loved in the sunshine to play, 
 And talk with the birds and blossoms all day; 
 
 156 
 
THE MOTHER AND HER DYING BOY. 157 
 
 But sweeter the songs of the spirits on high, 
 And brighter the glories round God in the sky : 
 I see them ! I hear them ! they pull at my heart ! 
 My mother, my mother, O let me depart! 
 
 MOTHER. 
 
 do not desert us ! Our hearts will be drear. 
 Our home will be lonely, when you are not here. 
 Your brother will sigh 'mid his playthings, and say, 
 
 1 wonder dear William so long can delay : 
 
 That foot like the wild wind, that glance like a star, 
 O what will this world be, when they are afar? 
 
 BOY. 
 
 This world, dearest mother! O live not for this; 
 No, press on with me to the fulness of bliss ! 
 And, trust me, whatever bright fields I may roam. 
 My heart will not wander from you and from home. 
 Believe me still near you on pinions of love ; 
 Expect me to hail you when soaring above. 
 
 MOTHER. 
 
 Well, go, my beloved ! The conflict is o'er ; 
 My pleas are all selfish ; I urge them no more. 
 Why chain your bright spirit down here to the clod, 
 So thirsting for freedom, so ripe for its God? 
 Farewell, then ! farewell, till we meet at the Throne, 
 Whei-e lovf; fears no partings, and tears are unknown ! 
 
158 CHILDREN IN HEAVEN. 
 
 BOY. 
 
 glory ! O glory ! what music ! what light ! 
 What wonders break in on my heart, on my sight ! 
 
 1 come, blessed spirits ! I hear you from high ; 
 O frail, faithless nature, can this be to die ? 
 
 So near ! what, so near to my Saviour and King ? 
 O help me, ye angels, his glories to sing! 
 
CUNNINGHAM. 
 
 Yes, thou art fled, and saints a welcome sing; 
 Thine infant spirit soars on angel wing; 
 Our dark affection might have hoped thy stay, — 
 The voice of God has called the child away. 
 Like Samuel early in the temple found — 
 Sweet rose of Sharon, plant of holy ground, 
 Oh more than Samuel blessed, to thee is given, 
 The God he served on earth to serve in heaven. 
 
 159 
 
MRS. HEMANS. 
 
 " Oh ! call my brother back to me, 
 I cannot play alone, 
 The summer comes with flower and bee, — 
 "Where is my brother gone? 
 
 *' The butterfly is glancing bright 
 Across the sunbeam's track ; 
 I care not now to chase its flight — 
 Oh ! call my brother back ! 
 
 *'■ The flowers run wild — the flowers we sowed 
 Around our garden-tree ; 
 Our vine is drooping with its load — 
 Oh ! call him back to me !" 
 
 " He would not hear thy voice, fair child ! 
 He may not come to thee ; 
 The face that once like spring-time smiled, 
 On earth no more thou'lt see. 
 
 " A rose's brief, bright light of joy. 
 Such unto him was given ; 
 
 160 
 
THE CHILD'S FIRST GRIEF. 161 
 
 Go ! thou must play alone, my boy ! 
 Thy ])rother is in heaven." 
 
 " And has he left his birds and flowers ? 
 And must I call in vain? 
 And through the long, long summer hours, 
 Will he not come again ? 
 
 "And by the brook, and in the glade. 
 
 Are all our wanderings o'er ? — 
 
 Oh ! while my brother with me played, 
 
 Would I had loved him more !" 
 21 
 
Sttfajrts in pcabeit. 
 
 JAMES M. MACDONALD, D.D.* 
 
 Infants die to live. As stars, which glitter for a brief 
 moment, through the darkness of the night, but when we look 
 again are invisible ; not because they have fallen from 
 heaven, but because they have melted away into the liglit 
 of a cloudless morning ; so dying infants are taken to be 
 planted in the diadem of the Sun of righteousness. In conver- 
 sation with an eminent living divine,t the pleasing thought was 
 suggested by him, that those who are taken to heaven in infancy 
 may always remain children ; not such weak, suffering, and de- 
 pendent creatures, as they were on earth, but bright cherubs, 
 perfect children ; — perfect in beauty and in purity. The Scrip- 
 tures speak expressly of the " small and great,"| both ap- 
 pearing together in eternity, before God. It was to the small 
 as well as to the great, that a voice came out of the throne, 
 saying, " Praise our God ;" and they responded when the voice 
 of a great multitude was heard, " as the voice of many waters, 
 and as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying. Alleluia : for 
 tlie Lord God omnipotent reigneth." The hope is not altogether 
 without warrant, therefore, that Christians who have lost infant 
 
 * From " My Father's House," a truly delightful and instructive book. 
 
 j" Rev. Di-. Gardiner Spring. J Rev. xix. 5; xx. 12. 
 
 162 
 
INFANTS IN HEAVEN. 163 
 
 children shall never be without tliem — that their death was in- 
 deed a " kindly harshness, which blessed them into an eternal 
 image of youth and beauty." What earthly home is not made 
 happier by the presence of little children, with all their infirm- 
 ities, the cares they impose, and the anxieties they awaken ? 
 Without them a home may be filled with much that is graceful 
 and refined ; like a garden it may have many fine walks and 
 arliours, but it is a garden without flowers. What then will our 
 " Father's House" in heaven be, filled with those who are infants, 
 without weakness and without wants, and clothed upon with all 
 the beauty and loveliness of angels ; and who, like murmuring 
 ripples, which serve to swell the voice of many waters, when 
 they break upon the shore, shall bear their humble part in 
 heaven's immortal song? As, of that great multitude, which no 
 man can number, who already have gone from earth to heaven, 
 they form the vast majority, it is obvious that we fail to do jus- 
 tice to the subject, if we ignore so iraj)ortant an element in the 
 redeemed society. 
 
 The rule which an Apostle lays down* as that by which God 
 will be governed in judging the heathen world, at the last day, 
 which limits doom to such as actually have sinned, " ought to be 
 considered," says Dr. Russel,f " in connexion with the reasoning 
 in chap, v, which must be consistent with it in all its parts. 
 And as the ground of condemnation now in question, cannot 
 apply to infants, the reasoning in respect to it, so far from mili- 
 tating against the salvation of such, serves to establish it, because 
 it supposes the abuse of at least a measure of light, and the 
 
 * Bom. ii. 12, 16. f Essay on Infant Salvation, chap. 3. 
 
164 CHILDREN IN HEAVEN. 
 
 imitation of the sin of Adam by actual transgression. If such, 
 as is evident, be the declared ground of the condemnation of 
 adults, and if not a word is said of any ground on which chil- 
 dren dying in infancy shall be finally condemned, does it not fol- 
 low that all of them are saved ? 
 
 " It is obviously taught by the apostle, that the glory of the 
 works of Christ is more illustriously displayed in overcoming 
 the accumulated effects of the many personal offences of actual 
 transgressors, than in simply overcoming those of the single of- 
 fence of Adam, and this accounts for his passing from the latter 
 display of glory to the former. He takes for granted the re- 
 demption of those who had ' not sinned after the similitude of 
 Adam's transgression,' when reasoning on the transcendent 
 grandeur of the plan of mercy, as embracing the remission of 
 ' the many offences' of actual transgressors. On the full gloiy 
 of the plan, as thus most impressively exhibited, he delighted 
 to dwell, and what he says of the circumstances of infants, is 
 introduced chiefly for the sake of illustrating this higher mani- 
 festation of ' the exceeding riches' of divine grace. In arguing 
 for the greater, he takes for granted the less. He cannot but be 
 considered as teaching us, that the scheme of redemption shields 
 from the penal consequences of Adam's sin, separately viewed, 
 or where they are not connected with actual sin and final im- 
 penitence, seeing he maintains that its object extends, not to this 
 only, but much farther. 
 
 " When he reasons that if the forfeiture was incurred by one 
 offence, we have much more reason to expect that the blessings of 
 redemption will be communicated on the principle of representa- 
 
INFANTS IN HEAVEN. 165 
 
 tion, or througli the work of Christ as a public head, and that 
 those blessings shall far exceed the damage sustained by the fall 
 of the first Adam, his reasoning proceeds on the principle that 
 God delighteth in mercy, and is slow to anger, and reluctant to 
 judgment. It also supposes that justice, in the infliction of pun- 
 ishment, is limited to desert, while grace, when not obstructed in 
 its exercise by the claims of offended righteousness, can be im- 
 parted in the most unlimited abundance, according to the good 
 pleasure of the Divine will. It seems, then, necessarily to follow, 
 that, under the present dispensation, no exclusion occurs, where 
 nothing additional to the sin of Adam has taken place, since all 
 obstructions in the way of the honourable exercise of mercy and- 
 grace have been completely removed by the infinitely precious 
 sacrifice of Christ. This conclusion is but the natural result of 
 the foregoing premises, and it, of course, involves the salvation 
 of all who have not been guilty of actual transgression. 
 
 " It may here be farther remarked, that the concern of infants 
 in the sin of Adam is of a relative nature, and therefore cannot 
 be divided among them, so as that one may have this share of 
 it, and another that ; as in the case, when a number have shared 
 in the doing of a thing, for the whole of relative blame must be 
 attached to every individual of the parties concerned in it. Now 
 it will be granted that the guilt of this sin was expiated by 
 Christ ; for, otherwise, Adam could not have been saved, and 
 not a single infant could have been delivered from its effects on^ 
 his posterity ; so that according to this principle, the universal 
 perdition of infants must be maintained ; a thing which none 
 will admit as possible.'' 
 
166 CHILDREN IN HEAVEN. 
 
 If without personal participation in the sin of Adam, all men 
 are subject to death, may we not hope that without personal ac- 
 ceptance of the righteousness of Christ, all who die in infancy 
 are saved?"* The doctrine of the imputation of Adam's sin to 
 the whole of his posterity, does not mean that the moral turpi- 
 tude of Adam's sin was transferred to his posterity ; that his act 
 in some mysterious manner was their act, or that his sin was 
 personally that of all men ; nor does it mean that there is a de- 
 pravation of soul, or the infusion of any positive evil ; it sim- 
 ply means that there is such a connection between Adam, as a 
 natural and federal head, and his descendants, that his disobedi- 
 ence is the cause of their loss of original righteousness, whence 
 arises an actual and universal tendency to sin, and is the ground 
 of their subjection to penal evils. It is no part of the Scriptiu'e 
 doctrine of imputation, that eternal death is ever the doom of 
 any, merely on account of Adam's offence, without respect to 
 their own depravity of heart, or actual transgressions of the law 
 of God.f Men perish on account of their personal offences, 
 and because they refuse to avail themselves of proffered deliver- 
 ance from that state of corruption and condemnation, into which 
 they are brought by the first Adam. Such, clearly, is the teach- 
 ing of the great Apostle, in that memorable passage, contained 
 in the fifth chapter of Romans, from the twelfth verse to the 
 end. He is establishing the doctrine, in this passage, that sin- 
 ners are justified by tlie righteousness of one, that is, Jesus 
 Christ, just as they are condemned by the sin of one, that is, of 
 Adam. He shows that such was the effect of Adam's sin, in 
 
 * Dr. Hodge on Rom. v. 12, 21. Rom. v. fSee Hodge. Idem. Doct. 2. 
 
INFANTS IN HEAVEN. 167 
 
 bringing death upon his posterity, that it reigns even over 
 young infants that liad not been guilty of actual transgression. 
 Death reigns over them, not only because they are subject to 
 mortality, but because every child is born in spiritual death, has 
 a corrupt nature, brings into the world with him a native sin- 
 fulness of character, which, without regeneration, will belong 
 to him for ever. 
 
 The Apostle farther teaches — and it is at this point that the 
 gospel sheds so glorious a light, " discloses the fall slumbering 
 under the sunbeams of the recovery, and the wrecks of sin pre- 
 senting foretokens of the triumphs of grace, and, on the withered 
 stem of humanity, revealing buds of approaching beauty, and 
 blossom and fruit,"* — the gospel, I say, teaches that the bless- 
 ings purchased by the death of Christ far exceed the evils in- 
 curred by Adam's sin. If Christ had done no more than to re- 
 move the sentence which was passed upon mankind because of 
 Adam's sin, the gospel would open no door for the salvation of 
 those who are guilty of actual transgressions ; but the door would 
 be open wide, for the salvation of our dying infants ; for not 
 having sinned actually, the sentence passed upon the race on ac- 
 count of Adam's sin, is the only sentence that rests upon them. 
 But the propitiation of Christ is sufficient to save actual trans- 
 gressors — publicans, persecutors, and malefactors ; who then can 
 doubt its efficacy to save those, our dying babes, who have not 
 sinned "after the similitude of Adam's transgression," i. e. are in- 
 capable of sinning by actual personal transgression, as Adam did? 
 We may rest assured, now, that Christ has died, and satisfied the 
 
 * Br. Cumming's Infant Salvation: London, 18-18, p. 34. 
 
168 CHILDREN IN HEAVEN. 
 
 law not only for that breach of it by which death entered into 
 the world, but has so satisfied it, that actual transgressors, even 
 the vilest, may be saved, that all who die before they can possi- 
 bly become actual transgressors, are admitted to heaven. All the 
 obstacles in the way of their salvation have been effectually re- 
 moved. As without their personal participation in the sin of 
 Adam, they became subject to death, so by the imputation of 
 Christ's righteousness, without their personal acceptance of it, 
 they are made partakers of everlasting life. 
 
 Oh, it is a heart-consoling truth that Christ died for little chil- 
 dren. If his blood was sufficient to cleanse a dying malefactor, 
 it is sufficient to wash away the stains of original sin, in those 
 who are innocent of personal offences. This world is full of the 
 graves of little children. There is a grim reaper among the 
 flowers, whose name is Death. 
 
 " * Shall I have naught that is fair/ saith he ; 
 ' Have naught but the bearded grain ?' 
 He reaps the bearded grain at a breath, 
 And the flowers that grow between."® 
 
 Oh, it is a delightful thought, that the blood of Jesus Christ 
 Bets them free from the only sentence of condemnation that could 
 be inflicted on them. Oh, it is an enrapturing thought, that he 
 who passed through several periods of human life, with our 
 nature upon him, that he might sanctify and save it, was once 
 an infant, and that, when on the cross, he saw of the travail of 
 HIS soul, and was satisfied, he beheld among the armies of his 
 worshippers myriads of infant souls — an innumerable company 
 
 * Longfellow. 
 
INFANTS IN HEAVEN. 169 
 
 of those concerning whom, with matchless grace dropping from 
 HIS lips, HE had said, " Of such is the kingdom of heaven." 
 
 The salvation of infants is not in conflict with a single one 
 of the doctrines of the Reformation, or doctrines of grace. It 
 is not inconsistent with the doctrine of regeneration, and the 
 necessity of that change, in all who would enter into the heav- 
 enly kingdom. This change in infants, before they are yet fit sub- 
 jects of instruction, must of course be effected without means, by 
 the immediate agency of the Holy Spirit. The same Being who 
 sanctified Jeremiah and John the Baptist from the womb is able, 
 in like manner, to sanctify others who are spared to a mature 
 age in this world, and all those young children, who are taken 
 out of it, before they have committed actual transgression. 
 " They are regenerated and saved by Christ, through the Spirit, 
 who worketh when, and where, and how he pleaseth."* If we 
 reject the doctrine of infant regeneration, on the ground of its 
 mysteriousness, we may, on the same grounds, reject the regen- 
 eration of adults ; for who can tell how the Spirit operates, in re- 
 newing the hearts of those who can understand the terms of the 
 gospel ? The principle of real saving grace may exist in the 
 hearts of children who are, as yet, incapable of actively exercis- 
 ing that grace. " An adult cannot be regenerated, without his 
 new nature expressing itself in faith. But the Spirit comes to 
 infants as the dew on Hermon, and as he works in the secret 
 parts of the earth, they may be regenerated, and be united to 
 Christ's body by the illapse of the quickening power from the 
 Divine head, though that life may slumber in them, as the living 
 
 * Westminster Confession, x. J 3. 
 22 
 
170 CHILDREN IN HEAVEN. 
 
 principle slumbers in the unsown wheat."* There is nolliing, 
 then, incredible in the idea that God may commune with the 
 spirit of a little child ; — rather is there something grateful in the 
 thought that the Spirit who is so often grieved away from the 
 worldly, perv'crse hearts of men and women, who comes to make 
 them HIS temple, but finds them polluted with idols, may yet 
 take up HLS residence in hearts which never yet have been de- 
 filed with evil thoughts, corrupt motives, impure desires, and 
 unholy passions. 
 
 'Nor is tlie doctrine of infant salvation irreconcilable with the 
 sovereignty of divine grace. None will pretend that their sal- 
 vation is left to accident, or that they are saved without a Divine 
 purpose. But it cannot be pretended that they are chosen on ac- 
 count of foreseen faith and repentance, of which they are not 
 capable. If God has chosen them, he must have chosen them 
 " according to the counsel of his own will." He foreknew and 
 predestinated them to be heirs of his glory. The doctrine of 
 sovereign, unconditional salvation is, after all, one of the bright- 
 est revelations of heaven, because it secures the salvation of 
 those millions of little beings who just aliglit on these mortal 
 shores, then wing their way to mingle in the scenes of a brighter 
 and happier world. 
 
 Such will be the triumphs of redeeming love. The whole 
 tenor of the gospel makes it evident that all who die previous to 
 the age of responsibility, are taken by the good Shepherd into 
 HIS eternal fold. That gospel, which, while it affords the im- 
 penitent no hopes of safety, teaches that it is God's delight to 
 
 ■*■ Dr. Hodge in Bib. Recertory for April, 1855. 
 
INFANTS IN HEAVEN. 171 
 
 receive the returning prodigal, and declares that whosoever will, 
 may come and take of the waters of life freely — that gospel I 
 say, which bears so gracious an aspect towards rebellious offend- 
 ers, opens wide the door of mercy to those who cannot be charged 
 with impenitence and unbelief. 
 
 But the Scriptures are not wanting in passages which necessa- 
 rily imply, or directly teach the consoling truth which is in- 
 volved in its general system of doctrines. " Out of the mouth 
 of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength," or, '' per- 
 fected praise."* 
 
 This is the passage which our Saviour quoted to confound the 
 chief priests and scribes, who were greatly displeased, because 
 the little children cried in the temple, " Hosanna to the Son of 
 David !" If nothing more, it seems to teach that there is a pe- 
 culiar excellence in the praise of children, who, by the Assembly 
 of Divines, are said to come nearest to our lost estate of inno- 
 cency. Out of their mouth praise may be more perfect, and, 
 therefore, more acceptable to God, than from the lips of those 
 who have defiled themselves by a long course of transgression. 
 " It seems to me," says an intelligent American missionary, "we 
 need infant choirs in heaven to make up full concert to the 
 angelic symphony. Who will sing like unto them of the manger, 
 and the swaddling clothes, and of the Lord of all, drawing 
 nourishment from the bosom of mortal mothers ! True, these 
 are themes of infinite interest, and the delight and wonder of 
 angels. But oh ! they are too tender for the archangel's poAverful 
 
 * Psalm viii. 2 ; Matt. xxi. 16. 
 
172 CHILDREN IN HEAVEN. 
 
 trump — too tender for the thundering notes of cherubim and 
 seraphim. Vie must have infant choirs in heaven."* 
 
 "The harp of heaven 
 Had lacked its least, but not its meanest string, 
 Had children not been taught to play upon it, 
 And sing from feelings all their own, what men 
 Nor angels can conceive of creatures born 
 Under the curse, yet from the curse redeemed. 
 And placed at once beyond the power to fall, — 
 Safety which men nor angels ever knew, 
 Till ranks of these, and all of those had fallen." 
 
 There are several passages in the New Testament which record 
 the tender regard our Saviour had for little children, and seem 
 expressly to teach that they are the heirs of salvation. On a 
 certain occasion, His disciples asked him this question, " Who is 
 the greatest in the kingdom of heaven ?" He answered it by 
 taking a little child, and placing him in the midst of them, and 
 telling them that unless they were converted, and became as 
 little children, they could not enter the kingdom of heaven ; and 
 that in order to be greatest in that kingdom, they must humble 
 themselves as that little child : and added, " Whoso shall receive 
 one such little child in my name receiveth ME."f He goes on 
 to add, " Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones ; 
 for I say unto you, that in heaven their angels do always behold 
 the face of my Father which is in heaven. For the Son of 
 man is come to save that which is lost." " Even so, it is not 
 the will of your Father which is in heaven, that one of these 
 little ones should perish." How must the disciples have under- 
 
 * llev. Dr. Shauffler. | Matt, xviii. 5. 
 
INFANTS IN HEAVEN. 173 
 
 stood their Master, with the little child in their midst, and having 
 just heard him say that they must be converted, and become as 
 little children, or they could not enter heaven ? They must have 
 supposed, that by the " little ones," not one of whom it is God's 
 will should perish, he referred to little children. Those who 
 are converted, and become like little children, are, doubtless, 
 figuratively included ; it is not the will of our heavenly Father 
 that they should perish : — how, then, can it be that those wdio 
 are selected as the standards of comparison, patterns for imita- 
 tion, should ever perish ? 
 
 " Of siich is the kingdom of heaven.^^* 
 
 " I think it, at least, highly probable," says the Rev. John 
 Newton, " that where our Lord says, ^ Suifer little children to 
 come unto me, and forbid them not, for of such is the kingdom 
 of heaven,' he does not only intimate the necessity of our be- 
 coming like little children in simplicity, as a qualification, with- 
 out which (as he expressly declares in other places) we cannot 
 enter into his kingdom, but informs us of a fact, that the num- 
 ber of infants, who are effectually redeemed unto God by his 
 blood, so greatly exceeds the aggregate of adult believers, that, 
 comparatively speaking. His kingdom may be said to consist of 
 little children." As if the full import of what HE had said to 
 HIS disciples was, " Think not that little children are beneath 
 my notice ; think not that I am a stranger to little children ; 
 suffer them to come to me, and forbid them not. I have often 
 been in their society ; I love their society ; the world from which 
 I came, and to which I go, is full of little children." Dr. Scott 
 
 * Matt. six. 14. 
 
174 CHILDREN IN HEAVEN. 
 
 says that " the expression may intimate that the kingdom of 
 heavenly glory is greatly constituted of such as die in their in- 
 fancy." " The expression," says Dr. Russell, who has treated 
 this subject with great ability, " means that, ' of such it is in a 
 great measure juade up,' because they will form a very great pro- 
 portion of the redeemed family of heaven." The Saviour ap- 
 pears to have had the universal salvation of all them who die in 
 infancy in his view. His reasoning is not "' of persons resem- 
 bling such in character is the kingdom made up," for this would 
 not warrant the conclusion drawn, that children ought not to be 
 hindered from being brought to him, in order to be blessed. 
 AVhen Christ says, " Snffer little children to come unto me," 
 " nothing can be plainer," says John Calvin, " than that he in- 
 tends those who are in a state of real infancy. And to prevent 
 this from being thought unreasonable, he adds, ' Of such is the 
 kingdom of heaven." And if infants be necessarily compre- 
 hended, it LS beyond all doubt that the word ' such' designates 
 both infants themselves and those who resemble them." " All 
 those whom Christ blesses are exempted from the curse of Adam 
 and the wrath of God ; and as it is known that infants were 
 blessed by him, it follows that they are exempted from death."* 
 " When our blessed Lord," says Dr. Hodge, " uttered those 
 dreadful words, ' He that bclieveth not shall be damned,' he 
 did not mean to shut the doors of heaven in the face of the 
 countless clouds of departed infants, the purchase of his blood, 
 which flock as doves to the celestial gates, and of whom, as he 
 himself says, his kingdom largely consists. "f "Heaven has 
 
 * Institutes, iv. c. 16, ^7 and 31. f Bib. Repertory, April, 1855. 
 
INFANTS IN HEAVEN. 175 
 
 many joys, joys which no man has seen or could express ; and all 
 its joys must be from beholding the glory of the Lamb, as it 
 sheds blessing, and beauty, and truth over all ; but it were 
 worth centuries of Christian service and trial here to reach, at 
 last, the threshold of our ' Father's house,' and look in upon the 
 happy family of his little children, growing in wisdom, and 
 strength, and praise, under his delighted eye and perfect teach- 
 ing."* 
 
 As it has pleased God to call so many from this world in their 
 infancy, what multitudes have already gone up to the mansions 
 of the blessed ! If of the thousands of millions of our race 
 who have gone down to the grave, one half died in infancy, and 
 a considerable number of the remainder were prepared for death 
 by repentance of their sins, and faith in the Lord Jesus, then 
 does it appear that God is rapidly replenishing his kingdom with 
 holy and happy subjects, that heaven has already become the 
 most populous portion of his empire. Christ already sees of the 
 "travail of his soul, and divides the spoil Avith the strong." 
 For, mark, the doctrine is not that salvation is confined to the 
 deceased infants of believing parents, but that the children of 
 irreligious parents, of infidels, and of heathen who die before 
 they are of sufficient age to incur personal guilt, are all saved. 
 The thousands of infants that perished when the world was de- 
 stroyed by a flood — those that were consumed when Sodom and 
 Gomorrah were burned with fire and brimstone — those slain in 
 the sack of towns and cities, in the bloody wars of ancient na- 
 tions — those whose blood was spilt by Nebuzaradan, and by 
 
 * Dr. Bethunc's " Early Lost, Early Saved," p. 85. 
 
176 CHILDREN IN HEAVEN. 
 
 Herod in Bethlehem and the adjacent villages, when a voice was 
 heard, lamentation, and weeping, and great mourning — those 
 that perished in the siege of Jerusalem — and those whose bodies 
 have been oifered up to heathen deities — went to heaven. God 
 overrules the wars, the judgments, men's crime, and even the 
 horrid custom of sacrificing infants, to the filling up of his king- 
 dom. Thousands upon thousands, oifered as victims upon pagan 
 altars, have been borne by angels to heaven, who, if they had 
 been permitted to live, would have become idolaters, and per- 
 haps, in their turn, have sacrificed their offspring. Those min- 
 istering spirits are sent not only to Christian but to heathen 
 shores, to bear the immortal spirit of the dying infant to the 
 presence of that Saviour who said, "Suifer little children to come 
 to me." And thus does he divide the spoil with the strong. 
 " From the worst barbarities of the heathen, God's love and 
 wisdom thus extract blessings." With all the numberless in- 
 fants who have been thrust into the flaming arms of Moloch — ■ 
 who have been hurried from the womb to the grave by their 
 Polynesian mothers — oifered up in the groves of the Druids, 
 or " left to perish in the Ganges, or to die in the streets of Pe- 
 kin, it is well." They are a part of that multitude whom no 
 man can number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and 
 tongues, who stand before the throne and before the Lamb, with 
 white robes, and palms in their hands. 
 
 It is true the death of infants and children often involves 
 many circumstances of a very afilictive character. The smitten 
 child, like the son of the poor widow of Zarephath, may be an 
 only one ; or, if not an only one, may be esteemed the flower of 
 
INFANTS IN HEAVEN. 177 
 
 fairest promise, and have entwined its tendrils around the warmest 
 affections of the heart. The object on which was centred many 
 fondly-cherished hopes has been suddenly cut down, and a chasm 
 produced in the domestic circle, and in the sympathies of tlie 
 bosom, which no sublunary object can ever fill. A shadow is 
 left by the hearth-stone which can never more depart. The 
 parent takes his dear one from his bosom, and lays it down in 
 the shroud, while his heart is pierced with the most poignant 
 sorrow. Alas ! how insecure are our choicest pleasures and our 
 most valued blessings ! Like the dew upon a flower, like the 
 beauty of a full blown rose, how soon they vanish, and we see 
 them no more. 
 
 Who but a bereaved parent can know the grief of those who 
 are called to lay their children in the grave. 
 
 " I've sat and watched by dying beauty's head, 
 And burning tears of hopeless anguish shed ; 
 I've gazed upon the sweet, but pallid face. 
 And vainly tried some comfort there to trace ; 
 I've listened to the short and struggling breath ; 
 I've seen the cherub eye grow dim in death." ^ 
 
 But whilst the death of children involves many circumstances 
 of a painful and distressing character, it is by Christianity ren- 
 dered glorious, and even attractive. There is something lovely 
 in the departure of an infant to be with Christ and his angels. 
 We are fain to imagine that — 
 
 " Some angel brighter than the rest"* 
 
 is sent to conduct the spirit to its mansion near the throne. We 
 
 * Pres. J. Q. Adams. 
 23 
 
178 CHILDREN IN HEAVEN^ 
 
 look upon the lifeless clay, beautiful in cleatli. "We can say, 
 Better die young than incur a dishonoured name, at a riper age, 
 and spend an old age of shame. Better that the opening flower, 
 all moist with the dew of the morning, should be plucked by a 
 gentle hand, to gladden, with its perfume and beauty, the choicest 
 apartment of the house, than that the tempest, at night, should 
 rudely shatter its stalk, and scatter its petals over the miry ground. 
 We gaze upon features pale and cold, but which have never been 
 disturbed by envy, malice, or revenge ; never have been darkened 
 by pining grief. And as we gaze there is no retrospect of re- 
 verses, of vicissitudes, of sorrows, and of sins. True, we be- 
 hold the remains of one who was the offsj^ring of degenerate 
 parents ; who was heir to a depraved nature, and could be saved 
 only by the atoning merits of a crucified Saviour, and the renew- 
 ing grace of the Holy Spirit ; and who, if life had lasted, would 
 have been exposed to temptation and sin. But how consolatory 
 the reflection that the new-born soul, which so lately animated 
 the now lifeless frame, adorns, like a starry gem, the crown of 
 Immanuel, and vies with the angelic host in exalted songs to the 
 Lamb that was slain. 
 
 Perhaps the eye of some irreligious parent, who has been 
 bereaved of children, may fall on these pages. And are you, 
 then, the parent of children " passed into the skies ?" They 
 cast their glittering diadems at the feet of that Saviour whose 
 proJBPered mercy you are still neglecting. They praise and adore 
 him to whom you neglect to pray. They are gone from you. 
 Oh, arc they lost for ever ? 
 
IXFANTS IN HEAVEN. 179 
 
 The Christian parent, when similarly bereaved, can say : 
 
 " Gone, but not lost, 
 
 A treasure but removed, 
 A bright bird parted for a clearer day ; 
 Mine still in heaven."* 
 
 Mine hereafter to meet — mine to love — mine Math whom to 
 rejoice in eternal hymns to a glorified Saviour. 
 
 Can you adopt this language ? Oh, will the period ever come 
 when you shall again embrace those sweet cherubs — sweeter far 
 than when they bore " the image of the earthy ?" Methinks 
 they beckon to you from their thrones. Methinks they stand 
 ready to welcome you to those blissful mansions. 
 
 * Mrs. Ilemans. 
 
mi\^ of tlic mtsi-hotn 
 
 WILLIS GAYLORD CLARK. 
 
 YouNC^ mother, he is gone! 
 His dimpled cheek no more will touch thy breast ; 
 
 No more the music tone 
 Float from his lips, to thine all fondly pressed ; 
 His smile and happy laugli are lost to thee ; 
 Earth must his mother and his pillow be. 
 
 His was the morning hour, 
 And he hath passed in beauty from the day, 
 
 A bud, not yet a flower. 
 Torn, in its sweetness, from the parent's spray ; 
 The death- wind swept him to his soft repose, 
 As frost, in spring-time, blights the early rose. 
 
 Never on earth again 
 Will his rich accents charm thy listening ear, 
 
 Like some ^olian strain. 
 Breathing at eventide serene and clear ; 
 His voice is choked in dust, and on his eyes 
 The unbroken seal of peace and silence lies. 
 
 180 
 
DEATH or THE FIRST-BORN. 181 
 
 And fi-om thy yearning heart, 
 Whose inmost core was warm with love for him, 
 
 A gladness must depart, 
 And those kind eyes with many tears be dim ; 
 While lonely memories, an unceasing train. 
 Will turn the raptures of the past to pain. 
 
 Yet mourner, while the day 
 Rolls like the darkness of a funeral by. 
 
 And hope forbids one ray 
 To stream athwart the grief-discoloured sky; 
 There breaks upon thy sorrow's evening gloom, 
 A trembling lustre from beyond the tomb. 
 
 'Tis from the better land ! 
 There, bathed in radiance that around them springs, 
 
 Thy loved one's wings expand ; 
 As with the choiring cherubim he sings. 
 And all the glory of that God can see. 
 Who said, on earth, to children, " Come to me." 
 
 Mother, thy child is blessed ; 
 And though his presence may be lost to thee, 
 
 And vacant leave thy breast. 
 And missed a sweet load from thy parent knee; 
 Though tones familiar from tliine ear have passed, 
 Thou'lt meet thy first-born with his Lord at last. 
 
MARIA WHITE LOWELL. 
 
 \Ye Avreathed about our darling's head 
 
 The moruing-glory bright ; 
 Her little face looked out beneath, 
 
 So fiill of life and light, 
 So lit as with a sunrise, 
 
 That we could only say, 
 "She is the morning-glory true. 
 
 And her poor types are they." 
 
 So always from that happy time 
 
 We called her by their name. 
 And very fitting did it seem; 
 
 For sure as morning came. 
 Behind her cradle bars she smiled 
 
 To catch the first faint ray, 
 As from the trellis smiles the flower 
 
 And opens to the day. 
 
 But not so beautiful they rear 
 Their airy cups of blue, 
 
 182 
 
THE MORNIjN^G-GLORY. 183 
 
 As turned her sweet eyes to the light, 
 
 Brimmed with sleep's tender dew ; 
 And not so close their tendrils fine 
 
 Round their supports are thrown, 
 As those dear arms whose outstretched plea 
 
 Clasped all hearts to her own. 
 
 We used to think how she had come, 
 
 Even as comes the flower, 
 The last and perfect added gift 
 
 To crown Love's morning hour: 
 And how in her was imaged forth 
 
 The love we could not say. 
 As on the little dew-drops round 
 
 Shines back the heart of day. 
 
 "VVe never could have thought, O God, 
 
 That she must wither up. 
 Almost before a day was flown. 
 
 Like the morning-glory's cup ; 
 We never thought to see her droop 
 
 Her fair and noble head, 
 Till she lay stretched before our eyes, 
 
 Wilted, and cold, and dead ! 
 
 The morning-glory's blossoming. 
 
 Will soon be coming round. 
 We see their rows of heart-shaped leaves 
 
 Up-springing from the ground ; 
 
184 CHILDREN IN HEAVEN. 
 
 The tender things the winter killed 
 
 Renew again their birth, 
 But the glory of our morning 
 
 Has passed away from earth. 
 
 O earth ! in vain our aching eyes 
 
 Stretch over thy green plain ! 
 Too harsh thy dews, too gross thine air, 
 
 Her spirit to sustain : 
 But up in groves of Paradise 
 
 Full surely we shall see 
 Our morning-glory beautiful 
 
 Twine round our dear Lord's knee. 
 
Wiith ^tssk. 
 
 A. D. F. RANDOLPH. 
 
 IIuG me closer, closer, mother, 
 
 Put your arms around me tight, 
 I am cold and tired, mother. 
 
 And I feel so strange to-night; 
 Something hurts me here, dear mother. 
 
 Like a stone upon my breast; 
 Oh I wonder, wonder, mother, 
 
 Why it is I cannot rest ! 
 
 All the day while you were working, 
 
 As I lay upon my bed, 
 I was trying to be patient, 
 
 And to think of what you said; 
 How the kind and blessed Jesus 
 
 Loves his lambs to watch and keep, 
 And I wish he'd come, and take me 
 
 In his arms, that I might sleep. 
 
 Just before the lamp was lighted, 
 Just before the children came; 
 
 While the room was very quiet, 
 I heard some one ciU my name : 
 
 24 185 
 
186 CHILDREN IN HEAVEN. 
 
 But I could not see the Saviour, 
 
 Though I straiued my eyes to see; 
 And I woudered if he saw me — 
 
 Would he speak to such as me? 
 In a moment I was looking 
 
 On a world so bright and fair, 
 Which was full of little children — 
 
 And they seemed so happy there. 
 
 They were singing — oh ! how sweetly ! 
 
 Sweeter songs I never heard ! 
 They were singing sweeter, mother, 
 
 Than the sweetest singing bird. 
 And while I my breath was holding. 
 
 One so bright upon me smiled ; 
 And I knew it must be Jesus, 
 
 When he said, " Come here, my child." 
 
 " Come up here, my little Bessie, 
 
 Come up here, and live with me. 
 Where the children never suiFer, 
 
 But are happier than you see !" 
 Then I thought of all you'd told me, 
 
 Of that bright and happy land; 
 I was going when you called me. 
 
 When you came and kissed my hand. 
 
 And at first I felt so sorry 
 
 You had called me; I would go, — 
 
LITTLE BESSIE. 187 
 
 Oh ! to sleep and never suiier ! — 
 Mother, don't be crying so ! 
 
 Hug me closer, closer, mother, 
 Put your arms about me tight; 
 
 Oh ! how much I love you, mother, 
 But I feel so strano;e to-night! 
 
 Hi :k ^ :)!: ^ 
 
 And the mother pressed her closer 
 
 To her over-burdened breast. 
 On the heart so near to breaking 
 
 Lay the heart so near its rest. 
 At the solemn hour of midnight. 
 
 In the darkness, calm, and deep, 
 Lying on her mother's bosom, 
 
 Little Bessie fell asleep. 
 
LONGFELLOW. 
 
 There Is no flock, however watched or tended, 
 
 But one dead lamb is there ! 
 There is no fireside, howsoe'er defended, 
 
 But has one vacant chair ! 
 
 The air is full of farewells to the dying, 
 
 And mournings for the dead ; 
 The heart of Rachel, for her children crying, 
 
 Will not be comforted ! 
 
 Let us be patient! These severe afflictions 
 
 Not from the ground arise ; 
 But oftentimes celestial benedictions 
 
 Assume this dark disguise. 
 
 We see but dimly through the mists and vapours; 
 
 Amid these earthly damps. 
 What seem to us but sad funereal tapers 
 
 May be heaven's distant lamps. 
 
 There is no death ! What seems so is transition j 
 This life of mortal breath 
 
 188 
 
RESIGNATION. 189 
 
 Is but the suburb of the life elyslan, 
 Whose j)ortal we call death. 
 
 She is not dead — the child of our affection — 
 
 But gone into that school 
 Where she no longer needs our poor protection, 
 
 And Christ himself doth rule. 
 
 In that great cloister's stillness and seclusion, 
 
 By guardian angels led, 
 Safe from temptation, safe from sin's pollution. 
 
 She lives, whom we call dead. 
 
 Day after day, we think what she is doing 
 
 In those bright realms of air; 
 Year after year, her tender steps pursuing. 
 
 Behold her grown more fair. 
 
 Thus do we walk with her, and keep unbroken 
 
 The bond which nature gives. 
 Thinking that our remembrance, though unspoken, 
 
 May reach her where she lives. 
 
 Not as a child shall we again behold her. 
 
 For when with raptures wild, 
 In our embraces we again enfold her, 
 
 She will not be a child ; 
 
 But a fair maiden in her Father's mansion, 
 Clothed with celestial grace ', 
 
190 CIIILDREX IX HEAVEN. 
 
 And beautiful with all the soul's expansion 
 Shall we behold her face. 
 
 And though at times impetuous with emotion 
 
 And anguish long sujjpre^scd, 
 The swelling heart heaves moaning like the ocean, 
 
 That cannot be at rest, — 
 
 We will be patient, and assuage the feeling 
 
 We may not wholly stay; 
 By silence sanctifying, not concealing, 
 
 The grief that must have way. 
 
I ASKED them why the verdant turf was riven 
 From its young rooting;, and with silent hp, 
 They pointed to a new-made chasm among 
 The marble-pillared mansions of the dead. 
 AVho goeth to his rest in yon damp couch ? 
 The tearless crowd past on — " 'twas but a babe." 
 A Babe! And poise ye in the rigid scales 
 Of calculation, the fond bosom's wealth ? 
 Rating its priceless idols as ye weigh 
 Such merchandize as moth and rust corrupt, 
 Or the rude robber steals ? Ye mete out grief. 
 Perchance, when youth, maturity or age. 
 Sink in the thronging tomb ; but when the breath 
 Grows icy on the lip of innocence, 
 Repress your measured sympathies, and say, 
 "Twos but a babe!" 
 
 What know ye of her love, 
 Who patient watcheth, till the stars grow dim, 
 Over her drooping infant, with an eye 
 Bright as unchanging Hope, if his repose ? 
 What know ye of her Avoe, M-ho sought no joy 
 
 191 
 
CHILDREN IN HEAVEN. 
 
 More exquisite, than on his placid brow 
 
 To trace tlie glow of health, and drink at dawn 
 
 The thrilling lustre of his waking smile ? 
 
 Go ask that musing father, why yon grave 
 So narrow, and so noteless, might not close 
 Without a tear ? 
 
 And though his lip be mute, 
 Feeling the poverty of speech, to give 
 Fit answer to thee, still his pallid brow, 
 And the deep agonizing prayer that loads 
 Midnight's dark wing to liim, the God of strength, 
 Might satisfy thy question. 
 
 Ye Avho mourn 
 Whene'er yon vacant cradle, or the robes 
 That decked the lost one's form, call back a tide 
 Of alienated joy, can ye not trust 
 Your treasure to Ms arms, whose changeless care 
 Passeth a mother's love ? Can ye not hope, 
 When a few hastening years their course have run, 
 To go to him, though he no more on earth 
 Returns to you ? 
 
 And when glad faith doth catch 
 Some echo of celestial harmonies, 
 Archangels' praises, with the high response 
 Of cherubim, and seraphim, oh think — 
 Think that your babe is there. 
 
Ittlimj a ^l^iltr's §rabe. 
 
 N. P. WILLIS. 
 
 Room, gentle flowers ! my child would pass to heaven * 
 Ye looked not for her yet with your soft eyes, 
 
 watchful ushers at Death's narrow door ! 
 But lo ! while you delay to let her forth, 
 Angels, beyond, stay for her ! One long kiss 
 From lips all pale with agony, and tears. 
 Wrung after anguish had dried up with fire 
 The eyes that wept them, Avere the cup of life 
 Held as a Avelcome to her. Weep, O mother! 
 But not that from this cup of bitterness 
 
 A cherub of the sky has turned away. 
 
 One look upon her face ere she depart ! 
 My daughter ! it is soon to let thee go ! 
 My daughter ! with thy birth has gushed a spring 
 
 1 knew not of; filling my heart with tears, 
 And turning with strange tenderness to thee ! 
 A love — O God, it seems so — which must flow 
 Far as thou fleest, and 'twixt Heaven and me, 
 Henceforward, be a sweet and yearning chain, 
 Drawing me after thee ! And so farewell ! 
 
 25 193 
 
194 CHILDREN IN HEAVEN. 
 
 'Tis a harsh world in which affection knows 
 No place to treasure up its loved and lost 
 But the lone grave ! Thou, who so late wast sleeping 
 Warm in the close folds of a mother's heart, 
 Scarce from her breast a single pulse receiving, 
 But it was sent thee with some tender thought — 
 How can I leave thee here! Alas for man! 
 The herb in its humility may fall, 
 And waste into the bright and genial air, 
 While we, by hands that ministered in life 
 Nothing but love to us, are thrust away, 
 The earth thrown in upon our just cold bosoms, 
 And the warm sunshine trodden out for ever! 
 Yet have I chosen for thy grave, my child, 
 A bank where I have lain in summer hours, 
 And thought how little it would seem like death 
 To sleep amid such loveliness. The brook 
 Tripping with laughter down the rocky steps 
 That lead us to thy bed, would still trip on, 
 Breaking the dread hush of the mourners gone; 
 The birds are never silent that build here. 
 Trying to sing down the more vocal waters ; 
 The slope is beautiful with moss and flowers ; 
 And, far below, seen under arching leaves. 
 Glitters the warm sun on the village spire, 
 Pointing the living after thee. And this 
 Seems like a comfort, and replacing now 
 The flowers that have made room for thee, I go 
 
MAKING A child's GRAVE. 195 
 
 To whisper the same peace to her who lies 
 Robbed of her child, and lonely. 'Tis the work 
 Of many a dark hour, and of many a prayer, 
 To bring the heart back from an infant gone! 
 Hope must give o'er, and busy fancy blot 
 Its images from all the silent rooms, 
 And every sight and sound familiar to her 
 Undo its sweetest link j . and so, at last, 
 The fountain that, once loosed, must flow for ever, 
 Will hide and waste in silence. When the smile 
 Steals to her pallid lip again, and spring 
 Wakens its buds above thee, we will come, 
 And, standing by thy music-haunted grave, 
 Look on each other cheerfully, and say, 
 A child tliot we have loved is gone to heaverij 
 And by this gate of flowers she passed away! 
 
gons0lati0tt on t\t geatl^ of Sttfant ^l^ilbren. 
 
 COMPILED BY A BEREAVED PARENT.* 
 
 2 Sam. xii. 23. " I shall go to him." Firsty to him to the 
 grave. Secondly, to him to heaven, to a state of blessedness. 
 Godly parents have great reason to hope concerning their chil- 
 dren who die in infancy, that it is well with their children in 
 the other world ; for the promise is to vs and to our seed, which 
 shall be performed to those that do not put a bar in their own 
 door, as infants do not. This may comfort us when our chil- 
 dren are removed from us by death ; they are better provided 
 for, both in work and wealth, than they could be in this world. 
 We shall be with them shortly to part no more. — Matthew 
 Henry's Commentary. 
 
 The child released from sufferings went before to a better 
 world. Our prayers for our children are graciously answered, 
 if some of them die in their tender infancy (for they are well 
 taken care of), and the others live " beloved of the Lord." — 
 Scott's Commentary. 
 
 Matthew xix. 14. " But Jesus said, Suffer little children, and 
 forbid them not, to come unto me ; for of such is the kingdom 
 of heaven." On this text Scott remarks, " Indeed, the expres- 
 sion, ' for of such is the kingdom of heaven,' may also intimate 
 
 * Tract !Xo. 233. Published by the Presbyterian Board of Publication. 
 
 196 
 
CONSOLATION ON THE DEATH OF INFANTS. 197 
 
 that the hingdom of heavenly glory is greatly constituted of such 
 as die in infancy. Infants are as capable of regeneration 
 as grown persons ; and there is ground to conclude that all 
 thos9 who have not lived to commit actual transgressions, though 
 they share in the eifects of the first Adam's offence, will also 
 share in the blessings of the second Adam's gracious covenant, 
 without their personal faith and obedience, but not without the 
 regenerating influence of the Spirit of Christ." 
 
 Romans v. 14. " Death reigned from Adam to Moses, even 
 over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's 
 transgression." 
 
 On this text Scott says, — " There may indeed be a comforta- 
 ble hope, that as infants die in Adam, without their own per- 
 sonal transgression ; so they will be saved in Christ, without 
 their own personal faith in him, as never living to be capable 
 of it ; yet that change must be wrought in them by the regen- 
 erating Spirit, which would have produced faith, had they lived 
 longer." 
 
 " Dear Sister, — If our Lord hath taken away your child, your 
 lease of him is expired. And if ye will take a loan of a child 
 from the Lord, give him back again willingly, as his borrowed 
 goods should return to him. Believe that he is not gone away, 
 but sent before ; and that the change of the country should 
 make you think, that he is not lost to you, who Ls found to 
 Christ ; and that he is now before you ; and that the dead in 
 Christ shall be raised again. As he was lent a while to time, so 
 lie is given now to eternity, which will take yourself. And the 
 difference of vour sliipping, and his, to heaven and Christ's 
 
198 CHILDREN IN HEAVEN. 
 
 shore, tJie land of life, is only in some few years, which weareth 
 every day shorter, and some short and soon reckoned summers 
 will give you a meeting with him." — Rutherford's Letter to Ag~ 
 nes Macmath, Oct. 16, 1640. 
 
 " Heaven is greatly made up of little children, sweet buda 
 that have never blown, or which death has plucked from a 
 mother's bosom to lay on his own cold breast, just when they 
 were expanding, flower-like, from the sheath, and opening their 
 engaging beauties in the budding time and spring of life. ' Of 
 such is the kingdom of heaven.' How sweet these words by 
 the cradle of a dying infant ! They fall like balm drops on our 
 bleeding heart, when we watch the ebbing of that young life, 
 as wave after wave breaks feebler, and the sinking breath gets 
 lower and lower, till with a gentle sigh, and a passing quiver 
 of the lip, our child now leaves its body, lying like an angel 
 asleep, and ascends to the beatitudes of heaven and the bosom 
 of God. Indeed it may be, that God does with his heavenly 
 garden, as we do with our gardens. He may chiefly stock it 
 from nurseries, and select for transplanting what is yet in 
 its young and tender age — flowers before they have bloomed, 
 and trees ere they begin to bear." — Dr. Guthrie. 
 
 John Newton says, — " I hope you are both well reconciled to 
 die death of your child. Indeed I cannot be sorry for the death 
 of infants. How many storms do they escape ! Nor can I 
 doubt, in my private judgment, that they are included in the 
 election of grace. Perhaps those who die in infancy, are the 
 exceeding great multitudes of all people, nations, and languages 
 mentioned in Revelation vii. 9, in distinction from the visible 
 
CONSOLATION ON THE DEATH OF INFANTS. 199 
 
 body of professing believers, who were marked on their fore- 
 heads, and openly known to be the Lord's." 
 
 " Ye have lost a child — nay, she is not lost to you, who is found 
 to Christ ; she is not sent away, but only sent before ; like unto a 
 star, which going out of our sight, doth not die and vanish, but 
 shinetli in another hemisphere ; ye see her not, yet she doth shine 
 in another country. If her glass was but a short hour, what she 
 wanteth of time, that she hath gotten of eternity ; and ye have 
 to rejoice that ye have now some plenishing up in heaven." — 
 Buiherford's Lettei^ to Lady Kenmure, January 15, 1629. 
 
 " I have heard also, madam, that your child is removed ; but 
 to have or want is best, as he pleaseth. AVhether she be with 
 you, or in God's keeping, think it all one ; nay think it the 
 better of the two by far, that she is with him." — Letter to the 
 same. 
 
 "The death of children," says Dr. Lawson, "puts a final 
 period to all that we can do for them ; but our grief on this oc- 
 casion is effectually counterbalanced, by the consciousness that 
 we have earnestly endeavoured to do what lay in our power while 
 they were with us ; especially when we have good reason to 
 hope, that our prayers for them have not been rejected, and that 
 Divine mercy led them safe through life and death to a world, 
 from whence they would not for a thousand worlds return. 
 I have lost, for the rest of my time in this world, some children 
 whose faces I always beheld with pleasure ; but I hope, young 
 as they were, they were better fitted for leaving this world than 
 I am. We are authorized by Scripture, without expecting a 
 revelation from God respecting their state, to rejoice in the hope 
 
200 CHILDREN IN HEAVEN. 
 
 that they are sleeping In Jesus, and living with him, and shall be 
 brought with him, in the great day of his appearance." 
 
 " I have had six children," said Mr. Elliott, " and I bles,s 
 God for his free grace, they are all with Christ, or in Christ ; and 
 my mind is now at rest concerning them. My desire was that 
 they should have served Christ on earth ; but if God will choose 
 to have them serve him in heaven, I have nothing to object to it. 
 His will be done !" 
 
 " I was in your condition ; I had but two children, and both 
 are dead since I came hither. The supreme and absolute Former 
 of all things giveth not an accovuit of any of his matters. The 
 good Husbandman may pluck his roses and gather in his lilies 
 at midsummer, and, for aught I dare say, in the beginning of the 
 first summer month ; and he may transplant young trees out of 
 the lower ground to the higher, where they may have more of 
 the sun, and more free air, at any season of the year. What is 
 that to you or me ? The goods are his own. The Creator of 
 time and winds did a merciful injury (if I dare borrow the word) 
 to nature, in landing the passenger so early. They love the sea 
 too well, who complain of a fair wind and a desirable tide, and 
 a speedy coming ashore ; especially a coming ashore, in that land, 
 where all the inhabitants have everlasting joy upon their heads. 
 He cannot be too early in heaven." — Rutherford's Letter to Mrs. 
 Taylor, London, 1645. 
 
 It is a beautiful thought of Archbishop Leighton, In regard 
 to the death of a little nephew, that departed children are but 
 gone to bed a little sooner, as children are wont. " John," said 
 he, " is but g-one an hour or tMO sooner to bed, as children are 
 
CONSOLATION ON THE DEATH OF INFANTS. 201 
 
 used to do, and we are undressing to follow. And the more we 
 put oif the love of the present world, and all things superfluous 
 beforehand, we shall have the less to do when we lie down." 
 
 Your child, though dead, is still, bereaved parents, yours. 
 " God has given me three sons," writes the Rev. Oliver Hey wood 
 in his Meditations, " all living, only the youngest lives Avith God, 
 in his immediate presence, having died in infancy under the 
 covenant." 
 
 " Your bairns are now at rest, I speak to you and to your wife, 
 and cause her to read this. They are not lost to you, that are 
 laid up in Christ's treasury in heaven. At the resurrection, ye 
 shall meet with them ; they are sent before, but not sent away. 
 Let not bairns be your idols ; for God will be jealous, and take 
 away the idol, because he is greedy of your love wholly." — 
 Rutherford's Letter to John Gordon, of Cardoncss. 
 
 " Take no heavier lift of your children than your liord 
 alloweth. Give them room beside your heart, but not in the 
 yolk of your heart where Christ should be ; for then they are 
 your idols, not your bairns. If your Lord should take any of 
 them home to his house, before the storm come on, take it well. 
 The owner of the orchard may take down two or three apples 
 oif his own trees, before midsummer, and ere they get the harvest 
 sun; and it would not be seemly that his servant the gardener 
 should chide him for it. Let our Lord pluck his own fruit at 
 any season he pleaseth ; they are not lost to you ; they are laid 
 up so well, as that they are coffered in heaven, AA'here our Lord's 
 best jewels lie." — Rutherford^ s Letter to the Lady Gaitgirtli, Sept. 
 7, 1647. 
 
 26 
 
202 CHILDREN IN HEAVEN. 
 
 *' I sincerely sympathize with you," says Dr. Erskine to a 
 friend who had lost an only son, " in your heavy trial. I liave 
 drunk deep of the same cup ; of nine sons, only one survives. 
 From what I repeatedly felt, I can form an idea what you mii>it 
 feel. I cannot, I dare not say, "Weep not. Jesus M^ept at the 
 grave of Lazarus, and surely he allows you to weep. But oh, 
 let hope and joy mitigate your heaviness. I know not how this 
 shall work for your good, but it is enough that God knows. He 
 that said, ' All things work together for good to them that love 
 God,' excepts not from this promise the sorest trial. You de- 
 voted your son to God ; you cannot doubt that he accepted the 
 surrender. If he has been hid in the chamber of the grave 
 from the evil of sin and the evil of suffering, let not your eye 
 be evil when God is good. What you chiefly wished for him, 
 and prayed on his behalf, was spiritual and heavenly blessings. 
 If the greatest thing you wished for is accomplished, at the sea- 
 son and in the manner that infinite Wisdom saw best, refuse not 
 to be comforted. You know not what work and what joy have 
 been waiting for him in that other world." 
 
 " Should any parent," says Dr. Chalmers, " feel softened by 
 the touching remembrance of a light that twinkled a few short 
 months under his roof, and at the end of its little period expired, 
 we cannot think that we venture too far when we say, that he 
 has only to persevere in the faith and in the following of tlie 
 gospel, and that very light will again shine upon him in heaven. 
 The blossom which withered here upon its stalk, has been trans- 
 planted there to a place of endurance ; and it will there gladden 
 that eye which now Aveeps out the agony of an affection that lias 
 
CONSOLATION ON THE DEATH OF INFANTS. 203' 
 
 been sorely wounded ; and in the name of Him, who if on earth 
 would have wept along with them, do we bid all believers to 
 sorrow not, even as others who have no hope, but to take com- 
 fort in the thought of that country where there is no sorrow and 
 no separation." 
 
 GODLY SUBMISSION. 
 
 " There is no way of quieting the mind, and of silencing the 
 heart of a mother, but godly submission. The readiest way for 
 jjeace and consolation to clay vessels is, that it is a stroke of the 
 Potter and Former of all things ; and since the holy Lord hath 
 loosed the grip, when it was fastened sure upon your part, I 
 know that your light, and I hope that your heart also, will yield. 
 It is not safe to be at pulling and drawing with the omnipotent 
 Lord. Let the pull go with him, for he is strong ; and say, 
 ' Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.' " — Rutherford's 
 Letter to Mrs. Craig, on the death of her son. 
 
 Rev. i. 17, 18. " Fear not ; I am he that liveth and was dead; 
 and behold, I am alive for evermore. Amen ; and have the keys 
 of hell and of death.'' 
 
 This consideration should repress, not only the anxieties which 
 we feel in regard to the future, but also the regrets which we are 
 too apt to cherish respecting the bereavemejits with which we 
 have already been visited. It is not less instructive and consol- 
 ing, when viewed, in reference to the death of relatives and 
 friends, than when it is considered in respect to our own pros- 
 pect of dissolution. For it teaches us, that the duration of each 
 man's existence here is determined by the Redeemer ; that it be* 
 
204 CHILDREN IN HEAVEN. 
 
 longs to him to appoint a longer or shorter period to each, as lie 
 Avill ; and in doing so, we have reason to be satisfied, that he 
 determines according to the dictates of infallible wisdom, al- 
 though the reasons of his procedure must necessarily be to us, 
 for the present, inscrutable. AVe cannot tell why one is removed 
 in infancy, another in boyhood, a third in the prime of manly 
 vigour, and a fourth reserved to the period of old age ; and, 
 above all, why the most promising in talent and character, and 
 the most useful in their several stations, are taken away, while 
 others of inferior worth are often left behind ; but suffice it for 
 us, that this happens not by chance, neither is it the result of 
 caprice or carelessness, but flows from that unerring wisdom, 
 whose counsels are formed on a view of all possible relations 
 and consequences, whether as to the visible or invisible, the 
 present or the future state of being. The power of death be- 
 ing in the hands of the Redeemer, the duration of human life 
 is, in every instance, determined by him ; and none, therefore, 
 ought to entertain the thought, either that death is, in one case, 
 unduly premature, or, in another, unduly delayed. None live, 
 either for a longer or a shorter period than infinite *Mdsdom has 
 assigned to them ; and as reason teaches that to his appoint- 
 ment we must submit, however unwilling, it being irresistible, 
 and far beyond our control, — so, as Christians, we should learn 
 to acquiesce in it cheerfully, as the appointment of one who can- 
 not err. That the determined hour had arrived, is a reflection 
 that should serve to banish every useless regret ; but that this 
 hour was fixed by One in whose wisdom we confide, and of 
 whose interest in our wclfiire we have the strongest assurance, ia 
 
CONSOLATION ON THE DEATH OF INFANTS. 205 
 
 a thought which should not only induce resignation, but inspire 
 comfort and peace. 
 
 For, when death does seize any of our friends, whether in the 
 ordinary course of disease and decay, or by violence or accident, 
 how consolatory to the mourning relatives is the thought, that it 
 came at the bidding of the Saviour, and that it has not arrived 
 without his sanction and appointment ! Otherwise we might be 
 apt to reflect, with unavailing regret, on certain needless ex- 
 posures that might have been avoided, certain remedies whose 
 virtues might have been tried, certain names high in professional 
 reputation, who might have been consulted ; or to dwell, with 
 painful self-reproach, on certain accidents that might have been 
 prevented, and injuries which timely care might have cured. 
 The mind will often busy itself with such reflections after the 
 loss of a near and dear friend j but the very intensity of feeling 
 which is thus called forth, is a sufficient proof that any careless- 
 ness or negligence that may have been manifested, was far, very 
 far, from being designed or wilful. And although, where 
 criminal negligence has been shown, no doctrine, however con- 
 solatory, can prevent regret, or should repress feelings of peniten- 
 tial sorrow ; yet, in other cases, where the heart bears witness to 
 its own interest in the beloved object, the doctrine of Christ's 
 absolute command over the keys of death, and the consideration 
 that our friend was summoned away by a deliberate act of his 
 sovereign wisdom, may well assuage the grief which such reflec- 
 tions on the commencement, progress, and treatment of the 
 disease, are wont to awaken in the most sensitive and aflection- 
 ate minds. — Comfort in AJUction, hy James Buchanan, D.D. 
 
®n t\t gcat^ of an S«fattt. 
 
 CUNNINGHAM. 
 
 Sweet babe, she glanced into our world to see 
 
 A sample of our misery, 
 
 Then turned away her languid eye 
 
 To drop a tear or two, and die. 
 
 Sweet babe, she tasted of life's bitter cup, 
 
 Refused to drink the potion up ! 
 
 But turned her little head aside, 
 
 Disgusted with the taste, and died. 
 
 Sweet babe, she listened for a while to hear 
 
 Our mortal griefs, then turned her ear 
 
 To angels' harps and songs, and cried 
 
 To join their notes celestial, sighed and died. 
 
 Sweet babe no more, but seraph now, 
 Before the throne behold her bow, 
 To heavenly joys her spirit flies. 
 Blest in the triumph of the skies, 
 Adores the grace that brought her there 
 Without a wish, — without a care, — 
 
 206 
 
ON THE DEATH OF AN INFANT. 207 
 
 That washed her soul in Calvary's stream, 
 That shortened life's distressing dream. 
 Short pain, — short grief, — dear babe, was thine. 
 Now joys eternal and divine. 
 
 Yes, thou art fled, and saints a welcome sing. 
 Thine infant spirit soars on angel's wing: 
 Our dark aifection should have hoped thy stay, 
 The voice of God has called his child away. 
 Like Samuel, early in the temple found. 
 Sweet rose of Sharon, plant of holy ground. 
 Oh! more than Samuel blest, to thee 'tis given. 
 The God he served on earth, to serve in heaven. 
 
ANONYMOUS. 
 
 O mouenee! who, with tender love, 
 Hast wept beside some infant grave, 
 
 Hast thou not sought a Friend above, 
 Who died thy little one to save? 
 
 Then lift thy weary weeping eye 
 Above the waves that round thee swell: 
 
 Is not thy darling safe on high? 
 Canst thou not whisper, It is well ? 
 
 Yes, it is well — though never more 
 His infant form to earth be given ; 
 
 He rests where sin and grief are o'er. 
 
 And thou shalt meet thy ehild in heaven. 
 
 208 
 
%t fsmplljs of |cs„B. 
 
 MARGARET JUNKIN. 
 
 The sympathy of Jesus — who 
 
 That ever sobbed one sorrowing moan 
 On some kind bosom, fondly true, 
 
 Some human bosom like our own, 
 And felt how much those lips close pressed, 
 
 That hand close clasped could calm our fears, 
 Can turn to this far tenderer breast. 
 
 Without a gush of thankful tears? 
 
 The earthly heart on which we lean 
 
 May have its separate griefs to bear, 
 Griefs, though unspoken and unseen. 
 
 Yet rankling all the deeper there. 
 Its faltering strength may scarce sustain 
 
 The torture of its own distress, 
 And still we add our burdened pain, 
 
 Unconscious how the weight may press. 
 
 But He whose human feet have trod 
 
 Earth's hills and valleys — He who knew 
 
 27 209 
 
210 CHILDREN IN HEAVEN. 
 
 No sympathy but that of God, 
 
 Though linked with all that craved it, too- 
 Knows all our yearning, all our need, 
 
 Yet strong to bear our utmost smart — 
 He loves to feel the throbbing head 
 
 Close laid against his pitying heart. 
 
 To think that on the throne of thrones 
 
 He wears our lowly nature still ! 
 To think that midst the loftiest tones 
 
 That through the eternal mansions thrill. 
 Earth's humblest pleader he will hear. 
 
 Though only tears his anguish tell ; 
 That sobbing voice falls on his ear 
 
 More sweet than Gabriel's ever fell. 
 
 Then, sorrowing spirit, take the grief 
 
 Thou ne'er to mortal couldst disclose, 
 And he will give thee sure relief. 
 
 Touched with the feeling of thy woes ; 
 And thou shalt understand how sweet, 
 
 How filled with more than human bliss, 
 How dear — how tender — how complete 
 
 The sympathy of Jesus is ! 
 
\l^t |00tr l^tp^erb. 
 
 MARIA W. LOWELL, 
 
 When on my ear your loss was knelled, 
 
 And tender sympathy upburst, 
 A little rill from memory swelled, 
 
 Which once had soothed my bitter thirst. 
 
 And I was fain to bear to you 
 Some portion of its mild relief, 
 
 That it might be as healing dew, 
 To steal some fever from your grief. 
 
 After our child's untroubled breath 
 Up to the Father took its way, 
 
 And on our home the shade of death. 
 Like a long twilight haunting lay; 
 
 And friends came round with us to weep, 
 Her little spirit's swift remove, 
 
 This story of the Alpine sheep 
 Was told to us by one we love: 
 
 "They in the valley's sheltering care 
 Soon crop the meadow's tender prime, 
 
 211 
 
212 CHILDREN IN HEAVEN. 
 
 And when the sod grows brown and bare, 
 The Shepherd strives to make them climb 
 
 " To airy shelves of pasture green, 
 
 That hang along the mountain's side, 
 Where grass and flowers together lean, 
 
 And down through mists the sunbeams slide. 
 
 "But naught can tempt the timid things 
 The steep and rugged path to try. 
 Though sweet the Shepherd calls and sings, 
 And seared below the pastures lie, 
 
 "Till in his arms the lambs he takes. 
 Along the dizzy verge to go; 
 Then, heedless of the rifts and breaks, 
 They follow on o'er rock and snow. 
 
 "And in those pastures lifted fair. 
 
 More dewy soft than lowland mead, 
 The shepherd drops his tender care. 
 And sheep and lambs together feed." 
 
 This parable, by nature breathed. 
 Blew on me as the south wind free 
 
 O'er frozen brooks, that float, unsheathed 
 From icy thraldom, to the sea. 
 
 A blissful vision throug-h the nig-ht 
 "Would all my happy senses sway, 
 
THE GOOD SHEPHERD. 213 
 
 Of the Good Shepherd on the height, 
 Or climbing up the stony way, 
 
 Holding our little lamb asleep; 
 
 And like the burden of the sea 
 Sounded that voice along the deep, 
 
 Saying, "Arise and follow me." 
 
LEROY J. HALSEY, D.D.* 
 
 The next example which, we select for a few remarks, is the 
 child of David and Bathsheba. It is the fnllest narrative of a 
 dying infant in the Bible. The tender bud was smitten, and 
 withered away ere it bloomed. The little light was extinguished, 
 just as it began to shed its cheering beams over an earthly 
 household. But small as it was, it was an event sufficient to 
 send desolation and penitential grief into the most exalted fam- 
 ily circle of the land. 
 
 The child was sick, and the stern warrior king, whose heart 
 had never yielded in the hour of battle, fasted and wept, and 
 lay all night upon the bare earth, beseeching God to spare it. 
 But when, at the end of seven days, it died, he went into the 
 house of the Lord and worshij)ped. He comforted his bleeding 
 heart with those precious words of faith and hope which have 
 since cheered so many others in affliction. " Isow that he is 
 dead, wherefore should I fast? Can I bring him back again? 
 I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me." 
 
 This little one, though born in sin, was taken home to God. 
 The early lost was early saved. Washed in a Saviour's blood, 
 
 *From "Life Pictures from the Bible" — a charming book, published by the Pres- 
 bytorian Board of Publication. 
 
 2U 
 
THE DYING INFANT. 215 
 
 and clothed in a Saviour's righteousness, it was soon introduced 
 into that heavenly kingdom of which he so often spake as the 
 loved abode of little children. It had not sinned after the sim- 
 ilitude of Adam's transgression. So that, where sin abounded, 
 grace did much more abound. It had committed no actual sin ; 
 and yet it was wholly born in sin. Its death was a judgment 
 and punishment from God. It was smitten of God and died on 
 account of the sins of its parents. It was done publicly before 
 the sun, that all Israel might know that the thing which David 
 had done had displeased the Lord. The king was humbled and 
 chastened, and made a holier man by the stroke. The child was 
 taken from the evil to come. Thus the death and salvation of 
 all AA^ho die in infancy. The whole doctrine of the Bible on tl)e 
 subject of the infant dead, is briefly comprehended in this: 
 They died because Adam sinned ; they live again because Jesus 
 died. 
 
 Nothing more impressively proclaims the fallen condition of 
 our race, and the sad inroads of sin, than an infant's grave. 
 'Vithout the Bible, no mystery would be greater tlian the suffer- 
 ing and death of infancy. Nature has nothing to account fci 
 such a disaster. It is in the very face of all that is natural. 
 AYliy should the pure and fresh young rosebud be blasted in its 
 opening? Why should the kindly culture and beautiful flower 
 wither even as it blooms ? Why should a light just kindled go 
 out so soon ; a life just begun so suddenly cease? We miglit 
 expect the sear leaf of autumn to fall, the aged oak of the forest 
 to decay, the hoary head of tlie patriarch to be bowed down. 
 But why sliould the most loved and cherislied plant in all the 
 
216 CHILDREN IN HEAVEN. 
 
 garden die ? Why must this most precioas jewel of my heart — 
 this beautiful boy — and this angel of my household — the loved 
 and loving daugliter — be snatched away? 
 
 "'Twas bright, 'twas heavenly, but 'tis past ! 
 
 Oh ! ever thus from childhood's hour, 
 
 I've seen my fondest hopes decay ; 
 I never loved a tree or flower. 
 
 But 'twas the first to fade away. 
 I never nursed a dear gazelle. 
 
 To glad me with its soft black eye, 
 But when it came to know me well, 
 
 And love me, it was sure to die !" 
 
 Surely death never appears so unnatural, and but for the Bible 
 so mysterious, as when the blooming infant dies. And yet it is 
 estimated that about half our race die in infancy. Ah ! what a 
 destroyer is death ! What desolations hath he wrought in the 
 earth ! What a harvest of tears and of broken hearts has lie 
 been reaping ! How many hills and valleys has he planted 
 thick with little graves ! The whole earth has been but a 
 Bochim — a valley of tears for the infant dead. Tears have 
 never flowed oftener and more freely than when they have 
 fallen around the infant's sufferino; bed and new made g-rave. 
 
 " Leaves have their time to fall, 
 
 And flowers to wither at the north wind's breath, 
 And stars to set ; but all, 
 
 Thou hast all seasons for thine own, death !" 
 
 But blessed be the name of the Lord, there is consolation in 
 the Bible, and relief in heaven, for all these tears. There may 
 
THE DYING INFANT. 217 
 
 be joy in the desolate dwelling even now ; for there is hope in 
 tliis early doom of childhood, the same that sustained the peni- 
 tent David. " He may not return to me ; but I shall go to 
 him." The most precious belief of the church of God is the 
 salvation of the infant dead. Perhaps the greatest of all the 
 triumphs of the cross of Christ will be found at last to be this, 
 that it has saved half our race in a body, by calling them away 
 from the world in infancy. Perhaps the greatest joy that is now 
 felt in heaven, in view of all things done on earth, is caused by 
 this one event, which creates the deepest, widest wave of sorrow 
 here, the infant's death. For if there is joy in the presence of 
 the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth, can we doubt 
 that there is joy there, at the happy release of each little sufferer, 
 as they pass from death's iron gates, one by one, into the heavens, 
 to be for ever blest on the bosom of their God ? " Precious in 
 the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints." How beauti- 
 ful and glorious must be the infant dead ! 
 
 "Oh, when a mother meets on high, 
 The babe she lost in infancy, 
 Hath she not then, for pains and fears, 
 The day of woe, the watchful night. 
 For all her sorrows, all her tears. 
 An over payment of delight ?"* 
 
 With the word of God in our hands, and the hope of heaven 
 in our hearts, there is no death on earth so blessed, so consola- 
 tory, so hopeful as the death of a little child. An infinite gain 
 to the child, it often becomes an instrument of the greatest 
 
 «g » R. Southej. 
 
218 CHILDREN IN HEAVEN. 
 
 spiritual blessings to the parent. Many a mother will praise 
 God for ever, that the death of her darling babe was made the 
 means of her greater sanctification ; or it may be of her conver- 
 sion to God. When the good Shepherd would draw his wan- 
 dering sheej) away from danger, and gather them safely into his 
 fold, he has no more effective mode, than to take the little lambs 
 up in his arms. Then the sheep will follow him. So he wins 
 our worthless hearts. He takes our lambs away. He allures 
 to brighter worlds, by removing our brightest objects of affection 
 here. Where our treasure is, there will our hearts be also. He 
 cuts the ties which bind us down, that our affections may be free 
 to aspire up\Mird to things above. How near the gate of heaven 
 seems, when we know that our children have just passed through 
 it ! And how precious the Saviour seems, Avhen we feel that 
 our lambs are in his bosom ! The ties which bound our hearts 
 to earth, will henceforth bind them to heaven. Who would not 
 follow the good Shepherd to that house of many mansions, 
 where he has been gathering these children of our love? 
 AVhere is the Christian parent, who has the precious, and the un- 
 speakable honour, of a child ascended to God, who has not 
 thereby been made to drink in more of the beauty and power of 
 the gospel ? And when the image of that sainted one has been 
 obliterated here, by lapse of time, from all other hearts, how 
 will it still linger, like the fragrance of crushed flowers, around 
 his own ! And though years may pass, and distance intervene, 
 he will still love to breathe forth the tenderest sympathies of the 
 sold in memory of the infant's dying couch and lowly tomb. — 
 
THE DYING INFANT. 219 
 
 I saw him oft at play, 
 
 As no more I see liim now. 
 With the roses on his cheek. 
 
 And the lily on his brow; 
 His lisping notes so sweet 
 
 And his laugh so full of joy, 
 As the sjiarkle of his eye 
 
 Told the merry-hearted boy. 
 
 I stood beside the bed, 
 
 Where the little sufferer lay, 
 Long struggling with disease 
 
 Till he breathed bis life away. 
 No rose was on his cheek then. 
 
 No sparkle in his eye ; 
 Oh, how it crushed my heart 
 
 For the darling one to die ! 
 
 In a robe of snowy white. 
 
 We adorned him for the tomb. 
 And laid upon his breast, 
 
 A sweet rosebud half in bloom ; 
 A smile of beauty lingered 
 
 Upon a face so fair. 
 It seemed as if an angel 
 
 Were softly slumbering there. 
 
 We laid him down to rest. 
 
 In the consecrated ground. 
 When little ones before him. 
 
 Were sleeping all around; 
 Amid the summer flowers, 
 
 Beneath the bending skiea 
 We left him in his beauty, . 
 
 Till God shall bid h'.m rise. 
 
220 CIIILDREN IN HEAVEN. 
 
 I saw him once again, 
 
 In the vision of the night. 
 He seemed a little cherub. 
 
 In his robe of snowy white j 
 A harp was in his hand, 
 
 A garland on his brow, 
 For evermore an angel, 
 
 Oh, such I see him now ! 
 
THOMAS WARD. 
 
 Thou bright and starlike spirit ! 
 
 That in my visions wild, 
 I see, mid heaven's seraphic host, 
 
 Oh ! canst thou be my child ? 
 
 Our hopes of thee were lofty. 
 But have we cause to grieve? 
 
 Oh ! could our fondest, proudest wish 
 Another fate conceive? 
 
 The little weeper, tearless, 
 
 The sinner snatched from sin; 
 
 The babe to more than manhood grown 
 Ere childhood did begin. 
 
 And I, thy earthly teacher. 
 
 Would blush thy power to see; 
 
 Thou art to me a parent now, 
 And I a child to thee ! 
 
 What bliss is born of sorrow ; 
 'Tis never sent in vain, 
 
 221 
 
222 CUILDREX IN HEAVEN. 
 
 The heavenly surgeon maims to save, 
 He gives no useless pain. 
 
 Our God, to call us homeward 
 
 His only Son sent do^\Ti, 
 And now still more to tempt our hearts, 
 
 Has taken up our own. 
 
RICHARD C. TRENCH. 
 
 We walked within the churchyard bounds, 
 
 My little boy and I; 
 He laughing, running happy rounds, 
 
 I pacing mournfully. 
 
 "Nay, child, it is not well," I said, 
 " Among the graves to shout ; 
 To laugh and play among the dead, 
 And make this noisy rout." 
 
 A moment to my side he clung, 
 
 Leaving his merry play, 
 A moment stilled his joyous tongue. 
 
 Almost as hushed as they : 
 
 Then, quite forgetting the command, 
 
 In life's exulting burst 
 Of early glee, let go my hand, 
 
 Joyous as at the first. 
 
 And now I did not check him more, 
 For, tanglit by N;'.turc's face. 
 
22-4 CHILDREN IN HEAVEN. 
 
 I had grown wiser than before, 
 Even in that moment's space j 
 
 She spread no funeral-pall above 
 
 That patch of churchyard ground, 
 
 But the same azure vault of love 
 As hung o'er all around. 
 
 And white clouds o'er that spot would pass 
 
 As freely as elsewhere ; 
 The sunshine on no other grass 
 
 A richer hue might wear. 
 
 And formed from out that very mould. 
 In which the dead vdid lie, 
 
 The daisy with its eye of gold, 
 Looked up into the sky. 
 
 The rook was wheeling over head, 
 Nor hastened to be gone — 
 
 The small bird did its glad notes shed, 
 Perched on a gray head-stone. 
 
 And God, I said, would never give 
 This light upon the earth, 
 
 Nor bid in childhood's heart to live 
 These springs of gushing mirth — • 
 
 If our one wisdom were to mourn. 
 And linger with the dead ; 
 
A WALK IN A CHUKCHYARD. 225 
 
 To nurse, as wisest, thoughts forlorn 
 Of worm and earthy bed. 
 
 Oh no ! the glory earth puts on, 
 
 The child's unchecked delight, 
 Both witness to a triumph won. 
 
 If we but read aright: 
 
 A triumph won o'er sin and death. 
 
 From these the Saviour saves; 
 And, like a happy infant, Faith 
 
 Can play among the graves. 
 
 29 
 
^Ijc little ^il^rrm. 
 
 WILLIAM C. RICHARDS. 
 
 I SAW a little maiden come, 
 A-sudden, to that river, 
 
 At whose dark brink bold lips close dumb, 
 And stout hearts quail and shiver — 
 The marge of Death's cold river. 
 
 Down to the stream the little maid 
 AYas led by white-robed angels ; 
 
 Around her golden harps they played, 
 And sung those sweet evangels 
 Sung only by the angels. 
 
 Five days upon the brink she lay 
 
 Of that appalling river; 
 And death shot arrows every day, 
 
 From his insatiate quiver, 
 
 At her beside the river. 
 
 Oh ! but I stood amazed to hear 
 Her wan lips sweetly saying, 
 "Don't pray to keep me, mother dear, 
 
 226 
 
THE LITTLE PILGRIM. 227 
 
 I must not here be staying;" 
 Such words of wonder, saying: 
 
 "Mother, I do not fear to die. 
 My sins are all forgiven ; 
 And shining angels hovering nigh, 
 Will bear my soul to heaven, 
 Through God's dear Lamb forgiven." 
 
 And then, from her fond mother's breast. 
 
 She plunged into that river; 
 Her fluttering pulses sunk to rest, 
 
 Her heart was still for ever, 
 
 Her soul beyond the river. 
 
 Now when my children wait to hear. 
 
 Some tender, touching story, 
 I tell them how, without a fear. 
 
 She died, and went to glory; 
 
 And tears flow with the story. 
 
GEORGE W. BETHUNE, D.D.* 
 
 A MOST ungrateful wi'ong would be done to the glorious plan 
 of salvation by free grace through Jesus Christ, if we did not 
 remark how rich, beyond all comparison, are the comforts which 
 it affords in the death of little ones. No other scheme offers us 
 any reasonable hope. 
 
 Heathenism, cruel to all, is especially cruel toward infants. 
 The apostle (Rom. i. 31) characterizes the nations who have de- 
 parted from the true God, as " without natural affection ;" and in 
 nothing is this more clearly seen, than their unnatural treatment of 
 their helpless offspring. The Old Testament Scriptures often 
 allude to the custom of sacrificing young children, prevalent 
 among the eastern idolaters. Heathenism, like all superstitions, 
 is a spirit of fear ; and the parent offered the life of his child, 
 as the most acceptable proof he could give of devotion to the 
 demon he worshipped. Thus the prophet Micah makes Balaam 
 say to Balak : " Shall I give my first-born for my transgression, 
 the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul ?" (Micah vi. 7.) 
 Nor was it confined to the Syrian abominations, but can be traced 
 as accompanying idolatry, more or less, everywhere ; in Africa, 
 
 * From " Early Lost, Early Saved." 
 228 
 
CHILDREN AND THE GOSPEL. 229 
 
 Asia, and Europe to the farthest north, throughout Polynesia, 
 and among different races on the American continent. 
 
 Infanticide was, and is, yet more prevalent. Even among the 
 most polished nations of antiquity, the exposure of new-born 
 infants, for various reasons, was so common, that an historian of 
 the second century after Christ (-3]lian*) praises the Thebans as 
 singular in having a law against it. The rules of several states 
 sternly insisted upon the destruction of such babes as did not 
 promise, from their physical structure, good servico to a warlike 
 people. Philosophers in high repute to this day, as masters of 
 various science, embodied the horrid expedient with their politi- 
 cal theories, and advocated the murder of unborn infants as a 
 check upon population. f The massacre of the new-born male 
 Israelites by their Egyptian masters, was in perfect accordance 
 with national policy at the time, revolting as it appears to us. 
 Some of the Pacific Islands were nearly depopulated by such 
 inhuman practices, before the arrival of Christian teachers among 
 them. Throughout India, where superstition makes the slaughter 
 of a brute impiety, human offspring are doomed without pity ; 
 and the Hindoo woman counts it mercy to save, by immediate 
 assassination, her female child from her mother's misery. The 
 Chinese, wonderful as their civilization is in many respects, 
 scruple not at a wholesale destruction of children they deem 
 superfluous ; the crime is never punished ; the government 
 connive at it, and the police in some cities assist in it Moham- 
 
 *" Various Histories, ii. 7. 
 
 t Plato, Republic, v. C. Aristotle, Politics, vii. 15, 16. Pliny, Natural History, 
 xxxis. 27. 
 
230 CHILDREN IN HEAVEN. 
 
 med condemned it as existing among the more ancient Arabs : 
 but the sun-brightened waters of the Bosphorus, and the fruitful 
 Nile, engulf very many victims, whom no law defends from 
 parental cruelty. 
 
 No classic philosophy could discover blessing for infants after 
 death ; nor was it consistent with any, even the best, of their 
 theories. If, indeed, the spirit of the babe survived, there was 
 no alternative to the belief, that its immortality would be the same 
 state of undeveloped faculties in which it left the world. Hence 
 tliey say nothing of the infant's future being beyond this life ;* 
 or suppose it to be a scarcely conscious existence among the 
 sombre shadows of an eternal twilight.f 
 
 Revelation alone defends the life of the little one by making 
 
 *In the apologue of Alcinus, the most remarkable passage in classic writings re- 
 specting futurity, Plato says, what Eros told of infants is not worth relating. Plato, 
 Republic, x. 
 
 f The popular sentiment was not more cheering. We have many epitaphs and sad 
 elegies on the death of children, showing the deep sorrow of bereaved parents ; but 
 none in the classic anthologies breathe " a lively hope." One of the most touching 
 (from the Greek of Leonidas of Tarentum) is subjoined ; and how exquisitely mourn- 
 ful is the desire of the broken-hearted mother, for whom life has no remaining charm, 
 to join her child in " eternal night !" 
 
 Unhappy child ! Unhappy I, wliose tears 
 Rain on the urn that hides thy blighted years! 
 Thou'rt early gone, Amyntas — I alone, 
 Bereft of thee, through life's long pang must groan : 
 Disgusted with each morn's returning light, 
 Yearning for refuge in eternal night. 
 Sweet spirit, guide thy mother where thou art : 
 There only can be still my aching heart. 
 
 {Bi/ the Author, from the Anthology.) 
 
CHILDREN AND THE GOSPEL. 231 
 
 it sacred to God ; under the Old Testament in the promise of a 
 Messiah, under the New in the blessing of Christ ; and the same 
 grace, which guards its cradle-helplessness from the unnatural 
 hands of enemies here, promises the full redemption of its inno- 
 cent spirit from the malice of its great enemy hereafter. Bless 
 God, ye affectionate parents, whether your children are in your 
 arms or in a Christ-consecrated grave, that we live not in the 
 regions of the shadow of death, but under the peaceful, holy, 
 hope-giving sunlight of the gospel ; which came in the person 
 of a nursling Babe, on the bosom of a humble, pious mother, 
 (whom no popish folly shall keep us from calling, after angelic 
 example and according to prophetic command,) the " blessed " 
 Virgin ! 
 
 If we in any degree relax our hold on the doctrine of free 
 grace, we lose the strength of this precious comfort. The infant 
 has no promise of salvation, but through the gracious tenderness 
 of Jesus. 
 
 Thus, however edifying the commanded Christian rite of 
 baptism is, if we confound it, as many have done, with spiritual 
 regeneration, and make the outward washing the necessary 
 medium of the inward, renewing grace, a babe dying before it 
 can ask the holy washing by its own faith, is rendered dependent 
 for its preparation to enter heaven, upon the fidelity of others ; 
 and so • the greater part of our mortal race are, by no fault of 
 their own, shut out of salvation. For this reason the Roman 
 Catholics generally, if not universally, deny heaven to unbap- 
 tized infants* (except those slain as martyrs ;) and assign to them, 
 
 * "Infants, unless they be regenerated by God through the grace of liaptisni. 
 
232 CHILDREN IN HEAVEN. 
 
 on the confines of purgatory, a separate limhus, or place of their 
 own, scarcely more lightened by divine love than that the heathen 
 dreamed of. Hence, also, the eagerness of that people to confer 
 baptism upon all whom they can by any means reach. But 
 theirs is at best, as Bishop Hall says, " The hard sentence of a 
 bloody religion ;" and part of that system, the policy of which 
 is to claim the prerogative of dispensing heavenly gifts, to make 
 earthly gain of them. It is difficult, nay, impossible, for others, 
 who teach the same doctrine of sacramental regeneration, to 
 avoid the same distressing conclusion ;* the supposition of un- 
 covenanted mercy will not avail them, for there is no such mercy 
 \vritten of in the Scriptures ; and, if it be necessary to enter 
 heaven, that we be personally and visibly united to an outward 
 church on earth, the infant, dying unbaptized, must have some 
 other destiny than eternal life in the presence of God. 
 
 A like difficulty clings about the doctrines of Justification by 
 good works, and of Election because of foreseen good works. 
 Such saving conditions cannot be predicated of dying little ones. 
 They have neither present nor anticipated merit of their own. 
 They must be elected if saved, and saved if elected, only by free 
 sovereign grace. 
 
 Nor (as was said in the beginning of this treatise) should our 
 hope for them be based upon their innocence. The Scriptures 
 warrant no such expectation ; but, on the contrary, declare the 
 
 are begotten by their parents, believers or unbelievers, to everlasting misery and 
 perdition." — Council of Trent. 
 
 '' It is the doctrine of the Oxford tracts, that no unbaptized person can enter 
 heaven. See Piisey on Baptising and Bridges' Sacramental Instruction. 
 
CHILDREN AND THE GOSPEL. 233 
 
 whole race of Adam involved by the consequences of his fall, 
 and, as a visible proof of this, death has passed upon all alike. 
 It is in Christ alone, Christ the second Adam, Christ the 
 Almighty Saviour, Christ the only Mediator between God 
 and man, that they can be saved ; but in him there is plenteous 
 redemption, and he has claimed them for his kingdom ; nor shall 
 any be able to pluck them out of his hand. 
 
 Blessed be thy name, O Lord Jesus Christ, for our knowledge 
 of thy full salvation, free as it is full, M^hich embraces as securely 
 the souls of babes and sucklings, as thine arms did embrace 
 fondly their little forms, when unbelieving men would have kept 
 them from thee ! Their hosannas were grateful to thine ear, 
 when thy glory was hidden from the wise and prudent ; how 
 surpassingly sweet must they be to thee now, as thou dost look 
 from thy cross-bought throne upon the countless throng in sinless, 
 immortal beauty, for ever safe from sin, and sorrow, and shame, 
 through thine abounding love ! 
 
 30 
 
a|0 ait Jlnfant in its Q^ntbt'cloilits. 
 
 MRS. L. H. SIGOURNEY. 
 
 Go to thy sleep, my child, 
 
 Go to thy dreamless bed, 
 Gentle and undefiled, 
 
 With blessings on thy head : — > 
 Fresh roses in thy hand, 
 
 Buds on thy pillow laid, 
 Haste from this fearful land 
 
 Where flowers so quickly fade. 
 
 Before thy heart had learned 
 
 In waywardness to stray. 
 Before thy feet had turned 
 
 The dark and downward way ; 
 Ere sin had seared thy breast. 
 
 Or sorrow woke the tear, 
 Rise to thy home of rest 
 
 In yon celestial sphere. 
 # 
 
 Because thy smile was fair. 
 
 Thy lip and eye so bright; 
 
 2U 
 
TO AN INFAXT IX ITS GRAVE-CLOTUES. 235 
 
 Because thy cradle-care 
 
 Was such a fond delight, 
 Shall love with weak embrace 
 
 Thy outspread wing detain? 
 No ! — angels, — seek thy place 
 
 Amid the cherub train. 
 
8ljc g^ati^-angers Mission. 
 
 "Go forth," said the heavenly Father, 
 To one of his seraph train ; 
 
 " Go forth on an errand of mercy 
 To the world of trouble and pain. 
 
 "Loosen the galling fetters 
 
 That bind the weary and worn ; 
 And bear to their glorious mansions 
 The souls that for bliss are born. 
 
 "And away from earth's noxious vapours, 
 Some buds of beauty bring, 
 To bloom in the heavenly gardens, 
 'Neath the smile of perpetual spring." 
 
 And the angel with wings resplendent. 
 Went out from the heavenly band, 
 
 'Midst a chorus of joyful voices, 
 Resounding at God's right hand. 
 
 In the street of a cro^A'ded city. 
 An old man beggared and poor. 
 
 Hungry, and sick, and sorrowing. 
 Sank down by a rich man's door. 
 
 236 
 
THE death-angel's MISSION. 237 
 
 Sleep weighed down his heavy eyelids, 
 
 And feebly he drew his breath, 
 As beside him, with look of compassion, 
 
 Alighted the angel of death. 
 
 Then he thought of the years long vanished, 
 
 The lovely, the lost, and the dear. 
 Till borne on the wings of sweet vision 
 
 He woke in a happier sphere. 
 
 There were none on earth to sorrow. 
 
 That the old man's days were o'er, 
 But myriads bade him welcome, 
 
 As he neared the heavenly shore.' 
 
 Slowly night's gathering shadows 
 
 Closed round a mother- mild. 
 Who, tearful and heavy-hearted, 
 
 Watched by her dying child. 
 
 Fevered, and restless, and moaning. 
 
 On his little bed he lay. 
 When the bright-winged angel drew near him, 
 
 And kissed his last breath away. 
 
 So gently tlie chain was severed — 
 
 So gently was stayed the breath — • 
 It soothed the heart of the mourner, 
 
 And slio blessed the ano;el of death. 
 
238 CHILDREN IN HEAVEN. 
 
 For she knew the soul of her darling 
 Had gone to his Father above, 
 
 Clasped in the arms more tender 
 Than even her fondest love. 
 
 And still on his holy mission 
 
 Did the heaven-sent messenger roam, 
 
 Gathering God's wandering children 
 To their eternal home. 
 
 Those only whose souls were blighted 
 And withered by sin and shame, 
 
 Saw no light in the path of the angel, 
 And knew not from Avhence he came ! 
 
 And those only who close their spirits 
 
 In Avilful blindness here. 
 From the light of God's nearer presence 
 
 Need shrink with distrust and fear. 
 
HORATIDS BONAR, D.D. 
 
 All night Icng we watched the ebbmg life. 
 
 As if its flight to stay; 
 Till as the dawn was coming up, 
 
 Our last hope passed away. 
 
 She was the music of our home, 
 
 A day that knew no night. 
 The fragrance of our garden bower, 
 
 A thing all smiles and light. 
 
 Above the couch we bent and prayed, 
 
 In the half-lighted room ; 
 As the bright hues of infant life 
 
 Sank slowly into gloom. 
 
 Each flutter of the pulse we marked, 
 
 Each quiver of the eye ; 
 To the dear lips our ear we laid, 
 
 To catch the last low sigh. 
 
 We stroked the little sinking cheeks. 
 The forehead pale and fair; 
 
 239 
 
240 CHILDREN IN HEAVEN. 
 
 We kissed the small, round, ruby mouth, 
 For Lucy still was there. 
 
 We fondly smoothed the scattered curls, 
 
 Of her rich golden hair; 
 We held the gentle palm in ours, 
 
 For Lucy still was there. 
 
 At last the fluttering pulse stood still. 
 The death-frost through her clay 
 
 Stole slowly; and, as morn came up, 
 Our sweet flower passed away. 
 
 The form remained ; but there was now 
 
 No soul our love to share; 
 No warm responding lip to kiss ; 
 
 For Lucy was not there. 
 
 Farewell, with weeping hearts we said, 
 Child of our love and care ! 
 
 And then we ceased to kiss those lips. 
 For Lucy was not there. 
 
 But years are moving quickly past. 
 And time will soon be o'er ; 
 
 Death shall be swallowed up of life 
 On the immortal shore. 
 
 Then shall we clasp that hand once more, 
 And smooth that golden hair; 
 
 Then shall we kiss those lips again, 
 When Lucy shall be there. 
 
fht mnlh of fktnuB mtlbilU, 
 o (jj) J s-jj cr-p 
 
 MRS. A. STUART MONTEATH. 
 
 One time my soul was pierced as witli a sword, 
 Contending still with men untaught and Avild, 
 
 When he who to the j^rophet lent his gourd, 
 Gave me the solace of a pleasant child. 
 
 A summer gift my precious flower was given ; 
 
 A very summer fragrance was its life ; 
 Its clear eyes soothed me as the blue of heaven 
 
 When home I turned, a weary man of strife. 
 
 With unformed laughter, musically sweet, 
 
 How soon the waking babe would meet my kiss ; 
 
 With outstretched arms its care-wrought fatlier greet. 
 Oh ! in the desert what a spring was this. 
 
 A few short months it blossomed near my heart ; 
 
 A few short months — else toilsome all and sad; 
 But that home solace nerved me for my part, 
 
 And of the babe I was exceeding glad. 
 
 *• Born, July 0. IJSG. r);e 1 iibnut January, 15SS. 
 31 2U 
 
242 CHILDREN IN HEAVEN. 
 
 Alas ! my pretty bud, scarce formed, was dying — 
 (The prophet's gourd, it withered in a night!) 
 
 And he who gave me all, my heart pulse trying. 
 Took gently home the child of my delight. 
 
 Kot rudely culled — not suddenly it perished. 
 But gradual faded from our love away ! 
 
 As if still, secret dews, its life that cherished, 
 Were drop by drop withheld, and day by day ! * 
 
 My blessed Master saved me from repining. 
 
 So tenderly he sued me for his own ; 
 So beautiful he made my babe's declining. 
 
 Its dying blessed me as its birth had done ! 
 
 And daily to my board at noon and even 
 Our fading flower I bade his mother bring, 
 
 That we might commune of our rest in heaven, 
 Gazing the while on death without its sting. 
 
 And of the ransom for that l)aby paid, 
 
 So very sweet at times our converse seemed, 
 
 That the sure truth a gladness made — 
 
 Our little lamb by God's own Lamb redeemed. 
 
 There were two milk-white doves my wife had nourished ; 
 
 And I too loved, erewhile, at times to stand. 
 Marking how each the other fondly cherished, 
 
 And fed them from my baby's dimpled hand ! < 
 
THE CHILD OF JAMES MELVILLE. 243 
 
 So tame they grew, that, to his cradle flying, 
 Full oft they cooed him to his noon-tide rest ; 
 
 And to the murmurs of his sleep replying. 
 Crept gently in, and nestled in his breast 
 
 'Twas a fair sight — the snow-pale infant sleeping. 
 So fondly guardianed by those creatures mild ; 
 
 Watch o'er his closed eyes their bright eyes keeping, 
 Wondrous the love betwixt the birds and child! 
 
 Still, as he sickened, seemed the doves too divining, 
 Forsook their food, and loathed their pretty play; 
 
 And on the day he died, with sad note pining, 
 One gentle bird would not be frayed away. 
 
 His mother found it, when she rose sad-hearted, 
 At early dawn, with sense of nearing ill ; 
 
 And when, at last, the little spirit parted. 
 The dove died too, as if of its heart's chill ! 
 
 The other flew to meet my sad home-riding. 
 
 As with a human sorrow in its coo — 
 To my dead cliild and its dead mate then guiding, 
 
 Most pitifully plained, and parted too ! 
 
 'Twas my first "hansel"* and "propine"t to heaven; 
 
 And as I laid my darling 'neath the sod — 
 Precious His comforts — once an infant given, 
 
 And offered with two turtle-doves to God ! 
 
 * Present. | Earnest, pledge. 
 
6 eg) (xp 6 
 
 MRS. H. M. DODGE. 
 
 And I am left! There is a stran2;e delig-ht 
 
 In counting o'er one's bitterness, to cull 
 
 A flower of comfort from it. I am left 
 
 To bear the gathering storms of life, my child, 
 
 Still tempest-tost upon its dangerous seas, 
 
 While thou art safely moored. Thy little barque 
 
 Is anchored in the haven where the winds 
 
 Of sorrow never blow. Thy star has risen 
 
 In climes of peace and love, to set no more 
 
 For ever and for ever. All thy life 
 
 Was like a rose-bud — like the gentle breath 
 
 Of purest fragrance, wafted on the wing 
 
 Of early Zephyr — like the opening ray 
 
 Of morning's softest blush. Thy little heart 
 
 Had never tasted woe. 
 
 * * * * Blessed child ! 
 Thy lot on earth was bright, and now thou art 
 With holy angels. I will cease to mourn ! 
 Oh ! had I loved thee less, my foolish heart 
 Had sighed to keep tlieo in this changing world — 
 
 244 
 
THE BEREAVED MOTHER. 245 
 
 Had fastened thee to life, 'till thou hadst drained 
 
 Its '^ery dregs of woe ! ISrc\^er ! Oh, never 
 
 Could I have knelt and kissed the chastening rod 
 
 With such unfeigned submission. Never ! never 
 
 Could I have looked so calmly on the smile 
 
 Thy parting spirit left, had my fond soul 
 
 Less dotingly hung o'er thee in thy life — 
 
 Less proudly treasured up thy darling name 
 
 In the deep recess of my heart. But now 
 
 Our very lives were one. There could not be 
 
 A deeper, purer tenderness, than heaved 
 
 This trembling breast for thee. How could I then 
 
 Ask aught for thee but happiness? In life, 
 
 When thou wast closely folded in these arms. 
 
 And I did feel thy warm breath on my cheek, 
 
 Thy smiling eyes fixed tenderly on mine. 
 
 My prayers were full of pleadings, agonies 
 
 Almost of earnestness, that heaven would bless 
 
 Thy opening day with joy and every good 
 
 That might be deemed most proper. Oh, are not 
 
 These prayers most fully answered? Could my soul 
 
 In all its deepest gush of tenderness, 
 
 Have asked a holier boon — a blessedness 
 
 More durable, more infinite and pure. 
 
 More like the nature of a God to give, 
 
 Than heaven's own self, with all its blessed ones, 
 
 Its high society, its holy love, 
 
 Its rapturous songs of gratitude and praise, 
 
246 CHILDREN IN HEAVEN. 
 
 Its pure celestial streams, and fruits, and flowers, 
 
 And glorious light reflected from the face 
 
 Of God's eternal Son ? Could I have claimed 
 
 A higher boon, my precious babe, for thee? ' 
 
 And then, again, to be exempt from wo 
 
 And human suffering, for ever free 
 
 From all the toils, and pains, and nameless cares 
 
 That gather with our years — and oh ! perchance, 
 
 At last a hopeless death ! Oh ! I could weep 
 
 With very gratitude that thou art saved — 
 
 Thy soul FOR EVER SAVED. What though my heart 
 
 Should bleed at every pore — still thou art blessed. 
 
 There is an hour, my precious innocent. 
 
 When we shall meet again ! Oh ! may we meet 
 
 To separate no more. Yes ! I can smile, 
 
 And sing with gratitude, and weep with joy, 
 
 Even while my heart is breaking ! 
 
'he miiltt is ^);tppitr pohi. 
 
 
 SAMUEL I. PRIME, D.D. 
 
 "We desire our children!.? happiness ; we pray and labour for 
 it; we are willing to make great sacrifices of our comfort to se- 
 cure it for them. In sickness, we forget our own health and 
 lives for the sake of theirs. We watch them, and toil for them, 
 and would die for them. We more than die for them some- 
 times. 
 
 And if we grieve when their happiness calls them from us, 
 our grief is selfish, it is for ourselves, and not for them, we 
 mourn. But we should not mourn, if we knew what he has 
 gained whom we have lost. Instantly, on being released from 
 the body, the spirit of the infant returns to God who gave it. 
 Endowed with capacities that, if permitted to expand a-id im- 
 prove on earth, would in fifty years, perhaps, have made him 
 wiser than Newton, or Plato, or Solomon, it rushes into the 
 mysteries of the Divine mind, and on wings of thought such as 
 angels use in rising into the regions of knowledge that pass all 
 understanding, he begins his flight, and stretches onward, and 
 right onward for ever. He never tires. No weakness, or sick- 
 ness, no pain to make him pause or falter in his upward way. 
 He bears himself into the presence of the Omniscient, becomes 
 
 * From " The Smitten Household." 
 247 
 
248 CHILDREN IN HEAVEN. 
 
 a discip.e in the school of Christ, flies on with Moses, and Da- 
 vid, and John, and learns from them the wonderful things of 
 heaven, the mysteries of the kingdom ; and thus, ever advan- 
 cing, he rises nearer and still nearer to the comprehension of him 
 wlio is still infinitely above and beyond his last and loftiest reach. 
 And what a change is this ! Yesterday, an infant in his mother's 
 arms, or a child amused with a rattle or a straw ; to-day a ser- 
 aph in the midst of seraphim ; burning with excessive glory in 
 the preseuce of God. 
 
 Hapj:)int'ss is tlie fruit of holiness. Washed in the blood of 
 tlie everlasting covenant, and sanctified by the Holy Ghost, he 
 is now among the holy, as happy as any who are there. Those 
 faculties of mind, expanded in the atmosphere of heaven, are 
 employed in the praises of that grace that called him so soon 
 from Nature's darkness into the light of eternity ; the gloom of 
 sin scarce shading the brightness of his rising sun, before the 
 noon of heaven burst upon him. As if an angel had lost his 
 way, and for a few days had wandered among the sons of men, 
 till his companions suddenly discovered him in this wilderness, 
 and caught him, and bore him off to his native residence among 
 the blessed ; so the child is taken kindly in the morning of its 
 wanderings, and gathered among the holy and brought home to 
 his Father's house. How pure his spirit now ; how happy he 
 is now ! 
 
 "Apostles, martyrs, prophets, there 
 Around my Saviour stand," 
 
 and among them I behold the infant forms of those whose little 
 graves were wet with the tears of parental love. I hear their 
 
THE CHILD IS HAPPIER N M^ 249 
 
 infant voices in the song. Do you see in tlie midst of that 
 bright and blessed throng the ehild you nioarn ? I ask not now 
 if you would call him back again. I fear you would ! But I 
 ask you, " IfVia^ loould tempt him bach again f^ Bring out the 
 playthings tliat he loved on earth, the to}'s tliat filled his cliikl- 
 ish heart with gladness, and [)]eased him on the nursery floor; 
 the paradise that was ever briglit wlien lie smiled Vvithin it ; 
 hold them up, and ask him to throw away his harp, and leave 
 the side of his new-found friends, and the bosom of his Sav- 
 iour ; and would he come, to be a boy again, to live, and laugh, 
 and love again, to sicken, suffer, die, and perhaps be lost? I 
 think he would stay. I think I would shut the door if I saw 
 him coming. 
 32 
 
f^mttcrfig tit n (IfeiltJ s Smbe. 
 
 MRS. LYDIA H. SIGOURNEY. 
 
 A BUTTERFLY basked on an infant's grave, 
 
 Where a lily had chanced to grow ; 
 Why art thou here with thy gaudy dye, 
 Where she of the bright and the sparkling eye 
 Must sleep in the churchyard low? 
 
 Then it lightly soared through the sunny air, 
 
 And spoke from its shining track ; 
 " I was a worm till I won my wings, 
 And she whom thou mourn'st, like a seraph sings- 
 
 Would&t thou call the blest one back?" 
 
 250 
 
ap 
 
 eep n0t far ^crl 
 
 Weep not for her! Her span was like the sky, 
 Whose thousand stars shine beautiful and bright ; 
 
 Like flowers, that know not what it is to die; 
 
 Like long-linked, shadeless months of polar light; 
 
 Like music floating o'er a waveless lake. 
 
 While echo answers from the flowery brake: 
 Weep not for her! 
 
 Weep not for her! She died in early youth, 
 Ere hope had lost its rich romantic hues ; 
 
 When human bosoms seemed the homes of truth. 
 And earth still gleamed wdth beauty's radiant dews. 
 
 Her summer prime waned not to days that freeze ; 
 
 Her wine of life was run not to the lees: 
 Weep not for her ! 
 
 Weep not for her! By fleet or slow decay, 
 It never grieved her bosom's core to mark 
 
 The playmates of her childhood Avear away. 
 Her prospects wither, or her hopes grow dark; 
 
 * From ■• Noctes Ambio.~.an;u." 
 251 
 
252 CHILDREN IN HEAVEN. 
 
 Translated by her God, with spirit shriven, 
 She passed, as 'twere in smiles, from earth to heaven ! 
 Weep not for her ! 
 
 Weep not for her ! It ^vas not hers to feel 
 The miseries that corrode amassing years, 
 
 'Gainst dreams of baffled bliss the heart to steel, 
 To wander sad down age's vale of tears, 
 
 As whirl the withered leaves from friendship's tree, 
 
 And on earth's M-intry world alone to be. 
 Weep not for her! 
 
 Weep not for her ! She is an angel now, 
 And treads the sappliire floors of paradise ; 
 
 All darkness wiped from her refulgent brow, 
 Sin, sorrow, suffering, banished from her eyes; 
 
 "Victorious over death, to her appear 
 
 The vista'd joys of heaven's etci'nal year: 
 Weep not for her ! 
 
 Weep not for her ! Her memory is the shrine 
 Of pleasant thoughts, soft as the scent of flowers, 
 
 Calm as on ^vindless eve the sun's decline. 
 
 Sweet as the song of birds among the boM^ers, 
 
 Ilich as the rainbow, with its hues of light, 
 
 Pure as the moonshine of an autumn's night; 
 Weep not for her ! 
 
 Weep not for her ! There is no cause for woe : 
 But rather nerve the spirit, that it walk 
 
W E E P X T F R II E R . 253 
 
 Unshrinking o'er the thorny patlis below, 
 
 And from earth's low defilements keep tliee ba(!k ; 
 So, when a few fleet severing years have fiov.n, 
 She'll meet thee at heaven's gate, arA lead thee on! 
 \Ve<>p not for her ! 
 
pmn to ilmi. 
 
 GEO. W. BETHUNE, D.D. 
 
 Yes ! bear theni to their rest ; 
 The rosy babe tired with the glare of day, 
 The prattler fallen asleep even in his play; 
 
 Clasp them to thy soft breast, 
 O Night, 
 Bless them in dreams with a deep-hushed delight I 
 
 Yet must they wake again ; 
 "Wake soon to all the bitterness of life, 
 The pang of sorrow, the temptation strife, 
 
 Aye, to the conseience-pain. 
 O night, 
 Canst thou not take with them a longer flight ? 
 
 Canst thou not bear them far, 
 Ev'n now all innocent, before they kno',v 
 The taint of sin, its consequence of woe, 
 
 The world's distracting jar, 
 O Night, 
 To some eternal, holier, happier height? 
 
 254 
 
HYMN TO NIGHT. 255 
 
 Canst tliou not bear them up, 
 Through star-lit skies, far from this planet dim 
 And sorrowful, ev'n while they sleep, to Him, 
 
 Who drank for us the cup, 
 
 O Night, 
 
 The cup of wrath for souls in faith contrite? 
 
 To him, for them who slept 
 A babe all lowly on his mother's knee. 
 And, from that hour to cross-crowned Calvary, 
 
 In all our sorrows we^^t, 
 O Night, 
 That on our souls might dawn heaven's cheering light? 
 
 Go lay their little heads 
 Close to that human breast, with love Divine 
 Deep beating; while his arms immortal twine 
 
 Around them as he sheds, 
 O Night, 
 On them a brother's grace of God's own boundless might. 
 
 Let them, immortal, wake 
 Among the deathless flowers of Paradise, 
 AVhere angels' songs of welcome with surprise 
 
 This their last sleep may break, 
 O Night, 
 And to celestial joys their kindred souls invite^. 
 
250 CIIILDREX IX HEAVEN. 
 
 There can come no sorrow ; 
 The brow shall know no shade, the eye no tears; 
 For ever young througii heaven's eternal years 
 
 In one unfading morrow, 
 O Night, 
 Nor sin, nor age, nor pain, their cherub beauty blight. 
 
 Would we could sleep as they 
 So stainless and so calm ; at rest with thee, 
 And only wake in immortality. 
 
 Bear us with them av/ay, 
 O Night, 
 To that eternal, holier, happier height. 
 
Mljitt tons t^5 P^^^ 
 
 RICHARD C. TRENCH. 
 
 What was thy life? A pearl cast up a while 
 Upon the bank and shoal of time; again, 
 
 Even as did the gazers' eyes beguile, 
 
 To be drawn backward by the hungry main. 
 
 What was thy life? A fountain of sweet wave, 
 Which to the salt sea's margin all too near 
 
 Rose sparkling, and a few steps scarcely gave, 
 Ere that distained its waters fresh and clear. 
 
 What was thy life? A flowering almond tree^ 
 Which all too soon its blossoms did unfold ; 
 
 And so must see their lustre presently 
 
 Dimmed, and their beauty nipped by envious cold. 
 
 AVhat was thy life ? A bright and beauteous flame, 
 Wherein, a season, light and joy we found : 
 
 But a swift sound of rushing tempest came, 
 
 It past, and sparkless ashes strewed the ground ! 
 
 What was thy life ? A bird in infant's hand 
 
 Held with too slight a grasp, and which, before 
 He knows no fears, its pinions doth expand. 
 
 And with a sudden impulse heavenward soar. 
 33 257 
 
'^t Jnfant in €)t'dben 
 
 THOMAS CHALMERS, D.D. 
 
 Oh ! the babe little knew what an interest it had created in 
 that home where it was so passing a visitant — nor, when carried 
 to its early grave, M'hat a tide of emotion it would raise among 
 the few acquaintances it left behind it ! On it, too, baptism was 
 impressed as a seal : and, as a sign, it was never falsified. 
 There was no positive unbelief in its bosom ; no resistance yet 
 put forth to the truth ; no love at all for the darkness rather 
 than the light ; nor had it yet fallen into that great condemna- 
 tion which will attach itself to all that perish because of unbe- 
 lief, that their deeds are evil. It is interesting to know that 
 God instituted circumcision for the infant children of the Jews, 
 and at least suffered baptism for the infant children of those 
 who profess Christianity. Should the child die in infancy, the 
 use of baptism, as a sign, has never been thwarted by it ; and 
 may we not be permitted to indulge a hope so pleasing, as that 
 the use of baptism as a seal remains in all its entireness ; that 
 He, who sanctioned the affixing of it to a babe, will fulfil upon 
 it the whole expression of this ordinance. And when we couple 
 with this the known disposition of our great Forerunner, the 
 love that he manifested to children on earth, how he suffered 
 
 258 
 
THE INFANT IN HEAVEN. 259 
 
 them to approach his person, and lavishing endenrincnt and 
 kindness upon them in the streets of Jerusalem, told his disci- 
 ples that the presence and company of such as these in heaven 
 formed one ingredient of the joy that was set before him; tell 
 us if Christianity does not throw a pleasing radiance around an 
 infant's tomb ? And should any parent who hears us, feel soft- 
 ened bv the touching- remembrance of a liffht that twinkled a 
 few short months under his roof, and at the end of its little pe- 
 riod expired, we cannot think that we venture too far, when we 
 say, that he has only to persevere in the faith, and in the follow- 
 ing of the gospel, and that ver}^ light will again shine upon him 
 in heaven. The blossom which withered here upon its stalk, 
 has been transplanted there to a place of endurance ; and there 
 it will then gladden that eye which now weeps out the agony 
 of an affection that has been sorely w'ounded ; and in the name 
 of Him who, if on earth, would have wept along with them, do 
 we bid all believers present, to sorrow not even as others which 
 have no hope, but to take comfort in the thought of that coun- 
 try where there is no sorrow and no separation. 
 
gittic Jnnie. 
 
 J. H. P. 
 
 The precious bud had scarce begun to bloom, 
 Ere death, relentless, broke its tender stem ; 
 
 It droop'd its little head, and now the tomb 
 Has closed its portals o'er the precious gem. 
 
 We sadly gathered round her dying bed. 
 
 With hearts of grief to freely weep and pray, 
 
 And many were the bitter tears we shed. 
 When little Annie's spirit passed away. 
 
 And yet, methinks, it was not meet to weep 
 For one to whom a life so brief was given; 
 
 The angels closed her little eyes in sleep. 
 And gently bore her spirit up to heaven. 
 
 The silken curls we parted o'er her brow, 
 And clasped the tiny hands upon her breast, 
 
 Then in the earth's green bosom laid her low, 
 Down sweetly by the village green to rest. 
 
 There now the birds of summer blithely sing, 
 And gently o'er her weeps the dewy grass, 
 
 260 
 
LITTLE ANNIE. 261 
 
 And village children often fondly bring 
 
 Love's floral off 'ring as they chance to pass. 
 
 Yes, dearest Annie, thou hast early fled. 
 To seek beyond this world a sacred rest, 
 
 A sphere above, where all the righteous dead 
 In o-racious bliss will be for ever blest. 
 
 Thy voice of innocence, though hushed on earth, 
 Now wakes an echo in the court of heaven ; 
 
 We felt thou wast an angel from thy birth. 
 
 And feared thy earthly ties would soon be riven. 
 
 Sweet child, we miss thy gentle form that late 
 Danced gayly round this sad and lonely home, 
 
 Where loving little brother mourns thy fate. 
 And tearful asks if sister ne'er will come. 
 
 Oh, could his boyish vision pierce the veil 
 That bounds the region of ethereal space, 
 
 No longer would he thus thy loss bewail, 
 
 Since mid the angels he would view thy face. 
 
 Lone mother, check thou too the mournful sigh, ' 
 And drop no longer now the silent tear, 
 
 Upon the silken curl or treasured toy. 
 Or little dress thy darling used to wear. 
 
 For while the casket moulders 'neath the sod 
 That rises gently o'er yon little grave, 
 
202 CHILDREN IN HEAVEN. 
 
 The precious jewel rests secure with God, 
 Who only took from earth tlie gem he gave. 
 
 Rest ! Annie, rest ! — though sacred ties are riven, 
 The beauteous flowers around thy pillow bloom; 
 
 We'll hope to meet thee at the gate of heaven. 
 When we have safely passed death's bitter doom. 
 
God bless the little feet that can never go astray, 
 
 For the little shoes are empty, in the closet laid away! 
 
 Sometimes I take one in my hand, forgetting till I see 
 
 It is a little half worn shoe, not large enough for me ; 
 
 And all at once I feel a sense of bitter loss and pain, 
 
 As sharp as when two years ago it cut my heart in twain. 
 
 little feet that wearied not, I wait for them no more, 
 For I am drifting on the tide, but they have reached the 
 
 shore ; 
 And while the blinding tear-drops wet these little shoes so 
 
 old, 
 And so I lay them down again, but always turn to say — 
 God bless the little feet that now so surely cannot stray. 
 
 And while I thus am standing, I almost seem to see 
 Two little forms beside me, just as they used to be ! 
 Two little faces lifted with their sweet and tender eyes! 
 Ah me ! I might have known that look was born of Para- 
 dise. 
 
 1 reach my arms out fondly, but they clasp the empty air! 
 There is nothing of my darlings but the shoes they used to 
 
 wear. 
 
 263 
 
264 CHILDREN IN HEAVEN. 
 
 O the bitterness of parting cannot be done away 
 
 Till I see my darlings walking where their feet can never 
 
 stray ; 
 When I no more am drifted upon the surging tide, 
 But mth them safely landed upon the river side ; 
 Be patient, heart ! while waiting to see their shining way, 
 For the little feet in the golden street can never go astray. 
 
WILLIAM H. BURLEIGH. 
 
 She hath gone in the spring-time of life, 
 
 Ere her sky had been dimmed by a cloud, 
 While her heart with the rapture of love was yet rife, 
 
 And the hopes of her youth were unbowed — 
 From the lovely, who loved her too well ; 
 
 From the heart that had grown to her own; 
 From the sorrow which late o'er her young spirit fell, 
 
 Like a dream of the night she hath flown ; 
 And the earth hath received to its bosom its trust — 
 Ashes to ashes, and dust unto dust. 
 
 The spring, in its loveliness dressed. 
 
 Will return with its music-winged hours, 
 And, kissed by the breath of the sweet southwest, 
 
 The buds shall burst out in flowers^ 
 And the flowers her grave-sod above. 
 
 Though the sleeper beneath recks it not. 
 Shall thickly be strewn by the hand of Love, 
 
 To cover witli beauty tlie s^iot — 
 
 34 265 
 
266 CHILDREN IN HEAVEN. 
 
 Meet emblems are they of the pure one and bright, 
 ' Who faded and fell with so early a blight. 
 
 Ay, the spring Avill return — but the blossom 
 
 That bloomed in our presence the sweetest, 
 By the spoiler is borne from the cherishing bosom, 
 
 The loveliest of ail and the fleetest! 
 The music of stream and of bird 
 
 Shall come back when the winter is o'er; 
 But the voice that was dearest to us shall De heard 
 
 In our desolate chambers no more ! 
 The sunlight of May on the waters shall quiver — 
 The light of her eye hath departed for ever! 
 
 As the bird to its sheltering nest, 
 
 When the storm on the hills is abroad. 
 So her spirit hath flown from this world of unrest 
 
 To repose on the bosom of God ! 
 Where the sorrows of earth never more 
 
 May fling o'er its brightness a stain ; 
 AVhere in rapture and love it shall ever adore, 
 
 AVith a gladness unmingled with pain ; 
 And its thirst shall be slacked by the waters which spring. 
 Like a river of light, from the throne of the King ! 
 
 There is weeping on earth for the lost ! 
 
 There is bowing in grief to the ground ! 
 But rejoicing and praise mid the sanctified host, 
 
 For a spirit in paradise found ! 
 
THE DEATH OF A YOUNG GIRL. 267 
 
 Though brightness hath passed from the earth, 
 
 Yet a star is new-born in tlie sky, 
 And a soul hath gone home to the land of its birth. 
 
 Where are pleasures and fulness of joy ! 
 And a new harp is strung, and a new song is given 
 To the breezes that float o'er the gardens of heaven. 
 
M0rbs of ^onsohiion. 
 
 COTTON MATHER.* 
 
 Let not the death of your children cause any inconsolable 
 grief. The loss of children did I say — nay, let me recall so 
 harsh a word. The children we count lost, are not so. The 
 death of our children is not the loss of our children. They are 
 not lost, but given back ; they are not lost, but sent before. 
 
 Well, this is the calamity which many of you at some time or 
 other have experienced ; the death of children is a thing in which 
 the children of Jacob seldom escape a resemblance of their father. 
 Many carry themselves under the trial, as if a death of virtue, yea, 
 as if a death of reason had befallen them ; but recollect yourselves, 
 O dejected Christians! and be not like them that mourn without 
 hope this day. Let bereaved parents be still believing parents; 
 the voice of the great God that formed all things is unto them, 
 as in Jer. xxxi. 16 : " Refrain thy voice from weeping, and thine 
 eyes from tears, for thy work shall be rewarded, saith the Lord." 
 Let the thoughts which have been set before us compose and 
 settle our minds under this affliction. Let us not say, this 
 thing is against us 5 but let us say, " the Lord gave, and the 
 Lord hath taken away ; blessed be the name of the Lord." It 
 
 * From " Right Thoughts in Sad Hours." 
 268 
 
WORDS OF CONSOLATION. 269 
 
 is indeed very true, that this affliction is none of the most easy 
 to be borne ; the heart of a parent will have peculiar passions 
 working in it, at such a time as this, though there be greater 
 sorrows than those with which we follow a child unto the grave. 
 I bless God it is a more bitter thing to say, "My sin is mighty," 
 or to say, " My soul is guilty," than it is to say, " My child is dead." 
 That moan, " I have pierced my Saviour," is more heart-wound- 
 ing than to mourn as one mourneth for a first-born. Yet few 
 outward earthly anguishes are equal unto these. The dying of 
 a child is like the tearing of a limb from us. ButO! remember 
 that if ever we had any grace in our souls, we have ere this 
 willingly plucked out a right eye, and cut off a right hand, for 
 the sake of God. Why should we not then, at the call 
 of God, readily part with a limb, and leave him room 
 to say, " Now I know that thou fearest me, because thou hast 
 not withheld thy son, thine only son, from Me?" It was from 
 God that we received those dear pledges, our children, and it is 
 to God that we return them. AVe cannot quarrel with our God, 
 if about those loans he say unto us. Give them up, you have had 
 them long enough ! We knew what they were when first we 
 took them into our arms ; we knew that they were potsherds, 
 that they were mortals, that the worms which sometimes kill 
 them, or at least will eat them, are but their name-sakes ; and 
 that a dead child is a sight no more surprising than a broken 
 pitcher or a blasted flower. 
 
 But we did not, we do not know, what they might be, in case 
 they M'cre continued among the living on the earth. We cannot 
 tell whether our sons would prove as plants grown up in their 
 
270 CniLDREN IN HEAVEN. 
 
 youth, and our daughters as corner-stones polished after the 
 similitude of a palace ; or, whether our sons might not, like 
 Isaac's son, do those things that would be " a grief of mind unto 
 us ;" and our daughters, like Jephtha's daughter, be of them that 
 trouble us. Christians, let us be content that our wise and good 
 God should choose our portion for us ; he Avill appoint us none 
 but a goodly heritage. Our temptation is no more than what is 
 common to men, yea, and to good men. The greatest part of 
 those human spirits, that are now beholding the face of Gcd 
 in glory, are such as dwelt in the children of pious people, 
 departed in their infancy. And what have we to say, why we 
 should not undergo it as well as they ? Was the infant whose 
 decease we deplore, one that was veiy pretty, one that had pretty 
 features, pretty speeches, pretty actions ? Well, at the resurrec- 
 tion of the just we shall see it again. The Lord Jesus will deal 
 with our dead children as the prophets Elijah and Elisha did by 
 those whom they raised of old ; he will bring them to us, recov- 
 ered from the pale jaws of death ; and how amiable, how beauti- 
 ful, how comely they will then be, no tongue is able to express, 
 or heart to conceive ! Though their beauty consume in the grave, 
 yet it shall be restored, it shall be increased, when they shall put 
 oif their bed-clothes in the morning of the day of God. 
 
 Again ; was the infant now lamented very suddenly snatched 
 away, and perhaps awfully too ! not merely by a convulsion, but 
 by scalding, by burning, by drowning, by shooting, by stabbing, 
 Dr by some unusual harm ? Truly it is often so, that the 
 quicker the death the better. It is more desirable for our 
 children to feel but a few minutes of pain, than it is for them to 
 
WORDS OF CONSOLAlION. 271' 
 
 lie groaning in those exquisite agonies whicii would cause us even 
 ourselves to wish that the Lord would take them out of their 
 misery. As for any more grievous and signal circumstance at- 
 tendino; our dvino; children, our best course will be to have it 
 said of us, " They ceased ; saying, The will of the Lord be done!" 
 As the love or wrath of God is not certainly declared in, so our 
 grief before him should not be too much augmented by, such 
 things as these. And it is a favour, if so much as one of our 
 children be left alive unto us. Let not the sense of one trouble 
 swallow up the sense of a thousand mercies. The mother from 
 whom a violent death has taken one of her two children, may 
 immediately embrace the other and say, Blessed be God who 
 has left me this. 
 
 But once more ; is the deceased infant an only child ? Are 
 we now ready to sigh — All is gone ? Nay, thou hast but a poor 
 all, if this were all. I hoi^e thy only child is not thy only joy. 
 If thou hast ever experienced the new birth, the sense of thy 
 soul is, one Jesus is worth ten children ; yea, one Christ is worth 
 ten worlds. What though all thy candles are put out ! The 
 sun, the Sun of righteousness is arising to thy soul for ever. An 
 undone man art thou indeed ! thou hast thy little glass of water 
 spilt or spoilt, while thou hast a fountain, a living fountain run- 
 ning by thy door ! The blessed God calls thee, my child ; and 
 that is infinitely better than a name of sons and of daughters. 
 
 Finally. Have we any doubts about the eternal salvation 
 of the children which we have buried out of our sight ? In- 
 deed AS TO GROWN CHILDREN, there is often too sad cause of 
 suspicion or solicitude ; and yet here, the sovereign disposals of 
 t 
 
272 CHILDREN IN HEAVEN. 
 
 God must be submitted to. Besides, though it may be we could 
 not see such plain marks and signs of grace in our adult chil- 
 dren as we could have wished for, nevertheless they might have 
 the root of the matter in them. There are many serious, gracious, 
 well-inclined young people, who conceal from everybody the 
 evidences of their repentance, and the instances of their devo- 
 tion. You cannot tell what the Lord did for the souls of your 
 poor children before he took them out of the world. Perhaps 
 they sought, they found mercy at the last. The child of a 
 good parent is not to be despaired of, though turned off the 
 gallows. 
 
 But as to young children, the fear of God will take away 
 all matter of scruple in the owners of them. Parents, can you 
 not sincerely say, that you have chosen God in Christ for the 
 best portion, as of yourselves, so of your children ? Answer 
 this : if your children had been spared unto you, would it not 
 have been your care to have them brought up in the nurture and 
 admonition of the Lord ? Would you not have used all prayers 
 and pains to have them engaged unto the service of the liv- 
 ing God, and unto a just aversion to all the vile idols and vam 
 courses of the world ? Then be of good cheer : your children 
 are in a better place, a better state, than you yourselves are yet 
 arrived unto. The faithful God hath promised, I will be their 
 God, as well as thy God. Oh say. This is all my desire, though 
 the Lord suffer not my house to grow. Those dear children are 
 gone from your kind arms, into the kinder arms of Jesus, and 
 this is by far the best of all, to have children this day in heaven. 
 Truly this is an honour which neither you nor I are worthy of. 
 
WORDS OP CONSOLATION. 273 
 
 But SO it is : the King of kings hath sent for our children to 
 confer a kingdom on them. They are gone from a dark vale of 
 sin and shame ; they are gone into the land of light, and life, 
 and love ; there they are with the spirits of just men made per- 
 fect } there they serve the Lord day and night in his temple, 
 having all tears wiped from their eyes ; and from thence me- 
 thinks I hear them crying aloud unto us, ' As well as you love 
 us we would not be with you again : weep not for us, but 
 for yourselves, and count not yourselves at home till you come 
 to be, as we are, for ever with the Lord.' 
 
 I have done. The fit epitaph of a dead infant (that, that 
 alone is enough to be the solace of a sad parent,) is, 'Of such is 
 the kingdom of heaven.' 
 
 36 
 
MRS. LYDIA H. SIGOURNEY. 
 " Is it well with the child ? And she answered, It is well." — 2 Kings iv. 26. 
 
 " Is it well with the child ?" And she answered, " 'Tis 
 well." 
 
 But I gazed on the mother who spake, 
 For a tremulous tear, as it sprang from its cell. 
 
 Bade a doubt in my bosom aAvake; 
 And I marked that the bloom in her features had fled, 
 
 So late in their loveliness rare, 
 And the hue of the watcher that bends o'er the dead 
 
 Was gathering in pensiveness there. 
 
 " Is it well with the child ?" And she answered, " 'Tis 
 well." 
 
 I remember its beauty and grace. 
 When the tones of its laughter did tunefully swell 
 
 In affection's delighted embrace : 
 And through their long fringe, as it rose from its sleep, 
 
 Its eyes beamed a rapturous ray. 
 And I wondered that silence should settle so deep 
 
 O'er the home of a being so gay. 
 
 274 
 
IS IT WELL WITH THE CHILD? 275 
 
 "Is it well wdth the child?" And she said, "'Tis well." 
 
 It hath tasted of sickness and pain, 
 Of the pang, and the groan, and the gasp, it might tell — 
 
 It never will suffer again. 
 In my dreams, as an angel, it stands by my side, 
 
 In the garments of glory and love ; 
 And I hear its glad lays to the Saviour who died, 
 
 'Mid the choir of the blessed above. 
 
WILUAM E. SCHICK, D.D. 
 
 Although so many years have since passed, I remember it 
 as if it were but yesterday, when my baby brother came. I 
 A^-as but a "wee bit thing" then, being not quite four years old. 
 It was a bitter cold morning in the month of Januar}^, when 
 Jane, my kind and gentle nurse, awaked me with great glee, 
 and told me to dress as fast as I could, for she had something 
 grand to show me. It did not take me long to get ready, when 
 she carried me at once to my dear mother's room. 
 
 How well I remember that room. Every piece of furniture 
 and its position, the hickory fire blazing on the hearth, the par- 
 tially shaded windows encircled by the leafless stems of the 
 trumpet honeysuckle and the tall rose bushes. Even the pat- 
 tern of the wall-paper is impressed upon my memory. On the 
 further side of the bed stood my father, with a countenance at 
 once grave and happy. On the bed reclined my mother, bols- 
 tered up by pillows, and with a face almost as white as the pil- 
 lows on which she reclined. Before her, on the bed, rested the 
 tiny form of the new-comer to our happy dwelling. 
 
 I was obliged to stand on tiptoe to reach the little hand, 
 which I seized with all the ardour of a newly awakened frater- 
 
 276 
 
MY ANGEL BROTHER. 277 
 
 nal yyy. My mother, in soft and gentle tones, told me how 
 happy I ought to be since God had given me a little brother, 
 and how she hoped that I would always be kind and loving to- 
 wards him. 
 
 Time sped on. The little baby-brother was an object of con- 
 stant attraction. Every day I watched him, to see how fast he 
 grew, and what signs he gave forth of increasing intelligence. 
 The body and mind rapidly expanded and developed, and al- 
 ready I began to entertain pleasant visions of the time when he 
 would join me in my future plays. 
 
 But God's ways are not as our ways. The bleak and icy 
 month of January had pa^^sed away, and spring-time had come. 
 The trumpet honeysuckle was covered with its scarlet flowers, 
 and the white and damask roses hung in profusion over the front 
 of the pleasant farm-house. The middle of June had just 
 passed, when the little brother faded from our sight. He was 
 not long sick, and his death came upon us all with a sudden 
 shock. 
 
 How sweet he looked as he lay in his open coffin, with a bunch 
 of flowers placed within the pale little hands. Then we fol- 
 lowed him to his grave. Across the brook, and out into yonder 
 fields to the old family burial-place. It was a new scene to me, 
 and even in the midst of my childish grief I remember with 
 what curiosity and awe I saw the little coffin lowered into the 
 grave, and the earth tlu'own in, and the turf neatly placed upon 
 it. Then we returned to the house, and oh ! what a sad, sad 
 void there was in that house. 
 
 As I have said, many, many years have passed since that 
 
278 CHILDREN IN HEAVEN. 
 
 hour. Little feet have pattered around my own hearth-stone, 
 and my own children are on the verge of manhood and woman- 
 hood. Yet often does memory revert to the image of that little 
 brother with a tenacious fondness. Occasionally I visit that old 
 family burial-ground in the fields, and look at the white marble 
 stones which stand at the head and foot of that little grave, and 
 think of the intervening years and their many and varied occur- 
 rences. Beside that grave are now seen those of our father, our 
 mother, and other dear friends, who have since passed from 
 earth. 
 
 Did that little blossom expand only to fade ? AVas that brief 
 visit to our earth in vain ? It cannot, cannot be. ■ I feel hum- 
 bled as I stand by that little grave to think how, while I have 
 been laboriously toiling here to gather acquisitions of know- 
 ledge and picking it up particle by particle, he was ushered at 
 once into celestial light where they " know even as also they are 
 known." During these years, while that tiny form has been 
 mingled with its kindred earth, to what amazing heights of 
 knowledge, wisdom, and goodness too, heights unsealed by the 
 mind of any living man on earth, has he not attained. How 
 much more he knows of the Great God, and of the universe, 
 and of the deep truths of revelation than I do. And while I 
 have been trying to do good, a little here, a little there, feebly, 
 and often unwisely, how has he been honoured to speed on angel 
 wings to obey the Divine behests, not only in heaven and here on 
 earth, but perhaps to other worlds and other systems. 
 
 Yet, he is my brother still. Brief though his visit was to 
 ^iarth, he was born in human form, and was linked to me in a 
 
MY ANGEL BROTHER. 279 
 
 relationship which will endure to all eternity. I claim him still 
 as my brother, my angel brother. And if through the rich grace 
 of Jesus Christ our Elder Brother and our Saviour, I shall one 
 day enter Heaven's gates, I fondly look to meet him there, to know 
 him there, and to love him there, throughout a blest eternity. 
 
MRS. H. B. STOWE. 
 
 One year ago, — a ringing voice, 
 
 A clear blue eye, 
 And clustering curls of sunny hair, 
 
 Too fair to die. 
 
 Only a year, — no voice, no smile, 
 
 No glance of eye, 
 No clustering curls of golden hair. 
 
 Fair but to die ! 
 
 One year ago, — what loves, what schemes 
 
 Far into life! 
 What joyous hopes, what high resolves, 
 
 What generous strife ! 
 
 The silent picture on the wall. 
 
 The burial stone, 
 Of all that beauty, life, and joy. 
 
 Remain alone ! 
 
 One year, — one year, — one little year, — 
 
 And so much gone ! 
 And yet the even flow of life 
 
 Moves c.ihnly on. 
 
 280 
 
ONLY A YEAR. 281 
 
 The grave grows green, the flowers bloom fair, 
 
 Above that head ; 
 No sorrowing tint of leaf or spray 
 
 Says he is dead. 
 
 No pause or hush of merry birds 
 
 That sing above 
 Tells us how coldly sleeps below 
 
 The form we love. 
 
 Where hast thou been this year, beloved? 
 
 "What hast thou seen? 
 What visions fair, what glorious life, 
 
 Where thou hast been ? 
 
 The veil ! the veil ! so thin, so strong ! 
 
 'Twixt us and thee; 
 The mystic veil ! w-hen shall it fall, 
 
 That we may see? 
 
 Not dead, not sleeping, not even gone ; 
 
 But present still, 
 And waiting for tlie coming hour 
 
 Of God's sweet will. 
 
 Lord of the living and the dead, 
 
 Our Saviour dear! 
 We lay in silence at thy feet 
 
 This sad, sad year ! 
 
 36 
 
San 3 toisli it %'dch? 
 
 PHIUP DODDRIDGE, D.D. 
 
 Could I wish that this young inhabitant of heaven should 
 be degraded to earth again ? Or would it thank me for that 
 wish ? Would it say, that it was the part of a wise parent, to 
 call it down from a sphere of such exalted services and pleasures, 
 to our low life here upon earth? Let me rather be thank- 
 ful for the pleasing hope, that though God loves my child too 
 well to permit it to return to me, he will ere long bring me to 
 it. And then that endeared paternal affection, which would 
 have been a cord to tie me to earth, and have added new pangs 
 to my removal from it, will be as a golden chain to draw me 
 upwards, and add one farther charm and joy even to paradise it- 
 self. And oh, how great a joy ! to view the change, and to 
 compare that dear idea, so fondly laid up, so often reviewed, 
 with the now glorious original, in the improvement of the up- 
 per world ! To borrow the words of the sacred writer, in a very 
 different sense : " I said I was desolate and bereaved of children, 
 and who hath brought vp these f I was left alone, and these, where 
 have they beenf* Was this my desolation? this my sorrow? to 
 part with thee for a few days, That I might receive thee for ever,'\ 
 
 * Isa. xlix. 21. -j- Philem. vcr. 15, 
 
 282 
 
CAN I WxSH IT BACK? 283 
 
 and find thee what thou art?" It is for no language but that 
 of heaven, to describe the sacred joy which such a meeting must 
 occasion. 
 
 In the meantime, Christians, let us keep the lively expecta- 
 tion of it, and let what has befallen us draw our thoughts to 
 heaven. Perhaps they will sometimes, before we are aware, 
 sink to the grave, and dwell in the tombs that contain the poor 
 remains of what was once so dear to us. But let them take 
 flight from thence to more noble, more delightful scenes. And I 
 will add, let the hope we have of the hai)piness of our children 
 render God still dearer to our souls. We feel a very tender 
 sense of the kindness which our friends expressed towards them, 
 and think, indeed very justly, that their aiFectionate care for 
 them lays a lasting obligation upon us. AVhat love then, and 
 what service do we owe to thee, O gracious Father, who hast, 
 we hope, received them into thine house above, and art now en- 
 tertaining them there with unknown delight, though our former 
 methods of commerce with them be cut off! "Lord," should 
 each of us say in such a case, " I would take what thou art do- 
 ing to my child as done to myself, and as a specimen and earn- 
 est of what shall shortly be done." It is therefore well. 
 
RICHARD C. TRENCH. 
 
 Hees was a mother's lieart, 
 
 That poor Egyptian's, "when she drew apart 
 
 Because she would not see 
 
 Her child beloved in its last agony ; 
 
 AVhen her sad load she laid, 
 In her despair, beneath the scanty shade 
 In the wild waste, and stepped 
 Aside, and long and passionately wept. 
 
 Yet higher, more sublime. 
 
 How many a mother since that ancient time 
 
 Has shown the mighty power 
 
 Of love divine, in such another hour! 
 
 Oh ! higher love to wait 
 
 Fast by the sufferer in his worst estate, 
 
 Nor from the eyes to hide 
 
 One pang, but aye in courage to abide. 
 
 And thouo;h no angel bring 
 
 In that dark hour unto a living spring 
 
 284 
 
A MOTlIEIl'S HEART. 285 
 
 Of gladness — as was sent, 
 
 Stilling her voice of turbulent lament — 
 
 Oh ! higher faith to show 
 
 Out of what depths of anguish and of woe 
 
 The heart is strong to raise 
 
 To an all-loving Father hymns of praise. 
 
CHARLES WESLEY. 
 2 Sam. xii. 23,-1 Sam. iii. 18. 
 
 "Wherefoee should I make my moan, 
 Now the darling child is dead? 
 
 He to rest is early gone, 
 He to paradise is fled ! 
 
 I shall go to him, but he 
 
 Never shall return to me. 
 
 God forbids his longer stay, 
 God recalls the precious loan I 
 
 He hath taken him away. 
 From my bosom to his own. 
 
 Surely what he wills is best; 
 
 Happy in his will I rest. 
 
 Faith cries out, " It is the Lord ! 
 
 Let him do what seems him good, 
 Be thy holy name adored, 
 
 Take the gift a while bestowed; 
 Take the child no longer mme 
 Thine he is, for ever thine !" 
 
 286 
 
Realms of tl^t llest. 
 
 ANONYMOUS. 
 
 We speak of the realms of tlie blest, 
 Of that country so bright, and so fair, 
 And oft are its glories confessed, 
 But what must it be to be there f 
 
 We speak of its pathways of gold, 
 Of its walks decked with jewels so rare ; 
 Of its wonders and pleasures untold, — 
 But what must it be to be there? 
 
 We speak of its freedom from sin. 
 From sorrow, temptation, and care, 
 From trials without and within, 
 But what must it be to be there f 
 
 We speak of its service of love. 
 Of the robes which the glorified wear. 
 Of the church of the first-born above,— 
 But what must it be to be there? 
 287 
 
§n^ net *ihin't 'd I'ftntr gloto. 
 
 T. H. BAYLY. 
 
 Oh! say not 'twere a keener blow, 
 
 To lose a child of riper years; 
 You cannot feel a mother's woe, 
 
 You cannot dry a mother's tears; 
 The girl who rears a sickly plant, 
 
 Or cherishes a wounded dove, 
 Will love them most while most they want 
 
 The watchfulness of love ! 
 
 Time must have changed that fair young brow! 
 
 Time might have changed that spotless heart! 
 Years migJit have taught deceit, but now 
 
 In love's confiding dawn we part ! 
 Ere pain or grief had wrought decay, 
 
 My babe is cradled in the tomb ; 
 Like some fair blossom torn away 
 
 Before its perfect bloom. 
 
 With thoughts of peril and of storm, 
 We see a bark first touch the wave ; 
 
 288 
 
SAY NOT 'TWERIi A KEENER BLOW. 289 
 
 But distant seems the ■whirlwind's form, 
 
 As distant — as an infant's grave ! 
 Though all is calm, that beauteous ship 
 
 Must bear the whirhvind's rudest breath; 
 Though all is calm, that infant's lip 
 
 ]\Iust meet the kiss of death ! 
 
 37 
 
mxivnci from n tditt. 
 
 ROBERT HALL. 
 
 I SINCERELY Sympathize Avith you in the loss of your child , 
 but, my dear friend, do not suffer your spirits to sink. Remem- 
 ber the tenure on which all human enjoyments are held, the 
 •wisdom and sovereignty of their great Author, and the gracious 
 promise afforded to true Christians, that " all things shall work 
 together for good to them that love him." 
 
 Remember, also, the many blessings with which a kind Provi- 
 dence still indulges you. Ought you not to rejoice, that your 
 affectionate companion in life is spared ; and that, though your 
 child is snatched from your embraces, he has escaped from a 
 world of sin and sorrow ? The stamp of immortality is placed 
 on his happiness, and he is encircled by the arms of a compas- 
 sionate Redeemer, Had he been permitted to live, and you had 
 witnessed the loss of his virtue, you might have been reserved 
 to suffer still severer pangs. A most excellent family, in our 
 congregation, are now melancholy spectators of a son dying at 
 nineteen years of age, by inches, a victim to his vices. They 
 have frequently regretted he did not die several years since, when 
 his life was nearly despaired of in a severe fever. '"' Who know- 
 eth what is good for a man all the days of this, his vain life, 
 which he spends as a shadow ?" 
 
 290 
 
Urge for a gifeil^. 
 
 MRS. HEMANS. 
 
 No bitter tears for thee be shed, 
 Blossom of being! seen and gone! 
 
 "With flowers alone we strew thy bed, 
 O blest departed one ! 
 
 Whose all of life, a rosy ray. 
 
 Blushed into dawn, and passed away. 
 
 Yes! thou art fled, ere guilt had power 
 To stain thy cherub soul and form, 
 
 Closed is the soft ephemeral flower. 
 That never felt a storm! 
 
 The sun-beam's smile, the zephyr's breath, 
 
 All that it knew from birth to death. 
 
 Thou wert so like a form of light, 
 
 That Heaven benignly called thee hence 
 
 Ere yet the world could breathe one blight 
 O'er thy sweet innocence: 
 
 And thou, that brighter home to bless. 
 
 Art passed with all thy loveliness ! 
 
 291 
 
292 CHILDKEN IN HEAVEN. 
 
 Oil, hadst thou still on earth remained, 
 Vision of beauty! fair, as brief! 
 
 How soon thy brightness liad been stained 
 With passion or with grief! 
 
 Now not a sullying breath can rise 
 
 To dim tliy glory in the skies. 
 
 We rear no marble o'er thy tomb, 
 
 No sculptured image there shall mourn : 
 
 Ah ! fitter far the vernal bloom 
 Such dwelling to adorn. 
 
 Fragrance, and flowers, and dews, must be 
 
 The only emblems meet for thee. 
 
 Thy grave shall be a blessed shrine. 
 Adorned with nature's brightest MTeath, 
 
 Each glowing season shall combine 
 Its incense there to breathe; 
 
 And oft upon the midnight air. 
 
 Shall viewless harps be murmuring there. 
 
 And oh ! sometimes in visions blest. 
 Sweet spirit! visit our repose. 
 
 And bear from thine own world of rest, 
 Some balm for human woes ! 
 
 What form more lovely could be given 
 
 Than thine, as messenger of Heaven? 
 
^0ne— But not Sost. 
 
 MRS. ELLEN STONE. 
 
 Sweet bud of Earth's wilderness, rifled and torn ! 
 Fond eyes have wept o'er thee, fond hearts still will mourn j 
 The spoiler hath come, with his cold withering breath, 
 And the loved and the cherished lies silent in death. 
 
 He felt not the burden and heat of the day ! 
 He hath passed from this earth, and its sorrows, away, 
 With the dew of the morning yet fresh on his brow : — 
 Sweet bud of Earth's wilderness, where art thou now? 
 
 And oh ! do ye question, with tremulous breath, 
 Why the joy of your household lies silent in death? 
 Do ye mourn round the place of his perishing dust ? 
 Look onward and upward, with holier trust ! 
 
 •Who cometh to meet him, with light on her brow? 
 What angel form greets him, so tenderly now? 
 'Tis the pure sainted mother, springs onward to bear 
 The child of her love from this region of care ! 
 
 She beareth him on to that realm of repose. 
 Where no cloud ever gathers, no storm ever blows : 
 
 293 
 
294 CHILDREN IN HEAVEN. 
 
 For the Saviour calls home to the mansions above, 
 This frail trembling floweret in mercy and love. 
 
 There shall he for ever, unchanged by decay. 
 Beside the still waters and green pastures stray; 
 And there shall ye join him, with earth's ransomed host- 
 Look onward and upward ' " he's gone — but not lost /" 
 
&ititpl^ 0tt a JIMltr. 
 
 RICHARD HUIE, M.D. 
 
 Sleep on, my babe ! thy little bed 
 
 Is cold, indeed, and narrow; 
 Yet calmly there shall rest thy head, 
 And neither mortal pain nor dread 
 Shall e'er thy feelings harrow! 
 
 Thou may'st no more return to me; 
 
 But there's a time, my dearest, 
 When I shall lay me down by thee, 
 And when of all my babe shall be 
 
 That sleep around, the nearest! 
 
 And sound our sleep shall be, my child, 
 
 Were earth's foundations shaken ; 
 Till He, the pure, the undefiled. 
 Who once, like thee, an infant smiled, 
 The dead to life awaken ! 
 
 Then, if to Him, with faith sincere, 
 
 My babe at death was given. 
 The kindred tie that bound us here, 
 Though rent apart with many a tear, 
 Shall be renewed in heaven ! 
 
 * From Sacred Lyrics. 
 295 
 
ml^t ^0ss of ^InUixm, 
 
 FLAVEL. 
 
 Mourner, m- hatever may be your grief for the death of your 
 children, it might liave been still greater for their life. Bitter 
 experience once led a good man to say, " It is better to Aveep for 
 ten children dead, than for one living." Remember the heart- 
 piercing affliction of David, \yhose son sought his life. Your 
 love for your children will hardly admit of the thought of such 
 a thing as possible, in your own case. They appeared innocent 
 and amiable ; and you fondly believed, that through your care 
 and pray el's, they would have become the joy of your hearts. 
 But may not Esau, w^hen a child, have promised as much comfort 
 to his parents as Jacob ? Probably he had as many of their 
 prayers and counsels. But as years advanced, he despised their 
 admonitions, and filled their hearts with grief. As a promoter 
 of family religion, who ever received such an encomium from 
 the God of heaven as Abraham ? How tenderly did the good 
 man pray for Ishmael ! " O that Ishmael might live before 
 thee !" Yet how little comfort did Ishmael afford. 
 
 Alas ! in these days of degeneracy, parents much more fre- 
 quently Avitness the vices of their children than their virtues. 
 And even should your children prove amiable and promising, 
 
 296 
 
THE LOSS OF CHILDREN. 297 
 
 you might live to be the Avretelicd witness of their sufferings. 
 Some parents have felt unutterable agonies of this kind. 
 
 God may have taken the lamented objects of your affection 
 from the evil to come. AVhen extraordinary calamities are 
 coming on the world, he frequently hides some of his feebler 
 children in the grave. Surely, at such a portentous period, it is 
 happier for such as are prepared, to be lodged in that peaceful 
 mansion, than to be exposed to calamities and distresses here. 
 Thus intimates the prophet Jeremiah, " Weep not for the dead, 
 neither bemoan him ; but weep sore for hira that goeth away ; 
 for he shall return no more, nor see his native country." It was 
 in a day when the faith and patience of the saints were pecu- 
 liarly ti'ied, that the voice from heaven said, " Write, ))lessed are 
 the dead, which die in the Lord, from henceforth." 
 
 38 
 
^it tilt mail] 0f a ^Ijtltr. 
 
 CONDER. 
 
 Whex I can trust my all with God, 
 
 In trial's fearful hour, 
 Bow all resigned beneath his rod. 
 
 And bless his sparing power ; 
 A joy springs up amid distress, 
 A fountain in the wilderness. 
 
 Oh ! to be brought to Jesus' feet. 
 Though sorrows fix me there, 
 
 Is still a privilege; and sweet 
 The energies of prayer, 
 
 Though sighs and tears its language be. 
 
 If Christ be nigh, and smile on me. 
 
 An earthly mind, a faithless heart. 
 
 He sees with pitying eye; 
 He will not let his grace depart ; 
 
 But, kind severity ! 
 He takes a hostage of our love 
 To draw the parent's heart above. 
 
 298 
 
ON THE DEATH OF A CHILD. 299 
 
 There stands our cliild before the Lord, 
 
 In royal vesture drest; 
 A victor ere he drew the sword, 
 
 Ere he had toiled at rest. 
 ISTo doubts this blessed faith bedim, 
 "We know that Jesus died for him. 
 
 Oh blessed be the hand that gave ; 
 
 Still blessed when it takes. 
 Blessed be He who smites to save. 
 
 Who heals the heart he breaks. 
 Perfect and true are all his ways, 
 Whom heaven adores, and death obeys. 
 
During the absence of Rabbi Meir from his house, his two 
 sons died, both of them of uncommon beauty and enlightened 
 by the law. His wife bore them to her chamber, laid them upon 
 the bed, and spread a white covering over their bodies. When 
 Rabbi Meir returned, his first inquiry was for his sons. His 
 wife reached to him a goblet ; he praised the Lord at the going 
 out of the Sabbath, drank, and again asked, " Where are my 
 sons, that they too may drink of the cup of blessing?" 
 
 " They will not be far off," she replied, and placed food before 
 him that he might eat. He was in a gladsome and genial mood; 
 and when he had said grace, after the meal, she thus addressed 
 him : " Rabbi, with thy permission, I would fain propose to thee 
 one question." 
 
 " Ask it then, my love," replied he. 
 
 "A few days ago a person entrusted some jewels to my custody, 
 and now he demands them ; should I give them back to him ?" 
 
 "This is a question," said Rabbi Meir, "which my wife should 
 not have thought it necessary to ask. What ! M'ould'st thou 
 hesitate or be reluctant to restore to every one his own ?" 
 
 " No," she replied, " but yet I thought it best not to restore 
 
 ■*• From the Mishoa of the Rabbins. 
 300 
 
A STORY. 301 
 
 them without acquainting thee therewith." She then led hira to 
 their chamber, and stepping to the bed, took the white covering 
 from the dead bodies. 
 
 " Ah ! my sons, my sons !" loudly lamented their father, " my 
 sons ! the light of my eyes, and the light of my understanding. 
 I was your father — but ye were my teachers in the law." 
 
 The mother turned away and wept bitterly. At length, she 
 took the husband by the hand and said, " Rabbi, did'st thou not 
 teach me that we must not be reluctant to restore that which was 
 entrusted to our keeping ? See, the Lord gave and the Lord hath 
 taken away, and blessed be the name of the Lord !" 
 
 " Blessed be the name of the Lord !" echoed the holy man ; 
 " and blessed be his o-lorious name for ever." 
 
E\t Mokt of §pnu0. 
 
 W. J. PABODIE. 
 
 I HEAR thy voice, O Spring, 
 Its flute-like tones are floating through the air, 
 Winning my soul with their wild ravishing, 
 
 From earth's heart-wearying care. 
 
 Divinely sweet thy song; 
 But yet, methinks, as near the groves I pass, 
 LoAV sighs on viewless wings are borne along. 
 
 Tears gem the springing grass. 
 
 For where are they, the young, 
 The loved, the beautiful, who, when thy voice 
 A year agone, along these valleys rung, 
 
 Did hear thee and rejoice? 
 
 Thou seek'st for them in vain : 
 No more they'll greet thee in thy joyous round ; 
 Calmly they sleep beneath the murmuring main, 
 
 Or moulder in the ground. 
 
 Yet peace, my heart, be still ! 
 Look upward to yon azure sky, and know 
 
 302 
 
THE VOICE OF SPKING. 303 
 
 To heavenlier music now their bosoms tlirill, 
 Where bahnier breezes blow. 
 
 For them hath bloomed a Spring, 
 Whose flowers perennial deck a holier sod, 
 Whose music is the song that seraphs sing, 
 
 Whose light, the smile of God, 
 
JAMES MONTGOMERY. 
 
 Friend after friend departs ; 
 
 Who hath not lost a friend ? 
 There is no union here of hearts, 
 
 That finds not here an end : 
 Were this frail world our final rest, 
 Living or dying none were blest. 
 
 Beyond the flight of time, 
 Beyond the reign of death, 
 
 There surely is some blessed clime. 
 Where life is not a breath ; 
 
 Nor life's aflPections transient fire, 
 
 Whose sparks fly upwards and expire. 
 
 There is a world above. 
 
 Where parting is unknown ; 
 
 A long eternity of love, 
 
 Formed for the good alone ; 
 
 And faith beholds the dying here, 
 
 Translated to that glorious sphere. 
 
 304 
 
NOT LOST, BUT GONE BEFORE. 305 
 
 Thus star by star declines, 
 
 'Till all are passed away, 
 As morning high and liigher shines, 
 
 To pure and perfect day ; 
 Nor sink those stars in empty night, 
 But hide themselves in heaven's own light. 
 
 3» 
 
Sljrcc little ^rabcs. 
 
 MRS. LYDIA H. SIGOURNEY. 
 
 I SOUGHT at twilight's pensive hour 
 
 The path which mourners tread, 
 Where many a marble stone reveals 
 
 The City of the dead; — 
 The city of the dead, where all 
 
 From feverish toil repose. 
 While round their beds, the simple flower, 
 
 In sweet profusion blows. 
 
 And there I marked a pleasant spot 
 
 Enclosed with tender care, 
 Where side by side three infants lay, 
 
 The only tenants there, — 
 Nor weed, nor bramble raised its head 
 
 To mar the hallowed scene, 
 And 'twas a mother's tears, methought, 
 
 Which kept that turf so green. 
 
 The eldest was a gentle girl. 
 She sunk as rose-buds fall, 
 
 306 
 
THREE LITTLE GRAVES. 307 
 
 And then two little brothers came, 
 
 They were their parents' all, — 
 Their parents' all ! — and ah, how oft 
 
 The moan of sickness rose, 
 Before, within these narrow mounds, 
 
 They found a long repose. 
 
 Their cradle sports beside the hearth. 
 
 At winter's eve, are o'er; 
 Their tuneful tones, so full of mirth, 
 
 Delight the ear no more : — 
 Yet still the thrilling echo lives. 
 
 And many a lisping word 
 Is treasured in affection's heart, 
 
 By grieving memory stirred. 
 
 Three little graves ! — Three little graves ! 
 
 Come hither, ye who see 
 Your blooming babes around you smile, 
 
 A blissful company, — 
 And of those childless parents think 
 
 AA'^ith sympathizing pain. 
 And soothe them with a Saviour's words, 
 " Your dead shall rise again." 
 
^0 ©^rcttbtb ^axcnis^ 
 
 REV. DR. SCHADFFLER. 
 
 It seems to me, we need infant choirs in heaven, to make up 
 full concert to the angelic symphony. Who will sing like unto 
 them, of the manger, and the SAvaddling clothes, and of the 
 Lord of all drawing nourishment from the bosom of a mortal 
 mother! True these are themes of infinite interest, and the 
 delight and wonder of angels. But ah ! they are too tender 
 for the archangel's powerful trump — too tender for the 
 thundering notes of seraphim and cherubim. We must have 
 infant choirs in heaven. When on some Sabbath-school 
 anniversary the multitude of little children come together, and 
 after hearing some words of tender and aifectionate exhortation 
 and advice, they strike up their artless hymn, all the assembly 
 is moved to tears and the single-hearted little ones carry away 
 from the Masters in Israel the palm of eloquence ; and the thrill 
 of their tender voices is felt vibrating in the hearts of those who 
 heard them, when the most powerful speeches are long for- 
 gotten. 
 
 We must have Infant Choirs in Heaven ! And is it no 
 privilege to know one of our dear ones among them ? What an 
 interest does not a father or a mother feel in listening to the 
 
 30S 
 
THE BEREAVED PARENTS. 309 
 
 sweet voices of the children when they know their beloved child 
 is among thft happy songsters. And is it not incomparably more 
 precious to know them among the songsters in heaven? And 
 oh ! with what additional interest, with what quickened anticipa- 
 tions do I now look beyond the grave ! I think of the moment 
 when I shall fold my little ones to a father's bosom again and 
 that for evei', and tears of joy and gratitude flow down my cheeks 
 involuntarily. Even now while I am writing, the voices of two 
 of my cliildrcn, is it possible ? — yes, of my children are singing 
 praises unto Him who became a poor babe and a man of sorrows 
 for them and for all men. O, let them sing then ! I can only 
 Avish to join them soon ! 
 
 And now, your dear boy has gone to unite with them. And 
 while you read this, and it may be weep, he raises his growing 
 notes of praise and gratitude to the Saviour of all men and learns 
 in one minute more of God, and Christ, and heaven, than you 
 would ever have taught him in all your lives. Oh ! leave them 
 there — all of them, and let us but become daily more heavenly- 
 minded, and more ready to join the 
 
 "Angels who stand round the throne. 
 And view my Immanuel's face." 
 
 And the — 
 
 " Saints who stand nearer than they ! !" 
 
 All those redeemed by the precious blood of Christ, and called 
 close around the steps of His Throne to sing the song, — not of 
 creation and providence only, but of redeeming love and sovereign 
 grace. 
 
MARY HOWITT. 
 
 We meet around the hearth — thou art not there, 
 Over our household joys hath passed a gloom : 
 Beside the fire we see thy empty chair, 
 
 And miss thy sweet voice in the silent room, — 
 "\Miat hopeless longings after thee arise ! 
 
 Even for the touch of thy small hand I pine, 
 And for the sound of thy dear little feet — 
 Alas ! tears dim my eyes. 
 Meeting in every place some joy of thine. 
 Or when fair cliildren pass me in the street. 
 
 Beauty was on thy cheek — and thou didst seem 
 A privileged being — chartered from decay ; 
 
 And thy free spirit, like a mountain stream 
 That hath no ebb, kept on its cheerful way: 
 Thy laugh was like the inspiring breath of spring, 
 
 That thrills the heart, and cannot be unfelt; 
 
 The sun, the moon, the green leaves, and the flowers, 
 And every living thing, 
 
 310 
 
THE LOST ONE. 311 
 
 Were a strong joy to thee — thy spirit dwelt 
 Gladly in life, rejoicing in its powers. 
 
 Oh! what had death to do with one like thee? 
 
 Thou young and loving one, whose soul did cling, 
 Even as the ivy clings unto the tree, 
 
 To those who loved thee — thou whose tears would spring, 
 
 Dreading a short day's absence, didst thou go 
 Alone into the future Avorld unseen. 
 
 Solving each awful, untried mystery, 
 The unknown to know. 
 To be where mortal traveller hath not been — 
 
 Whence welcome tidings cannot come from thee? 
 
 ISIy happy boy ! — and murmur I, that death 
 
 Over thy young and buoyant frame had power? 
 
 In yon bright land, love never perisheth, 
 
 Hope may not mock, nor grief the heart devour: 
 The beautiful are round thee — thou dost keep 
 
 Within the Eternal Presence, and no more 
 Mayst death, or pain, or separation dread: 
 Thy bright eyes cannot weep, 
 
 Nor they with whom thou art thy loss deplore, 
 For ye are of the living — not the dead. 
 
 Thou dweller with the Unseen, who hast explored 
 
 The immense unknown — thou to whom Death and Heaven 
 
 Are mysteries no more, whose soul is stored 
 
 With knowledge for which men have vainly striven. 
 
312 CHILDREN IN HEAVEN. 
 
 Beloved child! oh when shall I lie down 
 With thee beneath fair trees that cannot fade? 
 
 When from the immortal rivers quench my thirst ? 
 Life's morning passeth on, 
 
 Noon speeds, and cometh the dim evening's shade 
 And night: — anon is every cloud dispersed, 
 
 And o'er the hills of Heaven the Eternal Dav shall burst! 
 
f Mather's mtmcni. 
 
 WILLIAM HOWITT. 
 
 Two creatures of a pleasant life were mine; 
 My house they filled with a perpetual joy ; 
 Twin lamps that chased all darkness did they shine — 
 My fairy girl and merry-hearted boy. 
 I never dreamed Death would their mirth destroy, 
 For they were dwelling 'mid life's freshest springs, 
 And I was busied with a fond employ, 
 Ranging the future on Hope's fearless wings, 
 And gathering for them thence how many pleasant things! 
 
 In truth, I was a proud and joyful man, 
 As from the floor unto the very roof 
 Their murmured bursts of joy and laughter ran, 
 And jocund shouts which needed no reproof — 
 All weariness, all gloom was kept aloof. 
 By their quaint shows and fancies ever new. 
 Now bending age with stafi' in its behoof. 
 Now Island Crusoe and " Man Friday " true. 
 Now shipmates far at sea with all their jovial crew. 
 
 40 313 
 
B14 CHILDREN IN HEAVEN. 
 
 But a dark dream has swept across my brain, 
 A wild, a dismal dream that will not break — 
 A rush of fear — an agony of pain — 
 Pangs and suspense that inly made me quake. — 
 My boy ! my boy ! I saw thy sweet eyes take 
 A strange unearthly lustre, and then fade ; 
 And oh ! I deemed my heart must surely break. 
 As, stooping, I thy pleasant locks surveyed, 
 And felt that thou must die, and they in dust be laid. 
 
 Oh ! precious in thy life of happiness ! 
 Daily and hourly valued more and more, 
 Yet, to the few brief days of thy distress, 
 How faint all love my spirit knew before! 
 I turn and turn, and ponder o'er and o'er. 
 Insatiate, all that sad and dreamy time 
 Thy words thrill through me — in my fond heart's core 
 I heard thy sighs, and tears shed for no crime. 
 And thy most patient love sent from a happier clime. 
 
 How dim and dismal is my home ! — a sense 
 Of thee spreads through it like a haunting ill; 
 For thou — for ever, thou hast vanished thence! 
 This — this pursues me, pass where'er I will, 
 And all the traces thou hast left but fill 
 The hollow of thine absence with more pain ; 
 I toil to keep thy living image still. 
 But fancy feebly doth her part maintain ; 
 I see, yet see thee not, my child ! as I would fain., 
 
A father's lament. 315 
 
 In dreams for ever thy dear form I grasp, 
 In noonday reveries do I rove — then start — , 
 
 And certainty, as with an iron clasp. 
 Shuts down once more to misery my heart ; 
 The world from thee as a shorn flower doth part, 
 Ending its care and knowledge with " Farewell !" 
 But in my soul a shrined life thou art, 
 Ordained with memory and strong hope to dwell, 
 And with all pure desires to sanctify thy cell. 
 
 Spring like a spirit is upon the earth — 
 Forth gush the flowers and fresh leaves of the tree. 
 And I had planned, with wonder and with mirth — 
 The bird, the nest, the blossom, and the bee 
 To fill thy boyish bosom — till its glee 
 O'erflowed my own w'ith transport! In far years 
 I felt thy hand in mine, by stream and lea, 
 Wandering in gladness — But these blinding tears. 
 Why will they thus gush forth, though richer hope appears? 
 
 Far other land thy happy feet have trod. 
 Far other scenes thy tender soul has known — 
 The golden city of the eternal God, 
 The rainbow-splendours of the eternal throne. 
 Through the pearl gate how lightly hast thou flown ! 
 The streets of lucid gold — the chrysolite 
 Foundations have received thee — dearest one! 
 That thought alone can break affliction's miglit. 
 Feeling that tliou art blest, my heart again is liglit. 
 
816 CHILDREN IN HEAVEN. 
 
 Thanks to tlic Framer of life's mystery ! 
 Tlianks to the Illuminator of the grave ! 
 A'ainly on time's obscure and tossing sea 
 liope did I seek, and comfort did I crave; 
 But lie who made, neglecteth not to save. 
 j\Iy child ! — thou hast allied me to liie blest : 
 I cannot Ikir what thou didst meekly brave; 
 I cannot cease to long with thee to rest ; 
 And heaven is doubly heaven with thee, with thee possessed. 
 
MRS. S. H. 0. 
 
 "These were redeemed from among men, being the first fri its unto Ood, and to 
 the Lamb." — Rev. xiv. 4. 
 
 Redeemed from earth, my gentle child, 
 
 Now thou art of that seraph band, 
 The pure in heart, the undefiled, 
 
 Who roam the bright immortal land. 
 By crystal streams, through flowery meads, 
 Still following where the Saviour leads. 
 
 There doth the tender bud expand, 
 
 We watched with many a sigh and tear, 
 Too fragile for this wintry land, 
 
 Too pure for earth's polluted sphere. 
 Twelve moons marked thy gentle bloom, 
 The thirteenth beamed upon thy tomb. 
 
 Sweet one ! when fondly on my breast, 
 
 I hushed thee to thy soft repose. 
 And watched the wing of slumber rest 
 
 On violet eye — and cheek of rose — 
 While gazing on thy trusting eye, 
 How could I deem that tliou would'st die! 
 
 317 
 
318 CHILDREN IN HEAVEN. 
 
 That thou would'st die! and from our bower 
 Withdraw the sunshine thou hadst shed, 
 
 While grief should bid her purple flower, 
 Spring up where'er our footsteps tread; 
 
 And hopes, and dreams, once green and high, 
 
 Like autumn leaves should lowly lie. 
 
 When on thy pale, cold brow of snow 
 
 I pressed the last fond kiss of love. 
 Such love as only mothers know — 
 
 A stream, whose fountain is above, 
 I felt that life was drear, and wild. 
 Bereft of thee, my gentle child ! 
 
 When kneeling by the sacred tomb. 
 That held the form so prized, so dear, 
 
 A voice dispelled my bosom's gloom 
 And whispered soft, she is not here ; 
 
 Not here, not here, beyond the skies. 
 
 Her spirit lives in Paradise. 
 
 What rapture thrilled through every vein, 
 
 As faith, with eagle-piercing eye, 
 Beheld her in that seraph train. 
 
 The infant army of the sky — 
 By crystal streams, by flowery meads. 
 Still following where the Saviour leads. 
 
 And now, though years have onward sped. 
 
 Through tears and smiles, through light and gloom, 
 
MY CHILD. 319 
 
 Still memory o'er the lovely dead, 
 
 Bids flowers of fairest verdure bloom — 
 And wakes her harp all sweet, and low, 
 Whence soft, delicious numbers flow. 
 
 Soft breathing tones, but not of wo, 
 Though lonely is the mother's heart; 
 
 And time's swift flight is all too slow, 
 For loved and cherished friends apart: 
 
 Those gentle airs with hope are rife. 
 
 And whisper of eternal life. 
 
feob is iwt ©fab. 
 
 There lived in the east of Scotland, a pious clergyman, Avho 
 had presided for a number of years, over a small but respecta- 
 ble congregation. In the midst of his active career of useful- 
 ness, he was suddenly removed by death, leaving behind him a 
 wife and a number of helj)less children. 
 
 The small stipend allowed him by his congregation, had been 
 barely sufficient to meet the current expenses of his family ; 
 and at his death no visible means were left for their support. 
 The death of her husband preyed deeply upon the heart of the 
 poor afflicted widow, while the dark prospect which the future 
 presented, filled her mind with the most gloomy apprehensions. 
 By her lonely fireside she sat — the morning after her sad be- 
 reavement — lamenting her forlorn and destitute condition, when 
 her little son, a boy of five years of age, entered the room. 
 Seeing the deep distress of his mother, he stole softly to her 
 side, and placing his little hand in hers, looked wistfully into 
 her face, and said : " jMother, mother, is God dead ?" Soft as 
 the gentle whisper of an angel, did the simjile accent of the 
 dear boy fall upon the ear of the disconsolate, and almost heart- 
 broken mother. A gleam of heavenly radiance lighted up, for 
 a moment, her pale features. Then snatching up her little boy, 
 
 320 
 
GOD IS NOT DEAD. 321 
 
 and pressing liini fondly to her bosom, she exclaimed : " No, 
 no, my son, God is not dead ; he lives, and has promised to be 
 a father to the fatherless, a husband to the widow. His prom- 
 ises are sure and steadfast, and upon them I will firmly and im- 
 plicitly rely." Her tears were dried, and her murmurings for 
 
 ever hushed. 
 41 
 
|ittk ^tllic's last ^orbs. 
 
 C. W. B. 
 
 The Sabbath-day was nearly spent, 
 
 The week that Willie died, 
 And o'er his pillow still we bent, 
 
 Or kneeling at his side 
 We watched the waves that came and went 
 
 In life's fast-ebbing tide. 
 
 Through all the silent hours — the deep. 
 
 Deep silence of our woe — 
 We watched, with eyes that could not weep, 
 
 The parting spirit go ; 
 We heard the moanings of his sleep, 
 
 His , breathing faint and slow. 
 
 But ere his upward flight he took, 
 
 The fevered slumber broke ; 
 His mind the troubled dream forsook; 
 
 Our dying Willie woke ; 
 And with an earnest heavenward look, 
 
 These precious words he spoke: 
 
 322 
 
LITTLE Willie's last words. 323 
 
 "The blessed Jesus surely died 
 
 To save us from our sin." 
 He said no more, nor turned aside 
 
 His gaze, that pierced within 
 Those gates of glory opened wide, 
 
 When soon he entered in. 
 ****** 
 
 I thank thee, Father! Lord of light, 
 
 That, hidden from the wise. 
 Thou hast revealed to infant sight 
 
 The secrets of the skies. 
 Yea, Father ! even so, for right 
 
 It seemeth in thine eyes. 
 
 I thank and praise, O Saviour Christ! 
 
 Thy mercy rich and free, 
 That six short cloudless years sufficed 
 
 To bring our child to thee; 
 Thus early to thine arms enticed, 
 
 Suffered thy face to see. 
 
 And when the Holy and the Just, 
 
 Who taketh what he gave, 
 Shall call me to that sacred dust 
 
 Reposing in the grave. 
 Be mine as sure and simple trust 
 
 That Jesus died to save. 
 
Iljc little |oj) t%Lit Srctr. 
 
 I AM all alone in my chamber now, 
 
 And the midnight hour is near; 
 And the faggot's crack and the clock's dull tick 
 
 Are the only sounds I hear ; 
 And over my soul in its solitude 
 
 Sweet feelings of sadness glide, 
 For my heart and my eyes are full when I think 
 
 Of the little boy that died. 
 
 I went one night to my father's house. 
 
 Went home to the dear ones all. 
 And softly I opened the garden gate, 
 
 And softly the door of the hall. 
 My mother came out to meet her son — 
 
 She kissed me and then she sighed, 
 And her head fell on my neck, and she wept 
 
 For the little boy that died. 
 
 I shall miss him when the flowers come, 
 
 In the garden where he played; 
 I shall miss him more by the fireside. 
 
 When the flowers have all decayed. 
 
 324 
 
THE LITTLE BOY THAT DIED. 325 
 
 I sl)a]l see his toys and his empty chair, 
 
 And the hoi'se he used to ride ; 
 And they will speak with a silent speech, 
 
 Of the little boy that died. 
 
 We shall go home to our Father's house — 
 
 To our Father's house in the skies, 
 Where the hope of our souls shall have no blight, 
 
 Our love no broken ties. 
 We shall roam on the banks of the river of peace, 
 
 And bathe in its blissful tide ; 
 And one of the joys of our heaven shall be 
 
 The little boy that died. 
 
Snfant Saptism. 
 
 Let us consider the feelings with which parents should retire 
 from the baptismal service. 
 
 It is a solemn moment when they take the child away from 
 the altar. They have given it to God ; and they bear it away, 
 as the mother of Moses did her own son, to bring it up for an- 
 other, who, in this case, is God. They have by their vows 
 promised that the will of God concerning their child shall be 
 their will, so that the question of its life or death is left implic- 
 itly with him. Though their hearts will bleed if it should be 
 taken away, yet, by the baptismal service, they have engaged to 
 consider the child henceforth as entirely at God's disposal ; and 
 whenever they look upon it hereafter, the feeling which they 
 are to have is expressed by these words, Lent, not given. If it 
 dies, they will remember its baptism and their vows, and the 
 peace of God, which passeth all understanding, wdll steal into 
 their breaking hearts. If it lives, it is to be trained up for that 
 God to whom it has been given. 
 
 326 
 
finiiicr at <x ^^ilb's fctptism. 
 
 Eternal God, iu whom we live, 
 From wliom all blessings we receive ; 
 Ourselves and ours we owe to thee, 
 And thine we would for ever be. 
 
 To thee our child this day we bring, 
 Our willing, grateful offering ; 
 Accept him, Lord, as henceforth thine, 
 To thee we all our rio-ht resign. 
 
 Lord, in the covenant of thy grace, 
 Grant this dear child an humble place; 
 And with the outward seal now given, 
 Prepare him for a home in heaven. 
 
 32? 
 

 There is no monument to mark the spot; 
 
 Two feet of grass are all that o'er it wave; 
 The stranger passes, but he heeds it not; 
 It is an infant's grave. 
 
 But there are two who know the spot full well, 
 
 And visit it, full oft, at evening tide ; 
 For when the child entombed within it fell, 
 Fell all their earthly pride. 
 
 The mother as she decks it round with flowers, 
 
 Waters with tears the little new-grown sod ; 
 The father bends his knee, and sadly pours 
 His vexed soul to God. 
 
 Grieve not, ye sad ones ! does the spirit sleep ? 
 
 'Tis with the Lord, who took but what he gave, 
 Angelic spirits nightly vigils keep 
 Over your infant's grave. 
 
 328 
 
^^e §iuv in t^e mi&t* 
 
 FENELON. 
 
 In one of those quiet, secluded valleys of the Alps near the 
 lake's wild margin, embosomed by snow-crowned mountains, lies 
 the little village of Geneva. In its midst stood the moss- 
 covered cottage of Bolien. The departing radiance of a sum- 
 mer's sun played among the leaves of the flowers, and the mour 
 tains and tall trees were inverted in the pure waters, now stilled 
 beneath the deep blue sky of heaven. The windows of Bolien's 
 cottage were thrown open, the curtains drawn aside, and there 
 watched the wife of the faithful pastor over her dying child. 
 Now she parted the damp curls from his brow, and then pressed 
 her lips on his little cold fingers, which she held in her hand. 
 Fervently the silent prayer ascended, that the night of sorrow 
 might pass, and the stoim of agony be stilled in her bosom ' 
 then, as the babe turned restlessly in her lap, in a low tone sh'_ 
 sung. 
 
 Sleep, baby, sleep, 
 Once more upon my breast, ' 
 
 Thine aching head shall rest, 
 
 In quiet sleep. 
 
 Sleep, baby, sleep, 
 Sweetly thine eye is closing, « 
 
 Calmly thou'it now reposing, 
 42 329 
 
330 . CHILDREN IN HEAVEN. 
 
 In slumber deep. 
 
 Sleep, angel baby, sleep: 
 Not in thy cradle bed 
 Shall rest thy little head, 
 Eut with the quiet dead. 
 
 In dreamless sleep. 
 
 As the mother looked on her hoy, she saw that his little limbs 
 were stiff with the icy chill of death. A smile was on the 
 cherub face, and the long lashes were closed over the blue eyes. 
 Sweet Babe ! no wonder that thy mother's heart is broken when 
 she looks on her only child, — dead ! The kind-hearted villagers 
 made a little grave among the trees, — and on the third day, when 
 the morning sun shone upon the Alpine mountains, they took 
 from the mother's bosom her little oue, and laid it in the ground; 
 and then they looked along the narrow and wild defile of the 
 mountain for their Pastor, who had been some days absent. 
 
 At evening the wife of Bolien sat alone in her cottage. She 
 looked upon tlie lake. A beautiful light was on its waters. She 
 raised her head. It was tlie star in the east ; and it came and 
 stood over the place where the young child was. Upon her 
 darkened soul it rose as the star of hope — the dawning of that 
 light, which had been for a while withdra^^■n. " I shall rejoice 
 in Him who was born King of the Jews, — for he hath gathered 
 the sheep in his arms, — and he carries the lambs in his bosom," 
 she exclaimed, — and her feelings vrere calmed, — her broken 
 spirit found repose. 
 
 That night the villagers welcomed their beloved Pastor. No 
 one dared tell him his only son rested beneath the sods of the 
 valley. As he passed from among them, into his own cottage, 
 
THE STAR IN THE EAST. 331 
 
 from which the little light was faintly gleaming, they uttered the 
 heartfelt benediction, " Peace be within this dwelling." The em- 
 brace of the Pastor and his wife was close and affectionate, and 
 then the eye of the father glanced on the cradle which stood in 
 its accustomed place " The baby sleeps," he said. " Blessed 
 be God who has preserved you both !" The mother turned to 
 wipe the tears from her eyes, as she replied, " Yes, the baby 
 sleeps, — you cannot wake him." The fearful truth did not enter 
 the mind of Bolien, and he seated himself to partake of some 
 simple refreshment which M'as set before him. " Your counte- 
 nance is sad," he exclaimed, as he looked upon the face of his 
 wife. " Methinks your heart should be full of joy. What shall 
 we render to the Lord for all his goodness ?" The struggle in 
 the countenance of the afflicted mother was too agonizinsc to 
 escape the notice of Bolien, and, as he took her hand in his, he 
 exclaimed, "Tell me, I beseech you, what has happened. 
 Christianity I know is not secure, even among the Alpine valleys. 
 It may be, that we are yet to cross the mountains of ice and 
 snow, and seek shelter from those who persecute us for righteous- 
 ness' sake. Tell me, what has befallen us, that you weep thus?" 
 The eye of the heart-stricken mother glanced towards the cradle 
 of her babe, and there needed no comment. The Pastor fell on 
 his knees, and uttered, " Our child is dead .'" — then buried his 
 face in his hands, and wept aloud. 
 
 An hour passed, — and the Pastor and his wife mingled their 
 tears at the grave of their child. Sweetly did the star in the 
 east shine on that little mound. As Bolien uncovered his head, 
 and gazed upAvard, he exclaimed, " The Star of Bethlehem shall 
 
332 CHILDREN IN HEAVEN. 
 
 be our guitle to that land which needeth no star to shine upon it! 
 for the glory of God shall lighten it ; and the Lamb is the light 
 thereof !" 
 
 We must enter into the designs of God, and try to receive the 
 comforts that he bestows. We shall soon find him whom we 
 seem to have lost; we approach him with rapid strides. Yet a lit- 
 tle time and we shall shed no more tears. We shall die ourselves. 
 Him whom we love lives, and will never die. This is what we 
 believe; if we believe it rightly, we shall feel in respect to our 
 friends as Jesus Christ wished that his disciples should feel with 
 regard to him when he rose to heaven. " If you loved me," 
 said he, "you would rejoice" in my glory. But we weep for 
 ourselves. For a true friend of God, who has been faithful and 
 humble, we can only rejoice at his happiness, and at the blessing 
 that he has left upon those who belonged to him on earth. Let 
 your grief then be «Aot)ied by the hand of him who has afflicted 
 you. 
 
JAMES MONTGOMERY. 
 
 I LOVED thee, daughter of my heart j 
 My child, I loved thee dearly ; 
 
 And though we only met to part, 
 — How sweetly ! how severely ! — 
 
 Nor life nor death can sever 
 
 My soul from thine for ever. 
 
 Thy days, my little one, ^vere few ; 
 
 An angel's morning visit. 
 That came and vanished with the dew; 
 
 'Twas here, 'tis gone, where is it? 
 Yet did'st thou leave behind thee 
 A clue for love to find thee. 
 
 The eye, the lip, the cheek, the brow, 
 The hands stretched forth in gladness, 
 
 All life, joy, rapture, beauty now; 
 Then dashed with infant sadness ; 
 
 Till, brightening by transition, 
 
 Returned the fairy vision : — ■ 
 
 333 
 
334 CHILDREN IN HEAVEN. 
 
 "Where are tliey now? — those smiles, those tears, 
 
 Thy mother's darling treasure? 
 She sees them still, and still she hears 
 
 Thy tones of pain or pleasure, 
 To her quick pulse revealing 
 Unutterable feeling. 
 
 Hushed in a moment on her breast, 
 Life, at the well-spring drinking j 
 
 Then cradled on her lap to rest 
 In rosy slumber sinking, 
 
 Thy dreams — no thought can guess themj 
 
 And mine — no tongue express them. 
 
 For then this waking eye could see, 
 
 In many a vain vagary. 
 The things that never were to be, 
 
 Imaginations airy ; 
 Fond hopes that mothers cherish. 
 Like still-born babes to perish. 
 
 Mine perished on thy early bier; 
 
 No, — changed to forms more glorious. 
 They flourish in a higher sphere. 
 
 O'er time and death victorious ; 
 Yet would these arms have chained thee, 
 And long from heaven detained thee. 
 
 Sarah ! my last, my youngest love, 
 The crown of everv other! 
 
A mother's lament. 335 
 
 Though thou art born in heaven above, 
 
 I am thine only motlier, 
 Nor will affection let me 
 Believe thou canst forget me. 
 
 Then, — thou in heaven and I on earth, — 
 
 May this one hope delight us, 
 That thou wilt hail my second birth, 
 
 When death shall reunite us, 
 "Where worlds no more can sever 
 Parent and child for ever. 
 
^ 
 
 mill of mt Mnfimt 
 
 With what unknown delight the mother smiled, 
 When this frail treasure in her arms she pressed ! 
 
 Her prayer was heard — she clasped a living child : 
 But how the gift transcends the poor request! 
 
 A child was all she asked, with many a vow ! 
 
 Mother — behold the child an angel now ! 
 
 Now in her father's house she finds a place. 
 Or, if to earth she takes a transient flight, 
 
 'Tis to fulfil the purpose of his grace : 
 
 To guide thy footsteps to the world of light ; — 
 
 A ministering spirit sent to thee. 
 
 That where she is, there thou may'st also be. 
 
 336 
 
m 
 
 tt^ gn. 
 
 WILLIAM COWPER. 
 
 We are forbidden to murmur, but we are not forbidden to 
 regret ; and whom we loved tenderly while living, we may still 
 pursue with an affectionate remembrance, without having any 
 occasion to charge ourselves with rebellion aga'nst the sov- 
 ereignty that appointed a separation. 
 
 \iii\t 8 
 
 arj. 
 
 From the group of little faces 
 
 One is gone. 
 In the old familiar places, 
 
 Sad and lone, 
 Father, mother, meek-eyed brother, 
 
 Sit and moan. 
 
 Sit and moan for one departed, 
 Pure and mild, 
 43 337 
 
838 CHILDREN IN HEAVEN. 
 
 Little Mary, gentle-hearted, 
 
 Sainted child — 
 And as nestling memories thicken, 
 
 Griefs grow wild. 
 
 Home, once bright, how cold and dreary 1 
 
 Shadows deep 
 Fall on forms and hearts aweary. 
 
 Eyes that weep — 
 Thought is in the church-yard seeking 
 
 One asleep. 
 
 Still the merry laugh deceiving 
 
 Fills the ear, 
 Tiny arms yet fondly cleaving 
 
 Dry the tear; 
 Foot-falls, silvery foot-falls patter 
 
 Far and near. 
 
 Ears instinctive, pause to hearken, 
 
 All in vain — 
 Days drag on and skies shall darken 
 
 O'er with pain. 
 But the heart will find its lost one 
 
 Ne'er again ! 
 
 From the treasured fire-side faces 
 
 Here to-day. 
 From the tender warm embraces, 
 
 Dropped away. 
 
LITTLE MARY. 339 
 
 Sleeps she 'mid forgotten sleepers 
 In the clay. 
 
 Ah ! what weary numbers sighing 
 
 To be free, 
 Little Mary, would be lying 
 
 Low with thee ! 
 AVhere no care nor eating sorrow 
 
 E'er shall be. 
 
 Weep not when ye tell the story 
 
 Of the dead— 
 'Tis a sunbeam joined the glory 
 Overhead ! 
 "For of such sweet babes is heaven," 
 Jesus said. 
 
^pptal to Mtt elisions fi aunts. 
 
 Irreligious, but bereaved parents, — after all, what avails 
 the safety of the departed to you ? While hope for your own souls 
 holds aloof so far — while the appeals of mercy are repeated in 
 vain — while conscience tells so fully, and so truly, that the offer 
 of salvation has ever been tendered in vain — what boots the rest? 
 What is it to you that the hope of a glorious resurrection enters 
 the dark and dank habitation of the little one ? You meet 
 again : but if there be a single feeling of horror above all others 
 to our present conception, it is that of the ending of a natural 
 and social law, at the judgment seat of God. It is that of a 
 law of affection availing nothing. Your little one became the 
 property of Jesus — not by virtue of any prayer of faith that you 
 had uttered — not by a free-will offering that you had made — 
 but by that blood of atonement you have thrust so often from 
 you — by that distinguishing grace whose attractions were too faint 
 for your eye. 
 
 Yet you have Avatched by the bed of the departing spirit of 
 infancy ; and you have caught the last sigh, as the soul winged 
 its passage from earth. And even the loneliness of that sad 
 moment seemed broken by an admonition — " Father !" — 
 " Mother !" — " come away !" You heard — you thought — 
 
 340 
 
APPEAL TO IRRELIGIOUS PARENTS. 341 
 
 eternity neared — earth Interposed — and you returned to its bosom 
 again. 
 
 Impenitent, but bereaved parent ! — When a future world, in 
 some hour of reflection, flings its shadow over your path ; and, 
 despite of all your efforts, presses its realities upon your atten- 
 tion, remembei — that no bond of parental love may abide here- 
 after, when the frown of an offended God settles the destiny of 
 the lost, and the only relationship that exists, is that of the 
 family of Christ. 
 
 If the tender mercies of the Saviour were too little engaging 
 to win your admiration — if the worth of your own soul has not 
 entered into your thoughts of the future — behold what an argu- 
 ment is furnished by an afflictive dispensation ! You loved the 
 departed. To that very affection a most solemn providence of 
 God has appealed. It bids you gaze from earth to heaven. 
 It reminds you of the abode of glorified spirits. It admonishes 
 you to inquire, " am I also ready ?" It intimates most earnestly 
 and clearly, that the only true consolation which ever succeeds 
 the stroke of sorrow, must be connected with a reconciliation to 
 God, and an humble hope in the Redeemer's blood. Let these 
 be yours, and your peace will be independent of the precarious 
 tenure of human life. Faith shall scatter the darkness, and ex- 
 plain the mystery, so readily attendant on affliction. You shall 
 look up from the tomb to the late object of your solicitude and 
 care. You shall exclaim with a confidence sure and steadfast, — 
 " though he shall not return to me " — " I shall go to him !" 
 
^ritf for ilit gi^atr. 
 
 O HEARTS that never cease to yearn, 
 O brimming tears that ne'er are dried! 
 
 The dead, though they depart, return 
 As if they had not died ! 
 
 The living are the only dead ; 
 
 The dead live — never more to die; 
 And often when we mourn them fled 
 
 They never were so nigh. 
 
 And though they lie beneath the waves, 
 Or sleep within the church-yard dim — 
 
 (Ah ! through how many different graves 
 God's children go to him !) 
 
 Yet every grave gives up its dead 
 Ere it is overgrown with grass ! 
 
 Then why should hopeless tears be. shed. 
 Or need we cry, alas ! 
 
 Or why should memory veiled with gloom. 
 And like a sorrowing mourner craped. 
 
 Sit weeping o'er an empty tomb 
 Whose captives have escaped? 
 
 342 
 
GRIEF FOR THE DEAD. 343 
 
 'Tis but a mound — and will be mossed 
 Whene'er the summer grass appears; — 
 
 The loved, though wept, are never lost; 
 We only lose our tears. 
 
 Nay, Hope may whisper with the dead, 
 By bending forward where they are; 
 
 But Memory, with a backward tread, 
 Communes with them afar! 
 
 The joys we lose are but forecast. 
 
 And we shall find them all once more; — 
 
 We look behind us for the past, 
 But lo ! 'tis all before I 
 
A. D. F RANDOLPH. 
 I. 
 
 A LITTLE child, six summers old, 
 
 So thoughtful and so fair, 
 There seemed about her pleasant ways 
 
 A more than childish air. 
 Was sitting on a summer eve 
 
 Beneath a spreading tree, 
 Intent upon an ancient book, 
 
 Which lay upon her knee. 
 
 She turned each page with careful hand, 
 
 And strained her sight to see. 
 Until the drowsy shadows slept 
 
 Upon the grassy lea; 
 Then closed the book, and upwards looked, 
 
 And straight began to sing 
 A simple verse of hopeful love — 
 
 This very childish thing : 
 ^' While here below, how sweet to know 
 
 His wondrous love and story, 
 
 341 
 
LITTLE LUCY AND HER SONG. 345 
 
 And then, tlirough grace, to see His face, 
 And live with him in glory !" 
 
 II. 
 
 That little child, one dreary night 
 
 Of winter wind and storm, 
 Was tossing on a weary couch 
 
 Her weak and wasted form. 
 And in her pain, and in its pause, 
 
 But clasped her hands in prayer — 
 (Strange that we had no thoughts of heaven 
 
 While hers were only there) — 
 
 Until she said : " O mother dear. 
 
 How sad you seem to be ! 
 Have you forgotten that He said, 
 
 ' Let children come to me ?' 
 Dear mother, bring the blessed Book, 
 
 Come, mother, let us sing," 
 And then again, with faltering tongue, 
 
 She sang that childish thing : 
 "While here below, how sweet to know 
 
 His wondrous love and story. 
 And then, through grace, to see His face, 
 
 And live with him in glory !" 
 
 III. 
 
 Underneath a spreading tree 
 A narrow mound is seen, 
 
 44 
 
346 CHILDREN IN HEAVEN. 
 
 Wliicli first was covered by the snow, 
 
 Then blossomed into green ; 
 Here first I heard that childish voice 
 
 That sings on earth no more; 
 In heaven it hath a richer tone, 
 
 And sweeter than before : 
 For those who know his love below — 
 
 So runs the wondrous story — 
 In heaven, through grace, shall see His face, 
 
 And dwell with him in glory ! 
 
fht mnlti s ^isL 
 
 I THINK when I read that sweet story of old, 
 
 When Jesus was here among men, 
 How he called little children as lambs to his fold, 
 
 I should like to have been with them then. 
 
 I wish that his hands had been placed on my head, 
 That his arm had been thrown around me, 
 
 And that I might have seen his kind look when he said, 
 "Let the little ones come unto me." 
 
 Yet still to his footstool in prayer I may go. 
 
 And ask for a share in his love ; 
 And if I thus earnestly seek him below, 
 
 I shall see him and hear him above. 
 
 In that beautiful place he is gone to prepare. 
 
 For all who are washed and forgiven ; 
 And many dear children are gathering there, 
 
 "For of such is the kingdom of heaven." 
 
 I long for the joys of that glorious time. 
 
 The sweetest, and brightest, and best. 
 When the dear little children of every clime, 
 
 Shall crowd to his arms and be blest. 
 
 347 
 
|!je |02 nnh ^is |n0el. 
 
 CAROLINE M. SAWYER. 
 
 " O MOTHER, I've been with an angel to-day ! 
 I was out alone in the forest at play, 
 Chasing after the butterflies, watching the bees, 
 And hearing the woodpecker tapj)ing the trees ; 
 So I played, and I played, till, so weary I grew, 
 I sat down to rest in the shade of a yew; 
 While the birds sang so sweetly high up in its top, 
 I held my breath, mother, for fear they would stop! 
 Thus a long while I sat, gazing up to the sky. 
 And watching the clouds that went hurrying by, 
 When I heard a voice calling just over my head, 
 That sounded as if ' Come, O brother !' it said, 
 And there, right up over the top of the tree, 
 O mother, an angel was beckoning to me! 
 
 " And, ' Brother ! once more, come, O brother !' he cried, 
 
 And flew on light pinions cloSe down by my side ! 
 
 And, mother, oh, never was being so bright, 
 
 As the one wnich then beamed on my wondering sight! 
 
 His face was as fair as the delicate shell ; 
 
 His hair down his shoulders in long ringlets fellj 
 
 348 
 
THE BOY AXD HIS ANGEL. .349 
 
 While his eyes resting on me, so melting with love, 
 Were as soft and as mild as the eyes of a dove! 
 And somehoAV, dear mother, I felt not afraid, 
 As his hand on my brow he caressingly laid, 
 And murmured so softly and gently to me, 
 ' Come, brother, the angels are waiting for thee !' 
 
 "And then on my forehead he tenderly pressed 
 
 Such kisses — O mother, they thrilled through my breast 
 
 As swiftly as lightning leaps down from on high 
 
 When the chariot of God rolls along the black sky ! 
 
 While his breath, floating round me, was soft as the breeze 
 
 That played in my tresses, and rustled the trees : 
 
 At last on my head a deep blessing he poured, 
 
 Then plumed his bright pinions, and upward he soared: 
 
 And up, up he went, through the blue sky so far. 
 
 He seemed to float there like a glittering star ; 
 
 Yet still my eyes followed his radiant flight. 
 
 Till, lost in the azure, he passed from my sight! 
 
 Then, oh, how I feared, as I caught the last gleam 
 
 Of his vanishing form, it was only a dream ! 
 
 When soft voices murmured once more from the tree, 
 
 ' Come, brother, the angels are waiting for thee !' " 
 
 Oh ! pale grew that mother, and heavy her heart, 
 For she knew her fair boy from this world must depart; 
 That his bright locks must fade in the dust of the tomb 
 Ere the Autumn winds withered the Summer's rich bloom ! 
 
350 CHILDREN IN HEAVEN. 
 
 Oh, how his young footsteps she watched, day by day, 
 
 As his delicate form wasted slowly away, 
 
 Till the soft light of heaven seemed shed o'er his face, 
 
 And he crept up to die in her loving embrace! 
 
 " Oh, clasj) me, dear mother, close, close to your breast, 
 
 On that gentle pillow again let me rest! 
 
 Let me once more gaze up to that dear loving eye, 
 
 And then, oh, methinks, I can willingly die! 
 
 Now kiss me, dear mother ! oh quickly ! for see ! 
 
 The bright blessed angels are waiting for me." 
 
 Oh, wild was the anguish that swept through her breast 
 As the long, frantic kiss on pale lips she pressed, 
 And felt the vain search of his soft pleading eye, 
 As it strove to meet hers, ere the fair boy could die ! 
 "I see you not, mother, for darkness and night 
 Are hiding your dear loving face from my sight — 
 But I hear your low sobbings — dear mother, good-bye! 
 The angels are ready to bear me on high ! 
 I will wait for you there — but, oh, tarry not long. 
 Lest grief at your absence should sadden my song!" 
 He ceased, and his hands meekly clasped on his breast, 
 While his sweet face sank down on its pillow of restj 
 Then, closing his eyes, now all rayless and dim, 
 Went up with the angels that waited for him. 
 
^t is ^cll hiit^ tilt Milts. 
 
 It is well ! — nor would we our babe recall, 
 And soothing and sweet are the tears that fall ; — 
 But a few brief pangs on his mother's breast, 
 And we laid him down in his holy rest; 
 Ere the world its snares around him threw, — 
 Or its sins and its cares he ever knew. 
 
 It is well ! since the Saviour's word is given. 
 
 That of such as our child is the host of heaven ! 
 
 No struggle for him, — no doubts or fears, 
 
 His young cheek spared repentant tears. 
 
 It is well ! and we " bear" and adore " the rod," 
 
 For the wielding hand was the hand of God. 
 
 351 
 
^ 
 
 l^c min^ of ^eatl^. 
 
 Mourn not o'er early graves — for those 
 Removed whilst only buds are shown, 
 
 For God, who sowed and watered, knows 
 The time to gather in his own. 
 
 [eep Mot. 
 
 Not for the babe that sleepeth here 
 My tears bestow, my sorrows give,- 
 
 Pass on, and weep with grief sincere 
 For those who innocence outlive. 
 
 352 
 
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