294 HOPE FOR THE SALVATION OF THOSE WHO DIE YOUNG.

you not authorized to cherish such a hope, and ought you not to do so?

Second. Let us now look at several other things tending to confirm and strengthen this hope. They are such as the following. We will distinctly name them in order that they may be distinctly considered, and may be allowed their due and proper weight in the argument.

First. From the general benevolence of God, as seen around us on every side, the Christian would be led to feel his hopes concerning his children, derived from God's Covenant, greatly strengthened. The general benevolence of God is too plainly exhibited, in His works and in His providence, to need proof or illustration here. All see it. All partake of it. It comes, like the light and the dews of heaven, free for all, enjoyed by all. Now the argument is, that if God is thus good to all, if this is His general character, then those who stand to Him in the relation of adopted children, and to whom He has bound Himself by special engagements, may feel specially encouraged to confide in Him in relation to the welfare of their beloved offspring, and to cherish comforting hopes respecting them..

Second. Similar hopes are encouraged when we turn to that view of the goodness of God which His word sets before us, both generally and in numberless specific cases. His word to Abraham, how encouraging was it in relation to his children! And so afterward, down through many subsequent generations, how often was the same gracious assurance given that His Covenant should be remembered with His people, and His mercy not withdrawn from them!

Third. The whole history of the church, both in former and in later ages, warrants us in deducing the same encouraging conclusions from it already spoken of. We thus see the Promise, not only made, but verified by being carried into effect before our eyes. We thus hear God speaking to us, and to all the generations of His people, as well as to Abraham and his descendants, and saying to us, in innumerable facts that come under our cognizance, "The promise is to you and to your children.

Fourth. If we turn to the atonement of Christ, and the abundant provision therein made for the salvation of all men,

insomuch that 66 whosoever will may take the water of life freely," may we not feel an additional encouragement to hope for our children, whom we have cast upon the unfailing securities of God's Covenant, and who, in the circumstances above specified, have been suddenly taken from us and hurried into the eternal world.

Fifth. God has been wont to dispense His grace to men somewhat according to the family constitution. While He visits the iniquities of the fathers upon the children unto the third and the fourth generation of them that hate Him, He shows mercy unto thousands of such as love Him and keep His commandments. What an inheritance of New Covenant blessings did Abraham transmit through the family organization! What names, of so much distinction for spiritual blessings, are genealogically so connected together, in all the Bible, as those of Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob? And so in the New Testament, that little piece of family history in which the names of grandnother Lois, and mother Eunice, and son Timothy are found, contains similar instruction. What rich blessings were handed down through the humble and happy lineage here recorded! And just so, in a vast multitude of other cases, if we had inspired historians and biographers to give to them the notoriety of permanent and written memorials.

And now may we not be indulged in a remark or two, by way of conclusion, and in application of what has been said, to such of our readers as shall find them applicable to their own case? Our first remark is: That to be a parent-a believing, Christian parent—is to sustain a very important relation, and to be placed in a position of very high honor. What consequences-what vast, happy, glorious consequences, may result from it! and if the parent be faithful to his high trust, will result from it! Our second remark is: What a privilege is it to children if they have had parents whose names are enrolled in God's Covenant. To such a child how nigh is heaven brought, with all the blessings of the saints' everlasting inheritance in light! Our third remark: How hazardous and dreadful for heads of families to remain alienated and estranged from the promises and hopes of God's Covenant. For themselves, for their children, how dark and gloomy is their situa

tion. A word to believing parents when sorrowing over their early dead, or when almost fainting and desponding over their living, unconverted children-Fly, dear friends, in your fears and your sorrows, to the Covenant; hope-trust-pray to the end; and then, assuredly, a brighter day will break upon

you.

Original.

GOD'S REMEMBRANCE OF HIS COVENANT.

A LEAF FROM A PASTOR'S NOTE-BOOK.

BY REV. WILLIAM EDWARD SCHENCK.

Concluded from page 266.

JANE and George Van Pelt were both deeply affected during the progress of the revival by a sense of their lost condition by nature, and their need of an interest in the Redeemer. George frequently called at his pastor's study (for he had none of that foolish dread of his pastor which some children have, and some grown people too), and conversed frankly and earnestly about his soul's affairs. Indeed, they both seemed to be upon the very verge of the kingdom of heaven, and "almost persuaded" to be Christians. Yet week after week passed by, and neither of them ventured to declare the indulgence of a comfortable hope in Jesus Christ as a Saviour. Thus midsummer had arrived. With it came sickness in the neighborhood, and the gentle and affectionate Antoinette was laid upon her bed by a violent attack of painful disease. She had always been a favorite, not only among her brothers and sisters, but also with all her school-mates and young friends. Not once had she ever been a participant in any misunderstanding or quarrel among them, and she was at all times ready to benefit them in every way in her power. She was fond of reading her Bible, and often resorted to it. Divine things were frequently in her thoughts. She ardently loved poetry, and almost always preferred those pieces which contained some reference to God, and death, and heaven. Antoinette grew worse and worse, notwithstanding the assiduous care of her

physician and the anxious nursing of her fond mother. And here it was, upon the bed of pain and weakness, that God remembered, in her behalf, the covenant made with her parents. The seeds of grace were probably germinating in her heart long before; the shower of affliction caused them to spring up and appear. Calmly she thought upon eternity, and with touching simplicity she declared to her pastor her confidence in the Lord Jesus, and her entire willingness, although she felt herself to be a great sinner, to trust herself into His hands, living or dying. The Saviour took her at her word, and summoned her away from the embraces of her parents, to repose in His own bosom in the skies. It was a touching thing, and shows how Jesus can make the weakest to triumph in His strength over death, to hear this timid, gentle lamb tell her mother she feared not to die. One of her last acts was to request her father to kneel by her bedside, and pray for and with her. Rapidly and gently she then sank away, and breathed forth her spirit into the hands of her God and Saviour, and her mortal remains were laid in one of those little graves.

This was the first time death had ever entered that happy family, and it was a bitter sorrow to them all; but God had remembered His covenant with those parents, and had taken the child they had given to Him in baptism to dwell with Him in glory.

While this little sufferer was lying sick, little Imogene was also lying ill on another couch in the same room. She had always been the bosom friend and constant companion of Antoinette. She cared to go nowhere where this dear sister could not go with her. Some weeks before their sickness began, as they were playing together, she said, "Dear Netty, I always want to be with you. If you should die, I would love to die with you." But this was not the speech of a thoughtless little child. Little Immy, as she was fondly called, had many thoughts about her soul and eternity. She, one Sabbath day two or three months before her death, came to her dear aunt, weeping bitterly, and when her aunt inquired the cause of her tears, she said "she wanted so much to be prepared to die." Her aunt repeated to her some of the promises and invitations given in the Bible to children, with which she seemed much comforted. But when the

other children were at play, little Immy might often be found absorbed in her Bible or her hymn-book. Her mind was tending heavenward, and God was preparing to remember His covenant in her behalf also.

Little Immy was extremely ill before her sister's death, and her position was such that she had a full view of her sister in her dying hours. It evidently produced a deep effect upon her, but from that time she spake very little. In answer to the inquiries of her pastor, she would say that she thought she loved the Saviour, and she tried to commit her soul into His care, that she knew she had often sinned, but hoped in Him as her Saviour. We have no right to expect such religious maturity from a little child as from an adult. We are to expect only a child's evidences of a child's piety. Yet they may be quite as satisfactory in the child's case as far clearer and larger evidence in the case of an adult. A little more than a week after her sister's funeral, her frail little form was laid by that sister's side. According to her wish, "in death they were not divided." And her glorified spirit, we may well believe, roams with her sister beside the river of the water of life, and together perhaps they sometimes speed on errands of mercy to those whom they yet love on earth.

But this was not all. It has been said that Jane and George had not yet avowed their faith and hope in Christ as their Saviour. It is hoped that the removal of these beloved sisters decided them fully and finally. It is hoped that these visitations were used by God for deepening their repentance, showing them their need of a Saviour, and leading them to trust in Him who alone can save.

If this be so, then how has God remembered His covenant, after long delay although it may have been, with those parents. For years and years they toiled and sowed the seeds of gospel truth, and lo! when they were just ready to despair, God appeared, and in a brief space of time five of those children are hopefully brought into saving connection with the Son of God.

I have penned this narrative of facts in order to impress upon the minds of parents the following important truths :

1. If baptism be indeed a gospel ordinance, as it clearly is, then parents ought to regard it as something more than a mere form. If it does indeed involve a solemn covenant between God