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The

them, and laid in the dreary, desolating grave. blank produced in their family circle, with its mournful associations, may ever and anon obtrude itself on their view. And when they reflect on the days when the candle of the Lord shone upon them, and when all was cheerful in the midst of their dwellings, they may be overpowered and overwhelmed, and for a time may even "refuse to be comforted." But, by-and-by, the tumult of the soul is allayed; by-and-by the precious promises are attended to; by-and-by the Spirit, with its consoling influences, gets access to the mind, and then the bereaved and sorrowing parent can look at the bright side of the dispensation, and can say, It is well. Musing on God's ways towards him, he may be supposed to indulge in such thoughts as these-He was indeed a pleasant child that was removed from me, and one on whom my heart was set. I had fondly hoped to see him grow in strength and beauty, and to be usefully and honourably active in life. I had anticipated the period when he should be my companion, my counsellor, my comforter, my pride. But God in His sovereignty has ordered it otherwise: and shall I complain? Shall I complain because, in a different way from that which my own imaginings had pictured, my highest wish for my child is fulfilled? Shall I complain because the warfare has been so short, and the victory so easily and speedily won?-because the lamb has been so soon gathered into the fold, and sheltered from the rough and ruthless blast ?—because the little voyager on life's wide ocean has escaped so

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completely the perils of life, and has entered so soon the peaceful haven?-because the immortal spirit, the heir of heaven, lingered for so short a time in this land of darkness, and passed so soon into the realms of light? Shall I complain for these and similar reasons? Verily, No.

Fond nature, cease thy unwarrantable murmuring. Look to thy child in his glorified state; "for of such is the kingdom of heaven." Think of him as raised above all sorrow, and suffering, and imperfection, and mingling with the innumerable company of the redeemed.

"Forgive, blest shade, the tributary tear,

That mourns thine exit from a world like this:
Forgive the wish that would have kept thee here,
And stay'd thy progress to the realms of bliss."

GOD'S RELATIONSHIP TO CHILDREN.

REV. JOHN GUTHRIE, A.M., GLASGOW.

OUR Father in Heaven, the infinite Parent of us all, and the Saviour, who did what no parent has done,— shed His blood to redeem them,-have a closer relation to our children, and a better right to them, than we. Be it the endeavour, then, of mourning parents to exclaim with the bereft patriarch, and as much as possible in that patriarch's spirit and power, "The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord!" Yea, let them overflow with hallelujahs, that, in the Atonement of Jesus, they have such an impregnable ground of hope in respect to their deceased children. The fact that these children are in

heaven, among the shining throng, white-robed, and vocal with the praises of redeeming love, should endear Jesus to them the more, through the ransom of whose precious blood their darlings are now in an infinitely happier than the parental home. This will help you, desolate parent, better to appreciate and realize the claims of that bright world to which they have been summoned. You know not what use God may have for them there. Who knows to what glorious account Jesus, even now while you weep, may there be turning their little radiant spirits? He has the ripened spirits there of "just men made perfect;" and with these He gems and jewels His crown of many stars. But He has also use there for the infant spirit in its loveliness. If the ripened saints are the stars that grace His crown, He whose delight is to take the lambs into His arms may well cull also the buds and flowerets of childhood to cluster as a garland round His bosom of love. Your children's precious dust is at present in the hands of the enemy; but that enemy, "the last enemy,"-shall be destroyed, and you and the tender objects of your regret, if you are only faithful to that Saviour whose blood has saved them, and persevere in the faith and love of Him to the end, will meet again ere long, triumphant over death, the grim foe that has despoiled you, and spend a long and happy Forever in the presence of your Lord.

We would say, in conclusion, to the bereft parent, through whose heart grief has driven its rude ploughshare, and whose wounds, it may be, are yet green,

"Mourn not as those who have no hope," for as respects your children," there is hope in their end." In their material part only, they are,-like Rachel's of old,"in the land of the enemy:" their nobler part is in the land, and in the embrace, of the Infinite Friend. Nor is that Friend forgetful of their sleeping dust. It is precious in His sight. "The redemption of the body" is as sure as "the redemption of the soul." That enemy -"the last enemy"—shall one day be destroyed ; and on that eventful day, "your children shall come again.” Only see to it, now, like David, that you will, by faith, "go to them," and Jesus will see to it then that they shall come to you." "Thus saith the Lord; refrain thy voice from weeping and thine eyes from tears; for thy work shall be rewarded, saith the Lord; and they shall come again from the land of the enemy." What a rapturous prospect for the Christian parent?

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THE CHILDREN SAFELY FOLDED.

REV. DR. JOSEPH BROWN, GLASGOW.

I HAVE a full persuasion in my own mind that "it is well with the child" that dies in infancy; and I have often felt thankful that I had satisfied myself on that head before I was led to secure the possession of a burying place for my own infant children; but my faith rests less on any particular passage than on the genius of the gospel scheme. Just as I find that the divinity of our Lord is the key to the interpretation of

the current representation of Scripture, so I think that the salvation of infant children is in best accordance with many portions of the holy oracles.

I had occasion to glance at the subject of infant salvation recently, when speaking of Christ's being "glorified in" the number of "His saints in that day," and in endeavouring to establish the position that the redeemed will greatly outnumber those that perish. I believe that even in past times the number of the saints may have been greater than a contracted charity has supposed-than the spirit of bigotry has allowed. believe that, in the long ages of rest and triumph in store for the Church, "the nations of the saved" will soon counterbalance the deficiencies of many generations. And even in reference to those periods in which sin and Satan have most prevailed, I comfort myself with the thought that death has been employed by Him who has the power of the keys, in securing a great ingathering into the kingdom of heaven, from those who have died in infancy.

I remember conversing, many years ago, on this subject, with the late Ebenezer Brown of Inverkeithing, and of marking the delight he seemed to gather from the thought that the multitudes of children who die in heathen countries, and in the heathen parts of our own country, ay, and even those that are violently taken away by the cruel hands of superstition and idolatry, are "caught up to God and to His throne," to swell the numbers of the ransomed, and to enlarge the honours of the Redeemer.