on account of that gracious work, to greater woes than they would have been called to endure had there been no Saviour at all? Can we suppose that Christ will be an unmitigated and inevitable curse to any of mankind? Surely we cannot cherish such a supposition, when we remember that He came into the world not to condemn it, but to save and to bless it. But if we cannot cherish such a supposition, we cannot suppose that any infants dying in infancy will be lost.

(2) This reasoning is fortified by the express teaching of our Lord himself. We learn from the Gospels, as for example from Matt. xix. 13, that on a certain occasion there were brought to Him "little children," that He might put his hands on them and bless them. His disciples rebuked the parents. But Jesus said, "Suffer little children to come unto me, and forbid them not, for of such is the kingdom of heaven." This does not seem to mean "for of persons resembling little children is the kingdom of heaven." The term rendered "of such" has naturally a demonstrative import. Our Saviour elsewhere employs it when He says, "The hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth; for the Father seeketh such to worship Him;" that is, "seeketh these to worship Him." It occurs in many other portions of the New Testament with the same demonstrative import, as for example in Acts xxii. 22, in which passage we learn that the Jews in Jerusalem cried out on a certain occasion, in reference to Paul,

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"away with such a fellow from the earth;" that is "away with this fellow from the earth." Jesus then means "for of these is the kingdom of heaven." The kingdom of heaven belongs to "little children." This interpretation is confirmed by the consideration that we should otherwise be at a loss to discover any peculiar propriety in our Saviour's action, when He took up the little ones in His arms and blessed them. If the reason of His procedure resolved itself simply into the fact that the adult subjects of the kingdom of heaven are childlike, the same reason might have led Him to take up lambs in His arms and bless them, inasmuch as the adult subjects of His kingdom are lamb-like as well as child-like.

It is true that it is added, in Mark x. 15, that our Saviour said, after blessing the little children, "Verily I say unto you, whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not enter therein." But still even here, it is supposed that the kingdom of heaven belongs to little children; for when it is said "whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child," the meaning surely must be, "as a little child receives it." Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God without seeking to present anything of the nature of personal meritoriousness, shall in no wise enter therein.

If it should be said that "the kingdom of heaven" spoken of by our Lord is the kingdom of heaven upon earth, we would reply, that the kingdom of heaven is not entirely upon earth. It is partly and principally

in heaven. And moreover, if there be no obstacles to the infant's admission into the earthly province of the heavenly empire, there can be none to its admission into that larger and more glorious province above, which, from its vastitude and vast pre-eminence, gives the denomination to the whole domain.

(3) We might add to these considerations the fact that throughout the Scriptures God is frequently represented as cherishing a special regard for little children. We see this in the rebuke administered to Jonah,-" And should I not spare Nineveh, that great city, wherein are more than sixscore thousand persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand." We see it in the words of Jeremiah xix. 4, "They have filled this place with the blood of innocents." And again, in the words of Joel ii. 16, "Gather the people, sanctify the congregation, assemble the elders, gather the children and those that suck the breast, etc., then will the Lord be jealous for the land, and pity his people." And in Ezekiel xvi. 21, God calls the little children of the Israelites His children, and pours terrible denunciations upon the people for causing them to pass through the fire to Moloch :- "Thou hast slain my children, and delivered them to cause them to pass through the fire."

On the whole, then, every line of Scripture-truth, when we follow it out undeviatingly, leads us up to the conclusion, that "it is well" with all the "little children" who have been carried away from the unfolding arms, though not from the infolding hearts and memories, of bereaved parents. They have

been taken up "higher." They have been committed to wiser and more tender keeping. "Their angels' have got them; and in the immediate vicinity of the throne, they are undergoing a training, which is absolutely free from all those elements of imperfection, which might have resulted in moral deviation, defilement, and death, had they remained on the earth. "It is well."

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REV. GEORGE GILFILLAN, DUNDEE.

"The promise is unto you and to your children."-(Acts ii. 39.)

WE argue the salvation of infants, First,-From the spirit of the Book. Secondly, From the revealed character of God. Thirdly,-From the glorious suf ficiency of the death of Christ. Fourthly,-From the interest Scripture takes in children. Fifthly,-From some remarkable individual promises. And in fine,— From the example and language of the Lord Jesus Christ. And, first, From the spirit of the Bible. What is that spirit? Is it not a gentle, a peaceful, a kind, almost an infantine spirit? The writers of Scripyet wise as divine

ture were simple as children, inspiration could make them. And this kindly simplicity they have transferred to their writings. Their wrath, when awakened, burns against obstinate transgressors; not against the infant of days, but against the sinner a hundred years old. And if you would see this spirit in its perfection, read the 12th of Romans, or the 13th of 1st Corinthians-the epistles of John,

or the pleadings of the ancient prophets-those eloquent, tender, broken-hearted pleadings with sinners— and ask yourselves, could that spirit have been inspired by a God who would place eternal obstructions between infants and salvation?

We argue it again from the character of God. You

need not be told what that is. It is that of a Merciful Being of a Father-of one whose name is Love—in such a sense, that even His wrath is love-that even His justice is love-that all His perfections crowd in and form that grand central Love which is His essence and all. And when His anger is awakened, against whom does it smoke? Not against children, but against transgressors adult in age, obstinate in rebellion, unwearied in wickedness, who have rejected His terms of salvation and sinned against great light and many privileges. How irresistibly arises the question, Is it possible that a God who wishes all to be saved can refuse infants admission into His kingdom ?—that He who has no pleasure in the blood of bulls and goats, has pleasure in the perdition of lamb-like infants?— none in the death of him that dieth-going down by his own voluntary act into the pit—and yet hath in that of those who have never been offered and never refused salvation? Perish for ever such hard and blasphemous conceptions of God!

But, again, I argue it from the glorious sufficiency of the Death and Atonement of Christ. Sufficient for all, as all now grant that atonement to be, it must be sufficient for infants. It follows, therefore, that infants