CHAPTER V.

LET us now inquire after some of the lessons which may be learned from the view of the subject which we have attempted to establish. And, oh! does it not teach us that God's way is always a good way, that it is always the best way,-that all His doings and dealings with the sons of men, are merciful and gracious, that He never afflicts willingly,-never grieves any, but for their profit and their good?

To be deprived of little ones, must always be a heavy stroke. To a fond mother's heart it must be bitterness indeed, to see the child of her bosom, the child of her affections and love, the child of her care and anxiety, and happiness, smitten by disease, pining away under sickness, at last laid cold in death, and carried away from

her to the grave! Oh! it would be more than nature, if, in such circumstances, she could refrain from tears, and cease to mourn,-if she did not so feel, as, with Rachel, to refuse to be comforted. But heavy as such a stroke doubtless is, ye who have felt it, if ye be believers, must have felt a consolation sufficient to bear you up under it, and to bring you through it, and improved by it, made better, and more loving, and more resigned, and more devoted Christians than ye were before. You have had your tender and beloved babes taken early away from you. But it was their God and your God who did it. And He did it because He saw it to be good. They are away. But, oh! what a consoling thought, that they are far better whither they have gone. What a blessed hope it is that ye are permitted to cherish in regard to them! Oh! what an inspiriting assurance that the little ones, whose loss ye cannot help deploring, whom with heavy hearts ye cannot but

mourn, what an inspiriting assurance,—oh! what an abundant consolation,-that they are safe, for ever safe and happy in the kingdom of their Father; now beyond the reach of sorrow, dwelling in glory, mingling with angels, in the midst of the paradise of God; and that they are only on a little before yourselves, and that by and by ye will meet with them again. Oh! yes,

but a little, and there will be a reunion of spirits; and yet but a little longer, and a reunion of bodies also. A resurrection morn comes round, when all that are in their graves will hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall live. These young spirits will then

earth, even as your own will.

return to

They will

re-enter the little tabernacles, in which before they took up their abode, only that they might leave them again. They will put on the same fleshly frame, remoulded and rebuilt, however, for immortality and heaven. Their dust, which to the dust ye

have committed, is dear and precious in the Saviour's sight. It He watches. As carefully is it cared for by Him, as that of those is, who grew hoary in His service, who for a long life-time maintained His cause; as that of those is, who through severest ordeals of affliction and temptation passed; who withstood the world, the devil, and the flesh, fought in the very fore-front of the battle with sin, resisted even unto blood, and, with the martyr's crown blazing brightly on their brows, passed triumphantly from earth to heaven. "Wherefore," said David, when his child was dead, "wherefore should I fast?" And why, then, bereaved believing parents, and why ye mothers, for it is to you more especially that we would speak, because we know. what a mother's love and devotedness to her babe are, that, generally, her attachment a father's much surpasses,

"Can the fond mother e'er forget
The infant whom she bore ?"

-why, then, Christian mothers, should ye dejected weep? Why mourn that the time of your little ones, was on earth so brief, and that so hurriedly they were torn from your fond embraces ? Why grieve that their pilgrimage here so soon was over, and that the journey between the cradle and the grave was so short?

Wipe from your cheeks the falling tears, and cease from sorrowing, and let no plaints be heard, for the lambs, the little lambs, that lay in your bosoms, and sat upon your knees, and smiled in your faces, with whose innocence and playfulness ye were amused and delighted, these darlings, these lovely lambs, these,—that were more to you than the world, and to save whose lives, ye could have laid down your own,— these will again be restored you, again will they be given back into your arms. They cannot come to you, but ye will go to them; and yet but a little while, and, in Immanuel's happy land, a reunion with