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this: 'Not by works of righteousness which we had done, but of his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and the renewing of the Holy Ghost, which he shed on us abundantly, through Jesus Christ our Saviour.' As each feeble spirit of an infant, and of a young child, comes up from earth, there must be unutterable tenderness and love toward it on the part of many there, knowing, as they do, what weeping and lamentation, in many cases, the little spirit has left in the household; there must be joy over it, to think of its early escape from a world of sin; and, in some cases, there must be an exultation which, perhaps, would seem strange to us; and that is, when a child arrives from a family where one or both the parents are not the friends of God. Sweet child, you can no more have your salvation perilled by a prayerless, godless father. The mother that bare you never said, "For this child I prayed," nor consecrated you to your Maker and Redeemer; nor, had you lived, would she have thought of any thing else for you than the world, and sinful or transitory joys. God set his love on you; the prayers of some pious ancestor, perhaps, have been for a memorial before God, and he determined that, at least, one of that family should be saved. Welcome, welcome to this place of safety; welcome from the dangers of a prayerless house. "Is not this a brand plucked out of the fire?"

What is more interesting than the opening mind of a child, when the world begins to break in upon it, and wonder and delight are felt at every new discovery? What must it be to contemplate the joy of those souls as heaven breaks in upon their senses? Every spirit that enters heaven is, in some sense, like a child, amid those new and strange scenes; and so was every new-born angel; they remember their first impressions always, and it gives them the deeper interest in those whose tender age makes slower progress in the conceptions of heavenly things. Some anonymous lines on the statuary of "the chanting cherubs" represent the conversation of a child with its guardian angel, on its way from earth to heaven; in which the child says, as it draws near the light which no man can see and live,

"O, I cannot bear this glory :
Sister spirit, how canst thou ?”

The angel answers,

"I will tell thee all my story;
I was once as thou art now."

As to the state and the progress of these children in heaven, we know nothing. Saved by grace, as we suppose they are, Jesus receives no crowns laid at his feet, nor listens to any hosannas, more acceptable and pleasing to him than those of the young; in whom he sees the consciousness of peculiar obligations to him, and the greatest illustrations of his love to our ruined race.

If this be so, should not children here on earth, on some occasion, have honored Christ? Had they held their peace, would not the very stones have cried out? They say that there is something in the sea corresponding to every thing on the land curious and beautiful resemblances to terrestrial things. We love to think that there are correspondences between the kingdom of God on earth and in heaven; and among them we naturally require that the pattern of the heavenly world, in its joys felt and expressed by the young there, should have some counterpart on earth. So, when Christ came to Jerusalem to die, in the temple of God children's voices sung hosannas to the Son of David. What must have been the feelings of children in heaven, acquainted with the work that Christ was doing here on earth, as they saw him hastening to the accursed death of the cross. How they would have flocked around him had they been permitted; how they would have wept with him, and yet how they would have tried to cheer his spirits on the way to the cross, saying, Do not faint ere it is finished. Remember thy family in heaven and on earth, and millions yet unborn; and pay the ransom for us. And so, as they could not themselves sing with audible voices out of heaven to him, these children, their fellow-heirs, - it may be, many of them, of heavenly bliss, - at least their representatives, did it for them, and made such music and such determined adoration, that the angry scribes exclaimed with indignation, "Hearest thou what these say?"

Two practical remarks are naturally suggested by this subject.

I. CHILDREN CAN LOVE AND WORSHIP CHRIST. Many a child in our congregations, who does not think of his duty to love and serve Christ, is old enough to be lost; and if he should die in his present state, we could not think that he is included in the number of those who are saved without repentance and faith because they are incapable of it.

Children that are old enough to sin knowingly, are old enough to repent. If they are old enough to say wicked words, lie, steal, disobey their parents, and quarrel, they are old enough to be punished. As there are very many children in heaven, so there is reason to believe there are many young persons in hell. Those forty and two children who mocked Elisha, it is to be feared, are there, and others like them have perished in their sins. Instead of making excuses for young sinners, always, no doubt God is sometimes peculiarly angry with them, especially if they have pious parents, who have done every thing to make them good. They need a Saviour as much as older people, and must suffer forever, if they die without repenting and accepting Christ. Are any of our children past the age when we could hope for salvation for them without repentance and faith, and are they yet in their sins? Have we been faithful? Are we prepared to stand with them at the judgment seat of Christ? What testimony will those children render before Christ with regard to us ?

We should look to see our children converted early. To repeat and enforce a former remark: when some rebuked those that brought children to him, and Christ said, "Of such is the kingdom of God," he undoubtedly meant, I include children in my offers of salvation; my kingdom here on earth is to be made up, in part, of them. It must be acceptable to Christ to have a child love and serve him. We must not limit the power or the grace of Christ, and be displeased at the thought of children being converted. Were we more childlike ourselves, we should be more in sympathy with the experience of children, more wise in our treatment of it, and more successful. As the kingdom of Christ advances, we are to expect that conversions will take place earlier in life. O that we might see, among other signs of the times, this proof that his kingdom is advancing among us - that children are early impressed with their obligations to their Redeemer and Friend. A

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