Let us be wean'd from all below;

Let hope our grief expel;
While death invites our souls to go

Where our best kindred dwell.

ISAAC WATTS.

Infants in Heaven.

JEREM. XXXI. 15-17.

"Thus saith the Lord, A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation, and bitter weeping; Rachel weeping for her children, refused to be comforted for her children, because they were not. 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. And there is hope in thine end, saith the Lord, that thy children shall come again to their own border."

MATT. Xviii. 14.

"Even so it is not the will of your Father which is in heaven, that one of these little ones should perish."

MARK X. 13-16.

"And they brought young children to him, that he should touch them; and his disciples rebuked those that brought them. But when Jesus saw it, he was much displeased, and said unto them, Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God. Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not enter therein. And he took them up in his arms, put his hands upon them, and blessed them."

Oh! see how soon the flowers of life decay,
How soon terrestrial pleasures fade away,
A star of comfort for a moment given,
Just rose on earth, then set to rise in heaven.
Yet mourn not, as of hope bereft, its doom,
Nor water with thy tears its early tomb.
Redeem'd by God from sin, released from pain,
Its life were punishment, its death is gain.
Though it be hard to bid thy heart divide,
And lay the gem of all thy love aside,

Faith tells thee, (and it tells thee not in vain,)
That thou shalt meet thine infant yet again.
On seraph wings the new-born spirit flies
To brighter regions and serener skies;
And ere thou art aware, the day may be,

When to those skies thy babe shall welcome thee.
While yet on earth thine ever-circling arms
Held it securest from surrounding harms;

Yet even there disease could aim her dart,

Chill the warm cheek, and stop the flutt'ring heart;
And many a fruitless tear-drop thou hast paid
To view the sickness that thou couldst not aid.

No ill can reach it now, it rests above,

Safe in the bosom of celestial love.

Its short, but yet tempestuous way is o'er,

And tears shall trickle down its cheek no more.

Then far be grief-Faith looks beyond the tomb,
And heaven's bright portals sparkle through the gloom.
If bitter thoughts and tears in heaven could be,

It is thine infant that should weep for thee.

EDMESTON.

2 SAM. xii. 23.

"But now he is dead, wherefore should I fast? can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me."

HESE words, when viewed in connexion with the circumstances under

which they were uttered, shed a cheering light on the graves of infants. From the preceding context, it appears, that, when the child here referred to fell sick, David, his father, earnestly and perseveringly besought God for his recovery, and "fasted, and went in, and lay all night upon the earth." So overwhelming was his sorrow, on the occasion, that he refused to be comforted, nor would he suffer any interruption of his prayer and humiliation. No sooner, however, did he ascertain that the child was dead, than he "arose from the earth, and washed,

and anointed himself, and changed his apparel, and came into the house of the Lord, and worshipped then he came to his own house; and when he required, his servants set bread before him, and he did eat." On their expressing surprise at this demeanour, so unusual with men in such circumstances, he thus accounted for it; "While the child was yet alive, I fasted and wept: for I said, who can tell whether God will be gracious to me, that the child may live? But now he is dead, wherefore should I fast? can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me." In this reply, he not merely expresses his conviction of his own mortality, and that the time was at hand, when he too would descend to the grave, as his child had now done; but declares his anticipation of a happy reunion with his beloved offspring in a better world. Nothing less, indeed, could have either satisfied his faith, or soothed his spirit.

From this reply of David, therefore, we shall take occasion to inquire what conclusions we may scripturally draw, concerning the salvation of children dying in infancy. Such an inquiry is, unquestionably, one of deep and extensive