may lead parents to repine, and in sorrow to exclaim with Jacob, "Me have ye bereaved of my children." (Gen. xlii. 36.) Yet these consoling words of Jesus—"their angels do always behold the face of my Father in the heavens" (Matt. xviii. 10), are sufficient to suppress the sigh, and to give birth to the words of pious resignation—thy will be done! Departed infants look at all things around them from innocence, and on that account, are said to behold the face of the Father, whose face is nothing but the purest love and mercy.
To ask parents not to grieve at all for the loss of the child of their bosom, is to require of them what is stoical and unnatural; but while tears are flowing, remember that excessive grief seems to bespeak a distrust of the kindly dealings of providence. While you grieve for your own loss, do not forget their gain! for at the death of children,
Angels each child convey from strife,
From earthly toil and care;
To plant in heaven each bud of life—
To bloom and blossom there.
There, under bright celestial skies,
Where living waters flow,
Where springs of love and wisdom rise.
The innocents shall grow.
O! why does innocence smile in the infant's face?
Is it that angels love to dwell
With forms so pure and bright?—
That, shunning the magnificence
Which only charms the outward sense.
Here in this guileless citadel.
This holy shrine of calm delight,
They meet, scarce veil'd from mortal sight.
And thus bring down at every birth,
In pity to the sons of earth,
The heaven of innocence?
