^'i^'^' LIBRARY OF THE THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY PRINCETON, N. J. Presented by TVie. Widow o-f Greorc5eL liiAc^n ^ S4 BV 4275 .S3 1883 Sanderson, Joseph, 1823- 1915. Memorial tributes XL-> /-I // Ill|iiilel!ll mB. „v„ iilSlii. 'III! MEMORIAL TRIBUTES. ^ Coinucnb of Juncral ^.bbresseg. ^- AN AID FOR PASTORS. A BOOK OF COMFORT FOR THE BEREAVED. y EDITED BY J. SANDERSON, D.D., AUTHOR OF 'Jesus ox the Holt Moitn-t,"' axd Editor op "Thb Puxpit TBEAflUKT.*' INTRODUCTION BY JOHK HALL, D.D., Pastob FrwH Avenue Presbtterian Chubch, Nbw York. NEW YORK: E. B. TREAT, 5 COOPER UXIOX Ofl&ce of The Treasury Magazine. Price, $1.75. Copyright, J 883, By E. B. Treat, New York. INTEODUCTION. JoHK Hall, D.D. Pastor of Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church, New York. 'T^HERE are few more delicate tasks falling to the lot of a minister than the conducting of what are known as funeral services. It does not meet the diffi- culty to have provided for him a form employed over all, without exception— the best proof of which is that where such a form is in fixed use, occasions are con- stantly arising in which the clergyman is constrained, by his own sense of the fitness of things, to add words of his own. He thus runs the risk of making invidious distinctions, while the uniform employment of the same language, if it be fit in the case of a decided Christian, is stronger than the Christian consciousness recognizes at fit where no profession of faith has been made. Among the ways in which the minister can prepare himself to discharge this duty is by the prayerful use of such hfelps as are within reach. Foremost among these is the word of God, next in place will be the suggestive examples set by men, in whom, nntwithst. ending the [v| ti INTRODUGTTOn. imperfections of our common nature, good sense and knowledge of human nature have been elevated and con- secrated by grace. There are many ministers, who, like the present writer, have been censured for statements made over the dead when they carefully guarded their testimony and avowedly confined it to the record of their own inter- course with the deceased ; and some, who have had *' hearers" take their departure because enough was not said in eulogy of their buried kindred. Such things must probably be expected in the complications of a society, partly Christianized, and largely influenced by conventional usage. A true minister can only try to maintain in himself a conscience void of offence, and at the same time avoid the giving of just offence to others. The Rev. Dr. Sanderson, in undertaking to aid young ministers, has two elements of encouragement in the at- tempt. The first is that he has been himself an active pastor, and understands the w^ork to be done. The second is, that not wholly relying on his own judgment, he avails himself of the labors of others, who have secured the confidence of the Christian community. In commending his undertaking I maybe permitted to reproduce words long ago intended to warn against excessive and indiscriminate praise^ and which the observation of later years has not tended to weaken, but rather confirmed. Suppose Herod Antipas had died six months before John the Baptist was beheaded. Imagine a coui't- INTRODUCTION. vil preacher of the day making the funeral address. There is no evidence that the Jews had at that time any eervice- book or anything to read in the synagogue except the Old Testament. So he must make his funeral ser'vice accord- ing to the circumstances. He would, of course, glance lightly at that infelicity of the royal departed which com- plicated his domestic life by making him the husband of his niece, who was also his living brother's wife, and in the room of his living wife. '^ There are, however, hap- pily other and brighter spots on which the memory would love to linger. He had shown the deepest interest in that great revival preacher who had, as all knew, stirred the hearts of thousands. He had heard him of- ten, and been deeply impressed. He had even opened his house to him. He gave the influence of his great name and authority to him, so that the courtiers, as they all knew, had been also attracted and interested. Not only that, but the distinguished dead had proved the depth and sincerity of his convictions by doing many things recommended by the eloquent preacher. How can we, in view of all these evidences of pleasure and profit from such ministrations, doubt that this child of an Idumean family has gone to be with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob ? " Unfortunately, however, Herod lived too long, and his having a place in history is mainly due to the circumstance that he ordered the beheading of this ** interesting " and eloquent preacher without the formality of a trial, and from being a patronizing and interested hearer becomes the Baptist's murderer. It is one tiling to like a stirring sermon now viii INTRODUCTION. and then, the reality of which is a pleasant variety among the shallow and painted frauds of the theatre, and opera, and even fashionable social life, and it is quite another to believe with the heart what is said. It is one thing to be on good terms with the prominent men in the church, and so conciliate their followers, now and then to give a subscription, perhaps even forego a din- ner-party to preside at a benevolent meeting; and it is quite another to submit one's self to God in faith and obedience. It is one thing to respect devoted men, and even publicly compliment them as sincere and so forth, and quite another to put lusts and passions under the control of the truth they teach, and to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts. But to rich and poor, high and low, this is the divine requirement; and we must be sparing of our eulogies over men, as Christians, however prominent or public-spirited as citizens, if they have never given evidence of subjection to the Father of spirits. Happily we are not the judge of men's standing before God; but we may make ourselves such, and rest favorable judgments on very slender evidences. CONTENTS. [See Appendix for Index of Authors and Texts.] CHILDHOOD : PAGE God's Love of Little Children Rev. T. Qasquoine 13 A Mother's Sorrow, Rev. A. 8. Robertson 14 Some Reasons for Removal. ifey. Varnum Lincoln 15 The Child Glorified J. Sanderson, D.D 17 The Missing One Rev. G. Onne 18 An Infant's Death no Real Loss J. Sanderson, D.D 20 Early Piety Rev. J. W. McCree 21 The Lessons of God's Rod. . .Rev. G. D. Macgregor 23 The Funeral Train at Nain. .Rev. Gehler 24 Unfulfilled Hopes ^Vm. Graham, D.D 26 The Child in Glory Rev. Thornley Smith 28 Death on a Summer day Rev. W. Forsyth 31 The Shunamite and Her Son John Bruce, D.D 33 The Child and the Father's Cup Theo. L. Cuyler, D.D 35 Early Death J. R. Macduff, D.D 37 The Teaching of a Child's Death " Wm. M. Taylor, D.D., LL.D. . . 40 A Child's True Estimate Anonymous 43 Home Bereavements Henry Ward Beecher 47 Infant Salvation Rev. Chas. A. Evans 50 Piety in Childhood Rev. Robert Wye Beits 57 YOUTH : Sunset at Noon Rev. W. Rodwell 72 The Sleeping Damsel Rev. F. Wagstaff. 74 One Note in a Burial Hymn.i^ew. Chas. Jerdan 76 Life for the Dead James llnmilton, D.D 78 [9] 10 CIONTBNTS. PAGE The Amusive Waste of Life, Wm. M. Paxton, D.D 80 Divine Consolation J. Oswald Dykes, D.D 82 The Mourner's Best News. . .Rev. Wm. Morley Punshon 85 The Believer in Life, Death and Eternity Rev. Joseph Haslegrave 89 Dying in the Lord Rev. W, D. Horwood &7 The Faded Flower Rev. James Huglies 101 Immortal Life Rev. James Smith 115 The Christian's Desire Rev. Francis Ellaby, B.A 125 Piety in Humble Life Rev. A. E. Lord 130 The Dying Christian Rev. R. Gibson 142 The Funeral at the Gate of Nain Rev. W. D. Horwood 154 The Death of the Believer in Jesus Rev. James Henry Owither 160 What WillYeDointheEnd? Thomas Binney, D.D 168 MIDDLE AGE: The Comforting Announce- ment William Ormiston, D.D., LL.D. 188 Awaiting Coronation William Svrague, D.D 190 Passing Through the Valley, J. R. Macduff, D.D 191 Faithfulness and its Reward, Charles Hodge, D.D 193 Crossing the River T. De Witt Talmage, D.D 195 The Solemnity of Death G. F. Deems, D.D 196 The Compensations of Life and Death Dean A. P. Stanley, D.D 198 The Rendezvous of Humani- ty John Gumming, D.D 200 Gratitude for Triumph Rev. Win. Jay 202 Deliverance from the Grave, Canon F. W. Farrar 204 The Match of the Great De- stroyer Rev. Archibald G. Brown 206 No Victory without a ^2c\X\q . Morgan Dix, D.D 208 The Place of Sacred Deposit . Rev. Canon H. Melvill 210 Christ's Desire to have His People with Him J. McElroy, D.D 212 A Precious Death J. H. Howard, D.D 215 Christian Consolations Rev. Daniel Moore 217 Jacob's Dving Words Andrew R. Bonar. D.D 220 The Finaf Battle W. R. Williams, D.D. , LL.D. 222 Deliverance from the Fear of Death Rev. Daniel Moore 225 The Believer's Farewell Words John Hall, D.D 227 The Death Day Better than the Birthday Rev. G. H. Spurgeon 230 A Royal Alarmist Rev. B. W. Williams 233 The Happy Mourners Alexander Dickson, D.D 238 CONfJSNTf^. 11 PAGE Human ity's Emblem William Landels, D.D 236 Consumraale Ha'ppiness Andreio R. Bonar, D.D 241 Preparation for the Passage, Alexander Dickson, D.D 245 The Pilgrim's Faith and End liev. Daniel Moore 249 OLD AGE: Faithfulness Crowned Roswell D. Hitchcock, D.D 253 The Heavenly Hope Bet). James Parsons 254 The Glad Announcement. . . Gardiner Spring, D.D 256 The Moital and the Immor- tal Companion Bev. H. F. Burder 257 The Pivotal Fact Thomas Armitage, D.D 258 The Death of a Great Man. .Rev. Thomas J. Cole 260 The Grave's Conqueior Thomas Guthrie, D.D 262 Thoughts on the last Battle, Rev. G. H. Spurgeon 263 The Ripe Christian Dying. . .Rev. G. H. Spurgeon 265 The Inevitable Battle Rev. U. R. Thomas 266 The Vital Question John Todd, D.D 268 Resurrection Hope Rev. Ganon H. Melvill. 270 The Future Life Henry M. Scudder, D.D 271 The Unavoidable Journey. . .Rev. John H. Macdonna 274 Tlie Aged Believer in Death, David Thomas, D.D 276 Death and the Resurrection, Rev. Ganon Hugh Stowell 278 The Warfare and Victor}'-. . .Rev. George Clayton 280 Hope for the Sleeping Dead, William Landels, D.D 283 The Death oi the Old Rev. Thomas Binney 286 The Perishing and the En- during Rev. Ganon H. P. Liddon, D.D. 290 Asleep in Jesus Theodore L. Guyler, D.D 294 The Gates of Death David Thomas, D.D 298 Job's Testimony about Him- self as a Believer . Thomas Guthrie, D.D 303 The Day of the Christian's Death . . Rev. George S. Ingrain 307 Heaven Warning Earth T. Raffles, D.D 313 The Believer's Confidence. . . Rev. Edward Parsons 318 Prayer for Wisdom in View of Death Rev. T. Raffles, D.D 323 Holy Ardor after a Heavenly State Rev. Gharles Hyatt 331 MISCELLANEOUS : A Philanthropist W. J. R. Taylor, D.D 341 A Theological Professor Rev. George^P. Fisher 349 A Lawyer, Editor and College Professor Francis Wayland, D.D 356 A Physician (Death by Heart Disease) Rev. Wesley D. Davis 365 12 CONTENTS. PAGE Our Trials John Newton 373 A College President, Wilbur Fisk, D.D Nathan Bangs, D D 374 A Bishop, liev. E. S. Janes, D.D., LL.D Rei). C. H. Foioler, D.D., LL.J). . . 381 A TV ise aud Failliful Ruler (Assassinated) President Lincoln John McGliniock, D.D., LL. D. 386 A Wife, Mary C. Foss, wife of Bishop Foss Albert 8. Hunt, D.D 393 A Fireman (killed at a fire), B. W. Braidwood John Gumming, D.D 400 A Fisherman (drowned at sea)i?«?;. Albert Bibby 406 A Mere Professor Rev. Win.8.Plumer,D.D.,LL.D, 410 The Sceptic Rev. Jas. Murray 419 The Blasphemer Rev. Hugh Hughes, D.D 424 The Wicked Man's Life Rev. C. H Spurgeon 430 A Good Minister, W. T. Brantly Rev. Geo. E. Rees 437 A Statesman, Sir Robert Peel Rev. Alexander- Fletcher, D.D... 442 A Calamity (ship burned at sea) Rev. Cattley, M.A 448 The Mysteries of Providence (Coal mine disaster) Rev. T. Binney 453 Sudden Death, Mr. and Mrs. P. P. Bliss (Railway acci- dent) D. L. Moody 461 President of the United States (assassinated), J. A.Garfield, Wm. M. Taylor, D.D 472 MEMORIAL RESOLUTIONS. 1 On the death of two members of the Evangelical Alliance. 481 2 On the death of a Bishop and College President 482 3 On the death of a College Professor 483 4 On the death of a Pastor 484 5 On the death of a Member of the School Board 485 6 On the death of an Editor 485 7 On the death of a Publisher 486 8 On the death of a Physician 487 9 On the death of a President of a Board of Trustees 488 10 On the death of a Knio^ht Templar 488 11 On the death of a Pasf-Master of a Lodge 489 12 On the death of a Freemason 489 13 On the death of a Military Officer 490 14 On the death of a Director of an Insurance Company 491 15 On the death of a Fireman 492 16 On the death of a Director of an Athenseum 492 17 On the death of a Member of a Literary Society 493 18 On the death of a Student 493 MEMORIAL TRIBUTES, CHILDHOOD GOD'S LOVE OF LITTLE CHILDREN". KEY. T. GASQUOIKE. It is not the will of your Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones sJwuld perish. — Matt, xviii: 14. f^ OD loves little children with tenderest, deepest, ^^ sweetest love. I. It is a love of utter unselfishness. It springs out of the eternal fountains of loving-kindness. Thej can- not know him, trust him or love him in return. IL God's love of little children is the love of delight in them. His delights are with the very youngest of them. He rejoices in the life of little children. III. His love is a love of compassion towards them. If all the promises show his care for the weak and the helpless and those exposed to danger, that care must be as sensitively towards little children. When Christ was upon the earth, his ways with children were full of [13] 14 MEMORIAL TRIBUTES. tenderness. When his disciples were disputing who should be greatest, he took a child and set him in the midst. When his disciples would drive away mothers with their children, he took them in His arms and blessed them. The very providences of God which be- gird the lives of children show his tender compassion toward them. IV. God's love is the love of trust in the almost infi- nite capacities of childreu. That slightly knowing, fully trusting, fitfully loving little child is to become the intelligent companion of angels and adoring sprits before the throne of God. Surely it is **not the will of your father, &c." A MOTHER'S SORROW. EEV. A. S. EOBERTSOif. RacJiel weeping for her children. — Matt, ii: 18. npHIS mother had been dead for centuries ; but such a dreadful slaughter had been made of the children around her grave that she is represented as moved to tears in her tomb and is comfortless in her sor- row. Sin always causes tears, but the consideration of what Christ has done should always bring comfort. ^'They died for Adam sinned. They live for Jesus died." Coi^"sir»ER : I. The immediate cause of their being cut off— Christ's Incarnation — Matt, ii : 1-16. II. The only cause of their salvation— Redemption by Christ. Rev. xiv : 4. HI. They were first fruits to God and the lamb— not John Baptist, nor Stephen — but the babes of Bethle- hem. Rev. xiv : 4. CHILDHOOD. 15 IV. These are now lambs of the upper fold. In their mouth was no guilt. They were only babes two years and under — God's celestial family is increased by Herod's self-defeating massacre. If they were counted worthy to suffer shame for Jesus' name, they surely inherit the first fruit of the promised blessedness. V. We should keep these babes in remembrance. If the woman who poured ointment on Jesus' head has her memorial, surely babes whose lives were first sac- rificed for Christ should not be forgotten. VI. How encouraging the thought, that none shall be forgotten, or be unrewarded by God who suffer for Christ, and how anxious should we be, to become as little children. VII. How comforting to the bereaved are these truths. Weeping parents should rejoice that their children are without fault before the throne. In the innermost ranks. "Now, are they holy." VIII. Regard them as "first fruits" of a glorious harvest. He who took children in his arms on earth, takes them still into his heavenly keeping for eternal blessing — now jewels on his bosom. This is the comfort. IX. He is willing to take every penitent and present him •-faultless," where all shall be one family in Him. There shall be no sorrow there. SOME SEASONS FOE EEMOVAL. REV. VARiq^UM LINCOLN. 1 shall go to Mm, hut lie shall not return to me. — 2 Sam. xii: 23. TT/^HY take away the little one in the freshness of ** early dawn, leaving the home desolate, tbc heart sad, and tiie sweetest hopes forever withered ? AVe may not be able fully to answer ; but there are consiclcriiiions 16 MEMORIAL TRIBUTES. which mitigate in some measure the overshadowing gloom. I. The length of a human life is not always the measure of its usefulness. A long life is not necessarily a useful one. It may be like some long rivers whose waters are slow and sluggish, whose banks are low and marshy, v/here the crocodile and the serpent find a home. Other lives are short and diminutive like some mountain streams, and yet what a work they accomplish— what de- light a child brings to a home, what source of pleasure to parents and others. It gladdens, refines, elevates. II. A child's work on earth is not finished when it dies. Its buried body draws the thoughts often to the grave. Its soul gone to eternity attracts thoughts and affections thitherward. It opens the fountains of sympathy in the heart to- wards other bereaved ones. Its death becomes a teacher of spiritual things and a magnet towards a saving power. III. It is removed from the many troubles and temp- tations incident to this mortal life. Disease, accident, misfortune, poverty, neglect, what sources too of moral evil, threatening to deluge the young mind and heart. These evils are more fearful than death. It is now safe from all moral harm. IV. God has called it to a higher and nobler mission than any on earth. Who can tell what the spirit of a beloved child may be given by God to do in heaven ? Something better, at any rate, than he could have per- formed here. V. The assurance that godly parents shall be reunited to their children. '• I shall go," etc. This is clearly taught. God is able thus to comfort us in all tribulations. CHILDHOOD. 17 THE CHILD GLORIFIED. J. SAls'DERSOJS', D.D. And her child was caught up to God and unto his throne.— Rev. xii: 5. TT/'HATEVER the primary meaning of these words ' ^ may be, they are especially true when spoken of one who has died in infancy. All such are not lost but gone before. They are the ""lambs of the upper fold/' whom the good Shepherd has gathered from the hills and vales of a land smitten by sin and swept by wintry blasts. I. The departure of each of these is arranged and superintended by God. He has a fayor towards them, and therefore watches over them, provides for their welfare, removes them when he will and sends the angel of death to call the spirit home. II. They are " caught up " in mercy to them. —Their natures are sinful and might develope into awful iniqui- ty. Their temptations might be many and strong, and to these they might yield. Their disappointments might crush their hopes and shade all their prospects. Their sorrows might come like '*' the clouds returning after the rain." But God has mercifully spared them all these. III. Children are " caught up" in mercy and love to parents. Beautiful and cherub-like as infants are, wlio can say to what a child may grow ? Cain and Absalom and Judas were not less attractive and lovable than other children are, but what a grief they must have been in after years to their parents. The possibilities of an evil nature are fearful to contemplate. IV. Children. are '^caught up" to have God's place vacated in the parent's heart. This place is often filled by a child or some earthly object. Children are ofteu 18 MEMORIAL TRIBUTES. idolized. It is right to love^butnotto idolize — God will not permit it. He is a jealous God and must have his own place in the heart. V. Children are ** caught up" to be forever at home with God. Here they are away from the Home of the Soul — from their Father's house. God wants them with Himself— to render them unspeakably happy and have a seat with His only-begotten Son on the throne. — ^' To God mid to Ids throne.^'' Lessons. Think not of your child as dead, but living — not as a withered bud but as a blooming flower in Paradise. Be submissive to the Divine will. God gave. He took. He will restore. '^ He doeth all things well." Anticipate reunion in heaven. God has a dwelling-place for all his children. Look to him for comfort. His promise is "I will be with thee in trouble." THE MISSING ONE. EEV. G. ORME. And one is not. — Gen. xHi : 13. ^T^HESE words occur in the story of a family life as it is told by some member of the family to another who has long been an absentee. It might be repeated in many a home, and is true of many a family. ''One is not." It may be the father or mother, brother or sister, or the dear little one. Death has divided them. The face will be seen no more. This renders the absence so saddening. I. How frail and short-lived are all our social pos? sessions and delights. The families who may meet at any time in the fullest numbers and in the greatest gladness may do so tio more, One, probably the leq-st CHILDHOOD. 19 likely, may bo missing. How dearly we sliould prize our domestic relations, devoutly and gratefully cultivate them, and yet not rest in them, nor let them keep us back from God. How affectionate should be our de- meanor, how pure and sweet and beautiful and happy our lives. II. The member who '' is not," may have his present stats far in advance of his former one. It was so with Joseph, to whom allusion is here made as the missing one. And although our missing one may not be per- mitted to hold intercourse with us or minister to us, yet in his exalted position we may not doubt that he still remembers, is in sympathy with us, and may hear through our elder Brother of us, or through those blessed ones wiio minister to those who are heirs of salvation. III. The prospect of a full and an abiding reunion. Joseph had only been taken from them for a time, to minister to them in their time of necessity, to prepare the way for reunion, and to receive them to himself in happier circumstances. So our departed one may not be ''lost, but gone before," may be the means of drawing the affections of those left behind heavenward and thus preparing them, through Christ, to leave this the famine stricken world, for the land of eternal plenty, and to welcome them there to everlasting habitations. As new arrivals take place, how the joy of each and of all in- creases. How complete the joy when a whole family is found there. But if any be absent, and as we count up the num- ber we have to say, *' And one is not," what a drawback to the joy of all. Let us seek so to live, that we shall appear '* a whole i^mWj in heaven," 20 MEMORIAL TRIBUTES, AN INFANT'S DEATH NO REAL LOSS. J. SANDERSON-, D.D. To what purpose is this waste ? — Matt, xxvi : 8. '^PHE unfeeling question of those who had no sym- pathy with Christ or her who had poured her precious ointment on His head and feet. A similar question may often start to the lip of those who see their child laid in the coffin on whom they have lavished the wealth of their affection and care. Jesus answers the question of both parties, by assuring, there is no waste, if their poured-out ointment is expressive of their de- votion and affection for him. Although we cannot see all the designs of God in any of his dispensations we can see enougn to satisfy us that " God does all things well." There is no waste in a child's death, so far as God's pur- pose is concerned, for : L The child has lived to be a demonstration of God's fashioning life giving and saving power. No waste, though one-third of the human race die in infancy. IL No waste, so far as the child's interests are concerned. It has lived to be one in the "Kingdom," and to b^, blessed by Christ, to have angels watching it as an " heir of salvation," to have the pleasure of exist- ence in time, to have the glorious possibilities of eternity, to have a body made like Christy's, and a seat with Clirist on his throne. No waste. IIL The child has lived for its parents' sake ; to call forth their h)ve, to exercise their graces, bind them closer in affection to each other, draw out their affec- tions more fully to the Giver, make them more devout and earnest at the mercy seat, as they feel their increased responsibility, and to make them feel more intensely their stewardship. No waste. OmtDttOOD. 21 IV. The child's death will be no waste, if hearts be SOFTENED BY THE AFFLICTION", reminded of God's cove- nant, of the sin tliat has caused death, and of the uncer- tainty of life. If taught not to make any earthly thing a portion or an idol, if affection is directed to the other world where the soul is, Christ is, and where G-od i? gathering his own one by one. If parents are more im- pressed that j-epentance and faith are required of th-^m if they would join their child again, and hear her speak to them in the other world. Sin makes the impassable gulf. Exercise unfaltering trust in God. Thank him for the loan of the child, and that through Christ you can rejoin it in that land where parting shall be no more. EARLY PIETY. EEV. J. W. McCREE. Thou art my trust from my youth. — Ps. Ixxi : 5. A RECKLESS child is never a happy child. He should be pleasant, docile, open-hearted, courteous, humble, willing to do the least things patiently, wait- ing for the time when he shall, by Divine grace, do the greatest things. That the young may be brought to trust in Christ, they should be treated by the aged with great kindness and love. It may be fitting on this solemn occasion to say : I. They should patiently answer their inquiries. Think what a world of wonders this is to the juvenile mind. How full the Bible is — teeming with things unknown to the youthful soul. Try to satisfy itseagt'r, palpitating questions. Everyone who will do thi> in ;i wise, genial spirit will have a rich reward. II. They should not frown upon the laughter of the 53 MEMORIAL Tumurm. young. Why sliould not the young laugh, not too much, nor too long, nor out of place, but when it is timely and innocent, then should the old bear with it and share in it. III. They should sympathize with the struggles of the young. Some young people have a hard life. God- less parents, homes without flowers, music, beauty or love. Fathers never kiss them, mothers never pray for them. Cold walks to work, low wages, tedious hours, blustering nights. Who would not pity, help and love them and show them all possible kindness ? IV. They should rejoice when they rejoice. If they are merry, singing for jo}^, garlanding themselves with roses on birthdays, they should not throw " wet blan- kets '' over their glossy heads and smiling faces. While they love and wed and laugh, the aged should not begin to prophesy evil concerning them, but turn the water into wine, at the marriage, bless the feast and be merry, and show that God's people are the gentlest, the sweetest and the best. V. The aged should seek the salvation of the young. No parent should rest until all his family are converted and in the church of Christ — until even the very lambs of the flock are '^safe in the arms of Jesus" — His for- evermore. Some of the young never grow old. Their voices ring no more out of cots. Their feet patter no more to the door. Their little graves rise amid green grass and the heavens shelter their spirits. Wherefore, comfort yourselves. There is comfort for us this day, when the departed could say, ''Thou art my trust from my youth." Then death is the gate of life, earth leads to heaven, where the young are crowned with knowl- edge and joy, where all are immortal and glorious and have pleasures forevermore. VmLDBOOt). tHE LESSONS OF GOD'S KOD. BY REV. G. D. MAGREGOR. Kear ye tJie rod and iclio hath appointed it. — ^Micah vi: 9. r^ OD employs many instruments for the instruction ^^ of His children. Scripture, daily blessings, Provi- dence, a remarkable Providence as that of the sudden death of a young man. I. This solemnly speaks to us of the brevity and uncer- tainty of human life. This lesson is often sounded in our ears and addressed to our hearts. But this neglected truth is now loudly proclaimed, not to rob the young of the sunshine and joy natural to young hearts, but to urge them so to live that to them death shall have no terror and no sting. II. This speaks to us of the disappointment of the brightest hopes. This has often been the theme of the moralist, the poet and the preacher. Now it has had an impressive illustration. Hopes are all quenched in death and buried in an early grave. Have you a hope which entereth into that within the veil ? If death comes then you will have a prize of infinite worth sub- stituted for one only of finite value. No merely earthly hope can defy death or bloom beyond the grave. Let Christ be the trust and stay and He will endow with a hope full of immortality. III. This event speaks to us of the mystery of Prov- idence. A mystery in such a death at such a time. What power for good possessed ! What service might not such a mind have rendered to God and man ! A promising life abruptly ended, while thousands of the weak and worthless are permitted to live in uselessness and in vice. But the Judge of all the earth will do right, even though the rightness of this procedure does 34 MEMORIAL TRIBUTES. not reveal itself at once to our feeble reason. We see but a small portion of God's complicated plan — the mer- est outlines of His picture. In heaven the hopes of the believer will find a richer fruition and his powers a nobler service than earth could afford. IV. This event speaks to us of the worth of a Chris- tian faith. '' We sorrow not as those who have no hope." The foundation of this hope is the knowledge that the departed lived and died trusting in Him who is the ^'Resurrection and the Life." Merely to remem- ber that he had many amiable qualities, etc., would not be enough, but the confidence that he was an humble disciple of Christ cheers and sustains and casts a bright- ness over the grave. Learn the transcendent worth of a Christian faith. It supports the dying, comforts the bereaved and gives a certainty of a blessed reunion. Delay not to exercise faith, but be ye also ready. THE FUNERAL TRA.IJS" AT NAIN. REV. GEBLER. Luke vii : 11-17. T^HE spring season of the year, full of renewal of life, beautifully accords with this incident in to-day's Gospel. Two processions of human beings meet each other at the gates of Nain ; out of the village comes the train of death, a corpse in the van ; the procession of life approaches toward it ; in the van is the Prince of Life, Jesus Christ; the latter does not give way, but conquers the former. The funeral procession is changed into a mass of happy persons, and with the cheerful followers of the Lord from a group of blessed worshippers. I. The funeral train which is met by Christ. CtitLDHOOi). S.^ II. The manner in which the Lord approaches this train. III. The result. I. The procession comes from Nain, which means *^ pleasantness." This entire beautiful earth is only a world of death. The corpse is that of a young man — no human energy can defy death. The motJieris a widow — Death is a cruel prince. The accompanying people can do nothing but sympathize. This funeral train is a pic- ture of devastation and sorrow, and the impotence of man in opposition to this power of destruction — where Christ has not yet come, e. g., heathen nations. And even now, what deep immorality and fear of death where Jesus is not known and trusted ! Man without Christ is spirit- ually dead. II. The Lord beheld and pitied the widowed mother. Thus He looks yet on every one whom the stroke of death casts into deep sorrow. He speaks to her. Thus He comforts us likewise in His word. He touches the bier, He does something. And thus, in our day, we become acquainted with circumstances which take place against all human expectation, and which are proofs of the continuous power of the living Christ. III. ^* He that was dead sat up and began to speak." Although He does not show His power in this wise any more, yet He shows it in different ways. {a) Christ stops deaths — this is shown in the history of nations which accept Christ (e. g., cannibalism in Sandwich Islands). {h) He awakens us from spiritual death. (c) He helps us to overcome the terrors and agony of death. {d) He will raise up all the dead at the last day. '*And he delivered him to his mother." Many a spiritually dead lost son has Christ restored to his parents a % MEMORTAL TRIBUTEf^. (e. g., Augustine and Monica). He will re-unite those separated by bodily death. Verse 16. Mourners and despairing souls are snatched out from depths of grief and despondency, and caused to praise God. COXCLUSIOX. If we have Christ in us, we can bring consolation to them whom death has deprived of loved ones, and meet our own death with composure. May the life of Christ become daily stronger in us. UNFULFILLED HOPES. WILLIAM GRAHAM, D.D. 1 pray t?iee let me go over and see the good land that is beyond Jordan Thou shalt not go over this Joi'dan. — Deut. iii : 25, 27. npHERE are many things in a man's life which he ^ desires, but usually there is some one thing which is the supreme good after which ho longs. It was so with Moses. And yet thi^ is the one thing which God will not grant. Let us inquire : I. What God refuses to grant. Going over Jordan was, io would seem, the only request God refused to Moses. This refusal was the last trial of his meek soul, and he came out of it meeker than he had been before. Some one's heart is set upon ambition. But his Water- loo comes, he is dethroned forever, and another takes his place. Some one has a dear home, idols are there, we do not know how much we loved until there is tlie vision of a face darkened under the coffin-lid — Oh ! The cry that went forth ere tliat face paled in death. " Let the dear one live." There are many Jordans we i)ray God to cross, but we arc kept back — hidden liopes blighted, secret struggles ending in defeat. Thus also in spirit- I' Hi LA) no ou. St ual atttimmeiit — some lofty emineuce lias been aimed at, but some sin has clogged our feet. Some tempta- tion yielded to has clipt the wings of jirayer and faith, and we have failed. But we are sometimes never greater than in the hour of our defeat — great in humility, in acquiescence with God's will — in faith. Stephen, Paul, John, Luther, Christ, examples. 11. Why did God refuse to grant the prayer ? 1. Because of sin in the case of Moses. And because of sin in the death of infants — that sin not their own, but of those to whom they are related. There are other mysteries connected with such a death which God's hand only can unravel. 2. Because designed to benefit Moses thereby. Moses needed this last stroke of God's chisel to clear away his last infirmity. He had to die completely to self, and this refusal accomplished this. A similar lesson may be taught by this death. 3. Because this refusal lifted him to a nobler eleva- tion of character, more unselfish, more divine. Abra- ham was thus elevated when he did not withhold his son. David, when after Absalom's death, he cried, ^^ Let my soul live and I shall praise thee." Paul, when his prayer was refused and grace given him to bear the thorn. Christ's last act in obedience was when He cried: ^'Not my will but thine be done." 4. Because it had given Moses an opportunity such as he had not before, of honoring God, in the midst of disappointment before all. He showed that it was easy — it was gladness to obey the last command of all — to go up to the Mount and die. Ill Because of refusal, God grants the more. The things granted were far better than all lie witliheld. 1. 'J'here was a larger outpouring of grace into tlie heart of Moses. Grace of forgiveness, of restored joy, 28 MEMORIAL TRIBUTES. of salvation, of broken bones rejoicing, of fresh com munion. God kept his best wine for Moses until now. 2. There was the speedier crossing of the Jordan of death into the life everlasting. The goodly land of Lebanon was as nothing to the heavenly, and to the glory of God which he would now see. 3. He did cross the Jordan and stood with Christ on the mount of transfiguration 1600 years after. He stood there in glory then, and talked with God's own Son. God thus gave him an answer exceeding abun- dantly above all he asked or thought. Let us be patient in affliction. ** He is not dead — the child of your affection — But gone unto that school, Where he no longer needs your poor protection, And Christ himself shall rule." Godly sorrow worketh repentance. The time comes when we must all cross this Jordan. Let us live upon the Mount and grow familiar with the land toward which we are going. Christ is on both sides of Jordan. Get Him in you, with you, and you are safe. THE CHILD IN GLORY. REV. THORNLET SMITH. Neither can tliey die any more ; for they are equal unto the angels ; and are the children of Ood, being the children of the resur- rection.— Luke xx: 36. npHESE are remarkable words. The present condition of every human being is a very humiliating one, but it is only for a little while that any of the children of men can dwell in these tabei-nacles of flesh and this vale of tears. This condition shall soon be exchanged CHILDHOOD. 29 by the saved for a better. A little lower than the augels now, each of the children of God shall then be equal with the angels and the angel's heaven shall be theirs for ever. And while this is true of all the good it is equally true of the little ones whom God calls to the better world. They too ^^ shall be equal unto the angels." I. Equal unto them in holiness. Look at the angels as they stand before the throne, as they minister to the saints, as they bear the spirits of the redeemed into the presence of their Lord ! How radianc they are ! How fair ! How beautiful ! Their robes are robes of dazzling light and upon them is neither stain nor speck. And yet the redeemed, even the little ones of the flock of Jesus, are equal to them — yea, they shall shine in brighter lustre and be conspicuous among the cherubs, who shall rejoice in the companionship of these young immortals and recognize them as friends. IL Equal unto them in intelligence. However wise angels of God may be, and however deep and profound their knowledge of God and of his works and ways may be, yet even infants of humanity shall become equal un- to them. What discoveries they shall make, what mys- teries they shall solve and what glories will burst upon their sight when they enter the spirit- world. Taey may not indeed immediately and at once be equal to the an- gels, but they shall soar into their domain, stand on their platform, take a place by their side, eventually out-soar the flight of the first-born seraph and stand nearer to the throne than Gabriel himself. They will know, as angels cannot know, practically and experimentally the mys- teries of redeeming love. ni. Equal unto them in happiness and joy. Angels are happy because they are holy and therefore enjoy the fi^Iicity of immediate fellowship with God. But every child '"caught up to God and to histhronu.'' will be holy 30 MEMORIAL TRIBUTES. and will join in the songs of the harpers before the throne, only in the chorus of which angels can unite. No seraph can be more Joyous than the ransomed spirit of a child. IV. Eq^ual unto them in immortality. ''Neither can they die any more." Angels never die. Their nature is incorruptible, and they are as vigorous and strong to-day as when first they came from the Creator's hands. And paralleled with angels will be glorified children. Immortality is stamped upon their soul — and the body resurrected and made like Christ's, will equal the exis- tence of angels. Conscious personal existence for ever with the Lord is the privilege of every infant caught up to glory. What lessons these thoughts suggest. They speak to us : 1. Of our dignity. However sinful, weak, dying man now is, even the babes of the household shall one day be equal unto angels — the nobility of heaven. 2. Of our Jiopes. Our privilege is ever to be looking upward — however sorrowful now, anticipate the blessed- ness awaiting those, even babes, who enter the city of the skies. 3. Of our business — to become like little children, to be saved like them through grace, for only then can any of us become equal unto the angels that stand in the presence of the King. Those laughing eyes of thine fair child God never wished to weep; Ere smiles had tied, the shadows fell Pf death's long, silent sleep. OHILDEOOD. 31 DEATH ON A SUMMER DAY. REV. W. FORSYTH. He sat on her kness till noon and then died. — 2 Kings iv: 26, ^J^HERE arc times when many days of sunshine and joy succeed each other, and others when in a single day there seems concentrated the joy or sorrow of a year. This occurred to the family at Shunem. A child had been given when they were hopeless of offspring. He was the mother's joy and pride, had taken away her reproach. His fellowship washer delight and his future the dearest hope of her life. He grew in beauty by her side and filled her house with glee, and on a summer day when all was life and gladness in the harvest field he visited his father among the reapers. How happy that father as he walked hand in hand with his boy amid the yellow corn, the innermost thought of his heart being, *'May the God of Jacob bless the lad." There and then death met him, when the sun was high and hot, the lad suddenly cried. My head.'" Learn : I. Sorrow may come at the most unlikely time. Tliere may be darkness at noon. Thunder out of a clear sky. The happiest home darkened suddenly by sorrow and the shadow of death. II. Sorrow may spring from the most unlikely source. From a fountain of joy and a well of delight. The sudden cry of agony is from a child, buoyant, playful, full of life. How strange the association at such a time — child- hood and pain. Here are the ravages of sin. Rom. v: 14. How in the presence of such sufferings are we humbled and awed before God. III. Sorrow may come in the midst of innocent labor. Work is going on according to God's ordinance in the 32 MEMORIAL TRIBUTES. harvest field. Old and young cheerfully engage in the reaping work. No work more wholesome or pure. The simplicity and purity of the olden time characterize the reapers. Yet death invades this busy, joyous scene. What place is safe ? What people or work have an immunity from trouble ? The trail of the serpent is over them all. IV. The effect of this sudden sorrow. The father's heart is pierced as with a sword by that cry of pain. He feels stunned, is helpless, but he knows where love and help and comfort abide for a child when weary of learn- ing, or faulty, or pained, or stricken by sickness. '* Carry him to his mother." Everything with her must give place to the little invalid. "His mother" — true refuge for the "weary — safe resting-place for the sick and dying child. Mark: What a cliange from the morning. Left home full of life and frolic, returns helpless, unconscious, dying. How startling to the mother was that pale countenance of her boy as she received him on her knees ! How often had she dandled him and kissed him while there before. How she now hoped against hope ! What suspense was hers daring the closing minutes of tlnit forenoon. "He sat on her knees till noon and then died." None but a mother's heart knows the terrible distress of such a moment in such a scene. Her sun had gone down at noon. How tumultuous the thoughts that crowded her soul ! How great the trial to her faith ! God seemed to have forsaken her that moment. V. Mark the resuscitation of her faith and hope. God lives and all is not lost, is her recovering thought. She strengthens her heart in God. Hurries to her prophet — makes her passionate appeal to him. Hope springs up again in her heart. Nothing is too hard for the Lord. How strange and solemn the scenes in that chamber of death when the propliet of the Lord stretches himself CHILDBOOD. 33 on that child. How wonderful the reviyal. What joyous scenes in that Hebrew home that evening. What lessons for us. The uncertainty of earthly things — the power of faith. The willingness of God to help — the certainty of a resurrection, the joy and glad ness at the reunion on the morning of the last day. THE SHUNAMITE AND HER SON. JOHK BRUCE, D.D. Is it well with tlie child? And slie answered, It is well. — 2 Kings iv : 26. npHIS story has soothed the spirit of many a parent, and is still fraught with consolation. The story sug- gests : I. The Shunamite though a godly person was not ex- empt from family bereavement. She had one on whom her affections centred, and who was dear to her, even as her own soul. To him she clung as one of the chief sources of her enjoyment, and as one whose life seemed indispensable to her own. Yet in accordance with the sovereign purpose of God, she was called to part with this child. In the morning he is with her and she de- lights to look upon his opening charms and to indulge in fond anticipations of the future. At noon he is struck down by the hand of death, and is no longer hers. "When the child was grown, etc." A visitation like that of the Shunamite, is not un- common with the people of God. The grim messenger enters their dwelling and commits his ravages on those whom they love. Darkness forthwith covers their taberna- cle and the cheerful household hum is hushed. This is the law of nature acting according to the appointment of 2* U MEMORIAL TRIBUTES. Qo-^—" By one man, etc." When j^arcnts see their ten- der flowers blighted and cut down, it well becomes them to think of sin, as that which brought death into the world and all our woe. But when they think of death through the first man, they may think of life through the second man Clirist Jesus. II. The Shunamite, though a pious woman, was deep- ly grieved by the loss of her child. When Elisha saw her, he saw grief depicted on her countenance ; and when he saw Gehazi annoyed her with his importunity, his lan- guage was, ''Let her alone, for her soul is vexed within her." And why should not Christians grieve for the loss of their dear children ? It is only when grief becomes immoderate, or when mourning is accompanied by mur- muring, that it is offensive to God. It is chiefly because bereavements awaken sorrow, that they lead us to see our need of God and to seek for satisfaction from higher sources than the world with all its transient joys. III. The Shunamite amidst her affliction, betook her- self to God. Elisha was not only a man of God but a prophet signally attested by Jehovah. In a certain sense he was the the medium of intercourse between God and man. To him tlie Shunamite came in this her hour of need — unbosomed all her sorrow and looked for the con- solation she required. The restoration of the child seemed needful to the realization of the promise that had been made to her. The Christian parent should go to God in the season of bereavement. '^He knows our frame," sympathizes, pours the balm of consolation into the wounded spirit. He does not afflict willingly, has gracious designs, assures that afflictions '^ yield the peaceable fruits of righteousness unto tliem which are exercised thereby." He leads forth by the right way. IV. The Shunamite acquiesced in the bereaving dis- pensation, painful though it was. When Gehazi met her CHILDHOOD. gS and accosted her in those courteous terms . . . "Is it well with the child ? She answered, It is well." True, her beloved child had been removed from her; after a short, but severe conflict with trouble he had closed his eyes in death. And as a consequence of this her tender lieart was wrung with anguish and her soul was vexed within her. But still she could say **it is well." She saw the hand of her God and Father in the trying dispensation, and, like Job, she bowed with holy sub- mission knowing that all was truth and mercy sure. It should not require many words to persuade bereaved par- ents, that with them also it is well. Fond parent, look to thy child in its glorified state, for ^^of such is the kingdom of heaven." Think of him as raised above all sorrow, and suffering, and imper- fection, and mingling with the innumerable company of the redeemed. " Forgive, blest shade, the tributary tear, That mourns thine exit from a world like this: Forgive the wish that would have kept thee here, Aud stayed thy progress to the realms of bliss." THE CHILD AND THE FATHER'S CUP. THEO. L. CUTLER, D.D. Jesus took a Uttle child and set Mm in the midst of them. — Matt. xviii : 2. npHIS was done to rebuke the selfish ambition of His disciples. Children are still placed in houses to be teachers as well as to be taught themselves. No house is *^ furnished " until God in his loving kindness sets a little child in tlie midst of it. They teach lessons. i. Patience. A virtue that some are slow in acquir- 36 MEMOniAL TR1BUTE8. ing. None can teach it better than a helpless, depend- ent and often wayward and exacting child. *^ Bear with me," is the meaning of its long wakeful nights and peevish cry, and of its dullness in getting its lessons. If telling the same thing unsuccessfully for eleven times remember the twelfth time you may succeed. God is patient with us. He would have us patient with our children. II. They teach us our faults. They are household mirrors to reflect our faults. Their ebullitions of temper show how ridiculous ours are. We are photographed on them. This family likeness is sometimes frightful. Think that in every fault of theirs you see yourself as in a looking-glass. III. They show us our graces. By seeking Jesus they follow the example set by father or mother, or both — so also when they consecrate themselves to God and confess Christ, they are only reflecting in their own lives, our lives. In like manner is their after career of usefulness and honor. If we are properly taught by our children on earth, and we teach them the way of life, our reward will be that Jesus will set our child in the midst of us in heaven. God often calls these children home. This is the bitter cup he gives us to drink. He knows our soul's disease. He is the wisest and best of physicians, never selects the ''wrong bottle," and never gives one drop too much of the corrective medicine. Ho does all things well. His children must trust their Father. He chastens for our profit that we may be partakers of his holiness. God sees that some one in the family has need of his spiritual skill — from indulged sin, from weakening of the graces, and He gives a cup of bitter disappointment — the gourd that was so gr;i!eful and refreshing withers. CHILDHOOD. 37 Patient submission, humble acquiescence, and unfalter- ing trust and hope are the lessons God would teach and what the soul's disease requires. If the cup had not been drank the blessings would have been lost ; if the child had not died, the idol would have been en- throned. God's cups may be bitter, and you may be long in draining them, at the bottom lies a precious blessing, Eich graces lie there. For this reason the *^ trial "of faith is precious. So Abraham and Job and all God's children have found it. Be not surprised when God mixes such a bitter cup for you as the death of a child. You need that medicine. The best tonic medicines are bitter. They have a merciful purpose. It is your Father's cup. Drink it, unhesitatingly, uncomplainingly, and with the spirit of that Beloved Son, who said, " Not my will but thine be done." EARLY DEATH. BY J. R. MACDUFF, D.D. The righteous is taken away from the evil to come, etc. — Isa. 57: 1, 2. T^HE young king Josiah, who ascended the throne of Judah at the tender age of eight, is considered to be the righteous one here specially referred to. He proved himself the most godly of his royal race. 2 Kings 23 : 25. At the age of sixteen he was brought by means of perusal of the Divine Law under the fervid power of per- sonal piety and from that day onwards, during a memor- able decade, ho became priest and king in one. He swept away every vestige of idolatry and restored the purity of the Temple- Worship. But, strange, mysterious dispensation ! Just when in 38 MEMORIAL TRIBUTES. the flower of his youth and whenhispeople were prosper- ing in peace and piety he is brought bleeding and wounded from the battle-field and dies in his cliariot, ere he can reach liis palace in Jerusalem. The national grief was deep and intense, and a national dirge composed by Jere- miah was for many years sung on the spot where he re- ceived the fatal wound, the best choristers of Israel tendering their services on the occasion. Josiah's case is not singular. The book of memory will reveal many whose young and cherished names are written upon grave-stones. Such early removal forms a problem insoluble by our poor reason. We can under- stand the removal of the hoary-headed sinner and of the aged Christian, but the Josiahs of early and brilliant promise and the Lazaruses, the young life and light of the Bethany homes — where is the wisdom or the love in stripping the temple of its pillars, " Beauty and Strength"? The words of Isaiah give a twofold answer to these questions and mysteries. The 1st. Negative. ^' The righteous is taken away from the evil to come." It was so in the case of Josiah. Why is the ''staff broken and the beautiful rod" might have been the sorrowful inquiry of both the Israelites and of Josiah. But they were all in ignorance of the future. He and they had mercifully not revealed to them the impending invasion of the armies of Babylon and the miseries which were entailed on his unhappy city and country. Jeremiah refers to this in his 22 chap. God does not disguise from the young king the reason of his early departure. 2 Kings 22 : 18-20. What was true of Josiah's early death is applicable to all. Often, when we can see no love or kindness or wisdom in these early graves, it is because the morrow to us is mercifully veiled. Who can tell if tlie loved and early lost had CHILDHOOD. 39 been spared, what trials might have been in reserve for them, or what sins and temptations might have over- taken them ? Better the brief loan with its hallowed and undarkened memories than the prolonged life with its possible evils — '* taken away from the evil to come." II. The words of the prophet give a positive expla- nation. ^' He shall enter into peace, etc." This Josiah did. This is one of the beautiful Old Testament evi- dences of the immediate blessedness of the departed righteous. The body rested as in a bed, the spirit that walked uprightly on earth continues, in a loftier state of existence, this elevated walk. The work cut short in this world is not arrested, it is only transferred. The merciful are '^gathered," as a better translation has it; not wrenched away, but gathered to unite in the wor- ship of the great congregation in the upper sanctuary. Let us listen to the whispering of angels around the pillows of the early departing ones. "Ho shall enter into peace." '^He shall walk in his uprightness." Besides, the "righteous" survive dissolution even in this world, in their deathless memories of goodness and worth, they continue to " walk." The uprightness is not laid by with their funeral shroud, or merely carved in the epitaph on their grave-stones. No! it lives. The sun has vanished, but the glow still reddens the moun- tains and glorifies the evening clouds. It was so with Josiah. 2 Ohron. 35, 26. His deeds were also written deep on the nation's heart,and in imperishable memorial in the chronicles of the great and good of all time. "Early," when applied to death, is a term only relative to the body ; the spirit, the character, the man, still lives, and the old promise becomes literally true regarding those |)ie maturely taken away — '^ with long life will I satisfy him and show him my salvation." ''He asked life of 40 MEMORIAL TRIBUTES. thee and thou gavest it to him, even length of days for ever and ever. Ps. 21: 4. THE TEACHING OF A CHILD'S DEATH. WM. M. TAYLOR, D.D. Can 1 bring Mm hack again ? I shall go to Mm, hut he shad not return to me. 2 Sam. xii : 23. O lOKNESS had come into the Palace. " The Lord ^ struck the child." David was greatly distressed by this event. Not only was he saddened by the sufferings of the child, but because Nathan had specially connected all the pangs of the child with David's sin. Hence every quiver of pain the infant gave was a new needle- point thrust into his own conscience. David betook himself to God in prayer, while the sickness lasted. This, shows that David was God's child, though he had sinned. He besought God both for himself (Ps. vi: 1-4) and for the child. Though he had been told that the child would die, he yet besought God for its life. There is always *'who can tell," what God may do. The child died, and when David knew it he came to his house, asked for bread and ate it. His servants required an explanation, and here it is, showing the strength of his character and the firmness of his faith in a future life. '' While the child, &c." David's resignation was the result of his persuasion of the happiness of his departed child and of his humble hope of joining him therein. Practical teachings. I. The illness and death of little children may be in- timately connected with the conduct and spiritual history of the parents. They belong indeed to a tainted race, and their death shows their connection with Adam ; CHILDHOOD. 41 but it may also be caused or connected with the character of their immediate parents. Tiieir death may be the penal consequences of their sins, or it may occur to lead them to thoughtfulness and to quicken their spiritual life. They may have been permitting the world to have too large a share of their attention, or permitting themselves to become enslaved by some degrading habit, or they may be unconverted. The death of infants may have a corrective, restrictive or preventive power on the parents or other members of the family. II. The surest solace under the affliction and death of infants is in God. David has recourse to prayer, and what he sought for was not granted, but he got strength to bear the stroke. It would not have been good either for himself or his people to have had his prayer literally granted. But his tears of weakness had brought down God's strength. Let us, in all trials, repair to the ''mercy seat." III. We may cherish the most unwavering assurance of the salvation of those who die in infancy. David's words teach this. He, under the Jewish dispensation, had the fullest persuasion of the eternal welfare of his baby boy. There are several things recorded which tend to make the doctrine of infant salvation perfectly indubitable. Over and above the fact that they have not com- mitted actual transgression and do not personally deserve condemnation, and may be presumably regarded as included in the provisions of the covenant of grace ; there are certain things which place this doctrine beyond all question. There seems : 1. A moral impossibility involved in the very thought of infants being consigned to perdition. They have neither memory nor conscience, the elements in the puuishment uf the lost. 42 MEMORIAL TRIBUTES. 2. There are positive indications that infa7its are in- cluded in the icorh of Christ. There is no passage in which it is stated in so many words, but many passages which very clearly imply it. Thus Jesus said of infants, *^of such is the kingdom of heaven," meaning ''of these is the kingdom of heaven," and for this reason He took up little children in his arms. 3. Tlie tone arid spirit of the gospel favors the idea of infant salvation. The Saviour was peculiarly tender to the little ones. It was foretold that He should carry the lambs in his bosom, and his infinite atonement would be shorn of half its glory if it were not available for little children. Let us consider to whom they have gone. They have been taken to the arms of Jesus and to the bright glory of the heavenly state. Let us consider from luhat they have been taken. They have been removed from earth with its pains and privations, its sufferings and sorrows, and from the spiritual dangers with which the world is environed. Ferliaps they would have fallen. A living cross is heavier than a dead one. Let us consider for luhat our little ones have hee^i taken away. Perhaps we have been wandering away from Christ, or we may have never known Him, or this may have been the case with some member of the family. God has taken the child away to bring us back, or to bring us to Himself. Why then shall we repine ? Let us consider how this hereavement will appear to us when we come to die ourselves. The great concern then will be about those we are leaving behind us. There will be no anxiety about those who have gone before. The appropriation of these consolations imp>lies that we ourselves are jour 7ieying heavenwards. *' I shall go to him." The departed child is in heaven. Are you GUILDHOOD. 43 advancing towards heaven ? If not, these comforts are not yoiu's, and a great gulf will be eternally fixed between yon and your child.'' Let then the memory of your departed little ones stir you up into religious earnestness. Do not resist the appeal. A CHILD'S TRUE ESTIMATE. ANONYMOUS. A little cldld shall lead them. — ^Isa. vi : 6. 'T^HESE words were written to illustrate the great -■- quiet that shall fall upon this troubled earth when the Redeemer's Kingdom is fully prevalent on the earth. So docile will even wild beasts be that a little child shall lead them without fright or danger. Little children it will be seen, by revelation, have a large place in the revelation and purpose of God. They are included in the Covenants, are made the subjects of circumcision, are given by promise and granted in answer to prayer, are accepted as objects of consecration, raised from the dead, nurtured by angels. The cry of little Ishmael— outside of the Special Covenant as he was— touched the heart of God as well as the heart of Hagar his mother. In the New Testament their privileges are unrevoked. The promise is unto us and to our children. We find that touching act of Jesus taking little children in his arms and blessing them and leaving to his church the sufferance that little children should come unto him without hindrance. We find them declared to be capa- ble of receiving blessing, even though but infants, children without speech. He who gives them knows the avenues by which their souls are reached, and how as their great High Priest to apply to them the blood of 44 MEMORIAL TRIBUTES. everlasting cleansing. It is to the Bible we owe our estimate of their worth, and the lesson that, hov»'ever young they may be called away, they have not lived in vain. Then are two thoughts in our text. 1st. The child-measure. There have been two nota- ble ways of estimating the value of a human soul. 1. What the soul is able to accomplish. This was the old Roman conception. Power to do was the ex- ponent of the Roman mind. Scripture has recognized this characteristic of Roman civilization and presented the Messiah in Mark's gospel as the man of power. He is the great hero who conquers diseases, demons and death and whose earthly mission was that of Conqueror of a lost and ruined world. A Roman mother, rather than see her child grow up a coward, would gladly see him impale himself upon his own sword. 2d. God's standard of measurement is, not what the soul does, but what the soul is. It is no thought of the Bible that those who die in cradles are less to be noticed than those who go up from gory fields, etc. God measures the soul not by what it has been able to accomplish, not by the figure it has been able to cut in the drama of existence. It is like gold, j^recious for its sake. God has tempered the soul to the economy of its earthly existence. Fqw souls ever live to magnify themselves by deeds. Many fall still-born into the grave. Many before they find utterance for their thoughts. Many before they answer the roll-call of public duty. Others are born to that weakness of mind which makes necessary our hospitals for the idiotic and insane. Well has God said, ^' Not by works, lest any man should boast." He looks not to deeds, but to the soul. Hope may be written over the grave in which lies the late occupant of a crib, as well as the recent occupant of a throne. Herod who slew the Judean children was more merciful than he who teaches that CHILDHOOD, 4S God saves on account of what we do. For if this be true, where are the children ? They are without gospel — left as lambs for the slaughter — left without any fellowship with the holy child Jesus. But if we take the soul itself as the standard by which human existence is to be valued, we thereby get a standard by which the value of every human existence may be computed. Then one touch of the finger of grace removes the stains which have dimmed the divine image and superscription upon an infant's soul. In it was the breath of God, before it lies the blood of Christ and beyond this blood lie the boundless steeps which lead up to the lofty perfections of Jehovah. It has responded to the purpose of him who called it into being. It tarried a second or two on the threshold, God's angels lifted the everlasting doors of grace and glory, and it entered the last penetralia of the future. Thus the precious word of God has given us a scheme of grace which reaches to the youngest child. II. Children have a mission, not of deeds but of in- fluence. It is diflScult to define influence. It is an in- visible power which by subtle methods moves us to action or serves as a restraint. The world owes a great debt to children for their unconscious and largely unintentional influence. By it they radiate and bless the world. The great lesson of self-sacrifice is learned from their presence, a lesson which is seldom learned in any house- hold where the cry of a child is not frequently heard. No other animal comes into time-relations with so much peril. No man can compute the sacrifices, weigh the sighs or bottle the tears which parents give to their offspriug. Many a spring of tenderness too has been opened by a child which every other influence has seemed power- less to open. Many a falling house has thus becu kept together. Society would be houcy-combcd into absolute 46 MEMORIAL TRIBUTES. pleasure-seeking or money-making or self-seeking if the influence of children were removed. Even their depart- ure makes the world assume something of that true aspect which God has given it in his word, and heaven is anchored to many a heart more peacefully and hope- fully because of the children that are there. Many a time has the Great Shepherd led his children nearer the eternal world by carrying a lamb or two aliead as fresh challenges to the parents to follow after. *' A little child shall lead them." We should take the language of the Shunamite Avomanto express our allegiance to the Divine government in the day of our bereavement. "It is well " with child, father, mother — not because jDarental instinct had perished, or because the child was less loved than before. But it is well, because God's ways are always right — because another has been delivered from the evil that is in the world — because it is no small thing that God puts everlasting lionor upon our children, because it is not a thing for comfortless grief that Jesus suffers little children to come to him. The keeper of the vineyard takes away the twig for the deeper rooting and fruitfulness of the vine, and we know his wisdom and answer not a word. Is it not time that the family should be gathering on the hill-tops of glory ? ' That your house on high be furnished — that your mansion should be decorated with those blossoms which have been your delight on earth ? May their going be the means of deeper meditation on the excellence of eternal things. CHILDHOOD. 41' HOME BEREAVEMENTS. HENRY WARD BEECHER. Remarks made at i?ie funeral of a child in Plymouth Churchy Brooklyn. TTTE are joined together, many of us, by a common experience. Many of us have met in each others' houses and in each others' company on just such errands of grief and sympathy and Christian triumph as this. How many of us have sent children forward ; and how many of us feel to-day that all things are for our sakes ; and that those things which for the present are not joyous but grievous, nevertheless woriv in us the peaceable fruit of righteousness ! . So we stand in what may be called a relationship of grief. We are knit to- gether and brought into each others' company by the ministration of grief , made Christian and blessed. To be sure, if we were to ask this life what would be best, there is no father, there is no mother, who would not plead with all the strength which lies in natural affection, '' Spare me, and spare mine." For the out- ward man this is reasonable and unrebukable ; and yet, if it be overruled by Him who loves us even better than He loves his own life, then there comes the revelation of another trutli : namely, that the things which are seen are the unreal thingS; and that the real things are the things which are invisible. When our children that are so dear to us are plucked out of our arms, and carried away, we feel, for the time being, that we have lost them, because our body does not triumph ; but are they taken from our inward man ? Are they taken from that which is to be saved — the spirit- ual man ? Are they taken from memory ? Are they taken from love ? Are they taken from the scope and reach of 48 MEMORIAL TRIBUTES. the imagination, which in its sanctified form, is only another name for faith ? Do we not sometimes dwell with them more intimately than we did when they were with us on earth ? The care of them is no longer ours, that love-burden we bear no longer, since they are with the angels of God and with God ; and we shed tears over what seems to be our loss ; but do they not hover in the air over our heads ? And to-day could the room hold them all ? As you recollect, the background of the Sistine Madonna, at Dresden (in some respects the most wonder- ful picture of maternal love which exists in the world), for a long time was merely dark ; and an artist, in making some repairs, discovered a cherub's face in the grime of that dark background ; and being led to sus- pect that the picture had been overlaid by time and neg- lect, commenced cleansing it ; and as he went on, cherub after cherub appeared, until it was found that the Ma- donna was on a background made up wholly of little heavenly cherubs. Now, by nature motherhood stands against a dark background ; but that background being cleaned by the touch of God, and by the cleansing hand of faith, we see that the whole heaven is full of little cherub faces. And to-day it is not this little child alone that we look at, which we see only in the outward guise ; we look upon a background of children innumerable, each one as sweet to its mother's heart as this child has been to its mother's heart, each one as dear to the clasping arms of its father as this child has been to the clasping arms of its father ; and it is in good company. It is in a spring- land. It is in a summer-world. It is with God. You have given it back to Him who lent it to you. Now, the giving back is very hard, but you cannot give back to God all that you received with your child. CHILDHOOD, 49 YoLi cannot give back to God those springs of new and deeper affection wliicli were awakened by the coming of this little one. You cannot give back to God the experi- ences which you have had in dwelling with your darling. You cannot give back to God the hours which, when you look upon them now, seem like one golden chain of linked happiness. You are better, you are riper, you are richer, even in this hour of bereavement, than you were. God gave ; and he has not taken away except in outward form. He holds, he keeps, he reserves, he watches, he loves. You shall have again that which you have given back to him only outwardly. Meanwhile, the key is in your hand ; and it is not a black iron key ; it is a golden key of faith and love. This little child has taught you to follow it. There will not be a sunrise or a sunset when you will not in imagina- tion go through the gate of heaven after it. There is no door so fast that a mother's love and a father's love will not open it and follow a beloved child. And so, by its ministration, this child will guide you a thousand times into a realization of the great spirit-land, and into a faith of the invisible, which will make you as much larger as it makes you less dependent on the body, and more rich in the fruitage of the spirit. To-day, then, we have an errand of thanksgiving. We thank God for sending this little gift into this household. We thank God for the light which he kin- dled here, and which burned with so pure a flame, and taught so sweet a lesson. And we thank God, that, when this child was to go to a better place, it walked so few steps, for so few hours, through pain. Men who look on the dark side shake the head, and say, "Oh, how sudden !" but I say. Since it u-.is to u-o, God be thanked that it was permitr* ;' ijli -<> l)ii( f a 8 §0 MEMORIAL fkinijfMS. period of suffering ; that there were no long weeks ot* months of gradual decay and then a final extinction ; that out of the fullness of health it dropped into the full- ness of heaven, leaving its body as it lies before you to- day a thing of beauty. Blessed be God for such mercy in the ministration of sickness and of departure. I appreciate your sorrow, having myself often gone through this experience ; and I can say that there is no other experience which throws such a light upon the storm-cloud. We are never ripe till we have been made so by suffering. We belong to those fruits which must be touched by frost before they lose their sourness and come to their sweetness. I see the goodness of God in tiiis dispensation as pointing us toward heaven and im- mortality. In this bereavement there is cause for re- joicing; for sure it is that you and your child shall meet again never to be separated. INFANT SALVATION. REV. CHARLES A. EVANS. Whosoever shall not receive the kindgom of God as a little child, shaU in no wise enter therein. I/qke xviii : 17. /^UR text, on the authority of our Lord, teaches one ^^ of the most consoling, supporting, heart-cheering doctrines to the bereaved parent, that is contained in the holy scriptures — that is, that little children are redeemed and glorified. That this is the doctrine of the text is indisputably clear, botii from the connection in which it stands, and also from the meaning of the phrase '^Kingdom of God." In the preceding context, the Saviour made use of a parable, in order to convince the Jews of the impossibility of being justified by works, CHiLDHOOt). 51 or self righteousness ; and having thus presented to the Pharisees this truth, immediately infant children were brought that he might bless them. This no doubt was a custom among believing Jews then, and based on that proj^hetical promise in Isaiah, 44th chapter, 3rd verse, and was to be fulUlled in gospel days — *'I will pour out my spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thine offspring." Having taken them in his arms and blessed them, saying, ''for of such is the Kingdom of God," he subjoins in application to the Pharisees^ "Whosoever shall not receive the Kingdom of God as a little child, shall in no wise enter therein." The Pharisee boasted of his own righteousness, as the ground on which he should be justified, and admitted to the Kingdom of Glory ; and Christ immediately applies the case of the infant as regards the grounds of its salvation, to show the proud Pharisee that his theory of salvation is false, and that in order to be saved he must renounce all self, humble himself, and if he will be saved, receive Heaven as the infant child receives it. Now the ques- tion arises, how does the infant receive the glories of Heaven ? The word receive clearly implies that it is a gift of its Heavenly Father ; and indeed this is the in- variable teaching of God, botli in regard to infants and adults. "■ By the deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified in the sight of God," "by grace are you saved," or, as the word grace means, unmerited favor. To sum up the matter, it is as if Christ had said. Boast- ing Pharisee, whoever you are, unless you renounce merit on your part, and receive Heaven as an unmerited gift of God, through Jesus Christ, to the lost sinner, you can never enter therein. Just as these little children who have never done good or evil personally, (though federally sinners,) will be admitted to Heaven ; for, liaving no merit to plead, they receive glory as a 52 Ml£MOniAL fUlBtTTM. li\il of rnf;n;y. 'V\va\, UiIk ifi Uio true interpretation, })oth of tlio text and (;ofit(5xt, we tliink Ih very clear, aH the ternri or plii'asi! '' Kirif^doin of llcuven" here cannot mean any othor th;i,n iJn; Kingdom of Glory, and har- monize with th(; context, and tlie design of the Savioui-. B(;sideH, tiie hmgiiage \h not Tins little child, but a little child; meaning any or every little child indefinitely. '^Whosoever nhall not receive the Kingdom of God as A little child," etc. 'IMjis is a doctrine not of modern date, nor of man's invention. It has been advocated in all periods of the Christian dispensation, as appears from the history of the church, and no doubt it never was disj)uted until the church was corrupted with heresy. The pi'obability is, tiiat the opposite opinion orig- inated witli Papacy, and was afterwards abetted by all of like sentinuiut; holding either to baptisnnil regenera- tion, or good works in oi-dci- to salvation, or ])(n-haps to both. My obj(!(;l, is, hj'st, to give you a bi'ief history of this doctriru! with ai-gumental proof of its truth ; se(;ondly, th(! prohuble reasons that infants are translated to henven in infjuujy. And in the last place, make an jipplication. First then as to the history of this doctrine. That infants at death are glorified has always been tiui fiiith of those denominations of Cliristians, known by the a[)pellati()ns, Presbyterians, Dissenters, or Calvinists, in every age, from Apostolic days down to the present, although the contrary has been often asserted by the ignorant and the false. Thus, for example, we find Yincentius and Victor, in the fourth century opposing the horrid doctrines of infjint damnjttion, introduced by Pi'ehi,tists, who advo- cated bai)ti,smMJ i-(!gen(!r;i,tioti, asK(!i'tiiig that in order to salvation, all inlanLs must Iw: b.iptized. So also John amijuiooi). 58 Wi(5l(li('l i/,'!(l or uoL So ;i,lso W(i liiid Ziiini'liiiM (l('clu.riii;';, Ui;i.l. :ill cliild r:'(i of ( JIii-JkI i;i,ii or llcii.llicu |»;i,r(wil.M, Um(, did Ix'foro nctiiJil oi" known Ir.'MiH^^n'cHHion, iiro s.ivcd. Soo Ills ('|)islJ(!H. And, \w MnrcHiuH nji.yH on l\\(s woi-(Ih of \\m (-0x1,, " V\n- of ,-ncli i,M iJic Kin'';doin of (Jod," " If all oliildrcn :i,r(< nol, .savcMJ who dio in infjin(!y, why nw. Mio woi'ds of l,h(< (,rxl, .'-'o ;;('n(M';il ntid ind.'dnil.c 1"' And ();dvin liirnMclf, (iJion^di lM;iJid('(| hy \\\{\ i<^norjuil., ji.m I, ho invcnLor Ji.nd aJxtUor of infiinl. (h'slriiolion,) in his Innfi- liil;(5H of IJio (/hiMHl 1)111 l{,(«li;^non, hook '1(,ii, (di.'ipfor lf», v\ hilo h<^ lirnily ni;ijnf:nnM l,li:il. .'dl infiinfM lU'o involved in fho pcniill.y dno to Adam'H liid, Hin, hoin^' onr (m)V()- n;i.n(, r<'|)i(!H(Mil.iil,ivo, his lirHli n,(;l, bfiin^ rcgurdiu] \m (he jm-.I. of ;iJ! hi,s riu!(i, y(i(, ni!iin(.!i,inH (.hu(. Ihcy jire hy (JhriHl, I'cdffcnicd from (,ho (ivil coriHCMpninl, npon AdiinTH nin, jijid lli;i(, I hey :i,i"o HilH(;()pl,il)l(M)f ro^^'ncrn,! ion, ;ind con HCHpunifly (d* HHin^^ lil,(,l(M;hildr(!n, il. Ih ohvions (.Ini.l, ho inlcMidrd lo hIiovv Ihal, l,h(!y )i,ro saved l.hroii«.';h llini. in hJH c.oininenlnry on the words of onr Loid o<»n- (MM-nin;^^ chUdren, " for of suoh is l.lni Kin^^doni of (Jod," wifhonl, any liniidil.ion of nl()anin;^^ or heHi(ji,(,ion, Ik-