Or what if it had been otherwise? Do I need
additional Reasons to justify the Divine Conduct, in an Instance which
my Child is celebrating in the Songs of Heaven? If it is a new and
untasted Affliction to have such a tender Branch lopp'd off, it is
also a new Honour to be the Parent of a glorified Saint." And, as good
Mr. _Howe_ expressed it on another Occasion, "_If GOD be pleased, and
his glorified Creature be pleased, who are we that we should be
displeased?"_[*]

"Could I wish, that this young Inhabitant of Heaven should be degraded
to Earth again? Or would it thank me for that With? Would it say, that
it was the Part of a wife Parent, to call it down from a Sphere of
finch exalted Services and Pleasures, to our low Life here upon Earth?
Let me rather be thankful for the pleasing Hope, that tho' GOD loves
my Child too well to permit it to return to me, he will ere long bring
me to it. And then that endeared paternal Affection, which would have
been a Cord to tie me to Earth, and have added new Pangs to my Removal
from it, will be asa golden Chain to draw me upwards, and add one
farther Charm and Joy even to Paradise itself." And oh, how great a
Joy to view the Change, and to compare that dear Idea, so fondly laid
up, so often reviewed, with the now glorious Original, in the
Improvements of the upper World! To borrow the Words of the sacred
Writer, in a very different Sense? "_I said, I was desolate and
bereaved of Children, and who hath brought up these? I was left alone,
and these where have they been?_[k] Was this my Desolation? this my
Sorrow? to part with thee for a few Days, _that I might receive thee
for Ever_[l], and find thee what thou now art!" It is for no Language,
but that of Heaven, to describe the sacred Joy which such a Meeting
must occasion.

IN the mean time, Christians, let us keep up the lively Expectation of
it, and let what has befallen us draw our Thoughts upwards. Perhaps
they will sometimes, before we are aware, sink to the Grave, and dwell
in the Tombs that contain the poor Remains of what was once so dear to
us. But let them take Flight from thence to more noble, more
delightful Scenes. And I will add, let the Hope we have of the
Happiness of our Children render GOD still dearer to our Souls. We
feel a very tender Sense of the Kindness which our Friends expressed
towards them, and think, indeed very justly, that their affectionate
Care for them lays a lasting Obligation upon us. What Lov