Had spared my after years!"
Would you, then, to gratify a parent’s heart, awake that little slumberer from its peaceful repose, and recall its happy spirit from its realms of glory? There the light of heaven irradiates it; its visions are unclouded there; and from those battlements of uncreated glory it comes to thee on errands of love and mercy. Would you, now, that this inhabitant of heaven should be degraded to earth again? Would you remove him from those rivers of delight to this dry and thirsty land? Would not this be cruel?
When, therefore, your babe is taken from you, regard it as a kind deed of your heavenly Father, and say, "even so it seemeth good in thy sight:"
"Pour not the voice of woe!
Shed not a burning tear
When spirits from the cold earth go,
Too bright to linger here!
Unsullied let them pass
Into oblivion’s tomb—
Like snow-flakes melting in the sea