in heaven, and legible on earth at the moment that the chiefest of sinners are saved-"The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life." But if infants are lost, they are lost because of their connection with the first Adam, and therefore in that respect Satan has triumphed; nay, if this be true, half the human race, by Satan's policy, and without their personal guilt, are lost.

Infants, however, are not lost. We know that none shall perish, but those that reject the cure; none shall inherit the serpent's curse, except those that imbibe the serpent's spirit. And on the other hand, those who are saved, it is declared expressly, in Scripture, are saved only through the mediation of Jesus, by reason of the transcendent goodness that gave Christ to die for the sins of mankind, and therefore by a way of salvation which does not tarnish the glory of God. Neither shall man be lost, nor the world destroyed, nor God dishonored, by the policy of Satan. The reverse shall be the triumphant issue. We justly infer that the sum total of this dispensation will be, that not one soul shall be lost because of Satan's success in Paradise, but that, on the contrary, his apparent triumph shall be overruled by Infinite Wisdom to be the means of bringing many sons to a greater hap

piness, and of giving greater glory to God. They that perish, perish by their rejection of life, not by their inheritance of Adam's sin.

An Inspired Intimation of Infant Salvation.

In the eighth Psalm we have an express scriptural proof of the salvation of infants, and an unequivocal intimation that amid the multitudes that shall grace the triumphs of the Son of God, infants will not be wanting: "O Lord, our Lord, how excellent is Thy name in all the earth! who hast set Thy glory above the heavens. Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast Thou ordained strength, because of Thine enemies, that Thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger." Now the apostle Paul, in reasoning upon this very Psalm in his epistle to the Hebrews, quotes it as descriptive of Christ in the days of His final triumph. It is in the second chapter. "But one in a certain place testified, saying, What is man, that Thou art mindful of him? or the son of man, that Thou visitest him? Thou madest him a little lower than the angels; Thou crownedst him with glory and honor, and didst set him over the works of Thy hands; Thou hast put all things in subjection under his feet. For in that He put all in subjection

under him, He left nothing that is not put under him. But now we see not yet all things put under him. But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man." The sacred penman states that the Psalm refers to that period when Christ shall reign from sea to sea - all rebellious elements being laid prostrate, and creation clothed afresh with holiness, and beauty, and bliss. Amid the anthem-peal of praise that rises up to Him from the redeemed earth, the psalmist hears the songs of infants as no weak tone in the rich diapason, as ascriptions to the Lamb "out of the mouth of babes and sucklings." Yes, the beautiful truth stands forth in all its lustre, deep and consolatory, that the sweetest hymns which shall be heard in the millennial era, will be infant hymns; that amid the songs that rise before the throne, will be melodies that are warbled by infant orphans' tongues, and that gush forth from full infant hearts. The unspeakably precious truth comes home from this to every parent, that, if a saint of God, he shall join in the songs of heaven with his departed infants, who have already caught the key-note.

The Doctrine Inferred from the Great Multitude of the Redeemed.

On no other ground, we may also observe, than on that of the universal safety of deceased infants, can we account for the vast multitudes declared to be ultimately saved. The various expressions used in Scripture respecting the final salvation of men, unquestionably imply that a very great number will be eternally saved. "After this I beheld, and lo, A GREAT MULTITUDE, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands; and cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb." "A GREAT MULTITUDE which no man can number" is the characteristic of the finally saved; showing that it is not a minority, but a majority, that shall ultimately be admitted to glory. Christ, in numbers, as in glory, shall have the preeminence. In the nineteenth of Revelation, again, we read, "And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters:" another expression denoting the vast number of the saved. This is a sweet and

majestic thought. The great multitude will not be lost. The prospect dilates the heart of philanthropy, and comes home to us clothed with the attributes and glories of God.

David's Assurance of his Dead Child's Salvation.

There is at least one Scriptural text that seems to expressly assert the safety of dead infants. We allude to the declaration at the close of the beautiful passage descriptive of David's feelings on the loss of his infant, recorded in 2 Samuel 12: 15-23.* "I SHALL GO TO HIM," said David, "but he shall not return to me." If ever there was a case where the infant might be expected to suffer hereafter for the father's sin, it was that of David in this passage. Yet David's conviction of his own sin, expressed so poignantly in the fiftyfirst Psalm, and anxiety about his own spiritual safety, did not cloud his assurance of the safety of this babe. He believed. he should meet him in that purer and better land whither he had gone before him.

* The passage is quoted in full on p. 33.