house, and have obeyed His will and loved His voice. In themselves they are dearer to Him, as more like JESUS; and for them, He has seats closer to the throne of CHRIST, and offices of honour near His person. If this is so, if “faultlessness,” in the sense of never blotted, never imperfect, is the state that is most blessed, then, brethren, we might perhaps be tempted to envy the fate of those whom we commemorate to-day, who suffered so early for CHRIST’S sake, and as soon almost as they were born, were put to death. We might judge, too, that the little ones whom GOD so frequently takes away so soon after lending them, are summoned to a higher blessedness than we can ever know; and therefore that not only would it have been gain to die in infancy, but that it is positive loss to live to years of discretion and responsibility. Let us not err herein. We believe that the dear innocents, whose first consciousness is of bliss in heaven, whose reason begins to develop, and their will to exercise itself, only when sin is impossible, are not only unspeakably blessed, but that GOD specially loves them, and folds them to His bosom (as we did here), because of that innocence: no guile, no defilement—all simplicity and trust. Thankful then in their sober moments are all bereaved parents who are assured of their departed little ones’ eternal safety, and are spared the fears and anxieties, the heartrending realisation of self-will developed, and the world’s evil example followed, and the devil triumphant. The LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; and, in that He has taken away, from the evil to come, Oh! blessed be the name of the LORD.