NOW for this very Reason, methinks, we should guard against so harsh a Conclusion, lest we, at once, injure the Divine Being, and torture ourselves. And, surely, we may easily fall on some Reflections which may incourage our Hopes, where _little Children_ are concerned; and 'tis only of that Case that I am now speaking. Let us think of the blessed GOD, as the great Parent of universal Nature; whose _tender Mercies are over all his Works_[t]; who declares that Judgment is _his strange Work_[u]; who _is very pitiful, and of tender Mercy_[w], _gracious and full of Compassion_[x]; who _delighteth in Mercy_[y]; who _waiteth to be gracious_[z]; and _endureth, with much Long-suffering,_ even _the Vessels of Wrath fitted to Destruction_[a]. He intimately _knows our Frame_[b], and our Circumstances; he sees the Weakness of the unformed Mind; how forcibly the volatile Spirits are struck with a thousand new amusing Objects around it, and born away as a Feather before the Wind; and, on the other hand, how, when Distempers seize it, the feeble Powers are over-born in a Moment, and render'd incapable of any Degree of Application and Attention. And, Lord, wilt thou _open thine Eyes on such a one, to bring_ it _into_ strict _Judgment with thee_[c]? Amidst all the Instances of thy Patience, and thy Bounty, to the most abandon'd of Mankind, are these little helpless Creatures the Objects of thy speedy Vengeance, and final Severity? LET us farther consider, as it is a very comfortable Thought in these Circumstances, the compassionate Regard which the blessed _Jesus_ expressed to little Children. He was _much displeased_ with those who forbad their being _brought_ to him; _and said, Suffer them to come unto me, and forbid them not, for of such is the Kingdom of GOD_; and _taking them up in his Arms, he laid his Hands upon them, and blessed them_[d]. In another Instance we are told, that he _took a little Child_, (who appears to have been old enough to come at his Call,) and _set him in the Midst of his Disciples, and said, Except ye become as little Children, you shall in no wise enter into the kingdom of Heaven_[e]. May we not then hope that many little Children are admitted into it? And may not that Hope be greatly confirmed from whatever, of an amiable and regular Disposition, we have observed in those that are taken away? If we have seen [+]_a Tenderness of Conscience in any thing which they apprehended would displease the great and good GOD; a Love to Truth; a Readiness to attend on Divine Worship, from some imperfect Notion of its general Design, though the Particulars of it could not be understood; an open, candid, benevolent Heart; a tender Sense of Obligation, and a Desire, according to their little Power, to repay it_; may we not hope that these were some of the _first Fruits of the Spirit_[f], which he would, in due Time, have ripened into Christian Graces, and are now, on a sudden, perfected by