You have great encouragement my dear child to think about the best things. See how happy those children of whom you have heard, lived, and died. Jesus loved them, and they loved Jesus. And there is no reason why you should not love him as they did, and I am sure he loves little children, who go to him and pray to him and long to love him, for does he not say, I love them that love me, and those that seek me early shall find me. Pray to Jesus and tell him that though you are a little child you are a great sinner, but that you know he is a great Saviour, and a good Saviour. Tell him that you wish to be very holy and to hate sin very much, and that when you die you wish to dwell in his bosom for ever, and I am sure he will hear you. He will make you also very thankful for this affliction, because you might not have thought about the blessed Saviour and of going to heaven if you had not been sick. Ask him to pardon all your childish follies and sins, and to tell you that he has done so. Beg that he would be with you under your sufferings of and going to heaven. I have been thinking said she what text I should like him to preach from, 2 Kings, iv. 26. You are the Shunamite, Mr. Griffin is the prophet, and I am the Shunamite's child. When I am dead, I dare say you will be grieved, though you need not. The prophet will come to see you, and when he says, how is it with the child? you may say "It is well." I am sure it will then be well with me, for I shall be in heaven singing the praises of God. You ought to think it well too." body-give you patience to bear them-and that he would hold you up in his arms when you die, and he will be sure to attend to you. It is the prayer of many who know you, that you may die happy, and it is the wish of Jesus, that you should. But you must look to the Saviour, and commit your soul to him to be saved, and pardoned, and sanctified; do this and you will escape the punishment of sin in a place of torment, which those suffer, whether young or old, who die without an interest in Christ. PRAYER. O blessed God, thou art very great and art surrounded with angels and happy spirits, but though thou art so exalted thou dost not disdain to look upon us who are upon earth; and we rejoice to think that even a child is not beneath thy notice and regard. Prayer and praise from an infant's lips are acceptable to thee, for out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou dost ordain praise. O Lord look with compassion upon the dear afflicted child before thee. Convince him that though a child he has sinned against thee, and requires forgiveness, and also show him that he is unholy and needs that new heart which thou hast promised to them that seek it. Let thy grace take possession of him, and may he become a child of thine, by being adopted into thy family. May he seek, in this affliction, the dear Redeemer who has always expressed his willingness to bless little children, who took many of them up in his arms on earth, and has many of them in his bosom in heaven. O dear Redeemer bless this child. Thou didst, while here below, bless the youngest, and didst heal their bodies and save their souls. Be pleased to exert thy power now and restore this child to his afflicted parents. Give a blessing to the means. Thou didst hear the Canaanitish mother for her daughter, and the nobleman for his son; and if it be thy will hear our prayers at this time, that he may live; but above all save the soul of the child. May he be sorry that ever he offended God and neglected divine things. Oh, forgive the sins of his childhood-wash his soul in the fountain of thy blood-renew it by thy blessed Spirit's influences, and prepare him, should he not live here, to live with thee for ever. Make him a good child, that he may be a happy one. May he, O Lord, be patient under his sufferings, remembering who it is that sends the affliction. Sanctify this trial to the soul of the child, and to the good of his parents and friends, for the sake of Jesus, in whose name we ask all our blessings, and who with thyself and Spirit, are worthy of all praise. Amen. Children die, though e'er so young, As my life may not be long, CHAPTER XIX. Vows and Resolutions in Trouble. SCRIPTURE PORTION. SURELY it is meet to be said unto God, I have borne chastisement, I will not offend any more. That which I see not, teach thou me; if I have done iniquity, I will do so no more, Job xxxiv. 31, 32. Thou broughtest us into the net. Thou laidest affliction upon our loins. Thou hast caused men to ride over our heads; we went through fire and through water. I will go into thy house with burntofferings. I will pay thee my vows which my lips have uttered, and my mouth hath spoken when I was in trouble, Ps. lxvi. 11–14. Therefore, behold, I will hedge up thy way with thorns, and make a wall, that she shall not find her paths. Then shall she say, I will go and return to my first husband, for then was it better with me than now, Hosea ii. 6, 7. And when he came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my fathers, have bread enough, and to spare, and I perish with hunger. I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee, and am no more worthy to be called thy son. Make me as one of thy hired servants, Luke xv. 17-19. Lord, in trouble have they visited thee; they poured out a prayer when thy chastening was upon them, Isa. xxvi. 16. Therefore their days did he consume in vanity, and their years in trouble. When he slew them, then they sought him, and they returned and inquired early after God. Nevertheless, they did flatter him with their mouth, and they lied unto him with their tongues; for their heart was not right with him, neither were they steadfast in his covenant, Ps. lxxviii. 33-37. Better is it that thou shouldest not vow, than that thou shouldest vow and not pay, Eccl. v. 5. But it is happened unto them according to the true proverb. The dog is turned to his own vomit again, and the sow that was washed, to her wallowing in the mire, 2 Pet. ii. 22. ADDRESS. The views and feelings of men undergo a very great change in the season of affliction |