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ESSAY LVIII.

The VALUE and IMPORTANCE of a CHILD.

1. IMMORTALITY has ftamped an amazing value on man. No confcious being, who is capable of eternal happinefs or mifery, can poffibly be unimportant or of little account. Man, who carries about with him a rational, undying foul, little knows or confiders of what a treafure he is poffeffed. All the beauties, all the riches, all, the ftupendous wonders of material nature are, in comparison with it, lefs than nothing, and vanity! If man confider this, would it not be more his endeavor to act up to the dignity of his nature? Would he not be afhamed of base, mean and ignoble actions, which vilify and debafe his real importance, and degrade him below his rank in the univerfe?

The moment in which a rational immortal fpirit animates a human fœtus, a spark is kindled which shall never be extinguished. The material fun will grow old, wax dim with years, and be probably put out as a lamp that burneth; the ftars fhall fall from their orbits, and be covered with darknefs; but this breath of the Almighty, this intellectual spark once kindled up in the moral world, fhall burn on with undimin

ifhed and ever increafing luftre, as long as GOD himself endures.

3. The birth of a child we deem to be but a trifling event, and look with indifference, perhaps with contempt, on the little, helpless ftranger. But if we view it with the penetrating eye of reafon; if we confidered it as emerging from eternal night into life immortal; as an heir of worlds unknown, and a candidate for an everlafting state;as a glimmering fpark of being, juft ftruck from nothing by the all-creating rock, which must burn and flame on to` eternity, when funs and ftars have returned to their native darkness or nonentity ;-which must furvive the funeral of nature, and live thro' the rounds of endless ages; which muft either rife from glory to glory, afcending perfection's fcale by endless gradations, or fink deeper and deeper into the bottomless abyfs of mifery, and to which its immortality muft either prove an unsufferable curse, -or a blessing inconceivable, according to the manner in which it fhall have acquitted itself in its prefent probationary state-we fhall clearly difcern, that the value and importance of a human infant can fcarcely be computed.

4. To illuftrate this thought, let us briefly confider, the evil or good which may be either done or received by a child, in the course of its existence. And,

(1.) Perhaps this child is an embrio-fiend. Knoweft thou, O man, O parent, to what this child is born? Of what this child is capable? It is now a pitiable, helpless infant, but if thou kneweft the enormous fins and dreadful fufferings with which its future exiftence is pregnant, and moft of them probably thro' thy own finful example and guilty neglect, thou wouldst be fo far from rejoicing at its birth, that thou wouldst weep and lament for the miferies which are coming upon it, and upon thyfelf for thy neglect of the duties which thou oweft it. Perhaps thou haft never prayed that GoD might fanctify this child while in the womb. It has been indeed baptized; but haft thou ever offered up one fervent prayer for it fince it has been born? Haft thou offered

it up to the holy Trinity by faith, and with that folemnity which the baptifmal dedication requires? Inftead of fitting before it a pious and virtuous example, teaching it to pray, infpiring it with a horror againft vice, inftilling into its tender opening mind, the principles of piety and good morals, correcting its errors, and reftraining its paffions and appetites, haft thou not fet before it the very worst example-taught it the language of blafphemy and profanity, foftered every malignant paffion, and cherished every budding vice in its foul? And what is the confequence? It grows up a monster

of wickedness, a devil incarnate. It fpreads the baneful contagion of vice as far as its influence can reach; becomes the tempter, the devil of every company; the spoiler and obftructer of all good! How many of its fellow-immortals has it drawn into guilt and mifery? Perhaps it at length becomes infamous for wickednefs, and blots the annals of hiftory with a character difgraceful to human nature, and with crimes before unparelelled, unheard of! And O who can defcribe the miferies which await it in a ftate of retribution? The Neros, the Herods, the tyrants, the scourges of the earth, were once helpless infants!

(2. Perhaps this child is an embrio-an

gel. Knoweft thou, O man, O parent, to what this child is born, of what this child is capable? It has been the child of thy prayers and vows. Thou haft folemnly given it up to GOD in baptifm, and he has gracioufly accepted the furrender. It is thy conftant folicitous care to recommend it daily to the guidance and protection of its Father in heaven; to fet a blameless, pious and virtuous example before it; to inftill into its tender opening mind the principles of piety, integrity and univerfal goodnefs. Indulgent heaven fmiles on thine endeavors. and renders them fuccefsful by the concur ring aids of omnipotent grace. The feed of knowledge and of grace fo liberally fown,

will prefently grow up into a plenteous harveft of usefulness here and glory hereafter. The child, like the holy child JESUS, will grow up in knowledge, as in ftature, and in favor both with GoD and man. The implanted principle of grace, fhall be in him a well of water, fpringing up into everlafting life*. He fhall bring forth much fruit to the glory of GoD, and to the good of his fellow mortals. Every day will bring him fome good, or make him the inftrument of fome good to his fellow-men. Nor fhall his progrefs in holiness and happiness be terminated by this mortal life, but probably go on through eternal ages. In a word, who can conceive the good of which fuch a child may be made the inftrument, or the degrees of happinefs and of glory to which it may be advanced? St. Paul, and all thofe worthies under the Patriarchal, Mosaical and Christian difpenfations, who wrought fo much good in the world, and who now fhine in fuch fuperior orbs of glory, were once feeble, despised infants!, May I speak it with propriety on this occafion, The bleffed JESUS was once a child!

5. Since such therefore, is the amazing importance of a child, why should we wonder, that JESUS took up fuch in his arms and bleffed them, declaring, that of fuch was the kingdom of heaven? Why fhould * John iv. 14.

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