Bellows Falls times. [volume] (Bellows Falls, Vt.) 1856-1965, 1871-03-03
The Death of Children.

DAY evening lecture, made this his theme,
suggested by the death of little child
in the family of a member, He said:
No person could hear of the simplest
announcement of that kind-viz,, the
death of pretty babe-without being
touched, and the heart beating in SYM
pathy with the bereaved parents. 1t
rings like bell within them, and a
thousand hearts would say: Sup ~ose it
was my little Mary or my little Wiley.
But it was only by experiencing such
losses could the human heart be awak-
ened to an entire coincidence. He had
remarked the different conduct of parents
on such an event. Some, he Observed
but they were very few indecd-met the
death of child with great calmness :;
while others are completely broken down
by such an event, and cannot be com
forted. And no one, he believed, should
attempt to console them. He instanced
the case of Jesus, who rebuked not the
excessive grief of the sisters of Lazarus.
Again, he resumed, there was another
class of persons who reproach themselves
because they don't feel the stroke;
though in truth the stroke has paralyzed
them for a moment, and temporarily
dried up the streams of sorrow. They
should not reproach themselves; the
mind should not be burdened. lt also
sometimes happened thatparents worked
themselves into the belief that some
thing had been done or left undone which
led to the untimely cutting off of the
tender plant. 1t was really astonishing
what fineness the human heart possesses
to inhict new torments upon itself The
speaker considered this very absurd, and
simply because there was no reason for
blame and censure SO long as they had
employed the instrumentality given at
that moment. Some carry the feeling
of bereavement through lifetime; 9TH
ers only for comparatively short time.
He didn't know if the first class was the
happier, and he didn't know whether it
was use ul to carry this bereavement be-
vond the hour in which it ses to lie
| beneficial to the soul.
As to the effects proceeding from the
death of child, he believed that death
is compensated by those who survive.
Did not parents, by the loss OF one of
their dear0nes, become more enamored
of the rest? Did they not see stream
ing through their sorrow the light of
Heaven, and did not their affection for
their surviving children become more
intense2
Again, children, he believed, were
never more with them than when gone
to the repose of Heaven, as summer was
ever more present to the mind in the
dreary days of winter. Everything that
was in anywise connected with the dear
one departed came rushing back to the
memory, and the whole house that once
sheltered its beauteous form became in
fused with the spirit of that child.
And what change, he resumed,
comes over the hardest and closest OF
hearts when the death of the child is
mentioned. One, by the mere allusion
to it, can instantly draw the man Of
business into silent corner of his office
and get him to speak with tears in his
eyes about his little babe that was some
time ago taken from his household
Parents, moreover, he remarked, could
never have forgot the spirit-land where.
unto their child has gone, and this
wholesome remembrance makes them
more dear to God and prepares theil
souls for his kingdom. That was the
experience of himself, who had lost his
children or, rather, he should not say
lost, for they were but lransplanted. He
looked upon the event as blessing from
Heaven, making him better man, .
better citizen, and more fitted for his
ministry. Whenever he was called up
on to assist at the funeral of child un
der the parental roof, entering therein
he said to himself that the angel of the
Lord has been here, and by and by tb'
seed of sorrow will bring forth the frui
of righteousness.
ZEAL, BUT NOT ACCORDING TO KNowL