"As the dewy morning is more beautiful than the perfect day; as the
opening bud is more lovely than the full blown flower, so is the joyous
dawn of infant life more interesting than the calm monotony of riper
years." It is the most interesting, because the purest, member of the
household. It is the connecting link which binds home to its great antitype
above. "Ye stand nearest to God, ye little ones," nearer than those who
have tasted the bitter cup of actual sin. They are the budding promises,
the young loves, the precious plants of home; they are its sunshine, its
progressive interest, its prophetic happiness, the first link in the chain
of its perpetuity. Like the purple hue of the wild heath, throwing its gay
color over the rugged hill-side, they cast a magic polish over the spirit
of the parent, causing the home-fireside to glow with new life and
cheerfulness.
Infants are emblems of the loved and sainted ones in heaven. "Of such is
the kingdom of heaven." "Except ye become as this little child, ye cannot
enter into the kingdom of heaven." This is based upon proper principles.
The heart of the child is purely devotional and confidential. It is a
helpless dependent upon the parent. It abdicates its self-will with joy;
silently do the laws of home control it; its reverence and love are the
melody of its being; its life is an exchange of obedience for protection.
Its path is chosen for it by the lamp of parental experience, and the calm
pure light of a mother's love.
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