Futurity / Published in aid of the funds of the Royal Berkshire Hospital.

  • Merry, William.
Date:
1848
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Futurity / Published in aid of the funds of the Royal Berkshire Hospital. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    receive one such little child in my name receiveth me.” Mat. xviii., 10. “ Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones ; for I say unto you, that in heaven their angels do always behold the face of My Father which is in xxii.30. heaven.”* “ In the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, * On this verse Bishop Porteus has the following beautiful remark, which cannot be out of place here. “ One thing is most clearly “ proved,” he observes, “ by this text, as it is confirmed by a multi- “ tude of others, namely, the doctrine not only of a general but of a “ particular providence, which, either by ministering angels, or by “ the all-comprehending, and omnipotent eye of God himself,watches “ over those true disciples of Christ, who approach most nearly to “the humility, the meekness, the innocence, and the simplicity of a “ child.” It may be added, that whoever would deny this propo- sition should be prepared to shew, at what period of after life, the angel permitted to watch over our infancy withdraws his care. Is it during the strong temptations of early youth, or amid the trials of manhood, that such care is less needful ? Is the helpless, but mortal body, of the child, of more worth than the not less weak and erring, but immortal soul of the man ? When do ive cease to be dependant, utterly dependant, on the Creator and Preserver of all mankind ? It may be conceived, that the more we succumb to the evil temptings of our great arch enemy, the more faint may become the counter- acting influence of a heavenly spirit, but one is reluctant to believe a ministering watchfulness so benign, so needed, is entirely lost at any period of our lives.