THE faith of the little child is really the faith of apostles and martyrs, and of the spirits about the throne. Death has not destroyed the relation between the brothers and sisters of a family. The two that are under the churchyard-tree are still members of the circle. They have not gone into some strange region, where the fancy may dwell, but with which the heart and reason can hold no converse. We know where they are; Christ sealed them as His. The world did not create the relationship between us; it tried hard to divide us from each other. Christ was the bond of our union; in Him it is maintained. Those, who closed their eyes, on the things which ours look upon, fell asleep in Him. It is a sleep, which may yet be a true waking, which may be compatible with ministries, more active than any which we perform--ministries, unencumbered by sloth and selfishness. And, surely, it is in fulfilling the tasks with which we are entrusted, in fighting hard with the enemies that assault us, in holding fast to the faith that Christ died, and rose again, that we understand what their works must be, and enter into them, and become assured, that, though sin may tear families apart, death cannot.--The Church a Family, p. 128.

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