t has not, I am sure we have no
Authority to doubt, especially considering with how much Compassion
the Divine Being speaks of them in the Instance of the _Ninevites_[p],
and on some other Occasions. Perhaps, as some pious Divines have
conjectured, they may constitute a very considerable Part of Number of
the Elect, and, _as in Adam_ they _all died_, they may _in Christ all
be made alive_[q]. At least, methinks, from the Covenant which GOD
made with _Abraham_, and his Seed, _the Blessings of which_ are _come
upon the_ believing _Gentiles_[r], there is Reason to hope well
concerning the Infant Offspring of GOD'S People, early devoted, and
often recommended to him, that their _Souls_ will be _bound in the
Bundle of Life_[s], and _be loved for their Parents Sakes_[t].

IT is, indeed, impossible for us to say, how soon Children may be
capable of contracting personal Guilt. They are quickly able to
distinguish, some Degree, between Right and Wrong; and 'tis too plain,
that they as quickly, in many Instances, forget the Distinction. The
Corruptions of Nature begin early to work, and shew the Need of
sanctifying Grace; yet, without a Miracle, it cannot be expected that
much of the Christian Scheme should be understood by these little
Creatures, in the first dawning of Reason, tho' a few evangelical
Phrases may be taught, and, sometimes, by a happy kind of Accident,
may be rightly applied. The tender Heart of a Parent may, perhaps,
take a Hint, from hence to terrify itself, and exasperate all its
other Sorrows, by that sad Thought, "What if my dear Child be perished
for ever? gone from our Embraces, and all the little Pleasures we
could give it, to everlasting Darkness and Pain?" Horrible
Imagination! And Satan may, perhaps, take the Advantage of these
gloomy Moments, to aggravate every little Infirmity into a Crime, and
to throw us into an Agony, which no other View of the Affliction can
possibly give, to a Soul penetrated with a Sense of Eternity. Nor do I
know a Thought, in the whole Compass of Nature, that hath a more
powerful Tendency to produce suspicious Notions of GOD, and a secret
Alienation of Heart from him.

NOW for this very Reason, methinks, we should guard against so harsh a
Conclusion, lest we, at once, injure the Divine Being, and torture
ourselves. And, surely, we may easily fall on some Reflections which
may incourage our Hopes, where _little Children_ are concerned; and
'tis only of that Case that I am now