class, females in their class - "every one in his own order."

Now, if the bodies of infants are to be raised, we may fairly inquire, what can be the purpose of thus raising their sleeping dust from its resting-places, and reuniting each infant soul to its body? It cannot be to be judged; for the judgment proceeds according to works done in the body, and infants have done no works. In every record of the judgment morn, the statement is, that it proceeds, not according to the merit of works (far from that), but according to works as the manifestation of a principle of grace within. Infants, having had neither the opportunity nor the physical power of manifesting character by conduct, cannot be raised to be judged, as they are not just subjects of the judgment ordeal.

In the next place, infants cannot be raised to be condemned to everlasting punishment. Why? Because this is not a part of the original curse that was pronounced upon Adam. The curse pronounced upon Adam was, "Thou shalt surely die:" that is, the soul shall die, and the body shall die; and when the one is severed from the other, the penalty is exhausted. The punishment apportioned to them that have either rejected the overtures of the glorious

gospel, or stained their souls with sin and their hands with wickedness, can never be due to infants. They can be the subjects of the primitive curse only. But to raise their bodies again, and to reunite them to their souls in order to suffer, would be unjust, because it would be apportioning greater punishment than the original sentence contained. It would be the infliction of a doom severer than God pronounced in Paradise. God's truth never errs, in excess or shortcoming. Therefore, when infants are raised from the dead, they are raised not to be judged, for there are no works, according to which they can be judged; they are raised not to suffer, because this would be unjust, and exceeding the original sentence. What must, then, be the end? They are raised in order to be admitted into glory; that, reclothed with more glorious apparel than Adam lost, they may take their place in the midst of those, who have "washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb."

But this presumption amounts almost to certainty, if we bear in mind, that if infants' bodies are raised from the dead, then is there in this fact the actual removal of half the primeval curse; for its penalty was the death of soul and body, both. Now if we find it to be the fact that the body is raised, which is the removal of half the curse, may we not, in full harmony with the presumptions of reason, and above all in full coincidence with the merciful genius of the gospel, infer that the other half of the curse is remitted also - that the soul and body shall be reunited, both together to inherit everlasting happiness?

We are also to connect with this fact the truth, that this resurrection of their bodies is the fruit of the atonement and resurrection of Christ-because if Christ had not died and risen again, there had been no resurrection; the very resurrection of the body is the result of the atonement of Christ, and in that sense, it extends to every man. Now if infants' bodies are raised from the dead, and this only through Christ's resurrection, and as the result of His perfect atonement, and if thus half the curse is remitted by the efficacy of the Saviour's blood, and by the virtues of His resurrection from the dead, may we'not infer that the other half will be remitted also, and that soul and body will live and rejoice together in the presence of the Lord forever?

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2

Infants Guiltless of the Great Condemning Sin.

With respect to those who are born amid the means of grace and opportunities of mercy, there is one only cause given in the gospel for their condemnation, namely, their wilful rejection of the gospel. "This is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men love darkness rather than light, because their deeds are evil." "He that believeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him." If, then, this be the great condemning sin, which consigns sinners to misery, it is clear that infants never committed that sin, because physically and morally incapable of it; and therefore infants, having not committed the only condemning sin, cannot and will not be ranked amid the condemned hereafter.

They will not be Judged by the Law.

Nor will it alter the conclusion if it be alleged that infants will be tried by the standard according to which the destinies of the heathen, who never heard the gospel, will be decided. The great apostle of the Gentiles says, "When the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves, their thoughts the meanwhile accusing or else excusing one another." We have only to weigh the import of this phraseology to see its total inapplicability to infants. They can be accused neither of rejecting the gospel nor of violating the law. If grace cannot save them, which is not the case, we may be sure that works cannot condemn them.

God will not be less Merciful to Infants than to the Heathen.

If the heathen, who are "without the knowledge of the law, shall be judged without the law," or on principles different from those applied to such as "enjoy the law;" surely infants, who die previous to their possible knowledge of the gospel, shall not have its application to them measured by the rules of personal accountability. Having never "sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression," they will not be saved after the similitude of those of Adam's full-grown posterity, who have thus sinned. All objections to this conclusion arising from the incapacity of infants for salvation, are entirely presumptuous, since Christ has assured us that " of such," even infants in the arms, "is the kingdom of heaven." Now, as God is no respecter of persons, and as