with more than maternal tenderness, for though a mother forget her infant child, God will not forget his people. And in this affection their children share. Repeated instances are given in which the offspring of believers, though wicked, were spared for the sake of their parents.  The descendants of David were not utterly banished from the throne for generations, for their father’s sake.  Of Israel it was said, when oppressed for their sins by Hazael, King of Syria, “the Lord had compassion and respect unto them, because of his covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and would not destroy them, neither cast he them from his presence as yet.”  Even since they have rejected and crucified their Messiah, there is a remnant of them left, according to the election of grace, who are “beloved for their father’s sake.”  The children of the covenant do unquestionably receive manifold temporal and spiritual mercies, and to this more than anything else on earth, it may be, they are indebted for their present and eternal well-being.  They are not forgotten when those who bore them to God’s altar, and dedicated them to him in faith, have passed away.  When father or mother forsake, or are called from them, the Lord shall take them up.  Though they stray from the fold of the good Shepherd, and seem to wander beyond the reach of mercy, often, very often, does His grace reclaim and make them the monuments of his forgiving love.  This covenant-relation is indeed one whose benefits we cannot here fully estimate, for they can be known only when the secret dealings of God are revealed, and we are permitted to trace their bearing upon an eternal destiny.  They do not secure salvation in every instance, but who shall say they would not obtain even that blessing were they never perverted, and were parent and children alike faithful to the responsibilities they involve?

Son.—­These are, indeed, great benefits, but are there any other?

Father.—­Yes; besides sustaining this marked and honored relation to God, the baptized sustain a different relation to his church from that of others.  They are members of the visible church.  Their names are enrolled among God’s preferred people.  They have a place in the sanctuary of which David sung, “How amiable are thy tabernacles, O Lord of hosts.”  Nor is this relation without its benefits.  They are brought thereby within the supervision and nurture of the church.  They become the subjects of her care, instruction and discipline.  In addition to household privileges, to the prayers, examples and labors of pious parents, they have a special claim to the prayers and efforts of the church.  They are remembered as “the sons and daughters of Zion.”  “For them the public prayer is made.”  They can be interceded for not only as needing the grace of God, but as authorized to expect it in virtue of their covenant with him.  With all faith and hope may they be brought to the throne of mercy as those of