Sermons on Selected Lessons of the New Testament

^13. But I am unwilling to speak of the loss of a child, lest I seem to threaten calamities, which do befall men. Let us speak in some more happy and auspicious tone. I do not say then, you will have one less; reckon rather that you have one more. Give Christ a place with your children, be your Lord added to your family; be your Creator added to your offspring, be your Brother added to the number of your children. For though there is so great a distance, yet has He condescended to be a Brother. And though He be the Father's Only Son, He has vouchsafed to have coheirs. Lo, how bountifully has He given! Why will you give in such barren sort? You have two children; reckon Him a third: you have three, let Him be reckoned as a fourth: you have five, let Him be called a sixth; you have ten, let Him be the eleventh. I will say no more; keep the place of one child for your Lord. For what you shall give to your Lord, will profit both you and your children; whereas, what you keep for your children wrongly, will hurt both you and them. Now you will give one portion, which you have reckoned as one child's portion. Reckon that you have got one child more.