And many a parent of a pious household in that day, when they shall see their sons and their daughters around them all arrayed with the beams of the Sun of righteousness, shall echo with holy joy to the voice of the blessed Jesus, “Lord, here am I, and the children which thou hast given me. I was afraid, as Job once might be when his friends suggested this fear; I was afraid that my children had sinned against God, and he had cast them away for their transgression: but I am now convinced, when He seized them from my sight, He only took them out of the way of temptation and danger, and concealed them for a season in His safe hiding-place. I mourned in the daytime for a lost son or a lost daughter, and in the night my couch was bedewed with my tears. I was scared with midnight dreams on their account, and the visions of the grave terrified me because my children were there. I gave up myself to sorrow, for fear of the displeasure of my God both against them and against me. But how unreasonable were these sorrows! How groundless were my fears! How gloriously I am disappointed this blessed morning! I see my dear offspring called out of that long retreat where God had concealed them, and they arise to meet the divine call. I hear them answering with joy to the happy summons. My eyes behold them risen in the image of my God and their God; they are near me, they stand with me at the right hand of the Judge; now shall we rejoice together in the sentence of eternal blessedness from the lips of my Lord and their Lord, my Redeemer and their Redeemer.” Amen.   

The World To Come - Isaac Watts