the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and his servants shall serve him: and they shall see his face; and his name shall be in their foreheads. And there shall be no night there" (Rev. xxii. 3-5).

"Now these be the last words of David. David the son of Jesse said, and the man who was raised up on high, the anointed of the God of Jacob, and the sweet psalmist of Israel, said, The Spirit of the Lord spake by me, and his word was in my tongue. The God of Israel said, the Rock of Israel spake to me, He that ruleth over men must be just, ruling in the fear of God. And he shall be as the light of the morning, when the sun riseth, even a morning without clouds; as the tender grass springing out of the earth by clear shining after rain. Although my house be not so with God; yet he hath made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things, and sure: for this is all my salvation, and all my desire, although he make it not to grow" (2 Sam. xxiii. 1–5).

CHAPTER VI.

SPECIAL CASES AND PERSONS.

THERE are special classes to whom special promises are made, according to their earthly circumstances. For such is the grace of our God, and such the varied fulness of his word, that every case that can occur amongst us has been considered, and cared for, and spoken to. Truly his tender mercies are over all his works; he openeth his hand and supplieth the wants of every living thing. He not only numbers and names the stars, but he counts the hairs of our head; he notes the sparrows; he feeds the young lions and the ravens. The little things of earth are great to him; and there is no creature too small for him to notice, or to use, or to bless. The great ones of earth proudly show their greatness by caring for what is great, and overlooking what is little. The great Jehovah shows his greatness by attending to the least and meanest objects in creation. Poverty, weakness, obscurity, lowliness, disease, are to him no repellents, but

attractives. The peculiar cases that have no help nor care from man are those which the God of majesty and glory delights to recognise and care for. And just as no sin, however small, escapes his notice, so no sorrow, however hidden, escapes his sympathy. There is significance in that text, "In him we live, and move, and have our being," as profound as it is comforting.

I. THE POOR AND NEEDY.

It is want that draws us to him who can supply it; and it is this same want that draws him to us. With men it is the like that come together, with God it is the unlike; for with him it is poverty that attracts riches; and emptiness, fulness; and sickness, health. This is true in every sense. Hence God has intimated to us, once and again, his special care for the poor, for in the poor man God finds his fullest opportunity of unfolding and bestowing all his riches. It was to poverty that the Son of God descended; he stooped to the estate of the poor man, of one who had not even where to lay his head. He can sympathize with human poverty, and with all the privations and inconveniences to which poverty exposes men. It was with the poor

man's dwelling that he was familiar; it was the poor man's lot that he experienced here. O human poverty, thou art not uncared for and unblest! Ye poor of earth, God is calling you to the fellowship of his Son, and to the heavenly riches!

"Thou hast been a strength to the poor, a strength to the needy in his distress” (Isa. xxv. 4).

"This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles" (Ps. xxxiv. 6).

"Hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he hath promised to them that love him?" (James ii. 5).

"The poor have the gospel preached to them" (Matt. xi. 5).

"He hath delivered the soul of the poor from the hand of evildoers" (Jer. xx. 13).

"With righteousness shall he judge the poor" (Isa. xi. 4).

"He that hath mercy on the poor, happy is he" (Prov. xiv. 21).

"I know that the Lord will maintain the cause of the afflicted, and the right of the poor" (Ps. cxl. 12).

"He shall stand at the right hand of the poor" (Ps. cix. 31).

"He setteth the poor on high from affliction" (Ps. cvii. 41).

"He shall judge the poor of the people, he shall save the children of the needy" (Ps. lxxii. 4).

"The Lord heareth the poor" (Ps. lxix. 33).

"Thou, O God, hast prepared of thy goodness for the poor" (Ps. lxviii. 10). "The expectation of the poor shall not perish for ever" (Ps. ix. 18).

2. THE OLD.

Old age is not overlooked by God; and the man that has toiled through life's years of care and trial till his hairs are grey is not forgotten. "The Ancient of days" takes the aged of Adam's sons under his special care; and he with whom one day is as a thousand years, numbers in love our threescore years