life is completed. Signe of Divine favour cheer and encourage a~ life progresses. Some married people do not have families, but we have no right to regard the withholdrng as a judgment. vVe need only say that, when chilnren are sent, they are a sign of Divine favour, .And this is not saying that all children who come into the world come as a Divine reward. We are exclusively dealing with the families of God's people, and all we have said is strictly true of them. There is a great compensation for persons who have no children, in the fact that they often have an unusual love for other people's children, and skill in ministering to them. This is illustrated in Sunday schools, ministers, orphan and outcast institutions, etc. I. CHILDREN REWARD A MAN IN WHAT THEY THEMSELVES ARE. A man has no pleasure in life that can equal his joy in his children, who bear his image, and in miniature reproduce himself. Their ways, their talk, their crudities, their innocence, their unfolding, their very frailties, are a perpetual interest, relief, and pleasure. The child-ministry of childhood is seldom sufficiently estimated. lllustration may be taken from McLeod's 'Wee Davie;' or the more recent story of' Bootle's Baby.' II. CHILDREN REWARD A MAN IN WHAT THEY BECOME. For a man lives ove1 again in the success of his children. He is proud of their well-grown healthy bodies; of their developed and cultured minds; of their honourable and useful positions. A man never feels to have lived in vain when he leaves a respectable and well-ordered family behind him. • III. CHILDREN REWARD A MAN IN WHAT THEY DO FOR HIM. This is especially in the psalmist's mind. Tbe good man who has good chiluren bas a fortune laid up against old age and infirmity safer far than shares in joint-stock companies. His every need will be safely met by the response child-love will make to all his sacrifices in days gone by.-R. T. Ver. 4.-0hildren a man's power. ".As arrows are in the band of a mighty man; so are children of the youth." They are his effective agents in the battle of life. This is illustrated in runny a business. The man is greatly helped as difficulties develop, and responsibilities increase, who has his own sons to share his burdens. The service of hirelings, however devoted and faithful, can never equal tho.t of sons. A man gradually outgrows the toiling part of life. He may think and plan better than ever; but the executive power fails; and it is well if sons arise to be not only arrows, but even arms, for him. In the entire active sphere of life a man's sons may come to take his place. l. CHILDREN ARE A MAN'S FOWEB WHEN BiaHT RELATIONS ARE MAINTAINED. The assumption of the psalm is that they nre maintained. The godly mo.n'11 God-fenring children alone are in thought. When children grow up wilful, wo.ywo.rd, unsonlike, they are a man's weakness. They are arrows bent from the straight, which mny do more mischief than good. So on children the Word of God presses the duty of main• tnining the family relation, and "honouring the father and the mother." And the relntion must be preserved right up to the close of life. For Jong o. son stands with his father; the time comes when he may have to stand for bis father. N eglcct of, and cruelty to, aged po.rents belong to heathenism, not to the religion of the eternal Father. II. CHILDREN ARE A MAN'S POWER WREN RIGIIT OHARACTER IS OULTURED. Wuat children are to their parents will of necessity depend much on natural disposition. Even an affectionate disposition finds expression in various forms. But it depends very much more on home-training. Parents may make themselves too independent, and, seeking little help from their children; get but little when they sorely need it. True home-culture nourishes mutual service. Only out of the practice of a common service can the special ministries of times of strain be found to grow.-R. T. Ver. 5.-(Jhil,dren a man's seC11,rity. The sons of a man's youth-time are specially mentioned, because they would naturally grow up to be n support and protection to their father in his old age, when he would most need their support. If he should be involved in a lawsuit, his stalwart sons would not suffer might to prevail against right. Some think the reference is to a battle fought with besiegers at the gate~. But the peaceful association is better. "Unjust judges, malicious accusers, and false witne11scs were shy aod faint-hearted before a family so capable of defending itself." 234 THE BOOK OF PSALMS. [rs. oxx.vm. 1-6.
I. CmLDREN A SECURITY AGAINST POVERTY. How this comes round to the aged is sndly illustrated by the number of old people who end their days in a workhouse; and by the number of cases in which business men keep too long in business, and fail to adjust their methods to new times. Many an old man bas wrecked a good business simply by keeping it on too long. If there are childl'tm, they arrest the decaying process, bring in new life, and so keep away the pDverty which would othPrwise enter as an armed man. II. CHILDREN A SECURITY AGAINST AFFLICTION. There is nothing sadder than the aged man, in invalid condition, tended only by strangers. No matter what may be the form which the decay of nature takes, there is relief-the best relief-if the aged parent is tended and cared for by bis own children. And there are annals of heroism, which relate the self-denying devotion of children, who have taken away well-nigh all the bitterness and strain of last months of affliction. III. CHILDREN ARE A SECURITY AGAINST ENEMIES. For a man may suffer, worthily or umrnrthily, through bis own weaknesses, or through persistent malice, right up to the close of his life. It makes one sad to think of David, not only groaning about enemies in his old age, but speaking bitterly about them. But they rage in vain, and must leave the old man in peace, if his sons are round him, e.nd defending him. To him they may be "sons of peace."-R. T.