In those clouds of temporal disappointment which frequently overshadow him, marked by the failure of business enterprises, want of success in one and another undertaking, and which doom him to the lot of toil and poverty--in those clouds which stamp the seal of failure upon his mere earthly life, God sets his bow to comfort all his people. It is the promised inheritance of heaven; the recompense of the reward--the treasures which wax not old. Here is the Christian's comfort under the reverses of earthly fortune, and the clouds soften and break while faith gazes upon the bow above them. When life's blackest clouds gather, in the forms of bereavement and death, there are promises enough in the covenant to gild them all. "It shall come to pass when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud." This is God's covenant promise to his people. And would you know how faithfully he keeps it, contemplate the experience of God's true people in trials, when the world was dim with shadows. Call to mind your own experience, faithful one. Did you not find treasured in the promises of grace such comforts as you never knew before--a power in prayer, a drawing near to Christ, a witness of the Spirit--all producing a peace and resignation which kept you from despair? In all this discipline of trials, God reveals his resources to his people; and in the abundant consolations provided for them, and which Christian faith appropriates, in the strength given in trials, in the clear shining of the promises athwart the clouds of adversity, they discover the beautiful significancy and the actual fulfilment of Jehovah's pledge and token to the patriarch, that he would set his bow in the cloud, and when he should bring a cloud over the earth, the bow should be seen in the cloud. Have you, my friend, a vital interest in that covenant of grace, which arches life's stormiest days with the bow of peace, and contains the pledge of salvation in the future life? These blessings are _covenant_ blessings. They come not to us naturally, as a matter of course. They are secured only by a special stipulation--an arrangement which God has made through Jesus Christ, as a Saviour and a Mediator. They belong to us only by faith in Him who purchased them. Have you accepted the conditions of grace: repented, sought forgiveness, given your heart to God, solemnly embraced the covenant? Only by so doing can you enjoy the benefits. Only by resting under the everlasting covenant can you look up and see the bow.