God's People Known to Him.
By John Barlow
Tamar may disquiet herself, and walk in an unaccustomed path, so as Judah may not know her. Isaac through the dimness of his sight, may bless Jacob, and pass Esau. Tract of time may make Joseph to forget or be forgotten of his brethren. Solomon may doubt to whom of right the child belongeth; and Christ may come to his own and not be received. But the Lord knoweth who are his, and his eye is always over them. Time, place, speech, or apparel, cannot obscure or darken his eye or ear. He can discern Daniel in the den—Job, though never so much changed, on the dung-hill; let Jonah be lodged in the whale's belly, Peter put in a close prison, Lazarus be wrapped in rags, or Abel be rolled in blood; yet can he call them by name, and send his angels to comfort them. Ignorance and forgetfulness may cause love and knowledge to be estranged in the creature, but the Lord is not incident to either; for his eye, as his essence, is everywhere; he knoweth all things.—John Barlow, 1616.