in the language of men, where it becomes the "word made flesh" (John i. 14), "God with us." In its highest celestial degree, truth is first seen as fire infolding itself, then as brightness surrounding the fire, then as the colour of amber (a yellowish green), and lastly as a cloud. In all these appearances, divine truth accommodates itself to the varied states of angels and men. We may now see the meaning of those scriptures where clouds are named, as where "God maketh the clouds His chariot" (Psalm civ. 3), where "His faithfulness and truth reacheth unto the clouds." (Psalm xxxvi. 5; lvii. 10.) The meaning of which is, that the divine mercy, which is great in the heavens, is as infolding fire, and that in His care for the angels. He has not forgotten the children of men, but that His faithfulness and truth have reached to the clouds; yea, the very treasures of heaven God has been pleased to communicate to men on earth by the letter of His Word.
Make then, reader, the Word of God thy sole guide! It shall be to thee as it was to Israel of old, thy pillar of a cloud by day, and thy pillar of fire by night, to guide thee and keep thee in the way of peace. (Exod. xiii. 21.)
April Seventeenth.
SWADDLING CLOTHES.
"She brought forth her first-born son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes."—Luke ii. 7.
WHEN we consider so vast a subject as that of the coming of the Lord Jesus in the flesh, to accomplish that stupendous act of mercy, the redemp-
