communicates in some modified form to the men of the Church. The analogy is complete.
It is interesting to observe with what frequency clouds are mentioned in the Word in connection with Divine things, and to notice that in all cases they are symbols of that obscurity with which spiritual light is presented in the letter of revelation. The psalmist says, "Sing unto God . . . that rideth upon the heavens;"[1] He "maketh the clouds His chariots:"[2] His "truth reacheth unto the clouds."[3] The prophet, also, says, "The Lord rideth upon a swift cloud."[4] Evidently, in those cases, by clouds are not meant physical vapours, but those literal statements of the Divine Word in which spiritual things are expressed by natural terms. The Lord is said to ride upon those clouds and to make them His chariots, because they are the mediums by which He comes down to convey spiritual light to men. His faithfulness is said to reach unto the clouds,[5] because the fidelity of the Divine character is declared in the letter of the Word. The letter presents conflicting statements concerning the Lord, and therefore it is said that clouds are round about Him.[6] His strength is said to be in the clouds,[7] because the power of Divine teaching is in the letter of the Word, the strength of pure truth must lie in its appropriate utterance. It is by
- ↑ Ps. lxviii. 4.
- ↑ Ps. civ. 3.
- ↑ Ps. lvii. 10.
- ↑ Isa. xix. 1.
- ↑ Ps. xxxvi. 5.
- ↑ Ps. xcvii. 2. The Lord is said to be "love," and to be "angry;" to "repent," and "not to repent;" to have "vengeance," and that "fury is not in Him;" and so the truth is, as it were, enveloped in a cloud, which can only be cleared away by the declaration, "With the merciful Thou wilt show Thyself merciful; with the upright man Thou wilt show thyself upright; with the pure Thou wilt show Thyself pure; and with the froward Thou wilt show Thyself froward" (Ps. xviii. 25, 26).
- ↑ Ps. lxviii. 34.
