IT was out of the clouds that the deluge came, yet it was upon it that the bow set! The cloud is a thing of darkness, yet God chooses it for the place where he bends the arch of light! Such is the way of our God. He knows that we need the cloud, and that a bright sky, without speck or shadow, would not suit us in our passage to the kingdom. Therefore he draws the cloud above us, not once in a lifetime, but many times. But less the gloom should appall us, he braids the clouds with sunshine; nay, makes it the object which gleams to our eye with the very fairest hues of heaven.—H. Bonar.