He causeth the vapours to ascend, &c. “They who in old time paid their devotions to the elements, imagined those elements to be capable of giving or withholding rain at pleasure. Therefore we find the Prophet Jeremiah reclaiming that power to Jehovah, as the God who made and governed the world, Jeremiah 14:22. Among the Greeks and Romans we meet with a Jupiter, possessed of the thunder and the lightning, and an Æolus ruling over the winds. The psalmist teacheth us to restore the celestial artillery to its rightful owner. Jehovah, the God of Israel, and Creator of the universe, contrived the wonderful machinery of light and air, by which vapours are raised from the earth, compacted into clouds, and distilled into rain. At his command the winds are suddenly in motion, and as suddenly at rest again; we hear the sound, but cannot tell whence they come, or whither they go; as if they were taken from the secret store- houses of the Almighty, and then laid up till their service was required again.” He maketh lightnings for the rain He makes thick clouds, which, being broken, produce lightnings, and so are dissolved into showers of rain. Or, he maketh lightnings with rain. “It is a great instance of the divine wisdom and goodness that lightning should be accompanied by rain, to soften its rage and prevent its mischievous effects.” Horne. He bringeth the wind out of his treasures Out of those secret places where he preserves them, and whence he brings them as he sees fit. Thus we read of treasures of snow and hail, Job 38:22, not that they are formally laid up in any certain places, but to signify that God hath them as much at his disposal as any man hath that which he hath laid up in his stores.

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