Psalms 147:8

..."Who covereth the heaven with clouds, who prepareth rain for the earth" (ver. 8). Now thou art alarmed, because thou canst not see the heaven: when it hath rained thou shalt gather fruit, and shalt see clear sky. Perhaps our God hath done this. For had we not the obscurity of Scripture as an occasion, we should not say to you those things wherein ye rejoice. This then perhaps is the rain whereat ye rejoice. It would not be possible for it to be expressed to you by our tongue, were it not that God covereth with clouds of figures the heaven of the Scriptures. For this purpose willed He that the words of the Prophets should be obscure, that the servants of God might afterwards have that by interpreting which they might flow over the ears and hearts of men, that they might receive from the clouds of God the fatness of spiritual joy. "Who maketh grass to grow upon the mountains, and herb for the service of men." Behold the fruit of the rain. "Who maketh," saith he, "grass to grow upon the mountains." Doth it not also grow upon the low ground? Yes, but it is a great thing that it groweth "on the mountains." ...For nothing could be more barren than the hard mountains. "And herb for the service of men." What "service"? Listen to Paul himself. "And ourselves," saith he, "your servants for Jesus Christ's sake." He who said, "If we have sown unto you spiritual things, is it a great thing if we reap your carnal things?" yet said, that he was a "servant." For we are your servants, brethren. Let none of us speak of himself, as though he were greater than you. We shall be greater if we are more humble. […]

Who covers the heaven with clouds. This heaven, which we behold, cannot be covered with clouds. But there is another heaven, and there are other clouds. And your truth reaches even to the clouds. Then does the truth of God reach even to those clouds, which are quickly dissolved when the wind blows? The truth of God is Christ. I am the way and the life and the truth. Is then the truth of Christ in these clouds, which have not in themselves the substance of truth? Can it then be that truth is there, where the wind has power to scatter? I will command, he says, the clouds not to rain rain upon them—that is, upon the people of the Jews. The clouds are the prophets: the Lord commanded them not to rain rain upon Israel. The prophetic word has been turned toward us. These clouds, if they are dashed against one another, make thunder and lightnings. Who covers the heaven with clouds. Why did he say, He covers the heaven with clouds? If the clouds are prophets and apostles, how then is the heaven covered by apostles and prophets? The heaven is the divine mysteries. Since therefore the mysteries, whatever are divine, are called heaven: whoever is unworthy, these clouds protect the sacraments from him. If anyone is unworthy, he cannot receive the sacraments: they are covered by the clouds. Who prepares rain for the earth. The earth needs rain: our earth, unless it receives rain, the fountain of doctrines, will bring forth no fruit. When the earth has been moistened by a fountain of such doctrines, what follows? Who brings forth hay on the mountains. If he were speaking of hay alone, surely hay is born more in the valleys than on the mountainous places: for wherever the rain is more abundant, there hay is born more. From the mountains the waters flow down into the valleys, and grass is born more abundantly.

That you may be aware that God the Father worked not only on those first six days but "even until now," read the [saying] of the prophet, "Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you"; and in the psalm, "He who shaped the …

Thus afflictions, for the present, look black, and dark, and unpleasant, and we are in heaviness because of them, as sometimes when the sky is overcast it makes us dull; but they are necessary, for from these clouds of affliction come those showers that make the harvest to yield the peaceable fruits of righteousness ( Heb. xii.

quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens

) may well enough be applied to the first building and fortifying of Jerusalem in his time, and the gathering in of those that had been out-casts in Saul's time. The Septuagint divides it into two; and we may divide it into the first and second part, but both of the same import. We are called upon to praise God,

quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens