ju_dgm~nts. rity follows wrath, The terrible condition that fills the prophet's mind with ~1smay 1s full of more pressing warning when it is such as to excite the deepest commiseration. The advent of Divine chastisement is always a cloudy day. I. PBOGNOBTIOATIO_Ns. OF A 0LOUDY DAY. The dreadful day has not yet come; but the prophet foresees 1t 1n the near future. The newspapers furnish us with weather forecas~s: The pro~hetssupplied the Jews with pre':°onitionsof approaching changes in the political and social atmosphere. We have no gifted seers to take their pince in the present day. But we have hints and warnings that should aid us in this direction. 1. The laws of God are changeless and eternal. Spiritual meteorology may appear to be as fickle as English weather. But as clouds and rain come and go by fixed Divine ordinances, in spite of their apparent waywardness, so the darkness and storms that afflict human life are really directed by God's inflexible principles of righteousness. Therefore, if any people are in the condition that drew down clouds of judgment on Israel or Egypt centuries ago, they will assuredly repeat the dreadful process to-day. 2. Olov.ds do not come without prodv.dng causes. They seem to sail up like ships from the sea, coming and going at their own will. But we know that they arc produced by certain causes. Mountains and forests attract rain-clouds. Clouds of calamity are not uncaused. Sin and folly collect the heaviest of them. Some may come in mercy, like cooling clouds that refresh the traveller who is fatigued with the beat and glare of the day; others, thunder-clouds of judgment, charged with fatal fires, are gathered by an evil condition of life. When the cause is present we may well expect its consequence. II. 'l'HE EXPERIENCE OF A 0LOUDY DAY. This would mean more in the sunny East than it seems to imply to inhabitants of our cloud-girt island. 1. A cloudy day is dark. Instead of the familiarly brilliant noon, men see only gloom at midday. In cloudy days of human life joy vanishes and the soul is plunged into sadness. 2. .A cloudy day obscures the heavens. A curtain of inky clouds covers the blue sky and hides the sun. The saddest hours are those in which the vision of heaven is lost, when doubt and despair destroy our consciousness of God, when faith in the Unseen is drowned in spiritual darkness. 3. .A cloudy day blots out the beauty of earth. The loveliest prospect is sobered and saddened in heavy weather. The whole aspect of the world is changed by a transformation of its sky. We cannot be independent of heavenly influences. Our present earthly life is coloured and shaded by our spiritual experiences. A clouded soul will see nothing but gloom in the fairest of external fortunes. III. THE CONSEQUENCES OF A CLOUDY D.AY. 1. The cloudy day may usher in a storm. 'l'hus was it for Egypt and the other nations warned by Ezekiel. The cloud from the north was to burst in the troubles of Nebuchndnezzar's invasion. Threatening dnys may be followed by days of real calamity. God does not speak in vain. He holds the thunderbolt, and he throws it also. There are tempests of Divine wrath. "Woe worth the day II when such a tempest bursts I It will come upon every impenitent soul. 2. The cloudy day may break in refreshing showers. (1) Some of our most alarming prospects are accompanied by blessings in disguise. The cloud is " big with mercy." (2) Even clouds of judgment bring ultimate good. Storms clear the air. Judgments 11.re not purely vindictive and destructive. They open the door for mercy. 3. The cloudy day may be followed by a bright day. No sunshine is so sweet and bright as that which follows rain. No joy is so sunny as that which accompanies a penitent'e restoration.
Vers. 4-6.-.ASBociated calamities. I. TBOUBLE SPREADS. 1. In the individual. The first mischief in Egypt comes from the sword of the invader; but this is quickly followed by other ills. After Nebuchadnezzar's invasion the "abundance II is taken away, and the " foundations" are broken down. 2. Among CQmmunities of men. Cush follows the fate of Egypt, and other nations also fall under the wide sweep of judgment. We are members one of another, and when one member suffers all the members suffer. No people can afford to ignore the ruin of their neighbours. Selfish indifference is ultimately punished by a man's being compelled to share the sad consequences of the troubles of those whom he has neglected. II. AssoOIATION IN SIN WILL BE FOLLOWED BY ASSO0IATION IN PUNISHMENT. Cush was joined to Egypt in wickedness; she will be joined to the greater nation in suffering. He who walks in the way of sinners will come to the end of sinners. There is DL' 14! THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET EZEKIEL. [ou. xxx:. 1-26,