May 25

1 I will extol thee, my God, O King; and I will bless thy name for ever and ever. 2 Every day will I bless thee, and I will praise thy name for ever and ever. 3 Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised; and his greatness is unsearchable. 4 One generation shall praise thy works to another, and shall declare thy mighty acts. 5 I will speak of the glorious honour of thy majesty, and of thy wondrous works. 6 And men shall speak of the might of thy terrible acts, and I will declare thy greatness.

7 They shall abundantly utter the memory of thy great goodness, and shall sing of thy righteousness. 8 The LORD is gracious, and full of compassion; slow to anger, and of great mercy. 9 The LORD is good to all; and his tender mercies are over all his works. 10 All thy works shall praise thee, O LORD; and thy saints shall bless thee. 11 They shall speak of the glory of thy kingdom, and talk of thy power; 12 To make known to the sons of men his mighty acts, and the glorious majesty of his kingdom.

13. The kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and the dominion is a whole throughout all generations. 14. The LOKI: pholdeh all that fall, and ra:eth up al. th. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15. The eyes of all wait upon the, and thou givest them their meat in our se son. 16. Thou open-t thine hand, and satifiest the desire of every living thing.

17. The LOKI is, rightous to all his ways, and holy in all his works. 18. The LOKI is high unto all them that call upon him, to all that call upon him in truth. 19. He will fulfil the desire of them that fear him: he also will hear their cry, and will save them. 20. The LOKI preserveth all them that love him: but all the wicked will he destroy. 21. My mouth shall speak the praise of the LORD: and let all flesh bless his holy name for ever and ever.

This Psalm "is David's, David's very own, David's favorite. It is David's Praise just as another (Psalm lxxxvi.) is David's Prayer. It is altogether praise, and praise pitched in a high key. David had blessed God many a time in other psalms, but this he regarded as his peculiar, his crown-jewel of praise. Certainly David's praise is the best of praise, for it is that of a man of experience, of sincerity, of calm deliberation, and of intense warmth of the heart. It is not for any one of us to render David's praise, for David only could do that, but we may take David's psalm as a model, and aim at making our own personal adoration as much like it as possible: we shall be long before we equal our model. Let each Christian reader present his own praise unto the Lord, and call it by his own name. What a wealth of varied praise will thus be presented through Christ Jesus!"—C. H. Spurgeon.

"The ancient Hebrews declare him happy whoever, in after times, utters this psalm thrice each day with the mouth, heart and tongue."—Victorinus Bythmer.

Praise is no monopoly for one, even though he be a David; others are debtors, let them also be songsters. All men, of every race, condition or generation, should unite to glorify God.

The Rev. E. Bickersteth, in his last illness, observed, "I have so many mercies, I ought to be full of praise. This is a sweet direction: 'In everything give thanks' (1 Thess. v. 18); there is more divinity in that verse than in all the fathers. It is a bit of gold which enriches. They talk of the gold of California, but the gold of that land is good."

Closet Promise.—That ye should show forth the praises of Him who hath called you out of darkness into His marvellous light.—1 Pet. ii. 9.

Let us serve God in the sunshine while He makes the sun shine. We shall then serve Him all the better in the dark when He sends the darkness. The darkness is sure to come. Only let our light be God's light, and our darkness God's darkness, and we shall be safe at home when the great night-fall comes—Frederick William Faber.