August 22

1 My heart is inditing a good matter: I speak of the things which I have made touching the king: my tongue is the pen of a ready writer.

2 Thou art fairer than the children of men: grace is poured into thy lips: therefore God hath blessed thee for ever.

3 Gird thy sword upon thy thigh, O most mighty, with thy glory and thy majesty.

4 And in thy majesty ride prosperously, because of truth and meekness and righteousness; and thy right hand shall teach thee terrible things.

5 Thine arrows are sharp in the heart of the king's enemies; whereby the people fall under thee.

6 Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: the sceptre of thy kingdom is a right sceptre.

7 Thou lovest righteousness, and hasten wickedness: therefore God, thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows.

8 All thy garments smell of myrrh, and aloes, and cassia, out of the ivory palaces, whereby they have made thee glad.

9 Kings' daughters were among thy honourable women: upon thy right hand did stand the queen in gold of Ophir.

10 Heaven, O daughter, and consider, and incline thine ear; forget also thine own people, and thy father's house;

11 So shall the king greatly desire thy beauty, for he is thy Lord; and worship thou him.

12 And the daughter of Tyre shall be there with a gift: even the rich among the people shall entreat thy favour.

13 The king's daughter is all glorious within her clothing is of wrought gold.

14 She shall be brought unto the king in earnest of needlework: the virgins her companions that follow her shall be brought unto thee.

15 With gladness and rejoicing shall they be brought: they shall enter into the king's palace.

16 Instead of thy fathers shall be thy children, whom thou mayest make prince, in all the earth.

17 I will make thy name to be remembered in all generations: therefore shall the people praise thee for ever and ever.

This Psalm is the Nuptial Song of Christ and the Church—"which has for its peculiar theme the home-bringing of Christ's elect, that they may be joined to Him in a union that shall survive the everlasting hills."—William Bonnie.

"Verse 1 is an announcement of intention, a preface to the song; verse 2 adores the matchless beauty of Messiah; and from 3 to 9 he is addressed in admiring ascriptions of praise. Verses 10-12 are spoken to the bride. The church is further spoken of in verses 13-15, and the psalm closes with another address to the king, foretelling his eternal fame, 16, 17.—C. H. Spurgeon.

Our precious Christ can never be made too much of. Jesus is so emphatically lovely that words must be doubled, strained, yea, exhausted, before he can be described.

"O fair sun, and fair moon, and fair stars, and fair flowers, and fair roses, and fair lilies; but O ten thousand thousand times fairer Lord Jesus! Alas! I have wronged Him in making the comparison this way. O black sun and moon! but O fair Lord Jesus! O black flowers, and black lilies, and roses! but O fair, fair, ever fair Lord Jesus! O black heaven! but O fair Christ! O black angels! but O surpassingly fair Lord Jesus!"—Samuel Rutherford.

Closet Promise.—He leadeth me.—Psalm xxiii. 2.

In "pastures green?" Not always; sometimes He Who knoweth best, in kindness leadeth me In weary ways, where heavy shadows be.

So, whether on the hill-tops high and fair I dwell, or in the sunless valleys, where The shadows lie, what matter? He is there. —Henry H. Barry.