The beautiful collection of songs, or psalms, contains -as will be seen by the accompanying key-a variety of subjects, the most precious and instructive, as they breathe the spirit of Christ; sometimes in association with the godly remnant of Israel, and at other times personally.

To the disciples, sorely perplexed and doubtful, the Lord appeared on the first day of the week, stilling their fears, bidding them behold His hands and His feet (Lk. 24:40), instructing them out of the Scriptures as to the things concerning Himself! What a memorable moment, when He unfolded from the Pentateuch, Prophets and Psalms, truths hitherto unknown, which so unmistakably spoke of His sufferings and the glory that should follow!

Let us, with unshod feet and chastened spirits, enter the "Holy of holies," and muse for awhile upon the varied unfoldings of glory which cluster round the adorable Person of our Holy Lord-blessed Antitype of the "Ark of the Covenant" with its accompanying "Mercy Seat."

What could be more fitting than that the entire collection of Psalms should be prefaced by two psalms which unmistakably speak of Christ!

Psalm 1 breathes the spirit of Christ in the separate-ness of His pathway.

"Blessed is the man that walketh
not in the counsel of the ungodly,
nor standeth in the way of sinners,
nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.
But His delight is in the law of the Lord,
and in His law doth he meditate day and night.
And he shall be like a tree
planted by the rivers of water,
that bringeth forth his fruit in his season;
his leaf also shall not wither,
and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper."

To whom could these words apply in their absoluteness, save our blessed Lord, in His holy humanity?

Who else could claim to measure up to these holy sentiments? Here in manhood, born of the Virgin, we read, "He grew in favor with God and man." Ever "that Holy Thing," there was no taint of sin in Him. That holy life was ever lived under the eye of the God He came to glorify.

Never a word spoken had He to retract, or a step taken had He to retrace. All found perfect acceptance with heaven. But not only all that was outward found fullest acceptance-which the human eye might have observed and appreciated-but those hidden energies which prompted the acts, seen only by the eye of God, were as precious ointment poured forth.

In the offerings, the fat, the kidneys, the caul, the liver (that which speaks of hidden energy), was the food of God-all was burned upon the burnt offering altar, and went up as a sweet savor to His throne.

Here, in the first Psalm, our Lord is seen in absolute separation from all that is contrary to God. Altogether apart from those things which characterize the natural man; "separate from sinners,"-no compromise, no association with evil, a Man wholly apart, and yet the most accessible!

One interesting feature in the Psalms is that frequently we find a psalm in one book which has a corresponding psalm in another! In this way, Psalm 1 and Psalm 119 are closely allied, and the latter gives the secret of power in the life of the godly man mentioned in Psalm 1. Ps. 1:2 says, "His delight is in the law of the Lord," while Psalm 119 shows the preservative power of God's law, Word, testimonies and statutes.

Day and night, the blessed Man meditated in Jehovah's precepts-they were His constant delight; and in all this, beloved, "He has left us an example that we should follow His steps." In Isaiah 53:2 it was predicated of Jehovah's servant, "He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground." The one green thing in the midst of a desert-world of sin, the blessed Lord ever provided refreshment for the eye and heart of God. "Like a tree, planted by the rivers of water," He found His sustenance in the will of the One He came to glorify. To His wondering disciples He said, "I have meat to eat that ye know not of." "I delight to do Thy will, O God," was ever the language of His heart. Like the evergreen tree, verdant and lovely, "His leaf also shall not wither," and the Father was glorified in the Son, by His bearing much fruit; thus He fulfilled the words of the psalm which says, "that bringeth forth His fruit in His season,.. and whatsoever He doeth shall prosper." Well might the crowd which thronged Him say, "He hath done all things well."

"Wherever we follow Thee, Lord,
Admiring, adoring, we see
That love which was stronger than death
Flow out without limit and free."

J. W. H. Nichols

(To be continued, D. V.)