Psalm 45:13

"The King's daughter is all glorious within."—Psalm xlv. 13.

As the Redeemer is known to his church under a great variety of names and characters, and is blessed to the church in every one, whether of brother, or husband, or friend; so Jesus condescends to call his church by a variety of names also, all descriptive of the unbounded love he bears towards her. She is his fair one, his spouse, his chosen, his sister; and in this song of loves, she is called "the King's daughter." But it is most blessed to observe that by whatever name she is known, it is all in allusion to Jesus, for from him, and in him, she derives the whole of her beauty and excellency. Her glory is in her Lord, and she is wholly spiritual, all derived, like the shining of the moon, from the sun. If the church be comely, it is from the comeliness the Lord Jesus hath put upon her. For as the whole perfection of beauty is in Christ, as a rich and complete constellation, so every perfection in his people is from their union with him. It is Jesus who gives a loveliness to every object that is lovely. My soul, what saith thy experience to this statement? Thou art indeed "all glorious within," if Christ be formed there "the hope of glory." And if thy God be thy glory, then wilt thou feel what the church felt, and, taking tip her language, thou wilt say, "I am black as the tents of Kedar but comely as the curtains of Solomon," Song i. 5. Oh! the felicity of knowing the total unworthiness of the human heart, which, like the spots and swarthiness of the Ethiopian, makes the church truly black and deformed: and Oh! the felicity also of knowing our comeliness, from the beauty Christ hath put upon us, and the sanctifying and regenerating influences of the Holy Spirit. Precious Lord Jesus! be it my portion always to appear in the spotless robe of thy righteousness, and then shall I be indeed "all glorious within!"