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The image of lifting up the horn denotes strength, courage, victory over enemies — the power and glory which rays out from the Christly life in the soul. In the legends of early Christianity we read that night and day a cloud of light shone round about Jesus; and the old masters used to paint a nimbus round His sacred head, by which they sought to express, or at least to suggest, the Divinity of our Lord. We do not blame them. The halo was there, though it rarely assumed the form of a visible Shechinah. It was the beauty of holiness — something to be felt and not seen. John said, "We beheld His glory" — the Shechinah occasionally shining forth, as in the Transfiguration. But that was at rare intervals, whereas the power of the holy life was always present. And here also is the hiding of His ministers' power, in the bright, subtle aura, the throbbing, living light that streams from them, the Christlike character that rays out from the life of Jesus in the soul and makes the atmosphere bright and healing around about them. The true minister is not simply a speaker, not at all an actor — he is more; he is an influence, a spiritual force, a fragrance — subtle, pervading. All unconsciously we exert an influence for good or evil. Was there not a power of healing in the very shadow of Peter as it fell? There is that in every man, call it what you will, which adds to or detracts from all he may say or do. Character, the Greeks called it. You miss it in biography; it refuses to be put into words — but it is there; we all know it, we have all felt it. It is as inseparable from man as his own shadow. The psalmist's horn was not the loose tantur which formed part of the Eastern headdress. What he meant was that as the horn grows out of the animal, even so the glory of the Divine life rays out in a luminous character. It is the life of Christ in the soul that will make our life beautiful to behold and powerful for good. Raphael, in sketching his figures, gave his first attention to the drawing and modelling of the limbs, adding the draperies only after he had satisfied himself as to these. He thus succeeded in imparting to them an air of inimitable ease and truthfulness; whereas Carlo Maratti, as Reynolds informs us, was of opinion that the disposition of drapery was a more difficult art than even that of drawing the human figure. The natural result was, that "in Maratti the disposition of the drapery appears so artificial that he is inferior to Raphael even in that which gave him his best claim to reputation." Have a far greater care for the cultivation of sound principles than of the winning manners of the "society man" or the accomplishments of the drawing-room — all very well in their way. It has been not altogether inaptly remarked that good breeding is surface Christianity. A graceful address and the "manners that maketh man" may form a suitable finish to a noble character. But be you careful not to deal in varnish or veneer. Cultivate the Spirit of Christ — it will shed a lustre over any society. And how may this be attained? By God's grace. Let not the simplicity of the reply blind you to the wealth of its meaning. "For Thou art the glory of their strength." "In Thy favour shall our horn be exalted." "I am anointed with fresh oil." As guests were anointed at feasts with perfumes, so are believers cheered and delighted by fresh outpourings of Divine grace. The consciousness of God's favour is the oil that maketh the face to shine; it transfigures life. "As He prayed the fashion of His countenance was altered." It was the secret of the Lord's Transfiguration. And the same truth applies to all Christians. Have we not seen men and women possessed with great ideas, their countenance all aglow with a sweet saintliness, in their eyes a deep, living light? You might well say that in their case the resurrection was already past, or that they had begun to put on the resurrection body. Dignity of mind will impress itself on the most homely countenance, and through determined spiritual preference we may obtain a spiritual body. But it means constant and unbroken communion with God.

(M. O. Evans.)

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KJV: But my horn shalt thou exalt like the horn of an unicorn: I shall be anointed with fresh oil.

WEB: But you have exalted my horn like that of the wild ox. I am anointed with fresh oil.