mercies, such as: 1. Preservation from, or removal of, epidemic diseaRe. 2. Mastery of elements of social diMturbe.nce. 3. Hopeful changes of political relationsbips. 4. Victory for the national army. 6. Remove.I of difficulties that put the national peace in peril. II, HELPING THE NATION TO RECO0NIZE ITS MERCIES IS THE DUTY OF THE NATIONAL LEADERS. More especially of those who believe in God, anrl are consecrated to the work of rendering witness for him. Mistake is orten made by limiting the work of God's ministers to the "spiritual" and "personal" parts of their work. Every true minister is e. leader of his people in recognizing God'8 work in the nation, and in renewing national thanksgiving and trust.-R. T. Vers. 3-5.-Tncomplete redemptions. While thankfully acknowledging all that Go<l bas <lone for bis people, the psalmist clearly sets that it was bnt the "Merceness '' of God's wrath from whicb he bad turned, and that some of bi, wrath remaine<l, seeing that the work uf natioual recovery was incomplete, and heavy burdens still pressed on the people. Perowne recalls the circumstances of the exiles as Nehemi:ih fo11nd them. They were "in great affliction and repm1ch." "It waH only in the midst of perpetual opposition and discouragement that he wa8 able to carry on his work. The bright prospect which was opening before the exiles bad been quickly dashed. They had returned, indeed, but it was to a desert land and a forsaken city, whose walls were cast down, and her gates burned with fire; whilst jealons and hostile tribes were ever on the watch to assail and vex them. Hence it is that the entreary for mercy follows so hard upon the acknowledgment that mercy has been vouchsafed." As a person might look, in a depr!!ssed mood, on the returned exiles, God's redemption was incomplet.e. Their restoration to their own land had brought them apparently no rest, no consolation, no hope for the future. I. 'l'HEBE IS A SENSE IN WHICH Goo's REDEMPTIONS ABE NEVEB COMPLETE. They are always redemptions frum some calamities, not redemptions from all calamities. Every redemption is a beginning, holding within it the promise of something more that God is about to do. Open this fully out by showing that a spiritual redemption is to be followed by a bodily redemption. Christ wins the soul, and then proceeds to win the whole human sphere, and eventually all creation. '!'be great redemption removes the sonl-penalties of sin; but it is not a perfect redemption until it haa removed all the bodily penalties and disabilities of sin also. As a matter of Christian experience, we always feel, with the apostlP, as if re<lemption were somethin,r yet to come. As we read our lives, they are still spheres for a divinely redemptive work. The full salvation II is ready to be revealed in the last time." Redemplion thought of as complete checks a living dependence. Redemption thought of e.s incomplete keeps us in close reliance on the present and ever-working Redeemer. II. THEBE 18 A BENSE IN WHICH Goo's REDEMPTIONS ARE EVEB IN PROGRESS. They are only incomplete as the building at which the workmen are worki □ g. Those exiles would be comforted as they realized God with them, delivering and rescuing, and carrying, in practical detail, to its perfection his gracious redemptive thought.-R. T.
Ver. 6.-Quickening as God's work. In his very striking image of the dry bones in the valley, the Prophet Ezekiel, in a most emphatic way, declares that "quicke □ ing," 11 requickening," is the work of God, and of God alone. When man worKs he must stop short at impa1ting life,-that is beyond him. He may copy the forms of living things, but at the end of all his works it must be said, "There is no breath in them." God gives all life. "Thus saith the Lord God; Corne from the four winds, 0 breath, and breathe upon the slain, that they may live" (Ezek. xxxvii. 9, 10). I. THE CatrROH OF CHRIST OONSTANTLY NEEDS REQtJICKENING. This is true of all the ages. We have to take account of the ever-recurring tendency to !fag and faint and fail. Men have never been able to keep up to the high levels which they may at times have attained. The whole history of Israel is a series of illustrations of this truth. Back from all reformations and revivals Israel constantly fell into indifference, or into formality. It may be shown that: 1. Times of special strain are followed by rebounJs, An l\rmy is never in such peril as in the relaxed hours that PSAU4S-ll, JI THE BOOK OF PSALMS. [rs. LXXXV. 1-18.