οικτίρμονες

heart. Mercy fupposes two things; 1ft. a distressed object; and 2dly. a difpofition of the heart through which it is affected at the fight of fuch an object. This virtue therefore is no other than a lively emotion of the heart, which is excited by the discovery of any creature's mifery, and fuch an emotion as manifefts itfelf outwardly, by Productions fuited to its nature. The Greek word which our Lord ufes in the text, is derived from oxTrigw, to be tenderly affected to; as a mother to her child, who feels herfelf cordially difpofed to fupply its wants, and comfort it in it's mifery. In like manner, this heavenly grace difpofes its proprietor to fupply his neighbour's wants, and comfort him in his diftreffes. The other names which the Scriptures give to this virtue, tend much to make its nature known to us. It is termed BλEOE, from the Hebrew, to be in pain as a woman in travail; or from to cry or lament grievously, because a merciful man enters into the miferies of his neighbour, weeps with, and feels for those who mourn. Again, that exquifite fenfibility which produces an affecting motion in the bowels at the fight of mifery, is frequently denominated Mercy, or Compaffion, in the New Teftament, hence a merciful man is termed vorhayxvos i. e. one of tender bowels, or one whofe bowels are easily moved. On this account St. Paul exhorts the believing Coloffians to put on bowels of compaffion, ch. iii. 12.

Finally. The Scriptures term a merciful man oxiguos from w, which fignifies to be mild, reconcilable, eafy to be appealed, and ready to pardon, in order to prove, that a merciful man easily forgets injuries; pardons them voluntarily, and does not permit repeated returns of ingratitude to deter him from doing good to his neighbour, which exactly correfponds to what St. Paul fays of Love, 1 Cor. xiii." It is not provoked."

These different names which the Scriptures give to Mercy, convey a juft and complete idea of its nature. This virtue therefore, is a fenfibility of heart excited by the mifery of another: it is an emotion of the bowels widely differing from affectation and conftraint.* That which comes from the heart is natural, free, and fincere; it is not a languid, but an active and fenfible principle. This is the true character of Chriftian Mercy; not of that which confifts in a mere natural fenfibility, but of that which has for The quality of Mercy is not ftrain'd; It droppeth, as the gentle rain from heaven Upon the place beneath; it is twice bless'd; It bleffeth him that gives, and him that takes.

Tho' Juftice be thy plea, confider this,
That, in the course of Justice, none of us
Should fee Salvation: we do pray for Mercy;
And that fame prayer doth teach us all to render
The deeds of Mercy.

VOL. XIX. Sept. 1796.

its

its principle the Love of GOD fhed abroad in the heart by the Holy Ghoft. The mercy which runs from this fource is cordial, fincere, and active: it willingly grants to the afflicted, the things neceffary for his comfort: it does not manifeft itself merely in tongue, and in vain words, but in deeds, and in truth; infomuch that the bowels which were before fhut up, open themselves in favour of a diftreffed perfon, to give him the fuccour which his neceffities demand.

Again, this Mercy of the children of God is perfevering in its activity, and impartial in its emotions: it does not permit itself to be turned afide by the unworthinefs, ingratitude, or wickedness even of the perfon who folicits it. After the example of Him who caufes his fun to rife, and his rain to defcend on the evil and the good, it embraces all men; and although it interests itself especially in behalf of the household of faith, nevertheless it excludes no perfon from its attention.

What completes the Defcription of the nature of Chriftian Mercy, is what Jefus Chrift adds in our text, when he says, " Be ye merciful, as your Father who is in heaven is merciful." By thefe words he intimates, that the Mercy of God is both the Source and Rule of that of his children. Our bleffed Lord therefore informs us, that the mercy of his children is not a fimple, natural quality, or a difpofition of the conftitution, but a divine quality, which proceeds from that new life which they have re ceived from their heavenly Father.

It must be allowed, that there is a fort of natural compaffion, which is affected at the fight of an object, the external mifery of which strikes the fenfes: There are people who, although vicious and impious, are so affected with the evils of another, as even to fhed tears; and who, in the first moments of their emotion, are ready to facrifice all, in order to remove preffing evils: but this natural compaffion does not continue; fooner or later it degenerates into coldness and indifference, when oppofed by other paffions. When it is called upon to do good to thofe from whom it has received evil, or ingratitude, it cannot fupport itself against refentment: Befides, this natural pity is only affected by temporal and exterior miferies; it does not understand spiritual calamiIn all these refpects, it is widely different from the mercy of the children of God. This mercy extends itfelf particularly to fpiritual evils; to fin and all its baleful confequences. Thefe, it has for its principal objects; thefe it deplores; and over the Perfon in whom they appear, the genuine Chriftian compaffionately mourns. The great corruption in which it beholds the World plunged, overwhelms it with forrow. But to be clothed with this mercy, it is neceffary to draw it from its Source, viz. from that Divine Life which a man finds only in Chrift Jesus. A finner faved by grace, who acknowledges with St. Paul, how great the Mercy is which he has received, and in whofe heart the Love of God is bed abroad by the Holy Spirit, finds himself hereby

ties.

feed

freed from that leaven of Bitterness and Hatred, which a man naturally feels for his enemies. Having found grace before God, whofe enemy he was, he finds himself at the fame time recon ciled to all creatures: He loves them all, he embraces them all in the arms of charity, and he defires, and feeks the welfare of all. Man in his natural ftate, loves himself only: If he do not hate all men, he is indifferent about them: If he be obliged to teftify friendship to any perfon, it is fecretly reflected on himself, where felf-love, honour, intereft, pleasure, or fome other paffion, requires it. But when the Life of Chrift has been manifefted in the foul, its mildness corrects the harshness, fourness, and bitter nefs of the natural man: Then, and then only, is the heart filled with love and mercy towards all men: Then, are we difposed to divide our bread, and our falvation, with all men; with, even our ungrateful enemies.

Jefus Chrift, in exhorting us to be merciful as our Father who is in heaven is merciful, fhews us the Model by which the mercy of his children fhould be regulated. The mercy of our heavenly Father is the ftandard of our's. You, doubtlefs, know, that the Word AS, does not always imply a perfect resemblance, as if believers ought to poffefs mercy in as eminent a degree, and in as abundant a measure, as GOD poffeffes it. No. The intention of our Saviour is, to lead man to fuch a conformity to God, as is proportioned to the capacities of a limited creature, who is at the fame time fupported by the ftrength of grace. Therefore when our Lord fays, "Be ye merciful as your heavenly Father," he intimates, that the mercy of the children of God fhould be regu lated by that which he has pointed out. Now confider, that the mercy of God is a general, and impartial mercy, which is extended to all men, to the wicked as well as to the good, although in a different manner, and relative to their refpective difpofitions: Such alfo is the mercy of his children; it is not reftrained to in dividuals, but it embraces all the Human Race. Real Chriftians feel an inclination of foul to do good to all, and they exercise their charity and compaffion toward their greatest enemies. On this point Jefus Chrift principally infifts in this chapter, in defcribing to his difciples the character which should diftinguish them from worldlings, which character is Charity and Mercy, even towards those who hate, and perfecute them. "Love your enemies, fays he; do good unto them who hate you; bless them who curfe you; and pray for them who perfecute and revile you. For if ye love only them who love you, what thank have ye? Do not finners love thofe who love them? Therefore I fay unto you, Love your enemies, do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again, and you fhall be the children of the Moft High." Here our Lord clearly points out, that the mercy of his difciples fhould be fincere, totally disengaged from every motive of felf-love, intereft, defire

of

of revenge, hatred and bitterness.* And fuch indeed the mercy of the children of God is which has been produced in their hearts by the Holy Spirit. For the utmost exertions of nature cannot attain to the point of fincerely loving our enemies, of loving perfons who oppofe us; who do us evil, and who repay our kindneffes with ingratitude; on the contrary, we hate them, we avoid them, and perhaps defire fecretly their ruin at the time when we are making proteftations, and external demonftrations of friendship. The children of God alone, have mercy and difinterested love, and by these graces they are diftinguifhed from natural men: "That you may be, fays our Lord, the children of your Father who is in heaven," Mat. v. 45.

Should any one say, "The mercy of true believers ought to be fo impartial as to admit no diftinction of fubjects, and give no preference to the good above the wicked." To this I reply, The mercy of God's children has its bounds and rules. In the order of charity, the members of Jefus Chrift fhould poffefs the first place; but this need not hinder benevolence and beneficence to others: Should a man love a brother in Christ more tenderly with whom he has a union of heart founded in the love and grace of God, it does not follow from this, that he fhould not love those who are firangers to God, and who even perfecute his people. True mercy extends to all men, it wifhes their welfare, and does good according to its power, even to its greatest enemies; but it must be acknowledged that it has more tender inclinations for those with whom it has thofe fpiritual engagements which are to laft to Eternity, and who are difciples of the fame Mafter, members of the fame body, children of the fame father, domeftics of the fame houfe, and heirs of the fame kingdom. us do good unto all, fays St. Paul, but especially to the houfe. hold of Faith," Gal. vi. 10.

"Let

The Mercy of God is not only general in its extent, and impartial in its choice, but it is alfo conftant in its emotions; it is not difcouraged, and never ceases to do good. That of his children is a ftream from the fame fource, a faithful copy from the fame original. Their mercy is not as a stream which runs at intervals, and dries up again. It is a river, whofe fource is the Sea of infinite Love, the pure water of which cannot be hindered from flowing, by all the oppofitions of its enemies. In spite of all the contrary Paffions which fatan endeavours to raife up in the heart, in oppofition to all the carnal confiderations which he withes it

All the fouls that were, were forfeit once;
And he who might the vantage best have took,
Found out the Remedy. How would you be,
If he, which is the top of Judgment, should
But judge you as you are? Oh! think on that,
And Mercy then will breathe within your lips,
Like Man new-made.

to

to attend to in reprefenting, fometimes the unworthiness and wickedness of the objects, at other times the attention one should pay to the preservation of his honour, this facred ftream ceases not to flow, it follows its own inclination, and regulating its course by that of its heavenly Father, it continues to do good even to the most unworthy, and far from being overcome by evil, it overcomes evil with good,

This is a new trait which puts the greatest difference between the mercy of the children of GOD, and that of the children of this world. It is utterly out of the power of nature to exercise a mercy fo indefatigable, nature is too inconftant, it is too foon wearied with well-doing. The most tender of its affections are foon spent, because they proceed from a fource which must soon dry up, being ftifled in their origin by felf-love. In this respect therefore, there must be a great difference between chriftian mercy and that which is purely human, between that which is produced by the operations of grace, and that which proceeds from nature. Here as every where elfe, we may affert with St. Paul," that the carnal mind is not subject to the Law of GOD, neither indeed can it be.'

After having examined the Nature and Character of genuine mercy, it is neceffary to remark on the whole, that this virtue must come fupernaturally from GOD, who is the fource of it; and that it must be communicated by the Holy Spirit, when the man is born again. Observe therefore, that when a finner repents and believes, he finds grace before God, and is reconciled to him, by the blood of Chrift, our only Mediator and Saviour; he is made a new creature, and receives from the Father a new heart, filled with humility, mercy, and love; and being born of GOD, he finds no difficulty to exercife himself in thefe graces. He feels compaffion for thofe miferable fouls, which tho' created for the glory of GOD, and redeemed by fo great a price, are estranged from that fountain of happiness by their impenitence and rebellion. You, therefore, who remark by the detail already given of the characters and Nature of this facred virtue, that it is not yet in you, go to the Source without delay; afk it from your heavenly Father, beg him to lead you by his Spirit to Jefus, the Son of his Love, to the end that embracing him by faith, you may find through him, a Right to become the children of GOD, and then, in feeling his mercy, you will learn to be merciful as your Father who is in heaven is merciful. Be in earneft, and Gon will pour into your fouls the fweet influences of his grace, which will quench the fire of your evil paffions and fill your hearts will gentlenefs, patience, and love. Amen.

[To be concluded in the next. ]

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