The Fifth Beatitude

The Fifth Beatitude

(No. 3158)

A SERMON PUBLISHED ON THURSDAY, AUGUST 19, 1909.

DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,

AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON LORD'S-DAY EVENING,
DECEMBER 21, 1873.

"Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy." Matthew 5:7.

[In the year 1873, Mr. Spurgeon delivered what he called "a series of
sententious homilies" on the Beatitudes. After an introductory
discourse upon the Sermon on the Mount and the Beatitudes as a whole,
he intended to preach upon each one separately, but either illness or
some other special reason prevented him from fully carrying out this
purpose. There are, however, seven Sermons upon the Beatitudes which
have already been published–See Sermons #422, Volume 7– THE
PEACEMAKER; #2103, Volume 35–THE HUNGER AND THIRST WHICH ARE BLESSED;
#3155, Volume 55–THE BEATITUDES; #3156, Volume 55–THE FIRST BEATITUDE
and #3065, Volume 53–THE THIRD BEATITUDE; #3157, Volume 55– THE
FOURTH BEATITUDE–and this one.]

I MUST take for granted the fact that you have heard the previous
discourses upon the Beatitudes. If you have not done so, I cannot now
repeat all that I have said, but I may remind you that I have compared
the Beatitudes to a ladder of light, and I have remarked that every one
of them rises above and out of those which preceded it. So you will
notice that the character mentioned here is higher than those which had
been given before–higher than that of the man who is poor in spirit,
or who mourns. Those things concern himself. He is yet feeble and out
of that weakness grows meekness of spirit which makes him endure wrongs
from others. But to be merciful is more than that, for the man now not
merely endures wrongs, but he confers benefits. The Beatitude before
this one concerns hungering and thirsting after righteousness, but here
the man has got beyond mere righteousness–he has risen beyond the
seeking of that which is right into the seeking of that which is good,
kind, generous and the doing of kindly things towards his fellow man.
The whole ladder rests upon Divine Grace, and Grace puts every stave
into its place. And it is Grace which, in this place, has taught the
man to be merciful, has blessed him and given him the promise that he
shall obtain mercy. It would be wrong to take any one of these
benedictions by itself and to say that every merciful man shall obtain
mercy, or to misquote any other one in the same way, for that would be
to wrest the Savior's Words and to give them a meaning which He never
intended them to convey. Reading these Beatitudes as a whole, we see
that this mercifulness, of which I am about to speak, is a
characteristic which has grown out of the rest–it has sprung from all
the previous works of Grace. And the man is not merely merciful in the
human sense–with a humanity which ought to be common to all
mankind–but he is merciful in a higher and better sense with a mercy
which only the Spirit of God can ever teach to the soul of man!

Having noticed the rising of this Beatitude above the rest, we will now
come to look at it more closely. It is necessary that we should be very
guarded while speaking upon it and in order to be so, we will ask,
first, who are these blessed people Secondly, what is their peculiar
virtue And thirdly, what is their special blessingg

I. WHO ARE THESE BLESSED PEOPLE–THE MERCIFUL THAT OBTAIN MERCY?

You remember that at the commencement of our homilies upon this Sermon
on the Mount, we noticed that our Lord's subject was not how we are to
be saved, but who are saved. He is not here describing the way of
salvation at all. That He does in many other places, but He here gives
us the signs and evidences of the work of Grace in the soul. We would
greatly err if we should say that we must be merciful in order to
obtain mercy and that we must only hope to get the mercy of God through
first of all being merciful ourselves. Now, in order to put aside any
such legal notion–which would be clean contrary to the entire current
of Scripture and directly opposed to the fundamental Doctrine of
Justification by Faith in Christ–I ask you to notice that these
persons are already blessed and have obtained mercy! Long before they
became merciful, God was merciful to them. And before the full promise
was given them, as in our text, that they

should obtain yet further mercy, they had already obtained the great
mercy of a renewed heart which had made them merciful! That is clear
from the context of the text.

For, first, they were poor in spirit, and it is no mean mercy to be
emptied of our pride, to be brought to see how undeserving we are in
the sight of God and to be made to feel our personal weakness and need
of everything that might make us fit for the Presence of God! I could
ask for some men whom I know no greater mercy than that they might be
blessed with spiritual poverty–that they might be made to feel how
poor they are–for they will never know Christ and they will never rise
to be practically merciful till first they have seen their own true
condition and have obtained mercy enough to lie down at the foot of the
Cross–and there, with a broken heart, to confess that they are empty
and poor!

The connection also shows that these persons had obtained mercy enough
to mourn. They had mourned over their past sins with bitter repentance.
They had mourned over the condition of practical alienation from God
into which sin had brought them–and they had mourned over the fact of
their ingratitude to their Redeemer and their rebellion against His
Holy Spirit. They mourned because they could not mourn more. And they
wept because their eyes could not weep as they ought concerning sin.
They had–

"Learned to weep for nothing but sin, And after none but Christ"

And it is no small blessing to have the mourning, the broken, the
contrite heart, for this the Lord will not despise.

They had also obtained the Grace of meekness and had become gentle,
humble, contented, weaned from the world, submissive to the Lord's
will, ready to overlook the offenses of others, having learned to pray,
"Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors"–no small blessing
this! They had indeed obtained mercy when their proud heart was brought
low, their haughty spirit was bowed down and they had become meek and
lowly, in measure like their Lord.

They had obtained yet further Grace, for they had been taught to hunger
and thirst after righteousness. They had a spiritual appetite for the
righteousness which is of God by faith. They had also a sad hunger for
the practical inwrought righteousness which is the work of the Spirit
of God. They loved that which was right and they hungered to do it.
They hungered to see others do right, they hungered to see the Kingdom
of Righteousness established and the Truth of God prevailing over all
the earth. Was not this, indeed, to obtain mercy? And if out of this
grew the character of being merciful, it was not to be ascribed to
anything in themselves, or regarded as a natural outgrowth of their own
disposition, but as another gift of Divine Grace, another fruit which
grew out of special fruits which had already been given! Was it not
already said of these people, "There's is the Kingdom of Heaven"? Had
they not obtained mercy? Was it not said of them, "They shall be
comforted"? Who dares say they had not obtained mercy? Had it not been
said of them, "They shall inherit the earth"? What do you call this but
mercy? Had not the voice of Christ declared, "They shall be filled"?
Was not this mercy to the fullest? And therefore I say that the people
our text speaks of were a people who had already obtained mercy, who
were themselves singular trophies of mercy! And the fact that they
displayed mercy to others was inevitable as a result of what had been
done for them and worked in them by the ever-blessed Spirit of God!
They were not merciful because they were naturally tender-hearted, but
merciful because God had made them poor in spirit! They were not
merciful because they had generous ancestors, but merciful because they
themselves had mourned and been comforted! They were not merciful
because they sought the esteem of their fellow men but because they
were themselves meek and lowly and were inheriting the earth–and
wished that others could enjoy, as they did, the blessing of Heaven!
They were not merciful because they could not help it and felt bound to
be so from some constraint from which they would gladly escape–but
they were joyfully merciful–for they had hungered and thirsted after
righteousness and they had been filled!

II. Now, secondly, WHAT IS THE PECULIAR VIRTUE WHICH IS HERE ASCRIBED
TO THESE BLESSED ONES? They were merciful.

To be merciful would include, first of all, kindness to the sons of
need and the daughters of penury. No merciful man could forget the
poor. He who passed by their ills without sympathy and saw their
suffering without relieving them, might prate as he would about inward
Grace, but Divine Grace in his heart there could not be! The Lord does
not acknowledge as of His family one who can see his brother has needs
and shuts up "his heart of compassion from him." The Apostle John
rightly asks, "How dwells the love of God in him?" No, the truly
merciful are considerate of those who are poor. They think of them.
Their own comforts make them think of them. At other times, their own
discomforts will. When they are sick and they are surrounded with many
alleviations, they wonder how those fare who are sick and in po-

verty. When the cold is keen about them and their garments are warm,
they think with pity of those who shiver in the same cold, but are
scantily covered with rags. Their sufferings and their joys alike help
them to consider the poor. And they consider them practically. They do
not merely say that they sympathize and hope others will help, but they
give of their substance according to their ability, joyfully and
cheerfully, that the poor may not lack–and in dealing with them, they
are not harsh. They will remit, as far as they can justly do so,
anything they may have demanded of them and will not persecute them to
the utmost extremity, and pinch and cheat them, as those do who seek to
skin a flint and to obtain the last morsel and the uttermost farthing
from the poorest of the poor. No, where God has given a man a new heart
and a right spirit, there is great tenderness to all the poor–and
especially great love to the poor saints–for, while every saint is an
image of Christ, the poor saint is a picture of Christ set in the same
frame in which Christ's picture must always be set–the frame of humble
poverty. I see in a rich saint much that is like his Master, but I do
not see how he could truthfully say, "I have not where to lay my head."
Nor do I wish him to say it. But when I see poverty, as well as
everything else that is like Christ, I think I am bound to feel my
heart specially going forth there. This is how we can still wash
Christ's feet by caring for the poorest of His people. This is how
honorable women can still minister to Him of their substance. This is
how we can still make a great feast to which we may invite Him, when we
call together the poor, the lame, the halt and the blind who cannot
recompense us–and we are content to do it for Jesus Christ's sake. It
is said of Chry-sostom that he so continually preached the Doctrine of
almsgiving in the Christian Church that they called him the Preacher of
Alms–and I think it was not a bad title for a man to wear.

In these days, it has almost become a crime to relieve the poor. In
fact, I do not know whether there are not some statutes which might
almost render us liable to prosecution for it. I can only say that the
spirit of the times may be wise under some aspects, but it does not
seem to me to be very clearly the spirit of the New Testament. The poor
will never cease out of the land and the poor will never cease out of
the Church of Christ. They are Christ's legacy to us! It is quite
certain that the Good Samaritan got more out of the poor man whom he
found between Jerusalem and Jericho than the poor man got out of him!
He had a little oil and wine, and twopence, the expenses at the
inn–but the Samaritan got his name in the Bible and there it has been
handed down to posterity–a wonderfully cheap investment! And in
everything that we give, the blessing comes to those who give it, for
you know the Words of the Lord Jesus, how He said, "It is more blessed
to give than to receive." Blessed are they who are merciful to the
poor!

Next, the merciful man has an eager eye, a weeping eye for mourners who
are round about him. The worst ill in the world is not poverty–the
worst of ills is a depressed spirit. At least I scarcely know anything
that can be worse than this, and there are even among the excellent of
the earth some who seldom have a bright day in the whole year. December
seems to rule the whole twelve months. By reason of heaviness, they
are, all their life, subject to bondage! If they march to Heaven, it is
on crutches as Mr. Ready-to-Halt did. And they water the way with tears
as Miss Much-Afraid did. They are sometimes afraid that they were never
converted. At another time, that they have fallen from Grace. At
another time, that they have sinned the unpardonable sin! At another
time, that Christ has gone from them and they will never see His face
again. They are full of all manner of troubles–"they reel to and fro,
and stagger like a drunken man, and are often at their wit's end."
There are many Christian people who always get out of the way of such
folks as these–or if they come across them, they say, "It is enough to
give anybody the miserables. Who wants to talk with such people? They
ought not to be so sad. They really ought to be more cheerful, but they
are giving way to nervousness," and so on. That may be quite true, but
it is always a pity to say it! You might as well tell a man when he has
a headache that he is giving way to headache, or when he has the chills
or the fever that he is giving way to the chills or the fever! The fact
is, there is nothing more real than some of those diseases which are
traceable to the imagination, for they are real in their pain, though
perhaps as to their causes we could not reason about them.

The merciful man is always merciful to these people. He puts up with
their whims. He knows very often that they are very foolish, but he
understands that he would be foolish, too, if he were to tell them so,
for it would make them more foolish than they are! He does not consult
his own comfort and say, "I want to get comfort from this person"–he
desires to bestowcomfort. He remembers that it is written, "Strengthen
you the weak hands, and confirm the feeble knees," and he knows that
command, "Comfort you, comfort you My people, says your God. Speak you
comfortably to Jerusalem." He understands that as His Lord and Master
sought after that which was wounded, bound up that which was broken,
healed that which was sick and brought again that which was driven
away, even so ought all His servants to imitate their Master by looking
with the greatest interest after those who are in the saddest plight. O
children of God, if ever you are hardhearted towards any sorrowful
persons, you are not what you ought to be! You are not like your
Master! You are not like yourselves when you are in your right state,
for when you are in your right state, you are tender, full of pity and
full of compassion, for you have learned from the Lord Jesus that the
merciful are blessed, and that they shall obtain mercy! Possibly when
you, too, come to be depressed, as you may–you may remember those
jeering words and those unkind expressions which you used concerning
others. When we get very big, it may be that the Lord will take us down
and we shall be glad of any little mouse hole to hide our head. Some of
us have known what it is to be glad of the very least promise if we
could but get a hold of it. And we have run with eagerness to the very
texts we used to point poor sinners to–and felt they were the very
texts we needed. Dr. Guthrie, when he was very ill and about to die,
said he liked to hear children's hymns, the little children's hymns.
And the strongest men in the family of Christ often want the children's
texts and the children's promises. Even the little children's promises
suit big men when they are in that sad state. Be you merciful, even as
your heavenly Father is merciful towards those who are cast down.

This mercy extends itself, next, to the full forgiveness of all
personal offenses against ourselves. "Blessed are the merciful," that
is, those persons who do not take to heart any injuries that are done
them, any insults, intended or unintended. A certain governor of
Georgia, in Mr. Wesley's day, said that he would have his servant on
board his vessel flogged for drinking his wine. And when Mr. Wesley
entreated that the man might be pardoned on that occasion, the governor
said, "It is no use, Mr. Wesley, you know, Sir, I never forgive."
"Well, then, Sir," said Mr. Wesley, "I hope you know that you will
never be forgiven, or else I hope that you have never sinned." So,
until we leave off sinning, we must never talk of not forgiving other
people, for we shall need forgiveness for ourselves! You will notice in
many families that quarrels arise even between brothers and sisters,
but let us always be ready to put aside anything that will make a scene
or cause ill-feeling, for a Christian is the last person who should
harbor unkind thoughts. I have occasionally noticed great severity
towards servants who are sometimes thrown out of situations and exposed
to many temptations, for a fault that might be cured if it were
forgiven and if some kindly word were used. It is not right for any of
us to say, "I will have everybody acting straight towards me, and I
will let all know it. I am determined to tolerate no nonsense, not I–I
mean to have the right thing done by all men towards me–and if not, I
will set them straight."

Ah, dear Friends, God never talked so to you! And let me also say, if
that is the way you talk, it is not the language of a child of God at
all! A child of God feels that he is imperfect and that he lives with
imperfect people. When they act improperly towards him, he feels it,
but at the same time he also feels, "I have been far worse to my God
than they have been to me, so I will let it go." I recommend you, dear
Brothers and Sisters, always to have one blind eye and one deaf ear. I
have always tried to have them and my blind eye is the best eye I have,
and my deaf ear is the best ear I have! There is many a speech that you
may hear even from your best friends that would cause you much grief
and produce much ill–so do not listen to it. They will probably be
sorry that they spoke so unkindly if you never mention it, and let the
whole thing die. But if you say something about it and bring it up
again and again, and fret and worry over it, and magnify it, and tell
somebody else about it, and bring half-a-dozen people into the
quarrel–that is the way family disagreements have been made, Christian
Churches broken up, the devil magnified and God dishonored! Oh, do not
let it be so with us, but let us feel if there is any offense against
us, "Blessed are the merciful," and such we mean to be.

But this mercifulness goes much further. There must and will be great
mercy in the Christian's heart towards those who are outwardly sinful.
The Pharisee had no mercy upon the man who was a publican. "Well," he
said, "if he has gone down so low as to collect the Roman tax from his
fellow subjects, he is a disgraceful fellow! He may get as far as ever
he can from my dignified self." And as for the harlot, it mattered not
though she might be ready to shed enough tears to wash her Savior's
feet, yet she was a polluted thing! And Christ, Himself, was looked
upon as being polluted because He allowed a woman who had been a sinner
to thus show her repentance and her love. Simon and the other Pharisees
felt, "Such people have put themselves out of the pale of society, and
there let them stay. If they have gone astray like that, let them
suffer for it." There is still much of that spirit in this hypocritical
world, for a great part of the world is a mass of the most awful
hypocrisy that one can imagine! There are men that are living in vile
sin, they know they are, and yet they go into society and are received
as if they were the most respectable persons in the world! But should
it so happen that some poor woman is led astray, oh dear, dear, dear!
She is much too vile for these gentlemen to know anything about her
existence! The scoundrels–to have an affectation of virtue while they
are themselves indulging in the grossest vice! Yet

so it is and there is a prudery about society which says at once, "Oh,
we hold up our hands in horror at anybody who has done anything at all
wrong against society, or the laws of the land."

Now a Christian thinks far harsher things of sin than the worldling
does. He judges sin by a much sterner rule than other men do, but he
always thinks kindly of the sinner. And if he could, he would lay down
his life to reclaim him, as his Master did before him! He does not say,
"Stand by yourself! Come not near me, for I am holier than you!" But he
reckons it to be his chief concern on earth to cry to sinners, "Behold
the Lamb of God which took away the sin of the world." So the merciful
Christian is not one who shuts anybody out. He is not one who thinks
anyone beneath his notice. He would be glad if he could bring to Jesus
the most fallen and the most depraved! And those dear Brothers and
Sisters who are the most completely occupied in this holy work we
honor, for the lower they have to go, the greater is their honor, in
the sight of God, in being permitted thus to rake the very kennels of
sin to find jewels for Christ, for surely, the brightest gems in His
crown will come out of the darkest and foulest places where they have
been lost! "Blessed are the merciful" who care for the fallen, for
those that have gone astray–"for they shall obtain mercy."

But a genuine Christian has mercy on the souls of all men. He cares not
merely for the extremely fallen class, so called by the men of the
world, but he regards the whole race as fallen! He knows that all men
have gone astray from God and that all are shut up in sin and unbelief
till eternal mercy comes to their deliverance. Therefore his pity goes
forth towards the respectable, the rich, the great and he often pities
princes and kings because they have so few to tell them the Truth of
God. He pities the poor rich, for while there are efforts made for the
reclaiming of the working classes, how few efforts are ever made for
the reclaiming of peers and duchesses–and bringing such big sinners as
the "Right Honorables" to know Jesus Christ? He feels pity for them and
he feels pity for all nations–the nations that sit in heathen darkness
and those that are locked up in Popery. He longs that Grace should come
to all and that the Truths of the Gospel should be proclaimed in every
street, and Jesus made known to every son and daughter of Adam! He has
a love for them all. And I pray you, Brothers and Sisters, never to
trifle with this true instinct of the new-born nature!

The great Doctrine of Election is very precious to us and we hold it
most firmly. But there are some, (and it must not be denied), who allow
that Doctrine to chill their love towards their fellow men. They do not
seem to have much zeal for their conversion and are quite content to
sit down, or stand idle and believe that the decrees and purposes of
God will be fulfilled. So they will, Brothers and Sisters, but it will
be through warm-hearted Christians who bring others to Jesus! The Lord
Jesus will see of the travail of His soul, but it will be by one who is
saved telling of salvation to another, and that other to a third, and
so on till the sacred fire spreads until the earth shall be girdled
with its flame! The Christian is merciful to all and anxiously longs
that they may be brought to know the Savior! And he makes efforts to
reach them– to the utmost of his ability, he tries to win souls to
Jesus! He also prays for them. If he is really a child of God, he takes
time to plead with God for sinners and he gives what he can to help
others to spend their time in telling sinners the way of salvation and
pleading with them as ambassadors for Christ. The Christian makes this
one of his great delights, if by any means he may turn a sinner, by the
power of the Spirit, from the error of his ways and so may save a soul
from death and hide a multitude of sins!

I have many more things to say about this mercifulness. It is so wide a
subject that I cannot give all its details. It certainly means a love
to God at bottom, which shows itself by merciful desires for the good
of God's creatures. The merciful man is merciful to his beast. I do not
believe in the piety of a man who is cruel to a horse. There is
sometimes need of the whip, but the man who uses it cruelly surely
cannot be a converted man! There are sometimes sights to be seen in our
streets which may well provoke the God of Heaven to come down in
indignation and punish the cruelty of brutal persons to brute beasts.
But where the Grace of God is in our heart, we would not cause
unnecessary pain to a fly! And if, in the course of the necessities of
mankind, pain must be given to the inferior animals, the Christian
heart is pained and will try to devise all possible means to prevent
any unnecessary pain from being endured by a single creature that God's
hands have made. There is some Truth of God in that saying of the
ancient mariner, "He prays well who loves well both man and bird and
beast." There is a touch, if it is not always of Grace, of something
like Grace in the kindness of heart which every Christian should feel
towards all the living things that God has made.

Further, the merciful man shows his mercy to his fellow men in many
ways of this kind. He is merciful to their characters, merciful in not
believing a great many reports he hears about reputed good men! He is
told some astonishing story very derogatory to the character of a
Christian Brother and he says, "Now, if that Brother were told this
story about me, I would not like him to believe it of me unless he
searched it out and was quite sure of it. And I won't believe it of him
unless I am forced to do so." It is a delightful thing for Christians
to have confidence in one another's characters. Wherever that rules in
a Church, it will prevent a world of sorrow. Brother, I have more
confidence in you than I can ever have in myself! And as I can truly
say that, you should be able to say the same of your fellow Christians,
too. Do not be ready to receive such reports–there is as much
wickedness in believing a lie as in telling it, if we are always ready
to believe it. There would be no slanderers if there were no receivers
and believers of slander, for when there is no demand for an article,
there are no producers of it! And if we will not believe evil reports,
the tale-bearer will be discouraged and leave off his evil trade. But
suppose we are compelled to believe it? Then the merciful man shows his
mercy by not repeating it. "Alas!" he says, "it is true and I am very
sorry, but why should I publish it abroad?" If there happened to be a
traitor in a regiment, I do not think the other soldiers would go and
publish it everywhere and say, "Our regiment has been dishonored by one
of our comrades." "It is an ill bird that fouls its own nest," and it
is an ill professor who uses his tongue to tell the faults and failures
of his brethren! Then suppose we have heard of such a thing–the
merciful man feels it his duty not to repeat it! Many a man has been
ruined for life through some fault which he committed when young, which
has been severely dealt with. A young man has misappropriated a sum of
money and has been brought before the magistrates and put in jail–and
so made a thief for life. Forgiveness for the first action, with prayer
and kindly rebuke, might have won him to a life of virtue, or (who
knows?) to a life of piety. It is for the Christian, at any rate, not
to expose, unless it is absolutely necessary, as sometimes it is–but
to always deal towards the erring in the gentlest manner possible.

And, Brothers and Sisters, we should be merciful to one another in
seeking never to look at the worst side of a Brother's character. Oh,
how quick some are to spy out other people's faults! They hear that Mr.
So-and-So is very useful in the Church, and they say, "Yes, he is, but
he has a very curious way of going to work, has he not? And he is so
eccentric." Well, did you ever know a good man who was very successful,
who was not a little eccentric? Some people are a deal too smooth to
ever do much–it is the odd knots about us that are the force of our
character! But why be so quick to point out all our flaws? No, you go
out, when the sun is shining brightly, and say, "Yes, this sun is a
very good illuminator, but I remark that it has spots." If you do, you
had better keep your remark to yourself, for it gives more light than
you do, whatever spots you may have or may not have! And many excellent
persons in the world have spots, but yet they do good service to God
and to their age, so let us not always be the spot-finders, but let us
look at the bright side of the Brother's or Sister's character rather
than the dark one, and feel that we rise in repute when other
Christians rise in repute and that as they have honor through their
holiness, our Lord is the glory of it, and we share in some of the
comfort of it. And let us never join in the loud outcries that are
sometimes raised against men who may have committed very small
offenses. Many and many a time we have heard men cry, their voices
sounding like the baying of a pack of hounds against some man for a
mistaken judgment, or what was little more, "Down with him, down with
him!" And if he happens to get into some pecuniary trouble at the same
time, then he must surely be a worthless fellow–for lack of gold is
with some men a clear proof of the lack of virtue, and lack of success
in business is regarded by some as the most damning of all vices! From
such outcries against good men who make mistakes, may we be delivered!
And may our mercy always take the shape of being willing to restore to
our love and to our society any who may have erred, but who,
nevertheless, show hearty and true repentance and a desire to
henceforth adorn the Doctrine of God their Savior in all things! You
who are merciful will be ready to receive your prodigal Brother when he
comes back to his Father's house. Do not be like the elder brother and
when you hear the music and the dancing, ask, "What do these things
mean?" but count it right that all should be glad when he who was lost
is found, he who was dead is made alive again!

I can only throw out hints that may suit one or another of you. My
Brothers and Sisters, we ought to be merciful in the sense of not
allowing others to be tempted beyond what they are able to bear. You
know that there is such a thing as exposing our young people to
temptation. Parents will sometimes allow their boys to start in life in
houses where there is a chance of rising, but where there is a greater
chance of falling into great sin. They do not esteem the moral risks
which they sometimes run in putting their sons into large houses where
there is no regard to morals and where there are a thousand nets of
Satan spread to take unwary birds. Be merciful to your children–let
them not be exposed to evils which were, perhaps, too strong for you in
youryouth, and which will be too powerful for them! Let your mercy
consider them and do not put them in that position.

And as to your clerks, and servants, we sometimes, when we have
dishonest people about us, are about as guilty as they are! We did not
lock up our money and take proper care of it. If we had done so, they
could not have stolen it. We sometimes leave things about and through
our carelessness the suggestion may often come, "May I not take this
and take that?" And so we may be partakers in their sins through our
own lack of care. Remember, they are but men and wom-en–sometimes they
are but boys and girls–so do not put baits before them, do not play
cat's paw for Satan, but keep temptation from them as much as lies in
you.

And let us be merciful, too, to people in not expecting too much from
them. I believe there are persons who expect those who work for them to
toil 24 hours a day, or thereabouts. No matter how hard the task, it
never strikes them that their servants' heads ache, or that their legs
grow weary. "What were they made for but to slave for us?" That is the
kind of notion some have, but that is not the notion of a true
Christian! He feels that he desires his servants and his dependants to
do their duty and he is grieved to find that many of them cannot, but
when he sees them diligently trying, he often feels for them even more
than they feel for themselves, for he is considerate and gentle. Who
likes to drive a horse that extra mile that makes him feel ready to
drop? Who would wish to get out of his fellow man that extra hour of
work which is just that which makes him wretched? Putting all that I
have said into one sentence, let us, dear Friends, be tender,
considerate, kind and gentle to all.

"Oh," says one, "if we were to go about the world acting like that, we
would get imposed upon, we would be badly treated," and so on. Well,
try it, Brother! Try it, Sister! And you shall find that any misery
that comes to you through being too tenderhearted, too gentle and too
merciful, will be so light an affliction that it will not be worthy to
be compared with the peace of mind that it will bring you, and the
constant wellspring of joy which it will put into your own bosom as
well as into the bosoms of others!

III. I shall close by briefly noticing THE BLESSING WHICH IS PROMISED
TO THOSE WHO ARE MERCIFUL.

It is said of them that "they shall obtain mercy." I cannot help
believing that this means in this present life as well as in the life
to come. Surely this is David's meaning in the 41st Psalm–"Blessed is
he that considers the poor: the Lord will deliver him in time of
trouble…He shall be blessed upon the earth." Is that text gone
altogether under the new dispensation? Are those promises only meant
for the old legal times? Ah, Brothers and Sisters, we have the sun, but
remember that when the sun shines, the stars are also shining–we do
not see them by reason of the greater brightness, but every star is
shining in the day as well as in the night–and increasing the light!
And so, though the greater promises of the Gospel do sometimes make us
forget the promises of the old dispensation, yet they are not
cancelled! They are still there and they are confirmed–and they are
made yes and Amen in Christ Jesus, unto the Glory of God by us! I
firmly believe that when a man is in trouble, if he has been enabled,
through Divine Grace, to be kind and generous towards others, he may
look to God in prayer and say, "Lord, there is Your promise. I claim no
merit for it, but Your Grace has enabled me, when I saw others in the
same condition as I am, to help them. Lord, raise me up a helper!" Job
seemed to get some comfort out of that fact. It is not our grandest
comfort or our best. As I have said, it is not the sun, it is only one
of the stars. At the same time, we do not despise the starlight. I
believe that God will full often help and bless in temporal matters
those persons whom He has blessed with a merciful spirit towards
others.

And often it is true in another sense that those who have been merciful
obtain mercy, for they obtain mercy from others. Our Savior said,
"Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and
shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For
with the same measure that you mete withal it shall be measured to you
again." There will be this sort of general feeling. If a man was
sternly just and no more, when he comes down in the world, few pity
him. But that other man, whose earnest endeavor it was to be the helper
of others, when he is found in trouble, all say, "We are so sorry for
him."

But the full meaning of the text, no doubt, relates to that day of
which Paul wrote concerning his friend, Onesipho-rus, "The Lord grant
unto him that he may find mercy of the Lord in that day." Do not think
that I am preaching up mercy as a meritorious work–I did my best at
the outset to put all that aside. But, as an evidence of Grace,
mercifulness is a very prominent and distinguishing mark. And if you
need proof of that, let me remind you that our Savior's own description
of the Day of Judgment runs thus, "Then shall the King say unto them on
His right hand, Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the Kingdom
prepared for you from the foundation of the world: for I was hungry,
and you gave Me food: I was thirsty, and you gave Me drink: I was a
stranger, and you took Me in; naked, and you clothed Me: I was sick,
and you visited Me: I was in prison, and you came unto Me." This,
therefore, is evidence that they were blessed of the Father!