Be Merciful.


WHILE thinking for a subject upon which

to write, an orphan boy came into my house.

His father was killed in the late civil war.

He lives with his aged grandmother and a

sickly aunt. It is just at evening. The day

has been cold and stormy, and the coming night

will also be chilly. The boy asks me for an

armful of wood for the night he will pay it

to-morrow. This boy has to pick up the most

of the wood his grandmother burns. I think

how many would be glad of the chance to

pick up what wood they need. But yesterday

was a pleasant day, and should he not have

laid in for a good stock? Then again, he was

thoughtless and did not think to-day would

be so cold. And why has he not been more

diligent to-day? If I give him an armful of

wood, will it encourage his slackness another

time? Children, are you prepared to say what

is duty in this case? Stop and think what

you would have done.

While I was thinking what to do, this passage

came to mind: "Give to every man  that asketh

again,” Lend, hoping for nothing again,"

Children, do you understand  

that this means in case our neighbors

are suffering and are not able to pay it

back?

God is merciful to us when we suffer and

are tempted; must we not therefore be merciful

to our fellow-creatures when we see them

suffer?

This reminds me how merciful God was to

us. The whole human race was guilty.

God's law was broken, man was lost and

doomed to return back to the earth from

which he was made, when his only Son offered

to suffer for man's benefit. How good God was

in letting his Son leave his glory and majesty

and pass through suffering and a shameful

death, in order to succor the weak and redeem

us from sin!

What child can forget that Jesus is his best

friend? Therefore we also will be merciful;

for our Father in Heaven is merciful.



JAMES SAWYER.