God’s Mercy

The quality of mercy is not strain’d;
It droppeth, as the gentle rain from heaven
Upon the place beneath: it is twice bless’d;
It blesseth him that gives, and him that takes:
…
It is an attribute to God himself.

There are, perhaps, no words of Shakespeare more widely known than these which proclaim the beauty and desirability of divine mercy; and all certainly are wise who cherish this quality in their heart of hearts, allowing it to bring forth fruit after its own kind. Although mercy has frequently been extolled in song and story, it has not yet gained the place in human consciousness which it deserves, and which it must surely attain if God’s bounteous love is to be understood and demonstrated.

The Bible proclaims God’s mercy with great frequency, the Psalmist enriching one of his songs by closing each of its twenty-six stanzas with the phrase, “For his mercy endureth for ever.” Yet again the singer declares, “His mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth to all generations.” Right here is where Christian Science finds mercy united to everlasting truth; and thus joined together, they must indeed go on through all time until all the world has been redeemed through their gracious all-powerful agency.

The true sense of mercy has not always been understood. Men have called that merciful which would excuse the sinner without delivering him from the sin. They have believed that leniency toward evil has meant kindness; but this is not the nature of that divine mercy which is ever associated with Truth. While God’s mercy can never be less than tender and compassionate, it could never be satisfied except by the complete deliverance from all error, the wiping out of every least suppositional cause of wrong, the establishment of Truth itself in every situation.

In her writings Mrs. Eddy too has much to say of divine mercy and she also couples it with truth. For example, on page 538 of “Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures” she writes: “Truth should, and does, drive error out of all selfhood. Truth is a two-edged sword, guarding and guiding.” And then she goes on to say, “Radiant with mercy and justice, the sword of Truth gleams afar and indicates the infinite distance between Truth and error, between the material and spiritual,—the unreal and the real.” Here she indicates plainly that that mercy is alone divine which goes hand in hand with Truth, casting out all that could result in what is unmerciful, unkind. Here she also allies mercy with justice, but it is always the divine justice which demands the complete destruction of error; for on page 22 (ibid.) she declares: “Justice requires reformation of the sinner. Mercy cancels the debt only when justice approves.”

How naturally, then, in Christian Science does the conclusion follow that God’s mercy is so wide, so loving, so true, so wise, that it never lets go of any situation until Truth has uncovered, rebuked, and swept away all that could harm, until it has proved unreal all that is unlike the Christ, man’s true selfhood. What immense comfort may every honest heart therefore gain from the understanding which Christian Science emphasizes, that this divine mercy is indeed everlasting, and that the truth which is always its companion “endureth to all generations”! Whatever the exigency, however deep the waters of tribulation, there are God’s mercy and truth always at hand, tenderly, lovingly encompassing us until we emerge triumphant over all unlike good!

The question may here arise, How are we as Christian Scientists always to reflect to others this divine mercy and this truth which heal and save? How are we so to understand and express mercy that it shall ever bring forth the divine justice which blots out evil and establishes good? Perhaps one of the most important points for us to remember is that human justice and divine justice are often direct opposites, and it is only as we are willing to relinquish the personal beliefs and personal sense which claim to constitute the former that we can understand and express the heavenly nature of the latter. In “Miscellaneous Writings” (p. 11) our beloved Leader says, “Love metes not out human justice, but divine mercy;” and she later indicates that all retribution must be left to God, for His justice alone can bring blessing. We therefore see that the mercy we reflect must be so divinely just that we shall gladly trust the affairs of our neighbor to that truth which works out every problem perfectly. Then in our experience we shall gratefully recognize that “mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other.”