God's mercy surpasseth all understanding, be assured, the day will come — the day of our death — when He will make our mercy the measure of His own. " For," says St. Luke, " with the same measure that you shall mete withal it shall be measured to you again."
Nothing, to my mind, brings out into stronger light the vileness of our nature than our lack of appreciation for this lovely virtue, for mercy for her own sweet sake is worthy of all love. Among virtues she is the highest in the highest. The Church, in one of her prayers, says: "The omnipotence of God is shown especially by mercy and pardon." Speaking of mercy of man to man Shakespeare says: " It becomes the throned monarch better than his crown, for earthly power doth then show likest God's, when mercy seasons justice." Mercy it is that constitutes us children of the Most High, for in Matt. (v. 45, 46) we read: " Pray for them that persecute and calumniate you, that you may be the children of your Father who is in heaven." Our powers of forgiveness are the measure of our loyalty to Our Saviour, for to forgive means to overcome self, and Christ has said: " If any man will be My disciple let him deny himself." In fact, chief among the objects of Christ's coming was to teach mercy to every living creature. He came to level the opposing fortifications of God's justice and man's arrogance, and though as to the former He succeeded, as to the latter, alas! His mission was partly a failure. For with all the ingratitude of the servant in the parable,
