10. — On the Mercy of God.
"How great is the mercy of the Lord, and His forgiveness to them that turn to Him." — Eccles. xvii. 28.
MERCY is the tranquillity of God's omnipotence and the sweetness of His omnipresence, the fruit of His eternity and the companion of His immensity, the chief satisfaction of His justice, the triumph of His wisdom, and the patient perseverance of His love.
Wherever we go there is mercy, the peaceful, active, endless mercy of our Heavenly Father. If we work by day, we work in mercy's light; and we sleep at night in the lap of our Father's mercy.
The courts of heaven gleam with its outpoured prolific beauty. Earth is covered with it, as the waters cover the bed of the stormy sea. Purgatory is, as it were, its own separate creation, and is lighted by its gentle moonlight, gleaming there soft and silvery, through night and day.
His mercy is simply infinite, for mercy is one of His perfections, while His love is the harmony of all.
Mercy does not tire of us, does not despair of us, does not give over its pursuit of us, takes no offence, repays evil with good, and is the ubiquitous minister of the precious Blood of Jesus. But love seems more than this. Love fixes upon each of us, individualises us, is something personal; but mercy is something by itself.
