Editorial December 18, 1943 Issue

The Obtaining of Mercy

Evelyn F. Heywood

Mercifulness is a state of consciousness wherein wisdom no less than Love has its place. Its character is defined by divine Principle; its purpose is salvation. Mercilessness, which is akin to vengeance, seeks not to redeem but to destroy. Spiritual understanding alone, discerning between what is to be rightly preserved and what repudiated, can prevent mercy from degenerating into weakness, and justice into pitilessness.

All forms of cruelty, of ruthlessness, of revenge, may not be identified as insanity, yet such they are, and those who indulge in them are precipitating their own mental and moral doom. Condonation of evil does not express mercy. It is the result of cowardice, of prejudice, or dishonesty, seeking to avoid coming face to face with both the real and the unreal. "Mercy," wrote Shakespeare, "but murders, pardoning those that kill."

"Do you ask wisdom to be merciful and not to punish sin?" asks Mary Baker Eddy on page 10 of the Christian Science textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures." And she answers: "Then 'ye ask amiss.' Without punishment, sinning would multiply." Then she continues (p. 11), "The moral law, which has the right to acquit or condemn, always demands restitution before mortals can 'go up higher.' "

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