Christian Science teaches the perfection of God and man. God is perfect Mind, and man is Mind's perfect idea. In this perfection, of course, there is no need for mercy as we think of it on earth. But one can think of mercy in an absolute sense, which implies Mind's tender care for its every idea, Love's infinite supply, Spirit's clear direction always. Mary Baker Eddy gives the absolute sense of God's care in such words as these from the Christian Science textbook, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures: "Spirit, God, gathers unformed thoughts into their proper channels, and unfolds these thoughts, even as He opens the petals of a holy purpose in order that the purpose may appear." ^{Science and Health, p.506;}

Insofar as we perceive and understand our identity as Mind's ideas, we find our human experience following the pattern of the spiritual thoughts that constitute our real being—each item of our day coming in a place and time that illustrates the care with which He causes His purpose to appear. But insofar as we fall short of such perception and understanding, we live lives that are only approximations of man's perfection, and we are proportionately less conscious of His care for us.

The gap between the perfection we express in reality, as God's ideas, and the imperfection we express as human beings struggling to be perfect is mercifully filled by the truth of God's infinite goodness. In His goodness there is no such gap. There is no imperfection. But mortal life is a dream of imperfection, and insofar as we believe the dream and live in it consciously, we need what we humanly call the mercy of God—a sense of His motherly understanding of our inner goodness even when outwardly we are less than good. And we have His mercy always. The Bible describes it in this way, "It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not." ^Lam.3:22;

In spiritual reality, the law of God is unbreakable. But in the mortal dream, His law is broken continually. One of the great problems of the age is the need for the kind of leadership in human affairs that shows forth God's perfect government of man through His law.

Christian Science gives the basis for such leadership, demonstrating that all discord, all suffering, is the result of living in the dream of God's law being broken.

Mrs. Eddy tells us, "They who sin must suffer." ^{Science and Health, p.37;} But too often people who begin to grasp something of God's law think they are the ones who should see to it that the lawbreakers suffer. They fail to express the mercy toward one another that humanly demonstrates the divine mercy. This lack of mercy on the part of capable individuals often obscures their spiritual qualities even when they do try in other ways to live by God's law.

One who expresses mercy finds that mercy provides a channel through which all of the divine qualities can appear in his human relationships. It also opens his thought to the ever-available, restorative, healing power of divine Love. Love's law unfailingly heals. As the popular hymn promises:

When someone we know is acting in a way that is not in keeping with what we believe God's law to be, are we merciful? Do we remember that were we now humanly perfect, we would spiritually ascend, and that the mercy through which God guides and cares for us even though we haven't ascended is ours to express toward others?

If someone we think of as a competitor or an antagonist is ill or in trouble, do we have it-serves-him-right thoughts? Any thought we may hold that would add to his sufferings can only result in our having self-imposed suffering for our lack of mercy. Love that refuses to criticize but stands by ready to help and to heal can do much to help the sufferer find the truth and overcome both his errors and his suffering. It also helps us.

Even when we are one hundred percent right, criticism of another does not give us the right to condemn. If we claim such a right, we make a false claim, and that false claim can only turn upon us, for it is, in effect, a claim that we are less than the merciful child of a merciful Father.

Of course, mercy does not always mean overlooking a friend's fault; it may mean courageously taking whatever steps are needed to help the friend realize his error and correct it. But it does mean not magnifying that error by talking of it to others. One who does so only magnifies his own lack of mercy.

Our human progress depends greatly upon our understanding of and practice of the quality of mercy. As we love God for His mercy, and as we consciously reflect it in all our ways, we find our unformed thoughts being gathered into productive channels. We also experience God's healing love in our daily necessities as well as in our extremities. As Christ Jesus said, "Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy." ^Matt.5:7.

Carl J. Welz