2. Mercy of man to man. — We have seen that it is the aim of the Divine mercy to reproduce itself in the spirits of men. As mercy has two parts, pity and active benelicence, we are commanded to love not in word, neither in tongue, but in deed and in truth (1 Jn 3^"). This is Christ's teaching in Mt 9'^ 12' 23-'', and in the parables of the Good Samaritan (Lk 10^") and of the Sheep and tiie Goats (Mt 25^1), as well as in that of the Un- merciful Servant (Mt 18--*). From these we learn tliat if gratitude to God does not avail to make men merciful to one another, they will be dealt with by penalties (see also Ja 2i» 3'', 1 Jn 2«-" S^^). Tliis riglit disposition of heart is a product not so
much of enlightenment of the mind as of .such ex- periences as touch the springs of ati'ection. The passage in 2 Co 4-9, beginning ' as we have ob- tained mercy' (and, indeed, the whole Epistle), is a treasury' of evangelical motives to pliilanthropic conduct. ' Our mouth is opened unto you, our heart is enlarged' (G"). Similarly, in the case of St. Peter, ' Thou knowest that I love thee. . . . Feed my sheep' (Jn 2P' ; cf. Ko 12' 'I beseech you . . . by the mercies (oUTipfjLoi) of God that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice ').
Selflessness, and the constraint that Christ's love lays upon a believer, are the important features of his behaviour in this matter of mercifulness. ' Though I be nothing ' ; ' I will very gladly spend and be spent for you' (2 Co 12'-- 1^). ' ' l am debtor . . . as much as in me is, I am ready' (Ko P^- '*). 'The love of Christ constraineth us' (2 Co 5"). ' AVe ought to lay down our lives for the brethren ' (1 Jn 3'*'). When we look at Christ's own life for an example, we do not hnd in His case the indebted- ness of one who has been forgiven, but we do find the readine.ss of unreserved surrender to His Father's will. ' I came not to do mine own will ' (Jn 6^). ' My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me' (Jn 7'"). 'I have not spoken of mj-self ' (Jn 12^^). Thus the mercj- of God does not work in vacuo, but in the concrete example of Ciirist and of men possessed bj- His spirit, and made vehicles of His mercy (Ro IP", 1 Jn 4'-).
In the OT the word ^J^; 'mercy' is used of the duties of piety between kinsmen (Gn '20'^), or persons who are in covenant with each other (21^). And it might seem in conflict with this that one of the most striking instances in which an appeal for mercy is disallowed in the NT is that of the rich man to his father Abraham (Lk 16-''). Similarly, Christ subordinated the ties of kindred (Lk 14^) even with Himself (Mk 3^, Lk IP*) to the higher bonds of tiie Kingdom of God. Nevertheless the ett'ect of Christian faith is to strengthen, and not to weaken, all the ties of human affection, raising them into the region of religion. The early motto of Christ's ministrj' was, ' I desire mercy and not sacrifice' (Mt 9'^ P2") ; the same thought pervades the later chapters of the Gospel of John (13-17) and his First Epistle, passim, while both in Acts (20^ 2P^) and in his Epistles there is evidence of the overflowing, self-forgetting affection of St. Paul for the Christian Churches. The rule of pity and of active helpfulness is the teaching and the practice of Christ and His disciples. Mercy is the note of the Christian temper. See, further, artt. Grace, Kindness.
Liter ATCRE. — Crenier, Lexicon, s.v. fxia; ; Hastings' DB, art. ' Mercy ' ; Seeley, Ecce Uomo, chs. xix. xx. ; Dykes, Manifesto of the King, p. ibl ff. ; Paget, Studies in the Christian Character, p. 'Zil ff. ; Butler, Serin, v. vi. ix. xi. xii. ; Browning, liing and the Book, X. ; C. Watson, First Ep. of John ; Dean Stanley Corinthians, vol. ii. T. GREGORY.
MERIT. — The idea of merit in general is one which attaches to human conduct on the pre- supposition of the existence, in the first place, of a moral law ; in the second place, of free-will in man, enabling him to obey it ; and, in the third place, of some system of rewards and punishments, bj- which the worth of obedience to the Law is recognized, and equallj* the unworth of disoljedi- ence is demonstrated. That conduct is meritorious, or possesses merit, which corresponds with the moral law, and at the same time is voluntary ; and, as meritorious, it claims honour or reward. Tins is the general ethical conception of merit (cf. Martineau, Ti/pes of Ethical Theory^, ii. 80 fi'.). The theological use, however, of the conception, and still more of the term ('merit,' meritum), involves further specifications, wliich follow, on I the one hand, from the connexion of the idea with
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other theological ideas, e.g. those of God, of His grace, and so on ; and, on the other hand, from the different analogies under which, from time to time, the relation of God to men has been conceived. Here we have two special cases of the use of the conception to consider : (1) its use in the Gospels ; (2) the use not only of the idea, but also of the theological term ' merit ' in reference to the work of Christ.