fe
craft! The fare is cheap! It is a certain harbor!

The men of Ahaziah were forbidden to come aboard the ships of Jehoshaphat,
but all the world is invited to board this gospel craft. The vessel of
Jehoshaphat went to pieces, but this craft shall drop anchor within the
harbor, and mountains shall depart, and hills shall be removed, and seas
shall dry up, and time itself shall perish, but the mercy of the Lord is
from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear Him.

CHAPTER LXIV.

ALL ABOUT MERCY.

Benedict XIII. decreed that when the German: Catholics met each other, they
should always give the following salutation, the one first speaking saying,
"Praised be Jesus Christ," the other responding, "For ever, amen," a
salutation fit for Protestants whenever they come together.

The word "mercy" is used in the Bible two hundred and fourteen times; it
seems to be the favorite word of all the Scriptures. Sometimes it glances
feebly upon us like dew in the starlight; then with bolder hand it seems to
build an arched bridge from one storm-cloud of trouble to another; and then
again it trickles like a fountain upon the thirst of the traveler.

The finest roads I ever saw are in Switzerland. They are built by the
government, and at very short intervals you come across water pouring out
of the rocks. The government provides cups for men and troughs for the
animals to drink out of. And our King has so arranged it that on the
highway we are traveling toward heaven, ever and anon there shall dash upon
us the clear, sweet water that flows from the eternal Rock. I propose to
tell you some things about God's mercy.

First, think of His pardoning mercy. The gospel finds us shipwrecked; the
wave beneath ready to swallow us, the storm above pelting us, our good
works foundered, there is no such thing as getting ashore unhelped. The
gospel finds us incarcerated; of all those who have been in thick dungeon
darkness, not one soul ever escaped by his own power. If a soul is
delivered at all, it is because some one on the outside shall shove the
bolt and swing open the door, and let the prisoner come out free.

The sin of the soul is not, as some would seem to think, just a little dust
on the knee or elbow that you can strike off in a moment and without any
especial damage to you. Sin has utterly discomfited us; it has ransacked
our entire nature; it has ruined us so completely that no human power can
ever reconstruct us; b