The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1872-09-23
ST. FRANCIS xAvIER's CHURCH.
Sermon by tho Rev. p. Dealy, 8. J.-The
Real Law of Mercy.

Sermon by tho Rev. p. Denly, 8. J.-The
Real Law Of Mercy.
The fashionables of the Catholic community of
the city, OF which the congregation Of St. Francis
Xaviers Is In large part composed, and who have
been remarkable during the Summer Sundays but
by their absence from town, have evidently begun
to homeward fly, judging from the well-tllled pews
in the church yesterday The mass was celebrated
by the Rev. Father Gelmas, s. j., and the sermon
was preached by the Rev. P. Deay, s. j. he took
for his text portion of the sixth chapter Of st.
Luke. The reverend gentleman said that
THE EXERCISE OF MERCY
was OF the chief occupations OF the Divine Mas
ter while on earth. He preached mercy to the
crowds that assembled to listen to Him wherever
He went; He taught 1t to His disciples, and ex-
emplhed it In every feature Of His holy life. He
gave to mankind new law in the law OF mercy,
which lie had laid such stress upon in all His teach
ings and enjoined the exercise of 1t upon His fol-
in all ages one Of their principal duties.
And yet, how few were there among Christians
nowadays who really exercised mercy in the full
sense the Lord meant that 1t should be exercised
He had taught us to bless those who did us injury
and to pray for those who illuminated us-in fact,
RETURN GOOD FOR EVIL.
under every circumstance and yet how different
from this teaching was the conduct OF the Christian
in most instances ut present. The mercy which
the Saviour taught and which he commanded
should be practised among men was violated in
many ways. The violation was not always shown
some overt act Of ilwill of one individual against
another. The absence OF the mercy or, In other
words OF the Love we shou th always bear our
him, how we commented upon his actions, how
misconstrued his motives. Probably the most fire.
quent violation of the law OF mercy was that mani
tested by those whO no matter what good their
neighbor might do. were ever ready to put
THEIR OWN BAD CONSTRUCTIONS
not. condemn not" was the teaching Of the Scrip
lures but every day men sat In Judgment and and
ply out of jealousy or for the mere love OF talking
against them or inducing others to think less OF
Gr dURs sGS surely
to carp at man for doing what, on its face at
least seemed to be good, without setting ourselves
up as judges Of his motives. This was the beset-
ting sin OF rash Judgment. 1t jumped at conclu-
sions on mere trining rumors, and attempted,
without waiting to know what the real truth Of a
report as to a mans conduct or actions is, to
blacken him or his motives In the eyes of others.
We all should bear in mind the case OF Susannah.
Even while she was being denounced as harlOt
An IGNoMINIoUs DEATH
rather than wound her conscience by the wilful
commission OF SIM and Magdalene, thoroughly
repentant, was being pardoned by the Saviour at
Simeon. And how did we know, when we were at
tempting TO stand judge over the acts OF our fell
low man, misconstruing his motives and giving
ear to sanderous reports as to his character and
retailing them to others, that In the sight Of God
he was pure and innocent, and we In our Phara-
saical virtue looked upon as condemned? The
reverend preacher continued at some length to
show how vile and sinful was the practice OF set
ting ourselves up as
JUDGES OVER OUR FELLOWS
and delightng in any thing that was uttered against
them, and concluded by exhorting his hearers to
exercise mercy in all their dealings with their fell
low man, Judge not that they in their turn might
not be judged by higher power than man. II they
desired to Judge and condemn the failings OF hu-
man nature, he said, they could leave their neigh
bors out of the question, turn their eyes in upon
themselves, and they would then be certain to
find ample field for Judgment and condemnation.