The Bible has been constructed in such a way that it is an armoury of mercy, a magazine of kindness. It is a great institution of mercifulness.
I. Notice the mercifulness of its eminent secularity, united to tendencies towards eminent spirituality. The Bible is a book of business from beginning to end. It is a book in which a man, although his thoughts touch some of the pinnacles of the new Jerusalem, stands with his feet on the ground. The temporal and secular element of the Scriptures tends to the growth of the great ideal of manhood.
II. Notice the mercifulness of Scripture in using the highest ideal of life in such a manner as not to oppress the great mass of mankind. Throughout the Old Testament and the New, there is this lenity in dealing with men who are striving for an ideal, which makes the Bible the most wonderful of books. On the one side it keeps the picture radiant, so that the eye is dazzled in looking at it, and turns toward the ground; on the other side, with arms about us and with kindly words, as a schoolmaster, it helps us to Christ: and Christ, as our elder Brother, brings us to the Father.
H. W. Beecher, Christian World Pulpit,July 30th, 1873.