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is a work of mercy which has brought us here to-day; a work of mercy which is required by the needs of man, and which is certainly congenial with the spirit of Heaven. We have divine assurance that such a work as this is acceptable to God; for, without a multiplicity of texts, we may refer to the words which our Lord himself repeated from the Old Testament: "I will have mercy, and not sacrifice"; and to those other precious words which fell from his own gracious lips: "Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy." We have just had additional testimony to the same effect, in the graphic description of the judgment, which has been read as the lesson for the day; and which shows us the satisfaction of a gracious judge, in the beneficence of the righteous. And these are sufficient, without any other evidences, that God, in his word, appoves those