ve, and
it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken
together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with
the same measure that ye mete withal, it shall be measured unto you
again."

Let us think, then, of some of the ways in which we can show mercy.
First, we must shew mercy and lovingkindness _practically_, by deeds,
not words. To cry over a starving man, and to leave him to starve, is
of no use. To sigh over the sins and miseries of our fellow men,
without trying to mend them, is mere waste of time. Practical mercy
and kindness can be shown in a thousand different ways. Try to make
the lives of others happy. We are always seeking our own happiness,
let us try rather to make the lives of others brighter, helping our
neighbour, and happiness will come to us. We often see people who are
neglected and uncared for in life, and when they die men scatter
flowers upon their coffin, and write their praises on their tomb.

My brethren, let us not keep our flowers for our neighbour's coffin,
but send them to him now, to brighten and bless his life. Mary did not
reserve her alabaster box of perfume till her Lord was dead, she filled
the whole house with sweetness where the living Jesus was. Let us do
likewise. If we have an alabaster box of love and tenderness, let us
not keep it sealed till our friends are dead. Pour forth the sweetness
of loving words and kindly thoughts now, make their lives happy, you
cannot "charm the dull, cold ear of death" with your praises. When we
die we have done with the troubles of this world, and its flowers, and
its pleasant things concern us not. But now that we are alive, and
have to bear many hours of suffering and sorrow, kind, loving words,
and the touch of gentle hands, and the help of strong arms, cheer and
strengthen us like the sight of flowers, or the perfume of Mary's gift.
Scatter your choicest blossoms upon men's lives, instead of on their
coffins. Blessed are they whose lives are like the violets, making the
homes and lives of others sweet and fragrant.

"There be fair violet lives that bloom unseen
In dewy shade, unvext by any care;
And they who live them wear the flower-like face
Of simple pureness, which, amid the crowd
Of haggard brows, strikes like a sweet perfume
Upon the jaded sense."

This world would be far more like Paradise, and less like the howling
wilderness which it is to so many, if men would show l