new church life: november/december 2017
prayers offered and the counsel given by our clergy.”
I happen to believe that prayers offered can actually result in enlightened
counsel, but I think the real answer may be that, if one questions the Word
with a mind-set, only confirmations of that mind-set will be perceived.
Of course, that works for an opposite mind-set as well, but I still think the
decision process was good and wise, and therefore, because I believe that the
Divine Providence oversees everything and the decision process was orderly,
thorough and remarkably transparent, I expect that the decision was probably
the right one.
As the future church grows surely the Lord will guide it to see more
clearly the path it should follow. But now, although I’m just a layman with a
limited view, I enthusiastically commend the present leadership of the General
Church.
Martin E. Klein
Boynton Beach, Florida
O U R N E W C H U RC H V O C A B U L A R Y
Part of a continuing series developed by the Rev. W. Cairns Henderson, 1961-1966.
MERCY
The universal definition of this term given in the Writings is that mercy is that into
which love is turned when it looks upon those who are in need and grieves for their misery.
Thus the Lord’s mercy is His love toward the human race since the fall: the love behind His
Providence and all its operations, and the salvation resulting from them. It is universal and
equal, and it consists in withdrawing man from evil, leading him into good, and keeping him
in good – if, and as, it is received by him. (See Arcana Coelestia 5816)
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