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DEAL GENTLY

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Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Michigan · Oct 2, 1900

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 77, No. 40.

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DEAL GENTLY.

By Daniel Nettleton

DANIEL NETTLETON. (Sherburne, Minn.)
WHEN David’s wicked son Absalom had driven his aged father from the throne, Israel rose, in indignation, to punish the culprit. As the army went forth to the battle, David commanded his leaders and all the men of war: “Deal gently for my sake with the young man, even with Absalom.”
This incident occurred about thirteen years after David’s sad fall, and God’s merciful dealings with him. So David could say: “Thou hast also given me the shield of thy salvation: and thy right hand hath holden me up, and thy gentleness hath made me great.” His experience led him to have compassion on the erring; for he himself was compassed with infirmity. “The quality of mercy is not strained; it droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven upon the place beneath: it is twice blessed, it blesseth him that gives and him that takes. It is an attribute of God himself; and earthly power doth then show likest God’s, when mercy seasons justice.”
How gentle are God’s commands, and how kind his precepts. The greatest and gentlest of all men said, “Blessed are the merciful.” Do you desire the blessing? Then be full of mercy. The Spirit of God has said: “If a person is in error, be the more kind to him; if you are not courteous, you may drive him away from Christ. Let every word you speak, even the tones of your voice, express your interest in, and sympathy for, the souls that are in peril. If you are harsh, denunciatory, and impatient with them, you are doing the work of the enemy.” It is said of Jesus: “He was moved with compassion.” Then, as his followers, we should be moved by the same spirit. It was the kindness of Jesus that drew the common people to him. It is the goodness of God that leads us to repentance. “In the matchless gift of his Son, God has encircled the whole world with an atmosphere of grace, as real as the air which circulates around the globe.”
“Could we with ink the ocean fill, And were the sky of parchment made, And every stick on earth a quill, And every man a scribe by trade; To write the love of God above, Would drain the ocean dry; Nor would the whole contain the scroll, Though stretched from sky to sky.”