After assuring Church members of his great love for them, President Gordon B. Hinckley noted Sunday morning that he was using a text he felt has application for everyone. The text is from the sermon Jesus gave to the multitude gathered on the mount: "Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy." (Matt. 5:7.)

"We live in a world where there is so much of harshness," said President Hinckley, first counselor in the First Presidency. "We live in a world filled with hostility and meanness. By reason of our human natures, so many seem prone to act with unmitigated selfishness regardless of injury to others."How precious a quality is mercy. It cannot be legislated. It must come from the heart. It must be stirred up from within. It is part of the endowment each of us receives as a son or daughter of God and partaker of a divine birthright.

"Mercy is of the very essence of the gospel of Jesus Christ," explained President Hinckley. "The degree to which each of us is able to extend it becomes an expression of the reality of our discipleship under Him who is our Lord and Master."

Citing several scriptural references as examples, President Hinckley pointed out that Christ offered a perfect example and the epitome of mercy. "His ministry was one of compassion toward the poor, the sick, the oppressed, the victims of injustice and man's inhumanity to man," said President Hinckley. "His sacrifice on the cross was an unparalleled act of mercy in behalf of all humanity."

President Hinckley declared that mercy, if cultivated, would put an end to the atrocities of war.

"There is so much of civil strife and conflict in our society that could be ameliorated by a small touch of mercy," President Hinckley emphasized. "Much of it has reached a point where the Mosaic law of an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth has been enlarged to require three eyes for one eye and three teeth for one tooth. Many victims, badgered and broken, cry in vain for a touch of kindness."

President Hinckley called for mercy from the media "who think they do a great and clever thing in mercilessly attacking men and women in public office and in other positions of leadership. They lash out with invective and snide innuendo against those who have no effective way of fighting back or, who, in the spirit of the teachings of the Master, prefer to turn the other cheek and go forward with their lives."

He then spoke of the battle that many governments are waging against illegal drugs. "I do not speak negatively of the efforts of enforcement officers to curb the pernicious traffic. But . . . there is need for compassion toward many of the victims of drugs. Whenever we help one to find a better way our effort becomes an act of mercy with a grateful response, rather than an act of punishment followed by resentment."

President Hinckley commended those who reach out to the homeless, "those in distress, regardless of whom they might be, to help and assist, to feed and provide for, to nurture and bless."

Next, the Church leader issued a plea to fathers and mothers everywhere to "put harshness behind us, to bridle our anger, to lower our voices, and to deal with mercy and love and respect one toward another in our homes."

"Every child, with few possible exceptions, is the product of a home, be it good, bad, or indifferent. As children grow through the years, their lives, in large measure, become an extension and a reflection of family teaching. If there is harshness, abuse, uncontrolled anger, disloyalty, the fruits will be certain and discernible, and in all likelihood they will be repeated in the generation that follows.

"If, on the other hand, there is forbearance, forgiveness, respect, consideration, kindness, mercy and compassion, the fruits again will be discernible and they will be eternally rewarding. They will be positive and sweet and wonderful. And as mercy is given and taught by parents, it will be repeated in the lives and actions of the next generation.

"Let us be more merciful," President Hinckley urged. "Let us get the arrogance out of our lives, the conceit, the egotism. Let us be more compassionate, gentler, filled with forbearance and patience and respect one for another. In so doing, our very example will cause others to be more merciful, and we shall have greater claim upon the mercy of God who, in His love, will be generous toward us.

" `For behold, are we not all beggars? Do we not all depend upon the same Being, even God, for all the substance which we have, for both food and raiment, and for gold, and for silver, and for all the riches which we have of every kind?

" `And now, if God, who has created you, on whom you are dependent for your lives and for all that ye have and are, doth grant unto you whatsoever ye ask that is right, . . . O then, how ye ought to impart of the substance that ye have one to another.' (Mosiah 4:19,21.)

"So spoke King Benjamin," concluded President Hinckley. "To which I add that the power of the Master is certain and His word is sure. He will keep His promise toward those who are compassionate. `Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.' "