436.
Beatitude. 5.
“Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.”
1
What so lovely as compassion,
In a world of pain and woe?
Where the wants of feeble creatures
Meet our eyes, wheree'er we go?
Those, of God and man, are blessed,
Who the healing balm bestow.
2
Mercy is an angel's feature,
First derived from worlds on high!
Mercy is the link that binds us
To the Father of the sky!
For this rich, this heavenly blessing,
Lo! we lift th' imploring eye!
3
Great, O Lord! is thy forbearance,
And thy mercies, who can tell!
Through transgression, when our father
From his state primeval fell,
Thou didst pity, thou didst pardon,
And redeem from death and hell.
4
In our season of desertion,
When no other help was found,
Thou didst send thy well-beloved,
To unloose the captive bound,
That, to penitents, “salvation!”
Might through earth and heaven resound.
5
Here was mercy, everlasting,
Worthy of a God to show!
Here was love, in fulness flowing
From its source, to man below!
Still, let mercy, still compassion,
Plants of heaven, within us grow.
6
Full of blessings, God hath promis'd,
(For our joy till time shall end,)
He who mercy shews, shall find it,
Through our Advocate and Friend,
In the solemn hour advancing,
When to judgment we ascend.
