MERCY.
All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth unto such as keep his covenant and his testimonies.—Psalm xxv. 10.
The Lord is good to all: and His tender mercies are over all His works.—Psalm cxlv. 9.
He that hath mercy on the poor, happy is he.—Proverbs, xiv. 21.
Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.—Matthew, v. 7.
Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful.—Luke, vi. 36.
Ye Sacred Writings! in whose antique leaves,
The wondrous deeds of heaven recorded lie,
Say what might be the cause, that mercy heaves
The dust of sin above the starry sky,
And lets it not to dust and ashes fly?
Could Justice be of sin so over-woo’d,
Or so great ill be cause of so great good,
That, bloody man to save, man’s Saviour shed his blood.
Here, when the ruin of that beauteous frame,
Whose golden building shin’d with every star
Of excellence, deform’d with sin became;
Mercy rememb’ring peace in midst of war,
Lift up the music of her voice to bar
Eternal fate, lest it should quite erase
That from the world, which was the first world’s grace.
And all again into their nothing—chaos—chase.
Giles Fletcher.
Why, all the souls that were, were forfeit once;
And He that might the vantage best have took,
Found out the remedy. How would you be,
If He which is the top of judgment, should
But judge you, as you are? O, think on that!
And mercy then will breathe within your lips,
Like men new made.
Shakspere.
It is an attribute of God himself,
And earthly power doth then show liker God’s,
When mercy seasons justice.
Shakspere.
When winter fortunes cloud the brows
Of summer friends,—when eyes grow strange,—
When plighted faith forgets its vows,
When earth and all things in it change,—
O Lord, thy mercies fail me never—
Where once thou lovest, thou lovest for ever!
John Quarles.
Mercy is the highest reach of wit,
A safety unto them that save with it:
Born out of God, and unto human eyes,
Like God, not seen, till fleshly passion dies.
Lord Brooke.
’Tis He supports my mortal frame,
My tongue shall speak His praise,
My sins would rise His wrath to flame,
And yet His wrath delays.
On a poor worm Thy power might tread,
And I could ne’er withstand,
Thy justice might have crushed me dead,
But mercy held Thy hand.
Watts.
Hard is his fate who builds his peace of mind
On the precarious mercy of mankind;
Who hopes for wild and visionary things,
And mounts o’er unknown seas with vent’rous wings.
Crabbe.
Though Nature her inverted course forego,
The day forget to rest, the time to flow,
Yet shall Jehovah’s servants stand secure,
His Mercy, fixed, eternal shall endure;
On them her everlasting rays shall shine,
More mild and bright, and sure, O sun! than thine.
Bishop Lowth.
How are thy servants bless’d, O Lord!
How sure is their defence!
Eternal wisdom is their guide,
Their help, Omnipotence!
In foreign realms, and lands remote,
Supported by thy care,
Through burning climes I pass’d unhurt,
In midst of dangers, fears, and death,
Thy goodness I’ll adore;
And praise thee for thy mercies past,
And humbly hope for more.
Addison.
With grief opprest, and prostrate in the dust,
Shouldst Thou condemn, I own thy sentence just.
But oh! Thy softer titles let me claim,
And plead my cause by Mercy’s gentle name.
Mercy, that wipes the penitential tear,
And dissipates the horrors of despair;
From righteous Justice steals the vengeful hour,
Softens the dreadful attributes of power,
Disarms the wrath of an offended God,
And seals my pardon in a Saviour’s blood.
Mrs. Carter.
O, Thou, whose piercing thought
Doth note each secret path,
For mercy to Thy Throne we fly
From man’s condemning wrath.
How fearless should our trust
In thy compassion be,
When from our brother of the dust
We dare appeal to Thee.
Mrs. Sigourney.
Believe, and fear not! in the blackest cloud
A sunbeam hides; and from the deepest pang,
Some hidden mercy may a God declare!
R. Montgomery.
By all the tender mercy
God hath shown to human grief,
When fate, or man’s perverseness,
Denied and barr’d relief,—
By the helpless woe which taught me
To look to Him alone,
From the vain appeals for justice
And wild efforts of my own,—
By thy light—thou unseen future,
And thy tears—thou bitter past,
I will hope—though all forsake me—
In His Mercy to the last!
Mrs. Norton.
If Heaven
Did in the balance of strict justice weigh
The iniquity of men, who could abide
Its judgment? Did not mercy temper wrath,
Eternal ruin would o’erwhelm mankind.
Samuel Hayes.
Mercy descends
From heaven, and o’er the penitential heart,
Rent by the agonizing pains of guilt,
Spreads the soft blessings of internal peace.
Samuel Hayes.
Mankind are all pilgrims on life’s weary road,
And many would wander astray
In seeking eternity’s silent abode,
Did Mercy not point out the way.
G. P. Morris.
I hear a sound that comes from far;
It fills my soul with joy and love;
Not seraphs’ voices sweeter are,
That echo through the courts above.
’Tis mercy’s voice that strikes my ear,
From Calvary it sounds abroad;
It soothes my soul and calms my fear;
It speaks of pardon bought with blood.
And is it true that many fly
The sound that bids my soul rejoice,
And rather choose with fools to die,
Than turn an ear to mercy’s voice.
With such, I own, I once appeared,
But now I know how great their loss;
For sweeter sounds were never heard,
Than mercy utters from the cross.
Kelly.
Lord have mercy when we strive
To save, through Thee, our souls alive!
When the pampered flesh is strong,
When the strife is fierce and long;
When our wakening thoughts begin
First to loathe their cherished sin,
And our weary spirits fail,
And our aching brows are pale,
Oh, then have mercy, Lord!
H. H. Milman.