Lift from the dust

your mournful eye, And know the Lord, your help, is nigh; These sorrows from your breasts shall

roll,

And comfort bless the humble soul: Let cheerful hope in every bosom spring, For boundless mercy dwells with heaven's immortal King.

4.

All ye who bend beneath the stroke of time,
And
ye whose cheeks confess their healthy
prime,
Your Maker and Preserver praise
For early and for lengthen'd days!
The pious and the grateful song
Shall lisp upon the infant's tongue;
While heavenly mercy soothes the mourner's

care,

And bids the saint rejoice, the sinner not despair.

141. S. M. WATTS.

Mercy in the midst of judgement.

1.

My soul, repeat his praise, Whose mercies are so great; Whose anger is so slow to rise, So ready to abate.

2.

High as the heavens are raised
Above the ground we tread,
So far the riches of his grace
Our highest thoughts exceed.

3.

His power subdues our sins;
And his forgiving love,
Far as the east is from the west,
Doth all our guilt remove.

4.

The pity of the Lord,

To those who fear his name, Is such as tender parents feel: He knows our feeble frame.

5.

Our days are as the grass,
Or like the morning flower,

If one sharp blast sweep o'er the field,
It withers in an hour.

6.

But thy compassions, Lord,
To endless years endure;

And children's children ever find

Thy words of promise sure.

142. C. M. MRS. CARTER.
The compassion of God.

1.

O THOU, the wretched's sure retreat,
Who dost our cares controul,
And with the cheerful smile of peace
Revive the fainting soul,

2.

Did ever thine indulgent ear

The humble plea disdain?

Or when did plaintive misery sigh
Or supplicate in vain?

3.

Oppress'd with grief and shame, dissolved In penitential tears,

Thy goodness calms our restless doubts, And dissipates our fears.

4.

New life from thy refreshing grace
Our sinking hearts receive;
Thy gentlest, best-loved attribute,
To pity and forgive.

5.

From that blest source, propitious hope
Appears serenely bright,

And sheds her soft diffusive beam
O'er sorrow's dismal night.

6.

Our griefs confess her vital power,
And bless the friendly ray
Which ushers in the smiling morn
Of everlasting day.

143. C. M. DODDRIDGE.

God's compassion to human frailty.

1.

LORD, we adore thy wondrous name,

And make that name our trust, Which raised at first this curious frame From mean and lifeless dust.

2.

Awhile these frail machines endure,

The fabric of a day;

Then know their vital powers no more,

But moulder back to clay.

3.

Yet, Lord, whate'er is felt or fear'd,
This thought is our repose,

That he by whom this frame was rear'd
Its various weakness knows.

4.

Thou view'st us with a pitying eye,
Whilst struggling with our load;
In pains and dangers thou art nigh,
Our father and our God.

5.

Gently supported by thy love,
We tend to realms of peace;
Where every pain shall far remove,
And every frailty cease.

BEGIN, my tongue, some heavenly theme,
And speak some boundless thing;
The mighty works, or mightier name,
Of our eternal King.

2.

Tell of his wondrous faithfulness,
And sound his power abroad;
Sing the kind promise of his grace,
And the performing God.

3.

Proclaim salvation from the Lord
For sinful dying men:

His hand hath writ the sacred word
With an immortal pen.

4.

Engraved as in eternal brass
The gracious promise shines,
Nor can the powers of darkness rase
The everlasting lines.

5.

His very word of grace is strong
As that which built the skies:
The voice which rolls the stars along
Speaks all the promises.

145. P. M.

DODDRIDGE,

The faithfulness of God in his promises.

1.

THE promises I sing,

Which sovereign love hath spoke;
Nor will the eternal King

His words of grace revoke;

They stand secure

And steadfast still;
Not Zion's hill

Abides so sure.

2.

The mountains melt away
When once the judge appears,
And sun and moon decay,
That measure mortal years;
But still the same

In radiant lines
The promise shines
Through all the flame.