Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these My brethren, ye have done it unto Me.
Matthew 25:40
Words: Emily V. Clark, 1890. Appeared in The Hymnal (Protestant Episcopal Church), edited by Arthur H. Messiter (New York: E. & J. B. Young, 1893), number 275.
Music: Hesperus Henry Baker, 1854. First published in A Hymnal for Use in the English Church, by John Grey, 1866 (🔊 pdf nwc).
If you know where to get a good photo of Clark or Baker (head & shoulders, at least 200×300 pixels),
O God of mercy! hearken now:
Before Thy throne we humbly bow;
With heart and voice to Thee we cry
For all on earth who suffering lie.
We seek Thee where Thou dwell’st on high;
Beyond the glittering, starry sky:
We find Thee where Thou dwell’st below
Beside the beds of want and woe.
Be ours the hearts and hands to bless
The sorrowing sons of wretchedness;
Send Thou the help we cannot give;
Bid dying souls arise and live.
Oh, let the healing waters spring,
Touched by Thy pitying angel’s wing;
With quickening power new strength impart
To palsied will, to withered heart.
Where poverty in pain must lie,
Where little suffering children cry,
Bid us haste forth as called by Thee,
And in Thy poor, Thyself to see.
Be Thou, O God eternal, blest!
Thy holy name on earth confessed!
Echo Thy praise from every shore
Forever and for evermore.