To pity distress it but human; to relieve it is Godlike.

To pity distress it but human; to relieve it is Godlike.

Pity the sorrow of a poor old man,
Whose trembling limbs have brought him to your door.

Pity the sorrow of a poor old man,
Whose trembling limbs have brought him to your door.

Gifts and alms are the expressions, not the essence, of this
virtue.

Gifts and alms are the expressions, not the essence, of this
virtue.

Shut not thy purse-strings always against painted distress.

Shut not thy purse-strings always against painted distress.

Who gives himself with his alms feeds three,
Himself, his hungering neighbor, and me.

Who gives himself with his alms feeds three,
Himself, his hungering neighbor, and me.

In every sorrowing soul I pour'd delight,
And poverty stood smiling in my sight.

In every sorrowing soul I pour'd delight,
And poverty stood smiling in my sight.

Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of
them: otherwise ye have no read more

Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of
them: otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in
heaven.

In misery's darkest caverns known,
His useful care was ever nigh,
Where hopeless Anguish pour'd his groan,
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In misery's darkest caverns known,
His useful care was ever nigh,
Where hopeless Anguish pour'd his groan,
And lonely want retir'd to die.

He scorn'd his own, who felt another's woe.

He scorn'd his own, who felt another's woe.