Comfort, ye ministers of grace

Verse 1
Comfort, ye ministers of grace,
Comfort the people of your Lord, (Isa. 40:1-2, Isa. 61:1-2, Luke 4:8-9)
O! Lift ye up the fallen race,
And chear them by the gospel-word.

Verse 2
Go, into every nation, go! (Matt. 28:19-20, Mark 16:15)
Speak to their trembling hearts, and cry, (Isa. 35:4)
Glad tidings unto all we shew; (Luke 2:10)
Jerusalem, thy God is nigh. (Isa. 40:9, Isa. 52:7-10, Zech. 9:9)

Verse 3
Accomplish’d is thy legal war, (Isa. 40:2, Col. 2:14)
The mantle o’er thy sins is spread; (Ps. 32:1, Ps. 85:2, Isa. 27:9, Rom. 4:7)
Thy God the punishment hath bore, (Isa. 53:4-6)
Thy God the debt hath more than paid. (Col. 2:14)

Verse 4
Punish’d thou art, for he hath dy’d,
(The merit of his death is thine) (Rom. 4:24-25, Rom. 5:8-9, II Cor. 5:21)
Absolv’d, and freely justify’d, (Rom. 3:24)
And cloath’d in righteousness divine. (Isa. 61:10)

Verse 5
Hark in the wilderness a cry, (Isa. 40:3, Matt. 3:3, Mark 1:3)
A voice that loudly calls, Prepare! (Isa. 40:3, Matt. 3:3, Mark 1:3, Luke 1:76)
Prepare your hearts, for God is nigh,
And means to make his entrance there.

Verse 6
The Lord your God shall quickly come: (Mal. 3:1, Rev. 22:12, Rev. 22:20)
Sinners repent, the call obey; (Matt. 3:2)
Open your hearts to make him room,
Ye desart-souls, prepare his way. (Isa. 40:3, Matt. 3:3, Mark 1:3, Luke 3:4-5)

Verse 7
The Lord shall clear his way thro’ all,
Whate’er obstructs, obstructs in vain;
The vale shall rise, the mountain fall, (Isa. 45:2)
Crooked be strait, and rugged plain. (Isa. 40:4-5, Luke 3:5-6)

Verse 8
Nature perverse and rough shall yield, (Isa. 2:11-12)
Th’ aspiring droop, the abject dare;
Alike by sovereign grace compell’d
Despair shall hope, and pride despair.

Verse 9
When all into subjection brought (I Cor. 15:27-28)
Level shall lie, and humbly low, (Isa. 2:11)
Who captivated every thought, (II Cor. 10:5)
His glory then the Lord shall shew. (Isa. 40:5)

Verse 10
The glory of the Lord display’d (Isa. 40:5)
Together all mankind shall view; (Hab. 2:14)
And what his mouth in truth hath said, (Isa. 40:5)
His own almighty hand shall do. (Isa. 55:11, Num. 23:19)