FRAILTY.

But man with frailty is allied by birth. Bishop Lowth.

By nature peccable and frail are we, Easily beguiled; to vice, to error prone; But apt for virtue too. Humanity Is not a field where tares and thorns alone Are left to spring; good seed hath there been sown With no unsparing hand. Sometimes the shoot Is choked with weeds, or withers on a stone; But in a kindly soil it strikes its root, And flourisheth, and bringeth forth abundant fruit. Southey.

“How meanly dwells th’ immortal mind! How vile these bodies are! Why was a clod of earth designed T’ enclose a heavenly star? “Weak cottage where our souls reside, This flesh a tott’ring wall; With frightful breaches gaping wide, The building bends to fall. “All round it storms of trouble blow, And waves of sorrow roll; Cold waves and winter storms beat through, And pain the tenant soul. “Alas! how frail our state!” said I; And thus went mourning on, Till sudden from the cleaving sky A gleam of glory shone. My soul felt all the glory come, And breathed her native air; Then she remembered heaven, her home, And she a prisoner here. Straight she begun to change her key, And joyful in her pains, She sang the frailty of her clay In pleasurable strains. Watts.