Classic Poem

Man frail and filthy, the Object of Divine Pity.

Frail man, as soon as born, decays,
Like flow'rs, that quickly fade;
He counts a few and troublous days,
Then passes like a shade.

Will God regard so base a wight
Contend with such a moth,
The spawn of hell, an ugly sight,
So frail and filthy both!

Who can clean things from unclean bring,
Pure streams from impure mud,
But he that came to clear the spring,
By water and by blood!

Our Days are numbered, and the time of Life fixed

O Lord, the days of man are all
Inroll'd in thy decree;
And of the months that to him fall
The number is with thee.

The bounds of time he cannot pass,
In which thou dost him close:
Let this suffice, nor add a mass
Of more uncommon woes.

O grant him the respite and ease,
His torments made him ask,
And let him finish, by degrees,
His life's appointed task.

SECTION III .

Life natural, being gone, returns not; or, the dead never awaked till the last Day.

Life vegetive, when lost in roots,
With rains may be reviv'd;
Life animal in certain brutes,
With solar beams retriev'd.

But spirits rational, when gone,
Too great for nature's scent,
Have no restoratives but one,
That is omnipotent.

Ere death man daily wastes away;
In death gives up the ghost;
But after death, where is he, pray,
When to the living lost?

High floods and seas that left the shore,
Will at their times return;
But man resumes his life no more,
Whom death doth once in-urn.

Death to the grave his dust conveys,
There sleeps the hidden prey;
Nor wakes till with a mighty noise
The heavens shall pass away.

SECTION IV .

Desire to die may consist with a waiting till the change come.

Lord in the silent grave I'd rest,
There let me safely lie,
Till shades of sin and wrath be chas'd,
And glory deck the sky.

Since wrath will each man, for his crime,
From present life estrange,
All days of my appointed time
I'll wait my future change.

Though thou prolong this mournful scene
In hope I'll patient stay,
Till thou revive my joys amain,
And chase my woes away.

Thy call both to and from the grave
I'll gladly hear and go;
And thou my strong desire to save
Thy handy-work wilt show.