The Christian Scholar By the Author of "The Cathedral" [i.e. Isaac Williams] |
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| III. |
| IV. | IV.
BIRTH AND REARING OF MAN. |
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| VI. |
| VII. |
| VIII. |
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 | The Christian Scholar |  |
239
IV. BIRTH AND REARING OF MAN.
“Then, like a mariner by cruel waves“Cast forth, the new-born babe for pity craves,
“Naked and speechless on the cold ground laid,
“Utterly helpless, needing vital aid.
“Upon the shore of being amidst woes,
“Thrust from its mother's womb with struggling throes,
“He fills the place with melancholy cries,
“As one that's born for so great miseries.
“Then cattle, herds, and beasts that range the wild
“No plaything need, nor nurse, whose accents mild
“And broken prattle moulds the lisping tongue;
“But of themselves grow up the woods among.
“Nor need they varied vests for changeful clime,
“Nor arms of moulded form, nor walls sublime
“Their goods to guard; Nature doth all provide,
“Her varied stores have all their wants supplied.”
Such is the external type of man within,
Into a world of sorrow “born in sin,”
And from the nakedness and ills of earth
Lifting his cries for a new better birth,
To be “clothed on from Heaven;” for thus forlorn
Better not born at all unless twice born.
Helpless himself, on others he relies
For saving aid, for without aid he dies.
And if on earth the infant's cry of pain
For food and shelter is not rais'd in vain,
Doubtless in Heaven, beyond our mortal sense,
Those speechless cries have their own eloquence;
Telling alike the greatness of his need,
And such sure aids as shall from God proceed.
Into a world of sorrow “born in sin,”
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Lifting his cries for a new better birth,
To be “clothed on from Heaven;” for thus forlorn
Better not born at all unless twice born.
Helpless himself, on others he relies
For saving aid, for without aid he dies.
And if on earth the infant's cry of pain
For food and shelter is not rais'd in vain,
Doubtless in Heaven, beyond our mortal sense,
Those speechless cries have their own eloquence;
Telling alike the greatness of his need,
And such sure aids as shall from God proceed.
The cradle left, man's growing wants no less
Not weakness, but a nobler kind express,—
Powers incomplete, sublimer destinies,—
Symbols without, within him mysteries:
Not rear'd as “beasts that perish,” but he still
Needs the formation of a higher Will,
Needs daily new ablutions, growing powers,
Raiment to clothe, and arms, and sheltering towers,
A tongue train'd to new language, ere 'tis given
To have a place amid the ranks of Heaven.
Not weakness, but a nobler kind express,—
Powers incomplete, sublimer destinies,—
Symbols without, within him mysteries:
Not rear'd as “beasts that perish,” but he still
Needs the formation of a higher Will,
Needs daily new ablutions, growing powers,
Raiment to clothe, and arms, and sheltering towers,
A tongue train'd to new language, ere 'tis given
To have a place amid the ranks of Heaven.
| The Christian Scholar | |