University of Virginia Library

1304.

[How vain our strife to heal]

A woman having an issue of blood, &c. —viii. 43.

How vain our strife to heal
The plague incurable!
Still the plague remains unstay'd,
Still the issue is undried;
Reason's philosophic aid
Heightens, and inflames our pride.
Endeavouring to restrain,
The law augments our pain:
Virtue's firm resolve we boast,
Boast our liberty of will;
All our confidence is lost,
Cannot stop the raging ill.
The' original disease
Our medicines but increase:
Happy when at last we know
Human insufficiency,
When we truly humbled go,
Jesus, for relief to Thee.