I
"HOW SOON—ALAS! DID MAN, CREATED PURE"
Published 1845
How soon—alas! did Man, created pure—
By Angels guarded, deviate from the line
Prescribed to duty:—woeful forfeiture[116]
He made by wilful breach of law divine.
With like perverseness did the Church abjure 5
Obedience to her Lord, and haste to twine,[117]
'Mid Heaven-born flowers that shall for aye endure,
Weeds on whose front the world had fixed her sign.
O Man,—if with thy trials thus it fares,
If good can smooth the way to evil choice, 10
From all rash censure be the mind kept free;
He only judges right who weighs, compares,
And, in the sternest sentence which his voice
Pronounces, ne'er abandons Charity.[118]
FOOTNOTES:
[116] 1845.
Even when the state of man seems most secure
And tempted least to deviate from the line
Of simple duty, woeful forfeiture C.
How difficult for man to keep the line
Prescribed by duty! Happy once and pure C.
[117] 1845.
Though Angels watched lest man should from the line
Of duty sever, blest though he was, and pure
In thought and deed, a woeful forfeiture
He made by wilful breach of law divine,
The church of Christ how prompt was she to abjure
Allegiance to her Lord how prone to twine C.
[118] 1845.