The soul's dark cottage, batter'd and decay'd, Lets in new light through chinks that Time has made. Stronger by weakness, wiser men become As they draw near to their eternal home: Leaving the old, both worlds at once they view That stand upon the threshold of the new.

Stronger by weakness, wiser men become.

His love at once and dread instruct our thought; As man He suffer'd and as God He taught.

Vexed sailors cursed the rain, for which poor shepherds prayed in vain.

All human things Of dearest value hang on slender strings.

The lark that shuns on lofty boughs to build, Her humble nest, lies silent in the field.

The seas are quiet when the winds give o'er; So calm are we when passions are no more!