THE
IGNORANCE
OF
MAN
.
BY
JAMES
MERRICK
,
M.
A.
BEHOLD
yon
new-born
infant
,
griev'd
With
hunger
,
thirst
,
and
pain
;
That
asks
to
have
the
wants
reliev'd
,
It
knows
not
to
explain
.
Aloud
the
speechless
suppliant
cries
,
And
utters
,
as
it
can
,
The
woes
that
in
its
bosom
rise
,
And
speak
its
nature
Man
.
That
infant
,
whose
advancing
hour
Life's
various
sorrows
try
,
(
Sad
proof
of
sin's
transmissive
power
)
That
infant
,
Lord
!
am
I
.
A
childhood
yet
my
thoughts
confess
,
Tho'
long
in
years
mature
;
Unknowing
whence
I
feel
distress
,
And
where
,
or
what
its
cure
.
Author
of
good
!
to
thee
I
turn
;
Thy
ever
wakeful
eye
Alone
can
all
my
wants
discern
,
Thy
hand
alone
supply
.
O
let
thy
fear
within
me
dwell
,
Thy
love
my
footsteps
guide
;
That
love
shall
vainer
loves
expel
,
That
fear
all
fears
beside
.
And
O
!
by
error's
force
subdu'd
,
Since
oft
my
stubborn
will
,
Preposterous
,
shuns
the
latent
good
,
And
grasps
the
specious
ill
;
Not
to
my
wish
,
but
to
my
want
,
Do
thou
thy
gifts
apply
:
Unask'd
,
what
good
thou
knowest
,
grant
;
What
ill
,
tho'
ask'd
,
deny
.