For He remembered that they were but flesh; a wind that passeth away, and cometh not again.
The frailty of human nature
I. The frailty of human nature impressively described. Two terms are used--
1. “Flesh”; not granite, iron, or even oak, but a sentient, weak, constantly-dissolving organism.
2. “Wind.”
(1) Mysterious. “We know not whence it cometh, or whither it goeth.”
(2) Fleeting. Wind is a rapid wave of air that rolls over you and is gone. A vapour, a shadow, wind, such are the symbols of life.
II. The frailty of human nature Divinely remembered. This being so--
1. He will not require from us more than we are able to render.
2. He will not lay upon us more than we are able to endure. (Homilist.)