Devotional Verses Founded on and Illustrative of select Texts of Scripture [by Bernard Barton] |
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THE VANITY OF HUMAN KNOWLEDGE. |
 | Devotional Verses |  |
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THE VANITY OF HUMAN KNOWLEDGE.
“For we are but of yesterday, and know nothing, because our
days upon earth are a shadow.”
—Job, viii. 9.
His birth of yesterday,
To-morrow pass'd away;—
His life the shadow of a summer cloud;
Shall mortal man be vain
Of knowledge he may gain
In the brief span of time to earth allow'd?
To-morrow pass'd away;—
His life the shadow of a summer cloud;
Shall mortal man be vain
Of knowledge he may gain
In the brief span of time to earth allow'd?
Not that we under-rate
Or lightly estimate
The triumphs won by many an honour'd name
Of those whose midnight oil,
And unremitting toil,
In outward lore have won them worldly fame.
Or lightly estimate
The triumphs won by many an honour'd name
Of those whose midnight oil,
And unremitting toil,
In outward lore have won them worldly fame.
Yet, oh! how poor, and brief,
Like the frail Cistus' leaf
Must knowledge be—confin'd to things of time;
Which, fetter'd by their thrall,
Is ignorant of all
That renders an eternity sublime.
Like the frail Cistus' leaf
Must knowledge be—confin'd to things of time;
Which, fetter'd by their thrall,
Is ignorant of all
That renders an eternity sublime.
78
What boots it to be vers'd
In systems schools have nurs'd,—
If, gaining all the lore that these impart,
That truth remain unknown,
Whose teaching power, alone,
Convicts, converts, and sanctifies the heart?
In systems schools have nurs'd,—
If, gaining all the lore that these impart,
That truth remain unknown,
Whose teaching power, alone,
Convicts, converts, and sanctifies the heart?
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