What is Truth! John sviii.33

What is Truth! John sviii.33

I asked old time and the spheres,
To answer this question so high;
Days, months, and the swift rolling years
But neither gave any reply
I stood on a steep precipice,
And call'd to the surges below,
If ocean could answer me this?
Its hoarse billows murmured - No!

Creation I ventur'd to sound,
Streams, groves, valleys, meadows, and flowers;
But more was the landscape around,
'Twas silence in gardens and bowers,
Of seasons adorning the year,
Young spring, summer's roseate flush,
I ask'd and they lent me no ear;
But all were as mute as the rush.

Yon sun in his chariot of gold,
Fair Luna, that angel of night,
The folio volumes so old,
I read, but they gave me no light;
I look'd to the blue vaulted sky,
Which sages are wont to explain,
And each constellation on high 0-
But sought for solution in vain.

Astronomy bade me draw near,
The signs to decipher and read;
But planets though brilliant and clear,
Were dark on this subject indeed;
And dark was astrology too,
The famed hieroglyphical lore;
Though Merlin had lent me his clue,
It left me as dark as before.

Whom fame in her temple enroll'd,
The masters of magic and song;
I sought to the sages of old,
But silent was every tongue:
In wilderness mazes they stray'd,
On seas of uncertainty toss'd,
Philosophy lent me her aid,
But Truth was in Paradise lost.

I went to the Delphian shrine,
And next to Dodona's fair fane;
The priestess, she could not define,
The oracle answered in vain.
At length I resort to the schools,
Where science flows racy and clear,
But say, were they wise men or fools?
'The knowledge of truth was not here."

Some bade me of reason inquire,
Who dwells in the temple of mind;
I went to the white-headed sire,
But found him decrepit and blind.
I ask'd him to lend me clue,
He look'd, but was silent and glum,
And taught me this lesson so true,
That unsanctified Reason is dumb.

Thus science, philosophy, art,
Wit, reason, and nature, were mute,
They could not an answer impart,
Or settle the point in dispute:
SO restless, dissatisfied, vext,
With the pains I had taken, forsooth,
I went to my Bible the next,
And Jesus said, 'I AM THE TRUTH."

Worcester.

Worcester

2:29, p. 231

1828.10.10

From the Religious Magazine