28 BAXTER'S POEMS, 'There is a knowledge which increaseth sorrow, And such whose fruit will die before to-morrow : Yea, there's a knowledge which occasions sin · Desire of knowing did man's woe b~gin: All means are to be judged of by their end : That's good which doth good, or doth good portend. Its end and .objects which ennoble acts: 'Those that do glorious things are glorious facts. Who calls a self-condemning sinner, wise, 'l11at on a syllable can criticize ; 'That can in mode and figure talk in vain ; Or learnedly his pride and sin maintain ; That's best at the resolving of a riddle, Or playing on a bag-pipe, or a fiddle: But hath not learned how to live and die, Nor where his soul must dwell eternally ? God and all wise nien judge him but a tool, 'Who is not wise enough to save his soul. [good, When Heaven's made sure, all knowledge then is For faith and love can turn it into food: It's pleasant then to study any book, When we see God the sense, where'er we look: When as the way to Heav'n we know each place, And see God's beauty in each creature's face: And when we stick not in the form and letter, But all our knowledge tends to make us better. When still the more we know, the more we love, And draw more with us to the joys above. Fine fancies are not. like clear minds ; nor those Like love, by which the soul with God doth close; Wisdom itself will make the mind most wise. He that ascends to God, doth highest rise.
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