WRITING or scripture, sacred or profane, Can only render history more plain Of what was done or said, by God or man, Since the creation of the world began: Tho' ev'ry word in sacred page be true, @3To give account@1 is all that it can do. Now an account of things, as done or said, Is not a @3living@1 letter, but a @3dead@1; A picture only, which may represent, But cannot give us what is really meant: He that has got a map into his hand May use the @3name@1, but knows it is not @3land.@1 So in @3the Bible@1 when we come to look, (That is, by way of eminence, @3the book,@1) We must not fancy that it can bestow The things themselves, which we desire to know; It can but yield, however true and plain, Verbal directions how we may obtain. Tho' a prescription be directly sure, Upon the patient's taking it, to cure, No one imagines that the worded bill, Becomes, itself, the remedy for ill; The med'cines taken, as the bill directs, Procure the salutiferous effects. Who, then, can place in any written code The Holy Ghost's, the Comforter's, abode? @3Constant abode—supreme illumination—@1 What copy can be @3this@1, or what translation? The Spirit's dwelling, by th' attesting pen Of all th' inspir'd, is in the hearts of men. Were @3books@1 his constant residence indeed, What must the millions do who cannot @3read?@1 When they, who can, so vary in their sense, What must distinguish true from false pretence? If they must follow where the learned guide, What diff'rent spirits in one book abide? Genius for @3paradox@1, however bright, Cannot well justify this oversight: Better to own the truth, for the truth's sake, Than to persist in such a gross mistake. Books are but books; th' illuminating part Depends on God's Good Spirit in the @3heart. The Comforter@1, Christ said, @3will come unto, Abide with, dwell in@1, (not your @3books@1, but) you: Just as absurd an ink and paper throne For God's abode, as one of wood or stone: If to adore an image be idolatry, To deify a book is @3bibliolatry.@1 | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...COLORADO MORTON'S RIDE by LEONARD BACON (1887-1954) EASTER by WILLIAM HENRY DAVIES THREE KINGS OF ORIENT by JOHN HENRY HOPKINS JR. HE WROTE THE HISTORY BOOK,' IT SAID by MARIANNE MOORE AN IRISH AIRMAN FORESEES HIS DEATH by WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS THIS IS NOT I by FRANCES DAVIS ADAMS |