Providence is dark in its permissions; yet one day, when all is known,
The universe of reason shall acknowledge how just and good were they;
For the wise man leaneth on his wisdom, and the righteous trusteth to his righteousness,
And those, who thirst for independence, are suffered to drink of disappointment.
Wherefore?—to prove and humble them; and to teach the idolaters of Truth,
That it is but the ladder unto Him, on whom only they should trust.
There is truth in the wildest scheme that imaginative heat hath engendered,
And a man may gather somewhat from the crudest theories of fancy:
The alchymist laboureth in folly, but catcheth chance gleams of wisdom,
And findeth out many inventions, though his crucible breed not gold;