Bitter Truth

from William Cowper, The Task:

What's that, which brings contempt upon a book,

And him who writes it, though the style be neat,

The method clear, and argument exact?

That makes a minister in holy things

The joy of many, and the dread of more,

His name a theme for praise and for reproach?—

That, while it gives us worth in God's account, 

Depreciates and undoes us in our own?

What pearl is it, that rich men cannot buy,

That learning is too proud to gather up;

But which the poor, and the despised of all,

Seek and obtain, and often find unsought?

Tell me—and I will tell thou what is truth.

—oOo—