I say that man was made to grow, not stop.
That help he needed once and needs no more,
Having grown but an inch by, is withdrawn;
For he hath new needs, and new helps to these,
This imports solely, man should mount on each
New height in view; the help whereby he mounts,
The ladder rung his foot has left, may fall,
Since all things suffer change save God and Truth,
Man apprehends Him newly at each stage
Whereat earth's ladder drops, its service done;
And nothing shall prove twice what once was proved.
You stick a garden-plot with ordered twigs
To show inside the germs of herbs unborn,
And check the careless step would spoil their birth.
