Sonnet to Truth

Eternal Truth! Thou on whose spirit are based 
The immutable laws of God,— the firm decrees 
That cannot fail though worlds should be erased 
From the vast Book of Nature, — Man may cease 
To give thee reverence, and the moral waste 
Of earth grow darker with iniquities;
Still in thy conquering march thou 'it ever on, 
Unmoved by crime, uncrushed by foul deceit,
Firm as Jehovah's everlasting throne, 
Resistless as the thunderbolts that beat 
On the frail works of man. From zone to zone 
Fly with thy burning torch upreared, to greet 
The desolate realms of every clime and name,
Till the wide world awakes and kindles with its flame.