Knowledge

The man whose knowledge begins and ends with matter and its laws , has got a superstructure without a foundation . In that learning and enduring relations of man as an immortal have no place , and the fabric topples over when the breath of life goes out . But this beginning of knowledge , resting on the being and attributes of God , and comprehending all the relations of the creature , is a foundation that cannot be shaken . On that solid base more and more knowledge will be reared , high as heaven , wide as the universe , lasting as eternity . The knowledge of God is the root of knowledge . When branches are cut from a tree and laid on the ground at a certain season , they retain for a time a portion of their sap . But very soon the slender stock of sap is exhausted , and as there is no connection with a root , so as to procure a new supply , the buds wither away .How unlike the buds that spring from the branches growing in the living root ! This natural life is like a severed branch . The knowledge that springs from it is a bud put forth  by the moisture residing in itself . When life passes , it withers away . When a human soul is , by regeneration , "rooted in Him ," the body's dissolution does not nip its knowledge in the bud . Transplanted into a more genial clime , this knowledge will flourish forever . Eye hath not seen , nor ear heard , what it will grow to .