Philip Franeau, On the Powers of Human Understanding

Eternal must that progress be
Which nature through futurity
Decrees the human soul;
Capacious still, it still improves
As through the abyss of time it moves,
Or endless ages roll.

Its knowledge grows by every change;
Through science vast we see its range
That none may here acquire;
The pause of death must come between
And Nature gives another scene
More brilliant to admire.

Thus decomposed, or recombined,
To slow perfection moves the mind
And may at last attain
A nearer rank with that first cause
Which distant, though it ever draws,
Unequalled must remain.