"And is devotion virtue? 'Tis compell'd: / What heart of stone but glows at thoughts like these?"

— Young, Edward (bap. 1683, d. 1765)


Place of Publication
London
Publisher
R. Dodsley
Date
1743
Metaphor
"And is devotion virtue? 'Tis compell'd: / What heart of stone but glows at thoughts like these?"
Metaphor in Context
And is devotion virtue? 'Tis compell'd:
What heart of stone but glows at thoughts like these?

Such contemplations mount us, and should mount
The mind still higher; nor ever glance on man
Unraptured, uninflamed.--Where roll my thoughts
To rest from wonders? Other wonders rise;
And strike where'er they roll: my soul is caught;
Heaven's sovereign blessings, clustering from the cross,
Rush on her in a throng, and close her round,
The prisoner of amaze! In His bless'd life
I see the path, and in His death the price,
And in His great ascent the proof supreme,
Of immortality.--And did He rise?
Hear, O ye nations! Hear it, O ye dead!
He rose! He rose! He burst the bars of death.
Lift up your heads, ye everlasting gates,
And give the King of Glory to come in!
Who is the King of glory? He who left
His throne of glory for the pang of death.
Lift up your heads, ye everlasting gates,
And give the King of glory to come in!
Who is the King of Glory? He who slew
The ravenous foe that gorged all human race!
The King of Glory, He whose glory fill'd
Heaven with amazement at His love to man;
And with Divine complacency beheld
Powers most illumined wilder'd in the theme!
(ll. 259-285, pp. 97-8 in CUP edition)
Provenance
Reading
Citation
Uniform title published in 9 volumes, from 1742 to 1745. At least 133 reprintings after 1745 in ESTC (1747, 1748, 1749, 1750, 1751, 1752, 1755, 1756, 1757, 1758, 1760, 1761, 1762, 1764, 1765, 1766, 1767, 1768, 1769, 1770, 1771, 1772, 1773, 1774, 1775, 1776, 1777, 1778, 1779, 1780, 1782, 1783, 1785, 1786, 1787, 1788, 1789, 1790, 1791, 1792, 1793, 1794, 1795, 1796, 1797, 1798, 1800).

Edward Young, Night the Fourth. The Christian Triumph. Containing the Only Cure for the Fear of Death, and Proper Sentiments of Heart on that Inestimable Blessing. Humbly Inscribed to the Honourable Mr. York (London: R. Dodsley, 1743). <Link to 1744 quarto in ECCO>

Text from The Complete Works, Poetry and Prose, of the Rev. Edward Young, LL.D., 2 vols. (London: William Tegg, 1854). <Link to Google Books> Reading Edward Young, Night Thoughts, ed. Stephen Cornford (New York: Cambridge UP, 1989).
Date of Entry
06/06/2013

The Mind is a Metaphor is authored by Brad Pasanek, Assistant Professor of English, University of Virginia.