"You think, perhaps, his dull Capacity, / In flight of Reason, cannot soar so high, / As to confirm him in his Sophistry."
— Anonymous
Author
Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Printed for Thomas Tebb and Theoph. Sanders, Edw. Symon, and Francis Clay
Date
1716
Metaphor
"You think, perhaps, his dull Capacity, / In flight of Reason, cannot soar so high, / As to confirm him in his Sophistry."
Metaphor in Context
Why should you think an honest harmless Priest
Should thus design to lead you in a Mist?
Were there no God, why should not he, like you,
Indulge himself in sinful Pleasures too?
You think, perhaps, his dull Capacity,
In flight of Reason, cannot soar so high,
As to confirm him in his Sophistry.
Does all the learned World, but your good Sect,
Wander in Paths to Truth most indirect?
I'm of Opinion, you as probably
May err, as those that own a Deity.
Does your proud Maggot so abuse your Sense,
To make you think ours but a weak Pretence,
And only yours the mighty Argument?
For shame of so unjust a Pride repent.
If dull Religion, as you call it, be
A Cheat, what need the Actors disagree?
What need they different Opinions frame,
When they by one alone might reach the same?
You'd not care how, so you did win the Game.
Strange Light of Nature, which your Will directs
Nothing to see, but what your Light affects:
But now I'm thinking of the Hell you made;
Ah! to what future Grief you are betray'd?
To this, I fancy, with some small amends,
You, as to Heav'n, will recommend your Friends.
Let but the Wine be good, and Gaming square,
You'd not repine to live for ever there:
And let the Miss be sound, and 'tis compleat,
These would to you be Joys divinely sweet.
You'd with those sensual Pleasures ever last,
And fear Eternity made too much haste.
The old Elysium would be too severe,
There drinking is not A-la-Mode I fear;
But Mahomet's Paradise comes very near.
Howe'er it be, pray God you be so wise,
To keep your self out of Fool's Paradise;
There, I'm afraid, your self at last you'll find,
Led on by Reason, that blind Guide o'th'Mind.
Thro Labyrinths of Thought, and envious Ways,
It will conduct you to the fatal Place,
And leave you there---
Naked to Shame, to Horror, and Amaze.
O then, from such Idolatry refrain,
To worship the Chimeras of your Brain.
Make not your Faith your Reason's Sacrifice,
Which only does prevail in Fallacies:
Thus you the Deity the Victim make,
And for the God the Sacrifice mistake.
As by Rebellion Subjects oft become
Lords of their Monarch, and pronounce his Doom:
So Reason, to your wicked Nature join'd,
Rebels 'gainst Faith, whose Slave it was design'd.
For your own sake these fatal Errors mend,
And by your Penitence make glad your Friend,
J. D.
(p. 93-4, ll. 41-95; p. 103-5 in 1704 ed.)
Should thus design to lead you in a Mist?
Were there no God, why should not he, like you,
Indulge himself in sinful Pleasures too?
You think, perhaps, his dull Capacity,
In flight of Reason, cannot soar so high,
As to confirm him in his Sophistry.
Does all the learned World, but your good Sect,
Wander in Paths to Truth most indirect?
I'm of Opinion, you as probably
May err, as those that own a Deity.
Does your proud Maggot so abuse your Sense,
To make you think ours but a weak Pretence,
And only yours the mighty Argument?
For shame of so unjust a Pride repent.
If dull Religion, as you call it, be
A Cheat, what need the Actors disagree?
What need they different Opinions frame,
When they by one alone might reach the same?
You'd not care how, so you did win the Game.
Strange Light of Nature, which your Will directs
Nothing to see, but what your Light affects:
But now I'm thinking of the Hell you made;
Ah! to what future Grief you are betray'd?
To this, I fancy, with some small amends,
You, as to Heav'n, will recommend your Friends.
Let but the Wine be good, and Gaming square,
You'd not repine to live for ever there:
And let the Miss be sound, and 'tis compleat,
These would to you be Joys divinely sweet.
You'd with those sensual Pleasures ever last,
And fear Eternity made too much haste.
The old Elysium would be too severe,
There drinking is not A-la-Mode I fear;
But Mahomet's Paradise comes very near.
Howe'er it be, pray God you be so wise,
To keep your self out of Fool's Paradise;
There, I'm afraid, your self at last you'll find,
Led on by Reason, that blind Guide o'th'Mind.
Thro Labyrinths of Thought, and envious Ways,
It will conduct you to the fatal Place,
And leave you there---
Naked to Shame, to Horror, and Amaze.
O then, from such Idolatry refrain,
To worship the Chimeras of your Brain.
Make not your Faith your Reason's Sacrifice,
Which only does prevail in Fallacies:
Thus you the Deity the Victim make,
And for the God the Sacrifice mistake.
As by Rebellion Subjects oft become
Lords of their Monarch, and pronounce his Doom:
So Reason, to your wicked Nature join'd,
Rebels 'gainst Faith, whose Slave it was design'd.
For your own sake these fatal Errors mend,
And by your Penitence make glad your Friend,
J. D.
(p. 93-4, ll. 41-95; p. 103-5 in 1704 ed.)
Categories
Provenance
Searching in C-H Lion; confirmed in ECCO.
Citation
2 entries in ESTC (1704, 1716).
Poems on Affairs of State, from 1640. To This Present Year 1704. Written by the Greatest Wits of the Age, Viz. The late Duke of Buckingham, Duke of D-re, Late E. of Rochester, Earl of D-t, Lord J-Rys, Ld Hal-x, Andrew Marvel, Esq; Col. M-d-t, Mr. St. J-ns, Mr. Hambden, Sir Fleet Shepherd, Mr. Dryden, Mr. St-y, Mr. Pr-r, Dr. G-th, &c. Most of Which Were Never Before Publish'd. Vol. III. ([London?] : [s.n.], Printed in the Year 1704). <Link to ESTC>
Text from "The Fourth Letter. In Answer to the Former" from Poems on Affairs of State, from the Year 1640. to the Year 1704. 3 vols. 2nd ed. (London: Printed for Thomas Tebb and Theoph. Sanders, Edw. Symon, and Francis Clay, 1716). <Link to third volume in ECCO>
Poems on Affairs of State, from 1640. To This Present Year 1704. Written by the Greatest Wits of the Age, Viz. The late Duke of Buckingham, Duke of D-re, Late E. of Rochester, Earl of D-t, Lord J-Rys, Ld Hal-x, Andrew Marvel, Esq; Col. M-d-t, Mr. St. J-ns, Mr. Hambden, Sir Fleet Shepherd, Mr. Dryden, Mr. St-y, Mr. Pr-r, Dr. G-th, &c. Most of Which Were Never Before Publish'd. Vol. III. ([London?] : [s.n.], Printed in the Year 1704). <Link to ESTC>
Text from "The Fourth Letter. In Answer to the Former" from Poems on Affairs of State, from the Year 1640. to the Year 1704. 3 vols. 2nd ed. (London: Printed for Thomas Tebb and Theoph. Sanders, Edw. Symon, and Francis Clay, 1716). <Link to third volume in ECCO>
Date of Entry
07/11/2013
