Reason The Use Of It In Divine Matters

Some blind themselves, ’cause possibly they may

Be led by others a right way;

They build on sands, which if unmov’d they find,

‘T is but because there was no wind.

Less hard ‘t is, not to err ourselves, than know

If our forefathers err’d or no.

When we trust men concerning God, we then

Trust not God concerning men.

Visions and inspirations some expect

Their course here to direct;

Like senseless chemists their own wealth destroy,

Imaginary gold t’ enjoy.

So stars appear to drop to us from sky,

And gild the passage as they fly:

But when they fall, and meet th’opposing ground,

What but a sordid slime is found?

Sometimes their fancies they ‘bove reason set,

And fast, that they may dream of meat;

Sometimes ill spirits their sickly souls delude,

And bastard forms obtrude:

So Endor’s wretched sorceress, although

She Saul through his disguise did know,

Yet, when the devil comes up disguis’d, she cries,

” Behold! the Gods arise.”

In vain, alas! these outward hopes are try’d;

Reason within’s our only guide;

Reason, which (God be prais’d!) still walks, for all

Its old original fall:

And, since itself the boundless Godhead join’d

With a reasonable mind,

It plainly shows that mysteries divine

May with our reason join.

The holy book, like the eighth sphere, does shine

With thousand lights of truth divine:

So numberless the stars, that to the eye

It makes but all one galaxy.

Yet Reason must assist too; for, in seas

So vast and dangerous as these,

Our course by stars above we cannot know,

Without the compass too below.

Though Reason cannot through Faith’s mysteries see,

It sees that there and such they be;

Leads to heaven’s door, and there does humbly keep,

And there through chinks and key-holes peep;

Though it, like Moses, by a sad command,

Must not come in to th’ Holy Land,

Yet thither it infallibly does guide,

And from afar ‘t is all descry’d.

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Poems in English 

• To a Virtuous Young Lady poem – John Milton poems by John Milton
• The Passion poem – John Milton poems by John Milton
• The Hymn poem – John Milton poems by John Milton
• The Fifth Ode Of Horace. Lib. I poem – John Milton poems by John Milton
• Sonnet to the Nightingale poem – John Milton poems by John Milton
• Sonnet 23 poem – John Milton poems by John Milton
• Sonnet 22 poem – John Milton poems by John Milton
• Sonnet 21 poem – John Milton poems by John Milton
• Sonnet 20 poem – John Milton poems by John Milton
• Sonnet 19 poem – John Milton poems by John Milton
• Sonnet 18 poem – John Milton poems by John Milton
• Sonnet 17 poem – John Milton poems by John Milton
• Sonnet 16 poem – John Milton poems by John Milton
• Sonnet 15 poem – John Milton poems by John Milton
• Sonnet 14 poem – John Milton poems by John Milton
• Sonnet 13 poem – John Milton poems by John Milton
• Sonnet 12 poem – John Milton poems by John Milton
• Sonnet 11 poem – John Milton poems by John Milton
• Sonnet 10 poem – John Milton poems by John Milton
• Sonnet 09 poem – John Milton poems by John Milton

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