Reason, The Use Of It In Divine Matters Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: AABBCCDD EEFFGGHH IJKKCCL KKMMKKNO NNGPQQCC PPRRKKKK| Some blind themselves 'cause possibly they may | A |
| Be led by others a right way | A |
| They build on sands which if unmov'd they find | B |
| 'T is but because there was no wind | B |
| Less hard 't is not to err ourselves than know | C |
| If our forefathers err'd or no | C |
| When we trust men concerning God we then | D |
| Trust not God concerning men | D |
| - | |
| Visions and inspirations some expect | E |
| Their course here to direct | E |
| Like senseless chemists their own wealth destroy | F |
| Imaginary gold t' enjoy | F |
| So stars appear to drop to us from sky | G |
| And gild the passage as they fly | G |
| But when they fall and meet th'opposing ground | H |
| What but a sordid slime is found | H |
| - | |
| Sometimes their fancies they 'bove reason set | I |
| And fast that they may dream of meat | J |
| Sometimes ill spirits their sickly souls delude | K |
| And forms obtrude | K |
| So Endor's wretched sorceress although | C |
| She Saul through his disguise did know | C |
| Yet when the devil comes up disguis'd she cries | L |
| ' Behold the Gods arise ' | - |
| - | |
| In vain alas these outward hopes are try'd | K |
| Reason within's our only guide | K |
| Reason which God be prais'd still walks for all | M |
| Its old original fall | M |
| And since itself the boundless Godhead join'd | K |
| With a reasonable mind | K |
| It plainly shows that mysteries divine | N |
| May with our reason join | O |
| - | |
| The holy book like the eighth sphere does shine | N |
| With thousand lights of truth divine | N |
| So numberless the stars that to the eye | G |
| It makes but all one galaxy | P |
| Yet Reason must assist too for in seas | Q |
| So vast and dangerous as these | Q |
| Our course by stars above we cannot know | C |
| Without the compass too below | C |
| - | |
| Though Reason cannot through Faith's mysteries see | P |
| It sees that there and such they be | P |
| Leads to heaven's door and there does humbly keep | R |
| And there through chinks and key holes peep | R |
| Though it like Moses by a sad command | K |
| Must not come in to th' Holy Land | K |
| Yet thither it infallibly does guide | K |
| And from afar 't is all descry'd | K |
Abraham Cowley
(1)
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