Of A Trinity. From Proverbial Philosophy Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABCDEFGHIIJIKLMNOD PQRISDJTHISOSDLIUVIW ISXYIZA2OSB2 C2OD2DE2IIOIIB2F2ISG 2H2I2DDI2J2I2 GI2 JSK2ISD2L2I2SJM2SI2I O| Despise not shrewd reckoner the God of a good man's worship | A |
| Neither let thy calculating folly gainsay the unity of three | B |
| Nor scorn another's creed although he cannot solve thy doubts | C |
| Reason is the follower of faith where he may not be precursor | D |
| It is written and so we believe waiting not for outward proof | E |
| Inasmuch as mysteries inscrutable are the clear preroga tives of godhead | F |
| Reason hath nothing positive faith hath nothing doubtful | G |
| And the height of unbelieving wisdom is to question all things | H |
| When there is marvel in a doctrine faith is joyful and adoreth | I |
| But when all is clear what place is left for faith | I |
| Tell me the sum of thy knowledge is it yet assured of anything | J |
| Despise not what is wonderfill when all things are wonderful around thee | I |
| From the multitude of like effects thou sayest behold a law | K |
| And the matter thou art baffled in unmaking is to thy mind an element | L |
| Then look abroad I pray thee for analogy holdeth everywhere | M |
| And the Maker hath stamped his name on every creature of his hand | N |
| I know not of a matter or a spirit that is not three in one | O |
| And truly should account it for a marval a coin without the image of its Caesar | D |
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| Man talketh of himself as ignorant but judgeth by himself as wise | P |
| His own guess counteth he truth but the notions of another are his scorn | Q |
| But bear thou yet with a brother whose thought may be less subtle than thine own | R |
| And suffer the passing speculation suggested by analogies to faith | I |
| Like begetteth like and the great sea of Existence | S |
| In each of its uncounted waves holdeth up a mirror to its Maker | D |
| Like begetteth hke and the spreading tree of bemg | J |
| With each of its trefoil leaves pointeth at the trinity of God | T |
| Let him whose eyes have been unfilmed read this homily in all things | H |
| And thou of duller sight despise not him that readeth | I |
| There be three grand principles life generation and obedience | S |
| Shadowing in every creature the Spirit and the Father and the Son | O |
| There be three grand unities variously mixed in trinities | S |
| Three catholic divisors of the million sums of matter | D |
| Yea though science hath not seen it climbing the ladder of experiment | L |
| Yet faith in the presence of her God promulgate the mighty truth | I |
| Of three sole elements all nature's works consist | U |
| The pine and the rock to which it clingeth and the eagle sailing around it | V |
| The lion and the northorn whale and the deeps wherein he sporteth | I |
| The lizard sleeping in the sun the lightning flashing from a cloud | W |
| The rose and the ruby and the pearl each one is made of three | I |
| And the three be the like ingredients mingled in diverse measures | S |
| Thyself hast within thyself body and life and mind | X |
| Matter and breath and instinct unite in all beasts of the field | Y |
| Substance coherence and weight fashion the fabrics of the earth | I |
| The will the doing and the deed combine to frame a fact | Z |
| The stem the leaf and the flower beginning middle and end | A2 |
| Cause circumstance consequent and every three is one | O |
| Yea the very breath of man's life consisteth of a trinity of vapours | S |
| And the noonday light is a compound the triune shadow of Jehovah | B2 |
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| Shall all things else be in mystery and God alone be understood | C2 |
| Shall finite fathom infinity though it sound not the shallows of creation | O |
| Shall a man comprehend his Maker being yet a riddle to himself | D2 |
| Or time teach the lesson that eternity cannot master | D |
| If God be nothing more than one a child can compass the thought | E2 |
| But seraphs fail to unravel the wondrous unity of three | I |
| One verily He is for there can be but one who is all mighty | I |
| Yet the oracles of nature and religion proclaim Him three in one | O |
| And where were the value to thy soul O miserable denizen of earth | I |
| Of the idle pageant of the cross where hung no sacrifice for thee | I |
| Where the worth to thine impotent heart of that stirred Bethesda | B2 |
| All numbed and palsied as it is by the scorpion stings of sin | F2 |
| No thy trinity of nature enchained by treble death | I |
| Helplessly craveth of its God himself for three salvations | S |
| The soul to be reconciled in love the mind to be glorified in light | G2 |
| While this poor dying body leapeth into life | H2 |
| And if indeed for us all the costly ransom hath been paid | I2 |
| Bethink thee could less than Deity have owned so vast a treasure | D |
| Could a man contend with God and stand against the bosses of His buckler | D |
| Rendering the balance for guilt atonement to the uttermost | I2 |
| Thou art subtle to thine own thinking but wisdom judgeth thee a fool | J2 |
| Resolving thou wilt not bow the knee to a Being thou canst not comprehend | I2 |
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| The mind that could compass perfection were itself perfection's equal | G |
| And reason refuseth its homage to a God who can be fulty understood | I2 |
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| Thou that despisest mystery yet canst expound nothing | J |
| Wherefore rejectest thou the fact that solveth the enigma of all things | S |
| Wherefore veilest thou thine eyes lest the light of revelation sun them | K2 |
| And puttest aside the key that would open the casket of truth | I |
| The mind and the nature of God is shadowed in all his works | S |
| And none could have guessed of his essence had He not uttered it himself | D2 |
| Therefore thou child of folly that scornest the record of his wisdom | L2 |
| Learn from the consistencies of nature the needful miracle of Godhead | I2 |
| Yea let the heathen be thy teacher who adoreth many gods | S |
| For there is no wide spread error that hath not truth for its beginning | J |
| Be content thine eye cannot see all the sides of a cube at one view | M2 |
| Nor thy mind in the self same moment follow two ideas | S |
| There are now many marvels in thy creed believing what thou seest | I2 |
| Then let not the conceit of intellect hinder thee from worshipping mystery | I |
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| Transcribed from the th edition Proverbial Philosophy by Martin Farquhar Tupper by Mick Puttock August Spelling punctuation and grammer left mostly unchanged from the th edition | O |
Martin Farquhar Tupper
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Of A Trinity. From Proverbial Philosophy is a poem by Martin Farquhar Tupper. This page includes the poem text, poet information, related topics, comments, and similar poems.