Selected quad for the lemma: truth_n
Text snippets containing the quad
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A62328
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The Sceptical muse, or, A Paradox on human understanding a poem.
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1699
(1699)
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Wing S847; ESTC R32629
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3,876
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14
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THE Sceptical Muse OR A PARADOX ON Humane Vnderstanding A POEM Veri nihil Omnia ficta Lucil. Heu quam praecipiti mersa profundo Mens hebet Boet. de Consol Philosoph LONDON Printed for R. Basset at the Goerge in Fleetstreet and Sold by Fr. Hicks Bookseller in Cambridge 1699. THE Sceptical Muse OR A PARADOX ON Humane Vnderstanding TO make a World and stretch the bulky Frame Beyond where Thought or Fancy ever came The great Creators Fiat did suffice Mov'd by one Word the Massy Sphere did rise But when he did the World's great Lord Create The Sacred Triad then in Council sate Let us make Man said God whom we 'll allow To rule the Globe and be Vice-God below Let us Create him too like us Divine And on his Soul let our bright Image shine So spake th' Eternal and was heard around Lowd Peals of Thunder did attend the sound Nature obey'd and lo The teeming Earth Produc'd a Figure of Ignoble Birth Of small account 'till the Celestial Soul Inform'd the Clay and so compos'd the whole As first the Primogenial Light was hurl'd And scatter'd through the yet unfinish'd World Till God proceeding on his work did place The Lucid Atoms in one shining Mass So those perfections which divided shone In Nature's works did yet unite in none Till Man appear'd a Creature more compleat Where all those lively scatter'd graces met This glorious Being thus Divinely made Exerts its pow'rs and wonders are display'd The Soul which was of purest Angel-kind The reflex Image of its Makers Mind At first unspotted by Polluting Sin With vigour did the Race of Life begin With all its Pow'rs and Faculties compleat Started with Joy and no resistance met Then th' Vnderstanding without pain did climb Capacious Active Lively and Sublime Clear as fair Fountains and as pure as they Chast as the Morn and open as the day The Will which always follow'd Nature's Voice Was ne'er deceiv'd but made a happy choice Judgment was then convictive and sincere And all Discourse as Intuition clear Then Truth or God himself whom Truth we name For God and Truth are without doubt the same Was always present and uncourted came That Immense Ocean which with Beauty flows That utmost Thule of Extended Vows The Soul possess'd nor from the Object mov'd But gaz'd admir'd contemplated and lov'd Love then that sweâ—â— procession of the Mind Was from all Dross and Earthly Dreggs refin'd Wing'd with pure Zeal above the Clouds it rode And without Plato's Scale arriv'd at God To what perfection must that Schollar reach Whom God's Immediate Discipline did teach Man at the first in perfect state appears Mature in Knowledge and mature in Years From him We first Philosophy may trace Parent of Wisdom as of Human Race O the Vast Riches of this New-born Mind To furnish this Heav'n prov'd excessive kind Lavish'd its Treasures and left none behind Since then no Soul so brightly clad appears Such Seraph's Robes nor Heav'nly Garments wears Unstudy'd Knowledge only was design'd The rich Attire of Adam's glorious Mind Thro' Nature's maze he knowledge could persue And no dark Object could contract his View The Prospect lengthen'd as the Mind advanc'd While all before in beauteous Order danc'd Creation stoop'd and ev'ry Creature came Display'd its Nature and receiv'd a Name Thus Knowledge first was without pains acquir'd Man knew enough but yet to more aspir'd To be more knowing and more like his God Leaving the true forbidden paths he trod But O Abortive hopes O fickle Joy His vain Ambition God did soon destroy For lo A Cloud comes wing'd with sudden night Man falls by Sin and God withdraws his Light No more he finds the use of shining day But gropes for Knowledge and mistakes his way So Angels once a happy state could boast O the bright Glories of that shining Host But when th' Apostates fierce Rebellion dar'd Sin'd to be great and with th' Almighty warr'd Vengeance Divine did soon the fact persue And from Elysium sent the Godless Crew Our mis'ry then from Adam first we date Begun too soon and ending very late Life now does scarce one glimpse of light display We mourn in darkness and Despair of day That Nat'ral light once dress'd with Orient beams Diminish'd looks and now a Twilight seems A Miscellaneous Composition made Of Night and Day of Sun-shine and of Shade Through an uncertain Medium now we look And find that Falshood which for Truth we took So Rays projected from the Eastern Skies Shew the false Day before the true can rise Unhappy Man who through successive years To Life's last Ebb from early Childhood Errs No sooner born but proves a Foe to Truth For Infant Reason is o'er powr'd in Youth The Cheats of sense will half our Learning share And Preconceptions all our knowledge are Reason 't is true should over sense preside Correct our Notions and our Judgments guide But false Opinions rooted in the mind Hood-wink the Soul and keep the Reason blind Reason's a Taper which but faintly burns A Languid Flame that glows and dies by turns We see 't a while and but a little way We travel by its Light as Men by Day But quickly dying it forsakes us soon Like Morning Stars that never stay till Noon The Soul can scarce above the body rise And all we see is with corporeal Eyes That little knowledge now which Man obtains From outward Objects and from Sense he gleans He like the painful Bee must plod and sweat By day must toil by night that toil repeat And yet at last what little Fruit he gains A Beggar 's Harvest glean'd with mighty pains The Passions still predominant will rule Uncivil rude nor bred in Reason's School Our Understanding they with darkness fill Cause strange Conceptions and pervert the Will On these the Soul as on some flowing tide Must sit and on the swelling Billows ride Hurry'd away for how can be withstood Th' Impetuous Torrent of the boyling blood Be gone false hopes for all our Learning 's vain Can we be free when these the rule maintain These are the tools of Knowledge which we use The spirits heated will strange things produce Tell me who e'er the Passions could controul Or from the body disengage the soul Till this is done our best persuits are vain To conquer Truth and unmixt knowledge gain Custom the World 's great Idol we adore And knowing this we seek to know no more What Education did at first receive Maturer Age confirms us to believe The careful Nurse and Priest is all we need To learn Opinions and our Country's Creed The Parents precepts early are instill'd And spoil the Man while they instruct the Child To what hard Fate is Human-kind betray'd When thus Implicit Faith's a Vertue made When Education more than Truth prevails And nought is current but what Custom seals Thus from the time we first begin to know We live and learn but not the wiser grow We seldom use our
liberty aright Nor Judge of things by Universal Light Our prepossessions and Affections bind The Soul in Chains and lord it o'er the Mind And if self Int'rest be but in the case Our unexamin'd Principles may pass Good God! that man should thus himself deceive To learn on Credit and on Trust believe Better the Mind no Notions had retain'd But still a fair unwritten blank remain'd For now who Truth from Falshood would discern Must first disrobe the Mind and all unlearn Errors contracted in unmindful Youth When once remov'd will smooth the way for Truth To dispossess the Child the Mortal lives But Death approaches e'er the Man arrives Those who would Learning 's glorious Kingdom find The dear bought purchase of the trading Mind From many dangers must themselves acquit And more than Scylla and Charybdis meet O what an Ocean must be Voyag'd o'er To gain a prospect of the shining shore Resisting Rocks oppose the bounding Soul And adverse Waves retard it as they roll Does not that foolish deference we pay To Men that liv'd long since our passage stay O what prepost'rous paths at first we tread And learn to walk by stumbling on the Dead First we a blessing from the Grave implore Worship Old Urns and Monuments adore The Rev'rend Sage with vast esteem we prize He liv'd long since and must be wond'rous wise Thus are we Debtors to the famous Dead For all those Errors which their Phancies bred Errors indeed for real Knowledge stay'd With those first times nor farther was convey'd But light Opinions are much lower brought While on the Waves of Ignorance they float But solid Truth scarce ever gains the shore So soon it sinks and ne'r emerges more And now suppose this maze of dangers past Will Knowledge dawn and bless the Mind at last Ah! no 't is now environ'd from our Eyes Hides all its Charms and undiscover'd lies Truth like a point or line escapes the sight And claims Intention to perceive it right But what resembles Truth is soon descry'd Spread like a surface and expanded wide The first Man rarely very rarely finds The tedious search of long inquiring Minds But yet what 's worse we know not when we err What mark does Truth what bright distinction bear How do we know that what we know is true How shall we falsehood fly and truth persue Let none then here his certain knowledge boast 'T is all but probability at most This is the easie purchase of the Mind The Vulgar's Treasure which we soon may find But Truth lies hid and e'er we can explore The glitt'ring Gem our fleeting Life is o'er Through all the bulky Volumes of the Dead And through those Books which modern times have bred The Soul may travel as thro Moorish ground Where scarce one Useful Plant is ever found O'er-run with Errors which so thick appear That searching Truth we cannot find it there Bless'd Revelation but for thee we might Have travel'd thro' a dark and tedious night Thy wond'rous force hath reach'd th' Imprison'd Mind And loos'd those Fetters which her pow'rs did bind Now now she 's free and can with Ease run o'er Those obvious Truths so much perplex'd before Reason has little now to do but prove That some most perfect Being rules above And this by little Inference we find 'T is plain 't is bright 't is written on the Mind If there 's a God it then must be believ'd He 's no Deceiver nor can be deceiv'd And if he spake as may be plainly prov'd Then truth prevails and every doubt's remov'd Here then at last my weary'd Soul shall rest With Heav'nly light and sacred knowledge blest And now methinks bright Angels round me stand And bid me welcome to a peaceful Land Methinks I 'm lifted to an higher Sphere Where all is mild and all the Prospect clear From hence I can behold contending Schools Disputing Sects Philosophers and Fools Now I can each Hypothesis despise Laugh at Opinions and be boldly wise No more Ye Dogmatists your Wit shall harm My liss'ning Soul no more my Reason charm No more you shall my Faculties controul Suspicion guards and Doubt defends my Soul FINIS