REASON. A POEM.   

REASON. A POEM.  
Written by the Author of the Choice.  
LONDON: Printed, and are to be sold by I. Nutt, near Stationers-Hall, MDCC.   

REASON. A POEM.  

UNHAPPY Man! Who through successive Years  
From early Youth to Life's last Childhood Errs;  
No sooner Born, but proves a Foe to Truth;  
For Infant Reason is over powered in Youth:  
The Cheats of Sense will half our Learning share;  
And Pre-Conceptions all our Knowledge are.  
Reason, 'tis true, should over Sense Preside,  
Correct our Notions, and our Judgement Guide;  
But false Opinions, rooted in the Mind,  
Hoodwink the Soul, and keep our 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;  
Life now does scarce one Glimpse of Light display.  
We Mourn in Darkness, and despair of Day;  
That Natural Light, once dressed with Orient Beams,  
Is now diminished, and a Twilight seems,  
A Miscellaneous Composition made  
Of Night, and Day, of Sunshine, and of Shade.  
Through an Uncertain Medium now we look,  
And find That Falsehood which for Truth we took.  
So Rays Projected from the Eastern Skies  
Show the false Day before the Sun can Rise.   

That little Knowledge now which Man Obtains,  
From outward Objects and from Sense he Gains;  
He, like a wretched Slave, 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 Gleaned with mighty Pains.   

The Passions still Predominant will Rule,  
Ungovern'd, Rude, not Bred in Reason's School;  
Our Understanding They with Darkness fill,  
Cause strong Corruptions, and pervert the Will;  
On These the Soul, as on some Flowing Tide,  
Must sit, and on the raging Billows Ride,  
Hurried away, for how can be withstood  
Th' Impetuous Torrent of the boiling Blood?  
Begun false Hopes, for all our Learning's Vain,  
Can we be free, where 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 Control,  
Or from the Body disengage the Soul;  
Till this is done, our best Pursuits are vain  
To conquer Truth and unmixed Knowledge Gain.  
Through all the bulky Volumes of the Dead,  
And through those Books that Modern Times have Bred.  
With pain we Travel, as through moorish Ground,  
Where scarce one useful Plant is ever found;  
O'errun with Errors which so thick appear,  
Our Search proves vain, no spark of Truth is there.   

What's all the noisy Jargon of the Schools,  
But Idle Nonsense of laborious Fools,  
Who fetter Reason with perplexing Rules.  
What in Aquinas bulky Works are found  
Does not enlighten Reason but Confound.  
Who Travels Scotus swelling Tomes shall find  
A Cloud of Darkness rising on the Mind.  
In controverted Points can Reason sway;  
When Passion or Conceit still hurries us away:  
Thus his new Notions Sh—k would Instill,  
And clear the greatest Mysteries at Will.  
But by unlucky Wit perplexed them more,  
And made them darker than they were before.  
S—th soon opposed him out of Christian Zeal,  
Showing how well he could Dispute and Rail:  
How shall we e'er discover which is Right,  
When Both so eagerly maintain the Fight?  
Each does the other's Arguments deride,  
Each has the Church and Scripture on his side.  
The sharp ill-natured Combats but a Jest,  
Both may be Wrong, One perhaps Errs the least:  
How shall we know which Articles are True,  
The Old ones of the Church or B— t'tis New.  
In Paths Uncertain, and Unsafe he Treads,  
Who blindly follows other's fertile Heads.  
What sure, what certain Mark have We to know,  
The Right or Wrong 'twixt B—ss, W—ke and H— w.   

Should untuned Nature crave the Medic Art,  
What Health can That contentious Tribe Impart?  
Every Physician writes a different Bill,  
And Gives no other Reason but his Will.  
No longer Boast your Art ye Impious Race,  
Let Wars 'twixt Alcalies and Acids Cease;  
And Proud G—ll with C—ch be at Peace.  
Gibbons and Ratcliff do but barely Guess,  
To Day they've Good, to Morrow no Success.  
Even G—th and Maurus sometimes shall prevail,  
When Gibson, Learned Hannes, and Tyson fail:  
And more than once we've seen the Blundring S—ne  
Missing the Gout by Chance has hit the Stone;  
The Patient does the lucky Error find,  
A Cure he Works, tho' not the Cure Designed.   

Custom, the World's great Idol we Adore,  
And knowing This, we seek to know no More;  
What Education did at first receive,  
Our Ripened Age confirms us to Believe;  
The Careful Nurse, and Priest is all we Need  
To Learn Opinions and our Country's Creed;  
The Parent's Precepts early are Instilled,  
And spoil the Man while they Instruct the Child.  
To what hard Fate is Human Kind betrayed?  
When thus Implicit Faith's a Virtue 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-Interest be but in the Case,  
Our unexamined Principles may Pass.  
Good Heavens! That Man should thus himself deceive,  
To Learn on Credit, and on Trust believe;  
Better the Mind no Notions had retained,  
But still a fair Unwritten Blank remained;  
For now, who Truth from Falsehood would discern;  
must first disrobe the Mind, and all Unlearn:  
Errors contracted in unmindful Youth  
When once Removed, will smooth the Way to 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;  
Oh! What an Ocean must be Voyaged o'er,  
To Gain a Prospect of the shining Shore;  
Resisting Rocks oppose th' Enquiring Soul,  
And adverse Waves retard it as they Rowl.   

Does not that Foolish deference we Pay  
To Men that lived long since our Passage stay?  
What odd preposterous 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 Reverend Sage with vast Esteem We Prise,  
He lived long since, and must be wondrous Wise;  
Thus are we Debtors to the famous Dead  
For all those Errors which their fancies Bred;  
Errors Indeed! for Real Knowledge stayed  
With those first Times, nor farther was Conveyed:  
While light Opinions are much Lower brought,  
For on the Waves of Ignorance they Float;  
But solid Truth scarce ever Gains the Shore,  
So soon it sinks and ne'er Emerges more.   

Suppose those many dreadful Dangers passed,  
Will Knowledge dawn, and bless the Mind at last?  
Ah! No, 'tis now Environed from our Eyes,  
Hides all its Charms and Undiscovered Lies.  
Truth like a single Point escapes the Sight,  
And Claims Intention to perceive it right;  
But what resembles Truth is soon descried,  
Spread like a Surface and expanded Wide.  
The first Man rarely, very rarely finds  
The tedious Search of long enquiring 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 it True,  
How shall we Falsehood fly, and Truth pursue;  
Let none then here his certain Knowledge Boast,  
'Tis all but Probability at Most;  
This is the easy Purchase of the Mind,  
The Vulgar'S Treasure, which we soon may find,  
But Truth lies Hid, and and e'er we can Explore  
The glittering Gem, our Fleeting Life is o'er.   
FINIS.