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 

• The Seven Sisters by William Wordsworth by William Wordsworth
• The Sailor’s Mother by William Wordsworth by William Wordsworth
• The Russian Fugitive by William Wordsworth by William Wordsworth
• The Reverie of Poor Susan by William Wordsworth by William Wordsworth
• The Redbreast Chasing The Butterfly by William Wordsworth by William Wordsworth
• The Prioress’s Tale [from Chaucer] by William Wordsworth by William Wordsworth
• The Primrose of the Rock by William Wordsworth by William Wordsworth
• The Power of Armies is a Visible Thing by William Wordsworth by William Wordsworth
• The Pet-Lamb by William Wordsworth by William Wordsworth
• The Passing of the Elder Bards by William Wordsworth by William Wordsworth
• The Old Cumberland Beggar by William Wordsworth by William Wordsworth
• The Oak Of Guernica Supposed Address To The Same by William Wordsworth by William Wordsworth
• The Morning Of The Day Appointed For A General Thanksgiving. January 18, 1816 by William Wordsworth by William Wordsworth
• The King Of Sweden by William Wordsworth by William Wordsworth
• The Idle Shepherd Boys by William Wordsworth by William Wordsworth
• The Horn Of Egremont Castle by William Wordsworth by William Wordsworth
• The Highland Broach by William Wordsworth by William Wordsworth
• The Happy Warrior by William Wordsworth by William Wordsworth
• The Green Linnet by William Wordsworth by William Wordsworth
• The Germans On The Heighs Of Hochheim by William Wordsworth by William Wordsworth

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Search engines:

Yandex – the best search engine for searches in Russian (and the best overall image search engine, in any language, anywhere)

Qwant – the best search engine for searches in French, German as well as Romance and Germanic languages.

Ecosia – a search engine that supposedly… plants trees

Duckduckgo – the real alternative and a search engine that actually works. Without much censorship or partisan politics.

Yahoo– yes, it’s still around, amazingly, miraculously, incredibly, but now it seems to be powered by Bing.

 

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