"Happy (if Mortals can be) is the Man, / Who, not by Priest but Reason, rules his span:"
— Chatterton, Thomas (1752-1770)
Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Printed for T. Becket
Date
w. 1769, 1784
Metaphor
"Happy (if Mortals can be) is the Man, / Who, not by Priest but Reason, rules his span:"
Metaphor in Context
Religion's but Opinion's bastard Son,
A perfect mystery, more than three in one.
'Tis fancy all, distempers of the mind;
As Education taught us, we're inclined.
Happy the man, whose reason bids him see
Mankind are by the state of Nature free;
Who, thinking for himself, despises those
That would upon his better sense impose;
Is to himself the minister of God,
Nor treads the path where Athanasius trod.
Happy (if Mortals can be) is the Man,
Who, not by Priest but Reason, rules his span:
Reason, to its Possessor a sure guide,
Reason, a thorn in Revelation's side.
If Reason fails, incapable to tread
Through gloomy Revelation's thickening bed,
On what authority the Church we own?
How shall we worship deities unknown?
Can the Eternal Justice pleas'd receive
The prayers of those, who, ignorant, believe?
(pp. 36-7)
A perfect mystery, more than three in one.
'Tis fancy all, distempers of the mind;
As Education taught us, we're inclined.
Happy the man, whose reason bids him see
Mankind are by the state of Nature free;
Who, thinking for himself, despises those
That would upon his better sense impose;
Is to himself the minister of God,
Nor treads the path where Athanasius trod.
Happy (if Mortals can be) is the Man,
Who, not by Priest but Reason, rules his span:
Reason, to its Possessor a sure guide,
Reason, a thorn in Revelation's side.
If Reason fails, incapable to tread
Through gloomy Revelation's thickening bed,
On what authority the Church we own?
How shall we worship deities unknown?
Can the Eternal Justice pleas'd receive
The prayers of those, who, ignorant, believe?
(pp. 36-7)
Provenance
Searching "rule" and "reason" in HDIS (Poetry)
Citation
Only 1 entry in the ESTC (1784).
See A Supplement to the Miscellanies of Thomas Chatterton (London: Printed for T. Becket, 1769).
See A Supplement to the Miscellanies of Thomas Chatterton (London: Printed for T. Becket, 1769).
Date of Entry
06/15/2004
