"'Reason bids, / All-sacred Reason.'---Hold her sacred still; / Nor shalt thou want a rival in thy flame."
— Young, Edward (bap. 1683, d. 1765)
Place of Publication
London
Publisher
R. Dodsley
Date
1743
Metaphor
"'Reason bids, / All-sacred Reason.'---Hold her sacred still; / Nor shalt thou want a rival in thy flame."
Metaphor in Context
Why disbelieve, Lorenzo ?---"Reason bids,
All-sacred Reason."---Hold her sacred still;
Nor shalt thou want a rival in thy flame.
All-sacred Reason! source and soul of all
Demanding praise, on earth, or earth above!
My heart is thine: deep in its inmost folds
Live thou with life; live dearer of the two.
Wear I the blessed Cross, by Fortune stamp'd
On passive Nature before Thought was born?
My birth's blind bigot! fired with local zeal!
No; Reason re-baptized me when adult,
Weigh'd true and false in her impartial scale;
My heart became the convert of my head,
And made that choice which once was but my fate.
"On argument alone my faith is built:"
Reason pursued is Faith; and, unpursued,
Where proof invites, 'tis Reason then no more;
And such our proof, that or our Faith is right,
Or Reason lies, and Heaven design'd it wrong.
Absolve we this? what then is blasphemy?
(ll. 728-747, pp. 109-110 in CUP edition)
All-sacred Reason."---Hold her sacred still;
Nor shalt thou want a rival in thy flame.
All-sacred Reason! source and soul of all
Demanding praise, on earth, or earth above!
My heart is thine: deep in its inmost folds
Live thou with life; live dearer of the two.
Wear I the blessed Cross, by Fortune stamp'd
On passive Nature before Thought was born?
My birth's blind bigot! fired with local zeal!
No; Reason re-baptized me when adult,
Weigh'd true and false in her impartial scale;
My heart became the convert of my head,
And made that choice which once was but my fate.
"On argument alone my faith is built:"
Reason pursued is Faith; and, unpursued,
Where proof invites, 'tis Reason then no more;
And such our proof, that or our Faith is right,
Or Reason lies, and Heaven design'd it wrong.
Absolve we this? what then is blasphemy?
(ll. 728-747, pp. 109-110 in CUP edition)
Categories
Provenance
Reading
Citation
Uniform title published in 9 volumes, from 1742 to 1745. At least 133 reprintings after 1745 in ESTC (1747, 1748, 1749, 1750, 1751, 1752, 1755, 1756, 1757, 1758, 1760, 1761, 1762, 1764, 1765, 1766, 1767, 1768, 1769, 1770, 1771, 1772, 1773, 1774, 1775, 1776, 1777, 1778, 1779, 1780, 1782, 1783, 1785, 1786, 1787, 1788, 1789, 1790, 1791, 1792, 1793, 1794, 1795, 1796, 1797, 1798, 1800).
Edward Young, Night the Fourth. The Christian Triumph. Containing the Only Cure for the Fear of Death, and Proper Sentiments of Heart on that Inestimable Blessing. Humbly Inscribed to the Honourable Mr. York (London: R. Dodsley, 1743). <Link to 1744 quarto in ECCO>
Text from The Complete Works, Poetry and Prose, of the Rev. Edward Young, LL.D., 2 vols. (London: William Tegg, 1854). <Link to Google Books> Reading Edward Young, Night Thoughts, ed. Stephen Cornford (New York: Cambridge UP, 1989).
Edward Young, Night the Fourth. The Christian Triumph. Containing the Only Cure for the Fear of Death, and Proper Sentiments of Heart on that Inestimable Blessing. Humbly Inscribed to the Honourable Mr. York (London: R. Dodsley, 1743). <Link to 1744 quarto in ECCO>
Text from The Complete Works, Poetry and Prose, of the Rev. Edward Young, LL.D., 2 vols. (London: William Tegg, 1854). <Link to Google Books> Reading Edward Young, Night Thoughts, ed. Stephen Cornford (New York: Cambridge UP, 1989).
Date of Entry
06/06/2013
