Analysis of Religio Laici
(OR A LAYMAN'S FAITH)
Dim, as the borrow'd beams of moon and stars
To lonely, weary, wand'ring travellers,
Is reason to the soul; and as on high,
Those rolling fires discover but the sky
Not light us here; so reason's glimmering ray
Was lent not to assure our doubtful way,
But guide us upward to a better day.
And as those nightly tapers disappear
When day's bright lord ascends our hemisphere
So pale grows reason at religion's sight:
So dies, and so dissolves in supernatural light.
Some few, whose lamp shone brighter, have been led
From cause to cause, to Nature's secret head;
And found that one first principle must be:
But what, or who, that Universal He;
Whether some soul incompassing this ball
Unmade, unmov'd; yet making, moving all;
Or various atoms' interfering dance
Leapt into form (the noble work of chance
Or this great all was from eternity;
Not even the Stagirite himself could see;
And Epicurus guess'd as well as he:
As blindly grop'd they for a future state;
As rashly judg'd of Providence and Fate:
But least of all could their endeavours find
What most concern'd the good of human kind.
For happiness was never to be found;
But vanish'd from 'em, like enchanted ground.
One thought content the good to be enjoy'd:
This, every little accident destroy'd:
The wiser madmen did for virtue toil:
A thorny, or at best a barren soil:
In pleasure some their glutton souls would steep;
But found their line too short, the well too deep;
And leaky vessels which no bliss could keep.
Thus anxious thoughts in endless circles roll,
Without a centre where to fix the soul:
In this wild maze their vain endeavours end:
How can the less the greater comprehend?
Or finite reason reach infinity?
For what could fathom God were more than He.
The Deist thinks he stands on firmer ground;
Cries [lang g]eur{-e}ka[lang e] the mighty secret's found:
God is that spring of good; supreme, and best;
We, made to serve, and in that service blest;
If so, some rules of worship must be given;
Distributed alike to all by Heaven:
Else God were partial, and to some deny'd
The means his justice should for all provide.
This general worship is to PRAISE, and PRAY:
One part to borrow blessings, one to pay:
And when frail Nature slides into offence,
The sacrifice for crimes is penitence.
Yet, since th'effects of providence, we find
Are variously dispens'd to human kind;
That vice triumphs, and virtue suffers here,
(A brand that sovereign justice cannot bear
Our reason prompts us to a future state:
The last appeal from fortune, and from fate:
Where God's all-righteous ways will be declar'd;
The bad meet punishment, the good, reward.
Thus man by his own strength to Heaven would soar:
And would not be oblig'd to God for more.
Vain, wretched creature, how art thou misled
To think thy wit these god-like notions bred!
These truths are not the product of thy mind,
But dropt from Heaven, and of a nobler kind.
Reveal'd religion first inform'd thy sight,
And reason saw not, till faith sprung the light.
Hence all thy natural worship takes the source:
'Tis revelation what thou think'st discourse.
Else how com'st thou to see these truths so clear,
Which so obscure to heathens did appear?
Not Plato these, nor Aristotle found:
Nor he whose wisdom oracles renown'd.
Hast thou a wit so deep, or so sublime,
Or canst thou lower dive, or higher climb?
Canst thou, by reason, more of God-head know
Than Plutarch, Seneca, or Cicero?
Those giant wits, in happier ages born,
(When arms, and arts did Greece and Rome adorn)
Knew no such system; no such piles could raise
Of natural worship, built on pray'r and praise,
To one sole God.
Nor did remorse, to expiate sin, prescribe:
But slew their fellow creatures for a bribe:
The guiltless victim groan'd for their offence;
And cruelty, and blood was penitence.
If sheep and oxen could atone for men
Ah! at how cheap a rate the rich might sin!
And great oppressors might Heaven's wrath beguile
By offering his own creatures for a spoil!
Dar'st thou, poor worm, offend Infinity?
And must the terms of peace be given by thee?
Then thou art justice in the last appeal;
Thy easy God instructs thee to rebel:
And, like a king remote, and weak, must take
What satisfaction thou art pleas'd to make.
Scheme | X AXBBCCCDDEEFFGGHHIIGGGJJKKLLMMNNOOOPPQQGG LLRRSSEXCCAAKKXXJJXX TTFFKKEEUUDDLLVVWWXXYYXZZAAXXXN GGXX1 1 |
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Poetic Form | |
Metre | 10101 110111101 1101011100 1101010111 11010010101 1111111001 11110110101 1111010101 011101001 1111011010 1111010101 110101001001 1111110111 1111110101 0111110011 111110101 1011111 0101110101 1100100101 1011010111 1111110100 110010111 0111111 1101110101 111110001 11111111 1101011101 1100110111 1101110101 1110011101 11001010001 0101011101 0101110101 010111111 1111110111 0101011111 1101010101 0101011101 01111111 110101001 111010100 1111010111 0101111101 11111101011 1111110101 1111001101 11111101110 01000111110 110100111 0111011101 11001011101 111110111 011101011 0101111 111101110011 11000011101 1110010101 0111010101 10101110101 0101110011 1111011101 0111000101 11111111011 0111011111 1101011101 1111111101 1111010111 11110010101 0101010111 0101111101 11110010101 1010111110 11111111111 110111101 110111001 1111010001 1101111101 1111011101 1111011111 11100110 11010100101 1101110101 1111011111 110010111101 1111 1101110101 1111010101 010101111 0100111 1101010111 1111010111 01010110101 11001110101 11111010100 01011111011 1111000101 1101011110 0101010111 101011111 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 4,376 |
Words | 745 |
Sentences | 29 |
Stanzas | 5 |
Stanza Lengths | 1, 41, 20, 31, 6 |
Lines Amount | 99 |
Letters per line (avg) | 33 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 662 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 149 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 10, 2023
- 3:53 min read
- 143 Views
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"Religio Laici" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/22698/religio-laici>.
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