That pensioned Boileau satire's venom shed
On Quinault's lyre and Tasso's laureled head;
Could paint the hurry, bustle, and the throng
Of Paris, where men scarce can pass along;
Or at a wretched feast what passed rehearse,
In flowing numbers and harmonious verse.
A soul like thine to higher views aspires,
Far other information it requires;
The essence of our spirit you explore,
Its end, beginning, but its duty more.
On this important theme what others thought,
What error has to vulgar doctors taught,
Let's scan and balance with those truths divine,
Which heaven suggests to such a soul as thine.
God we should search for in ourselves alone,
If He exists the human heart's His throne.
The God whose power from dust could mortals raise,
Must we then seek in learning's winding maze?
You trust not Origen's or Scotus' page,
Nature instructs us more than either sage;
Systems let's drop, those follies of the wise,
And into self descending, learn to rise.
Part the First.
God has given men ideas of justice and conscience to admonish them just as He has given them everything else necessary. This is that Law of Nature upon which religion is founded. This is the only principle herein discussed. The author speaks only of the Law of Nature, and not of religion and its awful mysteries.
Whether a self-existent[1] being laid
The world's foundations, out of nothing made,
- ↑ As God is an infinite being, His nature must of consequence be unknown to all men. As this is a philosophical work, it was judged necessary to cite the opinions of philosophers. All the ancients, without exception, looked on matter as eternal; this is almost the only point on which they agreed.
