192
The Dunciad.
Book IV.
By common sense to common knowledge bred,
And last, to Nature's Cause thro' Nature led.
All-seeing in thy mists, we want no guide,
470 Mother of Arrogance, and Source of Pride!
We nobly take the high Priori Road,[R 1]
And reason downward, till we doubt of God:[R 2]
Make Nature still[R 3] incroach upon his plan;
And shove him off as far as e'er we can:
475 Thrust some Mechanic Cause into his place;
Or bind in Matter, or diffuse in Space.
And last, to Nature's Cause thro' Nature led.
All-seeing in thy mists, we want no guide,
470 Mother of Arrogance, and Source of Pride!
We nobly take the high Priori Road,[R 1]
And reason downward, till we doubt of God:[R 2]
Make Nature still[R 3] incroach upon his plan;
And shove him off as far as e'er we can:
475 Thrust some Mechanic Cause into his place;
Or bind in Matter, or diffuse in Space.
Remarks
- ↑ Ver. 471. the high Priori Road,] Those who, from the effects in this Visible world, deduce the Eternal Power and Godhead of the First Cause tho' they cannot attain to an adequate idea of the Deity, yet discover so much of him, as enables them to see the End of their Creation, and the Means of their Happiness: whereas they who take this high Priori Road (such as Hobbs, Spinoza, Des Cartes, and some better Reasoners) for one that goes right, ten lose themselves in Mists, or ramble after Visions which deprive them of all sight of their End, and mislead them in the choice of wrong means.
- ↑ Ver. 472. And reason downward, till we doubt of God:] This was in fact the case of those who, instead of reasoning from a visible World to an invisible God, took the other road; and from an invisible God (to whom they had given attributes agreeable to certain metaphysical principles formed out of their own imaginations) reasoned downwards to a visible world in theory, of Man's Creation; which not agreeing, as might be expected, to that of God's, they began, from their inability to account for evil which they saw in his world, to doubt of that God, whose being they had admitted, and whose at tributes they had deduced a priori, on weak and mistaken principles.
- ↑ Ver. 473. Make Nature still] This relates to such as being ashamed to assert a mere Mechanic Cause, and yet unwilling to forsake it intirely, have had recourse to a certain Plastic Nature, Elastic Fluid, Subtile Matter, &c.
human faculties, must needs make a modest and sensible man timorous and fearful; and that will naturally direct him to the right means of acquiring the little knowledge his faculties are capable of, namely plain and sure experience; which tho' supporting only an humble foundation, and permitting only a very slow progress, yet leads, surely, to the end, the discovery of the God of nature.
