Skepticism

Skepticism

Vain human reason, when 'tis left alone
Is not unlike a bark upon the sea -
Useful or useless - ruined or secure
Only as she is guided from within;
A thing of power and motion and of grace,
But yet an atom when the tempests rise.
When all is calm, out on the open sea,
Even the helmless ship may pitch at ease,
Even the soul unguided be secure;
But in a night of storm the vessel drives
To desperate ruin; and when winds of doubt
Break loose upon the soul that hath no God,
Within one star of guidance, or a hand
To turn it unto any point of truth,
Left to poor human science, it must drive
Dubious and darkling, to insane despair.

O blessed radiance of the gospel star!
O light from heaven, revealed thro'
densest gloom,
How blessed are the eyes that drink thy beam!
But for thy bland attraction I had sunk
Forever in the fathomless profound
Of more than chaos - atheistic depths,
And godless helplessness, akin to hell!
For I had sought to stretch my little ken
Into the awful wonders of deep night,
And by the speculations of the wise
To scan the infinite. As one who strives
In blackest midnight storm to see his way,
I plunged, and saw not, save when lurid flash,
Before the thunder-crash, displayed a waste
Of tumbling waters, raging on all sides,
And left me sadder, blinder than before.

'Tis Revelation that dispels the storm,
Holds out fixed lights upon the clearing sky,
Throws its broad sheet of lustre on the wave,
Teaches the pilot in his hour of fear
Where lie the breakers, where the channel sure.
Adieu, then, I would henceforth ever cry,
Ye transient, comfortless, and horrid gleams
That only serve to light me to my doom:
And welcome, ever holy cynosure,
Light of eternal heaven, the Truth of God!

Reason may waste itself, yet doubt at last,
But when Jehovah speaks, suspense is o'er.

J.W.A.

New Series 1:14, p. 4

1840.06.06

From Sunday School Journal