Thou talk'st of _Reason's_ unassisted eye:
Lift then thy darling Reason to the sky,--
Paint, if thou wilt, the unincumber'd mind,
Vast in its powers, and in its views refin'd;
To truth aspiring on the wings of day,
And spanning systems with a godlike sway.
The portrait you have formed you dread to own,
And Guilt's deep blushes o'er its shades are thrown:
For has the Almighty thus inform'd the race,
His _truth_ to question and his laws deface?
Bestow'd a mind the Eternal's mind to blame,
And _Reason's_ deathless force, His reason to defame?
As well might Jove's imperial bird defy
The Power that made him soar, because he soars so high.