A Poem
The great creator gave to Brutes the light
of sense and natural instinct, that might
Conduct him in a sensual life; by this
They steer their course, and very rarely miss
Their instituted Rule, nor yet reject
Its guidance, or its influence neglect:
But the Creator’s great beneficence
Gave unto man, besides the light of sense
The nobler light of Reason Intellect,
And Conscience to govern and direct
His life and Actions1 , and to keep at rights
The motions of his Sensual Appetite:2
But wretched man unhappily deserts
His makers Institution, and perverts.
The end of all his bounty, prostitutes
His reason unto Lust, and so polutes
His noble soul, his Reason, and his wit:
And intellect, that in the throne should sit
Must lackey after Lust, and to fulfill
The base commands and pleasure of her will
And thus the Humane nature great Advance
Becomes its greater ruine, doth inhance.
Its Guilt, While Judgment, Reason, Wit
Improve those very sins it doth commit.
Dear Lord, Thy mercy surely must overflow,
That pardons sins, which from thy bounty grow.
by Sir Matthew Hale as transcribed by Elizabeth Newell
Footnotes
1 The doctrine holds that human beings require a special divine assistance in their ordinary cognitive activities. Back to text.
Pasnau, Robert, “Divine Illumination”, The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Spring 2015 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.)
2 Some agents, having reached a decision about what to do on a particular occasion, experience some counter-pressure brought on by an appetite for pleasure, or anger, or some other emotion; and this countervailing influence is not completely under the control of reason. (1) Within this category, some are typically better able to resist these counter- rationale pressures than is the average person. Back to text.
Kraut, Richard, “Aristotle’s Ethics”, The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Summer 2014 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.)