The Poetical Works of James Thomson The City of Dreadful Night: By James Thomson ("B. V."): Edited by Bertram Dobell: With a Memoir of the Author: In two volumes |
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VERSIFICATION OF THOMAS COOPER'S ARGUMENT
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 | The Poetical Works of James Thomson |  |
285
VERSIFICATION OF THOMAS COOPER'S ARGUMENT
IN A DEBATE ON THE EXISTENCE OF GOD BETWEEN THAT GENTLEMAN AND CHARLES BRADLAUGH
My poor friends, I come to you kindly,
With a brotherly kiss, not a rod;
For I know that sincerely, though blindly,
You look up in vain for a God.
For a very long time I have sought you—
Since we met last the years are now seven—
And here I have found you and brought you
My Ladder for climbing to Heaven.
With a brotherly kiss, not a rod;
For I know that sincerely, though blindly,
You look up in vain for a God.
For a very long time I have sought you—
Since we met last the years are now seven—
And here I have found you and brought you
My Ladder for climbing to Heaven.
My wonderful Ladder, that reaches
From Self here to God (be not vext);
Though its rungs are so few, and though each is
A quite simple step from the next.
For five years and eight months precisely
It has borne me to either extreme,
As cleverly, safely, and nicely
As those angels of Jacob's sweet dream.
From Self here to God (be not vext);
Though its rungs are so few, and though each is
A quite simple step from the next.
For five years and eight months precisely
It has borne me to either extreme,
As cleverly, safely, and nicely
As those angels of Jacob's sweet dream.
286
You have seen a lamp-lighter at work, friends?
Well, just in his fashion I'll stop,
Set my Ladder, mount quick, give a jerk, friends,
And light up a God at the top.
And Bradlaugh, this ignorant fellow,
May pelt at my lamp as he likes
(Young fools often do so when mellow);
I wager no stone of his strikes.
Well, just in his fashion I'll stop,
Set my Ladder, mount quick, give a jerk, friends,
And light up a God at the top.
And Bradlaugh, this ignorant fellow,
May pelt at my lamp as he likes
(Young fools often do so when mellow);
I wager no stone of his strikes.
I plant it on I; you can never
Persuade me I am not, now, here:
But as I have not been for ever,
I must have a Cause—that is clear.
And as I am a personal being,
Intelligent, conscious, I claim
That the stupidest cannot help seeing
My Cause must be ditto—the same.
Persuade me I am not, now, here:
But as I have not been for ever,
I must have a Cause—that is clear.
And as I am a personal being,
Intelligent, conscious, I claim
That the stupidest cannot help seeing
My Cause must be ditto—the same.
Take another neat step: there is nowhere
Where Nothing at all can be found;
Wherever our thoughts go, they go where
Unlimited Something's around:
And the Cause of this infinite Something
Must be certainly infinite too;
For it would be a monstrous and rum thing
To fancy a finite would do.
Where Nothing at all can be found;
Wherever our thoughts go, they go where
Unlimited Something's around:
And the Cause of this infinite Something
Must be certainly infinite too;
For it would be a monstrous and rum thing
To fancy a finite would do.
287
So ourselves and the whole world of Matter
Have one Cause—for who would explore
(Without he was mad as a hatter)
Still backwards forever for more?
One cause, without cause, thus eternal;
And infinite, therefore the power
Of His will uncontrolled is supernal—
Omnipotence must be His dower.
Have one Cause—for who would explore
(Without he was mad as a hatter)
Still backwards forever for more?
One cause, without cause, thus eternal;
And infinite, therefore the power
Of His will uncontrolled is supernal—
Omnipotence must be His dower.
And this all-wise, all-good, and almighty
Creator of spirit and clod,
At the top of my Ladder of light, He
It is whom we worship as God.
O my friends, is the climbing not easy?
And are not the steps safe and strong?
And how should my Ladder not please ye
When I've trusted to it so long?
Creator of spirit and clod,
At the top of my Ladder of light, He
It is whom we worship as God.
O my friends, is the climbing not easy?
And are not the steps safe and strong?
And how should my Ladder not please ye
When I've trusted to it so long?
O my luminous, logical Ladder,
My natural musical scale,
Whose notes swell up gladder and gladder
In glory and triumph—all hail!
The Cross, though a very good notion,
And on the whole rather divine,
Inspires no such fervid devotion
As doth this grand Ladder of mine.
My natural musical scale,
Whose notes swell up gladder and gladder
In glory and triumph—all hail!
The Cross, though a very good notion,
And on the whole rather divine,
Inspires no such fervid devotion
As doth this grand Ladder of mine.
288
P.S. penn'd for such as Truelove there
And Bradlaugh: My God in the sky
Is the little round dot up above there
Perfecting this neat little i:
For i wants the dot for completion,
But no dot is wanted by u:—
O Plato, much lecturing Grecian,
The Metempsychosis is true!
And Bradlaugh: My God in the sky
Is the little round dot up above there
Perfecting this neat little i:
For i wants the dot for completion,
But no dot is wanted by u:—
O Plato, much lecturing Grecian,
The Metempsychosis is true!
1864.
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