by William Blake
There is No Natural Religion [a]
The Argument
Man has no notion of moral
fitness but from Education.
Naturally he is only a natu-
ral organ subject to Sense.
I
Man cannot naturally Per-
ceive, but through his natural
or bodily organs
II
Man by his reason-
ing power. can only
compare & judge of
what he has already
perceiv'd.
III
From a perception of
only 3 senses or 3 ele
-ments none could de-
-duce a fourth or fifth
IV
None could have other
than natural or organic
thoughts if he had none
but organic perceptions
V
Mans desires are
limited by his percepti
ons. none can de-
-sire what he has not
prceiv'd
VI
The desires & percepti-
-ons of man untaught by
any thing but organs of
sense, must be limited
to objects of sense.
There is No Natural Religion [b]
I
Man's percepti-
-ons are not bound
-ed by organs of
perception. he per-
-ceives more than
sense (tho' ever
so acute) can
discover
II
Reason or the ra-
-tio of all we have
already known is
not the same that
it shall be when
we know more
IV
The bounded is
loathed by its pos-
-sessor.The same
dull round even
of the univer[s]e, would
soon become a
mill with complica-
-ted wheels.
V
If the many bec-
-ome the same as
the few, when pos-
-sess'd, More! More!
is the cry of a mista-
-ken soul, less than
All cannot satisfy
Man
VI
If any could de-
-sire what he is in-
-capable of posses-
sing, despair must
be his eternal
lot
VII
The desire of
Man being Infi-
-nite the possession
is Infinite & him-
-self Infinite
Application
He who sees the In-
-finite in all things
sees God. He who
sees the Ratio only
sees himself only
Conclusion
If it were not for the
Poetic or Prophetic
character, the Philo-
-sophic& Experimen-
-tal would soon be
at the ratio of all
things, & stand still,
unable to do other
than repeat the same
dull round over a-
-gain
Therefore
God becomes as
we are, that we
may be as he
is
Colophon
This archival text follows the English Wikisource page There_is_no_natural_religion, rendered or exported on June 2, 2026. The underlying text is William Blake's public-domain work; the Wikisource transcription layer is preserved here as an archival public source witness.
Source URL: https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/There_is_no_natural_religion
Heading markup and whitespace were normalized for the Good Works Library.
Compiled and formatted for the Good Works Library, 2026.