From
"Paradise
Lost"
Hail holy
light, of spring of Heav'n
first-born,
Or of th'Eternal
Coeternal beam
May I
express thee unblam'd
since God is light,
And never
but in unapproached light
Dwelt
from eternitie, dwelt then in thee,
Bright
effluence of bright essence increate
Or hear't
Thou rather pure Ethereal stream,
Whose
Fountain who shall tell? before the sun,
Before
the Heavens Thou wert, and at the voice
Of God,
as with a Mantle didst invest
The
rising world of waters dark and deep,
Won from
the void and formless infinite.
(Ibid,
Book III, 1-12)
O Son, in
whom my souls has chief delight,
Son of my
bosom, Son who art alone
My word,
my wisdom, and effectual might,
all hast
thou spok'n
as my thoughts are, all
As my
Eternal purpose hath decreed:
Man shall
not quite be lost, but sav'd
who will,
Yet not
of will in him, but grace in me
Freely
voutsaft; once more I will renew
His
lapsed powers, though forfeit and enthrall'd
By sin to
foul exorbitant desires;
Upheld by
me, yet once more he shall stand
On even
ground against his mortal foe,
By me
upheld , that he may know how how frail
His fall'n
is, and to me ow
All his
deliv'rance,
and to none but me.
(Ibid,
Book III, 168-182)
"Let us require no better authority
than God Himself
for
determining what is worthy or unworthy of Him."
(Robins,
1963, 67)
"If after the work of six days it be
said of God that he rested and was refreshed
. . . let us believe that it is not beneath the dignity of God . . . to be
refreshed in that which refreshed Him . . . For however we may attempt to
soften down such expressions by a latitude of interpretation, when applied
to the Deity, it comes in the end to precisely the same."
(Ibid.,
67)
"Our safest way is to form in our
minds such a conception of God, as shall correspond with His own delineation
and representation of Himself in the sacred writings."
(Ibid.,
67)
"We may be sure that sufficient care
has been taken that the Holy Scriptures should contain nothing unsuitable to
the character or dignity of God, and that God should say nothing of Himself
which could derogate from His own majesty."
(Ibid., 67)
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