theme,metaphor,work_id,dictionary,provenance,id,created_at,updated_at,reviewed_on,comments,text,context
"","""If not your wife, let reason's rule persuade / Name but my fault, amends shall soon be made.""",3214,"","Searching ""rule"" and ""reason"" in HDIS",8444,2004-06-10 00:00:00 UTC,2009-09-14 19:33:34 UTC,2008-09-24,•Appears Twice: Also in Ogle's Canterbury Tales (1741). See also entry under Ogle. ,"""My love! nay rather my damnation thou,""
Said he: ""nor am I bound to keep my vow;
The fiend thy sire has sent thee from below,
Else how couldst thou my secret sorrows know?
Avaunt, old witch, for I renounce thy bed:
The queen may take the forfeit of my head,
Ere any of my race so foul a crone shall wed.""
Both heard, the judge pronounced against the knight;
So was he married in his own despite:
And all day after hid him as an owl,
Not able to sustain a sight so foul.
Perhaps the reader thinks I do him wrong,
To pass the marriage-feast, and nuptial song:
Mirth there was none, the man was à-la-mort,
And little courage had to make his court.
To bed they went, the bridegroom and the bride.
Was never such an ill-paired couple tied!
Restless he tossed, and tumbled to and fro,
And rolled, and wriggled further off, for woe.
The good old wife lay smiling by his side,
And caught him in her quivering arms, and cried,--
""When you my ravished predecessor saw,
You were not then become this man of straw;
Had you been such, you might have scaped the law.
Is this the custom of King Arthur's court?
Are all Round-table Knights of such a sort?
Remember I am she who saved your life,
Your loving, lawful, and complying wife:
Not thus you swore in your unhappy hour,
Nor I for this return employed my power.
In time of need I was your faithful friend;
Nor did I since, nor ever will offend.
Believe me, my loved lord, 'tis much unkind;
What fury has possessed your altered mind?
Thus on my wedding-night--without pretence--
Come turn this way, or tell me my offence.
If not your wife, let reason's rule persuade;
Name but my fault, amends shall soon be made.""
(pp. 810-11, ll. 334-364)",""
"","""Our Understandings have a Natural, which is a Fallible-light; and therefore often leads us wrong.""",3953,"",Ad Fontes: Digital Library of Classic Protestant Texts,10277,2003-08-25 00:00:00 UTC,2009-09-14 19:34:51 UTC,2006-09-11,•I lose all the italics when I cut and paste!
•REVISIT. Read the William Penn.,"But how then does he Answer the Objection, which he puts against himself, of the many False Religions in the world? It was not the True Light which guided men into them. And if they have no other Light, how came they by them? He says, it was because they did not follow the True Light. But why did they not follow it? How could they help following of it, if they had nothing else to follow? What was it that Resisted It? Or, what could Resist It, if we have no Natural Light or Understanding to Refuse its Dictates? But suppose our No Light or Understanding could shut its eyes, and not follow this light; then it might lose the True Religion: But could no understanding invent another Religion? For that is something Positive; and something must Guide and Direct Men to it. The Absence of Light is Darkness, not a False-light. But an Ignis Fatuus, or Will i'th Wisp, is a Light that leads Men wrong. Men that are in Error follow a Light, but it is Falselight, and they think themselves to be in the Right. Our Understandings have a Natural, which is a Fallible-light; and therefore often leads us wrong. What else is the meaning of Prov. 3. 5. Trust in the Lord with all thine heart, and lean not unto thine own Understanding. It is true, that Understanding and the Natural light of it, was given us by God: And he made it Right and True; but Fallible, else it could never be mistaken. God has placed a Natural light, as a Candle in our Hearts; and His Supernatural light does Influence and Direct it, [Page 262 (135)] when we seek to Him for it, and serve Him according as He has commanded: Solomon says, Prov. xx. 27. The Spirit of man is the Candle of the Lord, searching all the Inward Parts. You will not call the Spirit of Man the Eternal Light, which is GOD. This was the Mistake which drove George Fox to make our Soul aPart of God. without Beginning, and Infinite in it self, &c. as shewn in The Snake, Sect. ii. and to make us even Equal with God, as shewn, Sect. iii. And Mr. Penn, p. 15. of this Book, ( Primit. Christian. ) allows no Natural light to the Understanding, For (says he) Man can no more be a Light to his Mind than he is to his Body: And thence infers, that as the Eye has no Light in it self, so neither the Understanding: He makes our Nature and Minds wholly Dark of themselves, only succeptible of Super-natural light, when sent into our Understanding: And that all the Light we have is thus Supernatural; and only called Natural, because, as he says, It is natural to Man to have a Supernatural-light. I will not take advantage of the Philosophy of this; for, I suppose his meaning to be, that it is Natural to the Understanding to Receive a Light that is infused into it, as for the Eye to see by an Extraneous light; that is, it is an Organ fitted to Receive Light, tho' it has none in it self; as the Understanding to Apprehend, tho' it has no Reason or Light in it self Thus he expresses it, p. 50. All men have Reason, (says he) but all Men are not Reasonable; which must be taken with the same grains of Allowance. For every Man is a Reasonable Creature, that is, the Definition of a Man. But according to His Hypothesis, tho' all men have Reason, yet not Natural. but supernaturally put into their Understanding: And so, tho they have Reason, yet are they not Reasonable, because that Reason is none of their own, only as Gifted, that is, Accidental, but not Natural to them; and so they can no more be called Rational, than a Bag can be called Rich, that has Money in it. For he says, p. 15. That God, is the Light of our Nature, of our minds, and understandings. If it were meant as an Assistant, Guide or Director, to the Light of our Understanding, there were no differance betwixt us: But quite to put out the Natural light of our understandings, and make it but only Passive, that is, succeptible of another light, that is the point on which I would Reason now with Mr. Penn. It is said 1 Cor. 1. 21. That the world by Wisdom knew not God. What Wisdom was this? it could not be a Divine light; and if Man have no Natural light; it must be the Quaker third sort of light, that is, No light at all. But if by Wisdom here, you mean Mens Natural light or Reason, the Text is Plain and Easy.
It is Written, 1 John. 3. 20. If our Heart Condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things. Now, by Heart, here must be meant the Natural light; because, if it means the Light which is God, God is not Greater than Himself. And it is supposed here that the Heart does not Know all Things: Therefore this must be meant of our Natural Conscience, and not of God. And now here is a Natural light, which does Reprove of Evil, which Mr. Penn supposes cannot be shewn, p. 30. Our Saviour says, Luk. xii. 57. Yea, and why even of your selves judge not what is Right? But why of your selves, if we have no Light at all of our selves whereby to Judge?
(p.261-4)
","Anglican Leslie desires ""to Expostulate a little"" with William Penn ""upon one Part of his Exposition of The Light within, [...] where [...] he will not grant that we have any Natural Light at all, or any other than that Divine Light of the Word, which is God; which he says, some, mistakenly, call Natural Light"" (p. 260) "
"","""It is true, that the word Baptism is often taken in a Figurative and Allegorical Sense, to mean the INWARD BAPTISM, the Washing, or Cleansing of the Heart: But so is the word Washing also, as often, as Jer. iv. 14. &c. And there is scarce a Word in the World but is capable of many Figurative and Allegorical Meanings.""",3953,"",Ad Fontes: Digital Library of Classic Protestant Texts,10278,2003-08-25 00:00:00 UTC,2009-09-14 19:34:51 UTC,2009-03-23,"•Great bits on literal and figurative
•The ""?""s are Greek letters that didn't cut and paste properly. INTEREST. MORE METAPHORS HERE. REVISIT.","The Words of the Text are these: Go ye, therefore, and Teach all Nations, Baptizing them in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.
The Quakers will not own that the Baptism here mentioned was the Outward, or Water-baptism: Which I will endeavour to make very plain, that it was; and that in the first place,
From the Signification and Etymology of the word Baptize.
1. The word is a Greek word, and only made English by our constant usage of it: It signifies to Wash, and is applied to this Sacrament of Baptism, because that is an outward Washing.
To Wash and to Baptize are the very same; and if the word Baptize had been rendred into English, instead of, Go and BAPTIZE, it must have been said, Go and WASH Men, in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. So that the outward Baptism, with Water, is as much here commanded, as if it had been expressed in English words, or as we can now express it.
But because the word Baptize was grown a Technical Term, in other Languages, whereby to express the Holy Sacrament of Baptism, long before our English Translation, therefore our Translators did rightly retain the word Baptize in this Text, Matth. xxviii. 19. and in other Texts which speak of that Holy Sacrament.
But in other places they translate the word Baptize, as Mark vii. 4. When they come from the Market ??? ?? ??π????????, except they are Baptized, which we literally translate except they Wash. And in the same Verse, ??π??????? π???????, &c. The Baptisms of Cups and Pots, &c. which we translate the Washing of Cups and Pots. And Heb. ix. 10. speaking of these Legal Institutions, which stood only in Meats and Drinks, and divers Washings, and carnal Ordinances, &c. the word which we here translate Washings, is, in the Original, ??π???????, Baptisms: In Meats and Drinks, and divers Baptisms. And in the Vulgar Latin, the Greek word is retained in both
these Texts, Mark vii. 4. Nisi Baptizentur, non Comedunt. Except they are Baptized, i.e. Wash their Hands, they eat not. And Baptismata Calicum, &c. The Baptisms of Cups, &c. And Heb. ix. 10. In Cibis & Pontibus, & variis Baptismatibus, i.e. In Meats and Drinks, and divers Baptisms. So that it is plain that the word Baptism, and the word Washing, tho' not the same word, have yet the self-same meaning.
2. It is true, that the word Baptism is often taken in a Figurative and Allegorical Sense, to mean the INWARD BAPTISM, the Washing, or Cleansing of the Heart: But so is the word Washing also, as often, as Jer. iv. 14. &c. And there is scarce a Word in the World but is capable of many Figurative and Allegorical Meanings. Thus Circumcision is very often used for the Inward Circumcision or Purity of the Heart. And Fire is taken to express Love, and likewise Anger, and many other things.
But it is a received Rule for the Interpretation of Scripture, and indeed of all other Writings and Words, that the plain Literal Meaning is always to be taken, where there is no manifest Contradiction or Absurdity in it; as when a Man is said to have a Fire burning in his Breast, it cannot be meant of the Literal Fire: So when we are commanded to Wash or Circumcise our Hearts, and the like. But on the other hand, if any Man will take upon him to understand Words in a Figurative Sense, at his own will and pleasure, without an apparent Necessity from the Scope and Coherence, he sets up to Banter, and leaves no Certainty in any Words or Expressions in the World. Therefore I will conclude this Point of the natural Signification and Etymology of the word Baptize: And, unless the Quakers can shew an apparent Contradiction or Absurdity to take it in the Literal Signification, in this Text, Matth. xxviii. 19. then it must be meant of the OUTWARD WASHING or BAPTISM, because that is the only True, and Proper, and Literal Signification of the Word.
And it will be further Demonstrated in the next Section, that there can be no Contradiction or Absurdity to take it in a Literal Sense, because the Apostles, and Others thereunto Commissionated by them, did Practise it, in the Literal Sense.
(p. 23-6)
","In the first section Leslie hope to show that Matthew 28:19 ""was meant of water-baptism"""
"","""We our selves are Figures of God, being Images of him: And what is an Image but the Figure or Sign of a Thing?""",3953,"",Ad Fontes: Digital Library of Classic Protestant Texts,10279,2003-08-25 00:00:00 UTC,2009-09-14 19:34:51 UTC,2009-03-23,•Great bits on literal and figurative. INTEREST. REVISIT.,"We come now to Examine, what they set up against any Signs or Figures under the Gospel, from another Topic; and that is, That the Gospel is all Substance, and therefore that there must be no Sign or Figure at all in it.
Answ. By Substance here they mean that which is Inward, or Spiritual, that every thing in the Gospel is Spiritual.
But this will overthrow all Outward, or Bodily Worship. For that is distinguished from Spiritual, or Inward Worship.
And, in one sense, all Bodily Worship is a Sign or Figure of the Inward, or Spiritual; which is the Principal and Substantial Worship. Thus Bowing the Knee, or Uncovering the Head at Prayer, are Signs or Figures of the Inward Reverence and Devotion of the Heart.
And this the Quakers practise; therefore, by their own Argument, they have Signs and Figures as well as others; only they throw off those of Christ's Institution, and make new ones of their own.
It is impossible to be without Signs and Figures. For this whole World is a Figure of that which is to come. We our selves are Figures of God, being Images of him: And what is an Image but the Figure or Sign of a Thing? Christ is a Figure of God, being the Express Image of his Person, Heb. i. 3. And we now have the Knowledge of God in the Face of Jesus Christ. God is a Light inaccessible to Angels, as well as unto Men, without some Medium: His Essence cannot be seen or known Immediately, by any but Himself. All Creatures partake of him in Signs and Figures of him; each in their several Degrees; there are Higher and more Noble Figures; but all are Figures. And God has, in all Ages, through the World, Dispensed himself to Mankind in Signs and Figures; we could not otherwise apprehend Him. Christ is the most Noble and Lively Figure of God: Therefore his Dispensation is far beyond all others that went before him. Yet even now, We see through a Glass darkly, 1 Cor. xiii. 12. or, in a Riddle; as our Margent reads it, ?? ?????????, in a Figure.
What is the Bible that we read, what are Words but the Signatures, the Signs or Figures of Things? We can see the Essence of no one thing in the World, more than of God. And what are all those Accidents of Colour, Quantity and Quality, by which we distinguish Things, but so many Figures or Signs of them?
So very wild is that Notion, that there must be no Signs or Figures under the Gospel!
It would be much Truer, if they had said, That there are nothing else but Signs and Figures: There is nothing else without a Figure but God! For all Creatures are Figures of Him, Christ, the Highest.
(p. 95-6)","On Quakers and figuration. Leslie continues and shows that the Quakers do indeed have ""figures"""
Personal Identity,"""Now if the Soul, which is but an Image of God, at an Infinite distance, can communicate it self to several Members, without breach of its Unity; why should it be Impossible for the Eternal and Infinite Mind to communicate it self to several Persons, without breach of its Unity; I will be bold to say, you will not find so near a Parallel in Nature whereby to conceive of God's Eternity, or his Infinity, as this, and a great many more, whereby we may conceive of His Trinity and Unity, by what we feel in our selves, and see in a thousand things that are before us.""",3953,"",Ad Fontes: Digital Library of Classic Protestant Texts,10280,2003-08-25 00:00:00 UTC,2009-09-14 19:34:51 UTC,2009-03-23,"•Leslie calls these ""parallels"": ""I say not that any of these Parallels do come up to the full explanation of the Communication of the Divine Nature to several Persons, without any Division or Multiplication of the Nature: But I am sure they take away the Contradiction alledged to be in it, while we see the same Difficulty in our own and other Natures, which we can as little Explain."" (p. 324).","We acknowledge a Great and Sublime Mystery in the Holy Trinity of GOD: That is a Mystery to us, which exceeds our Understanding. And many such Mysteries there are, to us, in the Nature of God which we all acknowledge; A First Cause without a Beginning! A Being which neither made it self, nor was made by any other! Infinite without Extension! In every place, yet circumscribed in no place! Eternal and Perpetually Existing, without any Succession! a Present, without Past, or Future! and many other such un-explainable, un-intelligible, Incomprehensible Mysteries; which yet hinder not our Belief of a God. And therefore not being able fully and clearly to explain the Trinity, which is the most hidden and secret Attribute of the Nature of God, can be no Reason for us to reject such Revelation which God has given us of Himself. Yet do we not want several Shadows and Resemblances of one Nature communicating it self to many Individuals, without either a Multiplication or Division of the Nature. We say that the Soul is all in all, and all in every part of the Body: yet that the Soul is neither Multiplied nor Divided among the several Members of the Body. It is impossible for us either to Explain this, or to Deny it; for we feel it to be so, though it is wholly unconceivable to us how it can be. Now if the Soul, which is but an Image of God, at an Infinite distance, can communicate it self to several Members, without breach of its Unity; why should it be Impossible for the Eternal and Infinite Mind to communicate it self to several Persons, without breach of its Unity; I will be bold to say, you will not find so near a Parallel in Nature whereby to conceive of God's Eternity, or his Infinity, as this, and a great many more, whereby we may conceive of His Trinity and Unity, by what we feel in our selves, and see in a thousand things that are before us. We see Extension not Divided but Distinguished into its three Dimensions; and Communicating its whole Nature to each of the Three, for Each is Extension; and yet there is but one Extension in all the Three.
The Soul is not Divided betwixt its several Faculties; they remain perfectly distinguished though not divided from one another: To understand what is present, is a quite different thing from Remembring what is Past; and to Love or Hate, is different from both of these; yet these Three Faculties, the Understanding, the Memory, and the Will, partake all equally of the same Soul.
Light and Heat are so different, that some are capable of the One, who are not of the Other; and yet they are not Divided in the Sun; but flow equally and naturally from it without any Division of its Nature.
(p. 322-4)",On the trinity: the Socinians are guilty of contradiction
"","""August and Open, as the Hero's Mind, / Be her capacious Courts design'd.""",3954,"",Searching HDIS (Poetry),10281,2004-02-25 00:00:00 UTC,2011-06-16 20:04:02 UTC,2011-06-13,"•Editors: ""P takes from Horace's Carmen Secularae little more than the title and general theme"" (p. 876).
•Variant gives ""Open, yet Solid, as the Builder's Mind"" for l. 366. ","XXVII.
Where the white Towers and ancient Roofs did stand,
Remains of Wolsey's or great Henry's Hand,
To Age now yielding, or devour'd by Flame;
Let a young Phenix raise her tow'ring Head:
Her Wings with lengthen'd Honour let Her spread;
And by her Greatness show her Builder's Fame.
August and Open, as the Hero's Mind,
Be her capacious Courts design'd:
Let ev'ry Sacred Pillar bear
Trophies of Arms, and Monuments of War.
The King shall there in Parian Marble breath,
His Shoulder bleeding fresh: and at His Feet
Disarm'd shall lye the threat'ning Death:
(For so was saving Jove's Decree compleat.)
Behind, That Angel shall be plac'd, whose Shield
Sav'd Europe, in the Blow repell'd:
On the firm Basis, from his Oozy Bed
Boyn shall raise his Laurell'd Head;
And his Immortal Stream be known,
Artfully waving thro' the wounded Stone.
(p. 174, ll. 360-9)",""
"","The ""Great Father's Character"" may be found ""Visibly stampt upon the Hero's mind.""",3954,Impressions,"Found again searching ""stamp"" and ""mind"" in HDIS (Poetry)",10282,2004-02-25 00:00:00 UTC,2011-06-16 20:06:41 UTC,,"•Editors: ""P takes from Horace's Carmen Secularae little more than the title and general theme"" (p. 876).","XXXIX.
No longer shall their wretched Zeal adore
Ideas of destructive Power,
Spirits that hurt, and Godheads that devour:
New Incense They shall bring, new Altars raise,
And fill their Temples with a Stranger's Praise;
When the Great Father's Character They find
Visibly stampt upon the Hero's Mind;
And own a present Deity confest,
In Valour that preserv'd, and Power that bless'd.
(p. 179, ll. 503-511)
",""
"","One cannot find ""A throne so soft as in a woman's mind""",3957,"","Searching ""throne"" and ""mind"" in HDIS (Poetry)",10286,2004-07-07 00:00:00 UTC,2009-09-14 19:34:52 UTC,,"John Dryden. Ed. Keith Walker Oxford and New York: Oxford UP, 1987.","""The Cause and Spring of motion, from above,
Hung down on earth, the golden chain of Love;
Great was the effect, and high was his intent,
When peace among the jarring seeds he sent:
Fire, flood, and earth, and air, by this were bound,
And love, the common link, the new creation crowned.
The chain still holds; for, though the forms decay,
Eternal matter never wears away:
The same first Mover certain bounds has placed,
How long those perishable forms shall last;
Nor can they last beyond the time assigned
By that all-seeing, and all-making Mind:
Shorten their hours they may; for will is free;
But never pass the appointed destiny.
So men oppressed, when weary of their breath,
Throw off the burden, and suborn their death.
Then, since those forms begin, and have their end,
On some unaltered cause they sure depend:
Parts of the whole are we; but God the whole;
Who gives us life, and animating soul.
For nature cannot from a part derive
That being, which the whole can only give:
He, perfect, stable; but imperfect we,
Subject to change, and different in degree;
Plants, beasts, and man; and, as our organs are,
We, more or less, of his perfection share.
But, by a long descent, the ethereal fire
Corrupts; and forms, the mortal part, expire.
As he withdraws his virtue, so they pass,
And the same matter makes another mass.
This law the Omniscient Power was pleased to give,
That every kind should by succession live;
That individuals die, his will ordains;
The propagated species still remains.
The monarch oak, the patriarch of the trees,
Shoots rising up, and spreads by slow degrees;
Three centuries he grows, and three he stays,
Supreme in state, and in three more decays:
So wears the paving pebble in the street,
And towns and towers their fatal periods meet
So rivers, rapid once, now naked lie,
Forsaken of their springs, and leave their channels dry:
So man, at first a drop, dilates with heat,
Then formed, the little heart begins to beat;
Secret he feeds, unknowing in the cell;
At length, for hatching ripe, he breaks the shell,
And struggles into breath, and cries for aid;
Then, helpless, in his mother's lap is laid.
He creeps, he walks, and, issuing into man,
Grudges their life, from whence his own began;
Retchless of laws, affects to rule alone,
Anxious to reign, and restless on the throne;
First vegetive, then feels, and reasons last;
Rich of three souls, and lives all three to waste.
Some thus, but thousands more in flower of age;
For few arrive to run the latter stage.
Sunk in the first, in battle some are slain,
And others whelmed beneath the stormy main.
What makes all this, but Jupiter the king,
At whose command we perish, and we spring?
Then 'tis our best, since thus ordained to die,
To make a virtue of necessity;
Take what he gives, since to rebel is vain;
The bad grows better, which we well sustain;
And could we choose the time, and choose aright,
'Tis best to die, our honour at the height.
When we have done our ancestors no shame,
But served our friends, and well secured our fame;
Then should we wish our happy life to close,
And leave no more for fortune to dispose.
So should we make our death a glad relief
From future shame, from sickness, and from grief;
Enjoying, while we live, the present hour,
And dying in our excellence and flower.
Then round our deathbed every friend should run,
And joy us of our conquest early won;
While the malicious world, with envious tears,
Should grudge our happy end, and wish it theirs.
Since then our Arcite is with honour dead,
Why should we mourn, that he so soon is freed,
Or call untimely, what the gods decreed?
With grief as just, a friend may be deplored,
From a foul prison to free air restored.
Ought he to thank his kinsman or his wife,
Could tears recall him into wretched life?
Their sorrow hurts themselves; on him is lost;
And, worse than both, offends his happy ghost.
What then remains, but, after past annoy,
To take the good vicissitude of joy;
To thank the gracious gods for what they give,
Possess our souls, and while we live, to live?
Ordain we then two sorrows to combine,
And in one point the extremes of grief to join;
That thence resulting joy may be renewed,
As jarring notes in harmony conclude.
Then I propose, that Palamon shall be
In marriage joined with beauteous Emily;
For which already I have gained the assent
Of my free people in full parliament.
Long love to her has borne the faithful knight,
And well deserved, had fortune done him right:
'Tis time to mend her fault, since Emily,
By Arcite's death, from former vows is free;
If you, fair sister, ratify the accord,
And take him for your husband and your lord.
'Tis no dishonour to confer your grace
On one descended from a royal race;
And were he less, yet years of service past,
From grateful souls, exact reward at last.
Pity is heaven's and yours; nor can she find
A throne so soft as in a woman's mind.""
(pp. 631-4, ll. 1024-1134",""
"","""Conscience alone, my awful Judge within, / Does not acquit me of enormous Sin / But God and all his sacred Angels, bear / Witness to this, and will my Justice clear.""",3963,Court,"Searching ""judge within"" in HDIS (Poetry)",10296,2004-08-26 00:00:00 UTC,2010-02-05 17:47:05 UTC,2010-02-05,"","Yet no Injustice does in Job appear,
As you my Friends unkindly would infer,
Pure is my Prayer, my Heart within sincere.
If e'er a Man by my flagitious hand
Vext and Opprest, has perish'd from the Land,
Let not thy Womb, O Earth, his Blood conceal,
But to the Light my black Offence reveal;
That publique Shame and Pains may be my Fate,
Which on the heinous Malefactor wait.
Let God and Man their Bowels shut, when I
In deadly Torment for Compassion cry.
Conscience alone, my awful Judge within,
Does not acquit me of enormous Sin,
But God and all his sacred Angels, bear
Witness to this, and will my Justice clear.
From you my Friends, who my Distress deride,
I turn to Heav'n, let Heav'n my Cause decide.
If God his just Tribunal would ascend,
To hear how you accuse, and I defend;
If he, as Arbitrator, would preside,
And weigh the Reasons urg'd on either side;
From your Indictment he would me release,
And I, my Virtue clear'd, should dye in Peace.
And, O, that God would soon my Tryal hear,
And Judgment give before I disappear.
For when a few more fleeting days are past,
I in the Arms of Death shall lye embrac't.",""
"","""To th' uncorrupted Judge within thy Breast / Thy Conscience I appeal; will that attest / That thou believ'st what thou hast boldly said, / That Job does God in Righteousness exceed?""",3963,Court,"Searching ""judge within"" in HDIS (Poetry)",10297,2004-08-26 00:00:00 UTC,2010-02-05 17:49:19 UTC,2010-02-05,""," He paus'd: and Job not answering, Elihu
Did thus th'important Argument pursue.
To th' uncorrupted Judge within thy Breast
Thy Conscience I appeal; will that attest
That thou believ'st what thou hast boldly said,
That Job does God in Righteousness exceed?
To any other meaning who can wrest
These Irreligious Words by thee exprest?
""Does ever God the least concernment show
""Whether I'm Just and Innocent, or no?
""What Profit shall I reap by being so?
I will a short, but a full answer give
To thee, and those that thus of God believe.
Then up to Heav'n cast thy admiring Eyes,
View the bright Orbs, and Clouds, and distant Skies.
High as they are, they're by th' Almighty's Throne
In height, as much as thou by them, outdone.
Therefore, O Job, the most atrocious Crime
Thou dar'st commit, can never injure him.
Nor can his perfect Happiness be less,
Should thou grown bold, and hard in Wickedness,
By multiply'd Affronts thy Hate of God express.
Nor can he e'er the least advantage reap,
Shouldst thou revere him, and his Precepts keep.",""