Date: 1710 [1719, 1729]

"Black Night comes on, and interrupts the Day, / E'er it can chase the Mists and Fogs away; / The Dregs of Flesh and Drossy Lees, o'errun / The Soul, and weigh the strugling Spirit down:"

— Oldisworth, William (1680-1734)

Date: 1725

As when clouds disperse and restore the day, so may a "sudden flash" rush on the soul

— Pitt, Christopher (1699-1748)

Date: 1739

"Fill our whole Souls with heav'nly Light, / Melt with Seraphick Fire."

— Wesley, John and Charles

Date: 1783

"When first the orient rays of beauty move / The conscious soul, they light the lamp of love"

— Mason, William (1725-1797)

Date: 1788-89

"At first, indeed, before she is excited by science, she is oppressed with lethargy, and clouded with oblivion; but in proportion as learning and enquiry stimulate her dormant powers, she wakens from the dreams of ignorance, and opens her eye to the irradiations of wisdom"

— Taylor, Thomas (1758-1835)

Date: 1788-89

"The former [Platonic philosophy] fills the soul with intelligible light, breaks her lethargic fetters, and elevates her to the principle of things; the latter [Lockean philosophy] clouds the intellectual eye of the soul, by increasing her oblivion, strengthens her corporeal bands, and hurries he...

— Taylor, Thomas (1758-1835)