Monday, August 22, 2022

Search while thou wilt, and let thy reason go

To ransome truth even to th’ Abyss below;

Rally the scattered Causes; and that line

Which Nature twists, be able to untwine:

It is thy Makers will, for unto none,

But unto reason can he e’er be known...

 

Give thou my reason that instructive flight,

Whose weary wings may on thy hands still light.

Teach me so to soar aloft, yet ever so,

When near the Sun, to stoop again below.

Thus shall my humble Feathers safely hover,

And, though near Earth, more than the Heavens discover.

And then at last, when homeward I shall drive

Rich with the Spoils of nature to my Hive,

There will I sit like that industrious Flie,

Buzzing thy praises, which shall never die,

Till death abrupts them, and succeeding Glory

Bid me go on in a more lasting story.

... Sir Thomas Browne (1605-1682), Religio Medici [1643], W. Murison, ed., Cambridge University Press, 1922, p. 17-28 (see the book; see also Pr. 2:10-11; 1:7; 8:10-11; 24:3-5; 1 Cor. 13:9-12; Phil. 3:8; more at Death, Glory, Humility, Reason, Teach, Truth)

 
Compilation Copyright, 1996-2024, by Robert McAnally Adams,
        Curator, Christian Quotation of the Day,
        with Robert Douglas, principal contributor
Logo image Copyright 1996 by Shay Barsabe, of “Simple GIFs”, by kind permission.
Send comments to curator@cqod.com.

Last updated: 08/13/22

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