IV
LATITUDINARIANISM
Yet Truth is keenly sought for, and the wind
Charged with rich words poured out in thought's defence;
Whether the Church inspire that eloquence,[254]
Or a Platonic Piety confined
To the sole temple of the inward mind;[255] 5
And One there is who builds immortal lays,
Though doomed to tread in solitary ways,[256]
Darkness before and danger's voice behind;
Yet not alone, nor helpless to repel
Sad thoughts; for from above the starry sphere 10
Come secrets, whispered nightly to his ear;
And the pure spirit of celestial light
Shines through his soul—"that he may see and tell
Of things invisible to mortal sight."[257]
FOOTNOTES:
[254] As in the case of John Hales of Eton, William Chillingworth, who wrote The Religion of Protestants, and Jeremy Taylor, author of The Liberty of Prophesying.—Ed.
[255] The Cambridge Platonists, Ralph Cudworth, John Smith, and Henry More, are referred to.—Ed.
[256] Milton.—Ed.
[257] Compare Paradise Lost, book iii. ll. 54, 55.—Ed.