"WE BELIEVE IN GOD!"

The Greatest Artists, Musicians, Philosophers, Scientists, Writers and Poets Believed in God.

M. Caputo

© Copyright, Michael Caputo, 2013 (All rights reserved)

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

GREAT ARTISTS

GREAT MUSICIANS

GREAT PHILOSOPHERS

GREAT SCIENTISTS

GREAT WRITERS AND POETS

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"ONLY TO THE HIGHEST GOD

BE THE GLORY."

(JOHAN SEBASTIAN BACH)

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

My deepest gratitude goes, first of all, to my forbearing wife and children who have endured my obsession with a book which has taken years to research and complete. Thank you, Leonilda, Anthony, Julie and Victor for your love and patience.  A special thank you to Mrs. Renée Aviles,  a special Christian lady and a top translator, who helped me translate some challenging French poetry.  Most of all, I would like to thank the Almighty who inspired this work and who motivated me to carry on with the task the many times I felt tired and discouraged.

INTRODUCTION

Many years ago, a leading American atheist was interviewed on a TV station in my city. I was perplexed by the man's confidence and, most of all, his concluding remark. He said with total certainty:  "No intelligent person would ever believe in God."

His baffling comment stayed with me for some years, until I was finally moved to put it to the test. For about ten years,  I visited university and public libraries and I went through hundreds of works written by and about the great luminaries of the past in the fields of Art, Music, Philosophy, Science and Literature. I also discovered enlightening private correspondence of  a great many luminaries, in which they expressed their innermost thoughts and beliefs.

My long and intensive search made it undeniably evident that the atheist's assertion was totally unfounded and that, in reality, the opposite was true. The great majority of the greatest minds that have shaped our world believed in a Creator and a large number were, in fact, sincere and practicing Christians.

This book is the result of my laborious search. In it you will read what the greatest talents in art, such as Michelangelo, Leonardo and Rembrandt, believed about God. You will be inspired by what great musicians such as Beethoven, Mozart and Bach wrote about their Creator. You will be enlightened about the views on the Divinity by great thinkers such as Kant, Hegel and Bacon. You will be uplifted by the theological views of  brilliant scientific minds such as Galileo, Newton and Copernicus. Finally, you will be energized by what the greatest writers and poets of the past wrote about the Source of all.

Some might wrongly suggest that the luminaries quoted in this work are not from our scientifically enlightened times, and that belief in God would not be found in great minds of 20th century. This assertion would be totally unfounded. The 20th century had many great minds who believed. The philosophical giants, Wittgenstein, Bergson, De Chardin and Weil; The Nobel-Prize winning  Marconi, Penzias, Wald and Eccles, the musical giants, Stravinsky, Rossini, Sibelius and Mascagni; the famed artist, Renoir; the great literary geniuses, T. S. Eliot,  Shaw,  D. H. Lawrence, Pirandello, Deledda, Rilke and  Solzhenitsyn, are just some of the brilliant minds that lived in the 20th century  who held a firm belief in God.

(Please see Appendix 1and Appendix 2 for a detailed list of Nobel-Prize winning scientists and writers).

As you will indulge in the uplifting thoughts of  the greatest minds of the past, you will have no doubt that the men and women included in this book were the giants in their fields. A very few will be missing, because of lack of primary sources, copyright issues, or because they were agnostic or atheists. In the future it is hoped that several more luminaries will be added to further enrich this book.

Please note that the evidence in this book is totally from primary sources. What you will read came directly from the pen of the greats, not from what others said about them. This makes this book most unique and very powerful in what it proposes.

The hope of the author is that this work will help many to see that throughout the ages brilliant minds have sought and found their Creator, and that belief in God has been for them an energizing, ennobling experience. Unlike what some atheists propagate, belief in God has not undermined the potential of humanity; on the contrary, it has been a fundamental and motivating factor behind many of humanity’s greatest achievements.

May you be very uplifted by my years of labor and may your faith in the great Creator be greatly strengthened.

Michael Caputo

GREAT ARTISTS

“I obey Thee, Lord, first for the love I, in all reason, owe Thee; secondly, because Thou can shorten or prolong the lives of men.” (Leonardo da Vinci)

BLAKE, WILLIAM

"All is God in all that is our companion and friend, for our God Himself says: 'you are my brother, my sister and my mother.'"

(Keynes, 1961, 733).

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"God is in the lowest effects as well as in the highest causes; for He is become a worm that He may nourish the weak. For let it be remembered that creation is God descending according to the weakness of man, for our Lord is the Word of God and every thing on earth is the Word of God and its essence is God."

(Ibid., 733)

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"All God is anything He is understanding."

(Ibid., 733).

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"Come, o Thou Lamb of God, and take away the remembrance of sin.

To sin and to hide the sin in sweet deceit is lovely!

To sin in the open face of day is cruel and pitiless! But

To record the sin for a reproach, to let the sun go down

To as a remembrance of the sin, is a woe and horror,

A brooder of an evil day and a sun rising in blood!

Come then, O Lamb of God, and take away the remembrance of Sin."

(Ibid, 497)

BUONARROTI, MICHELANGELO

"Unless Thou show us thine own true way

No man can find it; Father! Thou must Lead.”

(Wordsworth, 1932, 319)

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SONNET

I would love to want that which I do not want:

Between the fire and the heart of ice a veil is present

That quenches the fire, so that it prevents

The pen in its work, and makes the sheet a liar.

I love you with the tongue, and then I pain

That love does not reach the heart; nor do I know where

It opens the door to the mercy that enters

The heart, that casts out every merciless pride.

Tear the veil , my Lord, break down the wall."

That with its hardness slows down

The brightness of your light, dark to the world!

"Send the prophesied light so near to us

To your beautiful bride, that in my heart

I might burn without doubt, and only you believe.

(D’Angelo, 1978, 78)

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"I speak to You , my Lord, for with all my trials,

Without Your blood,  blessedness I, man, would never reach."

(Ibid., 126)

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"Only You are the seed of pure and holy works,

That grow where You sow them

No one can follow you with His own worth

Except You show them Your holy ways."

(Ibid., 127)

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"Do not look with eyes of Justice

upon my past . . .

May only Your blood touch and wash my faults

And evermore abound when I get old."

(Ibid., 127)

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"By the cross, by Grace and by diverse trials

I am sure.  We will be in Heaven."

(Ibid., 131)

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SONNET

Well nigh the voyage now is overpast

And my frail bark through trouble seas and rude

Draws near that common haven where at last

Of every action, be it evil or good

Must due account be rendered. Well I know

How then will then appear that favored art.

Sole Idol long and Monarch of my heart,

For all is vain that man desires below.

And now remorseful thoughts the past unbraid,

And fear of twofold death my soul alarms,

That which must come, and that beyond the grave.

Picture and sculpture lose their feeble charms

And to that Love Divine I turn for aid,

Who from the cross extends his arms to save.

(Wordworth, 1932)

CÉZANNE, PAUL

“I am helpless and can render you no service, but as I shall die before you (Emile Zola) I shall intercede before the Almighty for a good place for you.”

(Mack, 1935, 281)

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“Let me repeat what I told you here: you must see in nature the

cylinder the sphere, the cone, all put into perspective, so that

every side of the object, of a plane, recedes to a central point.

The parallel lines at the horizon give the extension, that is a

section of nature, or, if you prefer, of the spectacle which

the Omnipotent Eternal God and Father spreads before our eyes.”

(Ibid., 377-378)

DA VINCI, LEONARDO

“The works of God are appreciated best by other creators.”

(Richter, Vol. I, 1883, p. 387)

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"… virtuous things are in favour with God.

Disgrace should be presented upside down because all her deeds are contrary to God and tend to Hell."

(Ibid., p. 359)

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"For painting is born of nature--or, to speak more correctly, we will say it is the grandchild of nature; for all visible things are produced by nature, and these her children have given birth to painting. Hence we may call it the grandchild of nature and related to God."

(Ibid., 326-327)

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"…the lord who is the light of all things…"

(Ibid., p. 122)

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“I obey Thee, Lord, first for the love I, in all reason, owe Thee; secondly, because Thou can shorten or prolong the lives of men.”

(Richter, Volume II, 1883, p. 285)

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"Thou, O God, sell us all good things at the price of labour."

(Ibid., 285)

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“O admirable impartiality of thine, Thou First Mover; Thou hast not permitted that any force should fail of the order or quality of its necessary results.”

(Ibid., 285)

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"They want to comprehend the mind of God in which the Universe is included weighing it minutely and mincing it into infinite parts, as if they had to dissect it. Oh! human stupidity, do you not perceive that, though you have been with yourself all your life, you are not aware yet of the things you possess the most of, that is your folly?" (Ibid., p. 302).

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(The body) "…appears to thee marvellously constructed, remember that it is nothing as compared to the soul that dwells in that structure, for that indeed, be it what it may, is a thing divine"

(Ibid. 286).

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"To lie is so vile that even if it were of speaking well of godly things it would take something from God's grace." (Ibid., 292)

DELACROIX, EUGÈNE

(Delacroix's letters give clear evidence that he believed in the Creator.)

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(Letter to A.M.C. Dutilleux) "…with God's help I will be healed."

(Burty, Tome Seconde, 103)

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(Letter to A.M.T. Gautier) "…thanks to God I am still living…"

(Ibid, 131)

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(Letter to A.M. Soulier) "God is Great!"

(Burty, Tome Premier, 1880, 302)

And if here below thou wert like

thy master Christ and sufferedst

infamy at the hands of the liars of

this time, and didst die a little

sooner, then wouldst thou the

sooner pass from death unto life

and be glorified in Christ. For if

thou drinkest of the cup which He

drank of, with Him shalt thou

reign and judge with justice those

who have dealt treacherously.

(Conway, 1889, p. 93)

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"Oh highest Heavenly father , pour into our hearts, though Thy Son , Jesus Christ, such a light, that by it we may know what messenger we are bound to obey, so that good conscience we may lay aside the burdens of others and serve Thee, eternal, heavenly Father with happy and joyful hearts."

(Ibid, p. 93)

INGRES, JEAN, AUGUSTE, DOMINIQUE

“Have religion in your art. Do not believe that you can produce anything of worth . . . without the elevation of the soul. To see anything beautiful you must see only the sublime. Do not look to the right, to the left, or below. Look only to heaven, and don’t look down toward the earth like pigs who seek in the mud.”

(Ingres, 1947, 45)

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“If God will give me the mercy to increase the limited contingent of my works until the great departure. May God also make them a little deserving for posterity.”

(Ibid., 40)

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“May God preserve us.”

(Ibid., 123)

RUBENS, PETER PAUL

Rubens' private correspondence reflects

both devoutness and dependence upon the Deity.

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"…praying God that this business may terminate, as is wished, for the good of Christianity…"

(Sainsbury, 1859, 81)

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"Seeing then that men are so far removed from Peace, we must hope for it from God who will give it in His own due time…"

(Ibid., 99).

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" I pray God to employ more successfully in the future, and in this and all other occasions to have you in His holy keeping…"

(Ibid., 101).

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"…it will please God may be with you all happiness and contentment for many years…"

(Ibid., 153)

GREAT MUSICIANS

"O God! Thou art the true, eternal, blessed, unchangeable light of all time and space." (L.V. Beethoven)

BACH, JOHANN SEBASTIAN

Bach was a deeply religious man. He garnished his works with praises to God.

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"To God alone be glory”

(Schweitzer, 1911, 166)

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"Help me Jesus!"

(Ibid., 166)

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"When natural music is heightened and polished by art, there man first beholds, and can with great wonder examine to a certain extent, (for it cannot be fully seized or understood) the great and perfect wisdom of God in His great music…"

(Ibid., 29)

BEETHOVEN, LUDWIG VAN

“God is immaterial; as he is invisible. He can, therefore, have no form. But from what we are able to perceive in His works we conclude that He is eternal, almighty, omniscient, and omnipresent. The Mighty One, He alone is free from all desire or passion. There is no greater than He...His mind is self-existent. He, the Almighty, is present in every part of space. His omniscience is self-inspired, and His conception includes every other. Of His all-embracing attributes the greatest is omniscience. For there is no threefold kind of being--it is independent of everything--O God! Thou art the true, eternal, blessed, unchangeable light of all time and space. Thy wisdom apprehends thousands and still thousands of laws, and yet Thou ever actest of Thy free will, and to Thy honour. Thou wast before all that we worship. To Thee is due praise and adoration. Thou alone art the true...Thou, the best of all laws, the image of all wisdom, present throughout the whole world. Thou sustaineth all things.”

(Kalisher, 1926, 393-394)

CHOPIN, FREDRICK

Chopin's letters testify to His  belief in God.

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(Letter to G. Sand) "…Next time, if God permits us to live, matters will turn out better."

(Niecks, 1890, 84)

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(Letter to Frachomme) "I hope that you will also compose something, and may God grant that I hear it soon newly born."

(Ibid., 290)

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(Letter to Dr. Lyschinski)  "May God bless you."

(Ibid., 302)

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(Letter To T. Woyciekopwski) "I hope that God will permit you to come to me."

(Ibid., 310)

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(Words before his death)

"I believe."

(Ibid., 320)

ROSSINI, GIOACCHINO

(Through his correspondence, we may conclude that Rossini believed in God.)

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"God who protects in innocence will know how to protect me in this difficult moment."

(Rossini, G. 1902, 75)

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"This day does not seem favourable as my heart would wish. God will provide."

(174)

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"May the Heavens give you and your dear wife all the desirable happiness"

(Ibid., 190)

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"…I feel the burden of your distance that pains me much. So has God willed. May His will be done!"

(Rossini, 1892,130)

GLUCK, CRISTOPH WILLIBALD VON

"In an age of flippant atheism, Gluck retained to the last his trust in God and his reverence for religion"(Des Champ De la Tour, 1879, 147).

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“I commend my soul to the infinite mercy of God.”

(Nohl, 1867, 47)

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“I thank God that I am healthy again.”

(Ibid., 206)

HANDEL, GEORGE FREDERICK

(Letter from his close friend, James Smyth regarding Handel). "He died as he lived, a good Christian, with a good sense of his duty to God and man, and in prefect charity with the whole world") (Rockstro, 1883,363).

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"May the Most High grant to all of us our faithful desires. To His Almighty keeping I recommend my honoured brother and his amiable family…"

(Ibid., 163)

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"Your thoughtfulness may never pass from my remembrance, until, after this life, we are once more united, which may the All-good God in his mercy grant us."

(Ibid., 162)

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"Sing unto God Ye kingdoms of the earth."

(Ibid., 204)

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"We worship God and God alone."

(Ibid, 286)

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"Glory to God in the highest."

(Ibid., 237)

HAYDN, FRANZ JOSEPH

"Our Almighty Father (to whom above all I owe the most profound gratitude) had endowed me with so much facility in music that even in my sixth year I was bold enough to sing some masses in the choir, and also played a little with the piano and the violin" (Nohl, 1867, 72).

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(Letter to Artaria) "…until my enfeebled head, by God's help, regains its former vigor" (Ibid, 94).

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(Letter to Frau V. Gezinger) "May God only grant me health…May the Almighty preserve you, dear lady, and your worthy husband and all your beautiful children" (Ibid, 122-123).

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(Letter to Frau V. Gezinger) "God be praised! I am in good health…" (Ibid, 149-150)

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(Letter to Frau V. Gezinger) "I work hard, and in the Spring mornings when I walk in the woods alone…I think of my Creator, of my family and all the friends that I have left…" (Ibid., 150).

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"I commend my soul to my all merciful Creator" (Ibid., 193).

LISZT, FRANZ

Liszt's correspondence with Wagner reveals that he was a man of deep faith and a very zealous Christian.

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"May the Living God bless you and have you in His keeping."

(Hueffer, 1889, 181)

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"Let us stand bolt upright and trust in God."

(Ibid., 230)

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"All is perishable. Only God's Word remains forever, and God's Word is revealed in the creation of genius."

(Ibid., 239)

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"I will pray to God that He may powerfully  illumine your heart through His faith and His love…Through Christ alone, through resigned suffering in God, salvation and rescue come to us.

(Ibid., 273)

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"When need is high, God is highest."

(Wagner, 1897, 26)

MASCAGNI, PIETRO

“We Christians know that the sweet and tender man, that alone and isolated preached goodness to humanity, was Jesus; We know that Jesus belongs to the Divinity: Father, Son and Holy Spirit; but He came on earth for His Divine mission in the likeness of mortal man, and men that heard His law of love feltnew sentiments in their inspired heart...He creates , divinely creates.”

(Morini, 1964, 180)

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“Jesus was Divinity; this indicates that genius is a divine gift, because only Divinity can create that which does not exist. Therefore, , Jesus, having come to the earth as a man, to teach man His new law for the good of humanity, remains Divine, but can be considered a man of genius for the creation and the preaching of His law divinely human.”

(Ibid, 175)

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“Art, to be truly art, needs the Divine gift of creation.”

(Ibid, 175)

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“I have absolute faith in God…”

(Ibid, 180)

MOZART, WOLFGANG, AMADEUS

"…and I neither can nor ought thus to bury the talent for composition which God has so richly endowed me."

(Mozart, 1866, 165)

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"I have arrived here safely, God be praised!"

(Ibid., 122)

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"As soon as I read your letter, my first impulse was to throw myself on my knees, and fervently to thank our gracious God for thisis blessing."

(Ibid., 235)

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"…I must tell you that nothing could have saved my mother. No doctor in the world could have restored her to health; it was the manifest will of God; her time was come, and God chose to take her to Himself."

(Ibid., 236)

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"Well, God will make all things right. I have a project in my head for the success of which I daily pray to God. if it be His almighty will it must come to pass; but, if not, I am quite contented."

(Ibid., 214)

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"…we know God to be compassionate, merciful and loving."

(Mozart, 1866, 60)

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" I have always God before mine eyes, I acknowledge His omnipotence; I dread His wrath; but I also know His love, His compassion and mercy toward His creatures and that He will never forsake His servants."

(Ibid., 104)

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"I am entirely submissive to the will of God."

(Ibid., 138)

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"I must tell you that my mother, darling mother,  is no more. God has called her to Himself; I clearly see that it was His will to take her from us, and I must learn to submit to the will of God."

(Ibid., 106)

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"The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away."

(Ibid., 106)

WAGNER, RICHARD

(Wagner correspondence with Franz Lizst reveals that Wagner believed in God.)

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"May God give you strength and joy in your hard work."

(Hueffer, 1889, 5)

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"God bless you dear Lizt."

(Ibid., 15)

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"May the God who dwells in both of us keep you healthy and happy."

(Ibid., 163)

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"God bless you dear friend in joy and sorrow."

(Wagner, 1897,

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"God must forgive all my sin…and where God forgives the child should not be sulky."

(Ibid., 218)

GREAT PHILOSOPHERS

"It is true, that a little philosophy inclineth man's mind to atheism; but depth in philosophy brings about man's mind to religion…" (Bacon)

BACON, SIR FRANCIS

“God has this attribute that He is a jealous God; and therefore His worship and religion will endure no mixture nor partner.”

(Bacon, 1875, 10)

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"It is true, that a little philosophy inclineth man's mind to atheism; but depth in philosophy brings about man's mind to religion: for while the mind of man looketh upon second causes scattered, it may sometimes rest in them, and go no further; but when it beholdeth the chain of them confederate and linked together, it must needs fly to Providence and Deity."

(Ibid., 64)

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“They that deny a God destroy man's nobility; for certainly man is of kin to the beasts in his body; and, if he be not of kin to God by his spirit, he is a base and ignoble creature.”

(Ibid., 67)

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“It is better to have no opinion of God at all, than such an opinion as is unworthy of him: for the one is unbelief the other is contumely; and certainly superstition is the reproach of the Deity.”

(Ibid., 68)

BERGSON, HENRI

“God Who effectively reveals Himself, Who illuminates and warms privileged souls with His presence.”

(Bergson, 1933, 214)

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“When nations at war each declare that they have God on their side, the deity in question thus becoming the national god of paganism, whereas the God they imagine they are evoking is a God common to all mankind, the mere vision of Whom, could all men but attain it, would mean the immediate abolition of war.”

(Ibid., 215)

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“Those who have, from afar off, bowed their head to the mystic word, because they have heard a faint echo of it within themselves, will not remain indifferent to its message.”

(Ibid., 215)

CAMPANELLA, TOMMASO

"I believe in God, Power, Wisdom, Love,

One, Life, Truth, Goodness, Infinite,

First Cause, King of all Kings and Creator."

(Tuscano, 1969, 160)

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"He who rises to the love of the common Father

Esteemeth all men as brothers."

(Ibid., 120)

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"It is up to Thee, Oh Lord,

If you have not created me in vain,

To be my saviour

That is why night and day

I supplicate Thee with tears.

When will Thou finally hear me?

I have no more words to say,

But the chains that surround me,

They laugh and ridicule me

For my vain prayers,

My dry ears and tired supplications."

(Ibid., 135-136)

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"I come to Thee, most mighty Lord,

All knowing God.

Most loving First Cause and One:

Be merciful on our ancient sin…"

(Ibid., 141)

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"Thou, who with strength and love sustain

And move all bodies similar and diverse

Ordained to that end, so that I would discover

fate and the harmony of all laws;

If it is true that I pray for that which Thou correct

Which is not decreed in the eternal verses,

But only the perverse and prosperous times

To  quicken or be tardy in the privileges.

So do I pray, that for many years I find myself

Of fools and wicked fable and aim,

And new accusations and sorrow today I feel,

Give relief and shorten these many trials."

(Ibid., 134)

DELLA MIRANDOLA, PICO

"Upon the throne…sits God the Judge of the ages."

(Della Mirandola, 2003, 25)

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"Already God, supreme Author and Architect had built with art, according to the laws of His ancient knowledge, this physical dwelling that we see (man), most august temple of the Divinity."

(Ibid., 7)

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"Oh supreme liberality of God our Father, supreme and admirable happiness of man, to whom it is given to obtain that which he desires, to be that which he wants."

(Ibid., 13)

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"Jesus Christ, teacher of life…"

(Ibid., 123)

DESCARTES, RENÉ

"Accepting God as a pupreme principle means opening my spirit to infinite possibilites. It means accepting that there exists always for me a way to better myself, of knowing in advance…in my life the permanent promise of a better future."

(Brooks)

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"I am an imperfect being, and there is in my spirit the notion of perfection. Who else but God Himself could have given me this notion of perfection."

(Ibid)

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"Inherent existence is not a part of man since, if so, he would have been created perfect, and thus divine. It can only be attributed to God, perfect being."

(Ibid)

FICHTE, JOHAN

"The inward and absolute nature of God manifests itself in BEAUTY…The source of beauty is in God alone, and it reveals itself only in the minds of those who are inspired by Him."

(Fichte, 1873, 523)

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"God is necessarily consciousness…"

(Ibid., 470)

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"God alone is and nothing else beside Him..."

(Ibid., 458)

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"What then is God?...He is absolutely of Himself, through Himself and in Himself…"

(Ibid., 458)

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"Another requisite of the blessed life is that this living Religion within us should go so far as to convince us entirely of our own Nothingness in ourselves, and of our being only in God and through God."

(Ibid., 437)

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'The true life lives in God and loves God…"

(Ibid., 393)

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“By the renunciation of the earthly, does faith in the Eternal first arise in our soul, and is there enshrined apart, as the only support to which we can cling after we have given up all else, -- as the only animating principle that can elevate our minds and inspire our lives.”

(Ibid., 354)

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“Only through the Common Fountain of our spiritual being do we know of each other; only in Him do we recognize each other, and influence each other.”

(Ibid, 363)

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“The Eternal Will is thus assuredly the Creator of the world, in the only way in which He can be so, and in the only way in which it needs creation: in the finite reason.”

(Ibid., 364)

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“In the contemplation of these Thy relations to me, the finite being, will I rest in calm blessedness. I know immediately what I ought to do. This will I do freely, joyfully , and without cavilling and sophistry, for it is Thy voice which commands me to do it; it is the part assigned to me in the spiritual World-plan; and the power with which I shall perform it is Thy power . Whatever may be commanded by that voice, whatever executed by that power, is, in that plan, assuredly and truly good. I remain tranquil amid all the events of this world, for they are in Thy world. Nothing can perplex or surprise, or dishearten me, as surely as Thou livest, and can look upon Thy life. For in Thee and through Thee, O Infinite One! Do I behold even my present world in another light. Nature, and natural consequences, are opposed to Thee, become empty, unmeaning words. Nature is no longer; Thou, only Thou, art.”

(Ibid., 366-367)

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”My entire complete vocation I cannot comprehend; what I shall be hereafter transcends my thoughts. A part of that vocation is concealed from me; it is visible only to One, to the Father of Spirits, to whose care it is committed. I know only that it is sure, and that it is eternal and glorious like Himself.”

(Ibid., 370)

HEGEL, GEORG, WILHELM FRIEDRICH

“God is the beginning of all things, and the end of all things. As all things precede from this point, so all return back.”

(Hegel, 1895, 2)

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“God is essential self-consciousness.”

(Ibid., 211)

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“God in His universality . . .  in which there is no limitation,

no finiteness, no particularity, is the absolute self-subsisting being and the only self-subsisting being; and what subsists has its roots, its subsistance, in this one alone.”

(Ibid., 92)

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“To think of God means to rise above what is sensuous, external and individual. It means to rise up to what is pure, to that which is in unity with itself; it is a going forth above and beyond the sensuous, beyond what belongs to the sphere of the senses into the pure regions of the universal. And this region is thought.”

(Ibid., P. 95)

*****************************

“God is Spirit, the Absolute Spirit, the Eternally Undifferentiated Spirit, essentially at home with Himself.”

(Ibid., 92)

*****************************

“All is God.”

(Ibid., P. 96)

*****************************

“God, who is alone the true reality.”

(Ibid., P. 98)

*****************************

“In God there is no evil.”

(Ibid., P. 98)

*****************************

“God is good, and good alone.”

(Ibid., P.99)

*****************************

“God is the One absolutely self-sufficient Being.”

(Ibid., P. 99)

JAMES, WILLIAM

“I do not know what the sweat and blood and tragedy of this life may mean if they mean anything short of this. If this life be not a real fight, in which something is eternally gained for the universe by success, it is no better than a game of private theatricals from which one may withdraw at will. But it feels like a real fight, -- as if there were something really wild in the universe which we, with all our idealities and faithfulnesses, are needed to redeem; and first of all to redeem our own hearts from atheisms and fears.”

(James, 1907, 61)

KANT, IMMANUEL

"The mere existence of substances is plainly insufficient to account for their mutual connexion and reciprocal influence and an external nexus of things independent implies a common principle through which their existence is determined with relation to each other: and since, without such a common principle, no general bond of union may be conceived, we have here a most evident proof of the existence of God…"

(Caird, E., 1889)

*****************************

"…just as the analysis of a ratio of incommensurables produces an infinite series, so contingent truths require an infinite analysis which God only can complete. Wherefore it is by Him alone that they are known certainly and a priori; for though a reason can always  be found for the state that succeeds in the state immediately before it, yet this reason requires another reason, and so on ad infinitum. And this process ad infinitum takes in our knowledge the place of a sufficient reason, which can only be found outside the series in God, on whom all its parts, prior and posterior, depend far more than they depend on each other."

(Ibid., 91)

KIERKEGAARD, SOREN

"Thou plain man! The Christianity of the New Testament is infinitely high…"

( Kierkegaard, 1944, 287)

*****************************

"What Christ, what the Apostles, what every witness to the truth de-

sires as the only thing...is imitation — the only thing humanity has no

taste for, takes no pleasure in."

(Ibid., 263)

*****************************

"What is the Christianity of the New Testament? It is the suffering  truth. In this mediocre, miserable, sinful, evil, ungodly world (this is the Christian doctrine) the truth must suffer, Christianity is the suffering truth because it is the truth and is in this world. For this reason the Founder not only suffered death upon the cross, but His whole life was suffering from first to last. For this reason the Apostles suffered, for this reason the witness to the truth. And the Savior required one thing, the Apostles after Him required the same thing, and the witness to the truth required only one thing: imitation."

(Ibid., 267)

*****************************

"So it is with "Christendom." If you will, it is devised to mankind by  the Testament of the Saviour of the world; but in the case of Christianity the situation is this: the gift and the obligation correspond to one another in an exact proportion. In the same degree that Christianity  is a gift it is also an obligation."

(Ibid., 280)

*****************************

"God is love. Never was there born a man whom this thought does not overwhelm with indescribable bliss, especially when it comes close to him in the sense that "God is love" signifies "Thou art loved."

(Ibid., 245)

*****************************

(God) "is something so infinitely exalted, and thou on the other hand art so infinitely nothing in comparison with Him…"

(Ibid. 254)

*****************************

"…the obligation is: the imitation of Jesus Christ."

(Ibid., 280)

LEIBNIZ, GOTTFRIED

“I find God and His glory everywhere.”

(Olgiati, 1929, 192)

*****************************

“God, who is the inventor and the architect regarding the workings of nature, becomes King and Father regarding the substances that have intelligence, and whose soul is a spirit formed in His image. Regarding the spirits, of whom they are citizens, and the most perfect monarchy they can invent, where there is no sin that will not attract some penalty, nor a good action without recompense; where all tends finally to the glory of the Monarch, and the happiness of the subjects, for the most beautiful union of justice and goodness that can be desired.”

(Ibid, 182)

*****************************

“No sleep may last forever; but it will last less, or almost not at all, for reasonable souls, perpetually destined to preserve the personality and the memory, that was given to them, in the City of God.”

(Ibid, 181)

*****************************

“Wise and virtuous people strive to do all that is according to the Divine will presently or past and, therefore, they are satisfied with what God does effectively, by His secret will, … recognizing that, if we had enough understanding of the order of the universe, we would find that it surpasses the desire of all the wise, and that it is impossible to make it better than what it is, not only regarding everything in general, but even we in particular, if we are bonded to the author of all, not only as the architect and the dynamic cause of our being, but also as to our Lord and to the final cause, that has to constitute the end of our will, and that  only can be the cause of our happiness.”

(Ibid, 200)

*****************************

“If the smallest of evils that occurs in the world would not occur, it would not be the world, that, all considered and pondered, has appeared best to the Creator that has chosen it. Certainly, we can imagine possible worlds that have no sin and no hardship, …but those worlds would be much less inferior to our own.” (Ibid, 201)

LOCKE, JOHN

"Faith only, and inward sincerity, are the things that procure acceptance with God."

(Locke, 1796, 33)

*****************************

"… adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, and 'such like things, cannot be denied to be the works of the flesh (Gal. v.) concerning which the Apostle has expressly declared that ' they who do them 'shall not inherit the kingdom of God.' Whosoever therefore is sincerely solicitous about the kingdom of God, and thinks it his duty to endeavour the enlargement of it amongst men, ought to apply himself with no less care and industry to the rooting out of these immoralities, than to the extirpation of sects. But if any one do otherwise, and whilst he is cruel and implacable towards those that differ from him in opinion, he, be indulgent to such iniquities and immoralities as are unbecoming the name of a Christian, let such a one talk never so much of the church, he plainly demonstrates by his actions, that it is another kingdom he aims at, and not the advancement of the kingdom of God."

(Ibid., 8)

*****************************

"I say, in offering unto God Almighty such a worship as we esteem to be displeasing unto him, we add unto the number of our other sins those, also of hypocrisy, and contempt of his divine majesty."

(Ibid.,12)

*****************************

"I will not undertake to represent how happy and how great would be the fruit, both in church and state, if the pulpits everywhere sounded with this doctrine of peace and toleration…but this I say, that thus it ought to be. And if anyone that professes himself to be a minister of the word of God, a preacher of the gospel of peace, teach otherwise, he either understands not, or neglects the business of his calling, and shall one day give an account thereof unto the Prince of Peace."

(Ibid., 25)

*****************************

"Every man (is) capable of eternal happiness or misery; whose happiness depending upon his believing and doing those things in this life, which are necessary to the obtaining of God's favor, and are prescribed by God to that end: it follows from thence, first, that the observance of these things is the highest obligation that lies upon mankind, and that our utmost care, application, and diligence, ought to be exercised in the search and performance of them; because there is nothing in this world that is of any consideration in comparison with eternity."

(Ibid., 49)

ROUSSEAU, JEAN JACQUES

"This being that wills and does, who moves the universe and orders all things, I call God."

(Rousseau, 1774, 25)

*****************************

"No, God of my soul, I will never reproach you for having created it in your image so that I can be free, good and happy like you."

(Ibid., 32)

*****************************

"Source of justice and truth, merciful and good God, in my trust in You, my supreme vow of my heart is that Your Will will be done."

(Ibid., 51)

*****************************

"I take as witness the God of peace that I worship and that I announce to you…"

(Idid., 71)

*****************************

"God is just, I am convinced…"

(Ibid., 38)

*****************************

"God is good, nothing is more manifest…"

(Ibid., 38)

GREAT SCIENTISTS

"Without all doubt, this world so diversified with that variety of forms and motions we find in it; could arise from nothing but the perfectly free will of God…"(I. Newton)

BRAHE, TYCHO

“God . . . from whom we acknowledge all things to be received.”

(Brahe, 1969, 1)

****************************

“God who ruleth the heavens shall rule all things on earth.”

(Ibid., 19)

****************************

“It is impossible to set forth a certain time for the consummation of the world, which only dependeth upon the good will and pleasure of God, and is not revealed to angels, and therefore cannot be known by any human prescience.”

(Ibid., 20)

COPERNICUS, NICOLAS

“For who, after applying himself to things which he sees established in the best order and directed by divine ruling, would not through contemplation and them and through a certain habituation be awakened to that which is best and would not admire the Artificer of all things, in Whom is all happiness and every good? For the divine psalmist surely did not say gratuitously that he took pleasure in the workings of God and rejoiced in the works of His hands, unless by means of those things as by some sort of vehicle we are transported to the contemplation of the highest good?”

(Copernicus, 1873, 10-11)

*****************************

“God, without whom we can do nothing.”

(Ibid., 12)

FARADAY, MICHAEL

“Death has to the Christian everything hoped for, contained in the idea of reunion. I cannot think.  I cannot think that death has to the Christian anything in it that should make it a rare, or other than a constant, thought; out of the view of death comes the view of the life beyond the grave, as out of the view of sin (that true and real view which the Holy spirit alone can give to man) comes the glorious hope; without the conviction of sin there is no ground of hope to the Christian.”

(Jones, 1870, 424)

*****************************

“As though death be repugnant to the flesh, yet where the Spirit is given, to die is gain.”

(Ibid., 424)

*****************************

“And though the thought of death brings the thought of judgment, which is far above all the trouble that arises from the breaking of mere earthly ties, it also brings to the Christian the thought of Him who died, was judged and who rose again for the justification of those who believe in Him.”

(Ibid., 424)

*****************************

“Though fear of death can be a great thought, the hope of eternal life is far greater. Much more is the phrase the apostle uses in such comparisons. Though sin has reigned unto death, much more is the hope of eternal life through Jesus Christ.”

(Ibid., 424-425)

*****************************

“Though we may well fear for ourselves and our faith, much more may we trust in Him who is faithful; and though we have the treasures in earthen vessels, and so are surrounded by the infirmities of the flesh with all the accompanying hesitation – temptations and the attacks of the Adversary – yet it is that the excellency of the power of God may be with us.”

(Ibid., 425)

*****************************

“There is far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory for them who, through God’s power, look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For we are utterly insufficient for these things, but the sufficiency is of God, and that makes it fit for His people – His strength perfect in their weakness.”

(Ibid., 425)

*****************************

“The Christian . . . is taught of God (by His Word and the Holy Spirit) to trust in the promise of salvation though the work of Jesus Christ. He finds his guide in the Word of God, and commits the keeping of his soul into the hands of God. He looks for no assurance beyond what the Word can give him, and if his mind is troubled by the cares and fears which may assail him, he can go nowhere bu in his prayer to the throne of grace and to the Scripture.”

(Ibid., 426)

*****************************

“The Christian religion is a revelation. The natural man cannot know it . . . that revelation is the Word of God.”

(Ibid., 427)

*****************************

“I bow before Him who is Lord of all, and hope to be kept waiting patiently for His time and mode of releasing me according to His Divine Word, and the great and precious promises whereby His people are made partakers of the Divine nature.”

(Ibid., 471)

GALILEI, GALILEO

(Letter to Padron Colendissimo) "Whatever is the direction of our life, we must receive it as a great gift from the hand of God (and we must) infinitely thank his goodness which, in many ways, delivers us from…the love of earthly things and raises us to things celestial and Divine."

(Galileo, 2013)

*****************************

"The Scriptures cannot err."

(Ibid)

*****************************

"The Scriptures and Nature, the first by the dictation of the Holy Spirit, the latter obedient executrix of God's commands."

(Ibid)

*****************************

"The Scriptures were dictated by the Holy Spirit…"

(Ibid)

*****************************

"God who gave us the senses, speech and intellect would not want us to forego their use."

(Ibid)

HARVEY, WILLIAM

“We acknowledge God, the Supreme and Omnipotent Creator, to be present in the production of all animals, and to point, as it were, with a finger to His existence in His works, the parents being in every case but the instruments in His hands. In the generation of the Pullet from the egg all things are indeed contrived and ordered with singular providence, divine wisdom, and most admirable and incomprehensible skill. And to none can these attributes be referred save to the Almighty, first cause of all things . . . the Creator and Father of all that is in heaven and earth, on whom animals depend for their being, and at whose will and pleasure all things are and were engendered.”

(Harvey, 1989, 443)

*****************************

“The Omnipotent Maker of all things . . . upon Whom all animals and their births depend: and at Whose beck, or mandat, all things are created and

begotten.”

(Keynes, 1966, 94)

*****************************

“It had pleased God by His hands to humble me so low.”

(Ibid., 249)

*****************************

“The examination of the bodies of animals has always been my delight, and I have thought that we might thence not only obtain an insight into the lighter mysteries of nature, but there perceive a kind of image or reflection of the omnipotent Creator Himself.”

(Ibid., 330)

*****************************

(God) “Who has not contrived the shell for the defense of the egg with less of skill and foresight that he has composed all other parts of the egg of the same matter, and produced it under the influence of the same formative faculty.”

(Pagel, 1967, 235)

KEPLER, JOHANNES

"Geometrical reasons are coeternal with God."

(Kepler, 1939, 21)

*****************************

"In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth."

(Ibid., 49)

*****************************

"God the Creator and the archetype of the world."

(Ibid., 15)

NEWTON, SIR ISAAC

"Without all doubt, this world so diversified with that variety of forms and motions we find in it; could arise from nothing but the perfectly free will of God directing and presiding over all. From this fountain it is that those laws, which we call the laws of nature, have flowed; in which there appear many traces, indeed, of the most wise contrivance, but not the least shadow of necessity. these, therefore, we must not seek from uncertain conjectures but learn from observation and experiments. he who thinks to find the true principles of physics and the laws of natural things by the force alone of his own mind, and the internal light of his reason, must either suppose that the world exists by necessity, or by the same necessity follows the laws proposed; or, by the order of nature, was established by the will of God, that himself a miserable reptile, can tell what was fittest to be done. "

(Newton, 1803, XXX)

*****************************

"All sound and true philosophy is found on the appearances of things, which, if they draw us ever against our wills, to such principles as most clearly manifest to us the most excellent counsel and supreme dominion of the Allwise and Almighty Being…

(Ibid., XXX)

*****************************

"Therefore, we may now more nearly behold the beauties of nature, and entertainment with the delightful contemplation; and, which is the best and most valuable fruit of philosophy, be thence incited the more profoundly to reverence and adore the great maker and Lord of all."

(Ibid., XXXI)

*****************************

"He must be blind who, from the most wise and excellent contrivances of things, cannot see the infinite wisdom and goodness of the Almighty Creator; and he must be mad and senseless who refuses to acknowledge them."

(Ibid., XXXI)

*****************************

"The supreme God is a Being eternal, infinite, absolutely perfect…"

(Newton, 1848, 504)

*****************************

"As a blind man has no idea of colors, so have we no idea of the manner by which the all-wise God perceives and understands all things. He is utterly void of all body and bodily figure, and can therefore, neither be seen nor heard nor touched…"

(Ibid., 37)

GREAT WRITERS AND POETS

"Just as I know assuredly that there is an infinity of numbers so do I know that there is a God . . ." (Tolstoy)

BEECHER STOWE, HARRIET

“God always makes most prosperous those who are most obedient to His laws in the Bible.”

(Wagenknecht, 1965, 177)

*****************************

“I think the All Wise often thinks beyond the words of our prayers and gives us the real thing.”

(Ibid., 203)

*****************************

"Still, still with Thee, when the purple morning breaketh,

When the bird waketh and the shadows flee;

Fairer than morning, lovelier than the daylight,

Dawns the sweet consciousness, I am with Thee!"

(Ibid., 211)

*****************************

“My God is my ever present medium of communication with

the unseen, and communion with Him is the firmest of realities to me.”

(Ibid., 212)

BEECHER STOWE

“He (Harriet’s brother) and I are Christ worshippers, adoring Him as the Image of the invisible God.”

(Ibid., 217)

*****************************

“For who is this Jesus? Not a man who died eighteen hundred years ago; but a living God, who claims at this moment to be the Prince of the kings of the earth--to be the great reigning and working Force, who must reign till He has put all things under His feet.”

(Ibid., 218)

BRONTE, EMILY

NO COWARD SOUL IS MINE

No coward soul is mine,

No trembler in the world’s storm-troubled sphere:

I see Heaven’s glory shine,

And faith shines equal, arming me from fear.

O God within my breast,

Almighty, ever-present Deity!

Life, that in me has rest,

As I, undying life, have power in Thee!

Vain are the thousand creeds

That move man’s hearts: unutterably vain;

Worthless as withered weeds,

Or idlest froth amid the boundless main,

To waken doubt in one

Holding so fast by Thy infinity,

So surely anchored on

The steadfast rock of immortality.

With wide-embracing love

Thy Spirit animates eternal years,

Pervades and broods above,

Changes, sustains, dissolves, creates, and rears.

Though earth and moon were gone,

And suns and universes ceased to be,

And Thou wert left alone,

Every existence would exist in Thee.

There is not room for Death,

Nor atom that His might could render void:

Thou -- THOU art Being and Breath,

And what THOU art may never be destroyed.

(Saunders, 1885, 434, 435)

BROWNING, ROBERT

From "Christmas-Eve"

V

From the heart beneath, as if, God speeding me,

I entered His church door, nature leading me

In youth I looked to these very skies,

and probing their immensities,

I found God there, His visible power;

---------

My soul brought all to a single test

That He the Eternal First and Last,

Who, in His power, had so surpassed

All man conceives of what is might,

Whose wisdom, too, showed infinite,

Would prove as infinitely good;

--------

And I shall behold Thee, face to face,

O God, and in Thy light retrace

How in all I loved Thee, still wast Thou!

Whom pressing to, then, as I fain would now,

I shall find as able to satiate

The love, Thy gift, as my spirit's wonder

Thou art able to quicken and sublimate,

With this sky of Thine, that I now walk under,

And glory in Thee for, as I gaze

Thus, thus!  Oh, let men keep their ways

Of seeking Thee in a narrow shrine --

Be this my way!  And this mine.

IX

In flows heaven, with its new day

Of endless life, when he who trod,

Very man and very God,

This earth is weakness, shame and pain,

Dying the death whose signs remain

Up yonder on the accursed tree, --

Shall come again, no more to be

Of captivity the thrall,

But the one God, All in all,

King of Kings, Lords of lords,

As His servant John received the words,

I died, and live for evermore.

(Browning, 1890, 7-9, 12)

BROWNING, ELIZABETH

So oft the doing of God’s will

Our foolish heart undoeth!

And yet what idle dream breaks ill,

Which morning-light subdueth?

And who would murmur and misdoubt,

When God’s great sunrise find him out?

(Ricks, 1970, 134)

*****************************

THE MEASURE

Hymn IV

God the creator, with a pulseless hand

Of unoriginated power, hath weighed

The dust of earth and tears of man in one

Measure, and by one weight:

So saith His holy book.

Shall we, then, who have issued from the dust

And there return, - shall we, who toil for dust,

And wrap our winnings in this dusty life,

Say ‘No more tears, Lord God!

The measure runneth o’er?

Oh, Holder of the balance, laughest Thou?

Nay, Lord! Be gentler to our foolishness,

For his sake who assumed our dust and turns

On Thee pathetic eyes

Still moistened with our tears.

And teach us, o our Father, while we weep,

To look in patience upon the earth and learn -

Waiting, in the meek gesture, till at last

These tearful eyes be filled

With the dry dust of death.

(Ibid, 136-137)

*****************************

God hath transfixed us, - we, so moved before,

Attain to a calm. Ay, shouldering weights of pain,

We anchor in deep waters, safe from shore,

And hear submissive o’er the stormy main

God’s chartered judgements walk for evermore.

(Ibid, 138)

*******************************

“God is the perfect poet.”

(Ricks, 1970, 28)

CHEKHOV, ANTON

“The peace of God . . . be with you.”

(Koteliansky, 1965, 162)

*****************************

“All is in the hands of God.”

(Ibid.,, 196)

*****************************

“Glory be to God.”

(Ibid., 264)

*****************************

“The gospels...are indeed truth.”

(Ibid., 273)

*****************************

“I consider his (Tolstoy’s) faith to be nearest and most akin to mine.”

(Ibid., 273)

*****************************

“Modern culture is but the beginning of a work for a great future, a work which will go on, perhaps, for tens of thousands of years, in order that mankind may, even in the remote future, come to know the truth of a real God -- that is, not by guessing, not by seeking in Dostoevsky, but by perceiving clearly, as one perceives that twice two is four.”

(Ibid., 282)

ALIGHIERI, DANTE

"In Him (God) is supreme knowledge, great love and great action."

(Alighieri, 1862, 42)

*****************************

"…God, the most universal benefactor."

(Ibid, 81)

*****************************

"My Lord, don't reprove me in your furor;

And do not correct me in your wrath;

But with tenderness and perfect love.

(Dante, 1827, 7

*****************************

"Help me, my Lord, hastily:

Convert me to good actions speedily;

Pull my soul out of sin."

(Ibid., 7)

*****************************

"…the King of celestial spirits

Has answered my prayers and my cry…

And beyond this His love is great

Since after having received my prayers

He has covered me with His sacred mantle." (Ibid., 9)

"…the performing of miracles only to God belongs."

(Ibid., , 65)

*****************************

"All is well if it is according to the will of the first maker, who is God."

(Ibid., 25

*****************************

From "Dante's Creed"

I believe in God the Father

Who can do all things…

Of whose grace the earth and the heavens are full

And by Him they were created from nothing.

(Christ) truly man and God

And only child of God,

Born eternally, and God from God was born.

….

And certainly with a good belief

Perfectly and with sincere faith

Believes, by His Passion he is saved.

…..

(Alighieri, 1763, 241)

DEFOE, DANIEL

“God . . . has posted an army of ministering spirits, call them angels if you will; ... I say posted them around this convex, this globe, the earth, to be ready at all events, to execute His orders and to do His will reserving still to Himself to send express messengers of a superior rank on extraordinary occasions. These may, without any absurdity, be supposed capable of assuming shape. Conversing with mankind, either in ordinary or extraordinary way, either by voice or sound, though in appearances and borrowed shapes, or by private notices of things, impulses, forebodings, misgivings, and other imperceptible communications to the minds of men, as God their great employer may direct.”

(Defoe, 1840, 56-57)

*****************************

“To say it is not to be expected God should cause such a host of glorious spirits to attend on this little point, the earth, and this despicable species called man, would be but to oblige me to say: ‘what, may not God be supposed to do for that creature whom he loved so as to send his only begotten son to redeem?”

(Ibid., 56)

DE LAMARTINE, ALPHONSE

INVOCATION

To the sacred Father, and His son, His image: come down Spirit of both, Spirit which is from age to age.

...

You  pierce, suddenly, like the  sun  the dawn

With your Divine rays the heart of  Him  who doubts still.

Come down, I want to sing!  But what can I without  you,

Oh language of the spirits. Speak  within  me,

Sing the great secrets that only your  eye lights up.

...

Do distance and space matter to you?

At your sign times are born or disappear,

And the trembling future, at your eternal  voice

Passes behind you like a counted century.

...

May this fire whose flame sheds light and purifies,

This charcoal that burned the lips of Isaiah,

Purify the sounds of a mortal mouth

And that my hymns toward God rise like incense."

(Lamartine, 1873, 167-168)

*****************************

"Providence brings to the surface near our reach a world of truths just like a father  lowers the branch to bring the fruit near to the small hands of his child."

(Ibid., P. 150)

*****************************

"I thought I understood everything; but then I realized that it is God who allows me, one of the most worthless intelligences, to understand.'

(Ibid., P. 151)

*****************************

"God is, the ultimate good, ultimate beauty,  Perfect Being, the Being over all beings."

(Ibid., P. 152)

*****************************

"Man should serve, love and fear God and he should  put in him all of his thoughts and his hopes."

(Ibid., P. 274)

*****************************

"All true Christians, of all ranks and all places, and at all times pray to God. And the spirit prays and intercedes for them, and God accepts them."

(Ibid., P. 276)

DICKENS, CHARLES

“Remember! It is Christianity TO DO GOOD always - even to those who do evil to us. It is Christianity to love our neighbour as ourself, and to do to all men as we would have them DO to us. It is Christianity to be gentle, merciful and forgiving, and to keep those qualities quiet in our own hearts, and never make a boast of them, or of our prayers or our love of God, but always to show that we love Him by humbly trying to do right in everything. If we do this, and remember the life and lessons of our Lord Jesus Christ, and try to act up to them, we may confidently hope that God will forgive us our sins and mistakes, and enable us to live and die in peace.”

(Walder, 1981, 13)

*****************************

“The Divine teacher was as gentle and considerate as He was powerful and wise. You all know He could still the raging of the sea, and could hush a little child. As the utmost results of the wisdom of men can only be at last to raise this earth to that condition to which His doctrine, untainted by the blindnesses and passions of men would have exalted it long ago; so let us always remember that He has set us the example of blending the understanding and the imagination, and that, following it ourselves, we tread on His steps, and help our race onto its better and best days.”

(Ibid, 175)

*****************************

“Nothing is discovered without God’s intention and assistance, and I suppose every new knowledge of His works that is conceded to man to be distinctly a revelation by which men are to guide themselves.

(Ibid, 175)

*****************************

“I now most solemnly impress upon you the truth and beauty of the Christian religion, as it came from Christ Himself, and the impossibility of your going far wrong if you humbly but heartily respect it.”

(Ibid, 195)

*****************************

“I have always striven in my writings to express veneration for the life and lessons of Our Saviour; because I feel it . . . But I have never made proclamation of this from the house tops.”

(Ibid, 195)

DONNE, JOHN

HOLY SONNETS

I

Thou has made me, and shall Thy works decay?

Repair me now, for now my hand doth haste,

I runne to death, and death meets me as fast,

And all my pleasures are like yesterday;

II

As due by many titles I resigne

My selfe to Thee, O God, first I was made

By Thee, and for Thee, and when I was decay’d

Thy blood bought that, the which was Thine;

I am Thy sonne, made with Thy selfe to shine.

IX

But who am I, that dare dispute with Thee

Oh God? Oh! Of thine onely worthy blood,

And drowne in it my sinnes black memorie;

That Thou remember them, some claime as debt,

I thinke it mercy if Thou wilt forget.

(Donne, 236-239)

DOSTOEVSKY, FYODOR

(Letter to his wife) "Yesterday morning I called on the bishops Alexey and on Nicolay (Yaponsky). I was very pleased to make their acquaintance. I sat there for about an hour ; a countess was announced, and I left. I had a heart-to-heart talk with both. They said that my visit had done them great honour and given them happiness. They had read my works. So they appreciate who stands for God. Alexey blessed me ardently. He gave me the Host."

(Dostoevski, 1923, 217)

*****************************

(Letter to Konstantin Petrovich) "I sent off, however, half the book (2J folios) [part of The Brothers Karamazov]…The point is that this book of the novel is the culminating one. It is entitled  'Pro and Contra,' and the theme of the book is : denial of God and the refutation of this denial…The denial I described just as I felt it myself and realised it strongest, that is, just as it is now taking place in our Russia in nearly the whole upper stratum of society, and above all with the young generation. I mean, the scientific and philosophical refutation of the existence of God has been given up, it no longer occupies at all socialists of today… instead, men are denying with all their might and main the divine creation, the world of God and its meaning. These are the only things which modern civilisation finds utter nonsense. The refutation of this (not a direct, not a face to face refutation) will appear in the last word of the dying old monk."

(Ibid., 241-242)

*****************************

FROM THE "THE RUSSIAN MONK" CHAPTER OF, THE BROTHER KARAMAZOV.

"Brothers, have no fear of men's sin. Love a man even in his sin, for that is the semblance of Divine Love and is the highest love on earth. Love all God's creation, the whole and every grain of sand in it. Love every leaf, every ray of God's light. Love the animals, love the plants, love everything. If you love everything, you will perceive the divine mystery in things."

(Dostoevski, The Brothers Karamazov,  382-383)

*****************************

"My friends, pray to God for gladness. Be glad as children, as the birds of heaven. Kiss the earth and love it with an unceasing, consuming love. Love all men, love everything. Seek that rapture and ecstasy. Water the earth with the tears of your joy and love those tears. Don't be ashamed of that ecstasy, prize it, for it is a gift of God and a great one; it is not given to many but only to the elect."

(Ibid., 384)

*****************************

"They (socialists) aim at justice, but, denying Christ, they will end by flooding the earth with blood…And if it were not for Christ's, covenant, they would slaughter one another down to the last two men on earth…And that would come to pass, were it not for the promise of Christ that for the sake of the humble and meek the days shall be shortened" (Ibid., 381-382).

DRYDEN, JOHN

What weight of ancient witness can prevail

If private reason hold the public scale?

But, gracious God, how well dost Thou provide

For erring judgements an unerring guide!

Thy throne is darkness in th’abyss of light,

A blaze of glory that forbids the sight.

O teach me to believe Thee thus conceal’d,

And search no further than Thyself reveal’d.

(Untermeyer, 1959, 205)

EMERSON, RALPH WALDO

“How dear, how soothing to man, arises the idea of God, peopling the lonely place, effacing the scars of our mistakes and disappointments!

When we have broken our god of tradition, and ceased from our god of rhetoric, then may God fire the heart with His presence.”

(Emerson, 74)

*****************************

“If he (man) would know what the great God speaketh, he must ‘go into his closet and shut the door,’ as Jesus said.”

(Ibid, 74)

*****************************

“Our globe seen by God is a transparent law, not a mass of facts.”

(Ibid, 75)

*****************************

“It now shows itself ethical and practical. We learn that God IS;

that He is in me; and that all things are shadows of him.”

(Ibid, 77)

*****************************

“In God every end is converted into a new means.”

(Ibid, 319)

*****************************

“As a plant upon the earth, so a man rests upon the bosom of God; he is nourished by unfailing fountains and draws, at his need, inexhaustible power.”

(Ibid, 325)

*****************************

“The ardors of piety agree at last with the coldest skepticism ,--

that nothing is of us or of our works,-- that all is of God. Nature will not spare us the smallest leaf of laurel. All writing comes from the grace of God., and all doing and having. I would gladly be moral and keep all due meets and bounds, which I dearly love, and allow the most to the will of man; but I have set my heart on honesty in this chapter, and I can see nothing at last, in success or failure, than more or less of vital force supplied from the Eternal.”

(Hayford, 1962, 87)

FRANKLIN, BENJAMIN

"Here is my creed. I believe in one God, Creator of the universe. That He governs it by His Providence. That He ought to be worshipped. That the most acceptable service we render to him is doing good to His children."

(Franklin, 1959, 292)

*****************************

"And conceiving God to be the fountain of wisdom, I thought it right and necessary to solicit His acceptance for obtaining it; to this end I formed the following little prayer, which was prefixed to my tables of examination, for daily use. ‘O powerful Goodness! Bountiful Father! Merciful Guide! Increase in me that wisdom which discovers my truest interest. Strengthen my resolutions to perform that which wisdom dictates. Accept  my kind offices to Thy other children as the only return in my power for Thy continual favours to me.’"

(Ibid.,  88)

GOETHE, JOHANN

"General, natural religion, properly speaking, requires no faith, for the persuasion that a great producing, regulating and conducting Being conceals himself, as it were, behind nature, to make himself comprehensible to us. Such a conviction forces itself upon every one. Nay, if we for a moment let drop this thread, which conducts us through life, it may be immediately and everywhere resumed."

(Goethe, 1882, 114)

*****************************

"God, the only, Eternal, Infinite, to whom all the splendid yet limited creatures owe their existence."

(Ibid., 204 )

*****************************

"Nothing, therefore, remained to me but to part from this society; and as for my love for the Holy Scriptures, as well as of the founder of Christianity and its early professors, could not be taken from me."

(Ibid., 208)

*****************************

"English, French, and Germans had attacked the Bible with more or less violence, acuteness, audacity, and wantonness, and just as often had it been taken under the protection of earnest, sound-thinking men of each nation. As for myself, I loved and valued it; for almost to it alone did I owe my moral culture: and the events, the doctrines, the symbols. the similes, had all impressed themselves deeply upon me and had influenced me in one way or another. These unjust, scoffing, and perverting attacks, therefore, disgusted me."

(Ibid.,  227)

HEINE, HEINRICH

" A religious reaction has set in upon me for some time…I believe in a personal God…If the German people accept the King of Prussia in their need, why should I not accept a Personal God?"

(Sharp, 1888, 177)

*****************************

"Alas! The irony of God weighs heavily upon me! The great author of the universe, the Aristophanes of heaven, wished to show the petty, earthly, German Aristophanes that His mightiest sarcasms are but feeble banter compared with His, and how immeasurably He excels me in humour and colossal wit."

(Ibid., 181)

*****************************

(Last words before his death)

"God will forgive me; it's His profession."

(Ibid., 197)

HUGO, VICTOR

PRAYER FOR ALL

"Say, Lord, Thou Lord my Father our Father art.

Have pity! Thou alone art good and great."

………...

Well, there is one, who 'mid the human throng,

Walks in this world of ours all day long;

Forever helping all by deed and word;

Who, a Good Shepherd, saves the wondering sheep,

The pilgrim speeding on o'er depth and steep

This Shepherd, Pilgrim Traveler is the Lord.

……….

Holy of Holies and of Kings the King

Of myriad suns He makes His dazzling train,

And laws and limits gives the raging main--

The All-in-All supreme o'er everything!

………..

Bring Him your heart, and when a mystic flame,

Returning in your young spirit shall proclaim.

His holy presence near you, o my sweet!

My precious child! fear not contempt but pour, As Mary, Martha's sister did of yore,

Pour all your perfume on your Saviour's feet.

(Hugo, 1885, 70, 75)

LEOPARDI, GIACOMO

“I consider God, not as superior to all the possible beings . . .

but as having within Himself all the possibilities, and existing in all the possible modes . . .  His relationships toward men and toward His creatures are perfectly convenient toward them; they are therefore perfectly good, and better than those that other creatures have . . . Thus, all religion remains standing, and the infinite perfection of God, that is negated as being absolute, affirms itself as being relative, and as being perfect in the order of things that we know, where the qualities that God has toward the world, are relative to it, good and perfect.”

(Leopardi, 351)

*****************************

“If God is above morality, if good and evil do not exist absolutely, etc., may not God deceive us in what He has revealed, promised, threatened, etc. No, because He forbids deception.”

(Ibid., 358)

*****************************

“The ten commandments contain  general principles . . .

conceived for the good of humanity . . . They are infinite and diverse.”

(Ibid., 356)

LONGFELLOW, HENRY WADSWORTH

Wondrous truths, and manifold as

Wondrous,

God has written in those stars above;

But not less in the bright flowerets

Under us

Stands the revelation of His love.

Bright and glorious is that revelation,

Written all over this great world of

Ours;

(Longfellow, 1871, 5)

LOWELL, JAMES RUSSELL

A PRAYER

"God! do not let my loved one die,

But rather wait until the time

That I am grown in purity

Enough to enter Thy pure clime,

Then take me, I will gladly go,

So that my love remain below!

Oh let her stay! She is my birth

What I thought death must learn to be;

We need her more on our poor earth than Thou canst need in Heaven with Thee;

She has her wings already, I

Must burst this earth-she'll ere I fly.

Then, God, take me! We shall be near,

More near than ever, each to each.

Her angel ears will find more clear

My heavenly than my earthly speech;

And still, as I draw nigh to Thee,

Her soul and mine shall closer be.

(Lowell, 1895, 15)

MANZONI, ALESSANDRO

Who shaped plants’ stems?

Who created the blooming wheat?

Who makes life flow in the vine-shoot?

Who placed in grapes its treasure?

You, the Great One, the Holy One, the Good One,

That now being a gift - your gift you retake;

You, that in exchange, what an exchange! You give us

Your Body, Your blood, oh Lord,

Even the hearts that we offer You are yours:

Ah! Your gift was broken by us;

But the other Goodness which made them,

Will receive them as they are, to mercy;

And will breathe on them the breath that creates

That faith that passes beyond any curtain,

That hope which dies in the heavens,

That love which will live eternally with you.”

(De Castris, 1965, 165)

*****************************

Look down merciful God,

To dust which will hear You,

That will disappear before Your presence.”

"With faithful love

I come to your holy throne,

I fall before Your presence,

My Judge, my King!

With what incomprehensible joy

I tremble before You!

I am dust and sin:

But look at him who implores You

Who wants Your forgiveness,

Who deserves, who worships,

Who gives thanks in me.”

(Ibid, 166)

*****************************

"You are mine; with You I breathe:

I live by You, Great God!"

(Ibid, 166)

MAZZINI, GIUSEPPE

“I believe in God, in a Causative Intelligence superior to the created world.”

(Griffith, 1932, 106)

*****************************

“Christianity is a (fixed) eternal religion a unique religious synthesis.”

(Ibid., 106)

*****************************

“Christianity is the formula of the individual, and as such is eternal and perfect to my thinking -- for that formula no one can nullify.”

(Ibid., 107)

*****************************

“God is our defence, He increases our courage and resolution in direct proportion to the malevolence of our enemies . . . we say with Luther.”

(Ibid., 115)

*****************************

“Above all beliefs, is God, the consciousness of an immortal soul, and the faith in other worlds nearer Him, in a necessary progress of ours towards  God, in a virtue which must resist all temptations, in a constant sacrifice, in a love of the humanity in which He has placed us, in a worship of prayer, of affection, of sacred poetry.”

(Ibid., 149)

*****************************

(Letter to a friend)

“I fear, dear friend, that you are bent too much on self-analysis, on thinking too much of your salvation. Let God think of it; your task is to act for the fulfillment of His law whenever and as much as you can; to pray and wish fervently for it whenever action is forbidden, and to trust Him without any terms . . .  Love Him in a simple, unexacting, unscrutinizing way as a child his mother.”

(Ibid., 334)

*****************************

(Last words before His death)

“Yes! Yes! I believe in God!”

(Ibid., 355)

MELVILLE, HERMAN

(From his letters to Nathaniel Hawthorne.)

“We incline to think that God cannot explain His own secrets, and that He would like a little  information upon certain points Himself. We mortals astonish Him as much as He us. But   it is this Being of the matter; there lies the knot with which we choke ourselves. As soon as you say Me, a God, a nature, so soon you jump off from your stool and hang from a beam. Yes, that word is the hangman. Take God out of the dictionary, and you would have Him in the street.”

(Hayford, 1962, 329)

*****************************

“The reason the mass of men fear God, and at the bottom dislike Him, is because they rather distrust His heart, and fancy Him all brain like a watch.”

(Ibid., 331)

MILTON, JOHN

From "A Paradise Lost."

I

Hail holy light, ofspring 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'st 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.

(Milton, 2013, 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)

*****************************

Thee Father first they sung Omnipotent,

Immutable, Immortal, Infinite,

Eternal King; thee author of all being,

Fountain of light, thy self invisible

Amidst the glorious brightness where thou sit'st

Thron'd inaccessible, but when thou shad'st

The full blaze of thy beams, and through a cloud

Drawn  round about thee like a radiant shrine,

Dark with excessive bright thy skirts appeer,

Yet dazle Heav'n, that brightest Seraphim

Approach not, but with both wings veil thir eyes.

(Ibid., Book III, 372-382)

*****************************

"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…dignity of God, and that God should say nothing of Himself which could derogate from His own majesty."

(Ibid., 67)

PENN, WILLIAM

"Whatever else is done or omitted, be sure to begin and end with God."

(Elliot, 1937, 328)

*****************************

"Country life is to be preferred, for there we see the works of God; but in cities little else than the works of men."

(Ibid., 342)

*****************************

"As puppets are to babies, and babies to children, so is man's workmanship to God's; We are the picture, He's the reality."

(Ibid., 342)

*****************************

"God's works declare His power, wisdom, goodness; but man's works, for the most part, his pride folly and excess. The one is for the use, the other chiefly, for ostentation and lust."

(Ibid., 366)

*****************************

"It is a severe rebuke upon us, that God makes us so many allowances, and we make so few to our neighbour."

(Ibid., 366)

*****************************

“Love is above all, and when it prevails in us all, we shall be lovely, and in love with God and one another.”

(Ibid., 1937)

*****************************

“Religion itself is nothing else but to love God and man.”

(Ibid., 1937)

PETRARCH, FRANCESCO

"Bowing one’s knees to God, brings much benefit,

The knees and the mind

That your years preserves for much good."

(Petrarca, 1969, 47)

*****************************

Heavenly Father, after lost days,

After many wasted nights

With that intense desire that burned inside my heart,

Looking at the actions that for my harm adorn it,

May it please you, with your light, that I may return

To another light and to much better accomplishments,

So that in spite of traps prepared by him,

My harsh adversary may be ashamed.

Now ends, my Lord the eleventh year

That I was subjected to my cruel punishment

That is most burdensome upon the most humble;

Have mercy of my unworthy suffering

Remind them how today you were on the cross.

(Neri, 118)

POPE, ALEXANDER

God, in the nature of each being, founds

Its proper bliss, and sets its proper bounds;

But as he framed the whole, the whole to bless,

On mutual wants built mutual happiness.

(Roscoe, 1847, 11)

*****************************

That chain that links th'immense design,

Joins heaven and earth, and mortal and divine;

Sees that no being any bliss can know,

But touches some above and some below.

(Ibid, 13)

*****************************

Say first, of world above, or man below,

What can we reason, but from what we know?

Of man, what see we but his station here,

From which to reason, or to which refer?

Through worlds unnumber'd, tho' the God be known,

Tis ours to trace Him only in our own.

He, who through vast immensity can pierce,

See worlds on worlds compose one universe,

Observe how system into system runs,

What other planets circle other suns…

(Ibid, 24)

*****************************

"Is the great chain , that draws all to agree ,

And drawn supports, upheld by God, or Thee?

(Ibid, 25)

*****************************

What if the head, the eye, or ear pepin'd

To serve more engines to the ruling mind?

Just as absurd for any part to claim

To be another, in this gen'ral frame:

Just as absurd, to mourn the tasks or pains,

To great directing MIND OF ALL ordains.

All are but parts of one stupendous whole,

Whose body nature is, and God the soul…

(Ibid, 47)

RABELAIS, FRANCOIS

“The Father who directs all that is and that is made according to His free will and His pleasure.”

(Febvre, 1962, 260)

*****************************

“ When you say the word God, what does it mean to you? To me it means an Eternal Spirit who has no beginning, who has no end, such as no greater, no wiser or better can be conceived; By one act of His omnipotence  He created all things, visible and invisible. His admirable wisdom regulates and governs the whole universe; His goodness nourishes and preserves all of His creation.

(Ibid., 262)

*****************************

“Without (God’s) sustenance and government all things, in a moment, would become nothing, just as they had been created for nothing.”

(Ibid., 263)

*****************************

“There is no other ruler besides God the Creator.”

(Ibid., 264)

*****************************

“What takes place is not what we wish or ask for, but what pleases Jesus Christ, our Lord whom God had established before the heavens were made . . . ”

(Ibid., 263)

*****************************

“Almighty God, who has created all things.”

“(God) who never will abandon those who put their trust in Him.”

(Ibid., 264)

*****************************

“Let us pray to God the Creator, let us worship Him,  let us rectify our faith in Him, let us glorify Him for his endless goodness.”

(Ibid., 266)

*****************************

“Man  must serve, love and fear God and in Him he  must put all his thoughts and all his hopes, and by hope shaped by charity he must bond with Him so that he will never be defeated by sin.”

(Ibid., 274)

*****************************

“All true Christians, of all ranks, in all places pray God always. The Holy Spirit intercedes for them and God accepts them in His grace.”

(Ibid., 276)

ROSSETTI, CHRISTINA

From  “THE THREE ENEMIES”

THE FLESH

"Sweet thou art pale.

More pale to see,

Christ hang upon a cruel tree

And bore His Father's wrath for me.

Sweet, thou art weary.

Not so Christ:

Whose mighty love of me suffic'd

For strength, Salvation, Eucharist."

THE WORLD

"Sweet, thou art young.

So he was young

Who for my sake in silence hung

Upon the Cross with passion wrung."

Look thou art fair.

He was more fair

Than men, Who deign'd for me to wear

A visage marr'd beyond compare."

THE DEVIL

"Thou drinkest deep.

When Christ would sup

He drain'd the dregs from out of my cup:

So how should I be lifted up?"

Thou shalt have knowledge.

Helpless dust!

In Thee, O Lord, I put my trust:

Answer Thou for me, Wise and Just."

(Rossetti, 1865)

SCHILLER, FRIEDRICK

(Schiller's many letters to his fellow German luminary, Goethe, reveal a sincere belief in God.)

*****************************

"God help you through the melancholy business."

(Schiller, 1890, 409)

*****************************

"My wife has kept steadily well during the last five days, without the slightest trace of her previous condition. God grant that things may remain in this good state."

(Ibid., 294

*****************************

"God help you through the melancholy business."

(Ibid., 409)

*****************************

"My children, thank God, have not had any relapses."

(Ibid., 501)

SHAKESPEARE, WILLIAM

“In the name of God, I William Shakespeare, . . . God be praised, do make and ordain this, my last will and testament in manner and form following. That is to say, first I commend my soul into the hands of God my Creator, hoping and assuredly believing, through the only merits of Jesus Christ, my Saviour, to be made partaker of eternal life, and my body to the earth whereof it is made.”

(Rowe, 1985, 182)

SWIFT, JONATHAN

“God’s mercy is over all his works.”

(Eddy, 1932, 418)

*****************************

“Miserable mortals! How can we contribute to the honour and glory of God? I wish that expression were struck out of our prayer-books.”

(Ibid, 419)

TASSO, TORQUATO

TO OUR LORD

Father in heaven, now that another cloud the road

Effectively hides, and wrong ways I take

With uncertain walk among this unstable field

Of the worldly and marshy valley,

Sustain with Your holy hand, keep from failing

My erring way, and by Your mercy the light

Sweet over me shine, and for an escape

Show me the path that I had left behind.

I pray You, allow my hair to be covered

With white snow, and that my day of birth

Close in eternal gloominess the waning light,

Give me that I may return to your house,

As angel sublime that rises and flies

From base marshy clay with wings to heaven.

(Tasso, 1952, 925)

TENNYSON, ALFRED

From "IN MEMORIAM"

Strong Son Of God, immortal Love,

Whom we, that have not seen Thy face,

By faith, and faith alone, embrace,

Believing where we cannot prove;

Thine are these orbs of light and shade,

Thou madest Life in man and brute;

Thou madest Death; and lo, Thy foot

Is on the skull which Thou hast made.

Thou wilt not leave us in the dust:

Thou madest man, he knows not why,

He thinks he was not made to die;

And Thou hast made him: Thou art just.

Thou seemest human and divine,

The highest, holiest manhood, Thou:

Our wills are ours, we know not how:

Our wills are ours, or make them Thine…

(Buxton, 515-516)

*****************************

That God, which lives and loves,

One God, one law, one element

And one far off divine event

To which the whole creation moves.

(Masterman, 1900, 54)

*****************************

"If God were to withdraw Himself for a moment from the universe

everything would vanish into nothingness."

(Ibid., 55)

*****************************

"Hallowed be Thy name--Hallelujah!

Infinite Ideality!

Immeasurable Reality!

Infinite Personality!

Hallowed be Thy name.--Hallelujah."

(Ibid., 57)

*****************************

"We feel we are nothing--for all is Thou and Thee;

We feel we are something--that also has come from Thee;

We know we are nothing--but Thou will help us be.

Hallowed be Thy name.--Hallelujah!"

(Ibid., 57)

THOREAU, HENRY

“Why ask God for a respite when he has not given it. Has he not done his work and made man equal to his occasions, but he must needs have recourse to Him again? God cannot give us any other than self help.”

(Witherell, 1981, 188 )

*****************************

“God is not our ally when we shrink and neuter when we are bold. If by trusting in God you lose any particle of your vigor - trust in Him no longer. When you trust do not lay aside your armor but put it on, and buckle it tighter . . .  I do not want countenance but help. -  And there is more of God, and divine help, in my little finger than in idle prayer and trust.”

(Ibid., 235-236)

*****************************

“The great God is very calm withal. How superfluous is any excitement in His creatures! He listens equally to the prayers of the believer and the unbeliever.”

(Ibid., 360)

*****************************

“God does not sympathize with the popular movements.”

(Ibid.,  360)

*****************************

“If nature is our mother is not God much more? God should come into our thought with no more parade than the zephyr into our ears - only strangers approach Him with ceremony. How rarely in our English tongue do we find expressed any affection for God. No sentiment is so rare as love of God - universal love.”

(Ibid., 370-371)

*****************************

“We can only live healthily the life the gods assign us. I must receive my life as passively as the willow leaf that flutters over the brook. I must not be for myself, but God's work and that is always good. I will wait the breezes  patiently - and grow as nature shall determine - My fate cannot but be grand so. We may live the life of a plant or an anima - without living an animal life. This constant and universal content of the animal - comes of resting quietly in God's palm.”

(Ibid., 370-371)

*****************************

“Why God did you include me in your great scheme? Will you not make me a partner at last?”

(Ibid.,  372)

*****************************

“What if you or I be dead- God is alive still.”

(Ibid.,  373)

TOLSTOY, LEO

“God and the soul are known by me in the same way I know infinity: not by means of definitions but in quite another way . . . Just as I know assuredly that there is an infinity of numbers so do I know that there is a God . . . For me this knowledge is indubitable, simply because I am led to it unavoidably.

To the certainty of the infinity of numbers I am led by addition. To the certainty of the knowledge of God I am led by the question `Whence come I?'

I was born of my mother, and she of my grandmother, but the very first of whom? And I inevitably arrive at God. From whatever side I approach, God it will always be the same. The origin of my thoughts, my reason is God. The origin of my love also is He. The origin of matter is He too.”

(Tolstoy, 1937, 498)

*****************************

“The only reasonable conception of life is the accomplishment of the will of Him who sent us into the world-that is the will of God. For life is life, only when it is the carrying out of God's purpose. But, by opposing Him, people deprive themselves of life, and at the same time, neither for one year, nor one hour, can they delay the accomplishment of God's purpose.”

(Tolstoy, 1927, 165)

FUNDAMENTAL CREEDS

1. Man is the son of the Infinite Source of Being; he is the son of the Father, not by the flesh but by the Spirit.

2. And therefore, man must serve the Source  of his being in the Spirit.

3. The life of all men has Divine origin. The origin only is sacred.

4. And therefore, man must serve the Source of all human life. This is the will of the Father.

5. Service of the will of the Father is life giving.

(Tolstoy, 1899, 282)

WORDSWORTH,WILLIAM

Stern Lawgiver! Yet Thou dost wear

The Godhead most benignant grace;

Nor know we anything so fair

As is the smile upon Thy face;

Flowers laugh before Thee on their beds;

And fragrance in Thy footing treads;

Thou dost preserve the stars from wrong;

And the ancient heavens, through Thee, are

Fresh and strong.

To humbler functions, awful Power!

I call Thee: I myself commend

Unto Thy guidance from this hour;

Oh let my weakness have an end!

Give unto me, made lowly wise,

Thy spirit of self sacrifice;

The confidence of reason give;

And in the light of truth thy Bondman let me live!

(Dowden, 1897, 203)

*****************************

"Glory to God! And to the Power who came

In filial duty, clothed with love divine,

That made His human tabernacle shine

Like ocean burning with purpureal flame…"

(Wordsworth, 1932)

*****************************

"Glory to God . . .

All things counter, original, spare, strange;

Whatever is fickle, freckled (who knows how?)

With swift, slow; sweet, sour; adazzle, dim;

He Fathers - forth whose beauty is past change;

Praise Him."

(Deutch, 1957, 147)

BIOGRAPHIES

ALIGHIERI,  DANTE (1265-1321)

The greatest poet of the Renaissance. Also a prose writer, literary theorist, moral philosopher and political thinker. Wrote many important works such as The New Life, Il Convivio and  De Monarchia.  His greatest work, the Christian epic, The Divine Comedy, is considered to be one of the landmarks in world literature.

BACH, JOHANN SEBASTIAN (1685-1750)

German composer born of a family of renowned musicians. Composer of many famed orchestral works, chief of which are his Brandenburg Concertos. Bach specialised in church music and composed 265 Cantatas. He also wrote extensively for the organ and harpsichord. Today he is considered to be one of the world's greatest composers.

BACON,  FRANCIS (1561-1626)

Lord chancellor of England, philosopher, essayist and statesman. Was a foremost representative of British empirical philosophy? He stressed the importance of observation in scientific enquiry. Wrote The Advancement of  Learning and Novum Organum which led to the development of modern science. A man of letters whose Essays and other writings mark him as a master of English prose.

BEECHER-STOWE, HARRIET (1811-1896)

American writer and philanthropist. Authored Uncle Tom's Cabin, a book which contributed to popular feelings against slavery and the ensuing civil war. Wrote many studies of social life and published religious poems.  Some of her other works are The Mayflower and Dred: a Tale of the Great Dismal Swamp, many studies of social life in both fiction and essay and religious poems.

BEETHOVEN,  LUDWIG VAN (1770-1827)

German musical composer and creator of unparalleled original music. Composed many great works chief among which are 9 magnificent symphonies, the Moonlight and Appassionata sonatas, the opera Fidelio, the Rasoumoffsky Quartets and two superb masses. While totally deaf, he composed the magnificent 9th symphony. His music is considered to have reached heights never exceeded since.

BERGSON, HENRI (1859-1941)

French vitalist philosopher. He reacted  against the static materialism of the ninenteenth century. Postulated a Dynamic Life Force which can be recognized intuitively. Called an anti-intellectual by academics. He made significant contributions to metaphysics and has deeply influenced the artists and poets of his age. He is considerered to have influenced William James, George Santayana and Alfred North Whitehead.

BLAKE, WILLIAM (1757-1827)

English painter, poet and engraver and visionary mystic. Considered one of the earliest and most important figures of the Romantic movement. Wrote and illustrated his own books. Blake's favourite subjects were scenes from the Bible  and Dante's works. Some of his finest works are “The Marriage of Heaven and Hell,” “Visions of the daughters of Albion” and “Songs of Innocence and experience.”

BRAHE, TYCHO (1546 – 1601)

Danish nobleman known for his accurate and comprehensive astronomical and planetary observations. Tycho was well known in his lifetime as an astronomer and has been described more recently as "the first competent mind in modern astronomy to feel ardently the passion for exact empirical facts."  In his De nova stella (On the new star) of 1573, he refuted the Aristotelian belief in an unchanging celestial realm.

BRONTE, EMILY (1818-1848)

English novelist and poet. Considered by some to be the greatest of the Bronte sisters. Only wrote the highly imaginative novel: Wuthering Heights. Little is known about her because of her reserved life. Her contributions in the area of poetry indicate, according to some, true poetic genius.

BROWNING, ELIZABETH (1806-1861)

English poet and wife of famed English poet Robert Browning. Known predominantly for her love poems. Wrote  Sonnets from the Portuguese,but her most ambitious work was Aurora Leigh which became a huge popular success. Spent the last years of her life in Italy where she died in her husbands arms.

BROWNING, ROBERT (1812-1889)

Major English poet of the Victorian age. His greatest work was The Ring and the Book. Also wrote Paracelsus, Sordello and a great number of poems. Married Elizabeth Barrett with whom he had a very happy marriage. In his last years wrote long narrative and dramatic poems often dealing with contemporary themes. Influenced many modern poets such as Robert Frost and Ezra Pound.

BUONARROTI,  MICHELANGELO (1475-1564)

Italian sculptor, painter and architect who was one of  the great  titans  of the Italian Renaissance. In sculpture, architecture, painting and poetry he had a great influence on his contemporaries and Western art in general. Created some of the world's greatest masterpieces. He painted the Sistine Chapel ceiling and The Last Judgement. Sculpted the great David, The Moses and The Pieta. Also composed many remarkable sonnets.

CAMPANELLA, TOMMASO (1568-1639)

Platonic philosopher, poet and writer. Sought to reconcile Renaissance Humanism with Roman Catholic theology. Best remembered for his work Citta Del Sole, written while he was a prisoner of the Spanish Inquisition. While in prison, he wrote poetry  which is considered to be the most original of the period. He also wrote a collection of thirty books titled Theologia.

CÉZANNE, PAUL (1839-1906)

French painter and one of the greatest post-impressionists. Influenced many other artists and the Cubism movement. Specialized mostly in landscapes and still lifes. Created many masterpieces such as The Mills of Gardane, The Card Players and The Boy in a Red Waist Coat. His finest achievements were reached in his final years when he created many masterpieces.

CHEKHOV, ANTON (1860-1904)

Major Russian playwright, foremost master of the modern short story and a major representative of the Russian realist school of the late 19th century. Some of his greatest masterpieces are The Seagull, Uncle Vanya, Three Sisters and The Cherry Orchard. Today he is chiefly known for his plays, but critical opinion increasingly views his stories as greater.

CHOPIN, FREDRICK  (1810 – 1849)

Romantic-era Polish composer. All of Chopin's compositions include the piano; most are for solo piano. Chopin invented the concept of instrumental ballade; his major piano works also include sonatas, mazurkas, waltzes, nocturnes, polonaises, études, impromptus, scherzos, and preludes,. His innovations in style, musical form, and harmony, and his association of music with nationalism, were influential throughout and after the late Romantic period.

COPERNICUS, NICOLAS (1473-1543)

Polish astronomer. Famous for being the proponent of the idea that the earth rotates around its axis and around the sun. Wrote the Commentariolus a manuscript summary of his theory and later his complete work De Revolutionibus Orbum Celestium. His views had a profound impact on science and philosophy.

DA VINCI, LEONARDO (1452-1519)

Italian painter, sculptor, architect and engineer. Revolutionized Italian painting by emphasizing soft transitions in light. In science, he anticipated the invention of planes and submarines. Executed some of the finest anatomical drawings ever achieved. Painted the famed Mona Lisa, and The Last Supper. He is considered to be one of the greatest geniuses of all time.

DEFOE, DANIEL (1660?-1731)

English novelist and political writer.  The publication of The Review was a landmark in English journalism. Wrote the world famous Robinson Crusoe, Moll Flanders, Roxana and Journal of the Plague Years. His style is said to have been influenced by the Bible, John Bunyan  and the pulpit oratory of the day.

DELACROIX, EUGÈNE (1798-1863)

French painter. Major proponent of the French Romantic movement. His use of colours influenced both Impressionist and Post-Impressionist movements.  His inspiration came chiefly from historical and contemporary events.  Some of his most famous masterpieces are Dante and Virgil in Hell, Liberty Leading the People and Death at Sardanapalus.

DE LAMARTINE, ALPHONSE (1790 –1869)

French writer, poet and politician who was instrumental in the foundation of the Second Republic. During his term as a politician in the Second Republic, he led efforts that eventually led to the abolition of slavery and the death penalty. A political idealist who supported democracy and pacifism, his moderate stance on most issues caused many of his followers to desert him. He is considered to be the first French romantic poet.

DELLA MIRANDOLA, PICO (1463 –1494)

Italian Renaissance philosopher. In 1486, at the age of 23, he proposed to defend 900 theses on religion, philosophy, natural philosophy and magic against all comers, for which he wrote the famous Oration on the Dignity of Man, which has been called the "Manifesto of the Renaissance", and a key text of Renaissance humanism.

DESCARTES, RENÉ (1596-1650)

French philosopher and mathematician. Also called Cartesius. Founded modern philosophy and was one of the world's most influential thinkers. His foundational principle is expressed in his "I Think Therefore I Am." Believed God's existence to be a self-evident truth. Made significant contributions to physical sciences.

DICKENS, CHARLES (1812-1870)

Considered to be the greatest English novelist of the Victorian era. Heavily interested in social injustices and dedicated to producing social reforms. Wrote world-famous works such as Oliver Twist, A Christmas Carol, David Copperfield, Great Expectations and A tale of Two Cities. Ranked by some as the greatest English novelist.

DONNE, JOHN (1573-1631)

Leading poet of the metaphysical school and dean of St. Paul cathedral in London. Started with lyric poetry. Later he wrote intensely religious poetry and became known for his eloquent sermons. Had a powerful influence on the writers of the 17th and  20th century. Wrote Devotions upon Emergent Occasions, Biathanatos and Essays on the Divinity.

DOSTOEVSKY, FEDOR (1821-1821)

Russian novelist journalist and short story writer. His novels explore human freedom, the justification of religion and psychological conflicts. Among his greatest works are Crime and Punishment and The Brothers Karamazov. His understanding of the dark side of the human mind and his profound insights had a profound impact on the 20th century novel.

DRYDEN, JOHN (1631-1700)

English poet, critic and dramatist. Made poet laureate by Charles II. Wrote several plays such as The Indian Princess, The conquest of Granada and Auren-Zebe. Known primarily as a poet. Author of Ode For St. Cecilia's Day, Alexander's Feast and Ode to the Memory of Mrs. Anne Killigrew.

DÜRER, ALBRECHT (1471 – 1528)

German painter, engraver, printmaker, mathematician, and theorist. Conventionally regarded as the greatest artist of the Northern Renaissance ever since. His vast body of work includes altarpieces, religious works, numerous portraits and self-portraits, and copper engravings. His watercolours also mark him as one of the first European landscape artists.

EMERSON, RALPH WALDO (1803-1888)

US poet, essayist, lecturer and the leading exponent of New England transcendentalists. Known for his inspirational writings such as Nature and The American Scholar. Some of his best known poetic works are Brahma, The Rhodora, and Condor Hymn. His works stressed, above all, the spiritual potential of man.

FARADAY,  MICHAEL (1791 –1867)

English scientist who contributed to the fields of electromagnetism and electrochemistry. Although Faraday received little formal education, he was one of the most influential scientists in history. Faraday established the basis for the concept of the electromagnetic field in physics.  His inventions of electromagnetic rotary devices formed the foundation of electric motor technology, and it was largely due to his efforts that electricity became practical for use in technology.

FICHTE, JOHAN (1762-1814)

German philosopher and disciple of Kant. One of the greatest transcendental idealists. Believed that knowledge and love of God were the end of life and that the divine order of the universe was the highest aspect of the life of reason. Wrote The Vocations of Man, The Characteristics of the Present Age and The Way Toward the Blessed life.

FRANKLIN, BENJAMIN (1706-1790)

American statesman, scientist, philosopher, inventor, publisher and scientist. Spent much time in scientific pursuits. Helped draft The Declaration of Independence of which he was a signer, and helped draw up The American Constitution. At the end of the Revolutionary war, he was one of the diplomats chosen to negotiate peace with Britain. He also contributed to science with his experiments in electricity.

GALILEO, GALILEI (1564-1642)

Italian scientist, mathematician, astronomer and physicist. Considered a founder of the experimental method. Supported the Copernican Theory and was declared a heretic as a result. His major works are  Dialogue Concerning Two Chief World Systems and Dialogue Concerning Two New Sciences. Proposed the Law of Uniform Acceleration for falling bodies, developed the astronomical telescope, discovered craters on the moon and showed that the Milky Way is composed of stars.

GLUCK, CHRISTOPH (1714-1787)

German composer. After producing operas in current styles for 20 years,

he produced the revolutionary Orfeo and Euridice, characterized by simplicity, naturalism and an emphasis on drama rather than vocal virtuosity. Composed the operas Alceste, Iphigenio, and Aulide which departed from tradition because French librettos were used. Influenced Mozart and Cherubini.

GOETHE, JOHAN (1749-1832)

German poet, novelist, playwright and natural philosopher. The greatest figure of the German Romantic Period. His greatest work,  Faust, dramatizes the battle between good and evil and is considered to be the greatest masterpiece in German literature. His written works are contained in 133 volumes (Weimar edition).

GOGOL, NIKOLAY (1809-1852)

Ukrainian born, Russian humorist, dramatist and novelist. By writing Dead Souls, considered to be his masterpiece, and The Overcoat, he established the foundations of the great 19th century tradition of Russian Realism. Preaching and pleasing God were his first aims until the end of his life. Believed that God had endowed him with literary talent to teach the Russians the righteous way of living in an unrighteous world.

HANDEL, GEORG, FRIEDRICH (1685-1759)

German composer. Combined German and Italian styles, and later English and French. Composed successfully in Italy and England. Wrote 46 operas and then moved to compose Oratorios. Among his best are Israel in Egypt and Samson and Jeptha. His mostloved oratorio remains his Messiah. Was particularly appreciated by the British people for his sense of charity and concern for other people.

HARVEY, WILLIAM (1578-1657)

English physician who discovered the true nature of the circulation of blood and of the heart as a pump. Was appointed physician extraordinary to the king. His major work is On the Motion of the Heart and Blood of Animals. Harvey's exacting scientific method of research influenced scientific research for generations.

HAYDN, FRANZ, JOSEPH (1732-1809)

Austrian composer. Wrote 85 string quartets and 104 symphonies. While visiting London, he composed the two greatest works of his old age. The Creation and The Seasons.  In 1797 he wrote The Emperor's Hymn, which became Austria's national anthem. Has been called the father of symphony for his development of symphonic form and orchestration.

HEGEL, GEORG, WILHELM (1770-1831)

German idealist philosopher who created the dialectical scheme. He influenced the development of Existentialism, Positivism and Analytic Philosophy. Some of his great works are The phenomenology of the mind, The science of logic and The philosophy of right. Taught that matter was the counterpart of spirit. Was one of the foremost exponents of Idealism. He conceived the very influential concept of  "Dialectic," that is that thesis and antithesis will lead to synthesis.

HEINE, HEINRICH (1797-1856)

German-Jewish poet. Wrote Romanzero which contains some of his finest poems and Poems 1853-1854, considered to be of the same calibre. Accepted the idea of a personal God after falling gravely ill. Wrote many satires in prose and poetry on German life and the unfairnesses of the social order. His works were banned during the Nazi regime.

HUGO, VICTOR (1802–1885)

French poet, novelist, and dramatist of the Romantic movement. He is considered one of the greatest and best known French writers. Among many volumes of poetry, Les Contemplations and La Légende des siècles stand particularly high in critical esteem. Outside France, his best-known works are the novels Les Misérables, and Notre-Dame de Paris, (known in English as The Hunchback of Notre-Dame).

INGRES, JEAN (1780-1867)

Leader of the French tradition of Neo Classical painting after David. Heavily influenced by Raphael, he was the leading classicist of his period and an excellent draftsman. His works are today found in some of the world's greatest museums. Because of his fame, he was made a life-long senator and received many honours. Some of his greatest works are Turkish women at the Bath, and great portraits such as Mme Poitessier and La Comtesse D'Haussonville.

JAMES, WILLIAM (1842 –1910)

Believed by many to be one of the most influential philosophers the United States has ever produced. He is associated with the philosophical school known as pragmatism, and is also cited as one of the founders of functional psychology. He also developed the philosophical perspective known as radical empiricism Among his most influential books are Principles of Psychology, Essays in Radical Empiricism and The Varieties of Religious Experience.

KANT, IMMANUEL (1724-1804)

German metaphysician and philosopher whose work in the theory of knowledge, ethics and aesthetics had a very strong influence on subsequent philosophy .His greatest works are Critique of Pure Reason, Critique of Practical reason,  Critique of Judgement and Religion within the Boundaries of Pure Reason. In addition to he also wrote various scientific works. He is considered to be one of the greatest modern thinkers.

KEPLER, JOHANNES (1571-1630)

German astronomer and natural philosopher, known for formulating and verifying the three laws of planetary motion. These laws are now known as Kepler's laws.  He discovered that the earth and planets travel about the sun in elliptical orbits, thus transforming the old description of the heavens.  He became imperial mathematician and court astronomer to Rudolf II, Holy Roman emperor. His greatest works are Tabulae Rudolphinae and Admonitio and Astronomos.

KIEKERGAARD, SOREN (1813-1855)

Danish religious philosopher and critic of Rationalism. Regarded as the founder of Existential Philosophy. Kierkegaard's influence was at first confined to Scandinavia and to German-speaking Europe, where his work had a strong impact on Protestant theology and on  Austrian novelist Franz Kafka. As existentialism developed into a European movement, Kierkegaard's work was widely translated, and he was recognized as one of the important figures of modern culture. Wrote Either Or,  Stages of Life's Way, Fear and Trembling, Works of Love and Christian Discourses.

LEIBNIZ, GOTTFRIED WILHELM (1646-1716)

German philosopher, mathematician. Important as a metaphysician, a logician and for inventing the differential and integral calculus. In metaphysics he conceived a system in which substance consists of atoms which form a pre-established perfect harmony with God as Creator. Among his works are his New Essays, On Human Understanding, The Theodicee and Monadologie.

LEOPARDI, GIACOMO (1798-1837)

Considered by some to be one of Italy's greatest poets. By age twenty, had written several outstanding odes, including On a monument to Dante. Leopardi first attracted public notice with his patriotic ode All'Italia (To Italy).  Today he is known as the greatest lyric poet of 19th-century Italy. Operette Morali is his outstanding prose work. He is best known for his lyrical odes.

LISZT, FRANZ (1811-1886)

Hungarian virtuoso and composer.  Aside from his achievements as pianist and conductor, Liszt taught more than 400 pupils, turned out some 350 compositions, and wrote or collaborated on 8 volumes of prose, not counting his correspondence. Among his best works are twelve symphonic poems, two piano concertos and several sacred choral works. He influenced the music of his times and anticipated many developments.

LOCKE, JOHN (1632-1704)

English philosopher. One of the first outstanding liberals and empiricists in British thought. His main ideas are expounded in his Essays Concerning Human Understanding. He advanced ideas in education and the sovereignty of the people. Some of his other major works are Two treatises on Government and The Reasonableness of Christianity.

LONGFELLOW, HENRY WADSWORTH (1807-1882)

American 19th century poet. During his lifetime, was considered to be one of the most popular American poets. Longfellow's contemporaries praised his poetry for its clarity and simplicity. Recognition as a poet came with his Voices in the Night, followed by Ballads and Other Poems. He is one of the most loved American poets.

LOWELL, JAMES RUSSELL (1819-1891)

American poet, essayist, editor, diplomat, and critic best known for his poetry.  Opposed the Mexican War and slavery. His works include A Fable for Critics, The Vision of Sir Launfal, Biglow Papers and My Study Windows.  His volumes of verse include Under  the Willows, The Cathedral, Three Memorial Poems, and Hearts  ease and Rue and Political Essays.

MANZONI, ALESSANDRO (1785-1873)

Italian novelist. Wrote several tragedies and some poetry. His most famous work is the greatly loved, The Betrothed, which made him the leading Italian Romanticist. The Betrothed is ranked among the masterpieces of world literature. Also wrote Sacred Hymns, Adelchi and Il Conte Di Carmagnola. Was revered by men of his time, and was made senator in 1860.

MARITAIN, JACQUES (1882-1973)

Roman Catholic philosopher, and the modern interpreter of St. Thomas Aquinas. Influenced by the French philosopher, Bergson. He also devoted much of his time to a philosophy of the arts. Among his major works are Art and Scolastique, The Degrees of Knowledge, Men and the State and Moral Philosophy.

MASCAGNI, PIETRO (1863-1946)

Italian composer and representative of “Verismo” in operatic music. Studied at the Milan Conservatory, conducted for a travelling opera company and taught piano. His first opera, Cavalleria Rusticana, won a major musical competition and became world famous. His other successful operas are L'Amico Fritz, and Iris. He often conducted his own works.

MAZZINI, GIUSEPPE  (1805– 1872),

Nicknamed "The Beating Heart of Italy,"  was an Italian politician, journalist and activist for the unification of Italy. His efforts helped bring about the independent and unified Italy  in place of the several separate states, many dominated by foreign powers that existed until the 19th century. He also helped define the modern European movement for popular democracy in a republican state. Mazzini was an early advocate of a "United States of Europe."

MELVILLE, HERMAN (1819-1891)

American novelist, short story writer and poet. Best known for his novels of the sea. Wrote the masterpiece Moby Dick. Also wrote Typee: A Peep at Polynesian Life, Omoo: A Narrative of Adventures in the South Seas  and Mardi: And a Voyage Thither. These and other novels contributed to making him the most celebrated American writer.

MILTON, JOHN (1608-1674)

English poet who had a powerful influence on succeeding poets. Dedicated to the defence of civil and religious liberty. Authored pastoral poems and political works. His greatest work is Paradise Lost, considered to be one of the world's greatest masterpieces. Twelve books long, it describes Satan's revolt against God and the fall of man. Also wrote the sequel, Paradise Regained, and high caliber sonnets in Petrarchan form in both Italian and English.

MIRANDOLA, PICO DELLA (1463-1494)

Italian Renaissance scholar and humanist philosopher. Belonged to the group of Florentine humanists and was noted for great learning. Wrote an eloquent essay on human dignity. He also wrote works on philological, mystical and other subjects. In 1489 Pico completed his Heptaplus, a mystical account of the creation of the universe. His library was one of the largest and comprehensive of his times. Gave away all his possessions and became a wandering preacher.

MOZART, AMADEUS (1756-1791)

Austrian composer. Began playing the clavier by three and composing by five. Toured Europe as a pianist at six. By age eight his first symphonies where published. Wrote musical masterpieces throughout his life. His most famous works are his operas The Marriage of Figaro,  Don Giovanni,  Cosi` Fan Tutte, and The Magic Flute. Also wrote the Jupiter and Coronation symphonies. Was a master in every field of music.

NEWTON, ISAAC (1642-1727

English mathematician, physicist and philosopher. One of the leading pioneers of science. Had a revolutionary influence on man's view of the physical world. He enunciated his universal laws of gravitation and motion. Made important contributions to the Corpuscular Theory of Light, the construction of the telescope and other works in optics. Discovered Calculus at the same time as Leibnitz. His chief works are the Principia and Optics.

PENN, WILLIAM (1644-1718)

English Quaker leader and advocate of religious freedom, who founded Pennsylvania. Was jailed in the Tower of London for having published the religious tract The Sandy foundation Shaken. During his imprisonment he wrote his most famous book, No Cross, No Crown. Later, in Newgate Prison, he wrote The Great Case of the Liberty of Conscience in defence of religious tolerance.

PETRARCH, FRANCESCO (1304-1374)

Italian scholar, poet and humanist whose poems addressed to Laura, an idealized beloved, contributed to lyric poetry in the Renaissance. Regarded as the greatest scholar of his age. His humanist ideas were a major contributor to the development of the Renaissance. His major works are De Vita Solitaria, De Otio Religioso, Rime and Metricae.

POPE, ALEXANDER (1688-1744)

English Poet and satirist of the English Augustan period who modelled himself after great poets of classical antiquity. Was the foremost poet of his age. He is best known for his poems. Some of his greatest literary works are, An Essay on Criticism, The Rape of the Lock, The Dunciad and An Essay on Man. His Essay on Man is believed to be a classic of English neo-classic poetry.

RABELAIS, FRANCOIS (1483?-1553?)

French writer, scholar, physician and humanist. Mostly known for authoring the comic and satirical masterpieces Pantagruel and Gargantua. His work emphasised individual liberty and excitement for knowledge and life.  He is an energetic representative of Renaissance humanism. Had a great influence on Voltaire, Balzac, Swift and Kingsley.

RENOIR, PIERRE AUGUSTE (1841-1919)

French painter. Considered to be one of the greatest painters of the Impressionist period. He is noted for his brilliant colours and the charm of his human subjects. In the mid 1880's broke away from the movement to a more formal style. Some of his greatest works are, Le Bal au moulin de la Galette, Madame Charpentier  and her Children, Woman with Fan, and The Swing.  His art is greatly appreciated worldwide and is found in all great museums.

ROSSETTI, CHRISTINA (1830-1894)

English poet and writer who excelled in poems of fantasy, verse for children and religious poetry, homilies and discourses. Considered to be one of the world's greatest female poets. Her major works are Goblin Market and Other Poems, and Verses and New Poems. Also wrote, When I’m Dead my Dearest,  Uphill, and A Birthday.

ROSSINI, GIOACCHINO (1792 – 1868)

Italian composer who wrote 39 operas as well as sacred music, chamber music, songs, and some instrumental and piano pieces. His best-known operas include the Italian comedies Il barbiere di Siviglia (The Barber of Seville) and La Cenerentola, and the French-language epics Moïse et Pharaon and Guillaume Tell. A tendency for inspired, song-like melodies is evident throughout his scores, which led to the nickname "The Italian Mozart".

ROUSSEAU, JEAN JACQUES (1712-1778)

French philosopher, writer and political theorist musician, botanist and one of the most capable writers of the Age of Enlightenment. He inspired the romantic generation and offered ideas on how to minimise social inequality. Was propelled to fame by the essay Discourse on the Sciences and the Arts written for the Academie De Dijon. Other major works are The New Eloise and The Social Contract.

RUBENS, PETER PAUL (1577-1640)

Flemish painter Considered to be the greatest and most influential of the Flemish masters, and one of the most important artists of the 17th century. Known for his vibrant vigorous style and his luminous colours.  Several of his paintings  are in the Louvre museum in Paris and in other major museums worldwide. Some of his greatest works are The Raising of the Cross, The Descent From the Cross and The Assumption of the Virgin. Influenced other great artists such as Watteau and Delacroix .

SCHILLER, JOHANN CHRISTOPH FRIEDRICH VON (1759–1805)

German poet, philosopher, historian, and playwright. Schiller is considered by most Germans to be Germany's most important classical playwright. Some of his plays are: The Robbers (Die Räuber), considered by some to be to be the first European melodrama. In his play, Bohemian Forest he strongly criticizes the hypocrisies of class and religion, and the economic inequities of German society.

SHAKESPEARE, WILLIAM (1564-1616)

English poet, dramatist, and actor often called the English national poet and considered by many to be the greatest dramatist of all times. Some of his greatest comedies are Comedy of Errors, Two Gentlemen of Verona and The Taming of the Shrew. Also wrote great tragedies such as , Othello, Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth, Hamlet and  King Lear. Because of his great plays and his exquisite sonnets, he is now recognized as one of the world’s greatest literary giants.

SHAW, GEORGE BERNARD (1856-1950)

Irish comic dramatist, literary critic and winner of the Nobel Prize for literature in 1925. Considered to be one of the most important British dramatists since Shakespeare. Some of his works are The Apple Cart, Caesar and Cleopatra and St. Joan for which he received the Nobel Prize for literature in 1925. Was a significant influence on his and later generations.

SWIFT, JONATHAN (1667-1745)

Anglo-Irish satirist and political. Considered one of the greatest Masters of English prose and one of the most effective satirist of his times. Known mostly for his brilliant satire, Gulliver's Travels, which became a classic story for children. Some of his other major works are A Modest Proposal and Tale of the Tub.

TASSO, TORQUATO (1544-1595)

Italian poet. Considered the most influential poet of the Italian Renaissance.  His work includes the beautiful pastoral play Aminta, Torrismondo, the epic poem Rinaldo and his immortal epic Jerusalem Delivered. He was summoned to Rome to be crowned poet laureate, but died before the ceremony could take place.

TENNYSON, ALFRED (1809-1892)

English poet, often regarded as the chief representative of the Victorian age in poetry. His first work , Poems Chiefly Lyrical, appeared while he was still a student at Cambridge. Some of his works are The Princess, In Memoriam, The Charge of the Light Brigade and Ballads and Other Poems. Also wrote several plays . He was raised to peerage in 1884.

THOREAU, DAVID HENRY (1817-1862)

American essayist and naturalist. Lover of the simple life. Lived in a cabin at Walden Pond for two years and, as a result,  wrote the classic Walden, or Life in the Woods. Was a strong anti-slavery man and an energetic Transcendentalist. His fame grew after his death. Also wrote The Maine Woods, Excursions and Cape Cod.

TOLSTOY, LEO (1828-1910)

Russian novelist and philosopher. Wrote two of the greatest of all novels: War and Peace and Anna Karenina. His conversion to religion is described in his Confessions. By the time of his death he had given away all of his possessions to the poor and needy. He was devoted to social reform. Also wrote Resurrection and The Power of darkness

WAGNER,  WILHELM  RICHARD  (1813–1883)

German composer, theatre director, polemicist, and conductor who is primarily known for his operas.  Unlike most opera composers, Wagner wrote both the libretto and the music for each of his stage works. Wagner revolutionised opera through his concept of the Gesamtkunstwerk  ("total work of art"), by which he sought to synthesise the poetic, visual, musical and dramatic arts, with music subsidiary to drama,.  Wagner composed great operas such as Der Ring des Nibelungen, Tannhäuser (1845) and Lohengrin (1850).

WORDSWORTH, WILLIAM (1770-1850)

Major English Romantic poet and poet laureate of England. His Lyrical Ballads, written with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, helped launch the English Romantic movement. Also wrote The Prelude, very fine lyrics and The Excursion. His theories and style contributed to a new tradition in poetry.

____________________________

APPENDIX I: NOBEL-WINNING BELIEVERS IN THE SCIENCES

1. Albert EINSTEIN –

Nobel Laureate in Physics

2. Max PLANCK

Nobel Laureate in Physics

3. Erwin SCHROEDINGER

Nobel Laureate in Physics

4. Werner HEISENBERG

Nobel Laureate in Physics

5. Robert MILLIKAN

Nobel Laureate in Physics

6. Charles TOWNES

Nobel Laureate in Physics

7. Arthur SCHAWLOW

Nobel Laureate in Physics

8. William PHILLIPS

Nobel Laureate in Physics

9. William BRAGG

Nobel Laureate in Physics

10. Guglielmo MARCONI

Nobel Laureate in Physics

11. Arthur COMPTON

Nobel Laureate in Physics

12. Arno PENZIAS

Nobel Laureate in Physics

13. Nevill MOTT

Nobel Laureate in Physics

14. Isidor Isaac RABI

Nobel Laureate in Physics

15. Abdus SALAM

Nobel Laureate in Physics

16. Antony HEWISH

Nobel Laureate in Physics

17. Joseph H. TAYLOR, Jr.

Nobel Laureate in Physics

18. Alexis CARREL

Nobel Laureate in Medicine and Physiology

19. John ECCLES

Nobel Laureate in Medicine and Physiology

20. Joseph MURRAY

Nobel Laureate in Medicine and Physiology

21. Ernst CHAIN

Nobel Laureate in Medicine and Physiology

22. George WALD

Nobel Laureate in Medicine and Physiology

23. Ronald ROSS

Nobel Laureate in Medicine and Physiology

24. Derek BARTON

Nobel Laureate in Chemistry

25. Christian ANFINSEN

Nobel Laureate in Chemistry

26. Walter KOHN

Nobel Laureate in Chemistry

27. Richard SMALLEY

Nobel Laureate in Chemistry

28. Max BORN

Nobel Laureate in Physics

29. Brian D. JOSEPHSON

Nobel Laureate in Physics

30. Lord RAYLEIGH

Nobel Laureate in Physics

31. Emilio SEGRE

Nobel Laureate in Physics

32. Paul A.M. DIRAC

Nobel Laureate in Physics

34. Max von LAUE

Nobel Laureate in Physics

35. John COCKCROFT

Nobel Laureate in Physics

36. Charles GLOVER BARKLA

Nobel Laureate in Physics

37. Venkata RAMAN

Nobel Laureate in Physics

38. Johannes Diderik VAN DER WAALS

Nobel Laureate in Physics

39. James FRANCK

Nobel Laureate in Physics

40. Bertram N. BROCKHOUSE

Nobel Laureate in Physics

41. Werner ARBER

Nobel Laureate in Medicine and Physiology

42. Ivan PAVLOV

Nobel Laureate in Medicine and Physiology

43. Sir Alexander FLEMING

Nobel Laureate in Medicine and Physiology

44. Hans KREBS

Nobel Laureate in Medicine and Physiology

45. Roger W. SPERRY

Nobel Laureate in Medicine and Physiology

46. George BEADLE

Nobel Laureate in Medicine and Physiology

47. Werner FORSSMANN

Nobel Laureate in Medicine and Physiology

48. Tadeus REICHSTEIN

Nobel Laureate in Medicine and Physiology

49. Corneille HEYMANS

Nobel Laureate in Medicine and Physiology

50. Sir Charles SHERRINGTON

NobelLaureate in Medicine and Physiology

51. Charles NICOLLE

Nobel Laureate in Medicine and Physiology

52. Archibald V. HILL

Nobel Laureate in Medicine and Physiology

53. Santiago Ramon y CAJAL

NobelLaureate in Medicine and Physiology

54. Joshua LEDERBERG

Nobel Laureate in Medicine and Physiology

55. Albert SZENT-GYOERGYI

Nobel Laureate in Medicine and Physiology

56. Aaron CIECHANOVER

Nobel Laureate in Chemistry

57. Ronald G.W. NORRISH

Nobel Laureate in Chemistry

58. Ahmed ZEWAIL

Nobel Laureate in Chemistry

59. Sir William RAMSAY

Nobel Laureate in Chemistry

60. Karl ZIEGLER

Nobel Laureate in Chemistry

APPENDIX 2: NOBEL LAUREATES IN LITERATURE

1. T.S. ELIOT

2. Rudyard KIPLING

3. Alexander SOLZHENITSYN

4. Francois MAURIAC

5. Hermann HESSE

6. Winston CHURCHILL

7. Jean-Paul SARTRE

8. Sigrid UNDSET

9. Rabindranath TAGORE

10. Rudolf EUCKEN

11. Isaac SINGER

12. Henri BERGSON

13. Thomas MANN

14. Boris PASTERNAK

15. William FAULKNER

16. Eugene O’NEILL

17. Romain ROLLAND

18. Henryk SIENKIEWICZ

19. William GOLDING

20. Czeslaw MILOSZ

21. Selma LAGERLOEF

22. Ivan BUNIN

23. Grazia DELEDDA

24. Naguib MAHFOUZ

25. Shmuel AGNON

26. Gabriela MISTRAL

27. Ivo Andric

28. William Butler Yeats

*******************************

From 50 NOBEL LAUREATES AND OTHER GREAT SCIENTISTS WHO BELIEVE IN GOD, by Tihomir Dimitrov.

The above work began as a compilation of quotations giving evidence that 50 nobelists believed in God and has now added many more Nobel Prize winning believers. You may get more detailed information at the following site: <http://nobelists.weebly.com/uploads/4/0/2/0/4020654/50-nobelists-english.pdf> (04-05-2014)

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