The Divinity [Sonnet]

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Title:     The Divinity [Sonnet]
Author: Matthew Arnold [More Titles by Arnold]

"Yes, write it in the rock," Saint Bernard said,
"Grave it on brass with adamantine pen!
'Tis God himself becomes apparent, when
God's wisdom and God's goodness are display'd,

"For God of these his attributes is made."--
Well spake the impetuous Saint, and bore of men
The suffrage captive; now, not one in ten
Recalls the obscure opposer he outweigh'd.[1]

_God's wisdom and God's goodness!_--Ay, but fools
Mis-define these till God knows them no more.
_Wisdom and goodness, they are God!_--what schools

Have yet so much as heard this simpler lore?
This no Saint preaches, and this no Church rules;
'Tis in the desert, now and heretofore.

 

[Footnote 1:

_Recalls the obscure opposer he outweigh'd._

Gilbert de la Porree, at the Council of Rheims, in 1148.]

[The end]
Matthew Arnold's poem: Divinity [sonnet]

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