The anti-Catholic French philosopher Voltaire once said, ‘A hundred years from my death the Bible will be a museum piece.’ 100 years after his death the French Bible Society set up its headquarters in Voltaire’s old home in Paris. 250 years after his death, the traditional Chartres pilgrimage has seen a record participation of an estimated 18,000 young Catholics this year
Mock on, mock on, Voltaire, Rousseau;
Mock on, mock on; ’tis all in vain!
You throw the sand against the wind,
And the wind blows it back again.
And every sand becomes a gem
Reflected in the beams divine;
Blown back they blind the mocking eye,
But still in Israel’s paths they shine.
The Atoms of Democritus
And Newton’s Particles of Light
Are sands upon the Red Sea shore,
Where Israel’s tents do shine so bright.
William Blake
Christus vincit!
I’ll bet you don’t find this in the standard issue Norton’s Anthology of Literature.
I should have been assigned to read this over the “modern geniuses” of poetry.
But then, the instructor would have had to explain too many things. I don’t mean atoms and light either…