Thinking Christian

Great words from the great poet:

Let [Truth] and Falsehood grapple; who ever knew Truth put to the worse in a free and open encounter?

…

I cannot praise a fugitive and cloistered virtue, unexercised and unbreathed, that never sallies out and sees her adversary, but slinks out of the race, where that immortal garland is to be run for, not without dust and heat.

[Link: Happy 400th Birthday to John Milton: A blogging ancestor - Maggie's Farm]

My favorite from Milton is On His Blindness:

When I consider how my light is spent
    Ere half my days in this dark world and wide,
    And that one talent which is death to hide
    Lodg’d with me useless, though my soul more bent
To serve therewith my Maker, and present
    My true account, lest he returning chide,
    “Doth God exact day-labour, light denied?”
    I fondly ask. But Patience, to prevent
That murmur, soon replies: “God doth not need
    Either man’s work or his own gifts: who best
    Bear his mild yoke, they serve him best. His state
Is kingly; thousands at his bidding speed
    And post o’er land and ocean without rest:
    They also serve who only stand and wait.”

– John Milton

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One Comment

1. Jon says:

   December 9, 2008 at 1:59 pm

   John who?