Reflections on God and Religion

THE FIRST BOOK . 7

And expects a greater good from His benevolence,
Who prepares the court of the world for mankind.

that here [knowledge] is imperfect,

No man ever climbs to the peak of this knowledge
Through the light of the creatures original: "ſchepſelen" – referring to all created things in the natural world., and attention, and habit.
No wise man can perfectly depict what God is,
Beside whom our mid-day is nothing but darkness.
The invisibility of God remains hidden from human senses.
The Deity original: "Godtheit" – the divine essence or nature of God. knows itself alone entirely from within.
There is no proportion between man and God.
Infinity is sooner mocked by our narrow understanding
Than conceived and grasped within our brain-pan.
No master of letters, however eloquent or polished,
Finds a sign or word that represents God’s perfection,
And does not, instead of giving honor, steal His glory:

yet is somewhat reachable.

But nonetheless, one cannot escape from this:
The possibility of knowing God and His nature,
Through the light of Lady Nature and reason, insofar as
God, through His attributes and works, gives Himself
In part to be known; even such that the willfully blind
Can find no excuse for their guilt and blindness;
Like Diagoras, Leucippus, Epicurus,
Lucretius, and Democritus Vondel lists famous ancient Greek and Roman philosophers associated with atomism and atheism, who argued the world was formed by chance rather than divine design., who abandoned
Reason and nature, under the pretext of lending them an ear,
And of stepping toward the light that has appeared to everyone.
Whoever, in the middle of the day, gathers pleasure in the dark,
And sleeps through the clear sun in a night-cavern,
Let him not complain when the light, upon sinking away,
Mocks those who neglect to use such a radiance.

the atheist denies the Deity because it is invisible.

He who respects no proof of that which is affirmed by everyone,
Who hears no sages, and is estranged from scripture and the use of reason,
Refuses to grant that a Deity exists in being,
Or if there is one, that it obliges us to fear it.
His excuse is that the eye sees no Deity.
He concludes then: all that exists is seen; what is not