LONDON
LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO.
1874
'There is one God supreme over all gods, diviner than mortals,
Whose form is not like unto man's, and as unlike his nature;
But vain mortals imagine that gods like themselves are begotten,
With human sensations and voice and corporeal members;
So, if oxen or lions had hands and could work in man's fashion,
And trace out with chisel or brush their conception of Godhead,
Then would horses depict gods like horses, and oxen like oxen,
Each kind the divine with its own form and nature endowing.'
XENOPHANES of Colophon (six centuries B.C.), 'Supernatural Religion,'
Vol. I. p. 76.
'It were 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.' BACON.