John Burgon
English Anglican divine (1813-1888)
John William Burgon (21 August 1813 – 4 August 1888) was an English Anglican divine who became the Dean of Chichester Cathedral in 1876. He was known during his lifetime for his poetry and his defence of the historicity and Mosaic authorship of Genesis. Long after his death he was remembered chiefly for his defence of the Byzantine text-type and continued ecclesiastical use of the traditional Received Text.
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Quotes
edit- O passing beautiful—in this wild spot
Temples, and tombs, and dwellings,—all forgot!
One sea of sunlight far around them spread,
And skies of sapphire mantling overhead.
They seem no work of man’s creative hand,
Where Labour wrought as wayward Fancy plann’d;
But from the rock as if by magic grown,
Eternal—silent—beautiful—alone!
Not virgin white—like that old Doric shrine
Where once Athena held her rites divine:
Not saintly grey—like many a minster fane
That crowns the hill, or sanctifies the plain:
But rosy-red,—as if the blush of dawn
Which first beheld them were not yet withdrawn:
The hues of youth upon a brow of woe,
Which men call’d old two thousand years ago!
Match me such marvel, save in Eastern clime,—
A rose-red city—‘half as old as Time!’- Petra: A Poem, 2nd ed. (Oxford: F. Macpherson, 1846), pp. 23–4
- Variants printed in Gems of English Poetry (London: T. Nelson, 1865), p. 287:
- It seems no work of man's creative hand; [...]
Where erst Athena held her rites divine, [...]
That crowns the hill, and consecrates the plain; [...]
- It seems no work of man's creative hand; [...]
- Parodied by William Plomer, "A rose-red sissy half as old as time."
- Either, with the best and wisest of all ages, you must believe the whole of Holy Scripture; or, with the narrow-minded infidel, you must disbelieve the whole. There is no middle course open to you.
- "All Scripture to be Believed, or None", in Inspiration and Interpretation (Oxford & London: J. H. and Jas. Parker, 1861), p. 46
