quote · Legacy record
O, how unlike the complex works of man, Heaven’s easy, artless, unencumbered plan! No meretricious graces to beguile, No clustering ornaments to clog the pile; From ostentation, as from weakness free, It stands, like the cerulean arch we see, Majestic in its own simplicity. Inscribed above the portal, from afar Conspicuous as the brightness of a star, Legible only by the light they give, Stand the soul-quickening words: Believe and live!
O, how unlike the complex works of man, Heaven’s easy, artless, unencumbered plan! No meretricious graces to beguile, No clustering ornaments to clog the pile; From ostentation, as from weakness free, It stands, like the cerulean arch we see, Majestic in its own simplicity. Inscribed above the portal, from afar Conspicuous as the brightness of a star, Legible only by the light they give, Stand the soul-quickening words: Believe and live!
Approximate author period: c. 1765 AD · early modern
Meaning not yet available
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Begin with source-checked readings and explanations ↗Attribution & collection notes
- Author or tradition
- William Cowper
Attribution: attributed - Country attributed
- Not established
A country attribution does not establish the earliest origin. - Historical period
- Approximate author period: c. 1765 AD · early modern
author lifetime midpoint (1731–1800)
An author lifetime, approximate period or collection date is not necessarily the date when these words were first written or spoken. - Recorded source
- A Cyclopædia of Sacred Poetical Quotations (catalogued1888) (1888 AD)
Page 684 · printed citation: Cowper · subject: WORKS—WORK
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