Date: w. c. 54-8, trans. 1611

The heart may be darkened

— Paul of Tarsus (b.c. 10, d.c. 67)

Date: 1611

"The spirit of man is the candle of the LORD, searching all the inward parts of the belly."

— Author Unknown

Date: 1682

"The one 'tis true is wholly void of Reason, but it is also an equivalent Darkness of Mind, that possesses the other."

— L'Estrange, Sir Roger (1616-1704)

Date: 1685

"These bugbears of the mind, this inward hell, / No rays of outward sunshine can dispel; / But nature and right reason must display / Their beams abroad, and bring the darksome soul to day."

— Dryden, John (1631-1700)

Date: 1687, 1691

"Pray the Great God with me, That he will illuminate my Understanding with Inward Lights, until the Man promised by our Holy Prophet."

— Marana, Giovanni Paolo (1642-1693); Anonymous [William Bradshaw (fl. 1700) or Robert Midgley (1655?-1723)?]

Date: 1700, 1717

"He, tho' from Heav'n remote, to Heav'n cou'd move, / With Strength of Mind, and tread th' Abyss above; / And penetrate with his interior Light / Those upper Depths, which Nature hid from Sight"

— Dryden, John (1631-1700)