Date: 1705, 1712

"Reason's the heav'nly Ray that lights the Soul, / And the Faith dark that does its Power controul."

— Ward, Edward (1667-1731)

Date: 1706

"Every one declares against blindness, and yet who almost is not fond of that which dims his sight, and keeps the clear light out of his mind, which should lead him into truth and knowledge?"

— Locke, John (1632-1704)

Date: 1706

In the association of ideas "unnatural connections become by custom as natural to the mind, as sun and light"

— Locke, John (1632-1704)

Date: 1706 [first published 1658]

"To Dazzle, to hurt the Sight, with too muc Light, to surprize the Mind; to tempt, to decoy, to beguile."

— Phillips, Edward (1630-1696)

Date: 1706 [first published 1658]

"Luciferous, that brings Light: as Luciferous Experiments, a Term us'd by Naturlaists, for such Experiments as serve to inform and inlighten the Mind, about some Truth of Speculation in Physick or Philosophy."

— Phillips, Edward (1630-1696)

Date: 1706

"Let us make a Trial, Whether they that have been Scorched and Blacken'd by the Sun of Africa, may not come to have their Minds Healed by the more Benign Beams of the Sun of Righteousness."

— Mather, Cotton (1663-1728)

Date: 1706

"There glides the moon her shining way, / And shoots my heart thro' with a silver ray."

— Watts, Isaac (1674-1748)

Date: March 16, 1696/7; 1708

"I fansy I pretty well guess what it is that some Men find mischievous in your 'Essay': 'Tis opening the Eyes of the Ignorant, and rectifying the Methods of Reasoning, which perhaps may undermine some received Errors, and so abridge the Empire of Darkness; wherein, though the Subject wander deplo...

— Molyneux, William (1656-1698)

Date: November 25, 1707; 1708

"Since the same Flame, by different Ways express'd, / Glows in the Heroe's and the Poet's Breast."

— Rowe, Nicholas (1674-1718)

Date: November 25, 1707; 1708

"Oh Seofrid! do'st thou not wonder much, / And pity my weak Temper, when thou seest me / Thus in a Moment chang'd from Hot to Cold, / My active Fancy glowing now with Hopes, / Anon thus drooping; Death in my pale Visage, / My Heart, and my chill Veins, all freezing with Despair."

— Rowe, Nicholas (1674-1718)