Joseph Addison – said, Mar. 8, 1711

Joseph Addison and Richard Steele easily referred to as Addison and Steele started a paper (in England) call the “The Spectator.”  The expressed goal of this paper was “to enliven morality with wit, and to temper wit with morality…to bring philosophy out of the closets and libraries, schools and colleges, to dwell in clubs and assemblies, at tea-tables and coffeehouses” (No. 10).

The March 8^th edition (1711 – three hundred years ago today) Addison is said to have said,

“To be an atheist requires an infinitely greater measure of faith than to receive all the great truths which atheism would deny.”  Amen.

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Joseph Addison – famous poem appeared, Aug. 23, 1712

The spacious firmament on high,
With all the blue ethereal sky,
And spangled heavens, a shining frame
Their great Original proclaim.
Th’unwearied sun, from day to day,
Does his Creator’s powers display,
And publishes to every land
The work of an Almighty Hand.

Soon as the evening shades prevail
The moon takes up the wondrous tale,
And nightly to the listening earth
Repeats the story of her birth;
While all the stars that round her burn
And all the planets in their turn,
Confirm the tidings as they roll,
And spread the truth from pole to pole.

What though in solemn silence all
Move round the dark terrestrial ball?
What though no real voice nor sound
Amid the radiant orbs be found?
In reason’s ear they all rejoice,
And utter forth a glorious voice,
Forever singing as they shine,
“The hand that made us is divine.”

Joseph Addison’s “The Spacious Firmament on High” appeared this date 8/23/1712.

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Joseph Addison – birth, May 1, 1672

The Lord my pasture shall prepare,
And feed me with a shepherd`s care;
His presence shall my wants supply,
And guard me with a watchful eye;
My noonday walks He shall attend,
And all my midnight hours defend.

2.

When in the sultry glebe I faint,
Or on the thirsty mountain pant;
To fertile vales and dewy meads
My weary, wand`ring steps He leads;
Where peaceful rivers, soft and slow,
Amid the verdant landscape flow.

3.

Though in the paths of death I tread,
With gloomy horrors overspread,
My steadfast heart shall fear no ill,
For thou, O Lord, art with me still;
Thy friendly crook shall give me aid,
And guide me through the dreadful shade.

4.

Though in a bare and rugged way,
Through devious, lonely wilds I stray,
Thy bounty shall my pains beguile:
The barren wilderness shall smile
With sudden greens and herbage crowned,
And streams shall murmur all around.

Joseph Addison was born this date (5/1/1672) at Milston (near Amesbury) Wiltshire, England.  He is also known for the hymn “Spacious Firmament on High.”

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