Gabriel monologue (Act 1) — Vondel's Lucifer

Thou art, indeed, 250 Most zealous for the glory of God's name; Though truly without weighing well that God, The point wherein His majesty doth lie, Far better knows than we. Cease therefore now This inquisition. For when God as man Shall have become, He shall this book of His Own mysteries, now sealed with seven seals. Himself unseal. To taste the kern within Is not for thee; thou seest the shell alone. Then of this long concealment we shall learn 260 The cause and hidden reason, all the while Deep-gazing; in the unveiled Holy of Holies. It now behooves us ever to obey And to revere this rising dawn, to use Our light with thankfulness until the time When knowledge in her power shall drive all doubt Away, even as the sun the night. Now learn We gradually, with modest reverence, God's Wisdom to approach. And this to us Reveals, by slow degrees, the light of truth 270 And knowledge, and requires that, on his watch, Each shall submit himself to reason's rule, Lord Stadtholder, be calm. Be foremost, thou, Now to maintain the law. God sends me hence. I must away.