“God never had a church but there, men say,
The Devil a chapel hath raised by some wyles.
I doubted of this saw, till on a day
I westward spied great Edinburgh’s Saint Gyles.”

—  William Drummond of Hawthornden

Posthumous Poems, reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919). Compare: "Where God hath a temple, the Devil will have a chapel", Robert Burton, Anatomy of Melancholy, Part iii, Section 4, Member 1, Subsection 1 .

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "God never had a church but there, men say, The Devil a chapel hath raised by some wyles. I doubted of this saw, till …" by William Drummond of Hawthornden?
William Drummond of Hawthornden photo
William Drummond of Hawthornden 13
British writer 1585–1649

Related quotes

Robert Burton photo

“Where God hath a temple, the Devil will have a chapel.”

Robert Burton book The Anatomy of Melancholy

Section 4, member 1, subsection 1.
The Anatomy of Melancholy (1621), Part III

Martin Luther photo

“For where God built a church, there the Devil would also build a chapel…Thus is the Devil ever God's ape.”

Martin Luther book Table Talk

67. Compare "Where God hath a temple, the Devil will have a chapel", Robert Burton, Anatomy of Melancholy, part III, section 4, member 1, subsection 1
Table Talk (1569)

Oliver Cromwell photo

“Truly England and the church of God hath had a great favour from the Lord, in this great victory given us.”

Oliver Cromwell (1599–1658) English military and political leader

Letter to Colonel Valentine Walton (5 July 1644)

George Herbert photo

“No sooner is a temple built to God, but the Devil builds a chapel hard by.”

George Herbert (1593–1633) Welsh-born English poet, orator and Anglican priest

Jacula Prudentum (1651)

George Eliot photo

“He never had a doubt that such gods were;
He looked within, and saw them mirrored there.”

George Eliot (1819–1880) English novelist, journalist and translator

The Legend of Jubal (1869)
Context: When Cain was driven from Jehovah's land
He wandered eastward, seeking some far strand
Ruled by kind gods who asked no offerings
Save pure field-fruits, as aromatic things,
To feed the subtler sense of frames divine
That lived on fragrance for their food and [wine]]:
Wild joyous gods, who winked at faults and folly,
And could be pitiful and melancholy.
He never had a doubt that such gods were;
He looked within, and saw them mirrored there.

Tim Powers photo

“The church has become a more…exclusive club since the founder’s day, it’s clear. No doubt the Devil is more hospitable.”

Tim Powers book The Stress of Her Regard

Source: The Stress of Her Regard (1989), Chapter 10 (p. 129)

William Shakespeare photo

“If to do were as easy as to know what were good to do, chapels had been churches, and poor men’s cottages princes’ palaces.”

William Shakespeare The Merchant of Venice

Portia, Act I, scene ii.
The Merchant of Venice (1596–7)

Thomas Cromwell, 1st Earl of Essex photo

“And shall I name one who hath been in our age, and wish him now to live to cure so great a canker? Would God England had a Cromwell: I will say no more.”

Thomas Cromwell, 1st Earl of Essex (1485–1540) English statesman and chief minister to King Henry VIII of England

Thomas Wilson, Discourse on Usury (1571), p. 182.
About

Orson Scott Card photo

“I went to the Garden of Love,
And saw what I never had seen:
A chapel was built in the midst,
Where I used to play on the green.

And the gates of this chapel were shut,
And ‘Thou shalt not’ writ over the door,
So I turned to the Garden of Love,
That so many sweet flowers bore,

And I saw it was filled with graves,
And tomb-stones where flowers should be:
And priests in black gowns were walking their rounds,
And binding with briars my joys and desires.”

Orson Scott Card (1951) American science fiction novelist

Source: The Tales of Alvin Maker, Seventh Son (1987), Chapter 10.

Charles Spurgeon photo

“Doubts about the fundamentals of the gospel exist in certain churches, I am told, to a large extent. My dear friends, where there is a warm-hearted church, you do not hear of them. I never saw a fly light on a red-hot plate.”

Charles Spurgeon (1834–1892) British preacher, author, pastor and evangelist

Source: Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895), P. 148.

Related topics