“De Quincey has said, ‘Two strong angels stand by the side of history as heraldic supporters: the angel of research on the left hand, that must read millions of dusty parchments and pages blotted with lies; the angel meditation on the right hand, that must cleanse these lying records with fire, even as of old the draperies of asbestos were cleansed, and must quicken them into regenerated life.’”
~ from Robert Lewis Dabney’s inaugural address as professor of ecclesiastical history
and polity at Union Seminary: Life and Letters of Robert Lewis Dabney, by Thomas Cary Johnson, p. 140