Selected quad for the lemma: truth_n
Text snippets containing the quad
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A01516
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The tvvoo bookes of Francis Bacon. Of the proficience and aduancement of learning, diuine and humane To the King.; Of the proficience and advancement of learning
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Bacon, Francis, 1561-1626.
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1605
(1605)
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STC 1164; ESTC S100507
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164,580
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339
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ordinances As in the lawe of the Leprousie where it is sayd If the whitenesse hauâ—… ouer spread the flâ—…sh the Patient may passe abroad for clean But if there be any whole flâ—…sh remayning he is to be shut vp for vncleane One of them noteth a principle of nature that putrefaction is more contagious before maturitie than after And another noteth a position of morall Philosophie that men abandoned to vice doe not so much corrupt manners as those that are halfe good and halfe euill so in this and verie many other places in that lawe there is to bee found besides the Theologicall sence much aspersion of Philosophie So likewise in that excellent Booke of Iob if it be reâ—…olued with diligence it will be found pregnant and swelling with naturall Philosophie as for example Cosmographie and the roundnesse of the world Qui extendit aquilonem super vacuum appendit terram super nihilum wherein the pensilenesse of the earth the pole of the North and the finitenesse or conuexitie of Heauen are manifestly touched So againe matter of Astronomie Spiritus eius ornauit coelos obstetricante manu eius eductus est coluber tortuosus And in another place Nunquid coniungere valebis micantes stellds pleyadas aut gyrum arcturi poteris dissipare where the fixing of the starres euer standing at equall distance is with great elegancie noted And in another place Qui faâ—…arcturum â—…ona hyadas interiora austri where againe hee takes knowledge of the depression of the Southerne pole calling it the secrets of the South because the southerne starres were in that climate vnseene Matter of generation Annon si ut lac mulsisti me sicut caseum coagulasti me c. Matter of Mynerals Habet argentum venarum suarum principia aurolocus est in quo conâ—…latur ferrâ—…m de tâ—…rra tollitur lapis solutus calore in 〈◊〉 vertiâ—…r and so forwards in that Chapter So likewise in the person of Salomon the King wee see the guist or endowment of wisedome and learning both in Salomons petition and in Gods assent thereunto preferred before all other terrene and temporall selicitie By vertue of which grant or donatiue of God Salomon became inabled not onely to write those excellent Parables or Aphorismes concerning diuine and morall Philosophie but also to compile a naturall Historie of all verdor from the Cedar vpon the Mountaine to the mosse vppon the wall which is but a rudiment betweene putrefaction and an hearbe and also of all things that breath or moone Nay the same Salomon the King although he excelled in the glorie of treasure and magnificent buildings of shipping and Nauigation of seruice and attendance of same and renowne and the like yet hee maketh no claime to any of those glories but onely to the glorie of Inquisition of truth for so he sayth expressely The glorie of God is to conceale a thing But the glorie of the King is to find it out as if according to the innocent play of Children the diuine Maiestie tooke delight to hide his workes to the end to haue them sound out and as if Kinges could not obtaine a greater honour than to bee Gods play-fellowes in that game considering the great commaundement of wits and meanes whereby nothing needeth to be hidden from them Neither did the dispensation of God varie in the times after our Sauiour came into the world for our Sauiour himselfe did first shew his power to subdue ignorance by his conference with the Priests and Doctors of the lawe before he shewed his power to subdue nature by his miracles And the comming of the holy spirite was chiefely figured and expressed in the similitude and guist of tongues which are but Vehicula scientiae So in the election of those Instruments which it pleased God to vse for the plantation of the faith notwithstanding that at the first hedid employ persons altogether vnlearned otherwise than by inspiration more euidently to declare his immediate working and to abbase all humane wisedome or knowledge yet neuerthelesse that Counsell of his was no sooner perfourmed but in the next vicissitude and succession he did send his diuine truth into the world wayted on with other Learnings as with Seruants or Handmaides For so we see Saint Paule who was only learned amongst the Apostles had his penne most vsed in the scriptures of the new Testament So againe we finde that many of the ancient Bishops and Father of the Church were excellently redde studied in all the learning of the Heathen insomuch that the Edict of the Emperour Iulianus whereby it was interdicted vnto Christians to bee admitted into Schooles Lectures or exercises of learning was esteemed and accounted a more pernitious engine and machination against the Christian faith than were all the sanguinarie prosecutions of his Predecessors Neither could the emulation and Iealousie of Gregorie the first of that name Bishop of Rome euer obtaine the opinion of pietie or deuotion but contrarywise receiued the censure of humour malignitie and pusillanimitie euen amongst holy men in that he designed to obliterate and extinguish the memorie of Heathen antiquitie and Authors But contrarewise it was the Christian Church which amidst the inundations of the Scythians on the one side from the Northwest and the Saracens from the East did preserue in the sacred lappe and bosome thereof the pretious Reliques euen of Heathen Learning which otherwise had beene extinguished as if no such thing had euer beene And wee see before our eyes that in the age of our selues and our Fathers when it pleased God to call the Church of Rome to account for their degenerate manners and ceremonies and sundrie doctrines obnoxious and framed to vphold the same abuses At one and the same time it was ordayned by the diuine prouidence that there should attend withall a renouation and new spring of all other knowledges And on the other side we see the Iesuites who partly in themselues and partly by the emulation and prouocation of their example haue much quickned and strengthned the state of Learning we see Isay what notable seruice and reparation they haue done to the Romane Sea Wherefore to conclude this part let it bee obserued that there be two principall duties and seruices besides ornament illustration which Philosophie and humane learning doe perfourme to faith and Religion The one because they are an effectuall inducement to the exaltation of the glory of God For as the Psalmes and other Scriptures doe often inuite vs to consider and magnifie the great and wonderfull workes of God so if we should rest onely in the contemplation of the exterior of them as they first offer themselues to our sences we should do a like iniurie vnto the Maiestie of God as if wee should iudge or construe of the store of some excellent Ieweller by that onely which is set out toward the streete in his shoppe The other because they minister a singuler helpe and preseruatiue against
nature Poyson is that which worketh wholy vpon Nature without that that nature can in any part worke vpon it So in the minde whatsoeuer knowledge reason cannot at all worke vpon conuert is a meere intoxication and indangereth a dissolution of the minde vnderstanding But for the latter it hath beene extreamely set on foote of late time by the Schoole of Paracelsus and some others that haue pretended to finde the truth of all naturall Philosophy in the Scriptures scandalizing and traducing all other Philosophie as Heathenish and Prophane But there is noe such enmitie betweene Gods word and his workes Neither doe they giue honour to the Scriptures as they suppose but much imbase them For to seeke heauen and earth in the word of God Whereof it is saide Heauen and Earth shall passe but my worde shall not passe is to seeke temporary things amongst eternall And as to seeke Diuinitie in Philosophy is to seeke the liuing amongst the dead So to seeke Philosophy in Diuinitie is to seek the dead amongst the liuing Neither are the Pots or Lauers whose place was in the outward part of the Temple to be sought in the holiest place of all where the Arke of the testimonie was seated And againe the scope or purpose of the spirit of God is not to expresse matters of Nature in the Scriptures otherwise then in passage and for application to mans capacitie and to matters morall or Diuine And it is a true Rule Authoris aliud agentis parua authoritas For it were a strange conclusion if a man should vse a similitude for ornament or illustration sake borrowed from Nature or historie according to vulgar conceit as of a Basiliske an Vnicorne a Centaure a Briareus an Hydra or the like that therefore hee must needes bee thought to affirme the matter thereof positiuely to be true To conclude therefore these two Interpretations the one by reduction or Aenigmaticall the other Philosophicall or Phisicall which haue beene receiued and pursued in imitation of the Rabbins and Cabalists are to be confined with a Noli altum sapere sed time But the two later points knowne to God and vnknowne to Man touching the secrets of the heart and the successions of time doth make a iust and sound difference betweene the manner of the exposition of the Scriptures and all other bookes For it is an excellent obseruation which hath beene made vpon the answeres of our Sauiour Christ to many of the questions which were propounded to him how that they are impertinent to the state of the question demanded the reason whereof is because not being like man which knowes mans thoughts by his words but knowing mans thoughts immediately hee neuer answered their words but their thoughts much in the like manner it is with the Scriptures which being written to the thoughts of men and to the succession of all ages with a foresight of all heresies coatradictions differing estates of the Church yea and particularly of the elect are not to be interpreted only according to the latitude of the proper sense of the place and respectiuely towardes that present occasion whereupon the wordes were vttered or in precise congruitie or contexture with the wordes before or after or in contemplation of the principall scope of the place but haue in themselues not onely totally or collectiuely but distributiuely in clauses and wordes infinite springs and streames of doctrine to water the Church in euerie part and therefore as the literall sense is as it were the maine streame or Riuer So the Morall sense chiefely and sometimes the Allegoricall or Typicall are they whereof the Church hath most vse not that I wish men to be bold in Allegories or Indulgent or light in Allusions but that I doe much condemne that Interpretation of the Scripture which is onely after the manner as Men vse to interprete a prophane booke In this part touching the exposition of the Scriptures I can report noe deficience but by way of remembrance this I will adde In perusing Bookes of Diuinitie I finde many Bookes of controuersies and many of common places and treatises a masse of positiue Diuinitie as it is made an Arte a number of Sermons and Lectures and many prolixe commentaries vpon the Scriptures with harmonies and concordances but that forme of writing in Diuinitie which in my Iudgement is of all others most rich and precious is positiue Diuinitie collected vpon particular Texts of Scriptures in briefe obseruations not dilated into common places not chaseing after controuersies not reduced into Methode of Art a thing abounding in Sermons which will vanish but defectiue in Bookes which wil remaine and a thing wherin this age excelleth For I am perswaded and I may speake it with an Absit invidia verbo and no waies in derogation of Antiquitie but as in a good emulation betweene the vine and the oliue That if the choise and best of those obseruations vpon Texts of Scriptu◅es which haue beene made dispersedly in Sermons within this your Maiesties Ilands of Brittanie by the space of these fortie yeares and more leauing out the largenesse of exhortations and applications thereupon had beene set downe in a continuance it had beene the best worke in Diuinitie which had beene written since the Apostles times The matter informed by Diuinitie is of two kinds matter of beliefe and truth of opinion and matter of seruice and adoration which is also iudged and directed by the former The one being as the internall soule of Religion the other as the externall body thereof therfore the heathen Religion was not onely a worship of Idolls but the whole Religion was an Idoll in it selfe for it had noe soule that is no certaintie of belief or confession as a man may well thinke considering the chiefe Doctors of their Church were the Poets and the reason was because the heathen Gods were noe Iealous Gods but were glad to be admitted into part as they had reasō Neither did they respect the purenesse of hart so they mought haue externall honour and rites But out of these two doe result and issue foure maine branches of Diuinitie Faith Manners Lyturgie and Gouernment Faith containeth the Doctrine of the Nature of GOD of the attributes of GOD and of the workes of GOD The nature of GOD consisteth of three persons in vnitie of GOD-head The attributes of GOD are either common to the deitie or respectiue to the persons The workes of GOD summarie are two that of the Creation and that of the Redemption And both these workes as in Totall they appertaine to the vnitie of the God-head So in their parts they referre to the three persons That of the Creation in the Masse of the Matter to the father in the disposition of the forme to the Sonne and in the continuance and conseruation of the being to the Holy spirit So that of the Redemptiō in the election and counsell to the Father in the whole Act and consūmation to the