Advancement of Learning 7 



but when men fall to framing conclusions out of their know 

 ledge, applying it to their particular, and ministering to 

 themselves thereby weak fears or vast desires, there groweth 

 that carefulness and trouble of mind which is spoken of : for 

 then knowledge is no more Lumen siccum, whereof Hera- 

 clitus the profound J said, Lumen siccum optima anima ; but 

 it becometh Lumen madidum, or maceratum, being steeped 

 and infused in the humours of the affections. 2 And as for 

 the third point, it deserveth to be a little stood upon, and 

 not to be lightly passed over : for if any man shall think by 

 view and inquiry into these sensible and material things to_ 

 attain that light, whereby he may reveal untojhimself the 

 Natvrrg_pr \Yjn_rvf r^^thenjndeed Is hespoTled by~va1n j 

 ^philosophy : for the contemplation of~God s creatures and 

 works produceth (having regard to the works and creatures 

 themselves) knowledge, but having regard to God, no 

 perfect knowledge, but wonder, which is broken knowledge. 

 And therefore it was most aptly said by one of Plato s 

 school, 3 That the sense of man carrieth a resemblance with the 

 sun, which, as we see, openeth and revealeth all the terrestrial 

 globe ; but then again it obscureth and concealeth the stars and 

 celestial globe : so doth the sense discover natural things, but it 

 darkeneth and shutteth up divine. And hence it is true that 

 it hath proceeded, that divers great learnejd men have been 

 heretical, whilst they haye sought to fly up to the secretsjjT 

 the_Deity by the waxen wings of the senses. And as for the 

 conceit that too much knowledge should incline a man to 

 Atheism, 4 and that the ignorance of second causes should 

 make a more devout dependence upon God, which is the 

 first cause ; first, it is good to ask the question which Job 

 asked of his friends: Will you lie for God, as one man will do 

 for another, to gratify him? 5 For certain it is that God 



1 6 (TKOTflVOS. 



MTJ Ta%i&amp;gt;j Hpa/cXe/TOv ^ 

 ToO &amp;lt;f)fiov fj.d\a rot. 



Diog. Laert. ix. 



2 Avyr) 77/577 -^VXTI aoQuraT-rj. A corruption of 0^77 I/^XTJ 



(See note in Ellis and Spedding s edition.) The phrase occurs in 

 Stobaeus, cf. Ritter, Hist. Philos. vol. i. Heraclitus. 



3 Philo Jud. de Somn. 



4 See Bacon s Essays On Atheism. 6 Job xiii. 7. 



