4O Bacon 



maketh no claim to any of those glories, but only to the 

 glory of inquisition of truth ; for so he saith expressly, The 

 glory of God is to conceal a thing, but the glory of the king is to 

 find it out ; 1 as if, according to the innocent play of children, 

 the Divine Majesty took delight to hide His works, to the 

 end to have them found out ; and as if kings could not obtain 

 a greater honour than to be God s playfellows in that game ; 

 considering the great commandment of wits and means, 

 whereby nothing needeth to be hidden from them. 



Neither did the dispensation of God vary in the times 

 after our Saviour came into the world; for our^Sayiour 

 Himself did nrst-ShowJJis power to subdue ignoranceTBy 

 His conference with the pri^fg anH HnH-m-Q jfvfjthp law, 2 

 Before He showed His power to subdue nature by His 

 miracles. And the Doming of_the Holy Spirit was chiefty 

 figured and expressecTin the similitude and gift of tongues, 3 

 which are but vehicula scientice. 



Soin_the^ election of those instruments, which it_pleased 

 God t^jisejorjhe plant at ionjjfjthe Faith, notwithstanding 

 that at thejirst He did employ persons altogether unlearned, 

 otherwise than by inspiration ,_ more evidently to declare 

 His immediate working, and to abase all human wisdom or 

 knowledge; yet, nevertheless, that counsel of His was no 

 sooner performed, but in the next vicissitude and succession 

 He did send His Divine Truth into the world waited on with 

 other learnings, as with servants or handmaids; for so we 

 see Sl^L-Paul^ who was the only learned amongst the Apostles, 

 had his pen most used in the Scriptures of the New Testa 

 ment. 



So again, we find that many of the ancient Bishops and 

 Jj!atkeFS~oXthe Church_were_excellently read and studied in 

 fl.11 thft fearning of theJieathen ; insomuch that the edict of 

 the Emperor Julianus,*~wKereby it was interdicted unto 



lectures, or exercises 



of learning, was esteemed and accounted a more pernicious 



the~Chnstian *aitnTthan 







. *h ft sanguinary prosecutions_of hisjjredecessprs; 



neither could the emulation and jealousy of Gregory the 

 first of that name, bishop of Rome, 5 ever obtain the opinion 



1 Prov. xxv. 2. 2 Luke ii. 46. 3 Act. Ap. ii. i. 



4 Gibbon, vol. ii. c. 23, who quotes Ammian. xxv. 5. 



6 Gibbon, vol. iv. c. 45. The story that St. Gregory destroyed 



