VI. I.] THE SECOND BOOK. 109 



have led him to confess a God : but miracles have been 

 wrought to convert idolaters and the superstitious, be 

 cause no light of nature extendeth to declare the will and 

 true worship of God. For as all works do show forth ^) 

 the power and skill of the workman, and not his image, 

 so it is of the works of God, which do show the omni- I 

 potency and wisdom of the maker, but not his image. 

 And therefore therein the heathen opinion differeth from 

 the sacred truth ; for they supposed the world to be the 

 image of God, and man to be an extract or compendious 

 image of the world ; but the scriptures never vouchsafe 

 to attribute to the world that honour, as to be the image 

 of God, but only the work of his hands ; neither do they 

 speak of any other image of God, but man. Wherefore 

 by the contemplation of nature to induce and enforce 

 the acknowledgement of God, and to demonstrate his 

 power, providence, and goodness, is an excellent argu 

 ment, and hath been excellently handled by divers. But 

 on the other side, out of the contemplation of nature, or 

 ground of human knowledges, to induce any verity or 

 persuasion concerning the points of faith, is in my judge 

 ment not safe: Da fidei qua fidei sun/. For the heathen 

 themselves conclude as much in that excellent and divine 

 fable of the golden chain : That men and gods were not 

 able to draw Jupiter down to the earth ; but contrariwise 

 Jupiter was able to draw them up to heaven. So as we 

 ought not to attempt to draw down or to submit the 

 mysteries of God to our reason ; but contrariwise to raise 

 and advance our reason to the divine truth. So as in 

 this part of knowledge, touching divine philosophy, I am 

 so far from noting any deficience, as I rather note an 

 excess : whereunto I have digressed because of the ex^~i 

 treme prejudice which both religion and philosophy hath 



