IDOLS. cclxxvii 



dom of man, which is founded in the sciences, can scarce 

 be entered otherwise than the Kingdom of God, that is, in 

 the condition of little children :&quot; and, with an earnestness 

 not often found in his works, he adds, &quot; If we have any 

 humility towards the Creator; if we have any reverence 

 and esteem of his works ; if we have any charity towards 

 men, or any desire of relieving their miseries and neces 

 sities ; if we have any love for natural truths ; any aversion 

 to darkness, any desire of purifying the understanding, 

 we must destroy these idols, which have led experience 

 captive, and childishly triumphed over the works of God ; 

 and now at length condescend, with due submission and 

 veneration, to approach and peruse the volume of the 

 creation; dwell some time upon it, and bringing to the 

 work a mind well purged of opinions, idols, and false 

 notions, converse familiarly therein. This volume is the 

 language which has gone out to all the ends of the earth, 

 unaffected by the confusion of Babel ; this is the language 

 that men should thoroughly learn, and not disdain to have 

 its alphabet perpetually in their hands ; and in the inter 

 pretation of this language they should spare no pains, but 

 strenuously proceed, persevere, and dwell upon it to the 

 last.&quot; 



Such is a faint outline of Bacon s celebrated doctrine of 

 Idols, which has sometimes been supposed to be the most 

 important of all his works, and to expose the cause of all 

 the errors by which man is misled. 



Upon the motives by which the lover of truth, seeking Our 

 nature with all her fruits about her, can alone be actuated, m 

 and which he has explained in other parts of his works, (a) 

 he, in the Novum Organum, contents himself with saying, 

 &quot; We would in general admonish all to consider the true 



() See ante, p. x. 



