CCCCXXxiv LIFE OF BACOX. 



my books, but thy scriptures much more. I have sought 



thee in the courts, fields, and gardens, but I have found 



thee in thy temples.&quot; (a) 



Tnstaura- The same holy feeling appears in all his important 

 tion&amp;gt; works. The preface to his Instauratio Magna opens (b) 



and concludes (c) with a prayer. The treatise &quot; De 



(a) Vol. vii. p. 5. 



(b) &quot; We in the beginning of our work pour forth 

 most humble and ardent prayers to God the Father, God 

 the Word, and God the Spirit, that mindful of the cares 

 of man, and of his pilgrimage through this life, in which 

 we wear out some few and evil days, thou would vouchsafe 

 through our hands to endow the family of mankind with 

 these new gifts; and we moreover humbly pray that human 

 knowledge may not prejudice divine truth, and that no 

 incredulity and darkness in regard to the divine mysteries 

 may arise in our minds upon the disclosing of the ways 

 of sense, and this greater kindling of our natural light; 

 but rather that from a pure understanding, cleared of all 

 fancies and vanity, yet no less submitted to, nay wholly 

 prostrate before the divine oracles, we may render unto 

 faith the tribute due unto faith: and lastly, that being 

 freed from the poison of knowledge, infused into it by 

 the serpent, and with which the human soul is swoln and 

 puffed up, we may neither be too profoundly nor immode 

 rately wise, but worship truth in charity.&quot; 5 * 



(c) The preface to the Instauration concludes thus: 

 &quot;Neque enim hocsineritDeus,ut phantasise nostrse somnium 

 pro exemplari mundi edamus : sed potius benigne faveat, ut 

 apocalypsim, ac veram visionem vestigiorum et sigillorum 

 Creatoris supercreaturas, scribamus. Itaque tu, Pater, 

 qui lucem visibilem primitias creaturse dedisti, et lucein 

 intellectualem ad fastigium operum tuorum in faciem 

 hominis inspirasti; opus hoc, quod a tua bonitate pro- 



* Vol. ix. p. 200. 



