XXXIV PREFACE. 



of this Essay, of which there is not any evidence, had 

 been found amongst the papers of Lord Bacon, would 

 it not be more probable that they were the effu 

 sion of one of his pious friends, Herbert for instance, 

 than that they were Lord Bacon s own production ? 

 2d. If the Paradoxes are supposed to be polluted 

 by an under current of infidelity, the very supposi 

 tion is evidence against their authenticity, &quot; for this 

 lord was religious, and was able to render a reason 

 of the hope which was in him. (a ) He repaired fre- 



Surety shall he his Judge ; his mortal part shall become immor 

 tal ; and uhat was sown in corruption and defilement shall be 

 raised in inoorruption and glory ; and a finite creature shall 

 possess an infinite happiness. Glory be to God.&quot; Compare 

 this with his prayer. &quot; Remember, O Lord, how thy servanthath 

 walked before thee : remember what I have first sought, and what 

 hath been principal in my intentions. [ have loved thy as 

 semblies : I have mourned for the divisions of thy Church : 

 I have delighted in the brightness of thy sanctuary. This 

 vine which thy right hand hath planted in this nation, I 

 have ever prayed unto thee, that it might have the first 

 and the latter rain ; and that it might stretch her branches 

 to the seas and to the floods. The state and bread of the poor 

 and oppressed have been precious in mine eyes : I have hated 

 all cruelty and hardness of heart : I have, though in a despised 

 weed, procured the good of all men. If any have been my 

 enemies, I thought not of them ; neither hath the sun almost 

 set upon my displeasure ; but I have been as a dove, free from 

 superfluity of maliciousness. Thy creatures have been 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; 



(x) So in the Religio Medici, Sir Thomas Brown says, &quot; For 

 my religion, though there be several circumstances that might 



