ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING 417 



through the extensiveness of their empire; the peace at 

 present spread over Britain, Spain, Italy, France, and many 

 other countries; the exhaustion of all that can be invented 

 or said in religious controversies, 24 which have so long di 

 verted many of the best geniuses from the study of other 

 arts; the uncommon learning of his present Britannic Maj 

 esty, about whom, as about a phoenix, the fine geniuses flock 

 from all quarters; and lastly, the inseparable property of time, 

 which is daily to disclose truth: when all these things, I 

 say, are considered by us, we cannot but be raised into a 

 persuasion that this third period of learning may far exceed 

 the two former of the Greeks and Romans, provided only 

 that men would well and prudently understand their own 

 powers and the defects thereof; receive from each other the 

 lamps of invention, and not the firebrands of contradiction; 

 and esteem the search after truth as a certain noble enter 

 prise, not a thing of delight or ornament, and bestow their 

 wealth and magnificence upon matters of real worth and ex 

 cellence, not upon such as are vulgar and obvious. As to 

 my own labors, if any one shall please himself or others in 

 reprehending them, let him do it to the full, provided he 

 observe the ancient request, and weigh and consider what 

 he says &quot;Yerbera, sed audi.&quot; a5 And certainly the appeal 

 is just, though the thing perhaps may not require it, from 

 men s first thoughts to their second, and from the present 

 age to posterity. 



We come, lastly, to that science which the two former 

 periods of time were not blessed with; viz., sacred and in 

 spired theology: the sabbath of all our labors and peregri 

 nations. 



24 This is spoken like one who was versed in ecclesiastical history and 

 polemical divinity ; for scarce any religious dispute is now raised, that has not 

 been previously contested ; but many have found the art, by heat and warmth, 

 to revive old doctrines, opinions and heresies, and pass them upon the crowd 

 for new; rekindling the firebrands of their ancestors, as if religious controver 

 sies were to be entailed upon mankind, and descend from one generation to 

 another. Ed. 



25 Themistocles to Eurybiades. Pint. Reg. et Imper. Apop. 



