350 A PI* KM) IX ( . 



Bacon s opinions to the simpler and pleasanter task of answer 

 ing those whose superstitious reverence has been hurt at the 

 boldness of this great Prophet of Nature. Let them hear what 

 he savs himself of his Faith ; and they will not see much to 

 find fault with. And I am sure 1 there will be none, unless per 

 haps it be a few dreamers eager to win the support to their 

 fancies they would gain from such a name as that of Bacon 

 who will refuse to accept the evidence from his own mouth, 

 which 1 am glad to be able to lay before them. 



The passages to which I refer are not many : but they are 

 weight v. They are Nov. Org. I. 89: the first part of the Adv. 

 of Learning, under the title of&quot; Divine Proofs;&quot; the essays on 

 Atheism and Superstition : and lastly, a passage which I will 

 transcribe at length, as the Preface to the great Instauration, 

 from which it is taken, is not likely to be in every one s 

 hands. 



The first two passages (which are very similar), vi/. that 

 from the Xov. Org. and that from the Adv. of Learning, draw 

 the distinction between the Revelation of God s Will. i.e. Holy 

 Writ : and the Revelation of His Power, i.e. Nature and Bacon 

 is most careful tit declare that natural Philosophy &quot; merito re- 

 liirioni donatur tanimam tidissima ancilla;&quot; so setting Religion 

 in the higher place. The connection between the two. and the 

 fact that as the &quot; Book of Nature&quot; is God s work, it must have 

 tendencies and objects that are good, are fully worked out in 

 Bp. Butler s writings. lie seems to have caught much of that 

 spirit which Bacon s works honestly studied will infuse. The 

 chief object of the observations on Religion in connection with 

 Phvsics in the Nov. Org. is negative; i.e. to do away with 

 fears, lest the two should prove opponents: an object about 

 which, if lie really had a materialist end in view, he would 

 scarcely have troubled himself. 



If we look at the essays on Atheism and Superstition, we 

 shall find in the former a rebuke to those who are desirous of 

 reducing the human mind to a materialist standard, and that too 

 couched in no doubtful language. In the latter we sec Bacon s 

 objection to that ill-grounded faith, which is but a form of un 

 belief, and which is represented by such writers as Le Maistrc. 



