THE FIRST BOOK 7 



it somewhat of the serpent, and therefore where it 

 entereth into a man it makes him swell ; * Scientia 

 inflat : that Salomon gives a censure, * That there is 

 no end of making books, and that much reading is 

 weariness of the flesh ; and again in another place, 

 That in spacious knowledge there is much contrista- 

 tion, and that he that increaseth knowledge increaseth 

 anxiety : that Saint Paul gives a caveat, * That we 

 be not spoiled through vain philosophy : that ex 

 perience demonstrates how learned men have been 

 arch -heretics, how learned times have been inclined to 

 atheism, and how the contemplation of second causes 

 doth derogate from our dependence upon God, who is 

 the first cause. 



3. To discover then the ignorance and error of this 

 opinion, and the misunderstanding in the grounds 

 thereof, it may well appear these men do not observe 

 or consider that it was not the pure knowledge of 

 nature and universality, a knowledge by the light 

 whereof man did give names unto other creatures in 

 Paradise, as they were brought before him, according 

 unto their proprieties, which gave the occasion to the 

 fall : but it was the proud knowledge of good and evil, 

 with an intent in man to give law unto himself, and 

 to depend no more upon God s commandments, which 

 was the form of the temptation. Neither is it any 

 quantity of knowledge, how great soever, that can 

 make the mind of man to swell ; for nothing can fill, 

 much less extend the soul of man, but God and the 

 contemplation of God ; and therefore Salomon, speak 

 ing of the two principal senses of inquisition, the eye 

 and the ear, affirmeth that the eye is never satisfied 

 with seeing, nor the ear with hearing ; and if there 

 be no fulness, then is the continent greater than the 

 content : so of knowledge itself, and the mind of man, 

 whereto the senses are but reporters, he defineth like 

 wise in these words, placed after that Kalendar or 

 Ephemerides which he maketh of the diversities of 

 times and seasons for all actions and purposes ; and 

 concludeth thus : * God hath made all things beautiful, 



