38-40.] NOTES. 121 



1. 16. The Muses were the patron goddesses of art and science. 



1. 17. varnish, literally ' an external polish ' : here equivalent 

 to 'exaggeration.' Cf. "I wi 1 ! a round unvamish'd tale deliver." 

 Othello, i. 3. 90. 



Pages 40-47. Having now * cleared the way' (p. 4, 1. 23) 

 by disposing of objections, Bacon proceeds to adduce evidence in 

 favour of learning, both from the cnptures and Ecclesiastical 

 History, and from Secular History We cannot talk of Gods 

 learning, since he possesses all knowledge without having 

 acquired it ; but we see that, in the creation of the world, he 

 manifested wisdom as well as power: and while the works of 

 power were completed in a moment, seven days were given to the y 

 disposition of created matter by divine wisdom. 



Among the celestial beings, who stand next in rank to God, 

 a higher place is given to the spirits of knowledge than to the 



spirits of power ; and the day of rest and contemplation is 

 more blessed than the days of labour. The work which God 

 assigned to man in Eden was to be pursued for the sake of 

 pleasure and observation; and the first acts of man in Paradise 

 were manifestations of knowledge. The story of the first 

 fratricide displays, in an allegory, the preference of God for a 

 contemplative rather than an active life. The Scriptures men 

 tion with honour the inventors who lived before the flood ; and 

 the greatest punishment which God could inflict on sinful man, 

 after the flood, was to stop the progress of knowledge. Jt is 

 specially mentioned in the Scriptures that Moses, whom God 

 chose to communicate the divine law to the Jews, was a learned 

 man ; and both from the writings of Moses, and from other 

 parts of the holy books, we learn lessons in morals and science. 

 Solomon preferred knowledge to all things, and God approved 

 of his choice. Christ showed fas wisdom beforej^e showed-fris 

 power ; and the chosen apostles of Christianity were learned }fo 

 men. 



Learning was held in esteem in the Early Church, and in the 1^ 

 sixteenth century, at the same time that God reformed his 9 

 church, he also gave fresh life to learning. The Church of 

 Rome owes the deepest debt of gratitude to the learned order of 

 Jesuits. Learning performs a double service to religion. The 

 learned man alone can appreciate the power of God as mani 

 fested in nature; and learning enables a man to understand 

 the Scriptures, and predisposes^ him to believe them. 



1. 23. platform, pattern. Similarly in Essay xlix., Bacon talks 

 of ' the platform of a garden.' The most perfect type of wisdom 

 must be looked for in God. 



u*i 



