46 OF THE ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING. 



it was the Christian Church, which, amidst the inundations 

 of the Scythians on the one side from the north-west, and 

 the Saracens from the east, did preserve in the sacred lap and 

 bosom thereof, the precious relics even of heathen learning, 

 which otherwise had been extinguished, as if no such thing 

 had ever been. 



And we see before our eyes, that in the age of ourselves 

 and our fathers, when it pleased God to call the Church of 

 Rome to account for their degenerate manners and cere- 



10 monies, and sundry doctrines obnoxious, and framed to up 

 hold the same abuses ; at one and the same time it was 

 ordained by the Divine Providence, that there should attend 

 withal a renovation and new spring of all other knowledges ; 

 and, on the other side we see the Jesuits, (who partly in 

 themselves, and partly by the emulation and provocation of 

 their example, have much quickened and strengthened the 

 state of learning,) we see, I say, what notable service and 

 reparation they have done to the Roman see. 



Whereof, to conclude this part, let it be observed, that 



20 there be two principal duties and services, besides ornament 

 and illustration, which philosophy and human learning do 

 perform to faith and religion. The one, because they are an 

 effectual inducement to the exaltation of the glory of God : 

 for as the Psalms and other Scriptures do often invite us to 

 consider and magnify the great and wonderful works of God ; 

 so if we should rest only in the contemplation of the exterior 

 of them, as they first offer themselves to our senses, we 

 f should do a like injury unto the majesty of God, as if we 

 should judge or construe of the store of some excellent 



30 jeweller, by that only which is set out toward the street in 

 his shop. The other, because they minister a singular help 

 and preservative against unbelief and error : for our Saviour 

 saith, You err, not knowing the Scriptures, nor the power of 

 God ; laying before us two books or volumes to study, if we 

 will be secured from error ; first, the Scriptures, revealing 

 the will of God ; and then the creatures expressing his 



