38-40.] NOTES. 



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 unvarnish'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 nf Learning, both from the Scriptures and lcclesiastica(, 

 History, and from Secular History We cannot talk of God's 

 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 

 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 f/rst 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 I 

 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. It 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 his wisdom before he showed his 

 power ; and the chosen apostles of Christianity were learned 

 men. 



Learning loa* held in etfeem in tho Eavly Church, and in the 

 sixteenth century, at the same time that God reformed his 

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

 owes the deepest debt of gratitude to the learned order of 

 ^ Learning performs a double service to religion. Th-f \ 



trned man alone can appreciate the power nf Gnd a* m^M.- / 

 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. 



