

ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING 5 



more dwelt upon ; for if any man shall think, by his inquiries 

 after material things, to discover the nature or will of God, he is 

 indeed spoiled by vain philosophy; for the contemplation of 

 God's works produces knowledge, though, with regard to him, 

 not perfect knowledge, but wonder, which is broken knowledge. 

 It may, therefore, be properly said, " That the sense resembles 

 the sun, which shows the terrestrial globe, but conceals the celes- 

 tial ; "n for thus the sense discovers natural things, whilst it 

 shuts up divine. And hence some learned men have, indeed, 

 been heretical, whilst they sought to seize the secrets of the 

 Deity borne on the waxen wings of the senses. 5. As to the 

 point that too much knowledge should incline to atheism, and 

 the ignorance of second causes make us more dependent upon 

 God, we ask Job's question, " Will ye lie for God, as one man 

 will do for another, to gratify him ? "o For certainly God works 

 nothing in nature but by second causes ;/> and to assert the con- 

 trary is mere imposture, as it were, in favor of God, and offer- 

 ing up to the author of truth the unclean sacrifice of a lie. Un- 

 doubtedly a superficial tincture of philosophy may incline the 

 mind to atheism, yet a further knowledge brings it back to 

 religion ; for on the threshold of philosophy, where second 

 causes appear to absorb the attention, some oblivion of the 

 highest cause may ensue ; but when the mind goes deeper, and 

 sees the dependence of causes and the works of Providence, it 

 will easily perceive, according to the mythology of the poets, 

 that the upper link of Nature's chain is fastened to Jupiter's 

 throne.g To conclude, let no one weakly imagine that man can 

 search too far, or be too well studied in the book of God's word, 

 and works, divinity, and philosophy; but rather let him en- 

 deavor an endless progression in both, only applying all to 

 charity, and not to pride to use, not ostentation, without con- 

 founding the two different streams of philosophy and revelation 

 together. 



The reflections cast upon learning by politicians, are these : 



1. "That it enervates men's minds, and unfits them for arms; 



2. That it perverts their dispositions for government and poli- 

 tics ; 3. That it makes them too curious and irresolute, by variety 

 of reading ; too peremptory or positive by strictness of rules ; 

 too immoderate and conceited by the greatness of instances ; 

 too unsociable and incapacitated for the times, by the dissimili- 

 tude of examples ; or at least, 4. That it diverts from action and 



