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that in the revolutions of ages and of the world there are certain 

 floods and ebbs of the sciences, and that they grow and flourish 

 at one time, and wither and fall off at another, that when they 

 have attained a certain degree and condition they can proceed 

 no further. 



If, therefore, any one believe or promise greater things, they 

 impute it to an uncurbed and immature mind, and imagine that 

 such efforts begin pleasantly, then become laborious, and end in 

 confusion. And since such thoughts easily enter the minds of 

 men of dignity and excellent judgment, we must really take 

 heed lest we should be captivated by our affection for an excel- 

 lent and most beautiful object, and relax or diminish the severity 

 of our judgment ; and we must diligently examine what gleam 

 of hope shines upon us, and in what direction it manifests itself, 

 so that, banishing her lighter dreams, we may discuss and weigh 

 whatever appears of more sound importance. We must consult 

 the prudence of ordinary life, too, which is diffident upon prin- 

 ciple, and in all human matters augurs the worst. Let us, then, 

 speak of hope, especially as we are not vain promisers, nor are 

 willing to enforce or ensnare men's judgment, but would rather 

 lead them willingly forward. And although we shall employ the 

 most cogent means of enforcing hope when we bring them to 

 particulars, and especially those which are digested and ar- 

 ranged in our Tables of Invention (the subject partly of the 

 second, but principally of the fourth part of the Instauration), 

 which are, indeed, rather the very object of our hopes than hope 

 itself ; yet to proceed more leniently we must treat of the prepa- 

 ration of men's minds, of which the manifestation of hope forms 

 no slight part ; for without it all that we have said tends rather 

 to produce a gloom than to encourage activity or quicken the 

 industry of experiment, by causing them to have a worse and 

 more contemptuous opinion of things as they are than they now 

 entertain, and to perceive and feel more thoroughly their unfor- 

 tunate condition. We must, therefore, disclose and prefix our 

 reasons for not thinking the hope of success improbable, as 

 Columbus, before his wonderful voyage over the Atlantic, gave 

 reasons of his conviction that new lands and continents might 

 be discovered besides those already known ; and these reasons, 

 though at first rejected, were yet proved by subsequent experi- 

 ence, and were the causes and beginnings of the greatest events. 



93. Let us begin from God, and show that our pursuit from 

 its exceeding goodness clearly proceeds from him, the author 

 of good and father of light. Now, in all divine works the small- 

 est beginnings lead assuredly to some result, and the remark in 

 spiritual matters that " the kingdom of God cometh without 

 observation," is also found to be true in every great work of 

 Divine Providence, so that everything glides quietly on without 



