THE PHILOSOPHICAL WORKS. 65 



slow to believe that the cause of truth is to be served by irony. 

 But we must not forget the difference between the circum- 

 stances in which the two men were placed. 



Next to his determination of the true end of natural philo- 

 sophy and of the relation in which it stands to natural and 

 to revealed theology, we may place among Bacon's merits his 

 clear view of the essential unity of science. He often insists 

 on the importance of this idea, and has especially commended 

 Plato and Parmenides for affirming " that all things do by scale 

 ascend to unity." The Creator is holy in the multitude of his 

 works, holy in their disposition, holy in their unity : it is the 

 prerogative of the doctrine of Forms to approach as nearly as 

 possible towards the unity of Nature, and the subordinate 

 science of Physics ought to contain two divisions relating to the 

 same subject. One of these ought to treat of the first principles 

 which govern all phenomena, and the other of the fabric of the 

 universe. 1 All classifications of the sciences ought to be as 

 veins or markings, and not as sections or divisions ; nor can any 

 object of scientific inquiry be satisfactorily studied apart from 

 the analogies which connect it with other similar objects. 



But the greatest of all the services which Bacon rendered to 

 natural philosophy was, that he perpetually enforced the ne- 

 cessity of laying aside all preconceived opinions and learning to 

 be a follower of Nature. These counsels could not to their full 

 extent be followed, nor has he himself attempted to do so. But 

 they contain a great share of truth, and of truth never more 

 needful than in Bacon's age. Before his time doubtless the 

 authority of Aristotle, or rather that of the scholastic interpreta- 

 tion of his philosophy, was shaken, if not overthrown. Never- 

 theless the systematising spirit of the schoolmen still survived, 

 and of the reformers of philosophy not a few attempted to sub- 

 stitute a dogmatic system of their own for that from which they 

 dissented. 



Nor were these attempts unsuccessful. For men still leaned 

 upon authority, and accepted as a test of truth the appearance 

 of completeness and scientific consistency. This state of things 

 was one of transition ; and probably no one did more towards 

 putting an end to it than Bacon. To the dealers in systems 

 and to their adherents he opposed the solemn declaration, that 



1 The latter is in effect what is now called Kosmos. 

 VOL. I. F 



