THE PHILOSOPHICAL WORKS. 67 



with which it was associated was a truth of which his contem- 

 poraries required at least to be reminded. The reason of his 

 error seems to have been that he formed an incorrect idea of 

 the nature of syllogism, regarding it rather as an entirely arti- 

 ficial process than as merely a formal statement of the steps 

 necessarily involved in every act of reasoning. However this 

 may be, it is certain that whenever men attempted to set aside 

 every process for the discovery of truth except induction, they 

 must always have been led to recognise the impossibility of 

 doing so. 



Lastly, the tone in which Bacon spoke of the future destiny 

 of mankind fitted him to be a leader of the age in which he 

 lived. It was an age of change and of hope. Men went 

 forth to seek in new-found worlds for the land of gold and 

 for the fountain of youth; they were told that yet greater 

 wonders lay within their reach. They had burst the bands 

 of old authority; they were told to go forth from the cave 

 where they had dwelt so long, and look on the light of 

 heaven. It was also for the most part an age of faith ; and the 

 new philosophy upset no creed, and pulled down no altar. It \ 

 did not put the notion of human perfectibility in the place of 

 religion, nor deprive mankind of hopes beyond the grave. On ; 

 the contrary, it told its followers that the instauration of the 

 sciences was the free gift of the God in whom their fathers 

 had trusted that it was only another proof of the mercy of 

 Him whose mercy is over all his works. 



F 2 



