44 OF THE ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING 



et Oriona, et Hyadas, et interiora Austri ' ; where 

 again he takes knowledge of the depression of the 

 southern pole, calling it the secrets of the south, 

 because the southern stars were in that climate unseen. 

 Matter of generation ; ' Annon sicut lac mulsisti me, 

 et sicut caseum coagulasti me ? ' &c. Matter of 

 minerals ; ' Habet argentum venarum suarum prin- 

 cipia : et auro locus est in quo conflatur, ferrum de 

 terra tolUtur, et lapis solutus calore in aes vertitur ' : 

 and so forwards in that chapter. 



11. So likewise in the person of Salomon the king, 

 we see the gift or endowment of wisdom and learning, 

 both in Salomon's petition and in God's assent there- 

 unto, preferred before all other terrene and temporal 

 felicity. By virtue of which grant or donative of God 

 Salomon became enabled not only to write those ex- 

 cellent parables or aphorisms concerning divine and 

 moral philosophy ; but also to compile a natural 

 history of all verdure, from the cedar upon the moun- 

 tain to the moss upon the wall (which is but a rudi- 

 ment between putrefaction and an herb), and also of 

 all things that breathe or move. Nay, the same 

 Salomon the king, although he excelled in the glory 

 of treasure and magnificent buildings, of shipping and 

 navigation, of service and attendance, of fame and 

 renown, and the like, yet he maketh no claim to any 

 of those glories, but only to the glory of inquisition of 

 truth ; for so he saith expressly, ' The glory of God is 

 to conceal a thing, but the glory of the king is to find 

 it out ' ; as if, according to the innocent play of children, 

 the Divine Majesty took delight to hide his works, to 

 the end to have them found out ; and as if kings could 

 not obtain a greater honour than to be God's play- 

 fellows in that game ; considering the great command- 

 ment of wits and means, whereby nothing needeth to 

 be hidden from them. 



12. Neither did the dispensation df God vary in the 

 times after our Saviour came into the world ; for our 

 Saviour himself did first show his power to subdue 

 ignorance, by his conference with the priests and doctors 



