24 Of the Advancement of Learning. ' L i e. I. 



N. L juft cenlure, faying, Meufeek^ truth in their oxvk little voorlcl^ and not in 

 the great common Tporld^ for they difdain the Alphabet of nature, and 

 Pr//»cr-B(7tf4of the Divine works 5 which if they did i-iot, they might 

 perchance by degrees and leafure , after the knowledge of fimple 

 letters 3 and fpelling of Syllables , come at laft, to read perfe(Sly 

 the Text and Volume of the Creatures. But they, contrariwife, by 

 continual meditation and agitation of wit, urge, and as it were invocate 

 their own fpirits to divine, and give Oracktwnto them, whereby they 

 are defervedly and pleafingly deluded. 



VII. Another Error, that hath fome connexion with this latter, is. 



That men do oftentimes imbite and infeB their meditations and do&rines 



_ tvith the infufions of fome Opinions^ and conceptions of their own.^ which 



they have mofi admired j or fome Sciences to which have mojl apply ed and 



confecrated themfelves , giving all things a Dye and TinSure , though 



very deceivable, from thefe favorite Siudies. So hath Vlato intermingled 



his Philofophy with Theology •■, Arijiotk with Logick ; The fecond 



School ofplato^ Troclus and the reft, with the Mathematicks. Thefe 



Arts had a kind of Trimo-geniture with them, which they would ftill be 



killing and making much of, as their firft born fens. But the AU 



c/ji«?;y)/ have forged a new Philofophy out of the Fire and Furnace 5 



and Gilbert our Country-man, hath extradted another Philofophy out 



of a Load-ftone. So Cicero^ when reciting the feveral opinions of the 



nature of the foul, he found a Mufitian that held the foul was but a 



Tufc lib. I. harmony, faith pleafantly, Hie ab arte fna non recejjit : But of thefe 



DeGen. errors ^r;y?(7//e faith aptly and wifely, ^irefpicinnt adpau^a de facili 



ni^°/t fyomtnciant, 



alibi, Vlir. Another error is. An impatience of Donht , and an unadvifed 



hitfte to Ajfertion zvithout due and mature fufpenfion of judgement : For 

 the two ways of contemplation are not unlike the two ways of adion , 

 commonly fpoken of by the Ancients j of which the one was a plaia 

 and fmooth way in the beginnining, but in the end impaflible 5 theo- 

 ther rough and troublefbme in the entrance, but after a while fair atid 

 even j fo is it in contemplations, if a man will begin in certainties, he 

 (hall end in doubts j but if he can be content to begin with doubts, 

 and have patience a while, he fhall end in certanties. • 



IX. The like error difcovereth it lelf in the manner of Tradition and. 

 Delivery ofknovelege, which is^ for the mofi part, imperious and magijiral^ 

 ^ not ingenious and faithful! ; fo contrived^as may rather command our afftnty 

 thanfiandto examination. It is true that in compendious Treatifesde- 

 figned for Praftice, that Form of Writing may be retained 5 but in a 

 juftand compleat handling of knowledge, both extremes are to bea- 

 C'c. de voided, as well the vein oiVellieus the Epicurean, who feared nothing 

 Nat. Dier. y^ f}mch as tofeem to doubt of any thing '-, as that of Socrates and the Aca- 

 demy, leaving all things in doubt and incertainty : Rather men (hould 

 affeft candor and fincerity, propounding jthiugs wiJi more or Icfs 

 alTeveration , as they ftand in their judgement proved , more or 

 lels. 



X. Other errors there are in the fcope that men propound to themfelves 

 whereunto they bend their endeavours andjiudies : For whereas the moft 

 devout Leaders and noted Profelibrs of Learning , ought chiefly to 

 propound to themfelves to make fome notable addition to the Science 



they 



