i6o Of the Advancement of Learning, L i b. V. 



tiotts ; but this kind may be denied and put off, wherefore we pa(s it 

 over for the prefent. But the other do plainly befiege the mind, nor 

 can they ever be quite removed, or extirpated. Therefore let none 

 expeftany Analytick Art in thefe j but the knowledge of Elenchs con- 

 cerning the(e Idolaes is a Primary Knowledge. Nor (to fpeak truth) can 

 this Knowledge of Idolaes be reduced into Art '-, but only by a contem- 

 plative wifdom, we may be inftruded to beware of them. As for a 

 juft and more fubtile Treatife thereof, we refer that to the Novum Or- 

 gunum^ touching upon them in a generality in this place. 

 \ov.oR. § Idoh Tnhus is thus exemplified. The Nature oj the mind of man k 

 lib I. f^ore affeCledvpith /l^rmatives undA&ives, than with Negatives and Pri- 

 XLV. vatives ^ whereas in a ju[i and regular courfc it fiould prefent it fclf equal to 

 ad LIU. 1,0th. But the mind of man, if a thing have once been cxiftent, and 

 cxcuive. gj^j \iQ\d good, receives a deeper Impreffion thereof, than if the (ame 

 thing, far more often fail'd and fell out othcrvvife 5 which is the root, 

 as it were, of all fuperftition and vain credulity. So that he anfwered 

 well to him that (hewed him the great number ofPifturesoffuch as had 

 'leaped Shi pwrack, and had paid their vows s and being preft with this 

 Cic.de N. Interrogative, Whether he did not now confef the Divinity of Neptune ^ 

 D.l.b.v. 'return'd this counter-queftion by way of anfwer, yea^ hut where are 

 they painted^ that are drowned .<? And there is the fame reafon of all fuch 

 like Superftitions, as in Aftrology ^ Dreams j Divinations, and the 

 reft. An other Infiance is this '-, The Spirit of man being itfelfofan equal 

 and uniform Subjiance, doth prefuppofe^ and feign a greater equality, and 

 y Pj uniformity inNature, than in truth there is. Hence that fidion of the 

 GRKs. Mathematicians, that in the heavenly Bodies, all is movcdby perfe& Cir- 

 clesj rejefting fpiral Lines : foit comes to pafs, that whereas there are 

 many things in Nature, as it were Alonodica, and full of imparity 3 

 yet the conceits of^men ftill feign and frame unto themfelves, Rela- 

 EicmT'- ''^^-fj Par/il/els, and Conjugates. For upon this ground, the Element 

 r.is vide of Fire and its Orb is brought in to k^^cpfquare with the other three. Earthy 

 Digreis. if'aterj Air. The CAy^/zc^r have fet out a Phanatical Squadron of the 

 word, feigning by amoft vain conceit, in thofe their four Elements 

 Paiacei. ( Heaven --^ Air --i Water, and Earth, there are found to every one paral- 

 riud^e ]gi and conform fpecies. The third Example hzthibme aS^mty with the 

 former. That man is, as it were, the common meafure and mirror, orglajT 

 of Nature-) for it is not credible (ifall Particulars were fcann'd and no- 

 ted} what atroopof f?^/>«j- and idolaes thereduftion of the operati- 

 ons of Nature, to the fimilitudecf humane Adions, hath brought into 

 F piphsn. rhilofophy j I fay this very fancy, that itfiould be thought that Nature doth 

 'e^h^H^ft //'e/'jwe things that man doth. Neither are thefe much better than the 

 Fccl.iib.n Herefieof the Anthropomorphites, bred in the Cells and folitude ofgro(s 

 and ignorant Monks, or the Opinion of Epicurus anfwcrable to the 

 famein Heathenifm, whofuppofed God tobeof Humane (hape. But 

 Vellcius the Epicurean needed not to have asked, why God fhould have 

 .adorned the heavens with ftarsand lights, as if he had been nn^dilis j 

 one that fliould have fet forth fome magnificent fhews or plays, for if 

 that great Workman had conform'd himfelftorhe imitation of an ^di- 

 lis, he would have caft the ftars into fome plealant and beautiful works, 

 and orders, like the curious roofs of Palaces, whereas one can fcarce 

 find in fuch an infinite number of ftars a Pofture in fquarc, or Triangle, 



or 



