1/4 OF THE ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING 



therefore it was most aptly said by one of Plato's school, 

 * That the sense of man carrieth a resemblance with the 

 sun, which (as we see) openeth and revealeth all the 

 terrestrial globe ; but then again it obscureth and concealeth 

 the stars and celestial globe : so doth the sense discover 

 natural things, but it darkeneth and shutteth up divine/ 

 And hence it is true that it hath proceeded that divers 

 great learned men have been heretical, whilst they have 

 sought to fly up to the secrets of the Deity by the waxen 

 wings of the senses. 



And as for the 'conceit that too much knowledge should 

 incline a man to atheism, and that the ignorance of 

 second causes should make a more devout dependence 

 upon God which is the first cause ; first, it is good to 

 ask the question which Job asked of his friends, ' Will 

 you lie for God, as one man will do for another, to 

 gratify him ? ' For certain it is that God worketh nothing 

 in nature but by second causes ; and if they would have it 

 otherwise believed, it is mere imposture, as it were in 

 favour towards God ; and nothing else but to offer to the 

 author of truth the unclean sacrifice of a lie. But farther, 

 it is an assured truth and a conclusion of experience, that 

 a little or superficial knowledge of philosophy may incline 

 the mind of man to atheism, but a farther proceeding 

 therein doth bring the mind back again to religion ; for 

 in the entrance of philosophy, when the second causes, 

 which are next unto the senses, do offer themselves to the 

 mind of man, if it dwell and stay there, it may induce 

 some oblivion of the highest cause ; but when a man 

 passeth on farther, and seeth the dependence of causes and 

 the works of Providence ; ^then, according to the allegory"! 

 of the poets, he will easily believe that the highest link of 

 nature's chain must needs be tied to the foot of Jupiter's 

 chair. To conclude therefore, let no man, upon a weak 

 conceit of sobriety or an ill-applied moderation, think or 

 maintain that a man can search too far to be too well 

 studied in the book of God's word or in the book of God's 

 works ; divinity or philosophy ; but rather let men 

 endeavour an endless progress or proficience in both ; only 



