284 NOVUM KG A NUM. 



to have a worse and lower opinion of existing things than they now 

 have, and to feel and understand more thoroughly their own unfor 

 tunate condition) than excites any alacrity in them, or incites their 

 industry in making experiments. And so we must open out and set 

 forth our conjectures as to what makes hope in this matter probable ; 

 as Columbus did, before that wonderful voyage of his across the 

 Atlantic, when he adduced reasons for his confidence that new lands 

 and continents might be discovered in addition to those already 

 known ; which reasons, though at first rejected, were yet afterwards 

 proved by experiment, and were the cause and beginning of very 

 great events. 



xciii. And we must begin from Cod ; proving that the business in 

 hand, on account of the nature of good which prevails in it, is mani 

 festly from God, who is the Author of good and Father of lights. 

 Now, in Divine operations the very slightest beginnings of a certainty 

 bring after them a result ; and what has been said of spiritual things, 

 The kingdom of God comoth not with observation,&quot; is also found to 

 apply in all the greater works of Providence ; everything glides 

 quietly past, without noise or sound, and the matter is actually 

 accomplished before men think or perceive that it is being accom 

 plished. Nor must we omit the prophecy of Daniel concerning the 

 latter times of the world : &quot; Many shall run to and fro, and knowledge 

 shall be increased ;&quot; clearly hinting and signifying that it is the will 

 of Fate (i.e. of Providence) that the thorough exploration of the world 

 (which seems by so many distant voyages to be fulfilled, or to be even 

 now in the course of fulfilment) and the advance of the Sciences, 

 should fall in the same age. 



xciv. Now follows the strongest reason of all for encouraging hope : 

 that, we mean, which is drawn from the mistakes of past times, and of 

 the ways hitherto attempted. For that was a very good reproof which 

 some one delivered to a commonwealth which was unwisely adminis 

 tered, &quot; That which was the worst thing in the past should be looked 

 upon as the best augury for the future. For if you had fulfilled all 

 that your duty required, and yet your affairs were in no better position, 

 not the least hope would be left of any further improvement. But 

 since the present position of your affairs is owing, not to the absolute 

 force of circumstances, but to your own mistakes, it is to be hoped 

 that, when these mistakes shall have been discontinued or corrected, 

 a great change may be made for the better.&quot; In like manner, if men, 

 during the course of so many years, had kept to the true way of dis 

 covering and cultivating the Sciences, and yet had not been able to 

 advance further, the opinion that further progress was impossible 

 would beyond doubt be bold and rash. But if the mistake has lain 

 in the way itself, and men s labour has been wasted in matters with 

 which it should never have been engaged ; then it follows that the 

 difficulty arises, not in things themselves which are beyond our power, 

 but in the human Intellect, its use and application an evil which 

 admits of remedy and cure. And so it will be a very great thing to 

 set forth these same errors, since every impediment arising from 





