" He charges
that some of these divines are "afraid lest perhaps a deeper
inquiry into nature should, penetrate beyond the allowed limits
of sobriety"; and finally speaks of theologians as sometimes
craftily conjecturing that, if science be little understood,
"each single thing can be referred more easily to the hand and
rod of God," and says, "_This is nothing more or less than
wishing to please God by a lie_."
No man who has reflected much upon the annals of his race can,
without a feeling of awe, come into the presence of such
clearness of insight and boldness of utterance, and the first
thought of the reader is that, of all men, Francis Bacon is the
most free from the unfortunate bias he condemns; that he,
certainly, can not be deluded into the old path. But as we go on
through his main work we are surprised to find that the strong
arm of Aquinas has been stretched over the intervening ages, and
has laid hold upon this master-thinker of the seventeenth
century; for only a few chapters beyond those containing the
citations already made we find Bacon alluding to the recent
voyage of Columbus, and speaking of the prophecy of Daniel
regarding the latter days, that "many shall run to and fro, and
knowledge be increased," as clearly signifying "that.
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