Nature, the law Moral, and the law Positive; and according to the style, into Negative and Affirmative, Prohibitions and Commandments. Sin, in the matter and subject thereof, is divided according to the commandments; in the form thereof, it referreth to the three persons in Deity: sins of Infirmity against the Father, whose more special attribute is Power; sins of Ignorance against the Son, whose attribute is Wisdom; and sins of Malice against the Holy Ghost, whose attribute is Grace or Love. In the motions of it, it either moveth to the right hand or to the left; either to blind devotion, or to profane and libertine transgression; either in imposing restraint where God granteth liberty, or in taking liberty where God imposeth restraint. In the degrees and progress of it, it divideth itself into thought, word, or act. And in this part I commend much the deducing of the law of God to cases of conscience; for that I take indeed to be a breaking, and not exhibiting whole, of the bread of life. But that which quickeneth both these doctrines of faith and manners, is the elevation and consent of the heart; whereunto appertain books of exhortation, holy meditation, Christian resolution, and the like. For the Liturgy or service, it consisteth of the reciprocal acts between God and man; which, on the part of God, are the preaching of the word and the sacraments, which are seals to the covenant, or as the visible word; and on the part of man,1 invocation of the name of God, and under the law, sacrifices, which were as visible prayers or confessins: but now the adoration being in spiritu et veritate, [in spirit and in truth,] there remaineth only vituli labiorum, [offerings 1 So edd. 1629 and 1633. The original has mans. of the lips ;] although the use of holy vows of thankfulness and retribution may be accounted also as sealed petitions. And for the Government of the church, it consisteth of the patrimony of the church, the franchises of the church, and the offices and jurisdictions of the church, and the laws of the church directing the whole; all which have two considerations, the one in themselves, the other how they stand compatible and agreeable to the civil estate. This matter of divinity is handled either in form of instruction of truth, or in form of confutation of falsehood. The declinations from religion, besides the privative, which is atheism and the branches thereof, are three; Heresies, Idolatry, and Witchcraft; Heresies, when we serve the true God with a false worship; Idolatry, when we worship false gods, supposing them to be true; and Witchcraft, when we adore false gods, knowing them to be wicked and false. For so your Majesty doth excellently well observe, that Witchcraft is the height of Idolatry. And yet we see though these be true degrees, Samuel teacheth us that they are all of a nature, when there is once a receding from the word of God; for so he saith, Quasi peccatum ariolandi est repugnare, et quasi scelus idololatria nolle acquiescere; [rebellion is as the sin of Witchcraft, and Stubbornness as the crime of Idolatry.] These things I have passed over so briefly because I can report no deficience concerning them: for I can find no space or ground that lieth vacant and unsown in the matter of divinity; so diligent have men been, either in sowing of good seed or in sowing of tares. VOL. I. 1 So edd. 1629 and 1633. The original has primitive. 43 : THUS have I made as it were a small Globe of the Intellectual World, as truly and faithfully as I could discover; with a note and description of those parts which seem to me not constantly occupate, or not well converted by the labour of man. In which, if I have in any point receded from that which is commonly received, it hath been with a purpose of proceeding in melius, and not in aliud; a mind of amendment and proficience, and not of change and difference. For I could not be true and constant to the argument I handle, if I were not willing to go beyond others; but yet not more willing than to have others go beyond me again which may the better appear by this, that I have propounded my opinions naked and unarmed, not seeking to preoccupate the liberty of men's judgments by confutations. For in any thing which is well set down, I am in good hope that if the first reading move an objection, the second reading will make an answer. And in those things wherein I have erred, I am sure I have not prejudiced the right by litigious arguments; which certainly have this contrary effect and operation, that they add authority to error, and destroy the authority of that which is well invented: for question is an honour and preferment to falsehood, as on the other side it is a repulse to truth. But the errors I claim and challenge to myself as mine own. The good, if any be, is due tanquam adeps sacrificii, [as the fat of the sacrifice,] to be incensed to the honour, first of the Divine Majesty, and next of your Majesty, to whom on earth I am most bounden. INDEX TO THE PHILOSOPHICAL WORKS. Note. The parts of the Index printed in Italic refer to the Editors' Prefaces and Notes. Abel, an image of the contempla- Abilities, regulation of learning ac- of the Platonists, ii. 98, 107. Action and contemplation, conjunc- Active good, preeminence of, iii. 318. life, why to be preferred, iii. Adrian, iii. 149. Advancement of fortune, knowledge Affability, Cicero's commendation inquiry touching the, iii. 336. A. Air-continued. means of exclusion, ii. 330. Alchemy, iii. 127, 229. Alexander the Great, an example of his education, iii. 154. his speech concerning Diogenes, his remarkable sayings, iii. 155- his reprehension and use of iii. 404. caution Anagrams, in which Discoveries Analogies, not differences, the object Argument, invention of, iii. 261 of research, ii. 234. Anatomy of organic bodies, ii. 175. Ancient history, deficiencies in, iii. 191. Ancients, their use of parables, aph- 213. inquiry into their nature not in- ferdicted, lb. Animals, their shape attributed to Anticipation, a swimming, iii. 58. all are deflexions by accident, of nature, ii. 73, 74. head and tells tales, iii. 38. too much importance attached what reverence due to, iii. 129, the present time the true an- of Solomon, examples of, iii. valuable observations expressed by the ancients in, iii. 359. ii. 121. Apophthegms, iii. 201. of Cæsar, iii. 159, 201. Apotheosis, the of inventors of new arts, iii. iii. 52. 268. See Logic. Aristippus, answer of, when re- condemned by Ramus, iii. 12- 14. his philosophy degenerated in on the convertibility of the ax- 126. his error in intermingling phi- 224. corrupted natural philosophy by his philosophy wrongly said to value of the general assent voluptuary, deficiency of laws liberal, when they most flourish, military, when they most flour- Arts. of custody, iii. 280. of judgment, iii. 261, 272. Assent, caution ou giving or with- Assimilation, desire of, in all bodies, Astrology, how far useful to science, divisions of men's natures by, Atalanta and the golden ball, ii. |