Atque in eo sunt omnia, siquis oculos mentis a rebus ipsis nunquam dejiciens, earum imagines plane ut sunt excipiat. Neque enim hoc siverit Deus, ut phantasiæ nostræ somnium pro exemplari mundi edamus: sed potius benigne faveat, ut apocalypsim ac veram visionem vestigiorum' et sigillorum creatoris super creaturas scribamus. Itaque Tu Pater, qui lucem visibilem primitias creaturæ dedisti, et lucem intellectualem ad fastigium operum tuorum in faciem hominis inspirasti; opus hoc, quod a tua bonitate profectum tuam gloriam repetit, tuere et rege. Tu postquam conversus es ad spectandum opera quæ fecerunt manus tuæ, vidisti quod omnia essent bona valde; et requievisti. At homo conversus ad opera quæ fecerunt manus suæ, vidit quod omnia essent vanitas et vexatio spiritus; nec ullo modo requievit. Quare si in operibus tuis sudabimus, facies nos visionis tuæ et sabbati tui participes.2 Supplices petimus, ut hæc mens nobis constet; utque novis eleemosynis, familiam humanam 1 This application of the word "vestigia" is constantly made by the schoolmen, Thus St. Thomas Aquinas: "In rationalibus creaturis est imago Trinitatis, in cæteris vero creaturis est vestigium Trinitatis, in quantum in eis inveniuntur aliqua quæ reducuntur in divinas personas." Summa Theolog. 1ma pars, q. 45. art. 7. 2 Compare this with St. Augustine's prayer at the close of the Confessions. "Domine Deus pacem da nobis (omnia enim præstitisti nobis), pacem quietis, pacem Sabbati, Sabbati sine vesperâ. Omnis quippe iste ordo pulcherrimus rerum valde bonarum. modis suis peractis transiturus est, et mane quippe in eis factum est et vespera. Dies autem septimus sine vesperâ est, nec habet occasum, quia sanctificasti eum ad permansionem sempiternam, ut id quod tu post opera tua bona valde, quamvis ea quietus feceris, requievisti septimo die, hoc præloquatur nobis vox libri tui, quod et no post opera nostra, ideo bona valde quia tu nobis ea donasti, sabbato vitæ æternæ re quiescamus in te.". Conf. xiii. 35-6. Compare also the line with which the Faerie Queene oreaks off: "O that [q. thou?] great Sabbaoth God graunt me that Sabbaoth sight." DEEST PARS PRIMA INSTAURATIONIS, QUÆ COMPLECTITUR PARTITIONES SCIENTIARUM. Illæ tamen ex Secundo Libro de Progressibus faciendis in Doctrina Divina et Humana, nonnulla ex parte peti possunt. SEQUITUR SECUNDA PARS INSTAURATIONIS, QUÆ ARTEM IPSAM Interpretandi Naturam, et verioris adoperationis Intellectus exhibet: neque eam ipsam tamen in Corpore tractatus justi, sed tantum digestam per summas, in Aphorismos.2 1 This is omitted in the common editions of Bacon's collected works (in all, 1 believe, except Montagu's); the De Augmentis Scientiarum, with the title "Instaurationis Magna pars prima" prefixed on a separate leaf, being substituted for it. And it is true that Bacon did afterwards decide upon supplying this deficiency by a translation of the Advancement of Learning enlarged; that he produced the De Augmentis Scientiarum with that intention and understanding; and that though the original edition does not bear "Instaurationis Magna pars prima" on the titlepage, yet in Dr. Rawley's reprint of it in 1638 those words were inserted. Nevertheless this notice is of importance, as showing that when Bacon published the Novum Organum he did not look to a mere enlargement of the Advancement of Learning as satisfying the intention of the pars prima; for if he had, he would have referred to the work itself, not to the second book only. He meant, no doubt, to reproduce the substance of it in a different form. And my own impression is that the Descriptio Globi Intellectualis was originally designed for this place, and that he had not yet abandoned the hope of completing it; but that soon after,-fortune gone, health shaken, assistance not to be commanded, and things of more importance remaining to be done, he found he had not time to finish it on so large a scale, and therefore resolved to enlarge the old house instead of building a new one. -J. S. -- 2 This explains a certain discrepancy between the design of the second part, as set forth in the Distributio Operis, and the execution of it in the Novum Organum. The Distributio, like the Delineatio, was probably written when Bacon intended to work it out in a regular and consecutive treatise, and repesents the idea of the work more perfectly than the work itself. See note on Distr. Op. p. 139.-J. S. |