(1) First, therefore, let us seek the dignity of knowledge in the archetype or first platform, which is in the attributes and acts of God, as far as they are revealed to man and may be observed with sobriety; wherein we may not seek it by the name of learning, for all learning is knowledge acquired, and all knowledge in God is original, and therefore we must look for it by another name, that of wisdom or sapience1, as the Scriptures2 call it.
(2) It is so, then, that in the work of the creation we see a double emanation of virtue3 from God; the one referring more properly to power, the other to wisdom; the one expressed in making the subsistence of the matter, and the other in disposing the beauty of the form. This being supposed, it is to be observed that for anything which appeareth in the history of the creation, the confused mass and matter of heaven and earth was made in a moment, and the order and disposition5 of that chaos6 or mass was the work of six days; such a note of difference it pleased God to put upon the works of power, and the works of wisdom; wherewith concurreth, that in the former it is not set down that God said, “Let there be heaven and earth,” as it is set down of the works following; but actually, that God made heaven and earth: the one carrying the style of a manufacture, and the other of a law, decree, or counsel.
(3) To proceed, to that which is next in order from God, to spirits: we find, as far as credit is to be given to the celestial7 hierarchy8 of that supposed Dionysius, the senator of Athens, the first place or degree is given to the angels of love, which are termed seraphim9; the second to the angels of light, which are termed cherubim; and the third, and so following places, to thrones, principalities, and the rest, which are all angels of power and ministry10; so as this angels of knowledge and illumination are placed before the angels of office and domination.
(4) To descend11 from spirits and intellectual forms to sensible and material forms, we read the first form that was created was light, which hath a relation and correspondence in nature and corporal things to knowledge in spirits and incorporal things.
(5) So in the distribution of days we see the day wherein God did rest and contemplate12 His own works was blessed above all the days wherein He did effect and accomplish them.
(6) After the creation was finished, it is set down unto us that man was placed in the garden to work therein; which work, so appointed to him, could be no other than work of contemplation; that is, when the end of work is but for exercise and experiment, not for necessity; for there being then no reluctation of the creature, nor sweat of the brow, man’s employment must of consequence have been matter of delight in the experiment, and not matter of labour for the use. Again, the first acts which man performed in Paradise consisted of the two summary parts of knowledge; the view of creatures, and the imposition of names. As for the knowledge which induced the fall, it was, as was touched before, not the natural knowledge of creatures, but the moral knowledge of good and evil; wherein the supposition was, that God’s commandments or prohibitions13 were not the originals of good and evil, but that they had other beginnings, which man aspired14 to know, to the end to make a total defection from God and to depend wholly upon himself.
(7) To pass on: in the first event or occurrence after the fall of man, we see (as the Scriptures have infinite mysteries, not violating at all the truth of this story or letter) an image of the two estates, the contemplative state and the active state, figured in the two persons of Abel and Cain, and in the two simplest and most primitive15 trades of life; that of the shepherd (who, by reason of his leisure, rest in a place, and lying in view of heaven, is a lively image of a contemplative life), and that of the husbandman, where we see again the favour and election of God went to the shepherd, and not to the tiller of the ground.
(8) So in the age before the flood, the holy records within those few memorials which are there entered and registered have vouchsafed16 to mention and honour the name of the inventors and authors of music and works in metal. In the age after the flood, the first great judgment17 of God upon the ambition of man was the confusion of tongues; whereby the open trade and intercourse18 of learning and knowledge was chiefly imbarred.
(9) To descend to Moses the lawgiver, and God’s first pen: he is adorned19 by the Scriptures with this addition and commendation, “That he was seen in all the learning of the Egyptians,” which nation we know was one of the most ancient schools of the world: for so Plato brings in the Egyptian priest saying unto Solon, “You Grecians are ever children; you have no knowledge of antiquity20, nor antiquity of knowledge.” Take a view of the ceremonial law of Moses; you shall find, besides the prefiguration of Christ, the badge or difference of the people of God, the exercise and impression of obedience21, and other divine uses and fruits thereof, that some of the most learned Rabbins have travailed profitably and profoundly to observe, some of them a natural, some of them a moral sense, or reduction of many of the ceremonies and ordinances22. As in the law of the leprosy, where it is said, “If the whiteness have overspread the flesh, the patient may pass abroad for clean; but if there be any whole flesh remaining, he is to be shut up for unclean;” one of them noteth a principle of nature, that putrefaction23 is more contagious24 before maturity25 than after; and another noteth a position of moral philosophy, that men abandoned to vice26 do not so much corrupt27 manners, as those that are half good and half evil. So in this and very many other places in that law, there is to be found, besides the theological sense, much aspersion28 of philosophy.
(10) So likewise in that excellent hook of Job, if it be revolved29 with diligence, it will be found pregnant and swelling30 with natural philosophy; as for example, cosmography, and the roundness of the world, Qui extendit aquilonem super vacuum, et appendit terram super nihilum; wherein the pensileness of the earth, the pole of the north, and the finiteness or convexity of heaven are manifestly touched. So again, matter of astronomy: Spiritus ejus ornavit caelos, et obstetricante manu ejus eductus est Coluber tortuoses. And in another place, Nunquid conjungere valebis micantes stellas Pleiadas, aut gyrum Arcturi poteris dissipare? Where the fixing of the stars, ever standing31 at equal distance, is with great elegancy noted32. And in another place, Qui facit Arcturum, et Oriona, et Hyadas, et interiora Austri; where again he takes knowledge of the depression of the southern pole, calling it the secrets of the south, because the southern stars were in that climate unseen. Matter of generation: Annon sicut lac mulsisti me, et sicut caseum coagulasti me? &c. Matter of minerals: Habet argentum venarum suarum principia; et auro locus33 est in quo conflatur, ferrum de terra tollitur, et lapis solutus calore in aes vertitur; and so forwards in that chapter.
(11) So likewise in the person of Solomon the king, we see the gift or endowment of wisdom and learning, both in Solomon’s petition and in God’s assent34 thereunto, preferred before all other terrene and temporal felicity. By virtue of which grant or donative of God Solomon became enabled not only to write those excellent parables35 or aphorisms36 concerning divine and moral philosophy, but also to compile a natural history of all verdure, from the cedar37 upon the mountain to the moss38 upon the wall (which is but a rudiment39 between putrefaction and an herb), and also of all things that breathe or move. Nay40, the same Solomon the king, although he excelled in the glory of treasure and magnificent buildings, of shipping41 and navigation, of service and attendance, of fame and renown42, and the like, yet he maketh no claim to any of those glories, but only to the glory of inquisition of truth; for so he saith expressly, “The glory of God is to conceal43 a thing, but the glory of the king is to find it out;” as if, according to the innocent play of children, the Divine Majesty44 took delight to hide His works, to the end to have them found out; and as if kings could not obtain a greater honour than to be God’s playfellows in that game; considering the great commandment of wits and means, whereby nothing needeth to be hidden from them.
(12) Neither did the dispensation of God vary in the times after our Saviour45 came into the world; for our Saviour himself did first show His power to subdue46 ignorance, by His conference with the priests and doctors of the law, before He showed His power to subdue nature by His miracles. And the coming of this Holy Spirit was chiefly figured and expressed in the similitude and gift of tongues, which are but vehicula scientiae.
(13) So in the election of those instruments, which it pleased God to use for the plantation47 of the faith, notwithstanding that at the first He did employ persons altogether unlearned, otherwise than by inspiration, more evidently to declare His immediate48 working, and to abase49 all human wisdom or knowledge; yet nevertheless that counsel of His was no sooner performed, but in the next vicissitude50 and succession He did send His divine truth into the world, waited on with other learnings, as with servants or handmaids: for so we see St. Paul, who was only learned amongst the Apostles, had his pen most used in the Scriptures of the New Testament51.
(14) So again we find that many of the ancient bishops52 and fathers of the Church were excellently read and studied in all the learning of this heathen; insomuch that the edict of the Emperor Julianus (whereby it was interdicted54 unto Christians56 to be admitted into schools, lectures, or exercises of learning) was esteemed57 and accounted a more pernicious engine and machination against the Christian55 Faith than were all the sanguinary prosecutions58 of his predecessors59; neither could the emulation60 and jealousy61 of Gregory, the first of that name, Bishop53 of Rome, ever obtain the opinion of piety62 or devotion; but contrariwise received the censure63 of humour, malignity64, and pusillanimity65, even amongst holy men; in that he designed to obliterate66 and extinguish the memory of heathen antiquity and authors. But contrariwise it was the Christian Church, which, amidst the inundations of the Scythians on the one side from the north-west, and the Saracens from the east, did preserve in the sacred lap and bosom67 thereof the precious relics68 even of heathen learning, which otherwise had been extinguished, as if no such thing had ever been.
(15) And we see before our eyes, that in the age of ourselves and our fathers, when it pleased God to call the Church of Rome to account for their degenerate69 manners and ceremonies, and sundry70 doctrines71 obnoxious72 and framed to uphold the same abuses; at one and the same time it was ordained73 by the Divine Providence74 that there should attend withal a renovation75 and new spring of all other knowledges. And on the other side we see the Jesuits, who partly in themselves, and partly by the emulation and provocation76 of their example, have much quickened and strengthened the state of learning; we see (I say) what notable service and reparation they have done to the Roman see.
(16) Wherefore, to conclude this part, let it be observed, that there be two principal duties and services, besides ornament77 and illustration, which philosophy and human learning do perform to faith and religion. The one, because they are an effectual inducement to the exaltation of the glory of God. For as the Psalms78 and other Scriptures do often invite us to consider and magnify the great and wonderful works of God, so if we should rest only in the contemplation of the exterior79 of them as they first offer themselves to our senses, we should do a like injury unto the majesty of God, as if we should judge or construe80 of the store of some excellent jeweller by that only which is set out toward the street in his shop. The other, because they minister a singular help and preservative81 against unbelief and error. For our Saviour saith, “You err4, not knowing the Scriptures, nor the power of God;” laying before us two books or volumes to study, if we will be secured from error: first the Scriptures, revealing the will of God, and then the creatures expressing His power; whereof the latter is a key unto the former: not only opening our understanding to conceive the true sense of the Scriptures by the general notions of reason and rules of speech, but chiefly opening our belief, in drawing us into a due meditation82 of the omnipotency of God, which is chiefly signed and engraven upon His works. Thus much therefore for divine testimony83 and evidence concerning the true dignity and value of learning.
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sapience
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| n.贤明，睿智 | |
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scriptures
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| 经文，圣典( scripture的名词复数 )； 经典 | |
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virtue
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| n.德行，美德；贞操；优点；功效，效力 | |
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err
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| vi.犯错误，出差错 | |
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disposition
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| n.性情，性格；意向，倾向；排列，部署 | |
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chaos
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| n.混乱，无秩序 | |
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celestial
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| adj.天体的；天上的 | |
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hierarchy
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| n.等级制度；统治集团，领导层 | |
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seraphim
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| n.六翼天使(seraph的复数)；六翼天使( seraph的名词复数 ) | |
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ministry
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| n.(政府的)部；牧师 | |
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descend
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| vt./vi.传下来，下来，下降 | |
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contemplate
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| vt.盘算，计议；周密考虑；注视，凝视 | |
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prohibitions
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| 禁令，禁律( prohibition的名词复数 )； 禁酒； 禁例 | |
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aspired
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| v.渴望，追求( aspire的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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primitive
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| adj.原始的；简单的；n.原(始)人，原始事物 | |
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vouchsafed
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| v.给予，赐予( vouchsafe的过去式和过去分词 )；允诺 | |
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judgment
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| n.审判；判断力，识别力，看法，意见 | |
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intercourse
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| n.性交；交流，交往，交际 | |
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adorned
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| [计]被修饰的 | |
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antiquity
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| n.古老；高龄；古物，古迹 | |
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obedience
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| n.服从，顺从 | |
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ordinances
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| n.条例，法令( ordinance的名词复数 ) | |
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putrefaction
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| n.腐坏，腐败 | |
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contagious
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| adj.传染性的，有感染力的 | |
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maturity
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| n.成熟；完成；(支票、债券等)到期 | |
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vice
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| n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的 | |
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corrupt
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| v.贿赂，收买；adj.腐败的，贪污的 | |
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aspersion
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| n.诽谤，中伤 | |
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revolved
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| v.（使）旋转( revolve的过去式和过去分词 )；细想 | |
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swelling
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| n.肿胀 | |
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standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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noted
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| adj.著名的，知名的 | |
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locus
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| n.中心 | |
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assent
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| v.批准，认可；n.批准，认可 | |
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parables
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| n.（圣经中的）寓言故事( parable的名词复数 ) | |
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aphorisms
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| 格言，警句( aphorism的名词复数 ) | |
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cedar
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| n.雪松，香柏(木) | |
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moss
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| n.苔，藓，地衣 | |
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rudiment
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| n.初步；初级；基本原理 | |
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nay
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| adv.不；n.反对票，投反对票者 | |
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shipping
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| n.船运（发货，运输，乘船） | |
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renown
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| n.声誉，名望 | |
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conceal
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| v.隐藏，隐瞒，隐蔽 | |
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majesty
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| n.雄伟，壮丽，庄严，威严；最高权威，王权 | |
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saviour
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| n.拯救者，救星 | |
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subdue
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| vt.制服，使顺从，征服；抑制，克制 | |
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plantation
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| n.种植园，大农场 | |
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immediate
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| adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的 | |
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abase
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| v.降低，贬抑 | |
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vicissitude
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| n.变化，变迁，荣枯，盛衰 | |
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testament
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| n.遗嘱；证明 | |
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bishops
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| （基督教某些教派管辖大教区的）主教( bishop的名词复数 )； （国际象棋的）象 | |
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bishop
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| n.主教，（国际象棋）象 | |
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interdicted
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| v.禁止（行动）( interdict的过去式和过去分词 )；禁用；限制 | |
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Christian
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| adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒 | |
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Christians
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| n.基督教徒( Christian的名词复数 ) | |
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esteemed
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| adj.受人尊敬的v.尊敬( esteem的过去式和过去分词 )；敬重；认为；以为 | |
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prosecutions
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| 起诉( prosecution的名词复数 )； 原告； 实施； 从事 | |
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predecessors
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| n.前任( predecessor的名词复数 )；前辈；（被取代的）原有事物；前身 | |
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emulation
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| n.竞争；仿效 | |
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jealousy
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| n.妒忌，嫉妒，猜忌 | |
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piety
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| n.虔诚，虔敬 | |
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censure
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| v./n.责备；非难；责难 | |
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malignity
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| n.极度的恶意，恶毒；（病的）恶性 | |
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pusillanimity
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| n.无气力，胆怯 | |
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obliterate
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| v.擦去，涂抹，去掉...痕迹，消失，除去 | |
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bosom
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| n.胸，胸部；胸怀；内心；adj.亲密的 | |
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relics
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| [pl.］n.遗物，遗迹，遗产；遗体，尸骸 | |
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degenerate
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| v.退步，堕落；adj.退步的，堕落的；n.堕落者 | |
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sundry
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| adj.各式各样的，种种的 | |
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doctrines
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| n.教条( doctrine的名词复数 )；教义；学说；（政府政策的）正式声明 | |
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obnoxious
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| adj.极恼人的，讨人厌的，可憎的 | |
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ordained
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| v.任命（某人）为牧师( ordain的过去式和过去分词 )；授予（某人）圣职；（上帝、法律等）命令；判定 | |
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providence
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| n.深谋远虑，天道，天意；远见；节约；上帝 | |
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renovation
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| n.革新，整修 | |
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provocation
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| n.激怒，刺激，挑拨，挑衅的事物，激怒的原因 | |
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ornament
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| v.装饰，美化；n.装饰，装饰物 | |
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psalms
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| n.赞美诗( psalm的名词复数 )；圣诗；圣歌；(中的) | |
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exterior
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| adj.外部的，外在的；表面的 | |
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construe
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| v.翻译，解释 | |
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preservative
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| n.防腐剂；防腐料；保护料；预防药 | |
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meditation
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| n.熟虑，（尤指宗教的）默想，沉思，（pl.）冥想录 | |
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testimony
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| n.证词；见证，证明 | |
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