220 Francis Bacon.

EELIGION has the same note. In the short Ninth Booh
of the <De Augnientis,' having sailed round the world of
sciences, it remains for him. to "pay his vows"; pro-
ceeding further, he would have to " step oiit of the bark
of human reason and enter into the ship of the Church,
which is only able by the divine compass to direct its
course. Neither will the stars of philosophy, which
have hitherto so nobly shone upon us, any longer supply
their light; so that on this theme silence is golden."
To remove all ambiguity, he adds: " As we are bound
to obey the divine law, though we find a reluctation in
our will, so we are to believe the Word of Gocl, though
we find a reluctation in our reason;" and proceeds to
state that " if we believe only that which is agreeable to
our sense, we give consent to the matter and not to the
author. . . . Sarah's laugh at Abraham's faith was ' an
image of natural reason.' . . . Sacred theology ought to
be derived from the oracles of God, and not from the
light of nature. ... It is written, ' The heavens declare
the glory/ but nowhere that they declare the will, of
God. ' Love your enemies' does not sound human : it is
a voice beyond." When, indeed, the articles of religion
have been set in their place, wholly exempt from the
examination of reason, it is then permitted us to draw
inferences, "as to play a game of chess according to
the rules; but the ' placets' of God are removed from
question." That Bacon's position is not that of the
Arabian Algazel1 is plain : nor was it even, at all events

1 Renan's judgment on tlie results of Algazel's teaching marks de-
cisively the gulf between him and Bacon : <f Ct'.ux qui, apivs avoir
philosophy embrassent le mysticisme en di'sespoir do cause, sent
d'ordinaire les enneinis les plus intolerants do la philosophic. Gazali,