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et aliquo loco, omninò sine corpore; propè est ut possit etiam emanare in origine suâ à substantiâ incorporeâ. Videtur enim non minus requiri natura corporea ad actionem naturalem sustentandam et deuehendam, quam ad excitandam aut generandam." (w)

Such are specimens of Lord Bacon's religious sentiments, which may be found in different parts of his works; but they are not confined to his intended publications. In a letter to Mr. Mathew,

(w) of the conclusion of this passage I subjoin two translations, the one by Dr. Shaw, the other by my excellent friend, to whom I am indebted for the translation of the Novum Organum.

SHAW'S TRANSLATION. To this may be added, by way of corollary, the following considerable discovery, viz. that by philosophizing, even according to sense, a proof may be had of the existence of separated and incorporeal beings and substances; for if natural virtues and actions flowing from a body may subsist without a body for some time in space or place, it is possible that such virtues or actions may proceed originally from an incorporeal substance: for a corporeal nature seems no less required to support and convey, than to excite and generate a natural action.

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imprisoned for religion, he says, "I pray God, that

understandeth us all better than we understand one another, contain you, even as I hope he will, at the least, within the bounds of loyalty to his majesty, and natural piety towards your country. And I intreat you much, sometimes to meditate upon the extreme effects of superstition in this last powder treason; fit to be tabled and pictured in the chambers of meditation, as another hell above the ground: and well justifying the censure of the heathen, that superstition is far worse than atheism; by how much it is less evil to have no opinion of God at all, than such as is impious towards his divine majesty and goodness. Good Mr. Matthew, receive yourself back from these courses of perdition, Willing to have written a great deal more, I continue," etc. In the decline of his life, in his letter (s) to the Bishop of Winchester, he says, "Amongst consolations, it is not the least to represent to a man's self like examples of calamity in others. For examples give a quicker impression than argu

(s) This letter was published in Letters and Remains by Stephens, 1734, with the following note: "The following letter to the most learned Dr. Andrews, bishop of Winchester, was written by my lord St. Alban, in the year 1622, and in the nature of a dedication, prefixed before his dialogue, touching a Holy War; which was not printed, at least correctly, till seven years after, by the care of Dr. Rawley. But because it has been found amongst his lordship's letters and other books, separated from that treatise, and chiefly, because it gives some account of his writings, and behaviour after his retirement, I thought it ery proper to insert it in this place."-See page 112 of this volume.

ments; and besides, they certify us, that which the Scripture also tendereth for satisfaction; "that no new thing is happened unto us." "In this kind of consolation I have not been wanting to myself, though as a Christian, I have tasted, through God's great goodness, of higher remedies;" and his last will thus begins : "First, I bequeath my soul and body into the hands of God by the blessed oblation of my Saviour; the one at the time of my dissolution, the other at the time of my resurrection. For my burial, I desire it may be in St. Michael's church, near St. Alban's: there was my mother buried, and it is the parish church of my mansion-house of Gorhambury, and it is the only Christian church within the walls of Old Verulam."

PRAYERS. (a)

Of the prayers contained in this volume, the first (u), entitled, " A Prayer, or Psalm, made by the "A

(a) In Sloane's MSS. 23, there is a MS. prayer.

(u) Although the first part of the Resuscitatio was published by Dr. Rawley, and the second part (which contains this prayer) was published in his name, and during his life, it contains matter of which Lord Bacon was not the author. Archbishop Tenison, in his Baconiana, p. 59, speaking of the apopthegms, says, " Besides, his Lordship hath received much injury by late editions, of which some have much enlarged, but not at all enriched the collection, stuffing it with tales and sayings, too infacetious for a ploughman's chimney-corner." And, in a note he adds, "Even by that added (but not by Dr. Rawley) to the Resuscitatio, Ed. III." I mention this fact, not as intending to infer that this prayer was not "made by Lord Bacon," but that the evidence may be duly weighed. B. M.

Lord Chancellor of England," is in the Resuscitatio,(x) The second prayer, (y) entitled," A Prayer made and used by the Lord Chancellor Bacon," is in the Remains; and the two remaining prayers," The Students Prayer," (2) and "The Writers Prayer,”(2) are in the Baconiana. (2)

In the Tatler, No. 267, it is, upon what authority I know not, thus mentioned: "I have hinted in some former papers, that the greatest and wisest of men in all ages and countries, particularly in Rome and Greece, were renowned for their piety and virtue. It is now my intention to show, how those in our own nation, that have been unquestionably the most eminent for learning and knowledge, were likewise the most eminent for their adherence to the religion of their country. I might produce very shining examples from among the clergy; but because priestcraft is the common cry of every cavilling, empty scribbler, I shall shew that all the laymen who have exerted a more than ordinary genius in their writings, and were the glory of their times, were men whose hopes were filled with immortality, and the prospect of future rewards; and men who lived in a dutiful submission to all the doctrines of revealed religion. I shall in this paper only instance Sir Francis Bacon. I was infinitely pleased to find among the works of this extraordinary man a prayer of his own composing, which, for the elevation of thought, and greatness of expression, seems rather the devotion of an angel than a man. His principal fault seems to have been the excess of that virtue which covers a multitude of faults. This betrayed him to so great an indulgence towards his servants, who made a corrupt use of it, that it stripped him of all those riches and honours which a long series of merits had heaped upon him. But in this prayer, at the same time that we find him prostrating himself before the great mercy-seat, and hum

(t) See

page 1, of this vol.

(y) Page 5, ditto.

(z) Baconiana 181, and 8 and 9 of this vol.

THE CONFESSION OF FAITH.

Of the authenticity of this Essay no doubt can be entertained; it was published in a separate tract in 1641, (d) and by Dr. Rawley in the Resuscitatio, (e) by whom it was translated into Latin, and published in the Opuscula. (f) In the Resuscitatio, Dr. Rawley, in his address to the Reader, says, "For that treatise of his Lordship's, inscribed, A Confession of the Faith, I have ranked that, in the close of this whole volume: thereby to demonstrate to the world that he was a master in divinity, as well as in philosophy or politics; and that he was versed no less in the saving knowledge,

bled under afflictions, which at that time lay heavy upon him, we see him supported by the sense of his integrity, his zeal, his devotion, and his love to mankind; which give him a much higher figure in the minds of thinking men, than that greatness had done from which he was fallen. I shall beg leave to write down the prayer itself, with the title with it, as it was found amongst his Lordship's papers, written in his own hand."

(d) The following is an exact transcript of the title page :"The Confession of Faith," written by Sir Francis Bacon, printed in the year 1641. In the title page, there is a wood engraving of Sir Francis Bacon: it is a thin 4to of twelve pages, without any printer's name. Mr. D'Israeli kindly lent me a copy. It is similar, but not the same as the present copy. Of the Confession of Faith there are various MSS. in the British Museum; Sloane's 23, 2 copies; Harleian, Vol. 2, 314; Vol. 3, 61: Hargrave's, page 62; the MSS. Burch, 4263 is, I suspect, in Lord Bacon's own writing, with his signature. (e) 1657.

Opuscula varia posthuma. Londini, ex officina, R. Danielis, 1658.

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