Francis Bacon on GOD

Author/Compiler: Tihomir Dimitrov (http://nobelists.net; also see http://scigod.com/index.php/sgj/issue/view/3)

SIR FRANCIS BACON (1561-1626), founder of the scientific inductive method

1. “There are two books laid before us to study, to prevent our falling into error; the first, the volume of the Scriptures, which reveal the will of God; then the volume of the creatures, which express His power.” (Bacon, as cited in Morris 1982, 13-14).

2. “It is true, that a little philosophy inclineth man’s mind to atheism; but depth in philosophy bringeth men’s minds about to religion. For while the mind of man looketh upon second causes scattered, it may sometimes rest in them, and go no further; but when it beholdeth the chain of them, confederate and linked together, it must needs fly to Providence and Deity.” (Bacon 1875, 64).

3. In the first chapter “Of Truth” of his Essays (1601), Lord Bacon wrote: “The first creature of God, in the works of the days, was the light of the sense; the last, was the light of reason; and his sabbath work ever since, is the illumination of his Spirit. First he breathed light, upon the face of the matter or chaos; then he breathed light, into the face of man; and still he breatheth and inspireth light, into the face of his chosen.” (Bacon 1875).