Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
Christianity's scientific limb had likewise seemed barren. But it had in fact
been growing all along in preparation for its modern fruition. The novelty
of science was thus a fulfillment, not a break with, the past. Bacon compares
it in his
Novum Organum
to the inconspicuous work of building God's king-
dom that had been carried on by the prophets who, though unrecognized
and rejected by Israel's elites, were destined to see the fruit of their labor
realized in Christ.
Now in divine operations even the smallest beginnings lead of a certainty
to their end. And as it was said of spiritual things, “The Kingdom of God
cometh not with observations,” so is it in all the greater works of Divine
Providence; everything glides on smoothly and noiselessly, and the work
is fairly going on before men are aware that it has begun.
34
This interpretation was also affirmed by the evident virtue of scientific
knowledge. Since Christ taught that “fruits” are the signs of God's provi-
dence in history (Matt 7:16), Bacon assured his readers that science's “begin-
ning is from God” because “the character of good is so strongly impressed
upon it.”
35
If it had not previously been apparent that science was part of salvation
history, this was only because the workings of providence are inscrutable.
Prophecy was only to be fully understood in its fulfillment, and science's
place in sacred history was now recognizable as having been anticipated
quite explicitly in the eschatological vision of Daniel (12:4).
Nor should the prophecy of Daniel be forgotten, touching the last ages of
the world—“Many shall go to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased;”
clearly indicating that the thorough passage of the world (which now by
so many distant voyages seems to be accomplished, or in course of accom-
plishment), and the advancement of the sciences, are destined by fate,
that is, by Divine Providence, to meet in the same age.
36
Similar invocations of this passage in his
Advancement of Learning
and
Val e-
rius Terminus
give indication of its special significance.
37
In an age domi-
nated by the literal reading of biblical eschatology, Bacon could dare to
link the advent of science to prophecy, and thus a Latin inscription of Dan-
iel's words also made its way onto the frontispiece of his
Instauratio Magna
,
where the fulfillment of this prophecy is visualized through an illustration
of ships sailing “to and fro” upon the Atlantic, out beyond the pillars of
Hercules (the classical symbol of human limitations), in defiance of past
expectations (figure 5).
