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Bacon's essays, with annotations by R. Whately
Bacon's essays with annotations by R Whately Author:Francis Bacon Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: ESSAY III. OF UNITY IN RELIGION. "DELIGION being the chief bond of human society, it is a -Lv happy thing when itself is well contained within the true bond o... more »f unity. The quarrels and divisions about religion were evils unknown to the heathen. The reason was, because the religion of the heathen consisted rather in rites and ceremonies than in any constant belief; for you may imagine what kind of faith theirs was, when the chief doctors ' and fathers of their church were the poets. But the true God hath this attribute, that He is a jealous God;2 and therefore his worship and religion will endure no mixture nor partner. We shall therefore speak a few words concerning the unity of the Church ; what are the fruits thereof; what the bonds ; and what the means. The fruits of unity (next unto the well-pleasing of God, which is all in all) are two; the one towards those that are without the Church, the other towards those that are within. For the former, it is certain, that heresies and schisms are of all others the greatest scandals, yea, more than corruption of manners; for as in the natural body a wound or solution of continuity2 is worse than a corrupt humour, so in the spiritual: so that nothing doth so much keep men out of the Church, and drive men out of the Church, as breach of unity ; and, therefore, whensoever it cometh to that pass that one saith, ' Ecce iu deserto,' another saith, 'Ecce in penetralibus,'5—that is, when some men seek Christ in the conventicles of heretics, and others in an outward face of a Church, that voice had need 'ontinually to sound in men's ears, 'Nolite exire.'5 The Doctor of the Gentiles (the propriety7 of whose vocation8 drew him tohave a special care of those without) saith, ' If a heathen come in, and hear you speak with several tongues, will ...« less