PREFACE.

evolution of religious truth was proceeding in JudaeaThe southern region of ancient Palestine, here signifying the source of Hebrew scripture and divine revelation., Greece became the scene of the growth of philosophy. Both were alike ordained in God's providence. In our own times, as in those of antiquity, the study of both should be carried on continuously. But for this purpose it was essential that the wisdom of the ancients should be studied in the language in which it was originally set forth. To limit students to Latin translations is to ensure the multiplication of error. Most of these translations, especially those of the Bible and of AristotleThe 4th-century BCE Greek philosopher whose works dominated medieval thought; Bacon argues that poor translations had obscured his true meaning., are deplorably defective, and have been made by men imperfectly acquainted with the subject treated of. The first condition, therefore, of a renovation of learning is the systematic study of at least three languages besides Latin, namely, Hebrew, Greek, and Arabic.

The second condition was the application of mathematical method to all objects of study, whether in the world or in the Church. MathematicBacon used this singular form to refer to the whole field of mathematical sciences, which he believed provided the only certain demonstration of truth. is the 'gateway and the key to all other sciences' original Latin: "janua et clavis". This is one of Bacon's most famous assertions, arguing that mathematics is the foundation of all certainty.; it raises the understanding to the plane at which knowledge can be distinguished from ignorance. Without it other sciences are unintelligible. It reveals to us the motions of the heavenly bodies, and the laws of the propagation of force in things terrestrial, of which the propagation of light may be taken as a type; without it we are incapable of regulating the festivals of the Church Referring to the calculation of Easter, which was a major scientific and religious concern in the Middle Ages due to errors in the Julian calendar.; we remain in ignorance of the influences of climate upon character; of the position of cities and of the boundaries of nations whom it is the function of the Catholic Church to bring within her paleA boundary or territory; specifically, the jurisdiction of the Church., and to control spiritually. With these subjects the fourth and fifth sections of the Opus Majus The "Greater Work." are occupied; they form the principal bulk of its contents. But mathematical