(January 22, 1561–April 9, 1626), the Baron Verulam, Viscount St. Albans, was an English philosopher, essayist, courtier, jurist and statesman. He was Lord Keeper of the Great Seal under King James I. As Lord Chancellor of England (1618–21), he was significantly responsible for the formulation and acceptance of the scientific method, which stressed gathering data from experimentation and induction rather than through the practice of philosophical deduction promulgated by Aristotle. Sir Francis Bacon was responsible for helping to found the Royal Society of London. He wrote:
There are two books laid before us to study, to prevent our falling into error; first, the volume of Scriptures, which reveal the will of God; then the volume of the Creatures, which express His power.108
There never was found, in any age of the world, either philosophy, or sect, or religion, or law, or discipline, which did so highly exalt the good of the community, and increase private and particular good as the holy Christian faith. Hence, it clearly appears that it was one and the same God that gave the Christian law to men, who gave the laws of nature to the creatures.109
Regarding science, Sir Francis Bacon described it as:
A rich storehouse for the glory of the Creator and the relief of man’s estate.110
In his work, The Advancement of Learning, book II, Sir Francis Bacon expressed:
But men must know that in this theater of man’s life it is reserved only for God and the angels to be lookers on.111
All good moral philosophy is but the handmaid to religion.112
In his treatise entitled, Of Atheism, Sir Francis Bacon declared:
A little philosophy inclineth man’s mind to atheism, but depth in philosophy bringeth men’s minds about to religion.113
Sir Francis Bacon, as recorded in the Literary and Religious Works of Francis Bacon, Volume II, stated:
I believe that the Word of God, whereby His will is revealed, continued in revelation and tradition with Moses; and that the Scriptures were from Moses’ time to the time of the Apostles and Evangelists; in whose ages, after the coming of the Holy Ghost, the teacher of all truth, the book of Scripture was shut and closed, so as to receive no new addition, and the Church hath no power after the Scriptures to teach or command anything contrary to the written word.
I believe that Jesus, the Lord, became in the flesh a sacrificer and a sacrifice for sin; a satisfaction and price paid to the justice of God; a meriter of Glory and the Kingdom; a pattern of all righteousness; a preacher of the Word, which Himself was; a finisher of the ceremonies; a cornerstone to remove the separation between Jew and Gentile; an intercessor for the Church; a Lord of nature in his miracles; a conqueror of death and the power of darkness in His resurrection;
and that He fulfilled the whole counsel of God; performing all His sacred offices, and anointing on earth, accomplishing the whole work of the redemption and restitution of man to a state superior to the angels, whereas the state of man by creation was inferior; and reconciled and established all things according to the eternal will of the Father.114
Lord Bacon stated:
The reason why religion is universally and justly represented as essential to the prosperity of states, is not less obvious than the act. The object of government is to enforce among individuals the observance of the moral law, and states are prosperous in proportion as this object is attained. But the only effectual sanction to this law is the Christian religion. Hence a government which neglects the care of religion is guilty of the folly of promulgating laws unaccompanied with any adequate sanction of requiring the community to obey without presenting to their minds the motives that generally induce to a prompt and cheerful obedience. Under these circumstances, the only resource left to the public authorities is mere physical force; and experience has abundantly shown that this is wholly ineffectual, excepting as an aid and supplement, in particular cases, to the moral influences, which alone can be depended on for the preservation of the tranquillity and good order of society. There are persons, and even parties, who, at the very moment when the use of physical force as an engine of government is discredited and abandoned, seem to be laboring with a sort of frantic energy to destroy the influence of all the moral motives that can be substituted for it,—more especially religion. I have said, and I repeat, that if while we abandon the use of physical force as an engine of maintaining order we should also discard the only valuable and effectual moral influence, and leave the individual to the undirected guidance of his own selfish passions, our institutions will be found to be impracticable, and society will fall into a state of dissolution.115
In 1626, Sir Francis Bacon wrote in his Last Will and Testament:
I bequeath my soul to God. … My body to be buried obscurely. For my name and memory, I leave it to men’s charitable speeches, and to foreign nations, and the next age.116