God’s Two Books

Paolo Rossi says of Bacon: “The distinction between the will and power of God, so fully and subtly present in Baconian texts, is very important. ‘The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament showeth his handworks’: this very from the Psalms . . . is quoted by Bacon several times. The image of the world, immediately after the Word, is a sign of the divine wisdom and power, and yet the Scriptures do not call the world ‘the image of God,’ but regard it only as ‘the work of his hands,’ neither do they speak of any image of God other than man. Theology is concerned with knowing the book of the word of God; natural philosophy studies the book of God’s works. The book of Scripture reveals the will of God, the book of nature, his power. The study of nature has nothing to say about God’s essence or his will.”