But contrariwise it was the Christian
Church, which, amidst the inundations of the Scythians on the one
side from the north-west, and the Saracens from the east, did
preserve in the sacred lap and bosom thereof the precious relics
even of heathen learning, which otherwise had been extinguished, as
if no such thing had ever been.
(15) And we see before our eyes, that in the age of ourselves and
our fathers, when it pleased God to call the Church of Rome to
account for their degenerate manners and ceremonies, and sundry
doctrines obnoxious and framed to uphold the same abuses; at one and
the same time it was ordained by the Divine Providence that there
should attend withal a renovation and new spring of all other
knowledges. And on the other side we see the Jesuits, who partly in
themselves, and partly by the emulation and provocation of their
example, have much quickened and strengthened the state of learning;
we see (I say) what notable service and reparation they have done to
the Roman see.
(16) Wherefore, to conclude this part, let it be observed, that
there be two principal duties and services, besides ornament and
illustration, which philosophy and human learning do perform to
faith and religion.
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