rancis Bacon succeeded where Roger Bacon
failed, the difference was due to the social conditions, not to the men.
The cause of the great religious as well as of the great political
revolutions must be sought mainly in the social history. New creeds
spread when they satisfy the instincts or the passions roused to
activity by other causes. The system has to be so far true as to be
credible at the time; but its vitality depends upon its congeniality as
a whole to the aspirations of the mass of mankind.

The purely intellectual movement no doubt represents the decisive
factor. The love of truth in the abstract is probably the weakest of
human passions; but truth when attained ultimately gives the fulcrum for
a reconstruction of the world. When a solid core of ascertained and
verifiable truth has once been formed and applied to practical results
it becomes the fixed pivot upon which all beliefs must ultimately turn.
The influence, however, is often obscure and still indirect. The more
cultivated recognise the necessity of bringing their whole doctrine into
conformity with the definitely organised and established system; and, at
the present day, even the uneducated begin to have an inkling of
possible results. Yet the desire for logical consistency is not one
which presses forcibly upon the less cultivated intellects. They do not
feel the necessity of unifying knowledge or bringing their various
opinions into consistency and into harmony with facts. There are easy
methods of avoiding any troublesome conflict of belief. The philosopher
is ready to show them the way. He, like other people, has to start from
postulates, and to see how they will work. When he meets with a
difficulty it is perfectly legitimate that he should try how far the old
formula can be applied to cover the new applications. He may be led to a
process of 'rationalising' or 'spiritualising' which is dangerous to
intellectual honesty. The vagueness of the general conceptions with
which he is concerned facilitates the adaptation; and his words slide
into new meanings by imperceptible gradations. His error is in taking a
legitimate tentative process for a conclusive test; and inferring that
opinions are confirmed because a non-natural interpretation can be
forced upon them. This, however, is only the vicious application of the
normal process through which new ideas are diffused or slowly infiltrate
the old systems till the necessity of a thoroughgoing reconstruct