Francis Bacon and his secret society - Grand Lodge of Colorado

352 FRANCIS BACON
trees may be sweet. It may also be tbat some sweet juices may
be concocted out of fruits to the thickness of sugar. The likeliest
are the raisins of the sun [i. e., grapes}. The manna of
Calabria . . . is gathered from the leaf of the mulberry tree, but
not upon such mulberry trees as grow in the valleys. Manna falleth
upon the leaves by night, as other dews do. . . . Certainly it
were not amiss to observe a little the deivs that fall upon trees or
herbs growing upon mountains ; for it may be many dews
fall that spend before they come to the valleys ; and I suppose
that he that would gather the best May-dewfor medicine should
gather it from the hills. " 1
Here, as in the preceding passage, Bacon had in his mind the
collecting of manna and other of the sweetest things which fall
chiefly from heaven, and the " distilling " and " concocting "
them into poetry — "sugared sonnets," "honeyed words,"
with the dew of heaven, filled with thoughts and words sweeter
than manna.
What is the idea connected with all those crescent moons ?
It is, we think, a very deep and comprehensive thought, and to
illustrate it we must turn to books of Hindu mythology, to the
Rabbinical writings, and to the Masonic symbolism drawn, it
would seem, from those ancient springs of mysticism. 2
In the second Book of Kings, xxiii. 5, it is said that Josiah
put down them that burnt incense unto Baal (the Sun) and to
the Moon, and Mazaloth. This word signifies, literally, the
flowing or distillations which emanated from the spirit of waters.
And again, in Isaiah lxv. 11, we read, " Te are they that prepare
a table for God, and that furnish an offering for Meni,
that is, for the Holy Spirit, called plurally the dispensers or distributers
of the manna or bread from Heaven. 3
Here, then, the moon and the dew, pearls, or heavenly food,
are associated. "Meni," the Holy Spirit, was adored by the
Arabians under the name of Ma Nab ; and this adds great interest
to the symbolic miracle of the supernatural feeding of the
1 Sylva Sylvarum, 612, 781. 2 See for detailed particulars "The Book of
God." Vol. i. 9-68; ii. 102, 260, iii. 31, 35, 205, 316, 324. 559.
3 This is the reading in the margin. Old editions print troop for " God," and
" that number" for " Meni," thus obscuring the sense. The marginal readings
of modern Bibles give the version of our text above.