Analysis of Page 57 to 59 of "New Atlantis" by Francis Bacon

Finally, it is important to note that Bensalem is the only civilization that has been spared from devastation. Neither natural catastrophes nor the ravages of war have interrupted its history. It is able to preserve ancient truth and build upon it rather than being reduced to a primitive state of subsistence living and intellectual poverty. The idyllic age can only be destroyed when the material aspect of human nature gained prominence. The predominance of the material leads to avarice and to the will to dominate and control, which lead the Atlantis uses its navigational skills to dominate other civilizations. According to the Timaeus and Critias , the arrogance of Atlantis is brought to an end by the gods and result to the annihilation of Atlantis. There is an existing contrast between European nations and Bensalem. Both Bensalem and Europe have the benefit of Christian religion. Bensalem's Christianity is a pure form of Christianity uncorrupted by human ignorance and error. Europe's Christianity, by contrast, has been distorted and is plagued by philosophical and theological quarrel. Bensalem and Europe also have schools of natural philosophy. Bensalem's school of natural philosophy is the House of Solomon, which investigates nature in a respectful attempt to discover the benefits placed in creation by a loving God. Europe's natural philosophy has been marginalized and corrupted by scholastic and philosophical altercation. Perhaps Bacon intends to suggest that England's spiritual renewal coupled with his reform of knowledge will permit it to stimulate the engineering and navigational deeds of Atlantis; therefore, England can become the new Atlantis.…