The Advance of Learning.  
This thinker argued that "Prosperity is the blessing of the Old Testament" whereas the New Testament provided a "clearer revelation of God's favor" in his essay, "Of Adversity".  One of this man's works describes how residents of the titular place were sent an ark containing the Old and New Testaments by St. Bartholomew and gathered knowledge in a house named for Salomon.  He advocated for philosophia prima in his first major philosophical text, a work that also attacked the teaching methods at Oxford; that work was titled (*) The Advance of Learning.  In his most famous work, he outlines doctrines that an individual relies on without regard for their proof in the concept of the "Idols of the Cave".  For 10 points, name this author of the New Atlantis, who advocated using the scientific method in Novum Organum.
This thinker argued that "Prosperity is the blessing of the Old Testament" whereas the New Testament provided a "clearer revelation of God's favor" in his essay, "Of Adversity".  
Francis {Bacon}