Advantage of living with the most Wise and Puissant Soul that ever came out of the Almighty's Hands You 'l be better advis'd than that reply'd M. Descartes it behoves you to expect the Orders of the Sovereign Being for an entire Dismission from your Body nor is there any Necessity for it to have all the Satisfaction that you wish In less than two Hours Time I 'll make you a World wherein shall be a Sun an Earth Planets Comets and every thing you see more Curious and observable in yours and since this World I am about to make is not to stand for good and all but is only an Essay of another I intend to build at my Leisure of far greater Capacity and Perfection I can easily interrupt and break the Motions to let you see in a little Time the different Changes which occur not in the Parts of the great World but in the Process of Years Come on then let us begin said he but follow me exactly in the Principles I lay down and the Reflections I shall make you observe Above all interrupt me not After these few Words M. Descartes prepar'd himself for the executing his Projection Which was by the Exposition or rather Supposition of some of his most Important Principles thought necessary to qualifie us for the comprehending the Dispatch of that grand Master-piece Conceive in the first Place said he that all this vast Space is Matter For this Space is extended and nothing is not capable of being so This Space therefore is an extended Substance or which is the same Thing Matter Whoever can doubt of this Truth can doubt if a Mountain can be without a Valley Conceive in the second Place That in Nature there are two inviolable Laws The first is That every Body will ever maintain the Post and Capacity it has once been put in will never change it till some External Cause shall force it if it is in rest it will be in Rest eternally if it is in Motion it will continue eternally in Motion if it is of a Square Figure it will preserve its Square Figure always The Second is That a Body always naturally continues its Motion in a right Line though the rencounter and justling of other Bodies frequently disturb it from its Regular Course and from hence follows an indisputable Principle confirm'd by infinite Experiments viz. That a Body circularly moved constantly endeavours to get farther from the Centre of its Motion and if it fortune to get rid of a Body or Bodies that constrain it to move circularly it is always sure to make its escape by the Tangent of the Circle it describ'd in its Motion The Line A G is the Tangent the Stone would describe supposing it to be freed from the Sling at the Point A. These Principles are the rich and fruitful Sources of that Infinity of admirable Truths of which True Philosophy is compos'd and the only Rules I will and ought to follow in the Production of the World I am about This short Speech ended I was wonderfully edify'd in seeing M. Descartes fall to Prayers and make an humble Acknowledgment to God of all those intellectual Gifts and Blessings he had vouchsaf'd him Sovereign Being said he thou bearest me witness That never Mortal acknowledg'd that absolute Dominion thou hast over all thy Creatures with greater Respect and Submission than my self So long as I had my Being in the Land of the Living I made it my Business to convince Men of that entire Dependence they have on thee having persuaded many of that important Truth That thou art the only Being which can produce every thing in the World That it is a punishable Pride in Men to conceit themselves capable of causing the least Motion imaginable in Matter and that the very Motion their Soul supposes she influences on the Body which she animates is purely the effect of thy Almighty Power that in concurrence with the Laws thy Wisdom itself has confirm'd moves the Members of the Body with such exactness and celerity on occasion of the Desires and Inclinations of the Soul as persuades her it is herself that moves them though at the same Time she confesses her Ignorance of the manner whereby it must be done That bright and lively influx wherewith thou hast enlightned my Understanding hath guided me out of that Laberynth of common Delusion and open'd me the way and Method I ought to take in the Study and Contemplation of thy wonderful Works Though I at present undertake to work upon that immense Matter which thy infinite Bounty seems to have left at my Disposal and though I have assum'd the Freedom of warranting my Disciples the Production of a World like that of thy own Making yet it is wholly in Dependence on thy Power I have made this account Yea Lord I shall contribute in no wise to that Operation but by the Desires of my Will which thou out of thy gracious Goodness wilt be pleased to second by impressing so much Motion on this Matter as I shall wish for and by giving this Motion Determinations necessary to the End which I propose Reason and Experience having taught me That every pure Spirit such as am I my self by one of the Universal Rules to which thou conformest thy external Actions hath Right and Priviledg of so much Motion as is sufficient to move the Matter of a World Manifest then Lord thy Power in Condescention to a Spiritual Creature that makes this humble Confession of his Weakness and give us farther occasion to praise and glorifie thy Name Having finish'd his Devotion M. Descartes mark'd out a round Space of about five hundred Leagues diameter for the making a little Sampler of his World whereupon thus he spake Gentlemen I shall at present only represent you the Solary Vortex of your World and all that is therein that is to say the Sun the Earth the Planets the Elements the Disposition of its principal Parts and the different Relations and Dependences they have on one another if you will honour me with a Visit some Years hence you shall see the Great World finish'd The first thing I shall do is to divide in almost equal Parts all the Matter comprehended in the Space I have chalk'd out All those Parts shall be very Small but yet they must be less before I have done with them They must not all be of a Spherical Figure ' cause if they were all so shap'd there must necessarily be an Interval or Void betwixt them But a Void is impossible they must therefore be of all Shapes and Figures but angular for the generality Secondly whereas the Union of the Parts of Matter purely consist in that Repose they are in one by another that Division I propose to make will last no longer than I shall agitate them several ways and drive them on every Side Thirdly Since the Fluidity of Matter is nothing but the Motion of its smallest Parts agitated different ways upon my
difficulty which may be easily guess'd I had to preserve the strict Law of probability in my History will persuade those that shall read it that I envyed Lucian more than once this his so happy Expedient Nor can I but acknowledge the same Yet I must add that a second Consideration would inevitably have determin'd me to a different Choice although decency would have allow'd me to make use of the former I am a Philosopher And the Profession I pretend to bars all admittance unto such a management The Character of a Philospher is always to speak Truth or to think he does at least indeavour to be thought to speak it For me to devest my self of all gayety of Humour and then to affect it to follow the Example of the greatest Enemy the Philosophers have known would have been poorly to support a Quality I extreamly value my self upon So that I should be cautious of using the like Preamble and acquainting my Readers that all they were to expect of me should be false I certify them therefore from this time forward that I have a quite contrary design and that I mean to set off my History with an Air of Truth such as may be able to persuade the most Incredulous did they layby Prejudice in the reading of it that what I say is most undoubtedly true But such is the Nature of Prejudice and Prepossession that after all the pains I have taken to appear credible I am conscious notwithstanding I shall not be believ'd Let it be how it will For after all I will by no means offer violence to the Judgment of my Readers Now see in few Words the design of the Work I therein relate the Particulars of a Voyage which I made to the World of Cartesius I begin the Voyage very advantagiously upon an occasion that Fortune presented me and which seems worthy to be related Through the whole Thred of the History as I fall in with Emergencies I explain with as little difficulty and as pleasantly as the Subject will bear the most principal Points of Cartesius his Philosophy I examine many of them in the way and refute the greatest part of them in a manner clear as I think and intelligible enough and which commonly has in it something new and unreceiv'd I have made it my business to diversify and enliven a Subject naturally dry and melancholy as well by the variety of Accidents which give me occasion to digress upon them as by some peculiar and not incurious Instances of the History of Cartesianism And likewise with some brisk and warm Discourses of such Gentlemen as no one will be uneasy to hear Dispute To conclude my last and most principal Business to the Examination and Discussion of the general System of Cartesius his World and his managery of the chiefest Parts of it as he proposes it in his Book of Principles and in that which is Intituled A Treatise concerning Light or the World of M. Descartes which he mentions so often in his Letters to Father Mersennus but was not printed till after his death And I doubt not in that discussion to establish this one Proposition that hath been often advanc'd but still repuls'd and still I am confident will be as a Paradox to many That there is scarce any Philosophical Hypothesis more unjust and incoherent or whose Conclusions have less connexion with its Principles than that of Cartesius That Proposition I say hath always seem'd a Paradox because it thwarts the generally receiv'd Opinion of that Philosophy No one will deny but that some of his Principles being but meer Suppositions without Proof the Mind cannot find that satisfaction it demands But what they stand upon is That these Suppositions being once receiv'd all the rest doth follow in so direct a Line in so great order and perspicuity that the evidence of the Consqeuences expanding it self as I may say upon the Premises the mind begins of its own accord to imbrace for Truths what were before propos'd as bare Suppositions This may be true of some parts of his Philosophy and particularly of those wherein he treats of the Nature of some Sensible Qualities in which a Man must almost be forc'd to acquiesce that shall read them without Prepossession But I am of opinion it is false in respect of the general Constructure of his World and the Consequences he draws from it 'T is this part of his Philosophy which I shall more throughly examine and it is this of all other that hath hitherto best escap'd the Censure Plenty of Objections have been made against his Metaphysicks against the New Demonstrations he hath pretended to give for the existence of a Deity his distinction of the Soul and Body his System of Light his Rules of Motion as also those concerning Reflection and Refraction Scarce any yet have given him disturbance upon the Hypothesis of his Vortexes which is notwithstanding the Foundation of all he says touching the motion of the Planets the ebbing and flowing of the Sea the gravity and levity of Bodies and of his whole System concerning Light of which he himself has been so very fond I will not say but they have augmented the Difficulties upon each of these last Heads since a great many have attack'd him thereupon But I only say they have seldom or never examin'd them with relation to his general Hypothesis by which I undertake to shew that commonly what he writes of particular Matters is inconsistent with the whole and it is mostly in that the Relation of my Voyage hath something altogether new For what remains if I shall succeed in this last Affair which was almost the only occasion of this Enterprize I shall glory to have been the most mischievous Adversary Cartesius ever met with For that which distinguishes that great Man from all the other Philosophers is not the lucky Explication of some particular Phenomena's in Nature that Praise is shar'd by an abundance of Philosophers both Ancient and Modern but that vastness of Capacity and extent of Genius whereby he could frame an intire System of the World so well contriv'd that taking for granted a few Principles most simple and easy to be understood he could give a reason for all the Occurrencies of Nature It is that Attempt as most believe by which he obtain'd his end and which hath procur'd him so much Honour and Reputation To shew then his System to be full of Contradictions that it is incoherent that one Supposition destroys another is to undertake him in his strongest hold and to wound him in the part that is most sensible We shall see in the pursuit of the History what ought to be our Thoughts of it ERRATA PHaenomena's read Phaenomena where-ever it is p. 2. l. 15. r. lies ib. l. 35. r. scouted p. 18. l. 9. r the. p. 19. l. 8. r. humors all those Natural Functions and all the. ib. l. 27. r. Britanny l. 29. r. of her p. 21. l. 9. r.
That was the Product of the Meditation wherein you surpriz'd me the other day and when I seem'd to you to awake of a suddain I came farther a Field than you imagine He spoke this in so serious and positive a way that he seem'd to be in earnest It shall be your Fault added he if you are not convinc'd of the Truth of what I say and of the Experiment It is the most curious Secret in the World I am resolv'd to commit it but to very few but that Adherency which you have manifested until this time unto me will not suffer me to be reserv'd in any thing He went on without giving me time to complement his Generosity and related that extraordinary Event in all its Circumstances He told me that being six'd attentively upon the Question which the Princess Elizabeth had propos'd touching the Union of the Soul and Body and revolving in his Mind his former Thoughts upon that Subject in the midst of that extraordinary Application he found himself in such a strange Surprizal in an Instant that he was not capable when he told me of it to express himself clearly thereupon nor could he gain so distinct a Conception of it as when actually he was in it All that he could tell me was That it resembled a Trance because in that there is no use of the Senses one can neither See nor Hear nor Feel the Impression of External Objects unless they be extreamly violent and then there is an end of it But herein it was quite different since the Soul had Perceptions of it Self and was apprehensive of the Cessation of its Organical Functions Which in a Trance is nothing so That she was furnish'd with a World of Immaterial or purely Spiritual Notices of which he had sometime discours'd to us but in an abundantly more perfect and lively manner than when his Attention was disturb'd with the appearances of Fancy which constantly interrupt it That more Discoveries of Truth could be made thus in one Minute than in ten years by the ordinary means which Knowledg of Truth fill'd the Soul with so pure and satisfactory a Joy that nothing is more true than what Aristotle says likely upon the same Experience That the compleat Happiness of Man in this Life if there is any such thing consists in the Contemplation of God and Natural Beings But he told me he had no sense of that perfect Joy till he was fully enlightned upon the Point that then took up his Thoughts Which was done in a Moment He had the satisfaction not only to know but to be sensible in some measure of the Truth of the greatest part of those Things which had imploy'd his Meditations until that time and of the Evidence of the Idea's he had fram'd concerning the Essence of the Body and Soul to see her advanc'd upon her Pineal Gland he had conjectur'd and to see that the Union of the Soul with the Body was nothing less then that vertual or rather imaginary Extension by which she was suppos'd commensurate with the Limbs much less those imaginary Modes which the Schools makes use of to confound and plague the Conceptions of Youth But that which was of most Importance was to see that this Union was nothing in Effect but these actual Commerce and Correspondence the Soul and Body had with one another A Commerce that chiefly is maintain'd in this that the Nerves spread through the Body by their Vibration give occasion to the Soul of knowing the different impressions External Objects make upon the Senses and in that the Soul pursuant thereupon by the Motion she immediately impresses upon the Pineal Gland where all the Nerves concentre determines the Animal Spirits to their several marches through the Muscles to produce in the Body such several Motions as she shall please to give and especially those that are necessary to her Preservation After that pursu'd my old Friend M. Descartes entertain'd me with all that happen'd upon that occasion and all the other Reflections he had made The Principal of which was That his Soul in that juncture no longer perceiving the Motions external Objects caus'd upon his Body and by consequence that Commerce in which the Essence of Union consisted being broken she could behold her self as in a separate State though in the mean time she resided at her usual Abode that local Presence having the least share in her Union with the Body She then had a mind to disengage her self from the Body and see what would be the Event of that Separation No sooner had she wisht it than it was so And he farther experienc'd what he had often suggested to us before that if the Machine of the Body had all its Organs sound and free if it had its customary Heat in the Heart and Stomack the circulation of the Blood the filtration of the Humours and all those natural Functions all the Motions constantly perform'd in us without the notice of the Soul would go on as regularly in her absence as when she was there Moreover it fell out as she was busy in contemplating the operation of her Body at some paces distance from it a Fly fortun'd to tickle it in the Face presently the Hand rais'd it self to the place and unseated the Fly just as if the Soul had been actually in the Body So true it is that the greatest part of the Motions of our Body which we attribute to the Soul are owing to the sole Disposition of the Machine This Soul before she durst venture to wander very far from the Body made her entry and exit sundry times and judging by the disposition in which she saw it she might without any apparent danger leave it for some time she hazarded the undertaking a very long Voyage She arriv'd at Beitany in the Houses of her Relations and from thence she made a Sally unto Paris to the House of some other Acquaintance She was much concern'd to see that the People there had but an indiffernt Opinion of her Religion the Country M. Descartes had chose to live in and some unwaranted Inferences that one or other had drawn from his Principles had given occasion to those rash Censures It is notwithstanding true that all the time he liv'd and when he dy'd he was a sound and honest Catholick Finally such was the success the Soul found in her Rambles when separate from the Body that she could when she pleas'd in a Minute travel three or four thousand Leagues In so much that this of M. Descartes parting from Egmond about half an hour after eight in the Morning had travers'd all France in an hour and an half and was return'd at ten Bless me said I to my old Gentleman how expedient would that be for a Person that so passionately desires to see the Country as I do You shall gratify your Curiosity answer'd he but hear me out M. Descartes Soul being return'd from he Voyage in France found her Body almost in the
had his Reverence been a little more conversant in the Affairs of the Globe of the Moon he would have made no wonder at his finding Plato and Aristotle thereabouts since the first had effectually establish'd his Republick there and the second his Lyceum both which we see geographically describ'd in the Mapps of that Country by Father Grimaldus a Jesuit Cartes Selenographiques one of the Notablest Mathematicians of the Age. We have nothing of certainty as to Socrates's abode but 't is more than probable his ordinary Resort is in his belov'd Disciple Plato's Commonwealth After this little Entercourse as we were taking leave of these Gentlemen Socrates demanded what Friend it was we went so for to wait on Father Mersennus answer'd that it was Descartes Descartes reply'd Aristotle What that mad Blade that came from the other World above thirty years ago He that was made the Owl of all the Philosophers not able to endure him here and that forc't him to seek out for other Quarters Truly a very pretty Fellow that to have treated me so Bully-like and with that disdain I am told he did Me I say that have been the Tutour to the greatest Prince and greatest Conquerour that ever was Me to whose Honour Philippe and Olympias erected Statues Me that have taught Philosophy in Athens that have wrote so many Books and had a whole Regiment of Commentatours Me whose Words had pass'd so long for Oracle and the decisions of the Schools Me in fine that all the Philosophers plume them selves as having gain'd unto their Party and not willing nor indeed daring to confess I take the contrary side I would fain see that bold Merchant venture on the Benches I have seen his Books and pity ' em Would you guess said he turning hastily to Socrates and Plato what is the first step he would have his Wise men make in order to his safer conduct to the attainment of Truth He makes him doubt of every Thing and bids him take for false the most self-evident Proposition in the World that Two and Three are Five that the Whole is greater than its Part c. You know Gentlemen said he what work the World have made with him thereupon For my par't I 'd only ask the Gentleman one Question Does he suppose a Man can doubt of every thing or does he not If not Why makes he it the leading precepts of his Method For in point of Precept and Method 't is necessary they be such as can be put in Practice In Synopsi Medit. If he does suppose it how is it he more than once mantains in his Meditations and his Method that the arguments of the Scepticks which were next a kin to those he brings to fetter us in doubts were never capable of staggering one single person Rep. aux Inst de Gassend that was in his Senses as to those apparent Truths Does he think that those he has to deal with have lost their Senses Or does he imagine that the Arguments of the Scepticks would be more effectual in his Mouth or in his Writings than in theirs whose only Design for the generality was to torture and plague the other Sophists and to make themselves sport with those as should indeavour seriously to confute them But never dream'd of one Monsieur Descartes that should one time or other Martial their Sophisms in the Van of his Method But now supposing M. Descartes had induc'd me to doubt that Two and Three made Five and that the Whole was bigger than its Part I would fain know what Method he would take to rid me of this doubt and to replace me in the Statu quo of certainty where I was before This could not be done without the aid of another Proposition more evident than the other which must serve to convince me that what I began to doubt was undoubtedly not to be doubted of Now what is with him that high and mighty Proposition that must brandish its Light on all the rest and act the Sun among the other Stars Why I think therefore I am For says he 't is impossible to think unless I am Most admirably condluded And is it less impossible that Two and Three should not be Five that the Whole should not be bigger than its Part than 't is impossible I should be mistaken unless I think and that I should think unless I am If I could bring my Mind to doubt once of the two first Propositions should I be much pain'd to make question of the third Or if a Sceptick should be so impudent to deny me those need he be more to deny me this And should not I find my self equally impower'd to demonstrate to him all the three Descartes in that procedure pretends to silence a Sceptick that challenges him to demonstrate any thing or to shew him the evidence of a Proposition himself pretends to have made him doubt of The Sophist resolv'd to deny the evidence of the plainest Proposition baffles him And so will I telling him I stay in the maze of Doubt into which he led me and am like do to so since the Proposition he brings to expedite me thence is as blind and dark as those which he made me boggle at before But probably in pursuance of his humour you are charm'd with the wonderful progress he makes in his following Method Reflecting says my Great Philosopher upon that first Conlusion I think therefore I am I observe I am no other way assur'd of the certainty of it than by having a clear and distinct Idea of what I there affirm So that I can take it for a general Rule that whatever I can clearly and distinctly conceive is true But is this the peculiar of that favourite Proposition only I think therefore I am Supposing that Desoartes had left me in the capacity I was and where I must be still in spight of Fate as to the certainty of these Propositions Two and Three are five the Whole is bigger than its Part might not I make the same reflection on these Propositions as he makes on his And being not oblig'd to invent a Rule of Truth for the Gentlemen Scepticks but only for my self which I might make use of in forming all my Judgments might not I be allow'd to argue upon my Propositions as he does on his The reason why I am ascertain'd of these Propositions that is why I not only doubt not of them but perceive I cannot doubt of them if I would is that I have a clear and distinct perception of what I there affirm And seeing I have such an one can I still doubt whether I have or not When to have and to judge I have or rather to be sensible I have it is the self same act of the Understanding For in effect from thence it is from my own Conscience it is proceeds the impossibility of doubting of that Proposition two and three are five as well as of that other I think
therefore I am as all will agree that we are able to judge any whit nicely in such Cases I might then equally from these and a thousand other Propositions draw the same Inference Descartes concludes from his to make a Rule of Truth on What I clearly and distinctly conceive is true And it is as trifling as absurd to make the Certainty and Evidence of such sort of Propositions depend on the Certainty and Evidence of any other since they are thus certain and evident of themselves not from any thing prejudicate or antecedent to them All of them stand on the same Square as to their Conviction and nothing's more unreasonable or against the Rules of Method than to go to prove them by one another Hence it is they are called Immediate Propositions and even Descartes himself will own That that General Principle What I can distinctly conceive is true is no ways a Rule of Truth for such kind of Propositions but that their Rule of Truth i. e. that which convinces me of their Truth is as I have been saying the only Experience and internal Sense alone my Mind has of that Truth at the instant of forming those Propositions Aristotle whom the very Name of M. Descartes had put in Humor staid not long in so pleasant a Road but pursued to push his Criticisms home The greatest Pleasure said he I had in reading that admirable Piece was to see a Man so foil and perplex himself as to lie open not only to the most subtle Sceptick but to the meanest Logician that with three Grains of Wit and Sense knew how to inforce the Rules of Logick he has learn'd With that he run through his Method his Meditations and the first Part of his Book of Principles so as to let us know he had attentively examined them He shewed us in presenting the Order and Array of Descartes's Propositions that no Man ever went so preposterously to work as he for the Inventing and Establishing a Rule of Truth For that after having made us doubt of all Things and next in this dark Passage introduced one Spark of Light all that we can distinctly conceive is true He presently makes us suspect that again by Discourse drawn from his third Meditation But many things which before seemed evident are become again uncertain which has determin'd me hitherto to question whether Two and Three are Five Hereupon it came into my Mind That possibly there was a God that could have made me of such a Composition as I might be imposed upon in Things that seem most clear and evident And as often as that Thought recurs of the Power of God it is impossible for me not to own but that if he pleased he might easily have framed me so as to be mistaken in the Things I most clearly conceive But otherwise upon my steady beholding those Things I distinctly conceive I am urged with so clear Conviction as to be unable to forbear exclaiming Deceive me who can It is impossible so long as I think I should not be or that I should not have been since it is true at present that I am and perhaps it may be equally impossible that Two and Three should not make Five and so of other Things wherein I see a palpable Contradiction And indeed having no inducement to believe there is a God a Deceiver and not knowing as yet whether there be any at all the Reason that makes me doubtful being grounded but on that Suspicion is but weak and as I may so say Metaphysical But to take away this Doubt it self it is necessary to enquire Whether there is a God And supposing there be Whether he can be a Deceiver Here Aristotle began to descant That Descartes had no longer Right to put off that Axiom for a Rule of Truth All that we distinctly conceive is True Seeing he had rendred it suspicious by that Reason drawn from the Power of God a Reason that appeared to him so forcible that it was impossible whilst he reflected on it not to own that God had he pleased could most easily have made us so as to be mistaken in things we most distinctly conceive This supposed the Stress he laid upon the Evidence of his other Propositions could at best but ballance it and render his Rule of Truth a Probability Nay it could not do so much since it was not to be done but upon the Strength of the Evidence of the Propositions a Rule that became a most uncertain and fallible by that sole Argument which he found impossible to resist when he reflected on it And that the Argument that made him suspect his Axioms though founded on the bare Supposal of the Existence of a God which as yet he had not examin'd ought not to be regarded as so weak and trivial in reference to a Man that in pursuit of his Method acknowledges the Power of God in case he does exist extends to every thing and possibly to the making us such sort of Creatures as might be deluded in things they most distinctly conceive And that lastly it thwarted all the Rules of Method for a Philosopher that was yet in Doubt of the Truth of that Proposition All that I distinctly can conceive is true To dream of proving the Existence of a God to clear him of that Doubt For how would he be convinc'd of the Existence of a God but by some evident Demonstration And how shall he be convinced by some evident Demonstration so long as he shall doubt if what a Man distinctly conceives is true From whence Aristotle concluded Cartesius made a Circle in his Method which is the most vile and unpardonable Fault that reasoning can be guilty of For according to him he could no ways be perfectly sure of that Principle All I distinctly conceive is true But because there is a God and because that God is no Deceiver nor could he know there was a God and that that God was no Deceiver but because he knew distinctly the Existence of a God by the Idea he found in himself and because he distinctly conceived That to Deceive was a thing unworthy of God In a Word that he proved the First Proposition by the Second and the Second by the First without having the Right to suppose the Truth of either But Gentlemen continued he in an insulting way upon your Consideration I pardon your Worthy Master that his unhappy Stumble It was only a false Step he chanced to make in the Dark notwithstanding which he recovered himself and stood upon his Legs He concluded For the Existence of a God and many Truths that we undoubtedly and clearly know the Conclusion is true though the Inference be false But you must not take it ill if I add one Word more a disgracing his Principles and Axioms one by one In resp ad object 1. make you sensible how ill founded is the Reputation of a Philosopher said to Argue conclusively and closely I remember I have read
Meditations throughout his Divinity and the Affair was carried on so far that M. Descartes Friends advised him to interpose the Authority of the Prince of Orange and the French Embassador to put a Stop to its Progress But he satisfied himself to proclaim he was injured and to demand Justice of the Procurators of Leyden who thought they had done him a special Favour in obliging their Doctors Silence and prohibiting them the mentioning Descartes and his Opinions in their Academick Exercises a Proceedure that was not very Satisfactory to M. Descartes He was a little better satisfied on the part of the Vniversity of Groiningue which at the Solicitation of the French Embassador severely check'd Schooks Outragious Conduct But all this was nothing in comparison with his great Concernment at Vtrecht where Voetius fell like a Lion loose upon him Voetius was one of the Supports of the Vniversity whom the Quality of Divinity Professor as also that of Minister and Rector joyned with his Reverend Grey Heirs rendred awful and venerable to a Town in which the Corporation of the University maintained a very considerable Grandeur He had learn'd how to employ these Advantages to the gaining absolute Authority and Command over the Minds of Men insomuch that his Sentiments were the Decisions in the University and Oracles in the Town 'T is known what they were in regard of the New Philosophy which was the Reason why those of Descartes's Party durst not declare themselves Notwithstanding at last Regius the Physician whom Descartes styles Lett. de Desc his Proto-martyr could no longer stifle the Hatred he had conceived against Substantial Forms he affixed his Theses wherein he had banished them to substitute in their Room the different Configuration of the insensible Parts of every Body This makes a great Noise in the Vniversity some take one Side some another This is the whole Discourse of the Town News and Politicks are hush'd and the Exchange now rings with nothing but Substantial Forms Mean time Voetius slept not in an Affair of this Importance he went to the first Disputes of Regius suborned a great many Scholars he had gained and placed them in several Parts of the Hall who as soon as Regius his Disciple began to talk of Subtil Matter of the Balls of the Second Element of Ramous and Chamfer'd Particles burst out a Laughing set up an Hiss clapt their Hands and were seconded by the Doctors the Friends of Voetius That tumultuous Outcry dismounted poor Regius and obliged him to cut off his Disputations He wrote to M. Descartes Tom. 1. des Lett. de Desc desiring Counsel in this Conjuncture and how he ought to behave himself in respect of Voetius who had forthwith put up Theses in Defence of Substantial Forms and against the other Points of the Cartesian Philosophy He had particularly addressed them to the Faculty of Medicine and the Professors of Philosophy imploring their Protection of Substantial Forms against Regius M. Descartes's Advice was Tom. 1. Let. 89. That he should forbear Publick Disputations endeavour to draw over Voetius to answer his Theses but with all the deference and civility imaginable to manifest a grand Respect and Esteem for his Adversary yet so as still couragiously to maintain the Cause of Truth Regius took that Method not without Fear it might cost him his Chair and certainly he ran a great Risque Voetius undertook him put young Voetius his Son and Schook upon writing against him And a little more had caused him to be condemned as an Heretick by the Divines He had him before the Magistrates nor had he so escaped but upon giving Security for the exact Performance of what they ordered in a Publick Decree Never to teach Descartes's Philosophy to hold fast to the ancient Dogma's and to make no Attaque for the future on Substantial Forms That Blow went with M. Descartes to the Quick though he seems in his Letter to Regius to make slight on 't insomuch that he could not forbear revenging himself venting a Phamplet under-hand called the History of Voetius in which he scurvily treated him and ridiculed him severely That turned the Bent of Voetius's Fury on himself who quitting thenceforward Regius whom he saw foiled and groveling and looked upon as a Forlorn-Hope sent out to Piqueer and Skirmish by Descartes thought he must double his Forces to make an On-set on this New Sect and assault it in its Leader As ill Fortune still would have it Descartes and Regius fell to Swords-points and sharpned their Quills against each other as if it had been the Fate of that Philosopher at that Time to have all the Learned Men of Holland for his Enemies whose Names did terminate in Ius Revius Demmatius the two Voetius's and Regius The first thing that was done at Vtrecht Let. de Dese was to damn Descartes in all Companies as an Atheist as another Vaninus who under pretence of establishing by his Arguments the Existence of a God aim'd only to rout and confute it Voetius declaim'd eternally against him in his Lectures in his Disputations in his Sermons He pitch'd purposely on Theses of Atheism where he brought in every thing that might bring an Odium on Descartes And so successfully did they decry him that when the News of his Death arriv'd several Years after at Vtrecht Prejudice was so deeply rooted as to make an addition of dreadful Circumstances and it was the Current Report of the Town That he dyed the most impious and wicked Villain in the World without Faith without Religion like Julian the Apostate Greighton Ep. ad Regium casting up a thousand Blasphemies against Jesus Christ Voetius indeavour'd to uncement the most intimate Friends he had Tom. 2. des Let. de Desc and as much a Protestant Minister as he was wrote to Father Mersennus in France to enter in a League with him and to excite him to write against Descartes but sped not in that Negotiation He accus'd him of being a Clandestine Enemy to the Religion of the Country and seem'd by that to be willing to impeach him as a Traytor to the State He added he was an Emissary and Spy of the Jesuits and held an Epistolary Correspondence with them and produc'd one Letter especially against him which he had wrote to Father Dinet sometime after Confessor to the King So true it is that Titus Oats is not the first that thought of persuading the Protestants of his Country the Jesuits gave Commissions in England to levy an Army Hist Conjur Angleterre in which they had the Disposal of all places of trust and made general Officers Colonels and Captains In short Voetius partly by his Reputation and Vogue partly by his Intrigues brought it about that Descartes's Philosophy should be condemn'd throughout the University of which he was Rector He cited him by the order of the Magistrates with a great noise at the sound of a Bell by
in express Terms he might if he thought good disown it and devolve upon the Arabian Commentators as on the Creators of that Being all the Railleries and fine Things pretended to be spoke by the new Philosophers on that Chapter But that he was not yet in that Humour the Cartesians having concluded nothing rationally against that System That an Incomplete Substance was no Chimera since the reasonable Soul in Man is undoubtedly so That their grand Axiom brought to demolish Substantial material Forms viz. Whatever is Material is Matter was palpably false as they have been answered an hundred times seeing Motion and Figure which are material Things are notwithstanding devoid of Matter and also that he lookt upon the ordinary Doctrin of Substantial Forms as his true Doctrin Nevertheless adjoyn'd he we shall see what use M. Descartes will make of it and what Advances he will offer on his part When he shall have granted Brutes a Soul the Peripateticks will consider whether they shall recede from some other Point Upon which he brought many Arguments to persuade him to be less hardy and intractable thereupon He represented how that Article of his Philosophy had shockt the whole World That his earnestness and zeal for that Opinion had been excusable if he had been the first Author but it is well known a Spaniard called Pereyra first lit upon that Notion and some were so malicious as to say he had drawn it from the Spaniard's Book before he deduc'd it from his own Principles That he had already gain'd by that Opinion as much Honour as could be expected that it was lookt upon in the World as an Ingenious Paradox on which he and his Disciples had descanted very subtly and had sufficiently plagu'd and tormented the School Philosophers but that the latter and more intelligent sort of Men could not forbear Laughing when they seriously undertook to maintain it as a Truth That 't was known this was the first Effect the Preface to a Book Entituled The Soul of Beasts L' Ame des Betes produced in the Mind of its Readers A Book wrote indeed with a great deal of Wit but wherein the Author too seriously drives at the Conversion of the Philosophers upon that Subject That no one had brought one substantial Reason to destroy the prejudice of all Mankind in that particular That no one had yet demonstrated that a middle Being betwixt Spirit and Matter was a thing impossible That the Promise the Cartesians had made to explain all that we see admirable in Beasts by the sole disposition of the Machine was whimsical and not to be relied on since it never had been put in Practice That when they talked of these Matters in general they sometimes spoke plausibly enough but when they descended to Particulars they were either much to be pitied or not endured That the only Idea of the manner of Brutes acting on infinite occasions compared with that Paradox made it look extravagant That whereas 't was answered that Argument prov'd too much and made for the reasoning of Beasts it must be acknowledged that Instance perplex'd the Philosophers and gave them trouble to get clear off yet after all whatever pain it put them to their Argument lost nothing of its Force and the Instance on the other hand infinitely increased the difficulty For if it be hard to comprehend that Beasts should not have Reason upon seeing them act in so admirable and methodical a manner how much more difficult would it be to deny them bare Perception And lastly for Descartes to give up that point would not be construed to retract having himself declar'd Let. 67. Tom. 1. he could not demonstrate that Beasts had not an apprehensive Soul no more than it could be demonstrated unto him they had After that Aristotle passed to another Point which had some Connexion with the former which was The Essence of the Soul made by M. Descartes to consist in actual Thinking as he makes the Essence of a Body to consist in actual and determinate Extension He tells them That though he has many Scruples as to his Method and Manner whereby he offers to demonstrate the distinction of the Soul and Body and that many People continued dissatisfied a little with the Answers he gave to the Objections of Gassendus and M. Arnauld notwithstanding he would not dispute him that Glory of having said something thereon wholly New and very Ingenious That he is likewise disposed to follow his Opinion touching the Essence of the Soul provided he would satisfy him as to one Difficulty taken from Experience Many Persons said he have made you that Objection That if the Essence of the Soul consisted in actual Thought it were impossible she should exist without thinking and thus it would follow we should have Thought whilst we were in our Mother's Belly You will not scruple in the least that Consequence And as to what 's rejoyned by them that had we constantly Thought whilst we were in that Capacity we must necessarily have remembred some one of those Thoughts at least that we had there You answer The reason of our Non-remembrance is because the Memory consists in certain Traces which being made in the Brain upon thinking of an Object are there preserv'd and that the Brain of Infants is too moist and soft for the preservation of those Traces at least in such a manner as is requisite to cause remembrance Lettr. Tom. 2. But you are pressed upon that Answer for as much as in several places of your Writings you distinguish Memory into two sorts whereof one depends upon the Body and those Tracks or Footsteps impressed upon the Brain and the other which is purely intellectual depends upon the Soul above You also distinguish Notices into two kinds The one that depend upon the Organ and the other Immaterial that are wholly Independent on it Now we can easily apprehend that the disposition of the Brain of an Infant may be in the cause why the Soul recollects not those Thoughts which have their dependence on it but in regard of the Memory wholly intellectual those pure Conceptions those immaterial Notices which are altogether independent on the Organ and the different Plaits or Impresses of the Brain the humidity of the Brain can be of no Moment and we must undoubtedly remember those Thoughts and the Motions of the Will that have pursued them You will say that an Infant in the Mother's Womb is destitute of those pure Notices and of the use of the intellectual Memory Tom. 2. Let. 4.38 But that is the thing I am asking a sufficient Reason for and of which I should be highly pleas'd to be convinced In effect Voetius had given express Orders to both his Envoys to see that M. Descartes gave a clear Explication of the Point From the Essence of the Soul they proceeded to the Essence of the Body Aristotle entred on that Article with an acknowledgment of an Error he
We set our selves therefore to a serious Examination of them and began with that which M. Descartes proposes first of all in the Geometrical Abridgment of his Meditation An Attribute which we see distinctly contain'd in the Idea of a thing may be truly affirm'd of that thing But in the Idea of God that is to say in the Idea of a Being absolutely perfect I distinctly perceive necessary Existence is contain'd since necessary Existence is a Perfection and a Being infinitely perfect comprehends all sorts of Perfections Therefore I can affirm Existence of a Being absolutely perfect and say with Truth and the greatest Assurance that God exists Upon a second reading of that Demonstration and Examination of each particular Proposition of it whatever appearance of Truth they seem'd to carry with them all our Scruples began to grow in us afresh We apply'd our selves to the finding out the Cause We examin'd our selves according to the Council of the Author of the Demonstration And we descended into our own Breast to see if we had not hoarded up some Prejudices that might block out those Propositions whose Evidence we thought deserv'd admittance We found none at all there having been to that Instant very indifferent as to the truth of that Conclusion and supposing the Ballance was not in an exact Equilibrium we certainly inclin'd towards the side of the Existence of a God rather than the other So that the Prejudice which favoured that Existence was more to be fear'd on our Account than on the contrary Moreover we were conscious to our selves we were not concern'd at the reputation of Descartes and that we were untouch'd with Envy with which he seems to suspect some of his Country-Men tainted who had declar'd against his Demonstrations That incourag'd us to believe our Scruples proceeded from the Demonstration it self which by Consequence must only carry a seeming Evidence since a real and true Evidence of a Demonstration or a Proposition is necessarily accompanied with a satisfaction and tranquillity of Mind that perceives it self enlightned in so lively a manner as makes it impossible to doubt or withstand the Truth Hence it is that maugre the Wranglings of those Descartes calls Septicks it is impossible to have any Scruple concerning first Principles any ways to doubt if the Whole be bigger than its Part and whether it is impossible that the same Thing should be and not be at the same time Reflecting therefore upon that Argumentation we suppos'd it must needs seem evident and at the same time we experienc'd from within our selves that nothing was less really so All the Difficulty was to discover the Spring of that false Light and to find out what it was that dazled instead of cleaning our Perspectives We presum'd we might be understood and our meaning thereupon be clearly explain'd by these Reflections The Axiom that makes the first Proposition in Descartes's Reasoning is true but upon the Supposition of two Things First that the Idea of which he speaks be a real one that is such a one as represents a real at least a possible Object Secondly that the Mind which forms that Idea be clearly convinc'd that it is real Thus because the Idea of a right-lin'd Triangle is real and a Geometrician acknowledges it as such perceiving distinctly the equality of the three Angles with two Rights upon that Idea he may truly affirm of that Triangle that it has three Angles equal to two Rights But if the Idea is not real or if I am not evidently assured it is so it is false that I can affirm a real Attribute of it which I distinctly perceive in it Take for Instance that imaginary Idea of A Mountain without a Valley in as much as it represents a Mountain to me I have an Idea of an Height yet I can truly and absolutely affirm that a Mountain without a Valley is high If the Idea is real and yet is not evident to me that it is so it is true that the Attribute I distinctly apprehend in it agrees to the thing it represents But it is false that I can affirm that Attribute of the thing in Hand or that I can demonstrate to my self that property from that Idea As supposing this Idea was a real one A Horse that has Perception and Sense Descartes that thought it was not real could not conclude from thence That an Horse was capable of Pain and Pleasure although that property is distinctly contain'd in the Idea of a Being furnish'd with Sense and Apprehension That once suppos'd to the end I may demonstrate the Existence of God by that sole Idea A Being absolutely perfect it is not only requisite it should be a real Idea as it certainly is but that it be evident to me abstractedly from all the usual Demonstrations that that Idea is a real one that is that it represents to me a real Object at least a possible one and no Chimera Now I maintain before Descartes that Idea is not evidently real before the ordinary Demonstrations For if it be evidently real it is either so of its self or from the Disquisition I make of the Ideas it is compos'd of It is not so of it self For if that Idea were manifest of it self our Mind could never make a Problem of it nor demand seriously of it self before the Demonstration Is a Being infinitely perfect a real Being or an Imaginary one No more than it could make a Question of these Is the Whole bigger than its Part Can a Thing be and not be at the same time Since they are manifestly real of themselves But our Mind before Demonstration can make it self this Demand whether a Being absolutely perfect is really a Being or in Phancy only And a Man that never had reflected on the things that prove the Existence of a God would not be in the least surpriz'd to hear that Question seriously propos'd as he would be should any one ask as if he were in Doubt whether the Whole is bigger than its Part. That Idea then is not manifestly real of it self It remains then that the Evidence of its reality must be fetch'd from the Examination that we make thereon If so M. Descartes ought to have minded us of that Precaution before we entred on his Demonstration But I prove that antecedently to Demonstration the reality of that Idea can neither be evident to us of it self nor by the discussion of the Terms contain'd in 't First because the Attribute is not comprehended in the Idea of the Subject Since it is not essential to a Being to be absolutely perfect Secondly because that Discussion affords me many seeming Contradictions which my Mind knows not how to reconcile before the ordinary Demonstrations For to examine and unravel that Idea which of its self is very general and confus'd is to retail all Perfections whereof not one must be wanting to a Being absolutely perfect Now among those Perfections there are some that blunt and repulse the
first is that what is in it more choise and better than ordinary begins to be authoriz'd in the Schools of the most zealous Peripateticks who no longer oppose the Truth that you have infus'd into them but only so husband Aristotle's Stake as it may not be said that ever any Philosopher had a clearer View than he You know the Adventure of the last Age in France the wisest Heads of the Kingdom could do no otherwise than approve the greatest Part of the Regulations made in the Council of Trent notwithstanding there were Reasons that obstructed the adhereing to that Council on Discipline-account What was done The States of Blois made Ordinances exactly like a great Part of the Decrees of that Council Thus without admiting the Council they follow'd in effect the Purport of it The Peripateticks have in some sort transcrib'd the Conduct of those grave Politicians 'T is a Crime among them to be a Cartesian but 't is an Honour to make good Use of the best Part of M. Descartes And to compare the Fortune of your Doctrin with that of another that in our Days hath made such a Bustle in the World before the Propositions of Jansenius had been condemn'd at Rome his Followers highly complimented him upon them His was the Pure and Uncorrupt Doctrin that was copied from the great S. Augustin but they had no sooner been censur'd as Heretical but they vanish'd in a Trice and could not be found in Jansenius his Book No one could heartily believe they ever had been there and in Spight of Bulls of Popes and Ordinances of Bishops 't was reckon'd a Mortal Sin to sign a Condemnation of Propositions and a Form of Faith without the Distinction of De Jure de Facto The quite contrary happen'd in the Affair I am speaking of At first when the Cartesians made Mention of Subtil Matter and ridicul'd the Horror of a Vacuum talk'd of the Elastick Vertue of the Air the Pressure of its Columns and the manner of the Impression of Objects on our Senses Aristotle was brought to confront them with a quite contrary Doctrin Since that Time upon Examination of the Reasons on which your Propositions in those Instances depended they would not say that you were in the Right but many undertook to affirm That Aristotle had taught the greatest Part of that before you There hath been since discover'd in his Writings an Ethereal Matter the manner of Sensations by the Concussion of the Organs the Demonstration of the Gravity of the Air and the most delicate Truths of the Equilibrium of Liquors So instead of the Jansenists abandoning or seeming to abandon the Right and sheltering themselves under the Fact the Peripateticks fall on Possession of the Right by the Fact itself that is the Peripateticks now find in Aristotle what according to themselves had not been visible for these thirty Years On the contrary the Jansenists have lost Sight of the Propositions they had pointed to us heretofore themselves before they were condemn'd So that would you make any Abatements as I hope you will that I may make good my Promise I made Voetius your Old Friend in Holland we should see M. Descartes turn Peripatetick and Aristotle Cartesian The other Thing that is Matter of Consolation to you and that in Defiance to all the Efforts of your Enemies must encourage you to hope for the Immortality of Cartesianism is the uncontroulable Liberty that 's left to every one of Writing for and against it And that at this Day the most Solid and Ingenious Patron of the New Philosophy is a celebrated Father of the Oratory whose Books are in great Reputation He forthwith requir'd his Name and Character He is call'd said I Father Malebranche He 's a Man of an extraordinary piercing Judgment of profound Thought that has a wonderful Gift at methodizing his Reflections which he opens and displays in the neatest and most lively manner imaginable that knows however to give an Air of Truth and a probable Turn to the most extraordinary and abstracted Notions that is skill'd to the utmost Perfection in preparing the Mind of his Reader and interessing him in his own Thoughts In short he is the most charming Cartesian that I know His principal Work is called The Search of Truth and it is from that in particular that he hath been acknowledg'd for such as I have describ'd him Yet I cannot conceal from you a little Accident that may somewhat allay the Joy that News must excite in you which is That this Illustrious Champion of the New Philosophy has been sometime since at Variance with M. Arnauld whose Friend he had ever been before which made a kind of Civil War The Onset and Defence on both Sides is manag'd with Vigor and Courage each of them combate in their own way Volumes of five or six hundred Pages apiece are sent out by M. Arnauld in the turning of an Hand The other is less luxuriant but more strict and pressing He takes those Captains for his Precedent who only make use of some select Troops without any regard to Number that always march close and in good Order who let the Enemy wheel about as often as they please but are sure to break their Ranks whenever they see an Advantage Discourse is various concerning the Motives of that War M. Arnauld is the Aggressor The most resin'd Politicians who as you know never fail to make the best of their Talent on such Occasions say It is a Trick and Evasion of the Old Doctor who has several other such at command Some Years ago there appear'd two Books against him one was titul'd The Spirit of M. Arnauld wrote by a French Protestant Minister retir'd to Holland that 's a very roguish Book I must confess and full of Venom and Gall but he leaves M. Arnauld inextricably in the Briars he not only turns his own Weapons upon him but also against the Catholick Religion and concludes directly from the Principles and Practice of M. Arnauld that most of the Arguments he takes to be most forcible and Advantagious to the Catholick Religion are nul and insignificant are meer Shew and Out-side sit only to dazle the Eyes of the Ignorant and such as cannot penetrate to the Bottom of Things The other Book which was printed the first of the two but was not made publick till some time after was written by a Jesuite against a French Translation of the New Testament commonly call'd The Mons New Testament done by the Gentlemen du Port Royal and whereof M. Arnauld took upon him the Patronage and Defence That Book of the Jesuite is Solidly Scholar-like and Politely wrote He very pertinently comes over M. Arnauld on many Occasions and adds from time to time in those Places he challenges him to give an Answer to such and such a Point Notwithstanding those two Books found no Reply and no one could say they were unanswer'd because they were despised and did not deserve the
Pains Religion it self was ingag'd that Answer should be made the first as hath since been done by another Hand and M. Arnauld's Honour and Reputation were interess'd to satisfy the Scruples the Evidence of Fact and the Force of Reasons in the second had rais'd in the Minds of Men. See then what was the sense of the Politicians of the Commonwealth of Learning 'T is known by long Experience that M. Arnauld never us'd to be very Dormant in the case of Books wrote against him Whence then proceeds this extraordinary Patience he would fain seem to have at present Whence comes it that instead of defending himself against his Enemies that make voluntary Insults to attack him and fall so foully on him he makes himself new Adversaries and out of a gayety of Humour falls to Daggers-drawing with his Friends and Allies whilst his Country is abandon'd to the Pillage and Descretion of his Enemies Here is say they the short and the long of the Business Those two Books Non-plus M. Arnauld The first upon several Articles presents you with an Argumentum ad Hominem and is beyond Reply The second is penn'd with that Circumspection and Exactness as Wards off all Passes gives not the least hold and blocks up all the out-lets where ere his Adversary might escape him It would be no part of Prudence to engage on so disadvantagious Terms He must not however be seen to baulk or decline the Challenge and besides M. Arnauld had resolv'd to leave the World whenever he desisted to make a noise in it and to Write and Dispute whatever it cost him Therefore he cunningly procures himself a Diversion He picks a random Quarrel with Father Malebranche threatning an Attack on a Treatise of his concerning Nature and Grace which he had presum'd to publish contrary to his Advice He compiles a great Volume against two or three Chapters of the Research of Truth That Book is answered M. Arnauld thereupon makes his Reply Father Malebranche charges again M. Arnauld makes yet another Onset Here some are inquisitive why M. Arnauld neglects to answer both M. Juriou and the Jesuue Hey day cry others how would you have him answer them Does not Father Malebranche find him his Hands full Whose little Volumes he 's forc'd to overwhelm with bulky Books to obstruct the entrance of that monstrous Impiety into the Church viz. the Doctrin of a Corporeal God Without which no Man can find out what he means by his intelligible Extension that is he says in God However the other Concern is urgent and requires Dispatch But what would you have a Man do they add Is it possible he should be every where at once Whilst the King of Poland march'd with all the Forces of his Kingdom to raise the Siege of Vienna was he not necessitated to suffer the Garrison of Kaminiec to over-run Podolia and the Tartars to inslave Vcraine If that Conjecture is not true said M. Descartes it is however very probable and those Gamesters play the Politician not amiss But what pursu'd he is the Subject of Dispute betwixt those two famous Authors For I assure you I perceive a Concern upon me upon their Account The Matter in Debate I answer'd is of the Nature of Ideas and the manner of our apprehending Objects that are without us M. Arnauld would have it that our Idea's are nothing but the Modifications of our Soul Father Malebranche pretends that that Opinion is unwarrantable and maintains we have no other perception of Objects than in God who being every where is intimately united with our Soul and who following the general Laws of the Union of the Body and Soul communicates to us the Idea of the Object that he hath in himself and at once makes us apprehend the Impression of it Both one and the other strive upon occasion to ingage you on their side or to shew rather that they advance nothing contradictory to your Thoughts upon Ideas But I am of Opinion you never penetrated so deep in that Affair as that either of them can gain much by your Authority What you say of me is true reply'd M. Defcartes but which at last of these two Combatants have got the better on 't I answer'd him I was not rash and inconsiderate enough to set up for a Decider of the Difference and Advantages of those two Hero's That I could only say that they fell to 't in earnest That though M. Arnauld had propos'd to himself the encountring Father Malebranche's Tract of Nature and of Grace he thought it advisable to begin with the Confutation of what he had written touching Idea's in his Search of Truth looking on that past to use his Thought and his Expression as the Outworks of the place he had a Design to ruin That the Subject being very Abstracted and Metaphysical and above the ordinary Capacity of Men and Father Malebranche's System on that Particular requiring a very great Attention to comprehend it M. Arnauld seem'd to have taken designedly that Method of Assault for the making a more advantagious Effort on his Adversary but that Father Malebranche without giving up his Out-works wherein he acquit himself admirably well had drawn them into the Body of the place that is to say had incorporated them with the Interests of Grace which is very disadvantagious Ground and too slippery a stand for M. Arnauld where he was very closely press'd Yet that I durst not undertake for the Success of Father Malebranche's Self on that Side because of the great Experience of M. Arnauld in such sort of War wherein he undoubtedly merits the Encomium Admiral Chatillon used to give himself viz. He had wherewith to be distinguish'd from the greatest Captains that ever were in that having been always beaten by his Enemies having lost all the Battles he had been oblig'd to Fight after all his Misfortunes he still stood upon his Legs in a capacity to relieve his Party and bearing still a Part and Figure able to disquiet those by whom he had been worsted I might likewise add without affronting Father Malebranche he is already sensible of the loss he has sustain'd since that first Breach For before that unhappiness and whilst he was a Friend of M. Arnauld he was every where extoll'd for a sublime and infinitely penetrating Genius and at present he 's a Man that speaks nothing but Perplexities and Contradictions whom one can neither understand nor follow without danger of Error So true it is that M. Arnauld's Friendship is at this day as it ever has been a prodigious bank of Merit to those that are so fortunate to injoy it and that Societies no less than particular Persons that were destitute of that Advantage would be very little better for their Reputation As I was thus entertaining Discourse with M. Descartes I perceiv'd in an Instant a change in me that carry'd something in it much like what we experience in some sudden Faintings wherein all things seem to alter and
it than he had observ'd in the fourth Part of his Book of Principles in describing the Formation of the Earth as he at that Time conceiv'd it Besides that Subtil Matter whereof it was compos'd whilst it was yet a Star which Matter is lodged in the Centre and besides that Shell infinitely hard that dams it in I conceiv'd said he a kind of third Region constituted of the Parts of the third Element not very strictly united And I yet farther divided that third Region into three Stories before I imagin'd to my self the Earth in the Capacity it has at present and in which I am going to put my own I The Centre of the Earth full of the Matter of the First Element M the internal Shell that covers it C the Place of Metals D Water E Earth on which we tread V Air. The lowest of these Subordinations was according to my Position an Arch of very Solid and Heavy Matter and there I place the origin of Metals The Second which I rang'd above it was a Liquid Body constituted of the Parts of the third Element pretty long very flexible and pliant as it were little Eels temper'd with an abundance of the Parts of the second Element which was nothing else but what we usually call Water Lastly above all this I suppos'd a third Vault made of the most clinging and craggy Parts of the third Element whose sensible Parts were only Stones Sand Clay and Mud and which was very porous And this is the outward Surface of the Earth on part of which tread Mortal Men. Next I explain'd how in that upper Vault of the Earth by its being expos'd to the constant Beating of the two first Elements against it that rush'd through its Pores with Violence there were made a World of Crevices and Chinks which being in Time inlarg'd by little and little its structure at last all of a sudden fail'd and broke in Pieces whereupon its Ruins fell in part of the Water below it of the second Story and forc'd it above them because it was less weighty and that 's the Water which constitutes the Seas Some Parts of the Vault were still upheld and remain'd suspended as it often happens in the downfal of great Buildings these were not drown'd and they were these that made the Plains and level Parts of the Earth Lastly some Pieces as they fell were shelv'd and supported against one another and raised above the rest and thus came the Inequalities of the Earth which we call Mountains I You plainly see then said M. Descartes that to shew you the Train of all these Things would demand a great deal of Time But the Hour of your Departure hastens on I remit you therefore to my Book for Satisfaction in all those Particulars I am going now to make an Abridgment of all those Motions and to shew you in as little Time as we are speaking on 't this Earth exactly like yours with Mountains Valleys Plains and Seas No sooner said than done He falls to determining the Motion of an infinite Number of those long and flexible Parts of the third Element and agitating them by playing among them the Parts of the second in the several Places where he had heap'd them to gether we saw presently a kind of Sea diffuse itself over the Face of the Earth it was a less Trouble to him to raise Mountains by only amassing together an abundance of the branchy Parts of the third Element and causing them to link and graple with each other whereby there stood in many Places great and mighty Piles nothing differing from our Mountains That Earth look'd very bare and naked without Trees without Herbs without Flowers for to produce all those Things that are the greatest Ornaments to our Earth was a Business that would take up longer Time This done he employ'd the rest of the Time that we staid with him in the consideration chiefly of two Things First of the Gravity or rather of the Motion of Bodies we call Heavy towards the Centre And secondly of the Manner of the Ebbing and Flowing of the Sea He began with the first and explained it at this rate Take notice said he that this Earth turns upon its Axis in its Vortex it has not that Power of Moving of itself but it is carried about by the Stream of the Celestial Matter that surrounds it which whirling with a more rapid Motion than the Earth spends the overplus in making other Motions in all Parts and especially in squeezing and pressing Terrestrial Bodies against the Earth a Pressure so necessary that take it but away the whole Earth would crumble all in Pieces and all the Men and Animals on the Surface of the Earth of your World would be hurl'd into the Fluid Space according to my grand Principle of Motion that every Body that turns circularly as does the Earth with all that is upon it flies fromward the Centre of its Motion if not prevented by the other Bodies that keep it in as does the Pression of the Celestial Matter S the Sun T the Earth A B C D the little Vortex of the Earth N A C Z the great Orb wherein the Earth is carried round the Sun And it is for the same Reason that a Terrestrial Body forc'd into the Air is oblig'd to descend towards the Centre of the Earth because it has less Force to digress from the Centre than has the Mass of Air which it ought to dismount to get into its Place And the Reason why it hath less Force to digress from the Centre is because it contains much more Matter of the third Element and much less of the second than the Mass of Air equal to it in Bigness Now the Matter of the third Element is dull and more unactive and unable to get rid of the Centre than the Matter of the second it must therefore descend Your Peripatetick Quality continu'd he and Democritus and Gassendi's Chains made of link'd Atoms are not worth a Straw in comparison of what I say and with that he cast a Stone on high to shew us by Experience the Truth of what he had been Teaching I The Figure of the Vortex of the Earth He made us forthwith acknowledge the Truth of all those Principles and Effects that naturally follow them for upon his placing the Moon perpendicular to the Equator of the Earth we immediately saw first the Sea press'd by that Matter to sink lower and its Waters thus press'd and crowded hurry towards the Poles and spread themselves successively on the Shores proportionably to their Distance from the Equator 2. The Terrestrial Globe rowling on his Axle from West to East we beheld the Pressure of the Moon to light on several Places after one another according to the Succession of Meridians 3. That successive Pressure of the different Parts of the Sea had this necessary effect viz. to cause it to swell and fall in several Places according to the plain and evident
of the Water that forces it along is wanting in the Planet steer'd in the midst of the Celestial Matter The reason is this that part of the Boat which stands above the Water meets with the opposition of the Air which bends its course differently from the Water and consequently resists the Motion wherewith the Water influences the Boat And the greater that resistance is as in a contrary Wind the slower is the Motion of the Boat in comparison with that of the Water And the less the resistance is as when the Wind stands fair the swifter is the motion of the Boat But this is not to be found in the Planet plung'd in the midst of the Celestial Matter It preserves intirely all that Motion the Celestial Matter can impress upon it free from all external Opposition Besides being of it self indifferent to Motion or to rest to such or such a degree of Motion to this or that Determination it offers no resistance as M. Descartes himself speaks to the Matter of the Heaven He gives next the reason of that inequality of Motion of the Celestial Matter and of the Planet carried by it which is says he that though such little Bodies as are the insensible parts of the Celestial Matter conspiring all together to act confederately against a great one may be as prevalent as that notwithstanding they can never move it in all respects so swift as they are mov'd themselves ' cause though they are united in some of their Motions which they communicate unto it they infallibly disagree in others which they cannot communicate Either we are mistaken or this is a meer Gipsy-talk at least in relation to the Business we are upon and one of these Slights of Hand we have observ'd M. Descartes from time to time to make use of designedly to blind his Reader and to conceal from him the Lameness and Imperfection of a Conclusion necessary to his System which he is well aware of but is unwilling any one else should see 'T is but bringing some pretty sort of Comparison that may prepare the Mind and sooth and tame if we may so speak the Imagination of his Reader though commonly it never comes up to the stress of the Difficulty and then clapping on it for a Confirmation some abstracted Reason that few either can or will take pains to understand and the Business is done fore-seeing that being half-gain'd already by the Comparison they will easily surrender themselves to the least appearance of Truth which he shall give them a glimpse of in his reason that often is a meer fallacy at bottom And as for this before us What matters it though the little Bodies that drive on a great one should have several Motions What tho' they do not communicate all these several Motions provided they have still Strength enought to force it on that the Body makes no resistance that they all combine as we suppose with M. Descartes to communicate the Motion requisite and that we conceive them all pressing on its Surface so as to push it towards the place where they are push'd themselves For certainly in all these Circumstances we must conceive it going at as great a rate as they And yet from a Principle so weakly establisht as this he concludes That the Celestial Matter ought to move the Planet round its own Centre and constitute a little Heaven about it to turn at the same time as the great one But not now to controvert that Supposition as poorly prov'd as it is let us persue him in his reasoning and to see if it be good let us imagine the Earth T. as it were suspended in a Void and let us fancy a Circle of Celestial Matter as thick as the Diameter of the Earth that violently rushing like a Torrent carries it suddenly away But as we suppose this Torrent to be swifter than the Earth methinks without having puzzled our Heads much with the Rules of the Determinations of Motion we might readily conceive it upon its violent dashing against the Earth to be immediately divided in two Parts or Arms whereof one should run above the other below it and whether we conceive this Stream of an equal or a greater depth than the Diameter of the Earth it would diffuse it self round its Surface above below and on every side Whence it follows that it would impress no Motion on it about its own Centre but would moreover deprive it of that Motion if it had one all the Lines of the Torrent counterpoizing one another and resisting the Determinations they should meet with in the Earth contrary to their own Here ought to be the foregoing Figure p. 278. Now methinks in explaining these things thus it is not a bare Similitude that we offer but a perfect Idea of that which ought to happen in the Motion of the Celestial Matter wherein the Earth is carried round the Sun Wherefore then will Descartes have the Celestial Matter that carries the Earth and insists against its Superficies towards A making greater haste than the Earth bend its whole Current from A to B not suffering half of it to run from A to D For 't is impossible for things to be or to be conceiv'd otherwise But if it ought to fall out thus as questionless it ought the Earth no longer has a Vortex since the Matter flowing from A to D prevents that which flows from A to B from returning by C. D. Nothing can be more plain and evident than this Demonstration But let us suppose per impossibile that the Matter when arriv'd at A should entirely make a double to run towards B. Would it make a Vortex No by no means For advancing from B. to C. and arriving at C. it ought to deviate from the Centre of its Motion and continue its Progress towards Z. The Reason given for it in the Principles of Descartes is That this is the very place in all the little Circle it had begun to describe where it finds least resistance First because the Matter it meets in that same Point is already on its Motion towards Z. and freely resigns its place Secondly because that which is below it that is to say betwixt D. and C. resists it and hinders its Descent being more weighty according to M. Descartes And thirdly because the Circle C Z. is its natural place according to the same Philosopher It will flow therefore more towards Z. than D. and consequently make no Vortex But let us farther suppose a Vortex made and the Matter continuing its round from A. to B. from B. to C. and from C. to A. would this Vortex last Not at all For we must suppose one of these three things Either that it is stronger than the Vortex of the Sun that is its Matter has a stronger bent and tendency from its Centre than the Matter of the Sun 's Vortex has from his or that it is weaker or that they both are equal If it is weaker it must