demonstrated the existence of God and of the soul of man. As a reward
for his exertions, his old friends the Jesuits put his works upon the
"Index," and called him an Atheist; while the Protestant divines of
Holland declared him to be both a Jesuit and an Atheist. His books
narrowly escaped being burned by the hangman; the fate of Vanini was
dangled before his eyes; and the misfortunes of Galileo so alarmed him,
that he well-nigh renounced the pursuits by which the world has so
greatly benefited, and was driven into subterfuges and evasions which
were not worthy of him.
"Very cowardly," you may say; and so it was. But you must make allowance
for the fact that, in the seventeenth century, not only did heresy mean
possible burning, or imprisonment, but the very suspicion of it
destroyed a man's peace, and rendered the calm pursuit of truth
difficult or impossible. I fancy that Descartes was a man to care more
about being worried and disturbed, than about being burned outright;
and, like many other men, sacrificed for the sake of peace and
quietness, what he would have stubbornly maintained against downright
violence.
However this may be, let those who are sure they would have done better
throw stones at him. I have no feelings but those of gratitude and
reverence for the man who did what he did, when he did; and a sort of
shame that any one should repine against taking a fair share of such
treatment as the world thought good enough for him.
Finally, it occurs to me that, such being my feeling about the matter,
it may be useful to all of us if I ask you, "What is yours? Do you think
that the Christianity of the seventeenth century looks nobler and more
attractive for such treatment of such a man?" You will hardly reply that
it does. But if it does not, may it not be well if all of you do what
lies within your power to prevent the Christianity of the nineteenth
century from repeating the scandal?
There are one or two living men, who, a couple of centuries hence, will
be remembered as Descartes is now, because they have produced great
thoughts which will live and grow as long as mankind lasts.
If the twenty-first century studies their history, it will find that the
Christianity of the middle of the nineteenth century recognised them
only as objects of vilification. It is for you and such as you,
Christian young men, to say whether this shall be as true of the
Christianity of the future as it is of that of the present. I appeal to
you to say "No," in your own interest, and in that of the Christianity
you profess.
In the interest of Science, no appeal is needful; as Dante sings of
Fortune--
"Quest' è colei, ch'è tanto posta in croce
Pur da color, che le dovrian dar lode
Dandole biasmo a torto e mala voce.
Ma ella s' è beata, e ciò non ode:
Con l' altre prime creature lieta
Volve sua spera, e beata si gode:"[78]
so, whatever evil voices may rage, Science, secure among the powers that
are eternal, will do her work and be blessed.
FOOTNOTES:
[68] I forget who it was said of him: "Il a plus que personne l'esprit
que tout le monde a."
[69] "Discours de la Méthode pour bien conduire sa Raison et chercher la
Vérité dans les Sciences."
[70] "Eine thätige Skepsis ist die, welche unablässig bemüht ist sich
selbst zu überwinden, und durch geregelte Erfahrung zu einer Art von
bedingtrer Zuverlässigkeit zu gelangen."--_Maximen und Reflexionen_, 7
Abtheilung.
[71] "Au milieu de toutes ses erreurs, il ne faut pas méconnaître une
grande idée, qui consiste à avoir tenté pour la première fois de ramener
tous les phénomènes naturels à n'être qu'un simple dévelloppement des
lois de la mécanique," is the weighty judgment of Biot, cited by
Bouillier (_Histoire de la Philosophie Cartésienne_, t. i. p. 196).
[72] "Traité de l'Homme" (Cousin's Edition), p. 347.
[73] Descartes pretends that he does not apply his views to the human
body, but only to an imaginary machine which, if it could be
constructed, would do all that the human body does; throwing a sop to
Cerberus unworthily; and uselessly, because Cerberus was by no means
stupid enough to swallow it.
[74] "Traité de l'Homme," p. 427.
[75] Compare "Traité des Passions," Art. XIII. and XVI.
[76] Bouillier, into whose excellent "History of the Cartesian
Philosophy" I had not looked when this passage was written, says, very
justly, that Descartes "a merité le titre de pére de la physique, aussi
bien que celui de pére de la métaphysique moderne" (t. i. p. 197). See
also Kuno Fischer's "Geschichte der neuen Philosophie," Bd. i.; and the
very remarkable work of Lange, "Geschichte des Materialismus."--A good
translation of the latter would be a great service to philosophy in
England.
[77] For all the qualifications which need to be made here, I refer the
reader to the thorough discussion of the nature of the relation between
nerve-action and consciousness in Mr. Herbert Spencer's "Principles of
Psychology," p. 115 _et seq._
[78]
"And this is she who's put on cross so much,
Even by them who ought to give her praise,
Giving her wrongly ill repute and blame.
But she is blessed, and she hears not this:
She, with the other primal creatures, glad
Revolves her sphere, and blessed joys herself."
_Inferno_, vii. 90-95 (W.M. Rossetti's Translation).