Letter to Mersenne

THE R. P. MERSENNE TO MONSIEUR VOETIUS, Professor of Theology at Utrecht. Version.

SIR,

I had begun some time ago to believe that you had laid down your arms, and that you had entirely rid yourself of that contentious spirit which you showed against Monsieur Descartes, as having quite lost all hope of being able to object anything against his Philosophy; especially since, after you had given me counsel and urged me to take up the pen to write against this new doctrine, I nevertheless saw that, after waiting a year, neither you nor your friends, from whom you had also promised me help, had sent me anything to add to what I might myself oppose against it. But having heard recently that you had a design to compose an entire Book, in order to combat with all your might this new way of Philosophizing, and that in the Edition of this Book you promised that shortly I would also be seen raising myself against it; I believed it was my duty to warn you of what I think on this subject, and even of what I have always thought of this Philosophy.

Firstly, therefore, after having read several times (following the advice of the Author) the six Meditations that he has written touching First Philosophy, I proposed to him those Objections which are placed in the second rank (which, if you please, let remain between ourselves, for he does not know whence they came to him); to which I have recently added the sixth ones, and to these he made the reply that you now have in your hands, and which filled me with admiration, to see that a man who has never studied Theology has answered so pertinently. Considering this within myself, and rereading anew his six Meditations, and the replies he has made to the fourth Objections, which are very subtle; I have believed that God has placed in this great Man a wholly particular light, which I have since found so conformable to the Spirit and to the Doctrine of the great St. Augustine, that I observe almost the same things in the writings of the one as in the writings of the other. For example, what difference is there between what M. Descartes says in his Preface to the Reader: “So that provided we remember that our Minds are finite, and that God is incomprehensible and infinite, all these things will no longer cause us any difficulty”; and what St. Augustine says in his Dialectic: “For he who is capable of discoursing well and resolving the greatest doubts, who penetrates and devours all Books, who despises and rises above all human wisdom, when he comes to contemplate the Divinity, he finds himself so dazzled by the brightness of its light that, trembling all over, he turns his eyes away, and takes flight, hiding himself in the abyss of the secrets of Nature, where, after having broken his head in disentangling the tangles of his Syllogisms and Reasonings, dazed and confused he falls silent, and condemns himself to silence.”

Secondly, I see that in all his replies his Spirit sustains itself so well, and that he is so firm upon his Principles; and moreover, that he is so Christian, and that he so gently inspires the love of God, that I cannot persuade myself that this Philosophy will not one day turn to the benefit and ornament of true Religion.

Thirdly, having recently asked the Author of the fourth Objections, who is esteemed one of the subtlest Philosophers, and one of the greatest Theologians of that Faculty, whether he had anything to reply to the answers that had been made to him, he answered me that he did not, and that he held himself fully satisfied; and even that he had taught and publicly maintained the same Philosophy, which had been strongly contested in full Assembly, by a very great number of Learned Personages, but that it could not be overthrown, nor even shaken. And after having seen this excellent Geometer maintain, as he does, that this Doctrine cannot be disputed by one who has once properly understood it, and having also seen him convince by his reasons all those who wished to oppose him, I have been all the more confirmed in the Thought that this Philosophy, and this way of Philosophizing, is true, and that with time it will make its way by its own light. Let us wait, then, Sir, until he himself has brought it to light, since we would have a bad grace to wish to pass judgment on a thing that we do not know. And truly, I confess for myself, if he continues as he has begun, that it already seems to me that I can show that he advances nothing that does not accord with Plato and Aristotle, provided they are rightly understood; and to which that Eagle of the Doctors, St. Augustine, could not subscribe; so that the more learned a man is in the doctrine of St. Augustine, the more disposed will he be to embrace the Philosophy of Monsieur Descartes.

Fourthly, the particular writings of his that I have seen, in which he resolves several Questions of Philosophy and Geometry, have left me so high an esteem for the subtlety and sublimity of his Mind, that I have difficulty believing that anyone has ever had so great a knowledge of Natural things. And I cannot understand how you dare to combat his Philosophy without having seen it. Be that as it may, I greatly desire to see your Work, and if I find in it anything true, although it may perhaps be contrary to his Principles, do not doubt that I shall embrace it and favor it. Meanwhile I pray you to regard me as one of your servants.