28. Those Christians who gave attention | cidly shown; those general principles and to Hebrew and Greek literature and to the solid grounds, by which all the Christian's languages and antiquities of the eastern doubts and conflicts respecting right and nations (and very many prosecuted these wrong in action may be easily settled, were studies with great success), threw much established; and finally, the folly of those light on numerous passages of the holy who audaciously maintained that the preScriptures which were before either dark cepts of Christianity were at variance with and obscure, or misunderstood and errone- the dictates of sound reason, that they subously adduced in support of opinions rashly verted nature, were calculated to undermine taken up, nay made to teach error and the prosperity of nations, rendered men false doctrine. And the consequence was, effeminate, diverted them from the proper that the patrons of many vulgar errors and business of life, and the like, was vigorously groundless opinions were deprived of the chastised and refuted. best part of their armour. Nor will the wise and the good maintain that there was no advantage to religion from the labours of those who either kept Latin eloquence from becoming extinct, or in imitation of the French laboured to polish and improve the vernacular languages of their respective nations. For it is of great importance to the welfare and progress of the Christian community, that it should not lack men who are able to write and to speak properly, fluently, and elegantly on all religious subjects, so that they may bring the ignorant and those opposed to religion to listen with pleasure to what they ought to learn, and readily to comprehend what they ought to know.

29. The moral doctrines inculcated by Christ and his apostles received a better form and more support against various abuses and perversions, after the law of nature or of right reason had been more critically investigated and better explained. The incomparable Hugo Grotius [or De Groot] stood forth a guide to others in this department, by his work On the Rights of War and Peace (De Jure Belli et Pacis); and the excellence and importance of the subject induced a number of the best geniuses to follow him with alacrity.1 How much aid the labours of these men afforded to all those who afterwards treated of the life and duties of a Christian, will be manifest to any one who shall take the trouble to compare the treatises on this subject composed after their times, with those which were previously in estimation. It is certain that: the boundaries of Christian and natural morality were more accurately determined; some Christian duties, the nature of which was not well understood by the ancients, were more clearly defined; the great superiority of the divine laws to the dictates of mere reason was more lu

See Glafey's History of the Law of Nature, written in German, and prefixed to a Bibliotheca Juris Nature et Gentium, Lips. 1739, 4to. [See a full account of this work and of the opinions of Grotius in Hallam's Intro. to the Literature of Europe, vol. iii. p. 384, &c.-R.

30. But it is proper to make some particular remarks on the state of philosophy among Christians. At the commencement of this century, nearly all the philosophers were distributed into two sects, namely, that of the Peripatetics and that of the Fire-Philosophers or the Chemists. And during many years, these two sects contended for pre-eminence with very great warmth, and in a great number of publications. The Peripatetics held nearly all the professorial chairs both in the universities and the inferior schools, and they were furious against all who thought Aristotle should either be corrected or abandoned; as if all such had been traitors to their country and public enemies of mankind. Most of this class however if we except the professors at Tubingen, Helmstadt, Altorf, and Leipsic, did not follow Aristotle himself, but rather his modern expositors. The Chemical or Fire-Philosophers roamed over nearly every country of Europe, assumed the obscure and deceptive title of Rosecrucian Brethren (Rosæcruciani Fratres), which had some apparent respecta

2 It is abundantly attested that the title of Rosecruof religion with the search after chemical secrets. The cians was given to the Chemists, who united the study term itself is chemical, nor can its import be understood without a knowledge of the style used by the chemists. It is compounded, not as many think, of rosa and crux (a rose and the cross), but of ros (dew) and crur. Dew is the most powerful of all natural substances to dissolve gold. And a cross in the language of the fire-philosophers is the same as Lux light); because the figure of a cross + exhibits all the three letters of the word Lux at one view. Moreover, this sect applied the term Lur to the seed or Menstruum of the Red Dragon, or to that crude and corporeal light which being properly concocted and digested who by means of dew secks for light, that is, for the produces gold. A Rosecrucian therefore is a philosopher substance of the philosopher's stone. The other interpretations of this name are false and deceptive; and were invented and given out by the chemists themselves, who were exceedingly fond of concealment, for the sake of imposing on others who were hostile to their ceived by the sagacity of Peter Gassendi, Examen Phireligious views. The true import of this title was perlosophie Fluddana, sec. xv. in his Opp. tom. iii. p. 261. But it was more lucidly explained by the celebrated French physician, Eusebius Renaudot, Conferences Publiques, tome iv. p. 87. Very much, though ill arranged, respecting these Rosecrucian brethren who made so much noise in this century, their society, institutes, and writings, may be found in Arnold's

5

bility, as it seemed to be derived from the | Helmont and his son, Francis Mercurius, 3 arms of Luther, which were a cross upon a Christian Knorr of Rosenroth, Quirin rose; and in numerous publications, some Kuhlmann, Henry Noll, Julius Sperber,7 of them more and some of them less able and numerous others, but of unequal rank and severe, they charged the Peripatetics and fame. Harmony of opinion among with corrupting and perverting both reason this sort of people no one would expect. and religion. The leaders of the band were For as a great part of their system of docRobert Fludd, an Englishman of a singular trine depends on a kind of internal sense, genius, Jacob Boehme, a shoemaker of on the imagination, and on the testimony of Gorlitz, and Michael Mayer. These were the eyes and the ears than which nothing afterwards succeeded by John Baptist can be more fluctuating and fallacious this sect of course had almost as many disagreeKirchen-und Ketzerhistorie, part ii. book xvii. chap. ing teachers as it had writers of much note. xviii. p. 1114, &c. [According to most of the writers on the subject, the name Rosecrucians was not assumed There were however certain general princiby all the Fire-Philosophers, nor was it first applied to ples in which they all agreed. They all men of that description; but it was the appropriate held that the only way to arrive at true name of an imaginary association first announced about the year 1610, into which a multitude of Fire-Philoso- wisdom and a knowledge of the first principhers or alchymists eagerly sought admission. The ples of all things was by analyzing bodies earliest writing professedly from them was either published or republished at Frankfort A.D. 1615, in German, by the agency of fire. They all imagined and afterwards in Danish, Dutch, and Latin; and bore there was a sort of coincidence and agreeBrotherhood of the praiseworthy Order of the Rosy-ment of religion with nature, and held that cross, together with the Confession of the same Frater- God operates by the same laws in the nity, addressed to all the learned heads in Europe; also some answers by Mr. Haselmeyer and other learned kingdom of grace as in the kingdom of persons to the Fama, together with a Discourse con- nature; and hence they expressed their The next year, 1616, David Mederus wrote that the religious doctrines in chemical terms as Fuma Fraternitatis and the Confession had then been, being appropriate to their philosophy. They for six years, printed and dispersed in five languages." all held that there is a sort of divine energy In the Fama, p. 15, &c. the founder and head of the fraternity is said to have been one Christopher Rosen- or soul diffused through the frame of the Creutz, a German, born in the year 1398, who became universe, which some called Archæus, others a pilgrim, visited the holy sepulchre and Damascus, the universal spirit, and others by various wards learned magic and the Cabala at Fez and in appellations. They all talked much and Egypt; on his return to Germany he undertook to superstitiously about (what they called) the improve human knowledge, and received several into his fraternity in order to commence the business, and signatures of things, about the power and lived to the age of 100 years, a sage far in advance of dominion of the stars over all corporeal the men of his age. This fraternity it was said continued down to the time of these publications. A vast beings and even over men, and about magic excitement was produced by this publication in 1615. and demons of various kinds. And finally,

the title of "Fama Fraternitatis, or Discovery of the

cerning a general Reformation of the whole World."

where he was instructed by the wise men, and after

Some declared in favour of the fabled Rosecrucian society, as a body of orthodox and learned reformers of the world, and others charged them with errors and mischievous designs. But in the year 1619, Doctor Jo. Valentine Andrea, a famous Lutheran divine, published his Tower of Babel, or Chaos of Opinions respecting the Fraternity of the Holy-Cross; in which he represents the whole history as a farce, and gave intimations that he was himself concerned in getting it up. But many enthusiastic persons, especially among the Fire-Philosophers, continued to believe the fable, and professed to know many of the secrets of the society. Much continued to be written about them for a long time, and indeed the whole subject is involved in great obscurity, See Arnold, ubi supra, vol. ii. p. 244-258, ed. Schaff. hausen, 1741; Henke's Gesch. der christl. Kirche, vol. iii. p. 509-511, and the authors there cited. For the origin and character of the Theosophists or Fire-Philosophers, see above on the preceding century, p. 641, &c.-Mur.

1 For an account of this singular man, to whom our Boehme owed all his wisdom, see Wood's Athena Oxoniens. vol. i. p. 610, and Historia et Antiq. Acad. Ozoniensis, lib. ii. p. 390, &c. Concerning Helmont the father, sce Witte, Memoria Philosophorum, and others. Respecting Helmont the sou, see Feller, Miscellanea Leibnitianea, p. 226, and Leibnitz's Epistles, vol. iii. p. 353, 354. Concerning Boehme, see Arnold, and various others. Respecting the rest, various writers must be consulted. [See also page 808, below.-R. 2 See Möller's Cimbria Literata, tom. i. p. 376, &c. [He was a learned physician and chemist, wrote much, and ranked high as a physician and a good man. He died at Magdeburg, A.D. 1622, aged 51.- Mur. [See some particulars of Fludd and Boehme, in Hallam's Introd. to the Literature of Europe, vol. iii. p. 153, 4, and in Tennemann's Manual, &c. p. 311, 12.—R.

3 Concerning him, see Brucker's Hist. Critica Philosophia, tom. iv. par. i. p. 709, &c.-Schl. 4 As Brucker, who gives account of the preceding Fire-Philosophers, is in everybody's hands, while the history of Knorr of Rosenroth must be derived from the more rare Nova Literaria of Krause, Lips. 1718. p. 191, we shall here offer the reader a brief notice of him. Christian Knorr of Rosenroth was a Silesian nobleman, who together with no ordinary knowledge of medicine, philology, and theology, possessed a particular acquaintance with chemistry and the Kabbala, and was privy counsellor and chancellor to Christian Augustus, the palsgrave of Sulzbach. He was born in 1636, and died in 1689. His most important work was his Kabbala Denudata, in 2 vols. 4to, printed, vol. i. Sulzb. 1678, and vol. ii. Frankf.-on-Mayn, 1684. also aided the publication of many Rabbinical works, and particularly of the book Sohar, at the Hebrew press in Sulzbach, 1684, fol.- Schl.

He

5 See concerning him, Brucker, ubi supra, p. 706; Arnold's Kirchen-und Ketzerhist. part iii. chap. xix. p. 197, &c.; and Bayle's Dictionnaire, article Kuhlminn.-Schl.

6 He belonged to the gymnasium of Steinfurt in Westphalia, was afterwards professor of philosophy at Giessen, and at last preacher at Darmstadt. He applied himself also to chemistry and medicine, and was a follower of Paracelsus. He wrote, among other things, Systema Hermetica Medicine, and Physica Hermetica, in which there are very many paradoxical propositions.-Schl.

7 This man also belonged to the Rosecrucians. He was a counsellor at Anhalt-Dessau. and composed many Theosophic tracts which were published at Amsterdam in 1660 and 1662, 8vo. He died A.D. 1616.-Schl.

they all expressed their very obscure and 32. Des Cartes philosophised in a very inexplicable ideas in unusual and most obscure phraseology.

different manner. For he abandoned the mathematics, which he at first had made 31. This contest between the chemical his chief dependence, and betook himself and the Peripatetic philosophers was mode- to general ideas or to metaphysics, in order rated, and a new method of philosophising to come at that truth which was the object was introduced by two great men of France, of his pursuit. Calling in the aid therefore namely, Peter Gassendi, professor of ma- of a few very simple positions, which the thematics at Paris and canon of the church very nature of man seems almost to dictate at Digne, a man of erudition, well ac- to him spontaneously, he first endeavoured quainted with the belles lettres, eloquent to form in his own mind distinct ideas of also and deeply versed in all branches of souls, bodies, God, matter, the universe, mathematics, astronomy, and other sciences; space, and of the principal objects of which and René des Cartes, a French chevalier the universe is composed. Combining these and soldier, a man of an acute and subtle ideas together and reducing them to a genius, but much inferior to Gassendi scientific form or system, he applied them in literary and scientific acquirements. to the correction, improvement, and solid Gassendi in the year 1624 forcibly and establishment of the other parts of philoingeniously attacked Aristotle and the Aris- sophy; always taking care that what foltotelians, by publishing some Exercitations lowed or was brought out last should against Aristotle; but the work excited so coincide with what went before and appear much resentment and was procuring him to rise spontaneously from it. Scarcely so many enemies, that from his strong love had he brought his reflections before the of peace and tranquillity he desisted from public, when a considerable number of discontinuing the publication. Hence only cerning men in most countries of Europe, two books of the work which he projected who had been long dissatisfied with the against Aristotle were published; the other dust and darkness of the schools, approved five (for he intended to embrace the whole and embraced his views, and wished to see subject in seven books) were suppressed in Des Cartes recommended to the studious their birth. He likewise in an appropriate youth and the Peripatetics set aside. On work attacked Fludd, and through him the the other hand, the whole tribe of PeripaRosecrucian Brethren,2 which was not un- tetics, aided by the clergy who feared that acceptable to the Aristotelians. At length religion was in danger from some secret he pointed out to others, though cautiously plot, raised a prodigious dust to prevent and discreetly, and he himself entered upon the new philosophy from supplanting the that mode of philosophising, which ascends old; and to carry on the war with better by slow and timid steps from what strikes success, they bitterly taxed the author of the senses to what lies beyond their reach, it, not only with the grossest errors but and prosecutes the knowledge of truth also with downright Atheism. This will by observation, attention, experiment, and appear the less surprising, if we consider reflection on the movements and the laws that the Aristotelians fought, not so much of nature; that is, from the contemplation for their system of philosophy as for their of particular events and changes in nature, personal interests, their honours and emoendeavours gradually to elicit some general luments. The Theosophists, Rosecrucians, ideas. In these inquiries he called in the and Chemists seemed to enter into the aid especially of the mathematics, as being contest with more calmness; and yet there the most certain of all sciences; and ne- was not one of them who did not regard glected metaphysics, the precepts of which the doctrines of the Peripatetics, vain and he regarded as so dubious that a man injurious to piety as they were, as far more desirous to know truth can safely confide tolerable than the Cartesian discoveries." in but very few of them.3

1 See Bougerell, Vie de Gassendi, p. 17, 23.

derived by them from the precepts of metaphysics, have little of certainty and solidity. [Further information respecting the philosophical views of Gassendi may be seen in Hallam, Introduction to the Literature of Europe, vol. iv. p. 194, &c.-R.

The title of his book was, Exumen Philosophic Fluddana, sive Exercitatio Epistolica, in qua Principia Philosophia Roberti Fluddi reteguntur, et ad recentes illius libros adversus Marinum Mersennum (a friend of Gassendi) scriptos Respondetur, cum aliquot Observa-written the history of Des Cartes and his philosophy, tionibus Calestibus, Paris, 1630, 8vo.-- Schl.

3 Those who wish for farther information on this subject may consult his Institutiones Philosophiae, a diffuse performance, which fills the two first volumes of his works [published by Sorbierre in 6 vols. fol. A.D. 1658]. Throughout these Institutes it seems to be his main object to show that the opinions of the philosophers, both ancient and modern, on most subjects,

Here should be read, besides the others who have

Baillet's Life of Des Cartes, in French, printed at Paris, 1691, 2 vols. 4to. Add the Nouveau Dictionnaire Histor. et Crit. tome il. p. 39. [The student should refer to Hallam, ubi supra, vol. iii. p. 229, &c. for an able summary of the philosophical views of Des Cartes. See also respecting his principles and his followers, and the works which treat of this system, Tennemann's Manual, &c. p. 314, &c.-R.

The result of this long contest finally was, I cal and physical knowledge. Among his that the wiser part of Europe would not countrymen Gassendi had few admirers; indeed give themselves up entirely to the but among their neighbours, the English, philosophy of Des Cartes alone, yet in who at that time were much devoted to conformity with his example, they resolved physical and mathematical studies, he had to philosophise more freely than before and a larger number of adherents. Even those to renounce their servitude to Aristotle. English philosophers and theologians who combated Hobbes (whose doctrines more resembled those of Gassendi than they did those of Des Cartes), and who, in order to confute Hobbes, revived the Platonic philosophy, such as William [Benjamin] Whichcot, Theophilus Gale, Ralph Cudworth, Henry Moore, and others, did not hesitate to associate Plato with Gassendi, and to put such a construction upon the latter as would make him appear the friend of the former.2

scends to explain by them the changes 35. All those who either embraced the which take place in nature, the purposes sentiments of Des Cartes or adopted his and the attributes of God, the character rules of philosophising endeavoured to and duties of men, and the constitution and elucidate, confirm, amend, and perfect the fabric of the universe; this, more timid and metaphysical method in philosophy. And modest, first inspects most attentively the these persons were very numerous in this objects which meet the eye and which century, especially in Holland and France. lie as it were at our feet, and then ascends But as some of this class not obscurely to inquiries into the nature and causes of undermined religion and the belief of a things. That supposes very much to be God, of whom Benedict de Spinoza was perfectly well understood, and therefore is the ringleader, and as others of them very ready to attempt reducing its know- abused the precepts of their master to ledge into the form of a regular and com- pervert and overthrow certain doctrines plete system; this supposes innumerable of religion, as Balthazar Becker, hence things to elude our grasp, and instructs its in various places the whole school became followers to suspend all judgment on nu- extremely odious. There were none who merous points, until time and experience pursued the metaphysical method more shall throw more light upon them; and wisely and at the same time more acutely lastly, it supposes that the business of making out complete systems, as they are called, either entirely exceeds human ability, or must be left to future generations who shall have learned far more from experience than we have. This disagreement respecting the first principles of all human knowledge has produced much dissension upon subjects of the greatest importance, such as the character of God, the nature of matter, the elements of bodies, the laws of motion, the mode of ments. Malebranche yielded too much to the divine government or providence, the constitution of the universe, the nature and mutual relation of souls and bodies; and the wise who reflect upon the subject of these disputes, and upon the habits and dispositions of human minds, are fearful that these controversies will be perpetual.' At the same time, good men would be less troubled about these contests if the parties would show more moderation, and would not each arraign the other as chargeable with a grievous offence against God, and as subverting the foundations of all religion.2

I Voltaire published a few years since, La Métaphysique de Neuton, ou Parallèle des Sentimens de Neuton et de Leibnitz, Amsterd. 1740, 8vo, which little book, though not so accurately written as it should be, nor a complete treatise on the subject, will yet be not a little serviceable to those who wish to know how much these philosophic schools disagree.

2 It is well known that Des Cartes and his followers, the metaphysical philosophers, were formerly accused by vast numbers and they are still accused of subverting all religion and piety. In the list of Atheists Unmasked, by Harduin (Euvres Mêlées, p. 200, &c.), Des Cartes, with his principal and most noble followers, Anthony le Grand and Silvanus Regis, hold a conspicuous place. Nor is the name of Malebranche, though many think nearer allied to the fanatics, excluded from this black catalogue. (See p. 43.) It is true that Harduin very often talks like one delirious; yet he does not here follow his own genius, but adopts the views of the Peripatetic and Mathematical sects, who more fiercely than others assailed the Cartesian philosophy. And even very recently Voltaire, though he is much more moderate, yet not obscurely assents to these accusations. (Métaphysique de Neuton, chap. i. p. 3, &c.)

than Francis Nicholas Malebranche and Godfrey William Leibnitz; the former, a Frenchman and one of the Fathers of the Oratory, a man equally eloquent and acute; the latter, a German, to be ranked with the first genius of any age. Neither of them indeed received all the dicta of Des Cartes, but they adopted his general method of philosophising, added many opinions of their own, improved many things, and confirmed others with more solid argu

his very fertile imagination; and therefore he often inclined towards those who are agreeably deceived by the visions of their own creation. Leibnitz depended entirely on his reason and judgment.

36. The mathematical philosophy already mentioned had a much smaller number of followers and friends, the causes of which

Nor were the Metaphysical philosophers more temperate towards their adversaries. Long since, Anthony Arnauld considered Gassendi in his dispute against Des Cartes as subverting the immortality of the soul. And Leibnitz added that the whole of natural religion was corrupted and shaken by him. See Maizeaux, Recueil des Diverses Pieces sur la Philosophie, tome ii. p. 166.

Nor docs Leibnitz hesitate to declare that

Isaac Newton and his adherents rob God of his best attributes and perfections, and rip up the foundations of natural religion. And most of the writings of both parties even down to our times are full of such criminations.

3 Concerning Malebranche, the author of the interesting work entitled, Search after Truth [Recherche de la Vérité, Paris, 1673, 3 vols. 12mo, also translated into English, in one vol. fol.-Mur.], and of other metaphysical works, see Fontenelle, Elogès des Acadé miciens de l'Académie Royale des Sciences, tome 1. p. 317, &c. For what is reprehensible in his philosophy, see Harduin's Atheists Unmasked, in his Euvres Melées, p. 43, &c. The life and doctrines of Leibnitz are described by the same Fontenelle, ubi supra, tome ii. p. 9. But his history and his philosophy are the most copiously described by Ludovici, in his History of the Leibnitian Philosophy, written in German, 2 vols. Lips. 1737, 8vo. The genius of this great man may be most satisfactorily learned by reading his Epistles, published by Kortholt, in 3 vols. 8vo, Leipsic, and afterwards by others. Nor is it necessary I should here. draw his portrait. [Of these two eminent men see also. Hallam, ubi supra.-R.