THE PATH OF EVOLUTION 



ence of God, the immateriality of the soul, the origin 

 and certitude of our knowledge, otherwise than had 

 been done before him ; who worked on a mechanical 

 and general explication of the phenomena of nature. 

 A man, finally, who attacked boldly the Scholastic 

 Philosophy, would naturally alarm those who lived 

 in estate or reputation by teaching all that he over- 

 turned. The Roman Catholics took no active part 

 against him, though a decree of the congregation of 

 Cardinals in Rome, in 1643, forbade the faithful to 

 read or to possess either these or any other books of 

 the French Philosophers. In Holland, though he 

 had many advisers and warm friends, there were 

 many hostile to him. Among the professors of 

 Theology in the Reformed Churches he had vio- 

 lent enemies. They accused him of impiety and 

 atheism, and would have had him expelled from the 

 country, had he not applied to the Ambassador of 

 France, who hastened to address himself to the 

 Prince of Orange, and succeeded in quenching the 

 disturbance. 



Descartes found that his metaphysical theories, to 

 which he attached the greatest value, brought him 

 incessant quarrels and troubles. He regretted the 

 loss of the peace and quietness in which he had lived. 

 The celebrity he had obtained brought him no 

 equivalent therefor, and he wished he had never 



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