Five Letters to Father Verjus by Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz

In this series of letters, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz writes to Father Verjus discussing various topics related to China and their mission there. Leibniz expresses gratitude for the introduction to Father Bouvet, who possesses knowledge about China, and emphasizes the importance of the mission for the glory of God, the spread of Christianity, and the advancement of arts and sciences. He seeks information about China’s geography, languages, and ancient history, as well as instructions on Chinese characters. Leibniz also discusses his own contributions to invention and philosophy, addresses concerns about Cartesian philosophy and the misinterpretation of his views, and proposes a new system of characters to aid in education and conversion.

Throughout the letters, Leibniz expresses his support for Father Verjus’s mission and discusses various developments and challenges. He mentions the reprinting of his work, “Novissima Sinica,” his contemplation of a new character system for precise calculations, and his progress in the calculus of infinitesimals. Leibniz shares his enthusiasm for the spread of Christianity in China and the potential for evangelical work there. He also discusses topics such as Tartar conflicts, the death of the Chinese monarch, and the provision of his works to other individuals. Leibniz emphasizes the importance of knowledge exchange between Europe and China, suggesting that missionaries engage in research and compilation of Chinese knowledge. He concludes by stating that investigating Chinese knowledge is crucial for the advancement of both religion and science.

• Hanover, December 2, 1697
• To Reverend Father Verjus, Hanover, end of the year 1698
• To Reverend Father Verjus,
• To Father Verjus of the Society of Jesus, Hanover, January 1, 1700
• To Father Verjus, in Paris, Hanover, August 18, 1705

Hanover, December 2, 1697

To Reverend Father Verjus in Paris,

My very Reverend Father,

The obligations I have long had to Your Reverence have been multiplied by your latest letter and the kindness you have shown me by introducing me to Reverend Father Bouvet, with the hope of learning important things about China through him. I take great interest in this matter because I consider this mission to be the greatest affair of our times, both for the glory of God and the propagation of the Christian religion, as well as for the general welfare of mankind and the advancement of sciences and arts, both here and among the Chinese. It is a trade of enlightenment that can provide us with the fruits of their labor accumulated over thousands of years and reciprocate with our own, thereby doubling our true wealth on both sides. This is something greater than one can imagine.

I beseech Your Reverence to convey my response to Reverend Father Bouvet, which is quite extensive, but I hope it will be pardoned due to the importance of the subject matter. There are many things I desire, which undoubtedly cannot be obtained fully except with time. However, I have no doubt that there are already many samples available, and I hope that Your Reverence, who is in charge of this matter, will grant me a share of them as deemed appropriate, assuring you that I will not abuse them. I desire some information about what has been sent to China and what has been received from there, the geography of those countries and their neighbors, the languages of Tartary, and the Lord’s Prayer in as many languages as possible, with word-for-word translations. I also desire more specific instructions regarding the Chinese characters, a critique of their ancient history and chronology, so that we may know what foundation to build upon. Above all, I am interested in what China provides that is most useful for the arts and sciences. I understand that Your Reverence is too occupied to satisfy my curiosity, and Reverend Father Bouvet, considering his imminent return to the grand empire, will hardly have any leisure. However, I hope that Your Reverence may be able to entrust a friend [word erased] with the task of providing me with the information I seek about what has already been acquired, and I also hope that you will continue to encourage Reverend Father Bouvet to assist me further in the future.

My Reverend Father, I wish I could contribute something specific to your holy and noble design in return. However, I doubt that I can serve you in any other way than through my general labor. Setting aside history, public affairs, and international law, which are not within the scope of this place, and focusing solely on the progress of sciences and arts, I mainly think of two things. Firstly, the advancement of the art of invention (which is the art of arts) through new methods and significant examples; secondly, the establishment of a solid philosophy in which piety and truth find equal fulfillment. I have touched upon this point in the past in journals and elsewhere, and I also mention it in the letter to Reverend Father Bouvet, as I have learned that there is a strong inclination to spread philosophy in China. I believe that through my dynamics or the science of force, the philosophy of the ancients can be justified and what has been regarded as vain and inexplicable in recent times can be made intelligible and useful. In this way, we can benefit from new discoveries without overturning the received doctrine or theology, which is of great interest.

I will take this opportunity, Your Reverence, to inform you that having written a letter to a friend who is also a friend of the Bishop of Avranches, in which I express my opinion that it seems good and necessary to impose significant restrictions on what is taught in Cartesian philosophy, this letter was made public in the Journal des Savants of Paris and was refuted there, with an explanation as if I had attacked the religion of the late Mr. Descartes and the Cartesians. It is true that I had observed in that author’s propositions whose consequences seem to be detrimental to providence and lead to the doctrine of Spinoza. However, I had also declared at the same time that I did not attribute these consequences to the author or his followers, as charity obliges me to believe that they have not seen these dangerous consequences. And since my anonymous opponent took issue with a proposition I mentioned as being found in Descartes, namely, that matter successively receives all possible forms, from which I inferred that with every possibility occurring, there would be neither choice nor providence, I did not fail to indicate the location in Descartes' work, the 47th article of the 3rd Book of Principles, and to justify my remark in the 32nd and 33rd Journals of this year. A reply was recently made in the 37th Journal, and without taking into account my formal declaration, I am still being accused of attacking the religion of that author, which is not fair. I mention these things so that Your Reverence may see my good intentions as well as my moderation.

I have another plan, which I have been contemplating since my youth (as I publicly expressed in a printed discourse in the year 1666), and which I consider to be of the greatest consequence for the propagation of religion and [for ?] missions, as well as for the invention and examination of the most important natural truths for meditation and practical application in daily life, as well as in the arts and specific professions. However, due to a lack of leisure and capable individuals to assist me with their work, I have not yet been able to execute it. It involves a method of discovering and establishing truths that are entirely different from mathematics, through demonstrative calculations that render them as indisputable as those of numbers and algebra. And the new philosophical calculation of this universal species, remaining independent of any language, would be of marvelous assistance in making even distant peoples, whose languages differ greatly from ours, appreciate the most significant and abstract truths of natural religion, upon which revealed religion is based. (This plan is quite different from the projects of those who have sought to fabricate new languages or scripts that they called universal. However, while avoiding their inconveniences and obstacles, it would possess their advantages to a remarkable degree, as well as many other advantages, since it would not only serve for communication, which can be achieved through arbitrary signs, but also for discovering the truth, to the point of being able to say, let us count to resolve disputes, something that arbitrary signs, used until now, cannot accomplish.) This calculation would have other surprising uses that cannot be explained in a few words and are difficult to believe before experiencing them. I do not know if I will have the opportunity to put my idea into practice, and seeing that no one else has come up with anything similar, I fear that it may be lost to the great detriment of missions. However, we must entrust everything to the will of God, who will bring forth favorable circumstances for the execution of this idea when it is suitable to the designs of the Supreme Wisdom.

I pray that Your Reverence will continue to dedicate yourself to the public good and the propagation of the faith of Jesus Christ, in which you

I ask Your Reverence to preserve yourself for the public good and for the propagation of the faith of Jesus Christ, in which you are such a powerful instrument of the glorious intentions of your great monarch. And I remain, my very Reverend Father, with respect and gratitude, Your Reverence’s very humble and obedient servant,

Leibniz

P.S. Have any Chinese individuals been brought to Europe who could serve as living interpreters?

To Reverend Father Verjus, Hanover, end of the year 1698

My very Reverend Father,

Having learned from a letter from Mr. Abbé Le Thorel, chaplain to the Duchess of Hanover, that you inquired about my well-being and showed great kindness towards me, I thank you for your favorable remembrance. I have already received so many proofs of it on several occasions that I regret not being able to express adequately the obligations I have to Your Reverence.

My Novissima Sinica has been reprinted, and a learned friend of mine has added a Latin version of the portrait of the Emperor of China made by Reverend Father Bouvet. I hope that we will receive good news of the successful journey of this father. This mission seems so important to me for the good of faith and humanity that I am extremely interested in it, and I often contemplate what could be of service. Mr. Menzelius, a knowledgeable man in these matters [and others], is working to restore the key to Chinese writing, which was lost due to the caprice of the late Mr. André Muller, who burned his papers before his death.

Since my youth, I have been contemplating a new system of characters that would not only serve to represent, like those of the Chinese, but also enable precise calculations on many things that have been reasoned vaguely until now. I have made some progress in my calculus of infinitesimals and in another unpublished method that I call Calculum Situs. However, I intend to go much further if God grants me enough life and leisure, or assistance for that matter. I believe there is nothing that can serve human reason more than a complete system of characters. Now, Reverend Father Bouvet writes to me with the hope of deciphering certain old characters that are revered by the Chinese and that he believes have a connection to the philosophy we could impart to them, serving our theology. I have thought that perhaps one day these characters, if well understood, could be adapted not only for representation, as characters typically are, but also for calculation and to aid imagination and meditation in a manner that would astonish the minds of these people and provide us with a new means to educate and win them over. Furthermore, this view of the character system, which I have had for so long and mentioned in a little book I wrote when I [could have been] twenty years old, is one of the most important that I know of. But I fear that it may perish.

Before concluding, in order to acknowledge my gratitude to Mr. Abbé Le Thorel for providing me with the opportunity to thank you, I must inform Your Reverence that Electress of Brunswick has expressed her esteem and kindness towards this abbé on several occasions, and she would be pleased to hear anything that works to his advantage. I am not relaying this on the orders of the princess, but knowing her sentiments gives me the boldness to mention it, considering your involvement in matters concerning her. Likewise, she speaks of you and Count your brother, whenever the occasion arises, with marks of extraordinary esteem. As for me, I remain with unwavering attachment to you, wishing you a very happy new year and many more to come.

My very Reverend Father,

Your most humble, etc.

To Reverend Father Verjus,

in Paris

My Very Reverend Father,

To add something more to what Your Reverence mentioned about the news coming from Moscow regarding China, I have written to Holland in order to learn precise details about it. However, the response did not provide me with any information, so I strongly agree with Your Reverence that the supposed death of the Chinese monarch could very well be an invention by the Muscovites. Besides the fact that distance favors the spread of false news, the Muscovites are known for fabricating such stories. I recall that a few years ago, I was informed from Poland that letters from Moscow spoke of an invasion of Western Tartars into China, numbering over eight hundred thousand men. This news apparently stemmed from the war that the King of Elouth was waging at the time with some success against the Tartars [kasans?] who were allied with China.

We are assured that while the Tsar was in Vienna, where Father Wolf of your Order was in close attendance, he granted permission for Catholic missionaries to pass through his country. I do not know if this permission has already been utilized; however, I have been informed that the passage from Tobolsk to Beijing is becoming increasingly facilitated as the roads have been cleared, and instead of camels, carts pulled by horses are now being used. I have also been told that a Calmuck prince named Bousiouctichan defeated a Mongol prince named Atsiaroisin-chan, who was forced to retreat towards the Great Wall. However, the victor was subsequently driven out by his cousin Areptachan. If these Tartars did not have continuous wars among themselves, they would be capable of inundating a large part of the world, as Chingis Khan did in the past. Good Lord, what a harvest it would be for evangelical workers if Christianity were firmly established in China! And what an obligation Christianity would owe you, my Very Reverend Father, for dedicating so much care and effort to advance this great apostolic work under the auspices of the greatest and most zealous of kings.

Father Vota of your Order conveyed greetings to me through Mr. [Steinberg], who was sent from Wolfenbüttel to the King of Poland. He informed me that Father Grimaldi has passed away in Beijing. I do not know if he learned this news through Moscow or via Persia. But since he did not mention the alleged death of the Emperor of China, it further strengthens my hope that this news is false.

I have arranged for Mr. Dezalliers, a bookseller from Paris who has gone to the Frankfurt fair, to be provided with some copies of Novissima Sinica to be delivered to Your Reverence. I kindly request that you give one to Father Gobien, who will have received the letter I wrote to him some time ago, along with the one from Father Kochanski, for whom I owe my gratitude as he, according to what I have been informed, spoke favorably in his work about my preface to Novissima Sinica. Through him, I hope to learn news from China and the missions, sparing Your Reverence the trouble of providing me with such updates.

I forgot to mention that the Bishop of Ancyra, while passing through Holland, intended to travel to Persia and from there to Abyssinia as an ambassador or papal envoy. But I assume that you are already aware of these matters from reliable sources, especially what has been published in Holland. It is said that when the King of Abyssinia requested a French physician through a man he had sent to Cairo for this purpose, one of your fellow French fathers, disguised as the physician’s assistant, was sent along with him.

You know my principles, my Very Reverend Father, according to which I wish the greatest success in the world to all these evangelical workers, as I have no doubt that they provide good instructions to those who are already Christians and teach the essence of true faith to the unbelievers. I hope that what they mix with controversy in relation to us (in which I believe they proceed very prudently and cautiously) cannot destroy it. Moreover, the spread of knowledge and the arts, as well as good morals, are also for the glory of God and the well-being of humanity. The Electress thanks you very sincerely for your kind words and good intentions towards Abbé Le Thorel. She will always be delighted to hear good news from Your Reverence and from Monsieur le Comte de Crécy, whose memory is capable of bringing her much joy. I pray to God to preserve you, my Very Reverend Father, along with Monsieur le Comte, as individuals whom I esteem as highly beneficial to the Church and the State, and who are not the least object of my veneration. With zeal, I remain,

Your very humble and obedient servant,

Leibniz

Wolfenbüttel, April 20, 1699

To Father Verjus of the Society of Jesus, Hanover, January 1, 1700

My Very Reverend Father,

To have the opportunity to renew my expressions of zeal, I take advantage of the beginning of the new year to wish you happiness and a long series of other years filled with all kinds of prosperity, so that the public and the Christian Church may long enjoy a person whose extraordinary merit, amidst so many other significant responsibilities, has been particularly evident in one of the most important matters, namely, that of distant missions.

Some of my friends have criticized the favorable opinion I hold of your mission to China, which leads me to believe that your neophytes have been wrongly accused of idolatry. I was pleased to finally see the collection of writings produced in Rome, recently printed in Cologne, if we are to believe the title. However, I have not yet found anything that compels me to change my sentiments, and I still believe that we should give a favorable interpretation to the practices and doctrines of the Chinese, as much as possible, just as Saint Paul did when he saw an altar in Athens dedicated to the unknown divinity. Otherwise, we will harm a mission that I consider to be one of the most significant for the well-being of Christianity and humanity. This compelled me to respond to a friend, and I have taken the liberty of sharing an excerpt of my response with Your Reverence. As I am so invested in this matter, I would like to learn what course the affair has taken in Rome.

I believe I have asked Father Gobien to inquire, by writing to China, whether it is possible to see the old testament of the Jews in China in order to compare it with the Hebrew text of Europe. According to Father Semedo’s Relation of China (Part 1, Chapter 30) and what Mr. Bernier says about letters from a father of your Society (Voyage to Kashmir, p. 140 of the Hague edition, 1672), one could find insights there since it appears that these Jews in China have had no communication with those in Europe for a long time. Therefore, it is possible that among their books or passages, there may be ones that the European Jews have altered or omitted out of hatred for Christians. It would be important to at least copy the beginning of their Genesis to see if their genealogy of the patriarchs aligns, perhaps, with the Septuagint or at least with the text of the Samaritans. Nonetheless, I hope that Father Bouvet will keep his word and that I will have some share in what comes from that country, as a result of the kindness of Your Reverence, for which I will always be grateful. With zeal, I remain, my Very Reverend Father, yours, etc.

To Father Verjus, in Paris, Hanover, August 18, 1705

My Very Reverend Father,

As you are responsible for foreign missions and have been kind enough to facilitate my correspondence with your missionary fathers, I have taken advantage of it from time to time, and I hope that Europe can benefit a little more from the opportunities they have to make discoveries in China. I fear that when the Chinese have learned our sciences, they may one day drive out the Europeans. Therefore, it seems to me that we should not miss the opportunity to compensate by exchanging their knowledge with ours. Although I see that most of our missionaries are inclined to speak disdainfully of Chinese knowledge, their language and characters, their way of life, their artifice and manufacturing, even their games, are almost as different from ours as if they were people from another globe. It is impossible that even a concise but accurate definition of what is practiced among them does not provide us with very significant insights, which, in my opinion, would be more useful than knowledge of the rites and furnishings of the Greeks and Romans that so many scholars focus on.

It is true that the primary task of missionaries is to work towards the propagation of the faith. However, the investigation of the language, hieroglyphs, ancient book criticism, ancient Chinese history, and even Chinese sciences and their origins will be very important in confirming the history of the Holy Scriptures, making our theology more acceptable to the Chinese, and helping them return to the spirit of their ancestors, who I believe were closer to the ancient Hebrews and others who had not yet been corrupted by idolatry, as exemplified by the story of Job, despite what some doctors of the Sorbonne may say to the contrary. Furthermore, as it turns out, my new binary arithmetic (which, instead of using the decimal progression, employs the dyadic and has no other digits than 0 and 1, thereby revealing remarkable order and coherence in all sequences of numbers) is perfectly expressed by the ancient characters of Fohi, whose meaning had already been lost by the time of Confucius. This discovery, although small, is astonishing and should contribute to awakening curiosity, both in Europe and in China. It may make a great impression on the Emperor of China and intelligent individuals in that country, sparking their interest in the investigation of the origins, theology, and philosophy of ancient China. This relationship with the characters of Fohi shows that the Chinese were not always as superficial as one might have thought. I believe that even in Rome, knowledge of this discovery could have a positive effect, providing a better understanding of the ancient history of these distant peoples. In China itself, it can help make one of the important and challenging articles of our religion and metaphysics more acceptable to them, namely, the belief that God and nothingness are the origin of all things, that God created everything out of nothing and continues to do so, with conservation being a continuous act of creation. This origin of things from God and nothingness receives great enlightenment from its analogy with the origin of all numbers from unity and zero, since all numbers can and should be expressed most scientifically by the two digits 1 and 0, and therefore have a unique and continuous relationship to these first two elements of numbers.

Thus, the research of antiquities, languages, characters, history, philosophy, and sciences of China, which are so useful for the propagation of religion, and considering that Europeans are so interested in obtaining something valuable from China in exchange for the sciences they bring, it appears important and reasonable that a portion of the missionaries be primarily devoted to these researches, which are no less integral to their apostolic functions. As numerous skilled individuals from Europe have been sent to China in various professions, these individuals would be suitable for comparing practices in China with those here. Moreover, it is even possible, in my opinion, to engage the emperor himself and encourage him to contribute, as being Tartar and belonging to a nation distinct from the Chinese, he would be delighted to have compilations and descriptions of all Chinese knowledge to share with the Tartars. In fact, he is already working on a comprehensive Tartar-Chinese dictionary, which would be no small advancement. Through the completion of a comprehensive dictionary and the explanation of all Chinese characters in Tartar, one could delve into the details of all Chinese knowledge. Additionally, the emperor has ordered the explanation not only of the common characters but also of technical characters relevant to various professions, clarified with the use of illustrations, where our Europeans could be very helpful. Therefore, it is simply a matter of suggesting things in a tactful manner.

Furthermore, I spoke to Father Bouvet about a letter or dissertation that the renowned Kepler had written in the past on the occasion of a report by Father Terentius from China, in which Kepler took the opportunity to express what he desired to be observed in China in relation to astronomy. Father Bouvet asked me for this writing by Kepler, but I cannot find it here, and I imagine it would be more readily available in Paris. Therefore, I beseech you, my Very Reverend Father, to arrange for a copy to be made and sent to Father Bouvet, along with other books that can be useful in explaining hieroglyphs, which he applies effectively in service of the faith. Above all, if I may take the liberty, I recommend that you oversee the research and compilation of Chinese knowledge in physics, mechanics, history, and geography, as they would provide us with valuable insights. This should be our primary objective after the propagation of the faith.