Ramsay ’ s Spiritual Entourage in France
However , a new encounter , in Rome , would allow him to firm up his vision , when he met the Jesuit priest Jean-François Fouquet , who had returned from China after having been a missionary there for twenty-two years . 29 He had been caught up in the Chinese rites controversy that lasted from 1701 to 1746 and resulted in the Jesuits being expelled from China . Ramsay tried to plead his case in Rome before Cardinal de Polignac , the French chargé d ’ affaires , and the Jesuit Father Vitry , a devoted friend of Fénelon . The issue was this : were Chinese ritual practices ( and in India , Malabar rites ) permissible for new converts to Christianity ? To begin with , it was thought that homage paid to Confucius ( condemned by the Pope in 1701 , 1702 and 1742 ) consisted by then of little more than secular rituals . However , Fouquet , returning to France with a whole series of Chinese rituals , thought he detected in them traces of the Christian mysteries and the tradition of the Patriarchs of the Old Testament , since the origin of Chinese civilization went back almost as far as the Flood .
Joseph Spence , in his Anecdotes , recounts conversations that he had with both Ramsay and Father Fouquet . 30 Anecdote 1406 lists the Jesuit father ’ s book projects , one of which is described as follows : “ I shall publish ‘ The Temple of the most Ancient Wisdom ,’ in which I shall show that Adam was informed of the doctrines of the Trinity and Future Redemption ; that this knowledge was delivered down to Moses and revived by him ; that it was preserved in other mystic books , and that several of these books are still preserved in China .” Spence adds : “ I got this list of his intended publications at the desire of M . Ramsay ; and observed at the time that he was working on so many designs together , that I feared he would never finish one of them ; which proved to be the case .” 31
In addition , Fouquet — who like Father de Prémare was a Figurist as well as a Jesuit — gave Ramsay copious information about Chinese traditions and practices . In his diary , Fouquet reports a conversation on the subject that
29 Ramsay ’ s meeting and discussions with Father Fouquet are fairly well documented . See Bruno Neveu , “ La ‘ science divine ’ du chevalier Ramsay ,” pp . 177-196 in Fénelon : philosophie et spiritualité ( actes du colloque organisé par le Centre d ’ étude des philosophes français , Sorbonne , 27-28 mai 1994 ) edited by Denise Leduc-Fayette ( Geneva : Droz , 1996 ). For a more general view of Ramsay ’ s connections with Jesuit Figurism , see also Jean Ehrard , L ’ idée de Nature en France dans la première moitié du xviiie siècle ( Paris : Albin Michel , 1963 ) especially pp . 426 ff . Virgil Pinot , in La Chine et la formation de l ’ esprit philosophique en France ( 1640-1740 ) ( Paris : Geuthner , 1932 ), eloquently explains Jesuit Figurism ( pp . 347 ff .), and discusses the links between Ramsay and Father de Prémare ( pp . 358 ff ). For the crossover between the Quietism and Chinese Rites controversies , see the same work , pp . 92-99 .
30 Joseph Spence , Observations , Anecdotes . Anecdote nos . 1206 to 1301 ( pp . 442 to 476 , vol . I ) describe his conversations with Ramsay ; anecdotes nos . 1406 to 1415 those with Fouquet , whom he met in Rome in 1732 . This one ( Spence , vol . 2 , p . 519 ) is also cited by Bruno Neveu , “ La ‘ Science divine ’,” p . 187 . In 1409 , Fouquet deciphered the prescience of Jesus ’ incarnation in Chinese writing .
31 Both these citations from Spence are taken from Anecdotes , Observations , and Characters of Books and Men Collected from the Conversation of Mr . Pope , and Other Eminent Persons of his Time ( London : Carpenter , 1820 ) pp . 97-98 .
9