Selected quad for the lemma: body_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
body_n	nature_n	soul_n	unite_v	6,882	5	9.6339	5	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A51897	The fifth volume of letters writ by a Turkish spy who lived five and forty years undiscover'd at Paris : giving an impartial account to the Divan at Constantinople of the most remarkable transactions of Europe, and discovering several intrigues and secrets of the Christian courts (especially of that of France) continued from the year 1642 to the year 1682 / written originally in Arabick, translated into Italian, and from thence into English, by the translator of the first volume.	Marana, Giovanni Paolo, 1642-1693.; Bradshaw, William, fl. 1700.; Midgley, Robert, 1655?-1723.	1692 (1692)	Wing M565CL; ESTC R35022	171,587	384

the Resurrection that is that our very Dust shall be Rais'd again and Organiz'd into a Body The Nazarenes are of the same Opinion But methinks there 's no Need of stretching and straining of Nature Besides this Opinion is Inconsistent with other Fundamental Doctrines of the Mussulman Law We are all taught to believe That the Souls of Just Men Saints and Martyrs immediately on their Departure from the Body ascend to Paradise If so then they either live there in an Vnbodyed Estate or they have New Bodies assign'd 'em by the same Providence which gave them their Old Be it which Way it pleases God It will appear a manifest Botch in the Works of the Omnipotent an Indecorum in Nature to make these Souls either cast off their New Bodies at the Day of Judgment for the Sake of their Old Rotten Reliques after they have enjoy'd all the Ravishing Delights of Eden for so many Ages or to stand in Need of any Bodies at all after they have liv'd so long in a Separate Condition There 's no Sence in 't Doubtless this Opinion was first hatch'd by those who believ'd the Sleep of the Soul and held that it was Inseparable from the Body For then they had no other Way to comfort themselves with any Probable Hopes of a Surviving Immortality but by maintaining That as the Soul slept with the Body in the Grave so both Soul and Body shou'd conjointly Rise again at the Day of Doom Or perhaps this Figure of our Resurrection was inculcated to insinuate the Faith of an Immortal State into the duller Minds of those who were Incapable of comprehending either the Pre-Existence of Souls their Self-Subsistence after Death or their Translation into other Bodies It seems to me much more easie to believe according to the most Obvious Works of Nature that after our Dissolution here we shall either assume some Body of Air Fire or other Elemental Supplement or by Magnetick Transmigration shall be United to some Vegetable or Animal Embryo than to dream of Recollecting all our Scatter'd Ashes together after so many Thousands of Years wherein they have been dispers'd perhaps through all the Ranges of the Vniverse Surely our Holy Lawgiver and all the other Prophets intended no other Thing by the Doctrine of the Resurrection but only to convince the World that the Soul was Immortal and that consequently there wou'd be a Reward of Good and Bad Works after this Life We shall live for ever Old Lawyer And what signifies it whether we have the same Bodies or others so long as we are Happy in any State And if we are Metamorphos'd we cannot fail of our Specifick Felicity since every Creature is Happy in its Own Essence Then let us be Apes Dromedaries Camels or any Thing but Hogs and we shall have Bliss enough That Creature is the very Emblem of Vncleanness and therefore its Life cannot be the Object of a Mussulman's Wish Yet we know not the Laws of our Change or Transmigration from this Mortal Life For the Soul according to Pythagoras and the Ancients is Capable of all Forms If thou wond'rest what has put me upon this Discourse it is the Remembrance of what I have heard thee relate of the Apparition of Dead Mens Bones in the Cemetery of Grand Caire in Egypt at a certain Season of the Year when Multitudes of People by Custom flock thither to behold this Wonderful Scene of a Sham-Resurrection I can give it no better Title since in all Probability 't is only the Effect of some Artifice us'd by the Christians to procure Money from the Admiring Croud And I 'm confirm'd in this Belief by a Letter I receiv'd from Mehemet the Exil'd Eunuch who now resides at Caire and having been curious to observe this Celebrated Miracle among the other Rarieties of this City sent me such an Account of this Passage as convinces me there 's some Cheat in 't He tells a great many other Things of the Superstition and Ignorance of the Egyptians as to the Pyramids and the suppos'd Spirits which guard ' em In all he laments the Condition of Mortals who have so far degenerated from themselves and suffer'd their Reason to be debauch'd with Fables Sage Mustapha thou art of the Race of those who have preserv'd Science and Philosophy A Halo of Light invests thy Soul Let no dark Opinion of God and his Works eclipse thy Intellect Paris 20th of the 8th Moon of the Year 1655. LETTER IX To Solyman Kuslir Aga Prince of the Black Eunuchs THY Dispatch came in a Happy Hour Yet the Contents of it surpriz'd me 'T is a strange Turn of Fortune that the Bassa of Aleppo after so many Rebellions shou'd become the Sultan's Favourite and be invested in the Highest Dignity of the Empire Yet who knows but this may be the onely Effectual Course to reclaim him and of an Enemy to render him a Friend For Ambition is a Vice so nearly bordering on Vertue so refin'd and subtle in its Complexion that when the Passion which cherishes it is once gratify'd with its proper Object it soon becomes a Vertue it self and transforms a Libertine to a Hadgi ranking a Man to Day among the most deserving Hero's who but Yesterday was in the Number of the Seditious Therefore I cannot but highly applaud the Counsel of those who perswaded the Grand Signior to this Uncommon Choice of the Vizir Azem The whole Empire has languish'd for Want of a Man of Abilities in that Supreme Station ever since the Seal was taken from the most Illustrious Chusaein Bassa through the Malice of his Enemies And in this Juncture they cou'd not have pitch'd on a Man more capable of the Charge than this bold Bassa who besides his Experience in the Wars both by Sea and Land is look'd on as the Stoutest Man in this Age. As for his Former Crimes they proceeded onely from his Discontent and Thirst of Glory which is now sufficiently allay'd by the Bounty of our Sovereign The Cause therefore of his Extravagances being thus seasonably remov'd the Effect will naturally cease But suffer me to ask thee Do they not resent at the Seraglio his Approaches to that Sanctuary of Mortals with such a Formidable Retinue Thou tellest me he is attended by Forty Thousand Men an Equipage fit for a Sovereign Monarch Perhaps 't is onely the Effect of his Martial Genius and that he is willing to appear like a Soldier Or it may be he really suspected Danger and that he was design'd for a Sacrifice Which made him come thus guarded to the Feet of his Master That his Son might revenge his Death by some desparate Attempt on Constantinople Be it how it pleases God it seems the Sultan wink'd at all and receiv'd him with such Marks of his Esteem and Affection as are seldom vouchsaf'd to Subjects I hope the Event will answer his Expectation These new Methods of Clemency may prove more successful than the severe Conduct of Former Times Men of

Traytors Yet Nothing more common in France and other Countries of Europe than for Men to wear on their Heads Ornaments of Womens Hair instead of their own As to Religion I believe they will not much trouble him being no Zealots themselves And provided he does but profess himself a Christian and a Catholick they 'll make no farther Inquisition The Italians in General are much like the Ancient Romans in their Humour Men of grave Aspects and Carriage and much more compos'd in both than the French who appear Ridiculous through the Levity of their Discourse and Actions The Former abound in Sage Precepts of Morality and Politick Aphorisms which serve as a Rule whereby to square the Course of their Lives The Latter only affect some flashy Improvements of Wit and Conversation studying rather how to please Women than Men coveting to be perfect in External Accomplishments and the Graces of the Body whilst they slight the more valuable Endowments of the Mind In a Word they are mere Apes and Mimicks On the Contrary the Italians are Men of an Awful and Majestick Behaviour solid Judgment and deep Reach If you see them smile you shall seldom or never hear 'em laugh Whereas the Motion of a Feather will set the French a-Braying like Asses These will contract a Warm Friendship with any Man at first Interview heighten it with a Thousand Compliments make him their Confessor and unbosom all their Secrets Yet a Second Encounter shall extinguish this Passion and a Third shall revive it again Whereas those are cautious and flow in the choice of their Friends and when once that Knot is dissolv'd 't is never to be fasten'd there again They are Irreconcilable in their Hatred and Revenge But there are Men to be excepted in Both Nations who fall not under these General Characters France affords many Wise and Learned Persons and Italy not a few Fools and Ideots Vertues and Vices are strangely mix'd in all People War Commerce and Travel with other Humane Occurrences alter Men's Natural Dispositions and give the Lye to the Exactest Observations that can be made Besides Time changes all Things And the Qualities which this Age remarks in the Italians may in the next be transferr'd to the French For there is no Constancy in any Thing under the Moon Zeidi will find great Examples of Frugality among the Venetians in the necessary Expences of their Persons and Families Yet Abundance of Magnificence in whatever relates to the Publick which the Subjects of that Commonwealth serve with open Purses and free Hearts Indeed they are not so Remarkable for their Temperance as some other Parts of Italy Libertinism and Voluptuousness reign uncontroul'd in Venice Women and Wine are there almost as Common as the Elements Yet 't is observ'd that Strangers generally debauch more with Both than the Natives God preserve Zeidi from their Temptations If it be his Fortune or Duty to visit Padua he ought not to make too long an Abode in that Nest of Philosophers and Physicians lest they first Anatomize his Soul and discover the Secrets of his Commission and then turn his Body to a Skeleton as they once serv'd a Moor whom they dissected Alive to make Experiment perhaps whether a Mahometan's Blood Circulated the same Way as a Christians Those Italian Physicians are very Cruel and think it no Sin to try Poisons and other Fatal Tricks on the Poor that so they may be the better able to keep the Rich on the Rack at their Pleasure and make their Market on ' em I know not Zeidi's appointed Station or what Cities he is to see But where-ever he goes 't will be Necessary for him to use Abundance of Caution for the Italians are the closest slyest and most Judicious People in the World But I forget that he is chosen by the Divan for this Employment to whom the Characters of all Nations are known and who penetrate into the most Interiour Recesses of Men's Spirits Therefore I lay my Hand upon my Mouth in profound Submission and acquiesce to my Superiors Still praying That the Grand Signior may have Faithful and Wise Ministers at Home and no Novices for his Agents Abroad Paris 3d. of the 2d Moon of the Year 1659. LETTER XVI To William Vospel a Recluse of Austria THere is a Street in Paris which they call the Street of Hell The Reason of this Name is said to be because at one End of it there formerly stood an Old House possess'd by Devils who were so troublesome that as the Records of Paris affirm an Edict of Parliament was pass'd to remove all the Inhabitants out of their Houses in that Street and shut up the Entrance with a Wall Since which these Daemons were expell'd by the Carthusians who built a Monastery in the Place If this Story be true it redounds much to the Reputation of that Order and of all you Monasticks in General who by your Exercisons are able to subdue the Infernal Spirit But I have heard so many silly Tales of Houses being haunted by Ghosts and Hobgoblins that I know not how to give Credit to this Besides when I consider the Nature of Incorporeal Beings it seems Rediculous to think that they can take Delight to play the Antiques to frighten poor Mortals Or confine themselves to an Old Ruin'd Castle for such was this House for the Sake of a Little Sport When according to the Ancient Philosophers every Incorporeal Being is far more Excellent than the most Perfect Body and can be Every Where Neither are they at any Time Locally Present in Bodies but only by a Propension or Habit are inclin'd to them And this they mean of Living Bodies What Charm then can there be in an Old Rotten Fabrick of Stone and Wood to allure and detain Immaterial Substances Certainly the Nature of these Separate Essences is very Remote from all Compounded Beings I have been often at a Loss in Contemplating the Soul of Man Sometimes it seems no otherwise distinguish'd from the Souls of Brutes than by being United to a Body of Different Organs Which causes us to shew more Evident Tokens of Reason than they in the Faculty of Discourse and in our Actions Yet when I consider more attentively the Operations of our Mind and Intellect I cannot but conclude There is a vast Distinction between our Souls and those of the Beasts I have with Pleasure observ'd the Excellency of Humane Intellect in Madmen and Dreamers who being come to themselves as we usually say relate many Things of which they were before Ignorant and comprehend Things surpassing their Former Imaginations It appears therefore more Rational to me That the Soul is Every-Where and No-Where as the Ancients say Than that it is shut up and Imprison'd in the Body as a Wild Beast in his Den or Liquor in a Glass However by an Ineffable Production of it self it is Present in Every Part of the Body as the Light of the Sun is diffus'd through the Air and

go under the Name of Moses For in them these Bloody Victims are expressly enjoined God cannot be Contradictory to himself Doubtless a great Part of the True Law which God gave to Moses was lost in the Former Captivities of your Nation when your Cities and Provinces were quite dispeopl'd your Fathers led away by the Victorious Monarchs of the East and your choicest Memoirs Abolish'd So that what remains now is only a Collection of Fragments patch'd up by Esdras and other Industrious Scribes to which they gave the Specious Title of the Law of Moses that so they might fasten the wavering People in Obedience to something tho' of their own devising Nathan I do not go about to seduce thee Examine All Things Believe neither me nor thy own Rabbi's but trust onely thy Reason which will stand by thee at the Day of Judgment when all Things else shall fail Paris 8th of the 5th Moon of the Year 1655. LETTER IV. To Dgebe Nafir Bassa THese Nazarenes like the Followers of the Prophet are divided into Innumerable Sects and so 't is in all Religions Men cannot think alike Nature it self delights in Variety God has diversify'd the Faculties of our Souls as he has the Constitutions of our Bodies The Zealot is subject to Choler the Bigot to Melancholy the Libertine is of a Sanguine Complexion and as for the Rest they are but so many Walking Speaking Lumps of Flegm This is the Physical Division of Mortals Under which are comprehended the Various Tempers which result from the different Mixture of these Four Radical Principles And for this we must thank Galen and Hippocrates But if we consult the Astrologers they will assign as many different Humours and Complexions as there be Stars in the Heavens at least as there be Constellations They 'll tell ye of the Bull and the Bear and God knows what Heavenly Stories The Dragon shall spit Venom on one Man's Nativity out of his Mouth and give another a poisonous Lick with his Tail If we believe all they say there is not an Herb in the Field but has its particular Star whose Influence causes it to grow and prosper tho' Moses tells us that all the Vegetables appear'd on the Earth even before the Stars themselves had their Existence in the Heavens But whether there be any Truth in Astrology or no this is certain that Men differ in their Sentiments of Religion as they do in their Faces The Physiognomy of Faith is Infinitely various One Man believes in Moses Another in Jesus the Son of Mary a Third in Mahomet our Holy Lawgiver Then these are subdivided into Innumerable Parties The Jews have Seventy Eminent Religious Factions There are number'd Seventy and One Sects of Christians and Seventy Two of Mussulmans These are all at Odds about Words and Exteriour Ceremonies so Zealous for Charity and Peace that they are in perpetual Wars for its Sake murdering one another in the Love of God And such stout Champions for the Truth that they scruple not to tell Ten Thousand Lyes in its Defence The Differences between the Greek and Armenian Nazarenes the Nestorians and Jacobites with other Sects of the East are not unknown to the Ministers of the Port. But perhaps thou art a Stranger to the Newer Schisms of the West The most Eminent Division of Christendom at this Time is into Catholicks and Protestants The Former obey the Roman Mufti and boast of an Uninterrupted Series of Caliphs from Peter the Vicar of the Messias down to the present Pope The Latter are the Followers of Luther and Calvin Men who pretended to certain New Lights and claim'd a Right to reform the Errors of their Fathers in Matters of Faith and Worship God best knows who 's in the Right or Wrong of these Two Parties But they have always been at Daggers-drawing in Defence of their several Tenets persecuting and massacring one another for Conscience-Sake Both Sides appeal to the Written Law to Apostolical Traditions to the Testimony of the Ancients the Decrees of Councils and the Practice of those whom they call the Primitive Church Yet neither Part will allow the other a Sufficient Judgment to Interpret those Memoirs of Antiquity nor an Authentick Power to decide Controversies of this Nature Thus their Disputes are like to last till the Final Day of Decision when all Human Quarrels shall be determin'd before the Grand Tribunal In the mean Time they take all Advantages to execute their Spight and Malice on each other under the Notion of Justice and Piety We are daily alarm'd here with Tragical Relations of horrid Murders and Butcheries committed on the Protestants of Piedmont and other Parts under the Duke of Savoy Whilst some say That all these Reports are false and the Sufferings of those People are according to Law the due Punishment of their Rebellious Actions It is not in my Power to adjust their Differences nor is it Material to a Mussulman which of them has the Law on their Side Yet if I were inclin'd to take any Part it shou'd be that of the Oppressed Cruelty I abhor And our Holy Prophet has forbid Force to be us'd in Matters of Religion since the Conscience is Responsible to none but God May that God from whose Vnity have sprung all the Different Essences in the World and all the Variety in Nature give us Grace to love the Whole Creation and not to shed Blood unless in the Sacred Combat Paris the 13th of the 6th Moon of the Year 1655. LETTER V. To William Vospel a Recluse of Austria I HAD concluded thee Dead till thy Letter certify'd me to the Contrary So long a Silence between Friends wou'd put any Man upon the same Thoughts Ten Years have slipt away between my last to thee and thy Answer I hope thou dost not measure Time after the Rate of the Seven Sleepers Perhaps thou hast enjoin'd a Ten Years Silence and Abstinence from all Manner of Conversation by the Superiour of thy Convent Such Severities are not uncommon in Religious Societies where the main Business is to acquire Perfection The Armenian Monasteries are much more Rigid where but for One Extravagant Word I have known a Man's Tongue lock'd up for the Space of Two and Twenty Years under Pain of Excommunication and then releas'd onely for the Sake of a most Significant Jest put on the Patriarch in Mute Signs Wit will find a Way to vent it self tho' it be at the Fingers Ends. And for ought I know thou hast oblig'd thy Abbot to take off the Censure by the like Method There was Abundance of Satyre in the Subsannation of the Ancient Romans and no less Rhetorick in the Shrugg or Grimace of the Modern Italians The Mimicks of Scaramouchi are a perfect Lampoon and Harlequin is Burlesque all over Thou know'st I always entertain thee with one frivolous Discourse or other to divert thy Melancholy and thy own Letters give me Encouragement They seem to be writ in a pleasant Humour But

by the Force of their Arms. But God when he divided the Nations of the Earth and separated the Sons of Noah assign'd to every one a different Constellation according to whose Influence the Genius of each People is dispos'd They all obey the Dictates of their Particular Stars and the Orders of Eternal Destiny Therefore Sage Minister since Mars is the Planet of the Sons of Ismael and the Ascendant of the Ottoman Empire there is no Need that we shou'd turn Apostates from the Star of our better Fortune to court the Glances of Mercury who is onely the Guardian of Knaves and Cheats Paris 26th of the 2d Moon of the Year 1655. The End of the First Book LETTERS Writ by A Spy at PARIS VOL. V. BOOK II. LETTER I. To Cara Hali Physician to the Grand Signior FOrmerly I cou'd have writ to thee with as much Freedom as I cou'd to Egri Boinou on whom rest the Favours of God or as I can now to Gnet Oglou to my Brother Pesteli Hali or to any of my Familiar Friends But when I consider the Eminent Station thou possessest in that the Health and Life of the Mighty Emperor is now committed to thy Skill and Care I am many Times at a Stand how to address my self Methinks thou art tinctur'd with the Majesty of that Personage whose Hand thou so often hast the Honour to touch when requir'd to discover by the beating of his Pulse the Interiour Maladies which afflict his Royal Soul Yet I know thou still retainest thy Humanity and wilt not despise those whom thou hast once thought worthy of Friendship Suffer me then to converse with a Philosophick Freedom that is in an Address void of Formalities and Reserves I know 't is of no Import whether Mahmut be sick or well provided the Grand Signior be serv'd What signifie the Languishing Pains or more Acute Agonies of a Slave so long as he is able to carry on his Master's Interest We are not born for our selves only but by the very Condition of our Nature are oblig'd to consecrate our Lives to the Service of others 'T is a Reciprocal Debt from which no Mortal is free Every Man owes Something to his Relations more to his Friends but most of all to the Publick Therefore I make no Complaints of my Lot nor murmur at the Will of Destiny I accuse not the Stars of my Nativity nor tax 'em with Unkindly Aspects But am contended with my Fortune be it Good or Bad and resign'd to the Pleasure of Heaven As Nature has fram'd my Body Infirm and Weak subject to a Thousand Maladies So is my Mind also harass'd with Distempers which have no Number But above all I labour under a Kind of Intellectual Fever a perpetual Thirst of Knowledge which all the Books and Converse in the World cannot satisfie There is no End of my Doubts and Scruples Every Thing appears to me as Ambiguous as the Answers of the Delphic Oracle Nay I am a perfect Riddle to my self Tell me dear Hali how I shall cure this Dropsy of the Mind and I will not trouble thee with the Inconsiderable Diseases of my Body I have a high Opinion of you Physicians And shall put more Confidence in thy Advice than in the Tefta of the Mufti Conceal not thy Art from Mahmut who admires thee with a Respect equal to that which he pays to the Memories of Avicen Al' Razi Helal and the Rest of those excellent Physicians mention'd in our Arabian Histories And now these Ornaments of our Nation are come into my Mind permit them to divert me from saying or thinking any more of my self at present For it will be better to turn the Discourse to such Illustrious Themes At worst it will be but an Innocent Digression In perusing the Lives of those Famous Men I meet with some Passages which are very Delightful Perhaps thou hast seen the same Yet 't will do thee no Hurt to call 'em again to thy Remembrance I have read in a certain Manuscript penn'd by Ibrahim the Son of Helal a Renown'd Physician at Badgat this Memoir of his Father On a certain Day says he that my Father had administred Physick to the Emperor Tuzun for which he was presented with a Royal Vest rewarded with Five Thousand Piasters and by the Emperor's Command was carried through the Streets in State I observ'd that he was Pensive amidst all those Honours and troubled in Mind when I thought he had greatest Reason to rejoice Therefore I said to him My Father How comes it to pass that you are thus dejected at a Time when all the World expects to see you dissolv'd in Pleasure He answer'd Son He that has bestow'd these Honours on me is a Fool and does things preposterously without Reason And therefore I cannot rejoice at these Vntimely Favours he has shew'd me being sensible they are not the Effects of his Judgment but of his Ignorance I gave him a Cathartic Potion which work'd so strongly with him that it excoriated his Bowels and brought forth Blood So that I was forc'd to use a different Method both to remove his Distemper and stop the Violent Flux In the mean while he Ignorantly believing That the Voiding of so much Blood procur'd him the present Ease and Health he feels therefore order'd these Honours to be done me which thou seest Now that which saddens me is my Fear lest some Time or other he may through his Ignorance commit as great an Error on the Contrary Side and suspect that I have done him an Injury when there is no Ground for it and so put me to Death Tell me my Friend had not this Physician Reason for his Behaviour and Words He was a Man of Great Abilities accomplish'd with divers Sciences and in high Esteem with the Princes and Nobles of Arabia It were worth thy Pains to peruse frequently the Life of Avicen written by himself wherein thou wilt behold the Methods he us'd to acquire a Profound Skill in the Sciences How he was at first puzzl'd in the Metaphysicks and was almost driven to Despair till a Dream unfolded to him whatsoever was difficult When he was at a Loss in any Disquisition he us'd to frequent the Mosques and pour forth Devout and Fervent Oraisons to the Source of Intellectual Lights till the Thing was manifested to him He sate up late a-Nights having a Lamp perpetually burning in his Chamber applying himself attentively to Books and Contemplation This was his Course till he was Consummate in all the Liberal Sciences which was in the Eighteenth Year of his Age. But of all the Physicians whose Names adorn our History none seems Comparable to Thabet Eb'n Abrahim for his Skill in exactly Indicating the Causes of a Distemper by the Different Measures of the Pulse Abul Pharai his Contemporary and Friend writes thus of him On a certain Day says he when I was with Thabet Eb'n Abrahim of Harrain in the House of Abu Mohammed the Vizir Abu

can as soon withdraw it self as that Light when interrupted by a Cloud In a Word I conceive the Soul to be a very Free Agent and that it is here and there and every where It United it self to the Body by its own Choice and can retire again from it at Pleasure One closely pursu'd Act of Contemplation will at any Time carry thee or me to the Invisibles whenever we go resolutely about it Paris 1st of the 4th Moon of the Year 1659. LETTER XVII To the Venerable Ibrahim Cadilesquer of Romeli THere has not a Year escap'd since my Arrival at Paris wherein I did not send to the Ministers of the Ever Happy and Exalted Port constant Intelligence of Battles Sieges Storming of Towns and such other Occurrences of War as happen'd between the Kingdoms of France and Spain But now I believe my Future Dispatches must contain other Matters For in all Appearance this War which has lasted Four and Twenty Years is in a fair Way to be ended The King of Spain grows weary of his Continual Losses in Italy Flanders and Catalonia And he of France seems glutted with Perpetual Victories and Conquests In a Word these Two Potent Monarchs laying aside their Quarrels are making diligent Preparations this Year for a Campagne of Friendship and Love They are both in Arms yet commit no Acts of Hostility Whilst Cardinal Mazarini on the Part of this Crown and Dom Louis d' Aro de Gusman First Minister of Spain are gone to meet each other on the Frontiers of both Kingdoms as Plenipotentiaries for their Respective Masters to concert the Measures of a Lasting Peace and treat of a Marriage between the King of France and the Infanta of Spain All Europe is amaz'd at this surprizing Change And the French and Spaniards who border on each other can hardly believe their own Senses whilst they find a Mutual Commerce restor'd between their Frontier Towns and Villages which had been Interrupted ever since the Year 1635. about Sixteen Moons before I came to this City But though they are thus disposed to Peace here in the West the Northern Monarchs are pushing the War forward in Sueden Denmark and Poland with all Imaginable Vigour and Animosity The coming over of the Elector of Brandenburgh to the Danish Interest has made a great Alteration in their Affairs For whereas Fortune seem'd before in all Things to favour the Suedes now they lose Ground and find their Attempts Unsuccessful Four Thousand of their Men fell before the Walls of Copenhagen in Three Nights and Two Days Which caus'd King Gustavus to raise the Siege Whilst the Duke of Brandenburgh retook Fredericks-Ode and thereby restor'd to the King of Denmark the Provinces of Holstein Jutland and Ditmarsen The Hollanders also have had a Combat with the Suedes at Sea and sunk Fourteen of their best Ships Besides what they burnt and took These Events have stirr'd up several Princes to mediate a Peace And 't is not Improbable but in a little Time we may see all the Christians good Friends And then 't will be Time for the Mussulmans to be upon their Guard As for Mahmut he will not fail to pry into the Counsels of these Infidels and send timely Notices to the Port. Leaving the Rest to the Wisdom of his Superiours and the Pleasure of Destiny Paris 29th of the 6th Moon of the Year 1659. LETTER XVIII To Musu Abu'l Yahyan Alfaqui Professor of Theology at Fez. THE Character which the Great and Illustrious Abdel Melec Muli Omar President of Presidents Grace and Ornament of Ancient Learning Oracle of Africa and Restorer of Obsolete Truth has given me of thy Profound Wisdom and Science fills me with Reverence and Sacred Love I am ravished with Wonder and Joy to hear That in this Age wherein the Mussulman Theology has suffered so many Innovations there yet survives a Man who dares and is able to assert against all Opposers not only the Primitive and Original Truth brought down from Heaven by the Hand of Gabriel but also the Real and Indubitable Sayings Sermons Counfels and Actions of the Prophet whilst he was on Earth conversing with Mortals before his Transmigration to the Gardens of Eternal Repose and Solitude Thou art the Enoch the Hermes Trismegistus of the Age. I have seen many Copies of the Zunè or the Book of Doctrine each pretending to comprize the whole System of that Divine Philosophy and Wisdom which dropt from the Lips of our Incomparable and most Holy Law-giver and were Attested by his Wife the Holy Agesha Mother of the Faithful and by his Ten Disciples Yet all these various Transcripts differ both in their Sence and Manner of Expressions I have perused the Books Entituled Dahif or Imperfect which contain the Memoirs of his other Wives and the Manuscripts called Maucof or Fragments Being only a Collection of some Select Sentences Aphorisms and Parables of the Sent of God But these have no other Authority to back 'em save the Credit of some Learned Scribes who were not familiar with the Divine Favourite only living in his Time and taking Things on Report In fine I have met with several Parchments of the Zaquini or Pretended Traditions of Abu Becre Omar and Othman But these I esteem as Spurious Corrupted and full of Errors What shall I say The Zeal of Omar Ebn Abdi'l-Aziz the Ninth Caliph of the Tribe of Merwan is not unknown to me I am no Stranger to his singular Piety not to be matched among Crowned Heads For of him it is Recorded That as he descended from the Throne at the Time of his Inauguration he gave the Robe from his Back as an Alms to a Poor Man And That during his whole Reign he spent but Two Piasters a-Day on himself And so great was his Resignation to Destiny an Admirable Vertue in a Sovereign Emperour that when he was on his Bed in his last Sickness and was counselled to take Physick he answered No if I were sure to heal my self only by reaching my Finger to my Ear I would not For the Place to which I am going is full of Health and Bliss This Caliph was a Miracle of Humility and his Charity always kept him Poor Moslema Ebn Abdi'l Malec relates That going to visit Omar on his Death-Bed he found him lying on a Couch of Palm-Leaves with Three or Four Skins instead of a Pillow his Garments on and a foul Shirt underneath Seeing this Moslema was grieved and turning to his Sister Phatema the Empress he said How comes it to pass that the Great Lord Commander of the Faithful appears in so squalid a Condition She replyed As thou livest he has given away all that he had even to the very Bed that was under him to the Poor and only reserved what thou seest to cover his Nakedness Then Moslema could not refrain but burst forth into Tears saying God shew thee Mercy upon Mercy thou Royal Saint For thou hast pierced our Hearts with the Fear of his Divine Majesty This Caliph was numbred among the Saints He it was that perceiving the Contradiction and Disputes of the Mussulman's the Darkness and Confusion in the Various Copies of the Zunè or Book of Doctrine assembled a General Divan of Mollah's and Learned Men at Damascus from all Parts of the Empire Commanding that all the Manuscripts of the Zunè which were extant should be brought in to this Assembly on Pain of Death to him that should detain one This being done he Commanded Six of them to be chosen out of the Whole Number by Vote Men Eminent for Learning and Piety And that these Six should severally collect out of all the Multitude of Copies each Man a Book containing what he thought to be the most Genuine Discourses of the Prophet concerning this World and that which is to come When this was executed according to his Will he commanded all the Old Books to be burn'd in a Field near Damascus Yet after all the Religious Care of this Holy Caliph to restore these Writings to their Primitive Integrity the Mussulmans soon fell into New Contentions about the Sence and Interpretation of these Correct Copies of the Zunè From whence sprang the Four Cardinal Sects on which all the Innumerable lesser and later Divisions among True Believers are founded I cannot therefore but inwardly rejoyce and from my Heart highly applaud the Method taken by those of your Renowned College to discern the True Doctrines and Sayings of the Holy Prophet from those which are Supposititious by comparing all the Books that are extant together and reducing Matters of Divine Revelation to the Analogy of the Alcoran Those of Philosophy and Moral Regards to the Standard of Experience and Reason For it is Impious to believe that the Divine Apostle would impose any Thing on our Faith repugnant to the Sence of Men or the Express Will of Heaven By the Soul of Pythagoras Mahomet said Nothing but what was Rational and Evident to any Unprejudiced Mind But the Greatest Part of these Sectaries are besotted They form to themselves False Notions of God and his Prophet and think to merit Paradise by their Stupidity Reverend Alfaqui I have much more to say to thee and many Questions to ask But Time and the Grand Signior's Service force me to conclude abruptly wishing thee Perfection of Bliss Paris 29th of the 6th Moon of the Year 1659. according to the Christian Style The End of the Fifth Volume