Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
spirit_n	heart_n	power_n	soul_n	6,944	5	4.6487	4	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A26259	Averroeana being a transcript of several letters from Averroes an Arabian philosopher at Corduba in Spain, to Metrodorus a young Grecian nobleman, student at Athens in the years 1149 and 1150 : also several letters from Pythagoras to the King of India, together with his reception at the Indian court, and an account of his discourse with the King, and his gymnosophists, and his rules and precepts : his account of the power and efficacy of numbers, and magical uses thereof : to which is prefixt, a Latin letter by Monsieur Grinau, one of the Messieurs du Port Royal in France, to the ingenius Monsieur Gramont, merchant at Amsterdam, concerning the subject of these papers, and how they came to his hands : the whole containing matters highly philosophical, physiological, Pythagorical and medicinal, the work having been long conceal'd is now put into English for the benefit of mankind, and the rectification of learned mistakes.; Correspondence. English. Selections	Averroës, 1126-1198.; Pythagoras. Correspondence. English. Selections.	1695 (1695)	Wing A4271; ESTC R1981	54,271	185

have kept their Law and Unity but Man has broken it in the highest degree All Peace and Happiness is comprehended within the Limits of Equality and Concord and on the other side All Misery and Evil is within the Bounds of Inequality and Discord so that there is a necessity that every Man should govern himself according to Order and Number or some body for him for such as have not prudence to govern and to give necessary Orders for themselves ought to be governed by others there being but few that have Minds that are able to govern themselves most being contented with the Rules of Custom be they better or worse therefore it is one of the greatest Evils in the World to be a Teacher and an Inventor of evil Customs and on the other side it is one of the greatest Blessings to Teach and Invent innocent Customs and good order of Living for Man hath broken himself off from Unity and Order to that degree that few incline to Vertue except the greatest number go before them and that it become a Custom to be Innocent and Vertuous Therefore the Brachmans praise God and his holy Powers that they have not given the World any precedent of Violence nor brought any evil Custom for Tradition and v●in Customs rule over most Nations and Men are so highly graduated ●● them that most of them will not only Kill others for not observing their Customs and believing in their Prophets but they will die themselves rather than leave an evil Custom to embrace a good one so far are Mankind degenerated from Unity and Concord For this cause we Teach our Followers to be careful that they in their common Communications do not utter or speak words that proceed from Fierceness and Wrath nor to give themselves Liberty to Complemental Jesting or Flatteries nor suffer the Tongue and the Heart to Rencounter each other and for the better observation and distinguishing from what Center and Quality all Words and Discourses proceed they divide the Soul and Mind of Man into three Parts Powers or Spirits which some of our Philosophers call Qualities or Principles they being the Grounds or Foundation whence all Imaginations Inclinations Words and Works do arise and p●●●eed viz. The first Power in Man's Soul is fierce severe and wrathful and when this Power does obtain the Ascendant the Imaginations Words and Works are harsh bitter surly bold and fierce filled with Envy and Malice tending to Violence and Hurt But when the second Power governs in the Center of the Soul then the Imaginations Words and Works are signed with the Character of Modesty with a Mild Friendly Courteous Behaviour filled with Mercy and Innocency always tending towards Unity But if the third Power or Quality have obtained the upper Region of the Soul and Heart then the Imaginations Words and Works are frivolous frothy mixed with wanton Jestings and Laughters between Jest and Earnest always tending to evil But oftentimes there is a mixture of these Q●●lities or Powers which run so high that no Humane Number can penetrate into or comprehend them which is done by the help of Art and Reason which do mightily ●eceive such to whom such Discourses are directed that do break the Unity and make a great Tumult and Discord in the Soul Upon which account we esteem it unlawful to shew Anger to our Children nor do we allow them to see vain phantastick Plays and Games nor when Men who are worse than Dogs that cause one fierce Beast to fight with another neither do use them to Jest with or Jeer one the other being well satisfied that in their green Years every thing takes deep Root that the Essences and Qualities thereof do never depart and the Concord being broken so early it proves a work of great difficulty for such either to distinguish the Good from the Evil or to obtain the Harmony of Nature or of their inward Powers For let Men know for Truth that the middle Spirit or Power is given unto Man by his Creator that Man might by its sweet and friendly Influences qualifie the Fierceness and Wrath of the first and the phantastick Folly of the third and so bring them all three into an equal Tone or Concord We believe that the Knowledge Power Operation and Government of these three Spirits and to be able to distinguish them is of absolute necessity for if we do not distinguish the nature of these Powers we cannot have any true Knowledge and where there is no Understanding there is no Order and where there is not Order there cannot be any Concord or Unity Therefore we do as much as in us lies advance Temperance and Order and do prefer the use of Numbers believing that God hath made all things according to Measure Weight and Number and the more we imitate him the nearer we draw and fitter we are to be joined to the uniform Powers of God in our selves Therefore the Brachmans when they prepare or administer Physick make use of certain Numbers and Words according to the present Dictates of the Harmonical Powers of their Souls always observing to make use of the first Number that arises in the Soul as being most simple intire and free from the multiplicity of Thoughts and stands nearest unto Concord which some of our Fathers call the Good Genius or Good Spirit but the Jewish Rabbies entitle it the Oracle which being diligently waited upon and its Dictates observed it reveals in Mens Souls the great Mysteries of God and makes known the Secrets of Nature and all the degrees of Temperance and Cleanness It is this good Demon that teaches the proper use of Numbers and all things necessary For this cause when any that are Distempered desire a Medicine this good Spirit or Power is ready and does immediately Dictate unto the Physician what Methods Herbs Words or Numbers he shall observe and administer But for the most part we observe the Numbers and Method of Words following viz. The Unity which in Medicine hath great Power and Vertue when it arises intire and unmixed with the Imagination or multitude of variety of Thoughts then we are directed by our good Demon to some one simple Herb and also how to prepare and apply it to the Sick Person and when we gather it we do turn our selves to the most glorious Eye of Heaven and utter words to this purpose O thou one only Power Creator and Preserver of all things and who hast endowed this Herb that I now gather with an inward and secret Vertue bless the Vse thereof to A. B. that he may by its sweet Influences and thy Blessing be restored unto perfect Health of the Body and Soul But note that our Physicians or Brachmans do not keep nor observe a constant Method either of Numbers nor Words they always vary according to the Dictates of the good Demon for the Oracle of our Souls will always imitate God and Nature whose variety is not to be comprehended by any

Spirit or Demon comes Love Pity Mercy Compassion c. as also Temperance Chastity Sobriety and Philosophy And from the third proceed mixed Thoughts various and wanton Discourses Laughters and Merriment and all that is called Phantastical They labour hard to make their Children understand the Nature and Operation of each of them that they may be sensible which hath the reigning and predominant power in them They call the second Spirit the good Demon and with great earnestness inculcate to their Children that they should be Governed by its Dictates and observe its Directions They teach them that it was from this good Angel that their Seers and Holy Men received the Law of Innocence They inform them that it is a great Blessing and a Token of being a particular Favourite of Heaven to avoid Violence and Oppression especially towards those Inferiour Creatures that cannot defend or help themselves That the greater part of Mankind are govern'd by the Counsels of the other Demons from whence proceed Wars Murder Destruction and all manner of Mischief From Three Years old to Seven they Instruct them in the Precepts of Moral●●● setting before them the Excellence o●●ertue and the Reason of their Duty Above all things they commend to them a strict and severe Justice which they never depart from for these Instructions are so early graffed in them and so plainly represented to ●●em that they become as it were incorporate and grow up along with them insomuch that they are no longer Moral Precepts but have in them the force of Nature They also very Vehemently and Pathetically set before them the Ugliness of an Idle Life Nay they say Idleness is inconsistent with Life for Life in the very Expression implies Activity and Motion They greatly commend to them moderate Labour and Exercise and frequently put them upon the Practice of the same even in their very tender Age. They are very Exact in teaching them the Art of Numbring and acquaint them with the Method of God's Works 〈…〉 Worlds viz. The Heavens Star● and Elements the Amazing Varieties 〈…〉 Vegetations and Minerals how they were all made and are wonderfully sustained by the Invincible Power of the Omnipotent Creator They teach them the Motions of the Celestial Bodies their Courses and Distances Postures and Configurations and Influences 〈…〉 they keep them continually 〈◊〉 in what either Employs their Understanding or Improves their Manners always accustoming them to the Exercise of Patience and the E●●●rance of Hardship Having therefore such an Early Education and continually before their Eyes the Examples of their Parents and Associates the Notions of these Truths do a● it were enter into their very Natures by repeated habits that nothing can remove them Having been Instructed that every word in their Law proceeds from God and at the same time having imbibed a true Apprehension of the Excellency and Justice of that ●eing they look upon it as his positive ●ommand and dare not disobey Thus a● Esteem of their Law is planted in them that no Avocations of Business nay nothing but invincible Necessity can exempt them from a punctual compliance with the same I shall here insert one passage of their nice exactness to the Rules of their Law It is held Sacred amongst them to keep themselves undefiled from any thing they think unclean and if such an Accident happen they a●● compell'd to repair to a certain pla●● of Purgation where they are to undergo all the Discipline of that Mystery before they must enter on their Bus●●ess Some of that Religion who were Factors came to Surat to Buy up a Commodity to be Transported into Persia The Europeans having notic● thereof and knowing the Obligation these People lay under one of their Merchants came near the Place where they sat and unawares took off one of his 〈◊〉 and touched them Immediately ●● great Cry was heard for the 〈◊〉 ●ound themselves polluted ●nd 〈◊〉 forced to leave their Business 〈…〉 to the Place of Purgation to the designed Satisfaction of the European Merchant If any of their Princes at any time desire their Daughters for Concubines they lo●e their Longing for they will submit to the Severest Tortures rather than break their Vow They are never to be Engaged in the Armies of their Kings for as much as they abominate all manner of Violence c. Nor can they ever be prevail'd with to become Servants being extreamly Jealous of their Original Liberty In all Revolutions of States they are free and enjoy under all Governments an undisturbed Exercise of their Religion on account of their Peaceable Deportment They abhor all strong Liquors their most customary Drink is Water They lye upon hard Quilts oftentimes on the bare Ground They neither Invade nor Covet any Man's Property they are tenacious of the Customs of their Ancestors and remain secure in the Satisfaction of their own Vertue and Integrity Dated Corduba 1150. Metrodorus THere is one thing more that will 〈◊〉 me with Matter for another Letter and that is Their Opinion of the Transmigration of Souls which shall be the last concerning these People that I shall trouble you with hoping that my over-forwardness in this matter shall be understood as an Evidence of my Willingness to embrace any Occasion of signifying the Respect I bear to a Person of your Character and ● Lover of Vertue All our Philosophers and Seers both Indians and others do firmly believe That God hath made Man in his own Image or Likeness which all acknowledge but few have so well considered it as they ought And that Man does contain the Principles and Properties of all things Corporeal and Incorporeal Also 〈◊〉 ●e is endued with an Elementa●● 〈◊〉 ●●pable Body which Body is 〈◊〉 enlivened or informed by an Et●●rial Spirit and so answers to the great Body of this World from whence the same is taken and therefore is an Abridgment or Epitomy thereof And as he does contain all the true Properties of the gross Elements viz. Earth Air and Water that nourish and sustain the Body He has also the Principle of Fire and Light that is an Immortal Soul and Spirit which gives Life and Motion to the Body of Flesh and answers to the Soul of the great World or that mighty Spirit which is the Moving and Vivifying and most wonderfully Creative and Conservative Power in this vast System of Things which we call the World and which does preserve and maintain every part thereof in Beauty Splendor and Harmony Now in this Illustrious Estate Man was Created and in him all Forms Qualities and Powers stood in equal Weight and Measure and if Man had continued in this 〈◊〉 then he would have imitated his 〈◊〉 in all well-doing and Governed all the Host of Heaven in Love and have been a Preserver and Guide to all inferiour Creatures which would have powerfully attracted not only the sweet and benevolent Influences of Heaven but also the Prayers and good Wishes of all the under-graduated

finds it This is that that opens the great Fountain of Benignity 'T is the Practice of Goodness that unites Mens Souls to God These O King are the Considerations that mov'd us to prohibit Violence and Cruelty to keep our Hands clean from the Blood of Animals and to commend to our Disciples a Friendly Conversation with all things to represent to them the Deformity of Vice and the Beauty of Vertue and Gentleness being well assured by the Universal Voice of God and his Law in Nature that an Hecatomb of Bulls cannot be so acceptable a Sacrifice to him as an unpolluted Mind and a Will wholly prepared to follow his Directions and submit to his Providence 'T is to a strict and severe imitation of him that we solicite our Followers who is not delighted with Cruelty but is extreamly pleased with the practice of Justice when Men have Learnt the Art of doing to others as they would be willing to have others do to them For no Man was made to be a Tyrant and an Epicure to domineer at pleasure upon his Fellow Creatures who at all times and in all respects answer the end of their Creation better than himself ●ut being hurried by the Spirit of Igno●ance and Error he is become the common Disturber of Nature's Harmony putting her whole Frame in Tumult and Combustion If Men pass out of the Body in this wrathful Disposition what Regions must they enter into and what Bodies must they be cloathed with And since by the secret Power of the Eternal Law every Spirit or Soul does naturally attract such matter for a Body as is suitable to its self Those that have lived in the Power and Operation of the Lion Tyger and Dog and so far brutified their Nature as to resemble those Animals must they not expe●● to be cloathed in such hideous Forms and Shapes As on the contrary the Virtuous and Compassionate shall be adorned with the Garments of Innocency and Light The first step to Vertue is to do no Hurt the next is to do all the Good we can even to the least of God's Creatures What Creature soever you show kindness to the same doth naturally call upon the Fountain of Benignity for a Blessing upon you so on t●● other hand the Cries of Oppressed Innocence take the deepest Root both in the Fountain of Love and the Fountain of Wrath. The Good attracteth and praiseth the Good and the Evil the Evil. Every Thing and Principle delights in its like This is demonstrable in all Natural Things that proceeded from the Immaterial World and is in all its Particulars Forms Figures Qualities and Operations And whoever does understand the outward cannot be ignorant of the inward for in the great depth they are both one The understanding whereof is of infinitely greater moment than your Men of War for they are Sons of Violence which do naturally attract the Malignity and Evil out of all things and the Curse of all Creatures takes place in them Therefore O King be pleased not to suffer any false Reports to Exasperate your Royal Inclinations against us who have no design of stirring up Sedition to the Embroilment of your State or Kingdom but only to communicate that Innocent and Benign Light Heaven has darted int●●ur Souls to as many of the Great Maker of the World's Creatures as we can perswade to embrace it that they may by perusing the Precepts of true Vertue and Philosophy become Dutiful and Peaceful Subjects in their present State and Blessed and Happy Spirits in the future As we doubt not O King shortly to make apparent when we ●●all have the Honour to be admitted into your Royal Presence Second Letter Most Noble Prince YOur desire I shall answer so far as I may The Vertues and Efficacy of Numbers are wonderful in their Operation when aptly and properly applied as the most Eminent Philosophers do unanimously confirm and teach Now Number is nothing else but a repetition of Unity for Unity doth most simply go through every Number and is the common Measure Foundation and Original of all Numbers and contains every Number joined together intirely the beginner of every Multitude always the same unchangeable It is the highest Number in Musical Harmony where all Forms and Qualities stand in equal Weight and Measure and may justly be called Concord therefore from Unity all things proceeded nothing was before it nor nothing is after it and all things that are desire the One because they all proceeded from the One God Creator of an Creatures which do endeavour to return to that One Fountain whence they proceeded All Clemency Mercy Softness Compassion and doing unto all Creatures as we would be done unto proceeds from the Unit● and Concord and is the Fountain from whence all true Knowledge and Religion arises Unity and Harmony is the Preserver of all Creatures Light and Loye are the Off spring and Sons of Concord All those are most happy that obtain it and all Creatures are most miserable without it Equality and Order are the Sinews and Health both of the Body and Mind not only in this World but in that which is to come For this cause Order and the proper practice and use of Numbers do mightily fortifie men against the Temptations of evil Demons and at the same time most powerfully attract the holy Powers and Communications of good Angels For in what Creature soever the natural Qualities stand nearest equasity or have made themselves so by observing God's Law in Nature they make that Creature most happy He that Sins against God's Law breaks and violates the Unity of his own Principles By all the Philosophical Mediums and Circumstances in Religion the first Founders intended to draw Men into some order that they by degrees might through the Forms obtain the Unity That those People are most happy that taught their Followers to live an innocent harmless Life which bears the nearest Relation to Unity and Concord For we do affirm That no inequality nor evil inclinations can or do arise or proceed from the Soul or Mind of that Man whose properties and inward qualities keep equal weight and measure All Evil proceeds from the many that is from the inequality of the inward Powers of Mens Souls therefore Harmony is the highest state of the Soul and the compleatest composition of the Senses Is not order the Original which is nothing else but a compleat Number the very Fountain whence all good Government proceeds both in the Celestial and Terrestrial Worlds Let us consider the Heavens Stars and Elements with their wonderful and amazing variety of Creatures wherewith the Four Lower Worlds are endued more especially the Celestial where the holy and various Powers of good Demons are beyond all humane number and all act and work in that exact Order and Number which the great first Being created them in therefore all the Beasts Fishes and Fowls of Heaven are more innocent and consequently more happy than Men because they

thing I find to be matter of Complaint against us is our practice of Singing contrary to common Usage and Custom nor do I know any grounds for Admiration except that the Consent and Joyfulness of our Sufferings may create Wonder in our Persecutors We are perswaded that the Soul of Man when rightly tuned that is not misguided by Passion nor swayed by Interest is a perfect Composition of Harmony Musick is endued with wonderful Excellencies and equal Parts not only of the Celestials but also of the Terrestrials For numerous Sounds digested into pleasant Songs do wonderfully quicken the inward Faculties and by a soft and natural Inclination and Sympathetick Attraction allure and unite all the Vertues and good Powers and its influence is so great when it proceeds from a well-tuned and composed Mind that it does not only change the Affections Intentions Gestures Motions Actions and Dispositions but it imposeth its own Harmonious Properties both on the Singers and the Hearers It pacifies the disorder of the Spirits not only of Men but even affects Birds and Beasts Wild Indian Elephants are tamed by Melodious Voices yea the Elements themselves submit to their power Do not labouring People sing to mitigate the Toil of their Employments for Harmony chears and refreshes the Animal Spirits causing an equal Operation of all the Qualities which in all respects forrifie Nature and at the same time chase away dull sordid Thoughts and Saturnine Humours rendring the Body and Mind capable to receive Divine Impressions Musick is a sure and constant Friend to Health and many times we have known Diseases give place to its salutiferous strains by a Magical Power and Sweet Violence raising all that is good into equality by moderating the Affections and composing the Mind Harmony is the true Musick of the Spheres acquainting Mankind with the Sympathetical Concord of the Universe that Golden Chain which unites Heaven and Earth It is the true Entertainment of Man's Soul fitting and preparing the Mind to understand both Divine and Humane Mysteries likewise our Preservation and Salvation in this World and in that which is to come do consist in a Harmonious Disposition of Parts Now our Songs are both Prayers and Praises to our Creator for his Infinite Goodness and Mercy Sleep is as it were a transitory Death during the Body's natural repose having shaken off for that time the Fetters of the gross Senses And while the Spirits are upon the Wing and as it were in the Suburbs of Eternity the holy Demons or good Angels and Spirits have their secret Intercourses with our Souls by whom as we are found worthy they open and communicate the Divine Mysteries to such as have submitted themselves to the Government of the Innocent Harmonious Powers as I said before Sleep is a transitory Death in which state there is no progression or passing of time perceived by our Senses and if we pass away into Eternal Regions we esteem it a Blessing and all our Fathers say That an easie Death is a Favour from the Powers of Heaven as being nearest equality therefore we sing out our Prayers and Praises to our Creator and as much as in us lies do keep our selves sensible and mindful that we may expect to be called out of this World every moment also that our Dreams may be Equal and Harmonious for Dreams and Visions are the greatest and clearest Arguments of the Immortality of our Souls and the only way and means whereby our Creator does vouchsafe to reveal and communicate his Secrets to the Sons of Wisdom It is also to be noted that our Songs being composed of equal Parts and being impregnated by the Vertue and Power of our Minds they do by a mutual Consent and Agreement compose and unite all that is good by a Sympathetical Inclination which renders us capable of the holy Unity These are the Reasons O King that mov'd us to Recommend Musick and Singing to our Disciples the good and innocent Effect whereof we have oftentimes and abundantly experienc'd An Account of a Personal Discourse between Pythagoras the Indian King and his Gymnosophists asserting the Truth of his Doctrine as 〈◊〉 as found in an Ancient Latin Manuscript attested by Averroes own Hand AS soon as the King of India heard that Pythagoras was come to Court he ordered his high Chamberlain to provide convenient Lodgings for him and his Companions and assigned him a Day when he would give him Audience of what he had further to alledge in defence of those Doctrines he had Preached in his Kingdoms particularly touching that Precept of his forbidding to eat Flesh or use any other manner of Violence towards these innocent and harmless Creatures The appointed Day being come and the King seated on his Royal Throne with many of his Courtiers and Gymnosophists about him Pythagoras was order'd to approach and the King received him after this manner Pythagoras we are assured as well by thy Letters to us as also by the reports of divers Persons that thou art a very Learned Man we have therefore thought fit to send for thee to our Court that we might have some Personal Discourse with thee We declare unto thee that we do not approve of taking up things upon Trust and are utterly unwilling to encourage a Practice meerly because it has been customary But to us it seems strange that thou shouldst teach our People absolutely to abstain from eating of Flesh and to forbear that Noble and Ancient Pastime of Hunting the first Exercise of Young Heroes and that which fits them for the attempting all Warlike and Glorious Actions contributing as well to the Improvement of the Mind as to the Strength and Agility of the Body calling it a Cruel and Inhumane Recreation altogether unbecoming the Dignity of Humane Nature Let us then freely hear thy Reasons convince us if thou canst Pythagoras and we our selves shall readily become thy Disciple After which Pythagoras thus began his Discourse May it please your Majesty we have in our defence two potent Enemies to Encounter Common Opinion and Ancient Custom I am not at all insensible how difficult it is to prevail upon prejudiced Minds and to perswade Mankind from the Practice of those things they have ever believ'd and used But what we are now about to prove is not Built upon the Authority of any Tradition but is the result of pure Truth and Light darted upon the Understanding by the Friendly Operation of the Creator's Spirit viz. upon the Souls of as many as have learnt to preserve the Original Principle in them in observing the Dictates of God's Law ●n Nature The Composition of Man at first was all Love and Sweetness it was by the malicious Suggestion and powerful Instigation of the Evil Demon that Wrath Contention Fierceness and Cruelty set up their Throne in the World For Man having estranged himself from the Fountain of Benignity became a violent Enemy to his Fellow-Creatures and having by his evil Practices degenerated from

prepared That Wind is an Epidemical Distemper The best way to prevent and rem●●● 〈◊〉 Th● Occasio● of 〈◊〉 and the 〈◊〉 of 〈…〉 ●hem Of Fasting a●● 〈…〉 the Ind●●● Physici●●● and Brachma●● us● with their 〈◊〉 Of the Ei●●●●●●ter Methods the Brachmans prescribe to be observed by their Women during the time of their Impregnation Lying-in giving Suck c. in respect both to Mind and Body Silence Recommended Chearfulness Commended The Brachmans Opinion of the Power of Musick Their Receipt to Cure Swelled Breasts Sugar a great Balsamick Their manner of the Education of Youth The great Influence and Power of the three grand Spirits of ●●e World Idleness Condemned The Reason why their Children never depart from the Law of their Fathers An Inst●nce thereof produced Of the Ninth Letter The Brachmans Opinion of the Soul of Man The Original of Man's Depravity All Violence and Oppression of Inferior Creatures forbid Their Notion of the proportion of Rewards and Punishments in ●he other Life An Account of their Belief of Transmigration and the Middle State The Power of Sympathetick Prayer Of the Tenth Letter The Indian King's Summons to Pythagoras to appear at Court Of the Eleventh Letter Pythagoras his Answer to the King of India Abstinence from eating Fl●●● proved as Ancient as the World Violence to inferior Creatures forbidden upon account of Moral Justice and Goodness Hunting Condemned The Dignity of the Animal Nature asserted and proved How the Knowledge of Divine Magick ●s attainable Of the Tw●l●th Letter Pythagoras his Account of the Powers Vertues and Efficacy of Numbers The Method of using them in the Cure of Diseases Of the Discourse between Pythagoras and the King of India Prejudice Custom and common Opinion Enemies to Knowledge and Vertue The Original Composition of Man The Occasions of his Degeneracy The true Reason of the Liberty of the Will assigned That a Lawless Liberty to do what we will is a mistaken Notion of the Power of Man Wherein the Dignity ●nd Power of Man does cousist In what ●ence Man is the Image of God and how ●he ought to Govern Inferior Creatures Power to do any thing is no Argument for the Lawfulness of doing it The Mortality of Brutes no Reason for our Abusing them Of the Thirteenth Letter Of the Nature of true Religion That it does not consist in the Observation of external Ceremonies Wherein it does consist That the Imposition of needless Things in Religion gives Birth to most of the Confusions that happen in the World Of the Fourteenth Letter Of the Power Excellencies and Effects of Musick The Subject of the Hymns and Songs of the Pythagoreans the Re●son of their use of them annexed An Extract of Twenty Eight Precepts that Pythagoras left his Disciples Metrodorus the Grecian to Averroes the Arabian sendeth Health Most Learned and Renowned Averroes HAving often read over thy Works and considered with my self the mighty Reputation of thy Learning wherewith the whole Universe is filled I am astonished at the unconceivable Activity of thy Wit which in an imperial and uncontroulable manner extends it self over all the works of Nature searches into her most secret and abstruse Recesses and like an Universal Intelligence seems alone to actuate the whole World of Philosophy How much and upon what accounts Aristotle himself stands Indebted to thee thy very Detractors in spight of all their Envy are forced to acknowledge And for what Advantage I in particular have received by Thy Writings let this plain Confession thereof be accounted by thee for a Testimony of my Gratitude that I owe all the Reputation for Philosophy that I have in these Parts to the sole Influence of thy Spirit and Genius Thou seemest in all thy Discoveries to have some particular Inspirations and Nature appears to have singled thee out as a Subject whereon she would be lavish in the Bounty of her Favours Thou art admitted to a particular Intimacy and hast been able to trace her through all her windings and turnings and discerned her naked in her bare and simple form Proceed therefore most Noble Averroes to imitate that Heaven from whence thou hast derived thy Knowledge in the further communication of the Rays thereof to Mankind And since I have been honoured with some acquaintance of thy Thoughts continue to instruct me yet more fully in the Mysteries of Philosophy I find by the Writings of the Physicians and Philosophers of these times that they make the Menstrum as they call it whereby both Appetite is provoked and Food in the Stomach is digested to be a certain Acid Juice or Humour in the Stomach that by vertue of its Acidity or Acrimonious quality only hath power to separate and concoct the Food which indeed is a Notion I could never digest ● intreat therefore thou wouldest send ●hy Opinion of this Operation of Na●ure in Writing by this Messenger whom I have ordered to stay at Cordu●a till thy leisure shall allow thee op●ortunity of doing it Farewel Dated Athens 1149. Averroes to Metrodorus Worthy Metrodorus I Had been better pleased with your Letter if you had been more sparing of your Complements As to the Opinion the World hath of me I take it in good part though 't is a thing I shall never endeavour after always having in chace a far Nobler and Richer Prize than publick Fame even Truth it self This is the mark I aim at and as oft as I hit the white here I am as proud of the success as he that has Conquered a Kingdom From my Youth my Studies bent that way and the greatest Difficulty I ever met with was to subdue in me those prejudices that I conceived from the Authority of common Consent and Belief I approve your dislike of the Vulgar Notion of the Menstrum well enough only I could wish you had at the same time annexed your Reasons which since you have omitted I will endeavour by what I shall suggest to confirm and settle your Judgment in that Point and if I can possibly assign the true reason of what you enquire after There are somethings unalterably to be believed upon the sole Credit and Authority of their Tradition withal being of such a Nature as no humane Inquisition can arrive at any further knowledge of Such are the Mysteries of our Religion concerning which we will endure no dispute our holy Prophet Mahomet the prime Favourite of Heaven having given his Word for the Truth thereof But in Philosophy we are left to a larger Latitude like those of our Countrymen whom they call wild we are obliged to the Authority of no Person but at Liberty to pick and chuse change and resettle our Opinion as oft as our Reason directs as a Ship that has the Port in view shall notwithstanding by reason of a contrary Wind be forced to tack and shift her Sails a great many times before she reach the Haven Let us therefore Metrodorus launch forth boldly into this part of the Sea of Nature and try