The Improvement of Human Reason | Page 9

quoted by_ Dr. Pocock in his Specimen. p. 167, where he says,
"People ran on to such a degree, (_of madness you may be sure_) as to
pretend to an Union with God, and a fight of him without the

interposition of any Veil, and familiarly discourse with him. And a little
after, which sort of Speeches have occasion'd great mischiefs among
the common People; so that some Country Fellows laying aside their
Husbandry, have pretended to the same things: for Men are naturally
pleas'd with such discourses, as give them a liberty to neglect their
business, and withal promise them purity of Mind, and the attainment
of strange degrees and proprieties. Now the most stupid Wretches in
Nature may pretend to this, and have in their Mouths such false and
deceitful expressions. And if any one denies what they say, they
immediately tell you, that this Unbelief of yours proceeds from
Learning and _Logick_: and that Learning is a Veil, and Logick labour
of the brain, but that these things which they affirm, are discovered
only inwardly then by the Light of the TRUTH. And this which they
affirm, has spread it self through a great many Countries, and produc'd
a great deal of Mischief." Thus far Algazâli. _How exactly this answers
the wild extravagancies of our Enthusiasts, let themselves judge. And
withal I would have them from hence learn the Modesty not to pretend
to be the first after the Apostles who had endeavour'd to turn Men from
Darkness to LIGHT, since they see so many worthy Persons among the
Mahometans gone before them_.]
[Footnote 9: Avenpace--This Author is oftentimes quoted by the Name
of Ebn'olfayeg; _he was accounted a Philosopher. of great Ingenuity
and Judgment_. Maimonides, in his Epistle to R. Samuel Aben Tybbon,
gives him a great Character. Abu'l Hasen Ali, _who collected all his
Works, and reduced them into One Volume, prefers him before all the
Mahometan Philosophers whatsoever. He was famous for his Poetry as
well as Philosophy; he died young, being prison'd at_ Fez, in the Year
of the Hegira 533. _i.e. of Christ_, 1138, or 39, others in the Year 525,
which answers to 1131. Most of his Works are imperfect. See Dr.
_Pocock's Elenchus Scriptorum prefix'd to the Arabick Edition of this
Book_.]
[Footnote 10: _Tho' this instance will serve to explain the meaning of
the Author, yet 'tis very improper, because 'tis utterly impossible to
give a Man that is born Blind, the least notion or idea of Light or
Colours_.]

[Footnote 11: _The Hanifitick Sect,_ and the Mahometan
Religion,--_That is, not only the_ Hanifitick _Sect, but even the_
Mahometan _Religion too, of which that Sect is a Branch, does forbid
the over curious enquiring into these abstruse Matters. This Sect was
very early among the_ Mahometans, for it had its Name from Abu
Hanifah Al Nooman, _who was born,in the 80 year of_ Hegira, or
according to others in the 70. _I must confer, that it seems something
odd, that he should mention that Sect first, and then the_ Mahometan
_Religion which includes it, and if it had not been for the word_
Asshariyato, _which, if I mistake not, is never us'd to express any
particular Sect, but signifies a Religion, or Law of God, I should have
understood those Words of the Sect of_ Mahomet Ebn Edris
Asshaphiensis. _See Dr._ Pocock _'s Specimen_ p. 295. Or else the
Hanifitick Sect and the Mahometan _Religion may signifie the same
thing, because_ Abraham, _(whose Religion the_ Mahometans
_pretend to follow) is called in the_ Alcoran Hanif. _Dr._ Sike.]
[Footnote 12: Alpharabius,--_Without Exception, the greatest of all
the_ Mahometan _Philosophers, reckon'd by some very near equal to_
Aristotle himself. Maimonides, _in the Epistle which I just now
mention'd, commends him highly; and tho' he allows_ Avicenna _a
great share of Learning, and_ Acumen; yet be prefers Alpharabius
_before him. Nay_, Avicenna _himself confesses, that when he had
read over_ Aristotle's _Metaphysicks forty times, and gotten them by
heart; that he never understood them till he happened upon_
Alpharabius_'s Exposition of them. He wrote Books of Rhetorick,
Musick, Logick, and all parts of Philosophy; and his Writings have
been much esteemed; not only by_ Mahometans but Jews and
Christians _too. He was a Person of singular Abstinence and
Continence,and Despiser of the things of this World. He is call'd_
Alpharabius from Farab, _the place of bis Birth, which according to_
Abulpheda _(who reckons his Longitude not from the Fortunate Islands,
but from the extremity of the Western Continent of_ Africa) _bar_88
deg. 30 min. of Longitude and 44 deg. _of Northern Latitude. He died
at_ Damascus the Year of the Hegira 339, _that is, about the Year of
Christ 950, when he was about fourscore Years Old_.]

[Footnote 13: The Spanish Philosophers.--This is not to