Experimental investigation of the spirit manifestations, [electronic ...

272 INFLUENCE OF SCRIPTURE, ETC.of intellectual acquirement, as the following quotation, from ^^ Gibbon'sDecline and Fall of the lloman Empire," will show:1389. "After their civil and domestic wars, the siiLjcots of the Abbassidcs, awakeningfrom this mental lothar^y, found leisure and felt curiosity for the acquisition of profanescience. This spirit was lirst encouraf^od by the Caliph Almanso'*, who, besides his knowledgeof the Mohammedan law, bad a])|)licd liimself with success to the study of astronomy,Ikit when the sceptre devolved to Aliuiimon, the seventh of the Abbassidcs, be completedthe dcsi;^ns of his f^randfather, ami invited the muses from their ancient seats. His ambassadorsat Constantinople, his agents in Armenia, Syria, and Egypt, collected the volumesof Grecian science: at his command they were translated by the most skilful interpretersinto the Arabic language; his su})jccts were exhorted assiduously to peruse theseinstructive writings; and the successor of Mohammed assisted with pleasure and modestyat the assemblies and disputations of the learned. *IIe was not ignorant,' says Abulpharagius,' that thru are the elect of God, his best and most useful servants, whose lives aredevoted to the improvement of their rational faculties. The mean ambition of the Chineseor the Turk may glory in the industry of their bauds, or the indulgence of theirbrutal appetites. Yet these dexterous artists must view, with hopeless emulation, thehexagons and pyramids of the cells of a bee-hive : these fortitudinous heroes are awed bythe superior fierceness of the lions and tigers; and in their amorous enjoyments, they aremuch inferior to the vigour of the grossest and most sordid quadrupeds. The teachersof wisdom are the true luminaries and legislators of a world, which, without their aid,would again sink in ignorance and barbarism.' The zeal and curiosity of Almamon wereimitated by succeeding princes of the line of Abbas: their rivals, the Fatimites of Africaand the Ommiades of Spain, were the patrons of the learned, as well as the commandersof the faithful : the same royal prerogative was claimed by their independent emirs of theprovinces; and their emulation diffused the taste and the rewards of science from Samarcandand Eochara to Fez and Cordova. The vizir of a sultan consecrated a sura of twohundred thousand pieces of gold to the foundation of a college at Bagdad, which be endowedwith an annual revenue of fifteen thousand dinars. The fruits of instruction werecommunicated, perhaps at different times, to six thousand disciples of every degree, fromthe son of the noble to that of the mechanic : a sufficient allowance Avas provided for theindigent scholars; and the merit or industry of the professors was repaid with adequatestipends. In every city the productions of Arabic literature were copied and collected bythe curiosity of the studious and the vanity of the rich. A private doctor refused the invitationof the sultan of Bochara, because the carriage of his books would have requiredfour hundred camels. The roj-al library of the Fatimites consisted of one hundred thousandmanuscripts, elegantly transcribed and splendidly bound, which were lent, without jealousyor avarice, to the students of Cairo. Yet this collection must appear moderate, ifwe can believe that the Ommiades of Spain bad formed a library of six hundred thousandvolumes, forty-four of which were employed in the mere catalogue. Their capital, Cordova,with the adjacent towns of Malaga, Almeria, and Murcia, liad given birth to morethan three hundred writers, and above seventy public libraries were opened in the citiesof the Andalusian kingdom. The ago of Arabian learning continued about five hundred3'ears, till the great eruption of the Moguls, and was coeval with the darkest and mostslothful period of European annals ; but since the sun of science has arisen iu the West, itshould seem that the Oriental studies have languished and declined."1390. I here close my remarks upon the Influence of Scripture on theMorals of Christians. They have proceeded from a desire to promulgatewhat I deem to be truth, and to expose the errors by which I conceive itto be environed. It is inconsistent with my nature to state less than thetruth when treating on any subject. I shall be sorry for any pain whichI may give to those whose hearts are so associated with their opinions, thatwhatever conflicts with the one is painful to the other; yet I wish anypersons so wounded to reflect how littledenunciation has been spared, notonly as respects opinions, but as respects motives, where ^' injldels/' unjustlyso called, have been held up to view. I have not assailed the motivesof any one; even as respects opinions, I have withheld or modifiedsarcasms which, as I think, might have been justly employed, or usedwithout modification.