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unrestrained freedom of speculative inquiry , en a variety of " subj ^ td equally interesting to both classes of believers . But without dwelling on points necessarily involved in great obscurity , it is sufficient here to observe , that at the period when the literary greatness of Moorish Spain was in its zenith , when it was exercising its
widest influence on Europe , the genius of Arabian cultivation was strikingly , and to an extent never since equalled , tolerant and conciliatory towards the votaries of faiths , apparently most widely and irreeoncileabl y opposedand Christian , Jew and Islamite united
in one harmonious effort for the promotion of what was thought science end philosophical inquiry . From this union resulted a mutual agreement to declare , as neutral
ground ( open to all , and considered by none as constituting the essentials of tlteir respective faiths ) a vast field of speculative inquiry into the deepest theological questions . The European Universities did not consider it
inconsistent with their religious faith to unite zealously with them in the same pursuit , and the schoolmen followed it up to the most subtle refinements , subject , however , to the continual protest of the more orthodox supporters of the church . The latter soon saw
that these freedoms
The external influence of the energetic spirit of Arabiah literature and refinement on the neighbouring European courts , need hardly be dwelt upon . Strangers flocked from all sides to the Saracen Universities for
instruction . The Arabian geographers , naturalists and philosophers , were in all the Southern courts ; and when the Gothic monarchies began to cultivate the sciences for themselves , their teachers and professors were almost
all drawn from the Pnfrdels , whom , as yet , they had not grown wise enough to despise and butcher . Those who inspect the scanty evidences which the literary remains of these early ages will afford of the state of political and religious feeling , prior to the Crti-* ades , will be ^ urpriHed to ft h <\ how
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little i » to be found of that anti-infidel spirit of exasperation which soon afterwards animated the Christian world . Even for some time after , the theologians on either side took little share in the contest . Christian moralists and divines were proud . to draw their faith from Averroes , and to
expound the Aristotelian , philosophy on the principles Of the Arabian commentators ; and it may not be undeserving of remark , that even the earliest tales of romantic chivalry ( those of the Round Table ) breathe nothing of the bigoted spirit of religious intolerance towards the Heathen , which
distinguishes the similar productions Of a later age . If the deadl y animosity which afterwards prevailed had existed in the days ot Charlemagne ^ it is not probable that Salernum , the central point of the political warfare
of the European and Asiatic powers , would have been selected by him for the foundation of an University where European students might freely resort for the cultivation of science , or that
such a spot could have maintained its celebrity for the next three centuries . Of all European nations , not immediately under the Arabian yoke , the inhabitants of Provence seem , on many accounts , to have been most
subjected to its influence , on their opinions , literature and customs . Their poetry is generally allowed to have been modelled on the tender and passionate tone of Eastern luxury . Their institutions were gay , chivalric , liberal and courteous ; and even in their
courts and parliaments of love , with all their frivolity , we may perceive one useful principle established . Public opinion was brought to bear upon the highest ranks of society , and even lawless power was confined within conventual limitations , which it was
not prudent to violate or set at defiance . The earliest efforts of this democratic freedom of the Troubadour poets was manifested in eager satire and invectives against the vices of the church ; and the opinions of the speculative heretics , whom the Arabians
had protected and brought in their train to seek an asylum from persecution , here found a fruitful soil for propagation . Thus the great principles of literary energy and social cultivation , which the Arabian influence established in the South of Europe ,
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2 The lsr * nea $ ewni * t . X No . 3 CVI .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Jan. 2, 1823, page 2, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1780/page/2/
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