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    been , attended ^ th ^ fte s ^ e ^ s , the drmodox chainpiob . throws ihtHefol- ; lowing po \ ver £ id motive for choice : As you-declare yoa wont believe , Tis fit that you should -burn , And as yonr fellows have been burnt ,

    That you should blaze iu turn . . , And as you disobey the will Qf God and of St . Paul , Which ne ' er was found within your heart , Nor passed your lips at

    all—The fire is lit , the pitch is hot , And ready is the stake , That thro' these tortures for your sins Your passage you may take . This extraordinary piece-is particu

    larly worthy of notice , as containing a view of the opinions then generally attributed to the proscribed religionists , and among these the most prominent are those in which Orientalism

    prevails , and in which a Mahometan and a Christian schoolman would have found little difficulty in agreeing " , at any rate , to consider as fair matter of innocent discussion . These chiefly relate to speculations on the principle of evil , the nature of angels , demons , &c ., and , what is more extraordinary * a transmigration of the soul .

    One peculiar instance , both of the inclination among many Christians to favour the liberal spirit and speculative freedom of the Mahometans , and of the zeal of the church in controuling this spirit * and rendering religious

    discord as vehement as possible , may be f 6 und , 1 think > in the strapge and otherwise almost inexplicable persecution of the Templars . Amongst the mass of absurd charges which were brought forward on the trials of the members

    of this devoted order , it is impossible i \ bt to suspect that ther $ must have b § en some very urgent ground for alarm on the part of their prosecutors , and a great degree 6 f favourable inclination towards their Mahometan in

    opponents , who had , perhaps ^ many respects , really a good title to their respect and esteem . For the same reasons , the history of these times records several instances of the moat distinguished sovereigns of EJurope , ( who lead the Christian annieff either

    from political motives , of from d ^_ from political motives , or from deference to tli £ enf , luisiasjpa of tlje age , ) at constant variance wHh / fhe church , apd a * cowstaj ^ Jjf 7 im < ter $ W ^ i « i 4 * r

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    stigma ; of favouring thpMaUomet ^ n ti fibft , ii $ mm : Ifred # ej £ # teo ^ % j atf *^ His sufcce ^ spH Fredjeiic If ., are both striking instances of ikis . They were both zealous patrons of literature , and where coulji they , if they cast their

    eyes around , them , see more competent models : aaad . instructors than in the Moorish schools ? They were brave and generous warriors , and undoubtedly those qualities were more strikingly developed in some of the leaders of the Mtisselmen armies than

    in the bigoted warriors of Christendom , generally the mere slaves of an ignorant hierarchy . We can therefore little wonder that their fame was through life aspersed by attacks on the orthodoxy of their creeds .

    But whatever zeal was displayed in eradicating all traces of Infidel principles and associations , it is impossible not to observe great and durable effects upon the opinion ^ and literature of Europe . Its poetry ( if , ia ~ deed , it be so clearly traced * as is generally supposed , to an Orientul

    origin , ) received , through the medium of the Troubadours , a new and psrmanent character . Its scientific pur * 8 " uits , its natural £ ^ nd moral , phjUaacK phy , were for many ages entirely Arabian ; and out of tjie aubtWinquiries of these schools sprung the greater part of the current dreama on daemonology , magic , witchcraft and astro *

    We shall have occasion to notice hereafter the graver speculations which were borrowed by the labouring learned of the European schools : at present we have only to advert to an

    acknowledged fact , that all which was in those days dignified by the name of science , whether experimental or occult , took its rise in the speculations of the Arabian Universities . Peter

    Maurice , the venerable Doctor , the friend of Abeiliarck yvjio went to study in Spain in the l £ th century * b ^ ara teatimpny to the number of m ^ n , of learning from England and other countries , whom he there found sednlou $ iy

    applym ^ themselves to , the study of such sciences as astrology , jiv such pursuits the Jew , the Chri&Xiiax und the Islamite , were at all times . fcuqjcl * CQl ^ iaUy . unitqd , 1 aiid tha ^ oot pni tf ^ l W ^ jmm * , sum ® , v ^ jm j ^ ^ tfa cp ^ rt $ ^* wsw ^ fi % iiw ^ iii «

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    4 Tte / NotkeenfwmfMs No , XX ¥ ^ -

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Jan. 2, 1823, page 4, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1780/page/4/