ulachral form of the spirit of
man. As Arabism developed itself into a distinct scientific system,
the theories of emanation and absorption were among its characteristic
features. In this abandonment of vulgar Mohammedanism, the example of
the Jews greatly assisted. They, too, had given up the anthropomorphism
of their ancestors; they had exchanged the God who of old lived behind
the veil of the temple for an infinite Intelligence pervading the
universe, and, avowing their inability to conceive that any thing
which had on a sudden been called into existence should be capable of
immortality, they affirmed that the soul of man is connected with a past
of which there was no beginning, and with a future to which there is no
end.

In the intellectual history of Arabism the Jew and the Saracen are
continually seen together. It was the same in their political history,
whether we consider it in Syria, in Egypt, or in Spain. From them
conjointly Western Europe derived its philosophical ideas, which in
the course of time culminated in Averroism; Averroism is philosophical
Islamism. Europeans generally regarded Averroes as the author of these
heresies, and the orthodox branded him accordingly, but he was nothing
more than their collector and commentator. His works invaded Christendom
by two routes: from Spain through Southern France they reached Upper
Italy, engendering numerous heresies on their way; from Sicily they
passed to Naples and South Italy, under the auspices of Frederick II.

But, long before Europe suffered this great intellectual invasion, there
were what might, perhaps, be termed sporadic instances of Orientalism.
As an example I may quote the views of John Erigena (A.D. 800) He had
adopted and taught the philosophy of Aristotle had made a pilgrimage
to the birthplace of that philosopher, and indulged a hope of uniting
philosophy and religion in the manner proposed by the Christian
ecclesiastics who were then studying in the Mohammedan universities of
Spain. He was a native of Britain.

In a letter to Charles the Bald, Anastasius expresses his astonishment
"how such a barbarian man, coming from the very ends of the earth, and
remote from human conversation, could comprehend things so clearly, and
transfer them into another language so well." The general intention of
his writings was, as we have said, to unite philosophy with religion,
but his treatment of these subjects brought him under ecclesiastical
censure, a