Page:A history of the Inquisition of the Middle Ages, volume 3.djvu/574

 558 INTELLECT AND FAITH. sign of infidelity. Philosophers were not satisfied unless they could prove by logic the profoundest and holiest mysteries of the- ology, and, however zealous they were in the faith, the intrusion of reason into the theological preserves was not only resented as an interference, but was rightfully regarded with alarm at its pos- sible consequences. When the Arab philosophers were disputing as to the nature and operation of the Divine Knowledge, the calm wisdom of Maimonides interposed, saying, " To endeavor to under- stand the Divine Knowledge is as though Ave endeavored to be God himself, so that our perception should be as his. ... It is abso- lutely impossible for us to attain this kind of perception. If we could explain it to ourselves we should possess the intelligence which gives this kind of perception." Ambitious schoolmen, how- ever, as well as orthodox theological doctors, refused to admit that the finite cannot grasp the infinite, and their pride of reason awak- ened, not unnaturally, the jealousy of those who considered it their exclusive privilege to guard the Holy of Holies and to explain the will of God to men. This feeling finds expression as early as 1201 in the story told of the learned doctor, Simon de Tournay, Avho proved by ingenious arguments the mystery of the Trinity, and then, elated by the applause of his hearers, boasted that if he were disposed to be malignant, he could disprove it with yet stronger ones, whereupon he was immediately stricken with paralysis and idiocy. The self-restraint of such men was a slender reliance, and yet slenderer was the chance that the interposition of Heaven would always furnish so salutary a warning.* The audacity of these rash intruders upon the sacred pre- cincts increased immeasurably with the introduction of the works of Averrhoes in the second quarter of the thirteenth century, con- stituting a real danger of the perversion of Christian thought. In the hands of the Arab commentators the theism of Aristotle be- came* a transcendental materialism, carried to its furthest expres- sion bv the latest of them, Ibn Koschd or Averrhoes, who died in 1198. In his system matter has existed from the beginning, and mentatio Philosophise (Opp. Ed. 1651, p. 112). — Erasmi Encom. Moriae (Ed. Lip- siens. 1828, p. 365).— Maimonides, Guide des £gares P. in. ch. xxi. (Trad. Munk, III. 155).— Matt. Paris ann. 1201 (Ed. 1644, p. 144).
 * DArgentre I. I. 275. 285-90, 323-30, 337-40 ; I. n. 249. 255.— R. Lullii La-