Selected quad for the lemma: soul_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
soul_n	body_n	call_v	reason_n	4,039	5	4.9623	4	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A24071	The history of Hai Eb'n Yockdan, an Indian prince, or, The self-taught philosopher written originally in the Arabick tongue by Abi Jaafar Eb'n Tophail ... ; set forth not long ago in the original Arabick, with the Latin version by Edw. Pocock ... ; and now translated into English.; Risālat Ḥayy ibn Yaqẓān. English	Ibn Ṭufayl, Muḥammad ibn ʻAbd al-Malik, d. 1185.; Pococke, Edward, 1604-1691.; Ashwell, George, 1612-1695.	1686 (1686)	Wing A151; ESTC R19263	86,160	248

Times Yet I am willing to think otherwise when I consider that the Discourses of these learned Men concerning this Subject consist for the general of such Notions Grounds and Proofs as are too subtle sublime and metaphysical for common understandings so that they leave men still in the dark yea more perplexed than they were before Whereas this Author proceeds by such gentle steps in an easie and familiar way of reasoning which is obvious to every ones apprehension that He leads his Reader in sensibly onward without any toilsom labour or perplexing of his Brains in the search of the Truth till He have brought him before he is aware unto the end of his journey Or like the easie ascent of winding Stairs which conduct to the top of an high Tower or Pyramid such as that in Aegypt Or rather like the leisurely mounting of Jacob's Ladder whereon he saw the Angels ascending as well as descending for like the Rounds of that are the degrees whereby He conducts his Reader till He have brought him up to the very top of the Ladder where God presents Himself unto his view This History then being thus Englished and so communicated to the view of all whereas before it was locked up to most in an unknown language may I hope prove not altogether unuseful unto many in this idle worldly and voluptuous Age wherein men generally seek after little else besides the concerns of this present life studying and busying themselves about their Profit or their Pleasure either in heaping up Riches with much Care and Toil or spending their Days in Ease and carnal Delights and making it their study how they may pass away their time without any Care or Trouble at all Whereas this History shews the true and genuine Concerns of humane life with the means of obtaining that felicity which Man was born for which it makes to consist in a right and useful Exercise of those faculties which God hath bestowed upon us and improving them to the best Advantage by an industrious and continued experimenting of all Things that come in our way the knowledge whereof may be useful to us and making proper Observations upon them as this Self-taught Philosopher is said to have done and as any other Man is capable of doing in like manner who is endued with the same sagacity of mind and ingenuity of Disposition And such as are not may be his Scholars and learn with more ease such lessons as these by what they find him to have experimented and observed For here we find set down by what means and by what Degrees in the seven Septenaries of his Age whereinto his Life is divided in this History and the Observations He made in each of them He arrived to a proportionable measure of knowledge concerning all the Accommodations of humane Life in this lower World how he came to find them out and in what manner He managed and improved them Then what he observed as concerning the brute Creatures which He found in the Island wherein He is said to have been bred but more especially concerning himself both as to his Body with its several Parts and faculties and to his Soul with its spiritual and immortal nature and all the Excellencies that attend it how He came to find them out and what Reasons He grounded his Observations upon Then how He examined the Natures Properties and uses of the Elements and how He thence ascended to the Contemplation of the Heavenly Bodies with their Light Motions and Influences So that we have here set before us opened and exposed to our Eyes the whole Book of Nature to read with the ways and means whereby almost all Arts and Sciences came to be invented namely Physiology Anatomy Astronomy and Geometry also Logick and Metaphysicks and the Rules of Morality which He set to himself and whereby He governed his whole Life But the utmost Height and Perfection of his Learning whereunto all the rest tended as so many Steps or Degrees consisted in that natural Theology which He arrived to from the serious and attentive Consideration of Gods works and more particularly of himself whence He concluded that God was the supereminent the sole and independent Being of infinite Greatness and Goodness Wisdom and Power Majesty and Glory whose all-seeing Eye and over-ruling Hand of Providence extend themselves to all his Creatures who is also most Just and Righteous in all his Dealings with and towards Mankind and therefore will one Day call all Men to give an Account of their lives when He will sentence and reward them according to their Works Whereupon He discourseth of the Resurrection and the last Judgment with the Felicities and Miseries that attend Men after the Judgment is past answerably to the condition and quality of their lives which they led here on Earth The former He makes to consist in the Beatifical Vision of God But the latter He describes in such figurative Expressions which although not altogether irrational for a meer natural Philosopher to conjecture yet I suppose are taken out of the Alcoran the Author of this History being a Mahometan by Religion Yet he brings in his Self taught Philosopher making some Exceptions against that Book as it was described to him by his Friend Asal and taxing it of Imperfection in several particulars whereto He makes no particular Reply This is the Summ and the main Design of the ensuing History which possibly being thus Englished may do some good as I even now said in this Profane and Fanatical as well as lewd and luxurious Age. Let them then who wilfully shut their Eyes against the light of Revelation as being too pure and bright for them at least suffer themselves to be guided by the less splendid and more familiar light of natural Reason Let the Enthusiasts also who pretend so much to supernatural Revelations and are dazled with their fanciful lights and sublime speculations through the delusion of the Prince of Darkness transforming himself into an Angel of Light learn from hence to know themselves better and to be wise unto Sobriety Let the profane Jesters and Scoffers who speak slightingly and scornfully of the most serious and sacred things and turn all Religion into ridiculous Drollery learn to speak more reverently of God and things Divine from a meer natural Philosopher who is the Subject of this History and a Mahometan who is the Author of it Let them who are unkind and unneighbourly to those they live amongst and so far from succouring and relieving them in their Dangers and Distresses that they make no Conscience of getting what they can from them either by fraud or force whensoever it lies in their Power and they can find an Opportunity learn of this Self-Taught Philosopher to be kindly affectioned towards their Neighbours whenas they find him so kind towards all his fellow-Creatures though of a diverse kind so ready to supply their wants and to free them from whatsoever evils that molested them Let

be united he saw that it must necessarily be some Body like to these Bodies having length and breadth and thickness and that it was either hot or cold as one of these other Bodies which are destitute of sense and uncapable of nourishment but that it differ'd from them in such Actions as proceeded from it in regard of the Organical Parts which belong to Plants and Animals but not otherwise And perhaps such Actions were not essential to that Body but derived to it from some other Cause that was extrinsecal thereto so that if they were in like manner communicated to other Bodies they would be like unto this When he therefore considered that Body in its Essence as stript naked of all these Operations which at the first sight seemed to proceed from thence he saw that it was no other thing than a Body of the same kind with these Upon which Contemplation it appeared unto him that all Bodies taken in general were but one as well those which had life as those which had none as well those which moved as those which rested in their natural places Only it appeared that actions proceeded from some of them by means of their organical Parts concerning which he as yet knew not whether they were Essential to them or derived to them from without Now whilst he was in this state of Mind he extended not his Thoughts beyond bodily Substances and thereby he saw that the whole Frame of the Creatures was but one Thing which formerly he had looked upon and esteemed as many without number or end In this Opinion and state of Mind § 33 he continued for some time But afterwards upon a view of all Bodies as well Animate as Inanimate which sometimes seemed to be but one thing to him but otherwhiles many and innumerable he saw that one of these Motions was natural and necessary to them viz. upward or downward upward as in Smoke Flame and Air when detained under Water downward as in Water Earth and its Parts all Earthy Bodies with the Parts of Animals and Plants Also that not one of all these Bodies was void of both these Motions neither ever rested but when some other Body came it its way and interrupted its motion as when a Stone in its descension meets with the solid Surface of the Earth which it cannot pierce through whereas if it could it would move downwards still as every Body knows And therefore if one do but lift it up from the Earth he will find it to resist that motion by pressing down his Hand out of a propension it hath to descend again unto the same place In like manner Smoke in its mounting upward is not beat back again unless it meet by the way with some solid arched Body which stops it in its Course and then it will turn aside to the right Hand or to the left but as soon as it hath got out and freed it self from that Body which hindered its motion it mounts up again and makes its way through the Air without any interruption He observed also that if a Leather Bag be filled with Air then tied hard together and plunged into the Water it will strive to get upward and struggle under the Water that detains it nor ever cease to do so until it hath got forth and returned unto the Air but then it is quiet all that reluctancy and strong inclination to move upwards which it had before ceasing altogether He also made a diligent search to § 34 see whether he could find any Body which was at any time destitute of both these motions or a propension to them but he could find none such among all those Bodies which he had at hand to view And this be sought after out of a desire he had to find out what was the Nature of a Body in general and abstractedly considered without any of those Qualities which cause a multiplicity and diversity of Kinds But when he found this too difficult a Task for him and that having considered all those Bodies which among the rest were least subject to these qualities yet could he see none of them in any wise void of one of the two viz. either of Heaviness or Lightness he farther considered with himself whether these two qualities belonged to the Body as it was a Body or to some other Notion superadded to the Body Now upon this Consideration it seemed to him that they agreed to some Notion superadded unto the Body because that if they belonged to the Body as it was a Body no one Body could be found wherein both of them were not whereas we find some heavy Bodies which are void of all Lightness and some light Bodies which are void of all Heaviness and these two are doubtless two distinct Bodies to either of which belongs some Notion superadded to its bodily Nature whereby it is distinguished from the other which Notion is that whereby the one of them becomes diverse from the other seeing if this were away they both would be the same thing in every Respect It appeared therefore very plainly to him that the Nature or Essence of both these Bodies was compounded of two Notions the one wherein they both agreed and this was the Notion of Corporeity or bodily Substance the other whereby the Essence of the one was diversified from the Essence of the other and this was the Notion of Heaviness in the one and of Lightness in the other whereby the one moved upwards and the other downwards both which were adjoyned and superadded to the Notion of Corporeity or bodily Substance In like manner he contemplated § 35 also the Bodies of other Creatures whether they were Animate or Inanimate Whereupon he saw that the Essence of every one of them consisted in this that they were all compounded of a double Notion namely that of Corporeity and of some other thing superadded thereto whether the thing were one or manifold And thus the Forms of Bodies came to be known unto him according to their diversity which were the first Notions that he had relating to the Spiritual World to wit the Notions of these Forms which are not perceiveable by Sense but apprehended only after a certain manner of intellectual Speculation And among the rest of this kind which were thus made known unto him it appeared also to him that his own Animal Spirit which was seated in his Heart as hath been afore declared must needs superadd another distinct Notion to his Corporeity as that whereby he was inabled to perform such wonderful Operations as appeared in the various manners of Sensation and ways of Apprehension with the diversity of Motions which it caused in the Body as also that this Notion was his proper Form or Difference whereby he was distinguished from other Bodies viz. the same which the Philosophers call the Animal that is the Sensitive Soul So likewise that the Principle which in Plants supplies the place of that Radical Heat which is in Animals

is somewhat that is proper to them and is their Form namely That which Philosophers call the Vegetative Soul So also in all Inanimate Bodies which besides Animals and Plants are found in this lower World of Bodies and are liable to Generation and Corruption there is somewhat proper to them by vertue whereof every one of them performs such Actions as are peculiar to it namely various ways of Motion and kinds of sensible Qualities and that the same thing is their Form the same which Philosophers express by the name of Nature Now whenas upon this Contemplation § 36 he was well assured that the true Essence of that Animal-Spirit which his Mind had been so intent upon was compounded of the Notion of Corporeity and some other Notion thereto superadded and that this Notion of Corporeity was common to him with other Bodies but that the other which was adjoyned thereto was peculiar to himself the Notion of Corporeity appeared vile to him and of no account so that he utterly cast it off and his Mind wholly fixed it self upon that second Notion which is called by the Name of the Soul the true nature and state whereof he earnestly desired to understand Upon that therefore he fixed his Thoughts and began his Contemplation with considering all Bodies not as Bodies but as having Forms whence necessarily flow certain Properties whereby they are distinguished from one another And upon his instant prosecuting § 37 this Notion having at last fully comprehended it in his Mind he saw that the whole multitude of Bodies agreed in this that they had some certain Form whence one or more Actions proceeded He saw also that a certain part of this number though they agreed with all the rest in that Form yet had over and above another Form superadded unto it from whence certain Actions issued that were proper thereto He saw too that there was another Classis or Order of Bodies which although they agreed with this Part in the first and second Forms yet were distinguished from them by a third which was superadded unto the two former and from whence also certain Actions issued As for Example all Terrestrial Bodies as Earth Stones Minerals Plants Animals and whatsoever other heavy Bodies do make up one number which agree in the same Form namely that whence descensive Motion proceeds whilst there is nothing to hinder their descent so that whensoever they are forced to move upwards at any time and after left unto themselves they move downwards of their own accord by vertue of that their Form Again some part of the same number of heavy Bodies viz. Plants and Animals though they agree with the former in the same Form which is common to them all yet they have another Form besides from which proceed Nutrition and Augmentation Now Nutrition is performed when the Body nourished doth substitute into the place of that which was consumed somewhat of the like kind which it draws to it self and then converts into its own Substance But Augmentation is a Motion tending to the threefold Dimension of Length Breadth and Thickness according to the just proportion of the Body augmented These two Actions therefore being common to Plants and Animals doubtless arise from a Form which is common to both to wit That which is called the Vegetative Soul But some also of this sort of Bodies and particularly Animals although they have the first and second Forms common to them with the former yet they have a third also superadded whence proceed Sensation and local Motion He saw likewise that every peculiar kind of Animals had some certain Property whereby it was diversified and distinguisht from all the rest He knew also that every such Diversity proceeded from that Form which was proper to it that namely which was superadded to the former and which was common to it with other Animals And the like he saw happen'd to the several kinds of Plants It was also evident to him that § 38 among the Sensible Bodies the which are found in this lower World liable to Generation and Corruption the Essence of some of them was compounded of more Notions superadded to the Notion of Corporeity and others of fewer He knew likewise that the knowledge of the fewer must needs be more easie to him than the knowledge of such as were more in number He therefore sought in the first place how he might attain the knowledge of the true nature of the Form of some one Body whose Essence was made up of fewer Notions Whereupon as he considered the Animals and Plants he sound that their Essence consisted of many Notions by reason of the various kinds of Actions which he observed in them Wherefore he laid aside the Enquiry into their Forms So also as to the Parts of Earth he saw that some of them were more simple than others He proposed therefore to himself the Contemplation of such Bodies as he could possibly find to be the most simple of all So he observed that the Water was a Body very little compounded as he judged by the fewness of those Actions which proceeded from its Form The same he also observed in the Fire and Air. Withall he had before observed § 39 that some of these four Elements were converted into the other and therefore that there must be some one thing which they joyntly participated of and that this thing was the Notion of Corporeity He concluded also that this one thing whereof they all participated must needs be void of all those Notions whereby the four Elements were distinguished from each other namely that it could not move either upward or downward that it was neither hot nor cold neither moist nor dry seeing that none of these Qualities was common to all Bodies and consequently did not belong to the Body as it was a Body So that if it were possible to find a Body wherein there was no other Form superadded to its Corporeity none of these Qualities would be found in it yea that it were impossible any Quality whatsoever should be found in it but what agreed to all Bodies whatsoever diversity of Forms they had He considered therefore with himself whether he could find out any one Adjunct which was common to all Bodies as well Animate as Inanimate But he could find none which agreed to all of them besides the Notion of Extension towards those three Dimensions which are found in all of them viz. Length Breadth and Thickness Whence he gathered that this Notion belongs to the Body as it is a Body However his Sense could not represent to him any Body existent in Nature which had this only Adjunct and was void of all other Forms For he saw that every one of them had some other Notion superadded to the said Extension After this he considered with himself § 40 whether this threefold Extension were the sole Notion belonging to a bodily Substance or whether there were not some other Notion besides contained in it Upon which

influx of that voluntary Agent so illustriously glorious the Fountain of Being and of Working He knew therefore that whatsoever Excellencies were by Nature in him were by so much the greater more perfect and more absolute more beautiful illustrious and more lasting and that there was no proportion between those excellencies which were in him and those which were found in the Creatures Neither did he cease to prosecute this search till he had gone through all the kinds of Perfection and seen that they were all in him and proceeded from him and that he was most worthy to have them all ascribed to him above all the Creatures which were intituled to them He also searched into all sorts of § 55 Defects or Imperfections and saw that the Maker of the World was void of them all and separate from them And how indeed should he not be free from all such For what other Notion is there of a defect besides that of meer Privation or what depends upon it And how should he any ways or in any degree partake of Privation who is a most simple Being and of a necessary Existence in himself who gives a Being to every thing that exists and besides whom there is no Existence For He alone is Existence as who alone hath it of Himself he is Absoluteness he is Perfection he is Beauty he is Brightness he is Power he is Knowledge He lastly is that He who is the only He and all besides him are subject to Perishing Alc. c. Alkesas Thus far his knowledge had brought § 56 him towards the end of the fifth Septenary from his Birth that is in the space of thirty and five Years And the consideration of this supream Agent was then so fixed in his mind that it hindred him from thinking on any other things besides so that he forgat the Contemplation of the natural Existence of them wherein he had before exercised his thoughts and left off to enquire any farther into them until at length he came so far that the Eye of his mind could not light upon any thing in the World but that he straightways discovered therein some sootsteps of this supream Agent So that letting pass the Work he presently removed his thoughts to the Opificer on whom his study was most earnestly bent Insomuch that his heart being wholly now withdrawn from thinking on or minding this inferiour World which contains the Objects of Sense became wholly addicted and altogether applied it self to the Contemplation of the upper intellectual World Now when he had attained to the § 57 knowledge of this supream Being this permanent Existence which hath no Cause of its Existence but it self is the Cause of the Existence of all other things he next desired to know by what means he came to this knowledge and with what faculty he apprehended this Prime Existent He made enquiry therefore into all his Senses viz. Hearing Seeing Smelling Tasting and Touching and saw that all these apprehended nothing but what was Bodily or inherent in a Body For Hearing apprehends nothing but Sounds which arise from the agitation of the Air when Bodies are dasht one against another Sight apprehends Colours The Smelling Odours The Taste Savours and the Touch the Temperatures or Dispositions of the Body such as Hardness and Softness Roughness and Smoothness In like manner the Fancy apprehends nothing but as it hath Length Breadth and Thickness Now the things which are thus apprehended are all of them the Adjuncts of Bodies and our Senses apprehend nothing else inasmuch as they are faculties diffused throughout our Bodies and divisible according as they are divided Whence it follows that these Senses of ours can apprehend nothing besides a Body which is liable to division For this faculty seeing it is diffused through a divisible Body as often as it apprehends any thing must needs be divided answerably to the divisions of that Body wherein it is Whence we may conclude that every faculty which is seated in the Body can apprehend nothing except a Body or what is inherent in a Body Now it hath been already made evident that this supream Being which hath a necessary Existence is in every respect free from all things whatsoever belong to a Body and that therefore there is no other way or means of apprehending it but by somewhat that is not a Body nor a faculty inherent in the Body or any other way depending upon it by somewhat that is neither within nor without the Body neither joyned to it nor separated from it It appeared also now unto him that he apprehended this supream Being by that which was his Essence and that he had a firm knowledge of this Being Whence it was clear to him that his Essence whereby he apprehended it was somewhat Incorporeal which had no Adjunct of a Body agreeing to it and that whatsoever Bodily thing he apprehended by his outward Part that is by his Bodily Senses was not the true State or Nature of his Essence but that some other thing it was of an Incorporeal Substance whereby he apprehended that absolute perfect and independent Being which is necessarily and of it self existent Thus when he came to know that § 58 his Essence was not a Corporeal Substance apprehensible by any of his Senses or compassed about by his Skin as his Entrails were his Body began to appear a very contemptible thing to him so that he wholly addicted himself to the Contemplation of that Noble Essence whereby he apprehended that Super-excellent Being which necessarily existed Then by vertue of that same Noble Essence of his he considered with himself whether it could perish be corrupted and vanish away or on the other side were of perpetual duration Whereupon he saw that Corruption and Dissolution belonged to the Adjuncts of Bodies and consisted in putting off one form and putting on another as for instance when Water is turned into Air by Rarefaction and Air turned into Water by Condensation when Bodies also are reduced into Earth or Ashes or when the moisture and vigour of the Earth is changed into the substance of various sorts of Plants which grow out of it and are nourished by it For this is the true notion of Corruption So then we cannot any way suppose that to be liable unto Corruption which is neither a Body nor needs a Body for its subsistence but is wholly diverse and separated from all Bodily things Now when he was thus well assured § 59 that his Essence truly so called viz. his Soul was incorruptible he desired to know what would be the condition thereof when it left the Body and was separated therefrom Upon which consideration it appeared to him that it took not its farewell of the Body untill it became an instrument wholly unfit for its use So then as he weighed in his mind all his apprehensive faculties he saw that every one of them apprehended its Object sometimes potentially and sometimes actually as when the Eye winketh or turns