562 INTELLECT AND FAITH. controlled by necessity ; that the world is eternal and there never was a first man ; that the soul is corrupted with the corruption of the body and does not suffer from corporeal fire ; that God does not know individual things, he knows nothing but himself, and cannot give immortality and incorruptibility to that which is mor- tal and corruptible.* This availed as little as the previous effort. In 1277 it was deemed necessary to invoke the authority of John XXI., under which Bishop Tempier condemned a list of two hundred and nine- teen errors, mostly the same as the previous ones, or deductions drawn from them, tending to systematize materialism and fatal- ism. The daring progress made by free-thought is shown by the sharply defined antagonism proclaimed between philosophy and theology : The philosopher must deny the creation of the world because he relies upon natural causes alone, but the believer may assert it because he relies upon supernatural causes ; the utterances of the theologians are based upon fables, and theology is a study unworthy the pursuing, for philosophers are the only sages and the Christian law impedes the progress of learning : prayer, of course, is unnecessary, and sepulture is not worth consideration by the wise man, but confession may be practised to save appearances. The Averrhoist theory of the universe and the celestial spheres was fully expressed, as well as the controlling influences of the stars upon human will and fortunes, for which, as we have seen, Peter of Abano and Cecco d'Ascoli subsequently suffered. In addition we have the speculation that with every cycle of thirty-six thousand years the celestial bodies returned to the same relative positions, producing a repetition of the same series of events.f About the same time Robert Kilwarby, Archbishop of Canter- bury, together with the Masters of Oxford, condemned some errors evidently originating from the same source, but not asserting ma- terialism in a manner so absolute, and this condemnation was con- firmed in 1284 by Archbishop Peckham, but the only punishment threatened was deposition for a Master, and for a Bachelor expul- sion with disability for promotion. These articles were combined
- Matt. Paris ann. 1243 (p. 415). — S. Bonaventuras Seim. de decern Praeceptis
II. (Opp. Venet. 1584, II. 617).— D'Argentre 1. 1. 158-9, 186-88. f D'Argentre 1. 1. 177-83.
