That Shaftsbury is fairly chargeable with this abfurdity, ap pears from his own definition of friendship, in his characteriftics, v. 1. p. 99. He remarks that the "heroic virtues of "private friendship, and zeal for the public and our country, are virtues purely voluntary in a Christian; they are no ef "sential parts of his charity-his converfation is in heaven, nor has he any occafion for fuch fupernumerary cares or em"barraffments here on earth, as may obstruct his way thither,

or retard him in the careful tafk of working out his falvation. "Under the Jewish dispensation (he fays) each of these virtues "had illuftrious examples, and were in fome manner recom"mended;" but of Christianity he makes no fuch acknowledgment.-Friendship he thus defines" By private friendship, no "reader can here fuppofe is meant that common benevolence "and charity, which every Christian is obliged to fhew towards "all men, and in particular towards his fellow Christians, his "neighbour, brother and kindred of whatever degree, but "that peculiar relation, which is formed by a cement and har"mony of minds, by mutual esteem and reciprocal tenderness "and affection, and which we emphatically call a FRIENDSHIP. "Such was that between the Jewish heroes, David and Jona"thar, whofe love furpaffed that of women; fuch were those "friendships defcribed fo frequently by poets, between Pylades "and Oreftes, Thefeus and Pirithous, &c. &c. &c.

Such therefore is the friendship which the noble Lord blames Christianity for not requiring as a duty, or diftinguishing by a peculiar reward.-Alas! was it not too much to expect that every man to be a good Chriftian must be a Pylades or an Oreftes, a Thefeus or Pirithous?

References and Examples to confirm the Affertions advanced in the preceding Effay, as to the Characters of genuine Fanaticifm.

On this fubject I have thought it fufficient to select but a few examples, and make very brief extracts from the writers to whom I refer. I could not bring myfelf to read many de-. tails of such extravagance and abfurdity; and I cannot suppose my readers would defire I fhould them. It was, however, indifpenfably neceffary to give fome examples, to render the

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contraft

contraft between the fober conduct and rational doctrines of the Apoftles, and the extravagancies and follies of fanaticism decifive and confpicuous.

As to the nature of the evidence by which enthusiasts declare they were themselves convinced of their divine MISSION,

OR TO WHICH THEY APPEAL TO CONVINCE OTHERS.

"Blind credulity, and dictatorial pofitiveness, "form the two leading and effential marks of an ❝ enthusiastic mind." Vid fupra, p. 3.

P. 6.

Enthusiastic faith is founded on an inter"nal perfuafion alone, &c."

P. 22. The impulse of fanaticism will produce "its effects irregularly and imperfectly, &c."

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P. 29. Fanatical delufions feldom last longer "than while they meet with minds all equally and "fitly disposed to catch the impulfe, &c."

P. 42.-" The apostles did not appeal to agitations "of mind, or convulfions of body-vifions by "night, or fecret whispers by day, &c."

P. 6. Enthusiasts are prone to mistake the "chimeras of a difordered fancy for the vifions of a prophetic illumination, &c.”

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P. 67" A claim to a prophetic character will "not fucceed in spreading enthusiasm, &c."

or P. 67." The prediction will be vague of an event

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eafily produced, and therefore eafily forefeen; trifling, obfcure, &c."

P. 137.

P. 137. Enthufiaftic writings abound, like the 6c history of Mahomet, with the accounts of nocturnal "" vifions, &c."

Vid. Koran, chap. 17. Abulfeda's Hiftory, chap. 19. Maracci, prodromi ad refutationem Alcorani, tom. 2. Part 2. p. 13.

“Sometimes like the priesteffes of old, overpower❝ed by the influence of their god, or like the devo"tees proftrate at the tombs of modern faints, their

' inspiration is difplayed by convulfions and agitati66 ons, &c. Sometimes like Lord Herbert, when "wound up to the height of devotion, they mistake "the voice of a still small wind, as a voice from God.”

Vid. Leland's deiftical writers, vol. i. p. 24. 4th edition, 1764. For an account of pagan enthusiasms, confult Plato's Timæus, Operum tom. 3. p. 71.-Editio Stephani, cum Interpretatione Serrani, 1578.

Jamblichus de Myfteriis Ægypti, paffim, particularly cap. 8. in fine.

Plutarchus de Defectu Oraculorum, Operum tom. ii. p. 432 and 436. Editio Xylini Francofurti, 1620.

Cicero de Divinatione, particularly lib. 1. fec. 37. Edit. Oliveti. Conformable to the reprefentations of thefe authors, are the poetic fictions of Virgil, Æn. lib. 6. line 45 to 50, and 76 to 80, and Lucan's Pharfalia, lib. 5. line 110 to 120, andf148 to 195,

Plato and Jamblichus are fo much to my purpose, I am tempted to tranflate a fhort paffage from each. Plato having described the different parts and uses of the human frame, afferts, that the ftructure of the liver rendered it a fit inftrument for carrying to the imagination nocturnal vifions and impreffions, fometimes gloomy and terrific, fometimes gentle and delightful ; and adds, that here also was fixed the feat of prophetic vifion (mafrua); for, says he, " They who formed "the human frame, remembering the command of the fu

preme Father, that they fhould make man as excellent as "poffible, formed even this lefs noble part, that it should have "some apprehenfion of truth, and therefore they placed in it "the feat of prophetic vision; and it is a fufficient proof that

"God

"God connected this power of prophecy with the irrational 66 part of man, that nobody ever attains to true and inspired prophecy while in his fober reafon; but when the power of "his understanding is impeded by fleep, or fubdued either by "disease, or fome direct divine infpiration; for, it is the fober "man alone who can understand what is spoken or fignified, "whether in dreams, or directly by this prophetic and inspired "nature; and to explain the vifions thus beheld, and to distin"guish what any thing points out and to whom, whether it be "good or evil, future, past, or prefent; for it is not the part

of the perfon agitated by the fury of infpiration, whether he ftill continues under its dominion or not, to judge of ** what is seen or spoken by himself, &c."

Jamblichus is ftill more express in describing the agitation, and even frenzy that attended the fuppofed infpirations of paganism. He is endeavouring to prove the reality of these inspirations; and he argues, that divination and prophecy do not arife from the paffions of the mind, nor the different tempe rament of the body, nor from both together." Let us then, " fays he, inveftigate the causes of this divine fury, which are "nothing else than illuminations defcending from the gods "themselves, and the fpirits by them infufed; and a complete

and abfolute poffeffion, by which they overpower the whole "man, which abforbs all our faculties, and puts a stop to "every natural operation, and motion, producing words which 66 are not understood by the speaker, but which they pronounce "with a tongue moved by a divine fury, while they are entirely

fubfervient, and inftrumental to the energy of the god who "poffeffes them. Of this kind is every true inspiration " (Evlgodoμos); and from thefe caufes does it arise, &c.” This is therefore the regular and allowed defcription of pagan infpirations; and conformable to this are the representations of the poets, as well as the philofophers.

If the reader wishes for a curious and entertaining view of fanaticifm, let him confult Stillingfleet, on the Idolatry of the Church of Rome, chap. 4. entitled, Of the Fanaticism of the Romish Church. Stillingfleet's Works, Vol. V. page 90 to 136, edition of 1709. He will read of St. Bridget," in whose holy "extafies were five rays coming from the five wounds of our

"Saviour

*Saviour to five parts of her body; and the prayed that the * wounds might not appear, and immediately the colour of the "blood was changed into pure light, and her confeffor saw

thefe fplendid wounds on her body." But by what inftrument, (adds Stillingfleet), did he fee the wound in her heart. Vid. p. 94. Also, of the virgin Juliana, "who had many ex

tafies and raptures; and in her prayers, almost always faw "the moon in her brightness, but with a faip taken off from "her roundnefs, at which fhe was much troubled. At last "it was revealed to her, that the moon fignified the church,

and that fraction, the want of one folemnity more to be ob“ferved in its upon which fhe received a command from hea"ven to proclaim the observation of this folemnity." And a friend of her's Ifabella, in an extafy, "faw all the heavenly orders upon their knees, fupplicating God, that, to confirm the faith of Chriftians, this feast should be observed, &c. &c," Ib. p. 97, 98. quoted from Bzovius, a Roman Catholic author, St. Benedict, faw the foul of Germanus, bishop of Capua, in a fiery circle, carried by angels to heaven.-Above all, he faw all the world under one ray of the fun. Stillingfleet, ut fupra, p. 101.

"St. Francis was converted by dreams and visions, in which he was fometimes fwallowed up in God, as Bonaventure, the "author of his life, expreffes it. One day, when he was alone

in a folitary place, he fell into an extafy of joy, and had full "affurance of the remiffion of his fins; and being transported “beyond himself, he was catched up in a wonderful light, wherein his mind being enlarged, he forefaw all that should come to pafs concerning his order."

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But ftill more diftinguifhed for fanaticifm, was Ignatius Loy ola, founder of the order of the Jefuits. Vid. Stillingfleet, ut fupra, from p. 118 to p. 124. who quotes only the lives written of him by his own order. "His zeal having been inflamed by "studying the lives of the faints, he in a fit of zeal one night

got out of his bed, and fell down on his knees before the "image of the blessed Virgin, and in that posture vowed him"felf her devotee. He foon after put on a long coat of fack❝cloth, with a cord about it, at which he hung a bottle of wa

ter, with a wicker fhoe on one foot, and the other naked, and