of the island of Formofa, where the rites of religion are performed by women, who have tremblings and fits, when, as they conceive, their God fpeaks to them.

Vid. alfo Churchill, ibid. vol. p. 230, for an account of Devotees in the kingdom of Achim, who speak to nobody, practise the most unnatural gefticulations, and the greatest feveri

ties.

Vid. alfo Voyages de Corneille le Brun, par le Mofcovie, &c. printed at Amfterdam, 1718, tome 1, p. 13, for an account of the priests of the Samoyades, who, when confulted upon futurity, never give their anfwer till they have been for a while, as it were, in a state of death.

For an account of the feditious fanatics, who in the year 1525, rofe in Germany, and headed by the enthufiaft, Munzer, excited a religious, as well as a civil and war, ran into act every of violence and cruelty which rebellion and enthusiasm could fuggeft, Vid. Mofheim's Eccles. Hist. Cent, 16. chap. ii. fect. 1. fubj. 22.

In the year 1533, a number of anabaptists, who furpaffed, " fays Mofheim, the rest of that fanatical tribe, in the extra"vagance of their proceedings, the phrenzy of their disordered

brains, and the madness of their pretenfions and projects, ap❝peared at Munster in Weftphalia. They gave themselves out "for the meffengers of heaven, invested with a divine com"miffion, to lay the foundation of a new government, a holy "and spiritual empire, and to destroy all temporal rule and "authority, all human and political inftitutions. They began "to erect a new republic, and under the title of new Jerufalem, "committed the adminiftration of it to John Bockhott a "Taylor of Leyden. Vid. Mofh. Eccles. Hift. Cent. 16. chap. iii. fect. 1, fubj. 10. vol. 4, p. 102, translated by Maclaine, Lond. 1782, and Cent. 16, fect. 3, part 2, chap. iii. ib. p. 439.

The Abbe Paris (at whofe tomb thofe pretended miracles were wrought. which Mr. Hume compares with the miracles of the gospel) mortified himself with continual faftings, fold his eftate, buried himself in an obfcure retirement, tore himself with the moft cruel flagellations, and finally brought on his own death, by obftinately abftaining from food. Vid. Douglas's Criterion, p. 123.

Monfieur

*

Monfieur Montgeron, who defended the cause of the Abbe, was a fingular enthufiaft; he conceived himself infpired at the tomb of the Abbe by a fudden infpiration. "Having writ"ten his narrative of these fuppofed miracles, and deter"mined to present it to the king in perfon, he for eight days "before he did fo, lay on a bed of ashes; bread and water was "his only fuftenance, and the whole period was spent in devo❝tion. He did not take the least pains to escape the imprison"ment, which he knew was determined against him, on ac"count of this book; but waited in his houfe with a kind of -" impatience for the Lettre de Cachet." Vid. Douglas's Criterion, p. 220 to 223. and Dr. Elrington's Sermons on Miracles, from 237 to 240. and the notes 340.

The French prophets were guilty of

breach of faith; they took up arms against their fovereign; they de ftroyed houfes and churches; they undermined the autho rity of the scripture, and || they manifefted the most exceffive rage, and employed the most abufive terms against the clergy.

They alfo decryed human learning as wholly useless and pernicious, and fuperfeded by the inspiration they enjoyed.

For an account of the celebrated fanatic of Florence, Girolano Savanarola, confult Guiccardini's Hiftory, book 2 and 3, or Mr. Rofcoe's Life of Lorenzo de Medici, vol. 2, p. 158-238-266, &c. He told the citizens of Florence that he had himself been the ambalador of the Florentines to heaven, and that Chriit had condescended to be their peculiar monarch, and that the legislative power ought to be extended to the citizens at large. On the defeat and execution of the adherents to the family of the De Medici, which Savanarola inftigated, Florence affumed the appearance of a theocracy, of which he was the prophet, the legislator, and the judge. Domenico, one of his principal difciples, in a conteft with the Franciscan friars, tranfported with zeal for the interests of his master, proposed to confirm the truth of his doctrines by walking through the flames, provided any of his adversaries would fubmit to a fimilar test: such was the enthusiasm of the moment, one of the Francifcans accepted the challenge; the com

1

Ib. 464.

buftibles

* Vid. Spinckes, ut fupra, p. 450. § Ib. 470. | Ib. 472.

¶ 468.

↑ Ib. 451.

buftibles were prepared; Savanarola and his champion appeared, thundering with a tremendous voice, the pfalm, "Exfurgat Deus, & Diffipentur Inimici ejus ;" but finding the Francifcan was not to be deterred, either by his vociferations, or the fight of the flames, he had recourfe to another expedient; and infifted that his champion Domenico, when he entered the fire, fhould bear the host along with him; this facrilegious propofal fhocked the whole affembly; it deftroyed the credit of Savanarola, he was dragged to prifon, and afterwards put to the torture here he acknowledged the folly of his pretenfions to fupernatural aid, and with his champion Domenico, and another attendant, was first strangled, and then committed to the flames. Savanarola was much addicted to prophecy; he predicted degradation and banishment to Lorenzo de Medici, which never took place, &c. &c,

3dly. The file of fanatical writings.

P. 126. Obfcurity and extravagance, felf"exaltation and uncharitablenefs, are the natural "characters of enthufiaftic compofitions.-The ftile is full of myfterious and metaphorical allufion3. "Common events are spoken of as fecret Provi"dences; uncommon, as decided miracles, &c.

For fpecimens of this, for I do not choose to tranfcribe them, my reader may, if he pleases, confult Stillingfleet, as quoted above, p. 99; for the Mysticism of St. Juliana, and the mystical language of Sancta Sophia, vid. Ludovicus Bloffius, in his fpiritual inftitutions, &c. &c. and confult Stillingfleet, ut fupra, p. 124 to 132, where he will find abundance about abftractednefs of life-mental prayers-paffive unionsa deiform fund of the foul-a ftate of introverfion-of the foul's being in a vacuity, and receiving God in the pure fund of the fpirit-of the fimple effence of the foul being ftamped with a divine impression, from whence arifeth a fupereffential life, &c. and if the reader wishes for an example of the language of the quietifts, I give it him in the words of Bruyere and Madame Guyon, as quoted by Bayle-" I defire you to obferve, fays Bayle,

Ꮓ

Bayle, that this monster of indifferency is the darling doctrine of the quietifts, and that according to them the true felicity confifts in nothingness. He then quotes from Bruyere"Then in the three-fold filence of words, thoughts and defires, "finding himself in a spiritual fleep, in a myftical drunkenness, "all the fufpended powers are recalled from the circumference "to the centre. God, who is that centre, makes the foul feel "him by divine touches, by a tafte, by illapfes, by unspeakable "fuavities;" and the words of Madame Guyon-" a fpiritual "foul ought to be indifferent in all things, either for the body "or the foul, or for temporal or eternal goods, and leave "what is past in forgetfulness, and things to come to the Pro"vidence of God, and not to enjoy the prefent, &c. &c."

Vid. the strange opinion of certain Grecian Mystiques about the poffibility of a man (fcil. a faint) receiving and poffeffing the very entire fubftance of the Holy Spirit-Beaufobre's Hiftoire de Manichees, &c. part 2, liv. 1, chap. ii. in fine, p. 268. For further examples of myfticifm confult the writings of Jacob Behmen, whofe difciples acknowledge, or rather glory, that they are unintelligible. Vid. Arnold Hift. Theologie Myfticæ, p. 592.

4thly. The Doctrines of Fanatics, particularly their moral Doctrines.

Supra, P. 220. "Enthufiafts teach men to feek "and pray for fecret illuminations, &c." "Moral "rectitude and practical piety are defpifed or under"valued"" hence the vices in which fanatics "have fometimes indulged themselves, &c.-" they "feldom exhort to fober felf-government, feldom "enforce the duties of focial life."

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P. 225. They are prone to believe they have "already attained the fummit of moral perfection."

P. 227.-"They defpife external helps to religion."

P. 236.

P. 236.
"it a levelling principle in political affairs."

Fanaticism has generally carried with

P. 241.“Fanatics are fevere in condemning "thofe who differ from them."

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P. 273. The devotion of fanatics is gloomy and extravagant ;—their principles of social conduct "unnatural ;-their ideas of felf-regulation harsh and "unpracticable, &c."

Of the principles of the myftic theology among the Chriftians, which was derived from the fanaticism of the modern platonics, Vid. Mofheim de Reb. Chriftianis ante Conftant. P. 314. He gives this account from Philo-" The foul rising "above every perceivable existence, or fenfible effence, is "feized with the love of the fpiritual world, and having con"templated in that the patterns and ideas of the sensible obet jects which it here beholds, and the admirable beauties of "these ideas, it is hurried away by a fober intoxication, and, "like the Corybantes, full of infpiration, is then captivated by "another far more exalted love, by which, raised to the fum"mit of all intelligence, it seems to tend to the fupreme king,

and then upon the foul defirous of contemplating it, is "poured a pure and unmixed ray of light like a torrent, so "that the eye of the foul is overpowered by its fplendor, &c. " &c."

Of the rife of the Afcetics, who adopted, as means of perfection, watching, abftinence from wine, flesh and marriage, and who would not engage in commerce, Vid. Mosheim Eccl. Hift. Cent. 2d, part 2d, chap. 3d, they derived their rules from the fanatical discipline of the modern platonics. It is remarkable, that they were the first Christians who used pious. frauds. Vid. Bingham's Antiquities of the Christian Church, b. 7, chap. i. Ib. chap. ii. It is worthy of notice, that, according to Bingham, "the Afcetics were men of an active life,

66

living in cities as other men, differing only in this, that they "were more intent and zealous in attempting greater heights ❝ and heroical acts of virtue.-It was not till the 4th century "that monks arofe, who retired from the business and converZ 2

"fation