the credit of his sect. I find they had also prophefied, that one " Stephen Halford, a cutler, at Birmingham, should die on

February 3, 1707; that he should lie in the fame room for "three days, dead; that he should then be buried, and twenty " days after rise again." -The man who had been one of themselves, and firmly believed the prediction, was thrown into great agitations-but the time passed, he did not die, and was so convinced of the delufion as to forsake the fect. They also prophefied, that within fix months, from the 29th of October, 1707, London should be destroyed.-I mention these circumstances, to shew how apt enthusiasts will be to prophecy, and how certainly fuch prophecy will destroy their credit. We have another instance of the rashness of fanatics, as to prophecy, in the reveries of Brothers, who, in his revealed knowledge of the prophecies and times, p. 51. Dublin edition, 1795, in a paragraph, dated 1794, Ist of the month, called July, writes thus: "The Lord God said to me among other things, in a vifion " early in the morning, for I had been earnestly praying to " him the evening before, to hasten my revelation to the Jews, " and inform me how long it would be until it took place, be" cause I was daily abused as an impostor for publishing his " commands, by wicked men, every one of them led on under "the influence of an evil spirit-You must be at Constantinople, " in your way to Jerufalem, by this time the next year, I have raifed

"

up one from the north, (meaning the revealed prince of the " Hebrews at this time), and he shall come, (meaning to Je " rufalem, from that northern part of the world alluded to),

(England lies in the north, and it is indeed the country " meant) from the tifing of the sun he shall call upon my " name, and he shall come upon princes as upon mortar, and " as the potter treads clay, p. 61. Who hath declared from "the beginning, that we may know, and before the time, " (meaning the prophecy is fulfilled, it being 2461 years from " its declaration then to its accomplishment, now this present year of "1795) that we may say he is righteous, yea, there is none " that sheweth, yea, there is none that declareth, yea, there " is none that heareth your words, ibid. The Lord God " commands me to say to you, Nathaniel Brassey Halhed, that " as you are reviled, and confidered by your former acquaint

" ances

1

"ances as ruined and lost for speaking the truth, as he mani.
" fested it to you, for publishing your testimony of me as his
" servant, you shall, by the expiration of three months, from this day,
" have your choice, of being either governor-general of India, or prefi-
"dent of the Board of Controul in England, that all men may be
" convinced, that he that rules in heaven, is able to exalt, or
"to abase; that he is still able, even at this late hour of a
" wicked world, to reward the obedient to his blessed spirit, and
" give the most eminent places on earth to whomsoever he
"pleases," p. 65.

For a proof of the irregularity and uncertainty with which
fanaticism produces its effects, confult Douglas's Criterion,
where he examines the pretended miracles performed at the
tomb of the Abbe Paris, from p. 175 to 190. He remarks,
that the cures when real, were wrought on persons whose ima-
ginations were strongly impressed; that the applications were
repeated, fo that days and weeks, and even months intervened,
between the first application and the relief. That they were of
fuch diforders, as the imagination, and the force of nervous af-
fections have particular influence upon; that the cures were at-
tended with violent convulfions and agitations; that but a few of
thousands had been healed. I take no notice of the multitude
of forgeries and frauds about these miracles, as I only confider
them so far as they were influenced by fanaticism. Vid. alfo
Dr. Elrington on Miracles, from p. 232 to 245, and from
p. 299 to the end. Vid. alfo Bishop Douglas's Remarks on the
Cure of the Evil, by the Royal Touch; where he states the
strong probability, that even when such cures were real, they
were wrought by the force of imagination, p. 203. His ac-
count of the cures performed by Mr. Greatrakes, by stroaking
with the hand, is well worth our notice. This person, a gentle-
man of fome fashion in the county of Waterford in Ireland, be-
gan 1662, to have a strange perfuafion in his mind, of which
he was not able to give a rational account to others, that the
gift of curing the king's evil was bestowed upon him, and he
afterwards attempted agues, and all forts of diseases. But it
must be observed, that many whom he was most anxious to heal,
and who applied to him, he was unable to heal at all, as Lady
Conway, whom he could not cure of a head-ach, though he
ftayed

)

stayed at her house about three weeks or a month for that purpofe-the cures were also effected gradually, and the operation of the hand frequently repeated. In many cafes there was occafion to make use of razors and other sharp instruments to lay open the fores. The number of those who received no benefit from him after repeated trials, greatly exceeded the number of those who were relieved; and many who received benefit, received no cure, but afterwards relapsed. Vid. Douglas, from p. 205 to 212. On the cure of Madame de la Fosse. Vid. Douglas, p. 230 to 233. it was gradual and imperfect. For a vindication of the miracles of our Lord from fuch imputation, Vid. ibid. from p. 250 to 271. I hope, that in the preceding work, chap. 1. I have not omitted any material observation of this excellent writer; it is to be lamented that his work is now extremely scarce.

2dly. The Conduct of Fanatics.

P. 93. " Enthusiasts are overpowered by religi" ous melancholy and abstraction, devoted to ex" cessive mortifications and fantastic penances, &c. "They trample on the restraints of order and de

66

cency; are impatient to court perfecution, &c. are "alienated from the relations and business of common life, &c."

66

P. 241. "Are frequently impatient of contradic " tion, and apt to perfecute, &c."

P. 220. "Have sometimes indulged themselves " in vices, &c."

Vid. Beaufobre's Histoire du Manichees. Liv. 2. chap. 3. P. 189. Amsterdam, 1734. " Manes, to give his errors a di" vine authority, having discovered in a folitary place a cave, " which contained an excellent fountain, he concealed provi" fions there, and then gave notice to his disciples, that he was " going to be exalted to heaven, where he would remain one " year,

1

1

year, at the end of which, he would return to find them. "He then shut himself up in his cave, and it was there in si"lence and folitude that he formed his system of philofophy and " religion; and wrote his book, which he enriched with beau" tiful figures, in order to embody his fubtle imaginations with " a fort of sensible and luminous body. In thus retiring to so" litude, he imitated, says Beaufobre, his predeceffor Zoroaster, " who had used exactly the fame artifice."

The Docetæ, before Manes, had maintained, that the word had only taken the exterior figure of a man. The Encratites had condemned marriage and the use of meats; these two herefies were the natural consequences of the false principle that matter, and by consequence flesh, was in itself evil, the Manicheans having adopted this principle, adopted these conse

quences.

" Mahomet imitated Manes. God, fays Abulfeda, chap. 7 " from his 25th to his 40th year, inspired Mahomet with a love " of folitude; he lived retired, and passed one month in the grotto " of Mount Haram: in this retirement, in his 40th year, came " that night, in which, says the Arabian historian, God glori

ous and fupreme, honored him with the most distinguished "honor. Gabriel defcended from heaven, and faid to him, "read-1 know not how to read, said Mahomet ;-† read, fays "the angel, in the name of God the Creator, who formed

66

man by uniting the sexes. Read, in the name of the adora "ble God: he taught man to avail himself of the pen: he " darts into his foul the ray of science. Mahomet recited these "verses, and advanced into the middle of the mountain, and " heard a heavenly voice, which repeated these words: Maho"met, you are the apostle of God, and I am the angel Ga" briel."-Such was the commencement and the proof of Mahomet's divine miffion; but of this scene he was the only witness, and unable to produce any proof from miracles required to be believed on his word.

Brachmans. Bayle's Dictionary, Vol. I. p. 706.

66

"The Brachmans of Bengal lead a very austere life; they go bare-headed and bare-footed in burning fand, and live

↑ The first verses of the Coran, chap. 96. Vid. Savary's translation.

" only

" only upon herbs. They have very odd opinions about no

thingness; and a morality which has a great affinity with the " visions of our Quietists-they carry fo far the apathia or in" differency to which they refer all holiness, that a man must " become a stone or a statue to acquire the perfection of it."

Account of Darma, an enthusiast of Japan. Vid. Kempfer's History of Japan, Vol. II. Ist Appendix, p. 3. tranflated by J. G. Schewickzer. Lond. 1727.

"About the year of Christ 519, this Darma came into Japan; his design was to bring the inhabitants of that popu"lous country to the knowledge of God, and to preach his " gospel and religion to them, as the true and only one which " would lead them to falvation; nor was it only with his doc"trine that he endeavoured to make himself useful to men, " and acceptable to God; he went still farther, and strove " for divine grace, by leading an austere and exemplary life; "expofing himself to all the injuries of the weather; chastiz" ing and mortifying his body, and fubduing the paffions of " his mind; he lived only upon vegetables, and thought this to " be the highest degree of holiness to pafs days and nights in " an uninterrupted Satori, that is, a contemplation of the di"vine Being; to deny all manner of rest and relaxation to the " body, and to confecrate the mind entirely, and without in"termission to God, was what he took to be the fincerest re" pentance, and the most eminent degree of perfection human "nature could attain to. After a continued waking of many

८८

years, he at last grew fo weary of his fatigues and fafting, " that he fell afleep. Awaking the next morning, and with " forrow, remembering that he had broke his vow, he refolved " to take a fincere repentance; and in the first place, left the " like accident fhould happen to him hereafter, he cut off both "his eye-lids, as the instruments and minifters of his crime, " &c. &c."

Vid. the fame author's account of the Jummabos, a religious order in Japan, who spend most of their time in going up and down holy mountains, washing themselves in cold water in the midst of winter, &c. ib. vol. 1, b. 3, chap. v. p. 232.

Vid. Churchill's Collection of Voyages, Lond. 1704, vol. i, p. 533, and v. 2. p. 213, for Candidius's and Neuhof's Account

of