year, at the end of which, he would return to find them. "He then fhut himself up in his cave, and it was there in si"lence and folitude that he formed his fyftem 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 fenfible and luminous body. In thus retiring to fo"litude, he imitated, fays Beaufobre, his predeceffor Zoroafter, "who had ufed 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 confequences of the falfe principle that matter, and by confequence flesh, was in itself evil, the Manicheans having adopted this principle, adopted thefe confequences. "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 paffed one month in the grotto "of Mount Haram: in this retirement, in his 40th year, came "that night, in which, fays the Arabian hiftorian, God glori"ous and fupreme, honored him with the moft distinguished "honor.-Gabriel defcended from heaven, and faid to him, "read-1 know not how to read, faid Mahomet ;-† read, fays "the angel, in the name of God the Creator, who formed "man by uniting the fexes. 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 fcience. Mahomet recited these "verses, and advanced into the middle of the mountain, and "heard a heavenly voice, which repeated thefe words; Mahomet, 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 fcene 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. "The Brachmans of Bengal lead a very auftere life; they The first verses of the Coran, chap. 96. Vid. Savary's tranflation, ❝ only "only upon herbs. They have very odd opinions about no"thingness; and a morality which has a great affinity with the "vifions of our Quietifts-they carry fo far the apathia or indifferency to which they refer all holiness, that a man must "become a stone or a statue to acquire the perfection of it.” 66 Account of Darma, an enthufiaft of Japan. Vid. Kempfer's History of Japan, Vol. II. 1ft Appendix, p. 3. tranflated by J. G. Schewickzer. Lond. 1727. "About the year of Chrift 519, this Darma came into Japan; his defign 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 himfelf useful to men, "and acceptable to God; he went ftill farther, and ftrove "for divine grace, by leading an auftere and exemplary life; "expofing himfelf to all the injuries of the weather; chaftiz❝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"termiffion to God, was what he took to be the fincereft repentance, and the most eminent degree of perfection human "nature could attain to. After a continued waking of many "years, he at laft 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 inftruments 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, wafhing 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 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 war, and ran into every act of violence and cruelty which rebellion and enthusiasm could fuggeft, Vid. Mofheim's Eccles. Hift. Cent, 16. chap. ii. fect. 1. fubj. 22. In the year 1533, a number of anabaptifts, who surpassed, " 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 administration of it to John Bockhott a "Taylor of Leyden. Vid. Mofh. Eccles. Hift. Cent. 16. chap. iii. fect. I, fubj. 10. vol. 4, p. 102, tranflated 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 gofpel) mortified himself with continual fastings, fold his eftate, buried himself in an obfcure retirement, tore himself with the most 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 enthusiast; he conceived himself inspired at the tomb of the Abbe by a fudden inspiration. "Having writ "ten his narrative of these fuppofed miracles, and deter"mined to prefent 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 ac66 count of this book; but waited in his house 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 houses and churches; § they undermined the authority of the fcripture, 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 per nicious, 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 Lorenzó de Medici, vol. 2, p. 158-238-266, &c. He told the citizens of Florence that he had himself been the ambasador of the Florentines to heaven, and that Chriit had condefcended 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 Franciscans accepted the challenge; the com * Vid. Spinckes, ut fupra, p. 450. § ib. 470. || Ib. 472. † Ib. 451. Ib. 464. ¶ 468. buftibles 329 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 recourse to another expedient; and infifted that his champion Domenico, when he entered the fire, fhould bear the hoft 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 firft ftrangled, 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 stile is full of myfterious and metaphorical allufions. "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 pleafes, 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 impreffion, 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 |