For T. H. Efq; at his Chambers in the Academy of the Beaux-Efpirits' in New-Holland.

I

SIR,

T is now a good while fince I have had in my Head fomething, not only very material, but abfolutely neceffary to my Health, that the World fhould be informed in. For, to tell you a Secret, I am able to contain it no longer. Howe ver, I have been perplexed for fome time, to refolve what would be the most proper Form to fend

This Difcourfe is not altogether equal to the two former, the best Parts of it being omitted. Whether the Bookseller's Account be true, that he durft not print the reft, I know not: Nor indeed is it eafy to determine, whether he may be relied on in any thing he fays of this, or the former Treatifes, only as to the Time they were writ in; which, however, appears more from the Difcourfes themselves than his Relation.

it

it abroad in. To which End, I have been three Days courfing through Wefiminfter-ball, and St. Paul's Church-yard, and Fleet-ftreet, to perufe Titles; and I do not find any which holds fo general a Vogue, as that of A Letter to a Friend. Nothing is more common than to meet with long Epiftles addreffed to Perfons and Places, where, at firft Thinking one would be apt to imagine it not altogether fo neceffary or convenient; fuch as, a Neighbour at next Door, a mortal Enemy, a perfect Stranger, or a Perfon of Quality in the Clouds; and thefe upon Subjects, in Ap-pearance, the leaft proper for Conveyance by the Poft; as, long Schemes in Philofophy, dark and wonderful Myfteries of State, laborious Differtations in Criti cifm and Philofophy, Advice to Parliaments, and the like.

Now, Sir, to proceed after the Method in prefent Wear: (For, let me fay what I will to the contrary, I am afraid you will publifh this Letter, as foon as it ever comes to your Hands): I defire you will be my Witness to the World, how careless and fudden a Scribble it has been; that it was but Yefterday, when you and I began accidentally to fall into Difcourfe on this Matter; that I was not very well. when we parted; that the Poft is in fuch Hafte, I have had no Manner of Time to digeft it into Order, or correct the Style: And if any other modern Excufes, for Hafte and Negligence, fhall occur to you in reading, I beg you to infert them, faithfully promifing they fhall be thankfully acknowledged.

PRAY, Sir, in your next Letter to the Iroquois Virtuof, do me the Favour to prefent my humble. Service to that illuftrious Body; and affure them, I fhall fend an Account of those. Phænomena, as foon as we can determine them at Gresham.

I have not had a Line from the Literati of Tobinambu these three laft Ordinaries.

AND now, Sir, having dispatched what I had to fay of Forms, or of Bufinefs, let me intreat, you will fuffer

fuffer me to proceed upon my Subject; and to pardon me if I make no farther Ufe of the epiftolary Style, till I come to conclude.

IT

SECT. I.

T is recorded of Mahomet, that upon a Vifit he was going to pay in Paradife, he had an Offer of feveral Vehicles to conduct him upwards; as, fiery Chariots, winged Horfes, and celeftial Sedans: But he refused them all, and would be borne to Heaven upon nothing but his Afs. Now, this Inclination of Mahomet, as fingular as it seems, hath been fince taken up by a great Number of devout Chriftians; and doubtless with very good Reafon. For fince that Arabian is known to have borrowed a Moiety of his religious Syftem from the Chriftian Faith, it is but juft he fhould pay Reprifals to fuch as would challenge them; wherein the good People of England, to do them all right, have not been backward. For though there is not any other Nation in the World fo plentifully provided with Carriages for that Journey, either as to Safety or Eafe; yet there are Abundance of us, who will not be fatisfied with any other Machine, befides this of Mahomet.

FOR my own Part, I must confefs to bear a very fingular Refpect to this Animal, by whom I take human Nature to be most admirably held forth in all its Qualities as well as Operations: And therefore, whatever in my fmall reading occurs concerning this our Fellow-creature, I do never fail to set it down, by Way of Common-place; and when I have Occafion to write upon human Reason, Politicks, Eloquence, or Knowledge, I lay my Memorandums before me, and infert them with a wonderful Facility of Application. However, among all the Qualifications afcribed to this diftinguished Brute, by antient or modern Authors, I cannot remember this Talent of bearing his Rider to Heaven, has been recorded

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for a Part of his Character, except in the two Examples mentioned already; therefore I conceive the Methods of this Art to be a Point of ufeful Knowledge in very few Hands, and which the learned World would gladly be better informed in: This is what I have undertaken to perform in the following Difcourfe. For towards the Operation already mentioned, many peculiar Properties are required, both in the Rider and the Afs; which I shall endeavour to fet in as clear a Light as I can.

. BUT, because I am refolved, by all Means, to avoid giving Offence to any Party whatever, I will leave off difcourfing so closely to the Letter as I have hitherto done, and go on for the future by way of Allegory, though in fuch a Manner, that the judicious Reader may, without much ftraining, make his Applications as often as he fhall think fit. Therefore, if you please, from hence forward, instead of the Term Afs, we shall make use of gifted or enlightened Teacher; and the Word Rider, we will exchange for that of Fanatick Auditory, or any other Denomination of the like Import. Having fettled this weighty Point, the great Subject of Inquiry before us is, to examine, by what Methods this Teacher arrives at his Gifts, or Spirit, or Light; and by what Intercourfe between him and his Affembly it is cultivated and fupported.

IN all my Writings, I have had conftant Regard to this great End, not to fuit and apply them to particular Occafions and Circumstances of Time, of Place, or of Perfon; but to calculate them for univerfal Nature, and Mankind in general. And of fuch catholick Ufe I efteem this prefent Difquifition: For I do not remember any other Temper of Body, or Quality of Mind, wherein all Nations and Ages of the World have fo unanimously agreed, as that of a Fanatick Strain, or Tincture of Enthufiafm; which, improved by certain Perfons or Societies of Men, and by them practifed upon the reft, has been able to produce Revolutions of the greatest Figure in History;

Hiftory; as will foon appear to thofe who know any thing of Arabia, Perfia, India, or China, of Morocco and Peru. Farther, it has poffeffed as great a Power in the Kingdom of Knowledge, where it is hard to affign one Art or Science, which has not annexed to it fome Fanatick Branch: Such are the Philofopher's Stone, the grand Elixir, the planetary Worlds, the fquaring of the Circle, the fummum bonum, Utopian Commonwealths, with fome others of lefs or fubordinate Note; which all ferve for nothing else, but to employ or amufe this Grain of Enthusiasm, dealt into every Compofition.

BUT if this Plant has found a Root in the Fields of Empire and of Knowledge, it has fixed deeper, and spread yet farther upon holy Ground: Wherein, though it hath paffed under the general Name of Enthufiafm, and perhaps arifen from the fame Original; yet hath it produced certain Branches of a very different Nature, however often mistaken for each other. The Word, in its univerfal Acceptation, may be defined, A lifting up of the Soul, or its Facul ties above Matter. This Defcription will hold good in general: But I am only to understand it as applied to Religion; wherein there are three general Ways of ejaculating the Soul, or transporting it beyond the Sphere of Matter. The firft is, the immediate Act of God, and is called Prophecy or Infpiration. The fecond is, the immediate Act of the Devil, and is termed Poffeffion. The third is, the Product of natural Caufes; the Effect of ftrong Imagination, Spleen, violent Anger, Fear, Grief, Pain, and the like. Thefe three have been abundantly treated on by Authors, and therefore fhall not employ my Inquiry. But the fourth Method of religious Enthufiafm, or launching out of the Soul, as it is purely an Effect of Artifice and mechanick Operation, has been sparingly handled, or not at all, by any Writer; because though it is an Art of great Anti

• Some Writers hold them for the fame, others not.