A

DISCOURSE

CONCERNING THE

MECHANICAL OPERATION

OF THE

SPIRIT.

For T. H. Efquire t, at his chambers in the academy of the Beaux Efpirits in New-England.

SIR,

head fomething, not only very material, but abfolutely neceffary to my health, that the world should be informed in: for, to tell you a fecret, I am able to contain it no longer. However I have been perplexed for fome time to refolve, what would be the most proper form to fend it abroad in. To which end I have been three days courfing through Westminster hall, and St. Paul's Church-yard, and Fleet-ftreet, to peruse 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 epistles addreffed to perfons and places, where, at first 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 firanger, or a person of quality in the clouds; and thefe upon fubjects in appearance the leaft proper for conveyance by the poft; as, long Schemes in philofophy; dark and wonderful myfteries of ftate; laborious differtations in criticism and philosophy ; advice to parliaments, and the like.

Now, Sir, to proceed after the method in present wear (for, let me fay what I will to the contrary, I am afraid you will publish this letter, as foon as ever it comes to your hand.) I defire you will be my witness to the world, how careless and sudden a scribble it has been; that it was but yefterday, when you and I began accidentally to fall into discourse 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 ftyle; and, if any other modern excuses 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 virtuofi, do me the favour to prefent my humble fervice to that illuftrious body, and affure them, I shall send an account of thofe phenomena, as foon as we can determine them at Gresham.

I have not had a line from the literati of Tobinambou these three laft ordinaries.

And now, Sir, having difpatched what I had to fay of forms, or of bufinefs, let me intreat, you will fuffer me to proceed upon my fubject; and to pardon me, if I make no farther ufe of the epiftolary style, till I come to conclude.

SECT.

SECT. I.

T is recorded of Mahomet, that, upon a vifit he was

vehicles to conduct him upwards; as fiery chariots, winged horfes, and celeftial fedans: but he refufed 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 doubtlefs with very good reafon. For, fince that Arabian is known to have borrowed a moiety of his religious fyftem from the Chriftian faith, it is but just he should pay reprisals 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 fafety or ease; 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 moft admirably held forth in all its qualities as well as operations: and therefore, whatever in my small reading occurs concerning this our fellowcreature, I do never fail to fet it down by way of common-place; and when I have occafion to write upon human reafon, 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 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

to perform in the following difcourfe. For, towards the operation already mentioned, many peculiar properties are required both in the rider and the ass; which I fhall 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 fo clofely 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 henceforward instead of the term afs, we shall make ufe 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 fubject of enquiry before us is to examine, by what methods this teacher arrives at his gifts, or fpirit, or light; and by what intercourse between him and his assembly 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 oc→ cafions and circumftances of time, of place, or of perfon; but to calculate them for univerfal nature, and mankind in general. And of such catholick use 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 ftrain, or tincture of enthufiafm; which, improved by certain perfons or focieties of men, and by them practifed upon the reft, has been able to produce revolutions of the greateft figure in 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 fcience, which has not annexed to it fome fanatick branch: fuch are the philofopher's Stone ; + the

the grand elixir; the planetary worlds; the fquaring of the circle; the fummum bonum; Utopian commonwealths; with fome others of less or fubordinate note; which all serve for nothing elfe, but to employ or amufe this grain of enthufiafm dealt into every compo-fition.

But, if this plant has found a root in the fields of empire and of knowledge, it has fixed deeper, and fpread 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 foul, or its faculties, 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 foul, or tranfporting it beyond the fphere 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 causes, the effect of ftrong imagination, fpleen, violent anger, fear, grief, pain, and the like. These three have been abundantly treated on by authors, and therefore shall not employ my enquiry. But, the fourth method of religious enthufiafm, or launching out of the foul, as it is purely an effect of artifice and mechanick operation, has been fparingly handled, or not at all, by any writer; becaufe, though it is an art of great antiquity, yet having been confined to few perfons, it long wanted thofe advancements and refinements, which it afterwards met with, fince it has grown fo epidemic, and fallen into fo many cultivating hands.

It is therefore upon this mechanical operation of the Spirit, that I mean to treat, as it is at prefent performed by our British workmen. I fhall deliver to the

† Some writers hold them for the fame, others not.

reader