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To fet this matter in as fair a light as poffible, I fhall here very briefly deduce the hiftory of fanaticifm, from the moft early ages to the prefent. And if we are able to fix upon any one material or fundamental point, wherein the chief profeffors have univerfally agreed, I think we may reasonably lay hold on that, and affign it for the great feed or principle of the spirit.

THE moft early traces we meet with of fanatics in antient ftory, are among the Egyptians; who inftituted thofe rites known in Greece by the names of Orgia, Pane gyres, and Dionyfia; whether introduced there by Orpheus or Melampus, we fhall not dispute at prefent, nor in all likelihood, at any time for the future. These feafts were celebrated to the honour of Ofyris, whom the Grecians called Dionyfius, and is the fame with Bacchus +. Which has betrayed fome fuperficial readers to imagine, that the whole bufinefs was nothing more than a fet of roring, fcouring companions, overcharged with wine: but this is a fcandalous miftake, foifted on the world by a fort of modern authors, who have too literal an understanding; and, because antiquity is to be traced backwards, do therefore, like Jews, begin their. books at the wrong end, as if learning were a fort of conjuring. These are the men who pretend to understand a book, by fcouting thro' the index, as if a traveller fhould go about to defcribe a palace, when he had feen nothing but the privy; or like certain fortune-tellers in Northern America, who have a way of reading a man's deftiny, by peeping into his breech. For at the time of inftituting thefe myfteries 1, there was not one vine in all Egypt, the natives drinking nothing but ale; which liquor feems to have been far more antient than wine, and has the honour of owing its invention and progrefs, not only to the Ægyptian Öfyris |, but to the Græcian Bacchus; who, in their famous expedition, carried the receipt of it along with them, and gave it to the nations

+ Diod. Sic. 1. 1. Plut. de Ifide et Ofyride.

Herod. 1. 2.

Diod. Sic. I. 1. et 3.

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`they vifited or fubdued. Befides, Bacchus himself was very feldom or never drunk: for it is recorded of him, that he was the first inventor of the mitre t: which he wore continually on his head, (as the whole company of Bacchanals did) to prevent vapours and the head-ach after hard drinking. And for this reafon (fay fome) the Scarlet whore, when the makes the kings of the earth drunk with her cup of abomination, is always fober herfelf, tho' fhe never balks the glafs in her turn, being, it feems, kept upon her legs by the virtue of her triple mitre. Now, these feafts were inftituted in imitation of the famous expedition Ofyris made thro' the world, and of the company that attended him, whereof the Bacchanalian ceremonies were fo many types and fymbols. From which account it is manifeft, that the fanatic rites of these Bacchanals cannot be imputed to intoxications by wine, but muft needs have had a deeper foundation. What this was, we may gather large hints from certain circumstances in the courfe of their myfteries. For, in the first place, there was in their proceffions an entire mixture and confufion of fexes: they affected to ramble about hills and defarts: their garlands were of ivy and vine, emblems of cleaving and clinging; or of fir, the parent of turpentine. It is added, that they imitated latyrs, were attended by goats, and rode upon affes, all companions of great skill and practice in affairs of gallantry. They bore for their enfigns certain curious figures perched upon long poles, made into the fhape and fize of the virga genitalis, with its appurtenances, which were fo many fhadows and emblems of the whole myftery, as well as trophies fet up by the female conquerors. Laftly, in a certain town of Attica, the whole folemnity ftript of all its types, was performed in puris naturalibus; the votaries not flying in coveys, but forted into couples. The fame may be farther conjectured from the death of Orpheus, one of the inftitutors of these myfteries; wha was torn in pieces by women, because he refused to

+ Diod. Sic. I. t. et 3.

See the particulars in Diod. Sic. 1. 1. et 3.
Dionyfia Brauronia.

communicate

communicate his orgies + to them; which others explained, by telling us, he had caftrated himself, upon grief for the lofs of his wife.

OMITTING many others of less note, the next fanatics we meet with of any eminence, were the numerous fects of heretics, appearing in the five first centuries of the Christian Æra, from Simon Magus and his followers, to those of Eutyches. I have collected their fsystems from infinite reading; and comparing them with those of their fucceffors in their feveral ages fince, I find their are certain bounds fet even to the irregularity of human thought, and those a great deal narrower than is commonly apprehended. For as they all frequently interfere, even in their wildeft ravings; fo there is one fundamental point, wherein they are fure to meet, as lines in a center, and that is the community of women. Great were

their folicitudes in this matter; and they never failed of certain articles in their schemes of worship, on purpose to establish it.

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THE laft fanatics of note, were those which started up in Germany, a little after the Reformation of Luther; fpringing, as mushrooms do at the end of a harvest. Such were John of Leyden, David George, Adam Neufter, and many others; whofe vifions and revelations always terminated in leading about half a dozen fifters a-piece, and making that practice a fundamental part of their fyftem. For human life is a continual navigation; and if we expect our vessels to pass with safety thro' the waves and tempefts of this fluctuating world, it is neceffary to make a good provifion for the fief, as feamen lay in ftore of beef for a long voyage.

Now, from this brief furvey of fome principal fects among the fanatics, in all ages, (having omitted the Mahometans and others, who might also help to confirm the argument I am about); to which I might add several among ourselves, fuch as the family of love, fweet fingers of Ifrael, and the like; and from reflecting upon that fundamental point in their doctrines, about women, wherein they have fo unanimously agreed; I am apt to

Vid. Photium in excerptis e Conone.

imagine,

imagine, that the feed or principle which has ever put men upon visions in things invifible, is of a corporeal nature. For the profounder chymifts inform us, that the ftrongest Spirits may be extracted from human fieft. Befides, the fpinal marrow, being nothing elfe but a continuation of the brain, muft needs create a very free communication between the fuperior faculties and those below and thus the thorn in the flesh ferves for a fpur to the fpirit. I think it is agreed among phyficians, that nothing affects the head fo much as a tentiginous humour, repelled and elated to the upper region, found by daily practice to run frequently up into madness. A very eminent member of the faculty affured me, that when the Quakers first appeared, he feldom was without fome female patients among them, for the furor.Perfons of a vifionary devotion, either men or women, are, in their complexion, of all others the most amorous. For zeal is frequently kindled from the fame fpark with other fires, and from inflaming brotherly love, will proceed to raise that of a gallant. If we infpect into the ufual procefs of modern courtship, we fhall find it to confift in a devout turn of the eyes, called ogling; an artificial form of canting and whining by rote, every interval, for want of other matter, made up with a fhrug, or a hum; a figh, or a groan; the ftyle compact of infignificant words, incoherences and repetition. These I take to be the most accomplished rules of address to a mistress; and where are these performed with more dexterity, than by the faints? Nay, to bring this argument yet clofer, I have been informed by certain fanguine brethren of the first class, that, in the height and orgafmus of their fpiritual exercise, it has been frequent with them

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*

*; immediately after which, they found the Spirit to relax and flag of a fudden with the nerves, and they were forced to haften to a conclufion. This may be farther ftrengthened, by obferving with wonder, how unaccountably all females are attracted by vifionary or enthufiaftic preachers, tho' never fo contemptible in their outward mien; which is ufually fuppofed to be done upon confiderations purely fpiritual, without any carnal regards at all. But I have reason to

think, the fex hath certain characteristics, by which they form a truer judgment of human abilities and performings, than we ourselves can poffibly do of each other. Let that be as it will, thus much is certain, that however fpiritual intrigues begin, they generally conclude like all others; they may branch upwards towards heaven, but the root is in the earth. Too intenfe a contemplation is not the business of flesh and blood; it must, by the neceffary courfe of things, in a little time, let go its hold, and fall into matter. Lovers, for the fake of celestial converse, are but another fort of Platonics, who pretend to see stars and heaven in ladies eyes, and to look or think no lower; but the fame pit is provided for both. And they feem a perfect moral to the story of that philofopher, who, while his thoughts and eyes were fixed upon the conftellations, found himself seduced by his lower parts into a ditch.

I had fomewhat more to fay upon this part of the fubject; but the poft is just going, which forces me in great hafte to conclude,

Pray burn this letter as foon as it comes to your hands.

VOL. I.

SIR

Yours, &

An

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