The author proposed it to himself, as his task, to depict, under its principal forms, FICTITIOUS SENTIMENT in matters of religion, including, of course, a consideration of those opinions which seem to be either the parents or the offspring of such artificial sentiments. Having this object before him, he would have thought it a very inauspicious, as well as cumbrous method, to have constructed a many-syllabled phrase of definition, to be used on every page of his essay. Instead of attempting any such laborious accuracy, he has boldly chosen his single term—Enthusiasm; confiding in the good sense and candor of his readers for allowing him a span or two of latitude when employing it in different instances, which seem to come under the same general class. CONTENTS. PAGE SECTION I. Enthusiasm, Secular and Religious, 7 SECTION II. Enthusiasm in Devotion, 27 SECTION III. Enthusiastic Perversions of the Doctrine of Divine Influence, 62 SECTION IV. Enthusiasm the Source of Heresy, 79 SECTION V. Enthusiasm of Prophetic Interpretation, 96 SECTION VI. Enthusiastic Abuses of the Doctrine of a Particular Providence, 120 SECTION VII. Enthusiasm of Philanthropy, 153 SECTION VIII. Sketch of the Enthusiasm of the Ancient Church, 177 SECTION IX. The same Subject.—Ingredients of the Ancient Monachism, 201 SECTION X. Hints on the probable Spread of Christianity, submitted to those who misuse the term—Enthusiasm, 238 NOTES Section VIII 292 Section IX 294 NATURAL HISTORY OF ENTHUSIASM. SECTION I. ENTHUSIASM, SECULAR AND RELIGIOUS. Some form of beauty, engendered by the imagination, or some semblance of dignity or grace, invests almost every object that excites desire. These illusions, if indeed they ought so to be called, serve the purpose of blending the incongruous materials of human nature, and by mediating between body and spirit, reconcile the animal and intellectual propensities, and give dignity and harmony to the character of man. By these unsubstantial impressions it is that the social affections are enriched and enlivened; by these, not less than by the superiority of the reasoning faculties, mankind is elevated above the brute; and it is these that, as the germinating principles of all improvement and refinement, distinguish civilized from savage life.