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    reliance on second causes , the phitanlhropist is tmdtemayed by disappointment , and prosecutes his work m the temper of mind proper to a subordinate agent , looping all things , but arrogating nothing . Lastly , Christian beneficence is an expression of grateful love . Zeal must be actuated by the highest love , or it will degenerate into activity of the imag ination r Attar than tfce heart : but under that influence , " it may reach the height even of a seraphic energy , without enthusiasm . "

    In the 8 th and 9 th Sections we have an interesting history of ancient Mcmadiisrn , with an exposition of the causes of that Enthusiasm which pro * duced such disastrous consequences to the Christian world . No circumstance in thfe whole history of the human mind seems more easy to be accounted for than the rise of this species of enthusiasm * There are few of us who , even now , with all the tremendous consequences of their errors deve * loped before us , can withhold our sympathy from the earlier recluses , or feel any wonder at their belief , that the way to cherish piety and purity was to flee from the seductions and contaminations of the world . We cannot

    divest ourselves of a feeling of respect for those whose self-denial v / as so vigorous and protracted ; and though perfectly aware that spiritual pride was usually both the cause and effect of their unnatural mode of life , the unquestionable strength and occasional purity of motive revealed hy their actions , excite our admiration , in spite of ourselves * While w £ doubt whether any motive could induce us to spend our lives on the top of a pillar , or to resign ourselves to dirt , disease , aad hunger , till death should relieve us from our sufferings , we cannot but respect that energy which , however

    perverted , we believe to be more powerful than our own . While we are grateful for the light of history and experience , we feel that we are yet liable to mistake the way to heaven , and that in the gloorn which formerly overspread the Christian world , we should probably nave chosen the steep and thorny road , Which , no less than the primrose path , was crowded with wanderers and outcasts . We are therefore glad to admit the excuses which may be made for those who first went astray , and while we view with abhorrence the practices originated by Monachism , k is satisfactory to ascertain how far the earlier recluses were answerable for them . Driven into the wilderness

    by persecution * many remained for the sake of safety ; and being remarkable for piety , others retired alsa for the sake of imitating their example . The practice was sanctioned and enjoined by the venerable fathers of thfc church ; their suffrage was handed down to successive generations , while evil consequences were accumulating , of which their originators never dreamed . The blame of the after-issues of erroneous notions and practices should not be imputed to one age , and the criminality should be shared by many generations . The differences of constitutional temperament , of habits and manners , between the first Christians and ourselves , must also be taken into ibe account * As our author says ,

    " The Christian x > f England in the nineteenth century , aad the Christian of Syria in the second , stand almost at the fexto-entest points < of op | K > sition in all the iron-essentials of humfcm nature ; and the former « iust possess great pliability of imagination , and much of the philosophic temper , as well as the spirit of Christian charity , fairly and fully to appreciate the motives and con * duct of the latter . "

    A . variety of extenuating circumstances besides are stated as candidly as Is required by the subsequent exposure of the abuses of the monastic life , and the fatal results of this species ofenthusiaan . The blame belongs more

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    Natural History of Enthusiasm . 4 jN )

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), July 2, 1829, page 479, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2574/page/31/