who have also been sometimes called Quietists, are those who
profess a pure and sublime devotion, accompanied with a disinterested
love of God, free from all selfish considerations; and who believe that
the Scriptures have a mystic and hidden sense, which must be sought
after, in order to understand their true import. Under this name some
comprehend all those who profess to know that they are inwardly taught
of God. The system of the Mystics proceeded upon the known doctrine of
the Platonic school, which was also adopted by Origen and his disciples,
that the divine nature was diffused through all human souls; or that the
faculty of reason, from which proceed the health and vigour of the mind,
was an emanation from God into the human soul, and comprehended in it
the principles and elements of all truth, human and divine. They denied
that men could, by labour or study, excite this celestial flame in their
breasts; and, therefore, they disapproved highly of the attempts of
those who, by definitions, abstract theorems, and profound speculations,
endeavoured to form distinct notions of truth, and discover its hidden
nature. On the contrary, they maintained that silence, tranquillity,
repose, and solitude, accompanied with such acts as might tend to
attenuate and exhaust the body, were the means by which the hidden and
internal word was excited to produce its latent virtues, and to instruct
men in the knowledge of divine things. They reasoned as follows: Those
who behold, with a noble contempt, all human affairs, who turn away
their eyes from terrestrial vanities, and shut all the avenues of the
outward senses against the contagious influence of a material world,
must necessarily return to God, when the spirit is thus disengaged from
the impediments which prevented that happy union. And, in this blessed
frame, they not only enjoy inexpressible raptures from that communion
with the supreme Being, but also are invested with the inestimable
privilege of contemplating truth undisguised and uncorrupted in its
native purity, while others behold it in a vitiated and delusive form.”
The number of the Mystics increased in the fourth century, under the
influence of the Grecian fanatic, who gave himself out for Dionysius the
Areopagite, a disciple of St. Paul, and who probably lived about this
period; and, by pretending to higher degrees of perfection than other
Christians, and practising great austerities, their cause gained ground,
especially in the eastern provinces, in the fifth century. A copy of the
pretended works of Dionysius was sent by Balbus to Lewis the meek, A. D.
824, which kindled the holy flame of Mysticism in the western provinces,
and filled the Latins with the most enthusiastic admiration of this new
system. In the twelfth century, these Mystics took the lead in their
method of expounding the Scriptures. In the thirteenth, they were the
most formidable antagonists of the schoolmen; and, toward the close of
the fourteenth, many of them resided and propagated their tenets in
almost every part of Europe. They had, in the fifteenth century, many
persons of distinguished merit in their number. In the sixteenth,
previously to the reformation, if any sparks of real piety subsisted
under the despotic empire of superstition, they were chiefly to be found
among the Mystics; and in the seventeenth, the radical principle of
Mysticism was adopted by the Behmists, Bourignonists, and Quietists.
The Mystics propose a disinterestedness of love, without other motives,
and profess to feel, in the enjoyment of the temper itself, an abundant
reward; and passive contemplation in the state of perfection to which
they aspire. They lay little or no stress upon the outward ceremonies
and ordinances of religion, but dwell chiefly upon the inward operations
of the mind. It is not uncommon for them to allegorize certain passages
of Scripture; at the same time they do not deny the literal sense, as
having an allusion to the inward experience of believers. Thus,
according to them, the word Jerusalem, which is the name of the capital
of Judea, signifies, allegorically, the church militant; morally, a
believer; and mysteriously, heaven. That sublime passage also in
Genesis, Let there be light, and there was light,” which is, according
to the letter, corporeal light, signifies, allegorically, the Messiah;
morally, grace; and mysteriously, beatitude, or the light of glory. All
this appears to be harmless; yet we must be careful not to give way to
the sallies of a lively imagination in interpreting Scripture. Woolston
is said to have been led to reject the Old Testament by spiritualizing
and allegorizing the New.
The Mystics are not confined to any particular denomination of
Christians, but may be found in most countries, and among many
descriptions of religionists. Among the number of Mystics may be
reckoned many singular characters, especially Behmen, a shoemaker at
Gorlitz, in Germany; Molinos, a Spanish priest, in the seventeenth
century; Madam Guion, a French lady who made a great noise in the
religious world; and the celebrated Madame Bourignon, who wrote a work
entitled, The Light of the World,” which is full of Mystic
extravagancies. Fenelon, also, the learned and amiable archbishop of
Cambray, favoured the same sentiments, for which he was reprimanded by
the pope. His work, entitled, An Explication of the Maxims of the
Saints,” which abounds with Mystical sentiments was condemned; and to
the pope’s sentence against him, the good archbishop quietly submitted,
and even read it publicly himself in the cathedral of Cambray. In this
whole affair, his chief opponent is said to have been the famous
Bossuet, bishop of Meaux. Mr. William Law, author of the Serious Call,”
&c, degenerated in the latter part of his life, into all the
singularities of Mysticism. In the best sense, Mysticism is to be
regarded as an error arising out of partial views of the truth, or truth
made erroneous, as being put out of its proper relation to, and
connection with, other truths. As it respects the inward life of
religion, its tendency is to a species of fanaticism, and to induce a
contempt for divinely appointed ordinances. In many, however, it has
been happily tempered by good principles; and too frequently has all
Scriptural Christianity, in its inward influence, been branded with the
name of Mysticism.
profess a pure and sublime devotion, accompanied with a disinterested
love of God, free from all selfish considerations; and who believe that
the Scriptures have a mystic and hidden sense, which must be sought
after, in order to understand their true import. Under this name some
comprehend all those who profess to know that they are inwardly taught
of God. The system of the Mystics proceeded upon the known doctrine of
the Platonic school, which was also adopted by Origen and his disciples,
that the divine nature was diffused through all human souls; or that the
faculty of reason, from which proceed the health and vigour of the mind,
was an emanation from God into the human soul, and comprehended in it
the principles and elements of all truth, human and divine. They denied
that men could, by labour or study, excite this celestial flame in their
breasts; and, therefore, they disapproved highly of the attempts of
those who, by definitions, abstract theorems, and profound speculations,
endeavoured to form distinct notions of truth, and discover its hidden
nature. On the contrary, they maintained that silence, tranquillity,
repose, and solitude, accompanied with such acts as might tend to
attenuate and exhaust the body, were the means by which the hidden and
internal word was excited to produce its latent virtues, and to instruct
men in the knowledge of divine things. They reasoned as follows: Those
who behold, with a noble contempt, all human affairs, who turn away
their eyes from terrestrial vanities, and shut all the avenues of the
outward senses against the contagious influence of a material world,
must necessarily return to God, when the spirit is thus disengaged from
the impediments which prevented that happy union. And, in this blessed
frame, they not only enjoy inexpressible raptures from that communion
with the supreme Being, but also are invested with the inestimable
privilege of contemplating truth undisguised and uncorrupted in its
native purity, while others behold it in a vitiated and delusive form.”
The number of the Mystics increased in the fourth century, under the
influence of the Grecian fanatic, who gave himself out for Dionysius the
Areopagite, a disciple of St. Paul, and who probably lived about this
period; and, by pretending to higher degrees of perfection than other
Christians, and practising great austerities, their cause gained ground,
especially in the eastern provinces, in the fifth century. A copy of the
pretended works of Dionysius was sent by Balbus to Lewis the meek, A. D.
824, which kindled the holy flame of Mysticism in the western provinces,
and filled the Latins with the most enthusiastic admiration of this new
system. In the twelfth century, these Mystics took the lead in their
method of expounding the Scriptures. In the thirteenth, they were the
most formidable antagonists of the schoolmen; and, toward the close of
the fourteenth, many of them resided and propagated their tenets in
almost every part of Europe. They had, in the fifteenth century, many
persons of distinguished merit in their number. In the sixteenth,
previously to the reformation, if any sparks of real piety subsisted
under the despotic empire of superstition, they were chiefly to be found
among the Mystics; and in the seventeenth, the radical principle of
Mysticism was adopted by the Behmists, Bourignonists, and Quietists.
The Mystics propose a disinterestedness of love, without other motives,
and profess to feel, in the enjoyment of the temper itself, an abundant
reward; and passive contemplation in the state of perfection to which
they aspire. They lay little or no stress upon the outward ceremonies
and ordinances of religion, but dwell chiefly upon the inward operations
of the mind. It is not uncommon for them to allegorize certain passages
of Scripture; at the same time they do not deny the literal sense, as
having an allusion to the inward experience of believers. Thus,
according to them, the word Jerusalem, which is the name of the capital
of Judea, signifies, allegorically, the church militant; morally, a
believer; and mysteriously, heaven. That sublime passage also in
Genesis, Let there be light, and there was light,” which is, according
to the letter, corporeal light, signifies, allegorically, the Messiah;
morally, grace; and mysteriously, beatitude, or the light of glory. All
this appears to be harmless; yet we must be careful not to give way to
the sallies of a lively imagination in interpreting Scripture. Woolston
is said to have been led to reject the Old Testament by spiritualizing
and allegorizing the New.
The Mystics are not confined to any particular denomination of
Christians, but may be found in most countries, and among many
descriptions of religionists. Among the number of Mystics may be
reckoned many singular characters, especially Behmen, a shoemaker at
Gorlitz, in Germany; Molinos, a Spanish priest, in the seventeenth
century; Madam Guion, a French lady who made a great noise in the
religious world; and the celebrated Madame Bourignon, who wrote a work
entitled, The Light of the World,” which is full of Mystic
extravagancies. Fenelon, also, the learned and amiable archbishop of
Cambray, favoured the same sentiments, for which he was reprimanded by
the pope. His work, entitled, An Explication of the Maxims of the
Saints,” which abounds with Mystical sentiments was condemned; and to
the pope’s sentence against him, the good archbishop quietly submitted,
and even read it publicly himself in the cathedral of Cambray. In this
whole affair, his chief opponent is said to have been the famous
Bossuet, bishop of Meaux. Mr. William Law, author of the Serious Call,”
&c, degenerated in the latter part of his life, into all the
singularities of Mysticism. In the best sense, Mysticism is to be
regarded as an error arising out of partial views of the truth, or truth
made erroneous, as being put out of its proper relation to, and
connection with, other truths. As it respects the inward life of
religion, its tendency is to a species of fanaticism, and to induce a
contempt for divinely appointed ordinances. In many, however, it has
been happily tempered by good principles; and too frequently has all
Scriptural Christianity, in its inward influence, been branded with the
name of Mysticism.