and fears, some degree of delusion, superstitious beliefs in supernatural things, and in frequent special providences, inordinate zeal and enthusiasm, all constitute elements of fanaticism-though they are never all united in the same person.

Some degree of delusion is a necessary element of fanaticism; either a delusion of opinion, that some real or imaginary persons have a supernatural power that does not in fact exist; or that some supposed or assumed truth or principle is actually so, when in fact it is not so; or that some real thing, principle, measure, or remedy, is two, three, or five times as advantageous, dangerous, or pernicious, as it really is. How numerous have been the delusions in relation to medical remedies!

Inventors are generally more or less deluded and tinctured with fanaticism in relation to their inventions-authors in relation to their works-politicians in relation to the soundness and importance of their principles and leading dogmas-and clergymen, and very zealous laymen also, in relation to their particular views and doctrines.

All the intolerant laws upon the subject of religion, and all the religious persecutions from the fourth century to the present time, were suggested by religious fanaticism. The crusades to the Holy Land, in the 11th and 12th centuries, were caused by religious fanaticism. The throne of England was overturned, and Charles the first beheaded, by reason of the combined influence of religious and political fanaticism, and personal ambition. The first French revolution was inaugurated by social and political fanaticism, and the monarchy was overturned, and. Louis the sixteenth beheaded, by the combined operation of social and political fanaticism, personal ambition, and demagogism. France was then distracted and controlled by political fanaticism, for several years; and the monarchy was again overturned by it in 1830, and a third time in 1848.

There was much religious and political fanaticism blended together in the Puritan colonies of New England, during the 17th century. The imprisonment of a great number of persons, at Salem, Boston, and other places, on charges of witchcraft, the trial and conviction of many on such charges, and the execution of more than twenty of them, furnish memorable evidence of the

deep-rooted superstition and fanaticism of the Puritans of the colonies of Massachusetts Bay and Connecticut.

Mahomet, the founder of the Mahometan religion in the 7th century, was a great fanatic, and there is much reason to believe that he was also in some measure a lunatic, or monomaniac. Ann Lee, the founder of the sect of Shakers, was also a fanatic, and in some degree a lunatic, or monomaniac. George Fox, the founder of the sect of Friends, or Quakers, was also a fanatic, though not a lunatic. The peculiar doctrines of the Qakers, of the operations of the spirit, contain the very essence of fanaticism.

The Puritans of Old England, and New England also, were greatly tinctured with fanaticism. The latter were the only people in America, who judicially murdered a great number of persons under the pretence that they were witches; and the only people in the Anglo-American colonies, who ever judicially took the life of persons, on account of the preaching or propagation of their religious opinions. The Maine liquor law fanaticism has been mostly confined to the descendants of the Puritans; and the greatest violence of the anti-slavery fanaticism has been the result of the teaching of the descendants of the Puritans, though the movement was commenced in a mild form by the Quakers of Pennsylvania.

The anti-slavery feeling of the northern people did not run into fanaticism until about the year 1832, and it was first confined to a small class of abolitionists in Massachusetts, united to agitate the question as a moral one. The leaven of fanaticism was gradually diffused by the press, the pulpit, traveling lecturers, public meetings, conventions, and addresses, until it became political, and the liberty party was formed. The agitation was continued and increased by the annexation of Texas; by the Mexican war; by the efforts of slavery propagandists to acquire Cuba and other southern countries and territories, to be admitted as slave states-to give them the permanent control of the federal government; and, lastly, by the repeal of the Missouri compromise, and the persistent efforts of the pro-slavery party to force slavery into all the territories of the United States.

These causes operating at the north, excited a very strong moral and religious, and anti-slavery sentiment, which was soon blended

with the political and partizan feelings of the day, caused the formation of the republican party, and produced great enthusiasm, and much fanaticism in favor of strong measures to prevent the extension of slavery. The southern people soon became very greatly imbued with political, as well as pro-slavery fanaticism, and a determination to extend slavery into the territories, or to separate from the Union, and form a southern confederacy. The result has been, that the politics of our country, both north and south, have been controlled, since 1854, by demagogism and fanaticism operating together; on one side by pro-slavery fanaticism, demagogism and selfish ambition; and on the other side by antislavery, moral, religious, and political fanaticism, combined with more or less personal ambition and demagogism. If the Union be permanently destroyed, these will be the principal causes of its destruction.

The people of the free states having no self-interest to blind them to the evils of slavery-all that had any moral sense, regarded slavery as a system which does great injustice to the slave, and produces great moral, social, and political evils in a community. The christians and philanthropists of the south, also, very generally regarded slavery as productive of many evils; while many, at the south, regarded it as necessary to the highest degree of civilization in a country.

The abolitionists attribute to slavery evils, vices, and defects of character, which arise from climate and other causes; and look upon the evils of the institution as from two to five times as great as they really are. On the other hand, the people of the south either regard slavery as a positive good, or consider its evils as not a fourth part as great as they are. Here are wide differences of opinion, honestly entertained-both extremes being mere delusions, which constitute the germs of much of the moral, religious, and political fanaticism of our country.

SEC. 8. PRAYERS OF ENTHUSIASTS, AND THEIR INFLUENCE.

Enthusiasts of great piety and zeal, who have a tinge of fanaticism in their minds, frequently offer their prayers to Almighty God, and beseech him to become in some measure their agent, to

carry into effect their crude opinions, and to execute their fanatical purposes.

Of their conscientiousness and honesty of purpose, there is no reason to doubt; and their zeal for the propagation of what they believe to be the true principles of christianity, is equally beyond question. They are zealous to crush out what they believe to be error and heresy, and to propagate truth; but while they see the moat in others' eyes, they are unable to behold the beam in their They are impatient in waiting for the slow operation of God's Providence, in making changes in the political and social economy of man; and in their blind zeal, seem filled with the assurance that they can improve upon the order of things established by God, and the system of laws by which he governs the Universe.

own.

Many of their prayers are not only Pharisaical, but the very essence and quintessence of sectarian glorification and self-righteousness. If one half of their crude and discordant prayers were regarded and carried into effect by the Deity, the world would become a babel of confusion, and the human family would be involved in constant dissensions, bitter controversies, violent strifes, and bloody wars-much worse than existed in Germany and western Europe, during the greatest part of the 16th and 17th centuries-for the reason that they would be in families and small communities, as well as in nations and churches; and peace and harmony among mankind would be impossible.

When persons having a fervid imagination and a tinge of fanaticism in their natures, pray sincerely to God to enlighten them upon a particular subject, and to direct and guide them in the path of duty, they are very apt to become confirmed in the belief that they are really taught of God; and that their views and opinions are the result of the influence of the Holy Spirit operating upon their minds. I can conceive no other method of accounting for the strange delusions and fanaticisms, the intolerance and spirit of persecution, which sometimes beset the minds of eminently pious, and in other respects, very good men.

But the question arises, have Catholics, Protestants, and Bishops of the Greek church-Trinitarians and Unitarians-Calvinists and Arminians--Puritans and Quakers--Lutherans, Episcopalians

Presbyterians, and Congregationalists-Baptists and Methodists, and all other sectarians who are sincere, been taught of God their peculiar views and opinions? If not, who have been so taught, and who have not? Among the almost infinite variety of discordant opinions upon religious subjects, have we not the right to draw the conclusion, that they are all the result of human reasoning, in interpreting the Holy Scriptures, and considering the duties and proper action of man? What other conclusion can be fairly drawn from the conflicting opinions upon religious questions, and the discordant opinions upon political subjects, of pious men, who are equally honest and equally sincere, and equally devoted to the cause of christianity?

SEC. 9. A POLITICAL SERMON.

To give my readers a good specimen of the political sermons of the day, in which religious and political fanaticism are blended together, I present them with the following editorial, from the Ann Arbor Journal, of July 30th, 1862:

On Sunday afternoon, July 27th, the Rev. Mr. G. preached in the Baptist Church a funeral sermon, on the occasion of the death of a son of Dr. C., who was wounded at the battle of Malvern Hills, on the James river, in Virginia, July 1st, and died July 10th. He selected for his text the words, "The very hairs of your head are numbered." It was the most violent political sermon we ever heard.

He took the position that the war was caused by, or grew out of, slavery; that it was caused by our national sins-the greatest of which he believed to be violent party spirit, and slavery.

He said when the war commenced, the republican party, (and he also), were in favor of prosecuting it to put down the rebellion, and to execute the laws of the United States, and that they were at that time opposed to converting it into a crusade against slavery. That God in his providence had ordered it otherwise. That God would convert the war into a crusade against slavery. That God has been educating the people during the last sixteen months, up to the proper standard of intelligence and regard for right and justice, necessary to convert the war into a crusade against slavery, and to nerve the officers of the government up to the proper degree of energy, to declare universal emancipation, and let the bondmen go free.

He regarded some of the recent acts of congress as evidences of the teachings of God.