ter itself, to have flowed from the fountain of the divine nature. His language, upon these subjects, nearly resembles that of the Jewish Cabala. The whole divine Trinity, says he, sending forth bodily forms, produces an image of itself, velut deum quendam parvum, " as a God in miniature." If any one name the heavens, the earth, or the stars, the elements, and whatever is beneath or above the heavens, he herein names the whole deity, who, by a power proceeding from himself, thus makes his own essence corporeal.

The elements of Boehmen's theosophy, may be read in his Aurora and his treatise, De tribus divinæ essentiæ Principiis, "On the Three Principles of the Divine Essence." That Jacob Boehmen had many followers, will not be thought surprizing, by those who have observed the universal propensity of weak and vulgar minds, to be delighted with whatever is mysterious and marvellous, especially when it is clothed in obscure and allegorical language. Amorescientific Theosophistthan Jacob Boehmen, we find in John Baptista Van Helmont, a celebrated physician, born at Brussels, in 1577. He made such early proficiency in the studies proper to his profession, that, at seventeen years of age, he was appointed lecturer in surgery, in the academy of Louvain. But he soon discovered, that he had undertaken this office inconsiderately, and had presumed to teach, what he himself did not understand. He found, that, though he had read many books, and made large common-placecollections,hehadnot yet acquired true and substantial knowledge; and he lamented, that credulous and simple youth are sooften deceived by the arrogant pretensions of professors. He now applied,

with unwearied industry, to the study of mathematics, geometric, logistic and algebraic, and of astronomy. But, even in these branches of science, he did not find the satisfaction he expected. Still complaining of his ignorance, he refused the title of master of arts, and said, that he had hitherto learned no single art in reality, but in appearance only. Under all this seeming modesty, Van Helmont concealed a fastidious contempt of all knowledge but his own, and even of all the learning which had hitherto appeared in the world, and a fond conceit that he was raised up by God, to overturn former systems, and to introduce a new method of philosophising. Induced, as he relates, by the pious writings of Thomas a Kempis, to pray to God, that he would enable him to love and pursue the truth, he was instructed by a dream to renounce all Pagan philosophy, and particularly Stoicism, to which he had been inclined, and to wait for divine illuminations. Dissatisfied with the knowledge of the nature and virtues of plants, which he derived from the writings of Matthiolus and Dioscorides, and with the principles of medicine which he found in Galen or Avicenna, he concluded, that medical knowledge was not to be obtained from the writings of men, or from human industry. He had again recourse to prayers, and was again admonished, by a dream, to give himself up to the pursuit of divine wisdom. About this time, he learned, from an illiterate chymist, the practical operations of the chymical art, and devoted himself, with great zeal and perseverance, to this pursuit, in hopes of finding, in a chymical laboratory,thatknowledge which he had in vain sought for from books. The medical skill, which he

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by this means acquired, he entirely employed in the service of the poor. He administered medicines gratis for several years, and obtained a high reputation both for humanity and medical skill. A cold, which he caught in visiting a poor patient in the night, put an end to his life, in the sixty-seventh year of his age. Van Helmont certainly possessed ready talents, read much, and by the help of experiment, improved both the chymical and medical art; but his vanity led him into empirical pretensions. He boasted that he was possessed of a fluid, which he called alcahest, of pure salt, which was the first material principle in nature, and was capable of penetrating into bodies, and producing an entire separation and transmutation of their component parts. But this wonderful fluid was never shewn to any person whatever, not even to his son, who also practised chymistry. The contempt which this philosopher entertained for all former systems led him to frame one of his own, which was a strange compound of theological, medical, and philosophical paradoxes, and in which theosophic mysticism is united with scholastic subtleties. Although he professes to erect the structure of his system upon the foundation of experiment, it is, in truth, nothing more than a baseless fabric, raised in dreams and extacies, by a luxuriant and disordered imagination. Ambitious of novelty, Van Helmont framed abstractions which never existed, but in his own feverish brain, and after giving these imaginary entities barbarous names, boasted of them as wonderful inventions. His writings, if we except a few things in practical chymistry and medicine, are, in fact, wholly destitute of that

kind of information, which would satisfy a rational enquirer after truth, or an accurate investigator of na

ture.

The footsteps of this philosopher were closely followed by his son, Francis Helmont, who industriously encreased the stock of philosophical fictions which he inherited from his father, by incorporating with them the dreams of the Jewish Cabala, His "Paradoxical Dissertations," are amass of philosophical, medical, and theological, paradoxes, scarcely to be paralleled in the history of letters.

The most elegant and philosophical of all the Theosophists, was Peter Poiret, born at Metz, in 1646, and educated in the academy of Basil. Being interrupted in his attendance upon the schools, by ill health, he employed himself, during a long confinement, in the study of the Cartesian philosophy. In the year 1668, he became a student in the university of Heidelburgh, in order to qualify himself for the clerical profession; and, in 1672, he assumed the character of an ecclesiastic in the principality of Deux Points. Here, after a severe illness, he wrote his Cogitationes Rationales de Deo, Anima,et Malo, "Rational Thoughts concerning God, the Soul, and Evil," in which he, for the most part, followed the principles of Des Cartes; a work which engaged much attention among the philosophers and which he afterwards defended against the censures of Bayle. The public tumults obliged him to leave his clerical cure, and he withdrew to Holland, and afterwards to Hamburgh, where he met the celebrated French mystic Madame Bourignon, and was so captivated with her opinions, that he became her zealous

disciple

disciple. Converted from a Carte sian philosopher into a mystical divine, he determined henceforth to seek for that illumination from divine contemplation and prayer, which he could not obtain by the exercise of his rational faculties. From this time, Poiret became a violent enemy to the Cartesian philosophy, and took great pains to detect its errors and defects. At the same time, fascinated with Bourignonian mysticism he rejected the light of reason, as useless and dangerous, and inveighed against every kind of philosophy which was not the effect of divine illuminations. Towards the close of his life, Poiret settled at Reinsburg, in Holland, and employed the remainder of his days in writing mystical books. He died in the year 1719. His treatises, De Oceonomia Divina, "On the Divine Economy;" and De Eruditione Triplici "On Three Kinds of Learning;" and the last edition of his Cogitationes Rationales, though in a great measure free from that obscurity which distinguishes the writings of the Theosophists already mentioned, certainly rank him among the class of mystics. Some of his mystical notions, as they may be gathered from the preliminary dissertation prefixed to his works, are as follows:

It hath pleased God, in order that he may enjoy a vivid and delightful contemplation of himself, beyond that solitude which belongs to the divine essence, to create external beings, in whom he may produce an image of himself. The essence of the human mind is thought capable and desirous of light, and joyful complacence; the properties, in which it bears a resemblance of the divine essence. Nothing is more in

timate, or essential to the mind, than this desire; by which it is borne always towards the true and infinite Good. In order to satisfy this desire, the illumination of faith is necessary; by means of which, the mind, conscious of its weakness and impotence, disclaims all the fictions of human reason, and directs itself towards God with an intense and ineffable ardour, till by the silent contemplation of him, it is filled with tranquillifyinglight, and joyful complacence; although, whilst oppressed with the load of mortality, it cannot behold his unveiled face. From this divine illumination, proceeds the most pacific serenity of mind, the most ardent love of God, and the most intimate union with him.

Can there be any doubt concerning the propriety of ranking among fanatics, writers who renounce the light of reason, and seek all wisdom and happiness, in submitting the mind, in silence and tranquillity, to the impressions of divine illumination?

To the class of theosophists, has been commonly referred the entire society of Rosacrusians, which, at the beginning of the seventeenth century, made so much noise in the ecclesiastical and literary world. The history of this society, which is attended with some obscurity,seems to be as follows: its origin is referred to a certain German, whose name was Rosencreuz, who, in the fourteenth century, visited the holy sepulchre, and, in travelling through Asia and Africa, made himself acquainted with many oriental secrets; and who, after his return, instituted a small fraternity, to whom he communicated the mysteries he had learned, under an oath

of

of Scripture towhatever signification they please. With no other guide, in the search of truth, than their own disturbed fancies, they admit the wildest dreams of a feverish brain as sacred truths, and obtrude them upon the world with insufferable arrogance, as oracular decisions not to be controverted.

These enthusiasts seem to be agreed in acknowledging, that all things flow from God, and will return to him, and particularly, that this is the case with the human soul which must derive its chief felicity from the contemplation of God; and that divine illumination is only to be expected in that submissive state of the soul, in which it is deprived of all activity, and remains the silent subject of divine impressions. They have, moreover, fancied, that God has not only enstamped his image upon man, but upon all visible objects; and that this image of God, being discovered by certain signs, the hidden nature of things may be understood, the influence of the superior world upon the inferior may be known, and great and wonderful effects may be produced. They have imagined, that, by the help of the arts of astrology and chemistry, the mysteries of nature may be so far laid open, that a universal remedy for diseases, and a method of converting inferior metals into gold, or the philosopher's stone, might be discovered.

Little needs be said to prove, that the system of Theosophism is founded in delusion, and that it is productive of mischief, both to philosophy and religion. These supposed illuminations are to be ascribed either to fanaticism, or to imposture. The fastidious contempt, with which these pretenders to divine

wisdom have treated those who are contented to follow the plain dictates of common sense, and the simple doctrine of Scriptures, has unquestionably imposed upon the credulous vulgar, and produced an indifference to rational enquiry, which has obstructed the progress of knowledge. And their example has encouraged others to traduce philosophy and theology in general, by representing them as resting upon no better foundation, than enthusiasm and absurdity. It is to be charitably presumed, that these deluded visionaries have not been themselves aware of the injury which they have been doing to the interests of science and religion. Nevertheless, it must be regretted, both on their own account, and on account of the multitude they have misled, that whilst they have thought themselves following a bright and steady luminary, they have been led astray by wandering meteors.

The life of Christopher Smart; extracted from the new edition of this author's works.

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