5. A term this, which is exceeding frequently used, which is scarce ever out of some men’s mouths. And yet it is exceeding rarely understood, even by those who use it most. It may be therefore not unacceptable to serious men, to all who desire to understand what they speak or hear, if I endeavour to explain the meaning of this term, to shew what _Enthusiasm_ is. It may be an encouragement to those who are unjustly charged therewith: and may possibly be of use, to some who are justly charged with it, at least to others, who might be so, were they not cautioned against it.
6. As to the word itself, it is generally allowed to be of _Greek_ extraction. But whence the _Greek_ word ἐνθουσιασμός, is derived, none has yet been able to shew. Some have endeavoured to derive it from ἐν Θεῷ, _in God_, because all _Enthusiasm_ has reference to him. But this is quite forced; there being small resemblance between the word derived, and those they strive to derive it from. Others would derive it from ἐν θυσία, _in sacrifice_, because many of the _Enthusiasts_ of old, were affected in the most violent manner, during the time of sacrifice. Perhaps it is a fictitious word, invented from the noise, which some of those made who were so affected.
7. It is not improbable, that one reason why this uncouth word has been retained in so many languages, was because men were no better agreed, concerning the meaning than concerning the derivation of it. They therefore adopted the _Greek_ word, because they did not understand it: they did not translate it into their own tongues, because they knew not how to translate it: it having been always a word of a loose, uncertain sense, to which no determinate meaning was affixed.
8. It is not therefore at all surprizing, that it is so variously taken at this day: different persons understanding it in different senses, quite inconsistent with each other. Some take it in a good sense, for a divine impulse or impression, superior to all the natural faculties, and suspending for the time, either in whole or in part, both the reason and the outward senses. In this meaning of the word, both the prophets of old, and the apostles were proper _Enthusiasts_: being at divers times so filled with the Spirit, and so influenced by him who dwelt in their hearts, that the exercise of their own reason, their senses, and all their natural faculties being suspended, they were wholly actuated by the power of God, and _spoke_ only _as they were moved by the Holy Ghost_.