when the mind is carried away by the force of a
sensual impression that destroys its freedom, is irresistibly propagated
by imitation. Those who are thus infected do not spare even their own
lives, but as a hunted flock of sheep will follow their leader and rush
over a precipice, so will whole hosts of enthusiasts, deluded by their
infatuation, hurry on to a self-inflicted death. Such has ever been the
case, from the days of the Milesian virgins to the modern associations
for self-destruction. Of all enthusiastic infatuations, however, that of
religion is the most fertile in disorders of the mind as well as of the
body, and both spread with the greatest facility by sympathy. The
history of the Church furnishes innumerable proofs of this, but we need
go no further than the most recent times.

3. In a methodist chapel at Redruth, a man during divine service cried
out with a loud voice, "What shall I do to be saved?" at the same time
manifesting the greatest uneasiness and solicitude respecting the
condition of his soul. Some other members of the congregation, following
his example, cried out in the same form of words, and seemed shortly
after to suffer the most excruciating bodily pain. This strange
occurrence was soon publicly known, and hundreds of people who had come
thither, either attracted by curiosity or a desire from other motives to
see the sufferers, fell into the same state. The chapel remained open
for some days and nights, and from that point the new disorder spread
itself, with the rapidity of lightning, over the neighbouring towns of
Camborne, Helston, Truro, Penryn and Falmouth, as well as over the
villages in the vicinity. Whilst thus advancing, it decreased in some
measure at the place where it had first appeared, and it confined itself
throughout to the Methodist chapels. It was only by the words which have
been mentioned that it was excited, and it seized none but people of the
lowest education. Those who were attacked betrayed the greatest anguish,
and fell into convulsions; others cried out, like persons possessed, that
the Almighty would straightway pour out His wrath upon them, that the
wailings of tormented spirits rang in their ears, and that they saw hell
open to receive them. The clergy, when in the course of their sermons
they perceived that persons were thus seized, earnestly exhorted them to
confess their sins, and zealously endeavoured to convince them that they
were by nature en