MYSTICS, myſtic, a kind of religious ſect, diſtin-
guished by their profeſſing pure, ſublime, and perfect
devotion, with an entire diſinterested love of God, free
from all ſelfiſh conſiderations.
The myſtics, to excuſe their fanatic ecſtaſies and
amorous extravagancies, alledge that paſſage of St
Paul, The Spirit prays in us by ſighs and groans that are
unutterable. Now if the Spirit, ſay they, pray in us,
we muſt reſign ourſelves to its motions, and be ſwayed
and guided by its impuſe, by remaining in a ſtate of
mere inaction.
Paſſive contemplation is that ſtate of perfection to
which the myſtics all aſpire.
The authors of this myſtic ſcience, which ſprung
up towards the cloſe of the third century, are not
known; but the principles from which it was formed
are manifeſt. Its firſt promoters proceeded from the
known doctrine of the Platonic ſchool, which was alſo
adopted by Origen and his diſciples, that the di-
vine nature was diffuſed through all human ſouls, or
that the faculty of reſon, 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 ſpecula-
tions, endeavoured to form diſtinct notions of truth,
and to diſcover its hidden nature. On the contrary,
they maintained that ſilence, tranquillity, reſpoſe, and
ſolitude, accompanied with ſuch acts as might tend to
extenuate 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. For thus they reaſoned;
thoſe who behold with a noble contempt all human af-
fairs, who turn away their eyes from terreſtrial vani-
ties, and ſhut all the avenues of the outward ſenſes
againſt the contagious influences of a material world,
muſt neceſſarily return to God, when the ſpirit is thus
diſengaged from the impediments that prevented that
happy union. And in this bleſſed frame they not on-
ly enjoy inexpr'eſſible raptures from their communion
with the Supreme Being, but alſo are inſtructed with
the inſtinctible privilege of contemplating truth undis-
guieſed 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,
diſciple of St Paul, and probably lived about this pe-
riod; and by pretending to higher degrees of perlec-
tion than other Chriſtians, and praſtiſing greater au-
ſterity, 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 in the year 824, which kindled the
holy flame of myſticism in the weſtern provinces, and
filled the Latins with the moſt enthuſiaſtic admiration
of this new religion.
In the twelfth century, theſe myſtics took the lead
in their method of expounding ſcripture; and by
ſearching for myſteries and hidden meaning in the
plaineſt expreſſions, forced the word of God into a
conformity with their viſionary doctrines, their enthu-
ſiaſtic feelings, and the ſyſtem of diſcipline which they
had drawn from the excuſions of their irregular fan-
cies. In the thirteenth century, they were the moſt
formidable antagoniſts of the ſchoolmen; and towards
the cloſe of the fourteenth, many of them reſided and
propagated their tenets almoſt in every part of Europe.
They had, in the fifteenth century, many perſons of
distinguished merit in their number; and in the ſix-
teenth century, previous to the Reformation, if any
sparks of real piety ſubſiſted under the deſpotic em-
pire of ſuperſtition, they were only to be found among
the myſtics.
The principles of this ſect were adopted by thoſe
called Quaſtiti in the ſeventeenth century, and, under
different modifications, by the Quakers and Methodiſts.