a sect of men who pretend to derive all their knowledge from divine illumination. They boast that, by means of this celestial light, they are not only admitted to the intimate knowledge of God, and of all divine truth, but have access to the most sublime secrets of nature. They ascribe it to the singular manifestation of divine benevolence, that they are able to make such a use of the element of fire, in the chemical art, as enables them to discover the essential principles of bodies, and to disclose stupendous mysteries in the physical world. They even pretend to an acquaintance with those celestial beings which form the medium of intercourse between God and man, and to a power of obtaining from them, by the aid of magic, astrology, and other similar arts, various kinds of information and assistance.

To this class belonged Paracelsus, Robert Fludd, Jacob Boehmen, Van Helmont, Peter Poirer, and the Rosicrucians. They are also called Enne-Philosophers.

THERAPEUTÆ, a term applied to those that are wholly in the service of religion. This general term has been applied to particular sects of men, concerning whom there have been great disputes among the learned.