(S. M. DEUTSCHf.)
English mysticism may be traced from Sir Thomas Browne (q.v.; Religio Medici) and Thomas Jack-
Mysticism Nabatseans
THE NEW SCHAFF-HERZOG
son (q.v. 1; Being and Attributes of God), who had been steeped in Plato and the Alexandrian Neoplatonism of Plotinus and Origen. The Cambridge Platonists (q.v.) Ralph Cudworth (q.v.; True Intellectual System of the Universe), Henry
6. Mysti- More (q.v.; Simple Sayings), and John cism in Smith (q.v.; " The Way or Method of
England. Attaining Divine Knowledge," and '' On the Existence and Nature of God " in Select Discourses of John Smith, 4th ed., Cambridge, 1859), especially Smith, owed their mysticism more to Plotinus than to Plato. Alongside of this movement arose another under George Fox (q.v.), subject of many mystical experiences and founder of the Society of Friends (see Friends). In the eighteenth century the questions thrown up by the deistic controversy (see Deism) laid bare the essential opposition of two modes of thought — one basing religion ultimately on reason, in which the endeavor was made to come to an understanding with the Scriptures, authority, and the rational nature of Christianity, the other allying itself with the Quietists, Fenelon, and Madame Guyon, the Moravians, and the German mystics. The chief representative of the latter was William Law (q.v.; The Way to Divine Knowledge) who kindled his torch at the flame of Jacob Boehme (q.v.). In the nineteenth century were Samuel Taylor Coleridge (q.v.) who was saturated with Plato, Schelling, and Jacobi, John Frederick Denison Maurice (q.v.), and among poets, William Wordsworth (q.v.; cf. Lines Composed a Few Miles above T intern Abbey), and Arthur Tennyson (d. 1892; cf. The Higher Pantheism and The Ancient Sage).
In America mysticism has appeared in Jonathan
Edwards the Elder (q.v.). It was induced by his
monistic metaphysics — God the only real Being, by
his rare sense of the presence and
7. In agency of God, by his intuitive esthetic
America, appreciation of the divine excellency and beauty, by his prolonged and exhaustive contemplation on the utter insignificance of man and his absolute dependence upon God, and by an emotional nature of surpassing richness for the most part held in check or suppressed by rigorous self-discipline (cf. " Diary," Works, i. 60-62, New York, 1829; sermon entitled " A Divine and Supernatural Light," etc., ib., vi. 171 sqq.; and A Treatise concerning Religious Affections, ib., vol. v.). In the last century mysticism was associated with the " Transcendental " movement in New England (see Transcendentalism; and cf., e.g., R. W. Emerson, The Over-Soul and The Method of Nature), due in great measure to the noetic or rational quality involved in it. More recently the psychological phenomena of mysticism are receiving attention, and experiments with various kinds of intoxicants have been made with a view to ascertaining how far these are similar to true mystical states. The suggestion made by Prof. William James that mystical states may be " only sudden and great extensions of the ordinary field of consciousness," where the question is raised whether in this experience tracts of consciousness are actually uncovered or there is a true revelation of reality, is destined to stimulate to more painstaking and
exhaustive inquiry on this obscure subject (cf . Journal of Philosophy, Psychology, and Scientific Methods, " A Suggestion About Mysticism," vol. vii., no. 4, pp. 85 sqq.). C. A. Beckwith.
Bibliography: An introduction to eastern mysticism is furnished by: E. H. Palmer, Oriental Mysticism. A Treatise on the Suffistic and Unitarian Theosophy of the Persians, London, 1867; W. S. Lilly, in Religious Systems of the World, London, 1893; C. H. A. Bjerregaard, Sufi Interpretations of . . Omar Khayyam and Fitzgerald, New York, 1902; F. Hadland Davis, The Persian Mystics, London, 1907. Besides the literature under the articles on the mystics named in the text, on western mysticism consult: W. R. Inge; Christian Mysticism, London, 1899; idem, Studies of English Mystics, ib. 1907; idem, Personal Idealism and Mysticism, ib. 1907 (by a specialist); R. A. Vaughan, Hours with the Mystics, New York, 1893 (a classic); J. D. Dalgairns, The German Mystics of the Fourteenth Century, London, 1850; I. A. Dorner, History of Protestant Theology, particularly in Germany, Edinburgh, 1871; J. Tulloch, Rational Theology and Christian Philosophy in England in the Seventeenth Century, London, 1874; H. L. J. Heppe, Geschichte der guietistischen Mystik in der katholischen Kirche, Berlin, 1875; idem, Geschichte des Pietismus und der Mystik in der reformierten Kirche, Leyden, 1879; G. Matheson, Aids to the Study of German Theology, Edinburgh, 1876; W. Preger, Geschichte des deutschen Mystic im Mittelalter, Leipsic, 1881; J. Bigelow, Molinos the Quietist, New York, 1882; W. Binder, J. K. Dippel, Der Freigeist aus dem Pietismus, Bonn, 1882; M. Ebner, M. Ebner und Heinrich von N ordlingen, Freiburg, 1882; S. E. Herrick, Some Heretics of Yesterday, London, 1884; J.Hunt, History of Religious Thought in England, 3 vols., ib. 1884; F. Splittgerber, Aus dem innern Leben. Ein Beitrag zur christlichen Mystik, Leipsic, 1884; G. d'Alviella, Contemporary Evolution of Religious Thought in England, America and India, London, 1886; T. M., Spanish Mystics, ib. 1886; E. Renan, Studies of Religious History, ib. 1886; C. du Prel, Die Philosophic der Mystik, Leipsic, 1885, Eng. transl., The Philosophy of Mysticism, London, 1888; J. Walker, Theology and Theologians of Scotland, Edinburgh, 1888; G. Visser, Hendrik Mande. Bijdrage tot de kennis der N oord-N ederlandsche mystiek, The Hague, 1880", Thomas a Vallgornera, Mystica theologia divi Thomce, Augustae, 1890; F. Paulhan, he Nouveau Mysticisme, Paris, 1891; A. Auger, Etude sur les mystiques des Pays- Bas au moyen 6ge, Brussels, 1892; J. L. Adam, Le Mysticisme a la Renaissance, Paris, 1893; E. O. A. Merx, Idee und Grundlinien einer Geschichte der Mystik, Heidelberg, 1893; H. Schauerte, Mystik, Paderhorn, 1894; A. Lillie, Modern Mystics and Modern Magic, New York, 1894; C. H. A. Bjerregaard, Lectures on Mysticism and Talks on Kindred Subjects, ib., 1896; idem, Lectures on Mysticism and Nature Worship, Chicago, 1897; V. Charbonnel, Les Mystiques dans la litterature presente, Paris, 1896; C. Seltmann, Angelus Silesius und seine Mystik, Breslau, 1896; (cf. Angelus Silesius; Selection from the Rhymes of a German Mystic; Transl. in the original Meter by Paul Carus, Chicago, 1909); J. F. Grierson, Modern Mysticism and Other Essays, London, 1899; A. Peltzer, Deutsche Mystik und deutsche Kunst, Strasburg, 1899; A. L. Thorold, An Essay in Aid of the Better Appreciation of Catholic Mysticism, London, 1900; E. C. Gregory, An Introduction to Christian Mysticism, ib. 1901; idem, A Little Book of Heavenly Wisdom; Selections from English Prose Mystics, ib. 1904; C. Harrison, Notes on the Margins. An Enquiry into Mysticism, ib. 1901; R. Steiner, Die Mystik im Aufgange der neuzeitlichen Geisteslebens, Berlin, 1901; W. James, Varieties of Religious Experience, chap, x., London, 1902 (valuable); R. Langenberg, Quellen und Forschungen zur Geschichte der deutschen Mystik, Bonn, 1902; Juliana, an Anchorite of Norwich; XVI Revelations of divine Love shewed to Mother Juliana of Norwich, 1373, London, 1902; J. Batteiger, Der Pietismus in Bayreuth, Berlin, 1903; E. A. Kernwart, Bibliothek beruhmter Mystiker, Leipsic, 1903 sqq.; W P Swainson, C/iristian Mystics, London, 1903; W. R. Inge, Light, Life, and Love; Selections from German mystics of the Middle Ages, ib. 1904; A. H. Bradford, The Inward Light, New York, 1905; W. R. Nicoll, The Garden of Nuts. With an Essay on Christian Mysticism, London, 1905; S. H. Gem, Laic and Christian Practice and Christian Mysticism, Oxford, 1905;
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