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ESSAY XII.
Of Superstition and Enthusiasm.
That the Corruption of the best Things produces the worst, is grown into a Maxim, and is verify'd, among other Instances, by the pernicious Effects of Superstition and Enthusiasm, the Corruptions of true Religion.
These two Species of false Religion, tho' both pernicious, yet are of a very different, and even of a contrary Nature. The Mind of Man is subject to certain unaccountable Terrors and Apprehensions, proceeding either from the unhappy Situation of private or public Affairs, from ill Health, from a gloomy and melancholy Disposition, or from the Concurrence of all these Circumstances. In sucha State
