1
Fanaticism
He Was Not A Fanatic (Enthusiast)
Once at Wotton, Rowland Hill was carried away by the impetuous rush of his feelings and exclaimed: "Because
I am in earnest, men call me an enthusiast; but I am not; mine are the words of truth and soberness. I once saw
a gravel pit fall in and bury three human beings alive. I shouted so loudly for help that I was heard at the distance
of a mile. Help came, and rescued two of the poor sufferers.
No one called me an enthusiast then. When I see eternal destruction ready to fall on poor sinners, and about to
entomb them irrevocably in an eternal mass of woe, and call aloud to them to escape, shall I be called an enthusiast
now?"
- Rev. W. W. Landrum
2
Fanaticism
Home Difficulties
In his biography Pierre Loti tells how, as a small boy, reading stories of sainthood led him to aspire to become
a saint. He resolved to imitate Simeon Stylites, who lived on top of a pillar and thereby won a great reputation
for sanctity. Accordingly, he mounted a high stool in the kitchen and announced his plan to remain there for forty
years. His mother and the cook, however, would have none of his sanctity, and at the end of an hour he wistfully
recorded in his diary: "Thus I discovered that it is exceedingly difficult to be a saint while living with
your own family.