Credulity, Superstition and Fanticism. A Medley. Believe not every Spirit, but try the Spirits whether they are of God: because many false Prophets are gone into the World.

Large copper engraving by William Hogarth titled, Credulity, Superstition and Fanaticism which ridicules secular and religious credulity, and lampoons the exaggerated religious “enthusiasm” (excessive emotion, not keenness) of the Methodist movement.

From Hogarth, The Complete Works of William Hogarth.

History of publication of Hogarth’s engravings:

Hogarth died in 1764, and after the death of his wife Jane Thornhill in 1789, the plates passed to her cousin Mary Lewis who sold them to the publisher John Boydell for a lifetime annuity of 250 pounds.