from a distance of almost two thousand years the very act and ceremony which was surrounded with so much reverence by the Essenes.

No. IV. The Essenes think it a thing of good omen to be dressed in white robes.-Yes; here again we find the external fact reported by Josephus, but with his usual ignorance of its symbolic value, and the secret record which it involved. He does not pretend to have been more than a novice-that is, at most he had been admitted into the lowest or outermost class, where no hint would be given of the Christian mysteries that would open nearer to the centre. The white robes were, of course, either the baptismal robes, the albatæ vestes noticed in the foot-note, or some other of the typical dresses assumed in different ranks and situations by the primitive Christians.

No. V.-In the judgments they pass, the Essenes are most accurate and just; nor do they pass sentence by the votes of

a court that is lower than a hundred.

Here we find Josephus unconsciously alluding to the secret arrangements of the early Christian Church-the machinery established for conducting affairs so vast, by their tendency, in a condition so critical by its politics. The Apostolical constitutions show that many of the forms in general councils, long after that age, had been traditionally derived from this infancy of the Christian Church,-a result which is natural in any case, but almost inevitable where the original organizers are invested with that sort of honour and authority attached to inspired apostles. Here are positive traces of the Christian institutions, as viewed by one who knew of their existence under another name, and witnessed some of their decisions in the result, but was

never admitted to any conjectural glimpse of their deliberations, or their system of proceeding, or their principles. Here is the truth, but traced by its shadow. On the other hand, if the Essenes (considered as distinct from Christians) were concerned, what need should they have of courts -numerous or not numerous? Had the Sadducees courts? Had the Pharisees courts? Doubtless they had, in their general character of Jews, but certainly not in their separate character as sects. Here again, therefore, in this very mention of courts, had there been no word dropped of their form, we see an insuperable evidence to the fact of the Christians being the parties concerned.

No. VI.-The Essenes are divided by Philo-Judæus into the Therapeu tici and the Practici.—A division into four orders has already been noticed, in explaining the general constitution of the society. These orders would very probably have characteristic names as well as barely distinguishing numbers. And if so, the name of Therapeute would exactly correspond to the medical evangelists (the hakims) noticed under No. II.

No. VII.-Moreover the Essenes are stricter than any other of the Jews in resting from their labours on the seventh day: for they even get their food ready on the day before, that they may not be obliged to kindle a fire on that day.Now, then, it will be said, these Essenes, if Christians, ought not to have kept the Jewish Sabbath. seems a serious objection. But pause, reader.

This

One consideration is most important in this whole discussion. The Jews are now ranged in hostility to the Christians; because now the very name of Jew makes open proclamation that they have rejected Christian

3

ity; but, in the earliest stage of Christianity, the Jew's relation to that new creed was in suspense and undetermined he might be, 1. in a state of hostility; 2. in a state of certain transition; 3. in a state of deliberation. So far, therefore, from shocking his prejudices by violent alterations of form, and of outward symbol, not essential to the truth symbolized, the error of the early Christians would lie the other way; as in fact we know that it did in Judæa, that is, in the land of the Essenes, where they retained too much rather than too little of Mosaic rites. Judaism is the radix of Christianity-Christianity the integration of Judaism. And so long as this integration was only not accepted, it was reasonable to presume it the subject of examination; and to regard the Jew as a Christian in transitu, and by tendency as a Christian elect. For one generation the Jews must have been regarded as novices in a lower class advancing gradually to the higher vows,-not as enemies at all, but as imperfect aspirants. During this pacific interim, (which is not to be thought hostile, because individual Jews were hostile,) the Christians most entangled with Jews, viz. the Christians of Palestine, would not seek to widen the interval which divided them. On the contrary, they would too much concede to the prejudices of their Jewish brethren; they would adopt too many of the Jewish rites as at first even circumcisionà fortiori, the Jewish Sabbath. Thus it would be during the period of suspence, Hostility would first commence when the two orders of men could no longer be viewed as the inviting and invited-as teaching and learning; but as affirming and denying-as worshippers and blasphemers. Then began the perfect schism of the two orders. Then began amongst the Syrian Christians the observance of a Christian Sunday; then began the general disuse of circumcision.

Here we are called upon to close this investigation; and for the following reason: Most subjects offer themselves under two aspects at the least, often under more. This question, accordingly, upon the true relations of the Essenes, may be contemplated either as a religious question, or as a question of Christian antiquities. Under this latter aspect, it is not impro

perly entertained by a journal whose primary functions are literary. But to pursue it further might entangle us more intricately in speculations of Christian doctrine than could be suitable to any journal not essentially theological. We pause therefore; though not for want of abundant matter to continue the discussion. One point only we shall glance at in taking leave:-the Church of Rome has long ago adopted the very doctrine for which we have been contending: she has insisted, as if it were an important article of orthodox faith, upon the identity of the Essenes and the primitive Christians. But does not this fact subtract from the originality of our present essay? Not at all. if it did, we are careless. But the truth is it does not. And the reason is this-as held by the Church of Rome the doctrine is simply what the Germans call a machtspruch, i. e. a hard dogmatical assertion, without one shadow of proof or presumptive argument-that so it must have been, nothing beyond the allegation of an old immemorial tradition-that so in fact it was. Papal Rome adopts our theory as a fact, as a blind result; but not as a result resting upon any one of our principles. Having, as she thinks, downright testimony and positive depositions upon oath, she is too proud to seek the aid of circumstantial evidence, of collateral probability, or of secret coincidence.

If so, and the case being that the Papal belief on this point (though coinciding with our own) offers it no collateral support, wherefore do we mention it? For the following reason-important at any rate-and specially important as a reason in sum. ming up; as a reason to take leave with-as a linch-pin or iron bolt to lock up all our loose arguments into one central cohesion. Dogmatism, because it is haughty, because it is insolent, will not therefore of necessity be false. Nay, in this particular instance, the dogmatism of Rome rests upon a sense of transcendant truthof truth compulsory to the Christian conscience. And what truth is that? It is one which will reply triumphantly to the main objection likely to be urged by the reader. He will be apt to say-This speculation is curious; but of what use is it? Of what consequence to us at this day, whether the

Essenes were or were not the early Christians? Of such consequence, we answer, as to have forced the Church of Rome into a probable lie: that Church chose rather to forge a falsehood of mere historical faet, [in its pretended tradition of St Mark,] than to suffer any risk as to the sum total and principle of truth doctrinal. The Christian religion, offers two thingsa body of truth, of things to be believed, in the first place; in the second place, a spiritual agency, a mediatorial agency, for carrying these truths into operative life. Otherwise expressed, the Christian religion offers-1st, a knowledge; 2d, a power-that is, 1st, a rudder to guide; 2dly, sails to propel. Now mark:-the Essenes, as reported to us by Josephus, by PhiloJudæus, or three centuries afterwards by Eusebius, do not appear to have claimed No. 2; and for this reasonbecause, as a secret society and for the very cause which made it prudent for them to be a secret society, that part of their pretensions could not have been stated safely; not without avowing the very thing which it was their purpose to conceal, viz. their allegiance to Christ. But as to No. 1- -as to the total truths taught by Christianity, taken in contradistinction to its spiritual powers these the Essenes did claim; these they did appropriate; and therefore take notice of this: If the Essenes were not the early Christians in disguise, then was Christianity, as a knowledge, taught independently of Christ; nay, in opposition to Christ; nay, if we were to accept the hyper

bolical fairy-tale of Pliny, positively two thousand years before the era of Christ. Grant the affirmative of our hypothesis, all is clear, all consistent ; and Christianity here, as for ever, justifies herself. Take the negative alternative-Suppose the Essenes a distinct body from the primitive Christians of Palestine, (i. e. those particular Christians who stood under the ban of Jerusalem,) and you have a deadlier wound offered to Christian faith than the whole army of infidels ever attempted. A parhelion—a double sun-a secondary sun, that should shine for centuries with equal proofs for its own authenticity as existed for the original sun, would not be more shocking to the sense and to the auguries of man than a secondary Christianity not less spiritual, not less heavenly, not less divine than the primary, pretending to a separate and even hostile origin. Much more is to be said in behalf of our thesis. But say more or say lesssay it well or say it ill-the main argument-that the Essenes were the early Christians, locally in danger, and therefore locally putting themselves, with the wisdom of the serpent, under a cloud of disguise, impenetrable to fierce Jewish enemies and to timid or treacherous brethren-that argument is essential to the dignity of Christian truth. That theory is involved in the almighty principlethat, as there is but one God, but one hope, but one anchorage for man-so also there can be but one authentic faith, but one derivation of truth, but one perfect revelation.

THE order for his arrest did not throw Carlo into despair, but into utter astonishment. The world seemed to be changed; light was darkness, and men were ombres Chinoises. He felt like one in a nightmare. He had brought in a French colonel with him, and had intercepted a despatch worth his commission; and what was his reward? A dungeon, from which he might not emerge for the next fifty years, if he was not shot by a drumhead court-martial within the fiftieth part of the time. On unlucky emergencies, Frenchmen tear their hair, and Italians weep, but Carlo did neither: he was petrified, and when the close carriage, with a couple of dragoons at its side, made its appearance, he was put into it with no more remonstrance than if he had been his own knapsack.

The twenty-four hours of his journey over the heavy and broken roads of the country through which the campaign had been already fought, seemed to him interminable; but all things have an end, and the dawn of the second morning showed him the place of his destination, the fortress of ErlachGlaringen, covering its mountain-top like a distant cloud. Germany has nothing finer than its locale, and the huge ramparts cresting the precipices coloured by the rains and winds of ages; the ranges of heavy guns, look ing down from their embrasures on the defiles in all directions; and the whole standing in an amphitheatre of hills skirted with forest, and shooting up a thousand marble pinnacles, make it at once the most formidable and the most picturesque of all the defences

of the Rhine border.

But what are all the displays of nature or art to those in whose minds they are connected with the dungeon? As the carriage wound its slow way up the road, that twined like a huge snake in spirals on the face of the mountain, the fortress reminded him only of some of those spots where the demons of the "Inferno" kept their pincers and tongs hot for recreant Cardinals, and Mussulmans refusing to be converted with the sword at their throats. The only glance which he gave at the height of the ramparts,

was to assure himself that a plunge from the summit of any of them would be enough to relieve him of all his troubles; and the only wish which he felt, on entering the huge gate, was, that the French would attack the place without delay, and give him an opportunity of dying on the breach, and thus escaping the stigma of shortening an existence now utterly worthless to him.

One part of his wish appeared likely enough to be realized; for, as he ased the hill, it was evident that the enemy were expected. Workmen were busy in constructing batteries at the salient points. Engineers were riding about, marking out ground. A battalion of light infantry were practising at a target on the slope, and the way was obstructed by a long train of waggons, loaded with provisions and stores for the fortress.

Twenty-four hours' transitions make a vast difference in sensations. Carlo would once have bounded like a young leopard at the sight. His share of it now consisted in his being met by an adjutant, who politely assisted him to alight from his vehicle, preceded him, without a word, through a sort of labyrinth of bastions, ravelins, and covered ways, and, after ascending a long flight of stone steps, led him to a tower overlooking a horizon of forest, with a precipice of a hundred and fifty feet within an inch of his window. "Why am I brought here?" Carlo repeated almost by intuition. But the adjutant's business was not to answer, but to lock him up. The officer bowed, pointed to a chair, table, and bed, with the look of a man who had provided all that was necessary for human satisfaction, turned on his heel, and withdrew. Carlo heard the key turn in the lock, as if it turned in his heart. He made a rush at the window; but though nothing could be more effectual than the precipice below it for breaking the necks of a whole imperial staff, a huge iron bar across the casement as effectually precluded the attempt. He had nothing for it but to rail at destiny.

"Why am I here?" had been his solitary question to the dragoons, whenever he could catch the ear of

those functionaries. But dragoons have other things to do than answer the questions of prisoners; and besides, Austrian dragoons having but two earthly occupations, eating and smoking, their time was too busily employed to indulge his curiosity, even if they had thought it worth their ! while. "Why am I here?" was his cry in his new apartment ;-a cry so often repeated, that, if it could have made an impression on the walls, it would have been read there by all posterity. Yet one little incident perplexed him scarcely less than his own incarceration. It now recurred to him, that, just as the carriage was leaving the camp, a group of mounted officers had ridden rapidly by, among whom was the Archduke, and close at his side a physiognomy which singu larly reminded him of his little Corporal. "Could the Hulan have been acquainted with the cause of his arrest?" The idea grew, and grew into other shapes. "Could he have been the cause?-could he have been at once a French deserter and a French spy?—could he have contrived to get himself put on the Archduke's staff, for the purpose of being a spy?—and yet, after all, might not the Corporal have found some means of distinguishing himself in the incessant fighting of the campaign, and thus obtaining the rank which the services of a single night had obtained in his own instance? Thus was broken up the web, fine as it was. Yet he remembered a glance from this personage as he passed along, which had so much of triumph, sneer, and burlesque in it, that he was convinced of his identity. The unlocking of his door announced the arrival of his dinner; nothing could be less calculated to foster a habit of luxury. The attendant was what remained of an old grenadier; a human body, which having bequeathed a leg to one battle, and an arm to another, had reserved its last services for the attendance on the state prisoners of the fortress. "Why am I here?" was the question mechanically put on his entrance. But the old grenadier's duty was to set his dinner on the table, and beyond that he had neither eye, hand, nor tongue. If Carlo had no conception before of the nature of discipline, he now learned the lesson to his full content. Those living for years between walls become all brick.

་

The adjutant attended his walk of fifty yards, back and forward, on the rampart daily; the old grenadier brought up his daily meal, but no mute in the Seraglio was ever more dumb than either. This began at length to be absolutely intolerable; and Carlo, on the third day, was on the point of making up his mind, either to seize the adjutant's sword, and assault the whole corps de garde, or to take that jump from the ramparts which would make all the talkers of this world indifferent to him, when the whole scene changed.

As he was sitting with his feverish forehead between his hands, medi. tating on the chances of this final escape, his ear was caught by an unusual tramp of feet. During the day he had heard carriages rolling over the pavement; drums beating to arms, and the hurry of newly-arrived troops. It was now evening, and he saw from his grating a crowd of officers moving along the rampart. At their head walked a broad, strongmade veteran, covered with orders, and, though stooped a little by some seventy winters, yet exhibiting the haleness and vigour of the old soldier.

The group stopped at the foot of the tower, and the old officer briskly mounted the stair, preceded only by the inflexible adjutant. The key turned in the lock, the door was thrown open, and Carlo started up to meet his visiter.

"In

"I am Major-General Von Sharlheim, the governor of the fortress," was the brief announcement. inspecting the garrison on my arrival, I have come to see how matters go on with the prisoners. Have you, sir, any thing to complain of?"

"Complain of?-Every thing!" was the indignant answer. "Why am I here?"

The old general was evidently not prepared for this style. He looked round in amaze to the adjutant, who, however, answered only by throwing himself into a more inflexible perpendicularity. There was a silence of a moment, during which the features of the old man's face seemed to move with some sense of the burlesque of the situation. At length he broke out into a fit of laughter.

"Ha, ha! Why, this is capital, adjutant. Why did you not tell me what prince of the empire you had