the Essenes, instead of being the originators of Christianity, were the perverters of it, and instead of being its purifiers were its corrupters; that, instead of losing their influence early, and gradually diminishing in importance, till they died out, leaving the Church in the hands of the literalists, they gained their influence late, and steadily increased, keeping the Church in the hands of the literalists; thus much is pretty clear, that the Essenes, if they are correctly described by Philo and Josephus, could not have written the New Testament as it stands. They could have written, "Cast not your pearls before swine"; "Go not among the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not." Could they have written, "They shall come from the east and the west, and the north and the south, and shall sit down in the kingdom of God"? Could they have invented the story of the Canaanite woman, or fancied the Christ journeying among the people who kept swine?

They held very sacred the prejudices of caste; they abhorred the uncircumcised; they would eat no food that was not prepared by their own cooks; they respected the sanctity of social distinctions, and, hating the Pharisees, carried even beyond Pharisaic limits the pride of the "elect." Could such people have penned the beatitudes, "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven"; "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God"? Could they imagine their immaculate spirit offering its intimacy to publicans, and breaking the bread of life with "sinners"?

They were the severest of precisians; would they be likely to personify their Christ in the attitude of sending an adulteress away uncondemned, or pardoning a "woman of the town"?

They were Sabbatarians of the straitest sect; how could they paint their symbolic person as a Sabbath-breaker? How could they put into the mouth of their incarnate spirit those stern rebukes of their own holy bigotries? How could they imagine Jesus plucking the ears of corn on the Sabbath, and then flinging in the teeth of his enemies the declaration that the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath? The supposition that they did so is inadmissible, wholly. If

it is urged that, in all he said and did respecting the Sabbath, Christ did not go beyond the spirit of the Law, that may be granted; but he certainly did go beyond the Essene conception of the spirit of the Law.

The Essenes were ascetics; they discouraged marriage; they ate no flesh; they used no oil. The New Testament describes the Son of Man as "eating and drinking," contrary to the usage of the ascetic Baptist, and presents him -in metaphor if you will as honoring with his company a marriage feast, and furnishing more and better wine to guests who had already well drunken. Has not allegory its moral as well as its literary laws? May one metaphorically violate his principles? Is it legitimate, even in poetry, to contradict in the form of the representation the doctrines that are propounded in the substance of the truth conveyed? If the New Testament is a poem, it is a poem conceived in a higher strain than the members of that secret brotherhood heard floating on the air in the neighborhood of the Dead Sea.

We here dismiss the theory which this book, entitled "Christ the Spirit," was written to advocate. But we are not yet prepared to dismiss the book itself, which contains very much more than its theory, and very much better. The title suggests thoughts which the volumes, in their purpose, fall short of and disappoint; and the author plainly has thoughts that are too large to be contained in his hypothesis ; for, in trying to tell his readers what this Spirit is which Christ symbolizes and personifies, he draws lines of definition so wide and all-embracing, that the sect of the Essenes can hardly be seen within them, and the place occupied by the Hebrew Scriptures is only a corner. "In the main," he says, in delightful inconsistency with his chief view, "this truth might have been seen in or through the older Jewish Scriptures; yet, in its own nature, truth transcends those records. Hence, while Christ represents the truth of the Jewish sacred writings, he is made to represent a higher order of truth at the same time." Again: "Not only is the truth exhibited in a higher form in Christ than in the old Law, but he is represented as promising a still further advance." Once more: "We have no adequate idea of truth when we imagine it can be exhausted and limited

by any writings whatever. It judgeth all things, but is itself judged by no man." Farther on: "We must consider Christ, not as a person, nor merely as the Spirit of the Hebrew Scriptures personified, but as speaking in the name of the Infinite Reason itself." Grand words, worthy of the radiant promise held forth by the title; but where were the Essenes who could have uttered them?

This Spirit, now, what is it? We know it by its effects. "It has brought to life in millions of men a power that has enabled them to overcome the world, raising them absolutely above the fear of death; but this can hardly be attributed to any of the direct teachings of the Bible itself." What then? What is this Spirit? It is no less and no other than the "law in the heart." If any one word must be used to define it, the author would select conscience as that word. Not that this selection is wholly satisfactory; not that conscience is the only principle illustrated in the life of Jesus; not that there may not be a higher principle; but this higher principle, if there be one, can only be found in a pure heart. By conscience is meant the moral nature of man, involving reason, affection, and will. This is the Spirit that knocketh at the door of every human heart, asking admission, and which we are warned not to grieve away. This is the Spirit which was before Abraham, whose coming has been the prediction of all time, at whose coming the world is judged. This is the Spirit which is with us in heaven, and no less in hell, the Maker of both. This is the Spirit which saith, "No man cometh to the Father but by me"; "Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." This is the Mediator by whose instrumentality men are united to each other, and all are made one with God. This Spirit has a pentecostal power; it speaks all languages, and every man hears it in his own. It says, "He that loveth father or mother more than me, is not worthy of me; and he that loveth son or daughter more than me, is not worthy of me." This is the Angel sent to guide us in the right way; this is the Prophet like unto Moses; this is the Spirit of truth, the Comforter. "The mystery of redemption lies in the mystery of the conscience. To awaken the conscience in a man is to awaken a principle which, faithfully

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followed, may bring life and immortality to light in the soul." Simply regarded as the sense of duty, the conscience" is an undying principle, superior to all temporal power, and manifesting a divine spirit in man." But it is more than this: it is a principle of love, making duty delight, and bringing one immediately into the kingdom of heaven.

In such lofty style as this, the good soldier takes up and carries on his theme, letting us clearly perceive that his Christ is the spirit of humanity; the spirit in man that seeks the beautiful, the true, the good; the spirit of aspiration, of justice, and of charity; the spirit that is in all men darkly, that shines in them to testify that they are sons of God; that burns and blazes in them to make them so indeed. As this conception comes full-orbed into our minds, the Christ becomes something far greater shall we say far more substantial? than a being of flesh and blood. The local, the temporary, the national, is shed like the skin of a serpent. He appears in a new form, a living person in the world, not of incidents, but of thoughts. He is a symbol, but the symbol has in it the very breath of life. He is an ideal form, but yet so real that all other forms flit by it like shadows; it dilates with time, and space, and the expanding horizon of the mind; it palpitates with the heart-beats of mankind; its veins are ruddy with the tide which courses through the vital channels of the nations. It speaks, and its words are words of pure wisdom from the oracles of the universal conscience. Its eyes moisten with tears they are drops of compassion from the universal pity. Its hands work wonders: they are wonders of the charity that never faileth. It is the form, not of a man, but of Man it is a form as of the Son of God.

Is this language extravagant? We mean it shall seem so; for we wish the reader to demand an explanation of it.

The objection is commonly brought against the doctrine of the spiritual Christ, that it is a vague and impalpable doctrine. Christ the Spirit, it is said, is really no Christ at all, but only the ghost of a Christ, a shade, or even the shadow of a shade. Strip him of his flesh and blood, he dies, past resurrection. Take him out of Palestine, he is nowhere. Detach him from Hebrew history, and he goes flitting about over the fields of

conjecture, taking as many shapes as a cloud. Open a seam in his Jewish gabardine, and you discover nothing inside: the person has vanished. You must hoop him round with bands of very literal fact, you must bind him in parchment bonds, or you cannot be certain that you have him. The historical Christ is the only real Christ. Such is the common persuasion. It is not the persuasion of the man who gives us this book; and it is not our persuasion. We have no purpose, saying this, to bring the historical Christ under suspicion. Leaving the historical Christ unharmed, it is nevertheless true that the historical Christ is not the real Christ: the real Christ is the spiritual, or the Spirit. Without the Spirit, the historical Christ is naught. Without the historical Christ, the Spirit is himself.

Spirit is reality; it is the substantial, the solid, the permanent, the palpable thing. It is the base of all existence. We speak of occurrences in the natural world as "phenomena," appearances, - a phrase which implies that there is something beneath and behind them which is not an appearance; that something is Spirit. Creation sprung into being, say the old Scriptures, at a word; the word was the airy form of a thought; the thought was the ethereal expression of a being. The real part of the Christ is the spiritual part, by universal admission. It is his faith, his love, his humanity. What historical believer hopes to be saved by touching the hem of his Hebrew garment, by having a remnant of his seamless coat? The virtue of the miracles, even to them who believe the miracles, and believe that not to believe the miracles is not to be saved, lies in the loving will that wrought the miracles, and in the loving sentiment that informs them. Who goes to Christ for anything but his thought? Who hopes to be helped by anything but his affection? Who expects to be blessed by anything but the communion of his life? Who opens his soul to anything but the breath of his aspiration? The Christ you love, O literal and matter-of-fact brother, is, after all, the spiritual Christ. The Christ of the sectarian, of the dogmatist, is the spiritual Christ, if it is any Christ at all. It is the truth in the creed that enlightens and redeems, not the words in the creed. The