be its looking beyond the grave inste life and state. We need to apply all pel of truth and humanity for prese Most conversions are made to sects, love. We dwell rather in Judaism prevailing false reverence for the Bib ments. We have not yet learned to naturally.

"Robert Dale Owen was the next s cism on nomenclature that had bee say spiritist and spiritism, but even if they would mislead the mass of hear jectionable. If asked as to his own to call himself a Jesuit, only that th proper signification, a follower of the made by circumstances to convey a society with which he was identified, ist, as having a more extended meani

"He liked the Essay, because it ta that we perceive is natural. Between visible, there is but a thin veil. We tion to Spiritualism as to any pheno amine the ultra-mundane, as far as the mundane. If the evidence for th factory and insufficient, let that be the distinguished Master of the Rugb of "Essays and Reviews," says tha stumbling-block. The wonders of S believe them all to be in accordanc these are to be found only by patient

"Among the members and guest whom I have already mentioned, we Philadelphia, Miss Mattie Griffith, w remembered by all readers of THE Miss Stevenson, and Mrs. Severance I believe, to be a feast of good th hastily collected will prove acceptabl

IV.

O deed of justice firmly wrought!

O faithful battle done!

Give prosperous speed to the people's thought,
And victory full be won!

BOOK NOTICES.

A NEW MIRACLE-PLAY WITH THE MIRACLES OMITTED.

[Jesus der Christ. Ein Stück für die Volksbühne, neun Handlungen mit einem Nachspiel. von A. B. Dulk. Stuttgart: Verlag von Emil Ebner. 1865. 12mo. pp. VI. 280.]

In the drama " Jesus the Christ," we have the singular phenomenon of a modern miracle-play written from a rationalistic stand-point. The author has woven into it the results of the boldest theological criticism; and the several incidents as well as the general invention of his plot show a thorough

and sympathetic study of Eichhorn and Paulus, Strauss and Baur. He excludes all supernaturalism, and endeavors to present only the pure kernel of historical truth freed from mythical accretions, to "sever himself from dogmas, and delineate Christ as a man." "My drama," he says, "has nothing in common with the literalism and the mysticism of the 'pious,' although the utterances of Jesus are derived almost entirely from the Gospel, and especially from that of John. For this reason Orthodoxies and Ecclesiasticisms have assailed me on all sides." In short, he aims to give a faithful dramatic portraiture of the Founder of Christianity, whose birth, life, labors and death are regarded as the "pure fruits of the natural and organic development of humanity": and thus "extracts the Man of Nazareth from the accumulated legends by which his zeal, form, and character have been disfigured and obscured." Herr Dulk's drama consists of nine acts (Handlungen), which are divided into representatives (Darstellungen), and subdivided into scenes (Auftritte). The acts are as follows: 1. Rome and Judah. 2. The Temptation. 3. The Messiah. 4. The Purification of the Temple. 5. The Last Supper. 6. Sabbatha, or The Trial. 7. Golgotha, or The Crucifiction. 8. The Resurrection. 9. The Ascension. Then follows a Nachspiel of twelve scenes, in which several of the apostles appear, and the sufferings of the Jews at the hands of the Greeks in Cesarea are vividly depicted, although the chronological sequence of events is not strictly observed. The second scene of the first act is the key to the whole play. Jesus is there represented as leaving, at early dawn, an Essene village in which he had been educated under the direction of Joseph of Arimathea, chief of that sect. From the conversation which ensues, we learn that the instructor had been urging his pupil to become a permanent member of the Essene brotherhood; but Jesus felt inspired to a higher mission among his fellow-men. "Bear then, our principles into the world," says his teacher; "embody them in life. . . . . . Blessed be thy career. have early initiated thee into the sublime science of the Therapeutæ ; a rare and rich treasure is the art of bodily healing that thou takest with thee." Jesus replies: "And richer still, the art of the cure of souls." The two friends continued this conversation for some time, mingling precepts of love and truth and brotherhood with expressions of admiration for the beautiful landscape of green valleys, golden fields and woody heights stretching far beyond the towers of the Holy City. Finally Jesus departs uttering these words: "Farewell, peaceful abode! the world is mine, why mourn for thee?" In the next scene Mary the mother of Jesus and Mary Magdalene are journeying together to Jerusalem to celebrate the feast of Purim. The former speaks with enthusiasm of the greatness and glory of her son whom she expects to meet soon at the temple and at the earnest solicitation of her companion, relates, in a rapt and highly poetic style, the story of the miraculous conception, from which it appears that Joseph, her affianced, was altogether sceptical as to the angelic apparition, and declared the celestial messenger to be only a white-robed Essene. The closing scene of the first act in which the heroic fanaticism of the Jewish zealots,

.....

I

as they stand mute but immovable before the onset of the Roman legions, forces Pilate to remove the Imperial standards (idolatrous to an Israelite because they bore the image of the emperor,) are finely wrought out and full of dramatic power.

Herr Dulk makes the Temptation purely subjective, a clearing-up process in the recesses of Jesus' soul. Schleiermacher's idea that the devil originated in a limited observation of self (as the idea of angels arose from a limited observation of nature) is the only kind of Satanic agency admitted into the play. The struggle is wholly interior; it is an effort to solve the enigma of a two fold being, a conflict between the weak flesh and the willing spirit, always fierce enough in human nature without the intervention of any diabolus ex machina. In the medieval mysteries a prominent role was assigned to the devil and his court. He was the inspirer of wicked designs, the visible originator of all the persecutions which the Saviour suffered, the seducer of Judas whose body, after he had hanged himself, was torn and devoured by a legion of imps. Satan continued to perform these offices in the Oberammergau mysteries until the year 1810. Before the dawning light of the nineteenth century, the diabolic spectre vanished; and the influences and actions which were once attributed directly to a malign personality, were made to flow from the selfishness, ambitions and evil thoughts of man himself. By this change the Oberammergau play was not only made to teach a more rational theology, but also attained a higher unity and perfection as a work of art. Out of the human heart are the issues of life in the real world and in the drama. The angels that "came and ministered unto him" are Mary his mother, and Mary Magdalene, who seek him in the wilderness, bringing bread and wine for his refreshment. The word dinxovovv employed by Mathew signifies that the ministration, whatever may have been its source, consisted in providing physical sustenance. The last words of this act in Jesus' soliloquy revealed the nature and purpose of the temptation: "Father I have become Thy Son. In my extreme necessity, Thou didst strengthen my fainting heart. . . . . . . Receive me now to Thy office; for thou hast, to-day, sent me into the world." The third and fourth acts of the drama adhere very closely to the Gospels as regards sayings and events, although little attention is paid to their chronological order. Of the disciples, Judas is the most prominent, and his career is full of tragic interest. His character, as unfolded by Herr Dulk, is essentially the same as Schollmeyer and De Quincey assume it to have been. In other words, he is not a traitor but an impatient and presumptous man, uniting great administrative talent, with narrow and selfish aims, ever ready to sacrifice his soul on the altar of secular ambition. Still it is not personal avarice that impels him, but patriotic zeal for the aggrandizement of Israel. With not the least enthusiasm for truth and humanity he is intensely devoted to the glory of his nation. He expected from the Messiah the establishment of a visible kingdom and emancipation from the Roman yoke. This is what the triumphal entry into Jerusalem and the authoritative purging of the temple mean to his mind. When no such result follows