(5.) The Constitutions give to the Bishop that honor, and reverence, authority, and irresponsibility to the Church, which the Council that condemned Paul, tell us he exacted and received from the people.

These, and other coincidences of less moment, raise the presumption that the author of the work under consideration, was a disciple of the Samosatean school, and that he probably lived about the time supposed by the author of the Prize Essay, that is, from A. D. 250, to A. D. 300. That they have undergone some modifications since that time, is probable, though by no means certain.

While, therefore, we agree with Dr. Krabbe as to the age of the Constitutions, we differ in toto, as to their object and design. He supposes that the author set out with "the idea of a Catholic Church, and the idea of a Levitical Priesthood," (p. 460,) as the type of the Christian Ministry, and that upon these he aimed to rear the doctrine of "the unity of the visi ble Church," (p. 461,) conceiving of it in the "Cyprianic spirit." (p. 466.) That these ideas are distinctly, and even prominently developed in the Constitutions, is true. But if we are correct in the view we have taken of the doctrinal character of the work, these were ideas which the author must have found ready developed to his hand, and which he, therefore, embodied in his work, as likely to give currency and authority to the error and heresy he wished to promulgate. No other reasonable conclusion can be drawn, and hence, why the author of the Prize Essay has been so anxious to prove the original orthodoxy of the Constitutions in regard to the doctrine of the Trinity. Without this orthodoxy, the work would be devoid of authority for other purposes, which the author is supposed to have had in view; and if the proof on that point fails, the purpose of the forger, must have been different from that assigned by Dr. Krabbe. And no reasonable purpose can be imagined, other than that we have already mentioned, inculcation of the Arian heresy. In all other respects we may expect to find a substantial agreement be tween the statements of the Constitutions, and things as they existed at the time of their composition; save in the extravagance of their claims in favor of Episcopal power, preroga tive and magnificence. With these exceptions, we concur in the judgment of Dr. Krabbe, (p. 351,) that "the Constitutions bear on themselves the clearest impress of having arisen towards the end of the third century, [i. e., at the very period when the Arian controversy began to disturb the Church.] Their whole contents testify to this most strikingly. The

form of their public divine service; their whole ritual and disciplinary institutions which they bring before us; the state of their teachers and servants of the Church; finally, the whole plan and object for which the Constitutions seem to have arisen, are so many proofs in favor of our assertion."

The following are some of the doctrines and practices, therefore, which the author of the Constitutions found so firmly established in his day, as to lend authority to another doctrine which he wished to incorporate with them. "One Catholic Church, (b. i, Intd. ii, 25, vi, 14, vii, 41,) over which was placed the Bishop, as supreme head upon earth,-(b. i, 8. ii, 6, 12, vi, 2,) having under him a plurality of Presbyters and Deacons, (b. ii, 25, 26, 28, 43, 57, iii, 16,) with which Church every Christian was bound to unite, (b. ii, 27, 61, vi, 4,) and out of which there was, ordinarily, no possibility of salvation, (b. ii, 20, 21, 61, vii, 10,) and that this ministry was in imitation of the three orders, of High Priest, Priest, and Levite, (b. ii, 20, 25, 57.) So also, Ordination belonging only to Bishops, (b. iii, 11,)—a Bishop being ordained by three or more Bishops, (b. iii, 20,)—the inferior Clergy by one Bishop, (b. iii, 20,)—the Eucharist being administered by Bishops and Presbyters, (b. vii, 26,)-Baptism by Bishops, Presbyters, and Deacons, (b. iii, 11,) but not by laymen, (b. iii, 9, 10, 11,)-Confirmation by the Bishop, (b. ii, 32, 41, vi, 7, vii, 22,)—marriages of the Bishops and other Clergy, (b. ii, 2,)--a degree of precedence or priority given to the Church at Jerusalem, (b. vi, 12,)—and daily worship (b. ii, 36) with a Liturgy. (b. ii, 54, 57, 59.)— Infant Baptism is also incidentally recognized, (b. vi, 15,) and vows of virginity are spoken of as neither perpetual or binding, (b. iv, 14.) Participation in the Divine Life of CHRIST, through the indwelling of the HOLY GHOST, is presented as the cause of the Christian's new Life, (b. ii, 33, v, 1, 6, 7, vi, 7, vii, 22,) by means of which he is made a member of CHRIST'S body. (b. i, 6.) Other doctrines of less moment are recognized, but these are quite sufficient to show the general character of the work, and to manifest its conformity with the received doctrines of that age, save only in the single point of its Arianism. These points, therefore, are not to be regarded as at that time, questions in doubt or debate, but as points settled beyond dispute and cavil among all orthodox men.

We can not assent then, to the opinions of the Editor, and Translator of the prize essay,-Rev. Dr. Chase, when he says, that "the Apostolic Constitutions' seem to have exerted silently and indirectly, a powerful influence during several ages of the Church. They could not fail to facilitate the introduc

tion and prevalence of the doctrines and usages which they sanctioned." (Pref. xvii.) This remark goes upon the assumption of the original truth, and soundness of the doctrine contained in the work in question, and the inference, therefore, fails so soon as the premises fail. This view is also opposed to the opinion of Dr. Krabbe, who tells us, (p. 359,) that "the whole internal and external form of the Church, as it presents itself in these writings, we find again in the third century; and the agreement is so great that it can be pointed out even in the most inconsiderable things." There is, indeed, no evidence of any such influence as Dr. Chase supposes, nor any probability of its existence, since the very things he ascribes to such influence, were firmly established before the Constitutions were fabricated, and are the basis on which the authority of that work must have rested. In the language of Dr. K. (p. 379,) "the author has adopted the most important arrangements which existed at his time, and many from antiquity, in order to prevent his work from appearing as one altogether new, and to promote its reception."

Another opinion of the Translator, from which we must dissent, is, that the Apostolic Canons, were originally an integral part of the Apostolic Constitutions, an opinion at variance with that of Dr. Krabbe, and of the learned generally; and contradicted by the different teachings of the two works, as well as by the history of the Canons themselves. Thus, the Constitutions will not allow Bishops to be called to account by any authority upon earth; (b. ii, 14, 35,) while the Canons, (28 or 30,) expressly direct two Councils a year, at which the Bishops are to examine each other in respect to their doctrinal soundness; and also direct how Bishops shall be tried (66, or 74) when any accusations are brought against them by "faithful persons;" that is, by the laity.

One other point on which the Editor has hardly done justice to the Constitutions, is, in his revision of Whiston's translation of them, which is that given in the work we are considering. Whiston was an Arian, and in many places gave his translation an Arian hue, even deeper and stronger than the original. Some of these have escaped the attention of the Editor. We give a few examples by way of specimen. Our edition of the text is that of Cotelerius, by Le Clerc, Antwerp, 1698. In b. ii, 26 bis, 30 bis, 44, v. 7, 16, vii, 39, the Constitutions speak of "CHRIST and the Father,"-the translator makes him speak of " CHRIST and His Father," translating the article as though it were a pronoun. So in iii, 8, the Constitutions say: "Let the widows do according to the ap

pointment of the Bishop as being obedient to God,"-the translator says; "being obedient to him as to God."

After the strong commendation we have given the Prize Essay, it is incumbent on us to make two exceptions. On p. 410, he says: "It is ascertained that pedobaptism does not belong to the Apostolic age." How, or when, this "has been ascertained," we must confess our ignorance; and we can not imagine what should induce a scholar of Dr. Krabbe's acquirements, to hazard such an unfounded assertion; and that, in the face of his own admission a few lines below, that "it was constantly held to be Apostolical." Another topic upon which Dr. K. does not exhibit his usual clearness and accuracy, relates to the early Liturgies, pp. 444,-5, pp. 454-5. By a strange confusion of facts and evidence, he confounds all the early Liturgies with that of St. James, and then draws the substance of that from the eighth book of the Constitutions. The mere statement of such an opinion, is its own refutation in the judgment of every competent ritualist. Those who would see this question treated with learning, ability, and fairness, should consult Palmer's Origines Liturgica.

With these, and a few other exceptions, we commend the work to the attention of all scholars, and to our brethren of the clergy in particular; for, notwithstanding its errors, it breathes a spirit of simple-hearted piety, has a deep consciousness of the cause and consequence of the inner Life of the Christian, manifesting itself through all the appropriate channels of outward and external forms,-and with a knowledge of its errors, may be read with profit for its truths. It may also be made a powerful auxiliary to the cause of truth, by its strong negative testimony against the doctrines and claims of the Papacy,-by its ignorance of any such thing as a primacy at Rome,-by its concession of precedence or pri ority to the Church at Jerusalem, by its directions to the Clergy respecting their marriage, and by its full and pertinent description of the Eucharist, so unlike any thing found in the Romish Mass of modern days.

THE PANTHEISTIC MOVEMENT.

ART. V.-1. The Life of Christ. By STRAUS. New York: Geo. Vale.

2. The Last Incarnation. Translated from the French. New York: 1848.

3. Eureka: a Prose Poem. By EDGAR A. POE. New York:

1848.

PANTHEISM is the child of the mysterious East. Dreaming life away in that inactive contemplation which he considered the highest of all states, the Indian sage evolved this captivating philosophy. From the dim and fragrant grove, or from the silent mountain cavern, he looked out upon that universal frame of nature, which he imagined to be a spectacle, represented by Deity before himself, and uttered his deep convictions of the majesty of GoD, and the nothingness of his creation, in the lofty language of Oriental fervor. Well designed, perhaps, it was, at first, we care not to discuss that question now, but it soon was seized upon to be the formula of the sternest and most hopeless Pantheism; a scheme, which, supposing God to be the only willer and actor in the Universe, reduced all things willed or done, to an absolute indifference, and destroyed the distinction between right and wrong, virtue and vice, good and evil.

It has been well said, that "whenever and wherever human reason has attempted to solve the question of the origin of things, without taking for the basis of its efforts truths consecrated by universal tradition, three routes are open before it, three fundamental solutions, present themselves: Pantheism, which beholds in finite beings, only forms, modifications of the infinite substance, the only really existing being; Dualism, which divides being or substance between two uncreated principles; Materialism, or Atheism, which in place of the Infinite One, substitutes a sort of indefinite multiplicity, by the doc. trine of atoms, a doctrine which is not explicitly brought out in all the systems of Materialism, but which lies at the bottom of them all." Now while all these theories are to be found in the philosophy of India, still it is the gorgeous vision of the first, that in the Vedanta system, occupies the largest space, and holds the widest sway. One single formula comprises the whole system: Brahma alone exists, every thing else is mere illusion. When man looks on this external veil of things, with which Brahma, in the sport and play of power, repre