and may be classed in two categories, according as they trust to inspiration, or as they rely upon reason and free inquiry.
The former are mystical, inoculated with Gnostic heresies, reproducing and exaggerating the eccentricities and aberrations of ancient fanaticism. The latter are rationalistic, proclaiming a reformatory, higher, more philosophic doctrine; they aim at a religion free from dogmas and ceremonies, similar to that of the more advanced denominations of Protestantism.
In the sombre and mysterious recesses of the Russian mind, in the constantly active workings of popular thought, there is a strange admixture of the fantastic and monstrous heresies of the early and middle ages fermenting with modern progressive ideas, crudely conceived and partially understood; the grossest and most materialistic impostures of the past are revived in presence of vague and indefinite aspirations for a better knowledge of the truth, as seen in the clearer light of the present day. These two groups of sects, antagonistic in the nature of their doctrines, the one appealing to the senses and the imagination, the other to reason and reflection, both claim to be striving after a purer, more elevated, and more spiritual religion.
The mystic sects all accept and depend upon prophecy; their adherents believe in constant communications with the Deity; they are instructed and led by inspiration, comforted and sustained by visions, and feel a deep conviction of supernatural guidance, which fills their souls with faith, the evidence of things not seen. The period of revelation has never been closed, or, if closed, has been reopened for them. Prophets still walk the earth; personal manifestations and incarnations of the Divinity still occur. Judæa is not the only country that has been
