great a devotee of Bacchus. Here (he does not mention the name of the place) he found provisions cheaper than any place elsewhere during the war, and the Bohemians so loyal that they entertained the imperialist troops most hospitably, and conducted them on their departure for a distance of several hours by the shortest routes. He himself was escorted to Colonel William Gall (? Wall), an Irishman, with whom he spent Christmas Day, and later on to Colonel James Gordon, at Prague. The sixth chapter concludes with a very brief description of Prague, a most salubrious city, divided into four parts, 'Parvam, Antiquam, Novam, et Judaeorum civitatem,' in which those familiar with Prague will recognize the present quarters of Kleinseite, Altstadt, Neustadt, and Judenstadt, or Jews' town, which was re-named Josefstadt in 1850. He mentions arx visendae pulchritudinis' commanding a view of the city, which is, of course, the Hradschin, and he saw the place where St. Wenceslas, King of Bohemia, was martyred through the intrigue of his mother, and where the latter was swallowed up alive by the earth as a punishment of her crime.

an

He left Prague on the 4th January (he does not say what year), at mid-day, with a Polish nobleman who gave him a mount, and he made for Eger in search of his friend Butler. The fertility of this part of Bohemia and the abundance of the crops amazed him, especially considering that it had been devastated by both the Swedish and Imperial armies. At Eger he dined with the Lieut.-Colonel in the very hall where later on the accomplices of Wallenstein's treason paid the well-deserved penalty of death'; and then he proceeded to Cronachum (Kronach), a stronghold of the Bishop of Bamberg, whose valiant and loyal inhabitants defied, over and over again, the attacks of the foremost Swedish generals. He was not, however, impressed with the religion of the women of the place, who frequent the Sacraments in great numbers but with little piety, and leave the church immediately after Holy Communion as if they had partaken of a profane

feast. He dined with the general of the citadel and, having thanked his host, set out for Fulda, a city subject to a Benedictine Abbot, who is likewise a Prince of the Holy Roman Empire. Thence he went to Aschaffenburg, a city of the Archbishop Elector of Mainz, which was occupied by 30,000 picked troops, under Mansfeldt, but food was so scarce that even ecclesiastics had to eat meat (if they could get it) on fast days. Here he saw and admired the Archbishop's castle, with its four tall towers (it had only been erected a short time before, i.e., from 1605-1614), its magnificent halls, and huge vats full of the richest wines. Passing through Wertham (Wertheim) he arrives at Heilbronn, where he found displayed in the market-place forty-four stupendous warlike engines and ten standards, lately captured from the French at Philippsbourg.

This city, which the Imperialists had captured in four hours, was attacked by the Swedes for a whole year, and here the Scotch Colonel James Gordon, then in command of a company of mounted foot,' had distinguished himself. Thence our author proceeded to Luneburg (? a mistake for Ludwigsburg), in the occupation of General Gallas, who had driven out its forceful but disloyal Duke, and next to Stuchardian (Stuttgart), where Ferdinand III, King of Bohemia and Hungary, was in winter quarters. Here he learned that his Butler' was already dead, and that his body had been removed to Swarrindorp, where he found it enclosed in a leaden casket, and was informed that his friend had died most piously, fortified by all the rites of the Church. He grieved, as grieve he must, that a man so renowned for his zeal for Caesar and the orthodox faith could not resist the decrees of fate; yet while he lived he never belied himself, for, wishing to secure eternity for his fame and heaven for his soul, he distributed the wealth which he had acquired with his stout hand in most just warfare in pious legacies,' among which the following:

Twenty thousand Imperial pieces to the Franciscan Fathers of th strict observance, who are engaged in studies in Prague, with the vie of returning to Ireland or Scotland, and devoting themselves sedulousl to confirming the Catholics in the faith or reconciling converts.

To Rev. Peter Wadding, S.J., an Irishman, Chancellor of the University of Prague, 3,000 Imperials' for poor Irish resorting thither. To Father Patrick, Franciscan of the strict observance, 500 'Imperials,' and as many to another Irish priest.

To his sister 6,000 'Imperials.'

To his 'Vice-Tribune,' Walter Deveroux, 1,000 Imperials, etc. etc.

This

Having paid his last mournful respects to the remains of his beloved James Butler, our author proceeded to the Castle of Wiesensteig (between Stuttgart and Ulm), belonging to Count Holstein, where he found Walter Deveroux laid up with a bullet wound (globulo plumbeo vulneratus) received in the battle of Nördlingen. battle, which ended in a great victory for the Imperialists over the Swedes, was fought in 1634. At Wiesensteig also he found Butler's widow, who shortly afterwards conducted her husband's remains to Bohemia, where they were interred with great pomp.

PATRICK NOLAN, O.S.B.

1 Born in Waterford, 1580, Chancellor of the University of Prague, and subsequently of that of Gratz, in Styria, where he died in 1644.

2 He was a brother of Walter Butler, and both fought with distinction under Tilly and Wallenstein, Walter especially distinguishing himself at the battle of Nördlingen.

VOL. XXII-24

THE KINGDOM OF GOD IN JEWISH

To

APOCRYPHA

BY REV. P. P. MCKENNA, O.P.

O realize in some way the outlook of the contemporaries of Our Lord on the nature of the Messianic Kingdom, a study of the Jewish literature of the time which immediately preceded the Christian era is indispensable. Some of this literature is contained in certain books, written indeed by inspired authors, but not inserted in the Jewish Canon. These books were, however, afterwards included among the canonical books by the Alexandrian translators of the Hebrew Scriptures. The Greek collection then made is usually known as the Septuagint, and the books added are styled by Catholics Deutro-canonical. The Catholic Church, however, attaches the same value to the Deutrocanonical books as to the other inspired writings of Sacred Scripture. By Protestants, who do not consider them inspired, and who, therefore, refuse to accept them as canonical in any sense, they are usually styled Apocryphal. Catholics, on the contrary, limit the use of the term 'Apocryphal' to the non-inspired writings of both Jews and Christians, which appeared immediately before and immediately after the coming of Our Lord. If they come from Jewish sources, they are usually designated Jewish Apocrypha, if from Christian sources, Christian Apocrypha. Here we are concerned only with Jewish Apocrypha, of the character and scope of which it is necessary to give

a brief outline.

With many peoples, and particularly with Orientals, books of an esoteric character have been always much in favour. The Jews, especially after the Babylonian captivity,

were no exception to this rule. They also had their secret books, many of which would be unintelligible to the ordinary reader, while some might be considered harmful. A book when concealed was designated Apocryphal-from the Greek aπópûpos, hidden or concealed.

Various causes can be assigned for the rise of Jewish Apocryphal literature. But whatever influence Hellenistic writings might have had on Semitic sapiental method, and Babylonian and Persian on Jewish literary style, it would be certainly false and misleading to say that the authors of the Apocrypha borrowed their materials from the myths of Chaldea, Persia or Greece. The inspiration and the symbols are peculiarly Jewish, while the apologetic portions with exegetical developments, sometimes true to type, were based on the teaching of the ancient prophets."

1

E One peculiarity of this symbolic method is that, while persons, whether physical or moral, are frequently represented under the figure of beasts, phenomena of nature are introduced as symbols of historic events. Although the imagery of the heavens or of nature or of theological problems is often necessarily obscure, yet a noble idealism pervades Apocryphal teaching, which often finds concrete expression in opposition to sin, and in a revival of hope in Israel's future destiny in the Messianic Kingdom.

Official Judaism always claimed to be in possession of an oral tradition handed down from Moses to Joshua, and through the elders, prophets and leaders of the Great Synagogue to the scribes. Besides this Mosaic tradition there was always, we are told, a certain esoteric teaching entrusted by the prophets to their more immediate followers. If the prophets gathered around them a select few, as Our Lord did in after days, they would naturally give these followers a fuller knowledge of their teaching than they were likely to give to the general public (cf. Isaias viii. 16). As a matter of fact, the prophecy of Daniel itself was kept 1Cf. Schopfung und Chaos, 1894.

2 St. John in the Apocalypse makes use of the Jewish traditional symbolism.