1. I am the God of whom the prophets spoke. I came for the second time into the world to redeem the souls of men. There is no God besides me.
2. There is no other doctrine, and no other is to be songht.
3. In what you are taught, therein also remain.
4. Keep the commandments of your God, and become fishers of men in general.
5. Drink no strong drinks, and do not fulfil the lust of the flesh.
G. Do not get married, and whosoever is married let him live with his wife as with his sister. This is the sense of the Old-Testament Scriptures. The unmarried should not marry, and those who are married should separate.
7. No abusive word (diabol) is to be used.
8. Not to attend wedding or baptism festivities, or drink at parties.
0. Not to steal ; and if any one takes of another the smallest coin, it will have to rnelt on his head at the judg-
ment day from the heat of punishment before he can he pardoned.
10. These commandments are to he kept secret, not to he revealed even to father or mother. The sufi'eriug from tire and the knout must he endured, because for'it the kingdom of heaven and bliss on earth are obtained.
11. Friends are lo visit friends, to give suppers of friend- ship, to exercise love, to keep these commands, and pniy to God.
12. To believe in the Iloly Spirit.
Their own tradition asserts that Daniel himself did not issue these commands, but that a son was born to him fifteen years before his appearance in this world, in the person of Ivan Timofejen, in the village Blaksakon, of a woman one hmulrcd years old. That this Ivan, when thirty-three years old, M'as summoned by Daniel to the village Staraja, and there received his godhead, and that thereupon father and son ascended into heav- en, and, after a short tarry, from the same place de- scended Jesus the Christ, in the person of Ivan, who at once commenced to preach, assisted by twelve disci; les, the doctrines embodied in the twelve commandments above cited, and entered into the state of holy matri- mony with a j'oung female, whom they call " the daugh- ter of God." To add to the romance of the storj-, the persecutions to which these fanatical religionists were subject has given rise to an imitation of the resurrection narrative of the N.-T. Scriptures. After suffering per- secution under various forms and of divers kinds, Ivan was partly burned and then crucified ; but, after remo- val from the cross, and his burial on a Friday, he rose again, and on the Sunday after appeared in the midst of his foOowers. Again seized by the authorities, he was tried and crucified a second time, and his skin taken off; one of his female followers standing by then wrapped the body in a sheet, out of which a new skin formed it- self, and after l)urial he again rose and commenced anew the preaching of his doctrines, and made many followers. Thereafter Ivan took up his residence at Moscow, and openly taught his new religion. The house which he occupied was called the " New Jerusalem." He died on the day of St. Tichon, after living some forty- five j'ears at IMoscow, and ascended to heaven in pres- ence of his disciples, to join his father and the saints. Notwithstanding the frenzy of this fabulous narrative, the sect is numerous, and has among its members many of the nobles of the land.
Like the Skoptzi, the sect of the Khlistie also observe some of the practices of the regular Church, to ward oflf suspicion and to shield themselves from persecution. From their usages it is known that before they go to communion in the church they first partake of it accord- ing to their own form. They also have a separate form of baptism. They have pictures of their god Daniel Phil- ippon, their Jesus Christ, their mother of God, saints, prophets, and teachers whom they adore. The orthodox church edifices they call " ant-nests," and their priests " idolaters and adidterers." IMarriage is considered au impurity, and all entering this state are lost, yet they permit one of the nearest relatives of Daniel Philippon and Ivan Timofejen to enter this state to prevent the interruption of the lineage. The water from a wcU in the village Staraja, near Kostroma, is in the winter sent about in the shape of ice, and used by them to bake their communion bread. In the same village lived in 1847 a girl, Uliana Visilijewa by name, who was adored as the last of the lineage by many from all parts, among them nobles and merchants of ]\Ioscow, and though for this reason the government passed unnoticed her sacri- legious acts, she was at last arrested and sent to a mon- asterj'.
Their mode of worship is very much like that of the Skoptzi, except that after service they partake of au ordinary meal in common, which is prolonged till late in the evening, and often becomes the occasion of licen- tious sins. This sect is known in various hicalitics by different names ; in some parts they are called LJad// (useless"), in others Chorashij (hypocrites,) ,Vertiini (turn- ers), Kiipidomj (Cupido, the god of love). Great num-