Note 453 — II. THE COLOSSIAN HERESY. (continued 2)
Reading edition
De Quincey’s attempt to prove that the Essenes were actually Christians (Works VI p. 270 sq., IX p. 253 sq.), who used the machinery of an esoteric society to inculcate their doctrines ‘for fear of the Jews,’ is conceived in a wholly different spirit from the theories of the writers mentioned in the text; but it is even more untenable and does not deserve serious refutation.