Comelius Agrippa' tells us likewise, that the manner of science, and by means of certain rites, to evoke the spirits some was to pour melted wax into a cup containing water, of the dead from their gloomy abodes, and compel them to which wax would range itself into order, and so form an- disclose information on subjects beyond the reach of the swers, according to the questions proposed.2 human powers of this description, probably, was the sorce2. Divination by arrows was an ancient method of presag-rer Bar-Jesus, mentioned in Acts xiii. 6-11. There also ing future events. Ezekiel (xxi. 21.) informs us that Nebu- were others, such as Simon the sorcerer (Acts viii. 9.); who chadnezzar, when marching against Zedekiah and the king having some knowledge of natural philosophy and astrology, of the Ammonites, and coming to the head of two ways, abused that knowledge and deceived the common people by mingled his arrows in a quiver, that he might thence divine pretending to foretell future events, from the motions and apin what direction to pursue his march; and that he consulted pearances of the planets and stars, and to cure certain disteraphim, and inspected the livers of beasts, in order to de- eases by repeating certain phrases, &c. So prevalent was termine his resolution. Jerome, in his commentary on this the practice of sorcery among the Jews, that many of their passage, says that "the manner of divining by arrows was elders, judges, or rabbies, are said to have attained such a thus they wrote on several arrows the names of the cities proficiency in magic or sorcery, as to surpass even those who against which they intended to make war, and then putting made it their profession." them promiscuously all together into a quiver, they caused them to be drawn out in the manner of lots, and that city, whose name was on the arrow first drawn out, was the first they assaulted.” This method of divination was practised by the idolatrous Arabs, and prohibited by Mohammed, and was likewise used by the ancient Greeks, and other nations.5 3. Divination by inspecting the liver of slaughtered animals was another mode of ascertaining future events, much practised by the Greeks and Romans, by the former of whom it was termed 'Haeraria, or looking into the liver. This word subsequently became a general term for divination by inspecting the entrails of sacrifices, because the liver was the first and principal part observed for this purpose. To this method of divination there is an allusion in Ezekiel xxi. 21.6 The prevalence of magic among the heathen is too well known to require any proofs. Pythagoras and other distinguished Greek philosophers took no small pains to attain the knowledge of this art: the inhabitants of Ephesus in particular were distinguished for their magical skill. And it was no small triumph of the Gospel that many of the Christian converts at Ephesus, who had previously used curious arts (ra pya, which word is used by Greek writers to denote magical arts, incantations, &c.), brought their books together and burned them before all men. (Acts xix. 19.) So celebrated was the city of Ephesus for the magic art, that some particular forms of incantation derived their names from thence, and were called Eqгpaμμara, or Ephesian Letters."1 They appear to have been amulets inscribed with strange characters, which were worn about the person for the purpose of curing diseases, expelling demons, and preserving individuals from evils of different kinds. The 'books' above mentioned were such as taught the science, mode of forming, use, &c. of these charms.12 66 4. Rabdomancy, or divination by the staff, is alluded to by the prophet Hosea (iv. 12.); it is supposed to have been thus performed: The person consulting measured his staff by spans, or by the length of his finger, saying, as he measured, "I will go, or, I will not go; I will do such a thing, or, I will not do it ;" and as the last span fell out so he determined. Cyril and Theophylact, however, give a different account of the matter. They say that it was performed by erecting two sticks, after which they murmured forth a certain charm, and ON THE STATE OF RELIGION AMONG THE JEWS, IN THE TIME OF then, according as the sticks fell, backwards or forwards, towards the right or left, they gave advice in any affair.? In the later period of the Jewish history, we meet with many persons among the Jews, who pretended to be sorcerers. This class of persons dealt in incantations and divinations, and boasted of a power, in consequence of their deep P. 54. De occult. Philos. 1. i. cap. 57. Dr. A. Clarke on Gen. xliv. 5. Burder's Oriental Customs, vol. i. On this subject see some curious information in the Fragments supplementary to Calmet, No. 179. Koran, ch. v. 4. (Sale's translation, p. 94. 4to. edit.) In his preliminary discourse, Mr. Sale states that the arrows, used by the idolatrous Arabs for this purpose, were destitute of heads or feathers, and were kept in the temple of some idol, in whose presence they were consulted. Seven such arrows were kept in the temple of Mecca, but generally in divination they made use of three only, on one of which was written, My LORD hath commanded me,-on another, My LORD hath forbidden me,-and the third was blank. If the first was drawn, they regarded it as an approbation of the enterprise in question; if the second, they made a contrary conclusion; but if the third happened to be drawn, they mixed them and drew over again, till a decisive answer was given by one of the others. These disining arrows were generally consulted before any thing of moment was undertaken as when a man was about to marry, to undertake a journey, • Potter's Antiquities of Greece, vol. i. pp. 359, 360. or the like. (Sale's Prel. Disc. pp. 126, 127.) Ibid. vol. i. pp. 339, 310. The practice of "divination from the liver is very old, and was practised by the Greeks and Romans, till Christianity banished it, together with the gods of Olympus. In Eschylus, Prometheus boasts of having taught man the division of the entrails, if smooth, and of a clear colour, to be agreeable to the gods; also the various forms of the gall and the liver." (Stolberg's History of Religion, vol. iii. p. 436.) Among the Greeks and Romans, as soon as a victim was sacrificed, the entrails were examined. They began with the liver, which was considered the chief seat; or, as Philostratus expresses himself (Life of Apollonius, VIL. 7. 15.), as the prophesying tripod of all divination. If it had a fine, natural, red colour; if it was healthy, and without spots; if it was large and double; if the lobes turned outwards; they promised themselves the best success in their undertakings: but it portended evil if the liver was dry, or had a band between the parts, or had no lobes. It was also considered an unfortunate omen if the liver was injured by a cut in killing the victim. (Matern. of Cilano, Roman Antiquities, vol. ii. p. 164.) Rosenmüller. Burder's Oriental Literature, vol. ii. p. 185. Selden de diis Syris. Synt. 1. cap. 2. p. 28. Godwin's Moses and Aaron, p. 216. Pococke and Newcome, in loc. Potter's Antiq. of Greece, vol. i. p. 359. (Edinb. 1804.) • Josephus relates that, at the period above referred to, there were numerous sorcerers and deceivers; who, pretending to show wonders and prodigies, seduced great numbers of people after them into the wilderness. (Ant. Jud. lib. xx. c. 8. §6. Bell. Jud. lib. iv. c. 13. §4.) SECTION II. JESUS CHRIST. PREVIOUSLY to the Babylonish captivity there are no vestiges of the existence of any sect among the Jews. Devoted to the study of their law and to the ceremonies of their religion, they neglected those curious studies which were esteemed among other nations. The temple of Jehovah and the houses of the prophets were their principal schools; in which they were taught how to serve the Lord and to observe the ordinances which he had commanded. After the captivity, we do not meet with any traces of any sects among them until the time of the Maccabean princes; when it should seem that the Jewish literati, in imitation of the sects of the Grecian philosophers, became divided in their opinions, and composed the three celebrated sects of the Pharisees, Sadducees, and Essenes. As these sects are frequently mentioned in the New Testament, it is proposed in this section to give an account of their origin and tenets, together with those of the Herodians, who are repeatedly mentioned by Jesus Christ, and of some other minor denominations of religious parties which were in existence during the period of time comprised in the New Testament history.13 Robinson's Gr. Lex. voce Mayos. 10 If any credit may be given to the Talmuds, twenty-four of the school of rabbi Judah were killed by sorcery; and eighty women sorceresses were hanged in one day by Simon ben Shetah. So greatly did the practice of this art prevail among them, that skill in it was required as a necessary qualification for a person to be chosen a member of their councils, whether that of seventy-one or those of twenty-three; in order that he night be the better able to try and judge the accused; whether they were really guilty of sorcery or not. Lightfoot's Works, vol. i. p. 371. vol. ii. p. 244. (folio edit.) where the passages from the Talmuds are given. Biscoe on the Acts, vol. i. pp. 290–293. 12 Dr. A. Clarke, on Acts viii. 17. where some curious information relative to the Ephesian letters is collected from the lexicographers, Suidas and Hesychius. 13 The authorities principally consulted for this section are Pritii Introductio in Lectionem Novi Testamenti, cc. 33, 34. De Statu Religionis Judæorum tempore Christi, pp. 446-471. Calmet's Dissertation sur les Sectes des Juifs Dissert. tom. 1. pp. 711-743. Godwin's Moses and Aaron, and Jennings's Jewish Antiquities, book i. ch. 10-13. Schulzii Archæologia Biblica, pp. 170-180. Carpzovii Antiquitates Hebr. Gentis, pp. 173 -247. Pictet's Theologie Chrétienne, tom. i. pp. 627-630. and tom. iii. pp. 103-117. Jahn, Archæol. Bibl. $$ 316-320. and Ackermann, Archæol. Bibl. $$ 305-311. Beausobre's and L'Enfant's Introd. (Bp. Watson's Tracts, vol. iii. pp. 184—192.) I. The Pharisees.—II. The Sadducees.-III. The Essenes. IV. The Scribes.-V. The Lawyers.-VI. The Samaritans.—VII. The Herodians.—VIII. The Galilæans. IX. The Zealots.-X. The Sicarii. I. The PHARISEES were the most numerous and powerful sect of the Jews. The precise time when they first appeared is not known but, as Josephus mentions the Pharisees, Sadducees, and Essenes, as distinct sects, in the reign of Jonathan (B. c. 144-139), it is manifest that they must have been in existence for some time. Calmet is of opinion that their origin cannot be carried higher than the year of the world 3820, corresponding with the year 184 before the Christian æra. They derived their name from the Hebrew verb (PHаRASH) to separate; because they professed an uncommon separation from the apparel and customs of the world to the study of the law, and an extraordinary devotion to God and sanctity of life, beyond all other men. Hence one of them is represented as thanking God, that he was not as other men are, and St. Paul, in his masterly apology before king Agrippa, terms them anpifestarn aiperis, the most rigorous sect, in our version rendered the most straitest sect. (Acts xxvi. 5.) They were not restricted to any particular family or class of men: there were Pharisees of every tribe, family, and condition. The credit which they had acquired by their reputation for knowledge and sanctity of life early rendered them formidable to the Maccabæan sovereigns; while they were held in such esteem and veneration by the people, that they may be almost said to have given what direction they pleased to public affairs. They boasted that, from their accurate knowledge of religion, they were the favourites of heaven;3 and thus, trusting in themselves that they were righteous, despised others. (Luke xi. 52. xviii. 9. 11.) Among the tenets inculcated by this sect, we may enumerate the following; viz. bound to bless the Jews, and make them all partakers of the 2. The Pharisees contended that God was in strict justice them eternally happy, and that he could not possibly damn terrestrial kingdom of the Messiah, to justify them, to make rived from the merits of Abraham, from their knowledge of any one of them! The ground of their justification they de God, from their practising the rite of circumcision, and from the sacrifices they offered. And as they conceived works to be meritorious, they had invented a great number of supererogatory ones, to which they attached greater merit than to the observance of the law itself. To this notion St. Paul has some allusions in those parts of his Epistle to the Romans in which he combats the erroneous suppositions of the Jews. 3. The Pharisees were the strictest of the three principal sects that divided the Jewish nation (Acts xxvi. 5.), and affected a singular probity of manners according to their system, which however was for the most part both lax and corrupt. Thus, many things which Moses had tolerated in civil life, in order to avoid a greater evil, the Pharisees determined to be morally right; for instance, the law of retaliation, and that of a divorce from a wife for any cause. (Matt. v. 31. et seq. xix. 3—12.) During the time of Christ there were two celebrated philosophical and divinity schools among the Jews, that of Schammai and that of Hillel. On the question of divorce, the school of Schammai maintained, that no man could legally put away his wife except for adultery: the school of Hillel, on the contrary, allowed a divorce for any cause (from Deut. xxiv. 1.), even if the wife found no favour in the eyes of her husband,-in other words, if he saw any woman who pleased him better. The practice of the Jews seems to have gone with the school of Hillel. Thus we read (in Ecclus. xxv. 26.), "If she go not as thou wouldest have her, cut her off from thy flesh; give her a bill of divorce and let her go;" and in conformity with this doctrine, Josephus, who was a Pharisee, relates that he repudiated his wife who had borne him three children, because he was not pleased with her manners or behaviour. 4. Further, they interpreted certain of the Mosaic laws most literally, and distorted their meaning so as to favour their own philosophical system. Thus, the law of loving their neighbour, they expounded solely of the love of their friends, that is, of the whole Jewish race; all other persons being considered by them as natural enemies (Matt. v. 43. compared with Luke x. 31-33.), whom they were in no respect bound to assist. Dr. Lightfoot has cited a striking illustration of this passage from Maimonides. An oath, in which the name of God was not distinctly specified, they taught was not binding (Matt. v. 33.), maintaining that a man might even swear with his lips, and at the same moment annul it in his heart! So rigorously did they understand the command of observing the Sabbath-day, that they accounted it unlawful to pluck ears of corn, and heal the Those natural laws which Moses did not sanction by any penalty they accounted among the petty commandments, inferior to the ceremonial laws, which they preferred to the former, as being the weightier matters of the law (Matt. v. 19. xv. 4. xxiii. 23.), to the total neglect of mercy and fidelity. Hence they accounted causeless anger and impure desires as trifles of no moment (Matt. v. 21, 22. 27—30.); they compassed sea and land to make proselytes to the Jewish religion from among the Gentiles, that they might rule over their consciences and wealth and these proselytes, through the influence of their own scandalous examples and characters, they soon rendered more profligate and abandoned the New Test. vol. ii. p. 355. To this popular notion of a transmigration of souls, Dr. H. ascribes the alarm of Herod, who had caused John the Baptist to be beheaded, when the fame of Christ's miracles reached his Herod was a Sadducee, and, consequently, disbelieved a future state. His court; but, on comparing Matt. xvi. 6. with Mark viii. 15., it appears that alarm, therefore, is rather to be attributed to the force of conscience which haunted his guilty mind in despite of his libertine principles. 1. They ascribed all things to fate or providence, yet not so absolutely as to take away the free will of man, though fate does not co-operate in every action. They also believed in the existence of angels and spirits, and in the resurrection of the dead (Acts xxiii. 8.): but, from the account given of them by Josephus, it appears that their notion of the immortality of the soul was the Pythagorean metempsychosis; that the soul, after the dissolution of one body, winged its flight into another; and that these removals were perpetuated and diversified through an infinite succession, the soul animating a sound and healthy body, or being confined in a deformed and diseased frame, according to its conduct in a prior state of existence. From the Pharisees, whose tenets and traditions the people generally received, it is evident that the disciples of our Lord had adopted this philosophical doc-sick, &c. (Matt. xii. 1. et seq. Luke vi. 6. et seq. xiv. 1. et seq.) trine of the transmigration of souls; when, having met with a man who had been born blind, they asked him whether it were the sins of this man in a pre-existent state which had caused the Sovereign Disposer to inflict upon him this punishment. To this inquiry Christ replied, that neither his vices or sins in a pre-existent state, nor those of his parents, were the cause of this calamity. (John ix. 1-4.) From this notion, derived from the Greek philosophy, we find that during our Saviour's public ministry, the Jews speculated variously concerning him, and indulged several conjectures, which of the ancient prophets it was whose soul now animated him, and performed such astonishing miracles. Some contended that it was the soul of Elias; others of Jeremiah; while others, less sanguine, only declared in general terms that it must be the soul of one of the old prophets by which these mighty deeds were now wrought. (Matt. xvi. 14. Luke ix. 19.)6 1 Ant. Jud. lib. xiii. c. 5. § 9. See Rom. i.-xi. Josephus, Ant. Jud. lib. xvii. c. 2. $4. De Bell. Jud. lib. ii. c. 8. § 4. Justin. Dialog, cum Tryphon. Pirke Aboth. Life of himself, § 76. Grotius, Calinet, Drs. Lightfoot, Whitby, Doddridge, and A. Clarke (on Matt. v. 30. et seq. and Matt. xix. 3. et seq) have all given illustrations of the Jewish doctrine of divorce from rabbinical writers. See also Selden's Uxor Hebraica, lib. iii. c. 22. (Op. tom. ii. col. 782-786.) The high reputation and influence of the Pharisees are strikingly illustrated by the following anecdote:-When Alexander Jannæus lay on his death-bed, about eighty years before the Christian æra, his queen Alexandra having expressed great anxiety on account of the exposed state in which herself and sons would be left, the dying monarch recommended her to court the Pharisees, and delegate part of her power to them. Alexandra followed this advice; and the Pharisees, availing themselves of "A Jew sees a Gentile fall into the sea, let him by no means lift him the opportunity, made themselves masters of the government, and dis-out: for it is written, Thou shalt not rise up against the blood of thy posed of every thing as they pleased. Josephus, Ant. Jud. lib. xiii. c. 15. neighbour. But this is NOT thy neighbour." Works, vol. ii. p. 152. $5. c. 16. 1. Bell. Jud. lib. i. c. 4. Ant. Jud. lib. xvii. c. 2. §4. 10 Justin Martyr bears witness to the inveterate malignity of the prose Ibid. lib. xiii. c. 5. § 9. lib. xviii. c. 2. §3. De Bell. Jud. lib. ii. c. 8. § 14.lytes of the Pharisees against the name of Christ, at the beginning of the Acts v. 38, 39. second century. "Your proselytes," says he to Trypho the Jew (p. 350), Ibid. lib. xviii. c. 1. §3. De Bell. Jud. lib. ii. c. 8. § 14. lib. iii. c. 8. § 5. "not only do not believe in Christ, but blaspheme his name with twofold The author of the Book of Wisdom (ch. viii. 20.) seems to allude to the more virulence than yourselves. They are ready to show their malicious same doctrine, when he tells us, that, being good, he came into a body un-zeal against us; and, to obtain merit in your eyes, wish to us reproach, and defiled. torment, and death." See further Dr. Ireland's Paganism and Christianity compared, pp. 21-23. Dr. Lightfoot's Works, vol. ii. pp. 568, 569. Dr. Harwood's Introd. to than ever they were before their conversion. (Matt. xxiii. 15.) Esteeming temporal happiness and riches as the nighest good, they scrupled not to accumulate wealth by every means, legal or illegal (Matt. v. 1—12. xxiii. 4. Luke xvi. 14. James ii. 1—8.); vain and ambitious of popular applause, they offered up long prayers' in public places, but not without a self-sufficiency of their own holiness (Matt. vi. 2-5. Luke xviii. 11.); under a sanctimonious appearance of respect for the memories of the prophets whom their ancestors had slain, they repaired and beautified their sepulchres (Matt. xxiii. 29.); and such was their idea of their own sanctity, that they thought themselves defiled if they but touched or conversed with sinners, that is, with publicans or tax-gatherers, and persons of loose and irregular lives. (Luke vii. 39. xv. 1. et seq.) But, above all their other tenets, the Pharisees were conspicuous for their reverential observance of the traditions or decrees of the elders: these traditions, they pretended, had been handed down from Moses through every generation, but were not committed to writing; and they were not merely considered as of equal authority with the divine law, but even preferable to it. "The words of the scribes," said they, "are lovely above the words of the law; for the words of the law are weighty and light, but the words of the scribes are ALL weighty."2 Among the traditions thus sanctimoniously observed by the Pharisees, we may briefly notice the following:-1. The washing of hands up to the wrist before and after meat (Matt. xv. 2. Mark vii. 3.), which they accounted not merely a religious duty, but considered its omission as a crime equal to fornication, and punishable by excommunication. 2. The purification of the cups, vessels, and couches used at their meals by ablutions or washings (Mark vii. 4.); for which purpose the six large waterpots mentioned by St. John (ii. 6.) were destined. But these ablutions are not to be confounded with those symbolical washings mentioned in Psal. xxvi. 6. and Matt. xxvii. 24. 3. Their punctilious payment of tithes (temple-offerings), even of the most trifling thing. (Luke xviii. 12. Matt. xxiii. 23.) 4. Their wearing broader phylacteries and larger fringes to their garments than the rest of the Jews. (Matt. xxiii. 5.) He, who wore his phylactery and his fringe of the largest size, was reputed to be the most devout. 5. Their fasting twice a week with great appearance of austerity (Luke xviii. 12. Matt. vi. 16.); thus converting that exercise into religion which is only a help towards the performance of its hallowed duties. The Jewish days of fasting were the second and fifth days of the week, corresponding with our Mondays and Thursdays: on one of these days they commemorated Moses going up to the mount to receive the law, which, according to their traditions, was on the fifth day or Thursday; and on the other his descent after he had received the two tables, which they supposed to have been on the second day, or Monday. 145 1. The Shechemite Pharisees, or those who entered into the sect only from motives of gain; just as the Shechemites suffered themselves to be circumcised. This order of Pharisees is most probably alluded to in Matt. xxiii. 5. 14.; and, 2. The Pharisees who said, "Let me know what my duty is, and I will do it."-"I have done my duty, that the command may be performed according to it." Of this sort the young man in the Gospel appears to have been, who came to Jesus Christ, saying, "Good master, WHAT GOOD THING SHALL I DO, that I may have eternal life?" and who at length replied,-ALL these have I kept (or observed) from my youth up. (Matt. xix. 16. 20.)4 With all their pretensions to piety, the Pharisees entertained the most sovereign contempt for the people; whom, being ignorant of the law, they pronounced to be accursed. (John vii. 49.) It is unquestionable, as Mosheim has well remarked, that the religion of the Pharisees was, for the most part, founded in consummate hypocrisy; and that, in general, they were the slaves of every vicious appetite, proud, arrogant, and avaricions, consulting only the gratifica tion of their lusts, even at the very moment when they professed themselves to be engaged in the service of their Maker. These odious features in the character of the Pharisees caused them to be reprehended by our Saviour with the utmost severity, even more than he rebuked the Sadducees; who, although they had departed widely from the genuine principles of religion, yet did not impose on mankind by pretended sanctity, or devote themselves with insatiable greediness to the acquisition of honours and riches.5 All the Pharisees, however, were not of this description. Nicodemus appears to have been a man of great probity and piety: and the same character is applicable to Gamaliel. If Saul persecuted the church of Christ, he did it out of a blind zeal; but, not to insist on the testimony which he bears of himself, it is evident, from the extraordinary favour of God towards him, that he was not tainted with the other vices common to the sect of the Pharisees. What he says of it, that it was the strictest of all, cannot admit of any other than a favourable construction.6 II. The sect of the SADDUCEES is by some writers considered as the most ancient of the Jewish sects; though others have supposed that the Sadducees and Pharisees gradually grew up together. This sect derives its appellation from Sadok, or Zadok, the disciple and successor of Antigonus Sochæus, who lived above two hundred (Dr. Prideaux says two hundred and sixty-three) years before Christ; and who taught his pupils to "be not as servants, who wait upon their master for the sake of reward, but to be like servants who wait upon their master, not for the sake of reward;" but that they should let the fear of the Lord be in them. Unable to comprehend a doctrine so spiritual, Sadok deduced from it the inference that neither reward nor punishment is to be expected in a future life. The following are the principal tenets of the Sadducees :— 1. That there is no resurrection, neither angel nor spirit (Matt. xxii. 23. Acts xxiii. 8.), and that the soul of man perishes together with the body.8 2. That there is no fate or overruling providence, but that all men enjoy the most ample freedom of action; in other words, the absolute power of doing either good or evil, according to their own choice; hence they were very severe judges.10 Very surprising effects are related concerning the mortifications of the Pharisees, and the austerities practised by some of them in order to preserve the purity of the body. Sometimes they imposed these painful exercises for four, eight, or even ten years, before they married. They deprived themselves almost entirely of sleep, lest they should involuntarily become unclean or polluted during sleep. Some of them are said to have slept on narrow planks, not more than twelve fingers broad; in order that, if they should sleep too soundly, they might fall upon the ground and awake to prayer. Others slept on small and sharp-pointed stones, and even on thorns, in order that they might be laid under a kind of necessity to be always awake.3 As, however, none of these austerities Talmud, fol. 22. 2. Dr. Lightfoot has translated the entire passages in his were legally commanded, and as the Pharisees were not bound to practise them by any law or other obligation, each seems to have followed his own inclination and the impulse or ardour of his devotion. The Talmuds mention seven sorts of Pharisees, two of whom appear to be alluded to, though not specified by name, in the New Testament, viz. 1 Bucher, after a very ancient Hebrew manuscript ritual, has given a long and curious specimen of the "vain repetitions" used by the Pharisees. See his Antiquitates Biblicæ ex Novo Testamento selectæ, pp. 240-244. Vitembergæ, 1729. 4to. Jerusalem Berachoth, fol. 3. 2. as cited by Dr. Lightfoot in his Hore Hebraica on Matt. xv. The v hole of his Hebrew and Talmudical Exererations on that chapter is singularly instructive. The collection of these trations, by which the Jews made the law of God of none effect, is termed the Talmud: of which, and of its use in illustrating the Holy Scriptures, an account has already been given. On the traditions of the lern Jews (which illustrate very many passages of the New Testament), the reader may consult Mr. Allen's Modern Judaism, chap. viii. to xv. pp. * Epiphanius, Hæres. p. 16. VOL. II. T 3. They paid no regard whatever to any tradition, adhering strictly to the letter of Scripture, but preferring the five 4 Jerusalem Talmud, Berachoth, fol. 13. 2. Sotah, fol. 20. 3. Babylonish Hora Hebraicæ on Matt. iii. 7. P Mosheim's Commentaries on the Affairs of Christians, vol. i. p. 83. • Beausobre's and L'Enfant's Introd. (Bp. Watson's Tracts) vol. iii. Lightfoot's Horæ Hebraicæ on Matt. iii. 7. Josephus de Bell. Jud. lib. i. c. 8. in fine. Ant. Jud. lib. xviii. c. 1. § 4. Some learned men have expressed their surprise, that the Sadducees books of Moses to the rest. It has been conjectured by intercourse with women, in the hope of acquiring a greater some writers that they rejected all the sacred books but those degree of purity, and becoming the better fitted for the kingof Moses. But this hypothesis is no proof: for, in the first dom of God. St. Paul is generally understood to have place, this sect took its rise at a time when the Jewish referred to them, in Col. ii. 18. 23., where "voluntary humicanon had been closed; and it was just as easy for the Sad- lity," and "neglecting the body," are peculiarly applicable ducees to make their opinions harmonize with the other to the Essenes; who, when they received any persons into books of the Old Testament as with the books of Moses. their number, made them solemnly swear that they would Secondly, how could any of the Sadducees have sustained the keep and observe the books of the sect and the names of the office of high-priest, if they had departed in so important a angels with care. What is also said in the above-cited point from the belief of the nation? Thirdly, although Jose- passage, of "intruding into things not seen," is likewise phus frequently mentions their rejecting the traditions of the agreeable to the character of the Therapeutic Essenes; who, elders, yet he nowhere charges them with rejecting any of placing the excellence of their contemplative life in raising the sacred books; and as he was himself a Pharisee, and their minds to invisible objects, pretended to such a degree their zealous antagonist, he would not have passed over such of elevation and abstraction as to be able to penetrate into a crime in silence. It is further worthy of remark, that our the nature of angels, and assign them proper names, or rightly Saviour, who so severely censured the Sadducees for their interpret those already given them; and also to pry into other corruptions, did not condemn them for such rejection.' | futurity and predict future events. On these accounts it is In point of numbers, the Sadducees were an inconsiderable | highly probable that they were "vainly puffed up by their sect; but their numerical deficiency was amply compensated fleshly mind." Further, the tenets referred to by St. Paul by the dignity and eminence of those who embraced their (Col. ii. 21. "touch not, taste not, handle not") are such as tenets, and who were persons of the first distinction. Several the Essenes held, who would not taste any pleasant food, of them were advanced to the high-priesthood.2 They do not, but lived on coarse bread and drank nothing but water, and however, appear to have aspired, generally, to public offices. some of whom would not taste any food at all till after sunJosephus affirms that scarcely any business of the state was set: if touched by any that were not of their own sect, they transacted by them: and that, when they were in the magis- would wash themselves, as after some great pollution. It tracy, they generally conformed to the measures of the Phari-has been conjectured that there might be a sodality of Essenés sees, though unwillingly, and out of pure necessity; for other- at Colosse, as there were in many other places out of Judæa; wise they would not have been endured by the multitude. and that some of the Christians, being too much inclined to Judaism, might also affect the peculiarities of this sect; which might be the reason of the apostle's so particularly cautioning the Colossians against them.s III. Concerning the origin of the ESSENES, who were the third principal sect of the Jews, there is a considerable difference of opinion. By some writers of the Jewish antiquities they bave been identified with the fraternity of Assidæans, who are mentioned in 1 Macc. ii. 42. as being zealously devoted to the law; while others trace their descent to the Rechabites. But the latter were a family only, and not a sect. Most probably they derived their origin from Egypt, where the Jewish refugees, who fled for security after the murder of Gedaliah, were compelled, on the captivity of the greater part of their body, to lead a recluse life, out of which the Essene institute might have grown. They were dispersed chiefly through Palestine, Syria, and Egypt, though they were to be met with in other countries. The Essenes differed in many respects from the Pharisees and Sadducees, both in doctrines and in practice. They were divided into two classes:-1. The practical, who lived in society, and some of whom were married, though it appears with much circumspection. These dwelt in cities and their neighbourhoods, and applied themselves to husbandry and other innocent occupations. 2. The contemplative Essenes, who were also called Therapeute or Physicians, from their application principally to the cure of the diseases of the soul, devoted themselves wholly to meditation, and avoided living in great towns as unfavourable to a contemplative life. But both classes were exceedingly abstemious, exemplary in their moral deportment, averse from profane swearing, and most rigid in their observance of the Sabbath. They held, among other tenets, the immortality of the soul (though they denied the resurrection of the body), the existence of angels, and a state of future rewards and punishments. They believed every thing to be ordered by an eternal fatality or chain of causes. Although Jesus Christ censured all the other sects of the Jews for their vices, yet he never spoke of the Essenes; neither are they mentioned by name in any part of the New Testament. The silence of the evangelical historians concerning them is by some accounted for by their eremitic life, which secluded them from places of public resort; so that they did not come in the way of our Saviour, as the Pharisees and Sadducees often did. Others, however, are of opinion, that the Essenes being very honest and sincere, without guile or hypocrisy, gave no room for the reproofs and censures which the other Jews deserved; and, therefore, no mention is made of them. But though the Essenes are not expressly named in any of the sacred books, it has been conjectured that they are alluded to in two or three passages. Thus, those whom our Lord terms eunuchs, who have made themselves such for the kingdom of heaven's sake (Matt. xix. 12.), are supposed to be the contemplative Essenes, who abstained from all 1 Schmucker's Biblical Theology, vol. i. p. 264. The reader will find several additional proofs in confirmation of the preceding account of the books received by the Sadducees, in Dr. Jortin's Remarks on Eccl. Hist. Appendix, No. II. vol. i. pp. 368-374. Edit. 1805. 2 Acts v. 17. xxiii. 6. Josephus, Ant. Jud. lib. xiii. c. 10. §§ 6, 7. lib. xviii. c. 1. § 4. Ant. Jud. lib. xviii. e. 1. § 4. IV. There is in the Gospels frequent mention of a set of men called SCRIBES, who are often joined with the chiefpriests, elders, and Pharisees. They seem to have been men of learning, and on that account to have had great deference paid to them (Matt. ii. 4. vii. 29.); but, strictly speaking, they did not form any distinct sect. The Scribes generally belonged to the sect of the Pharisees, in whose traditions and explanations of the law they were profoundly skilled; and on the Sabbath-days "they sat in Moses' seat" and instructed the people. Originally, they had their name from their employment, which at first was transcribing the law: but in progress of time they exalted themselves into the public ministry and became teachers of it, authoritatively determining what doctrines were or were not contained in the Scriptures, and teaching the common people in what sense to understand the law and the prophets. In short, they were the oracles which were consulted in all difficult points of doctrine and duty; and it is not improbable that they were, for the most part, Levites, whose peculiar business it was to study and read the law. The Scribes were of different families and tribes, and therefore of different sects: hence we read, that there were Scribes of the sect of the Pharisees and also of the Sadducees. (Acts xxiii. 9.) In the New Testament, the Scribes are frequently identified with the Pharisees, because they held both these titles. They were Scribes by office, and Pharisees by religious profession. This explanation will account for the Pharisees in Matt. xxii. 35. being called Scribes in Mark xii. 28.7 V. The LAWYERS (vous) or TEACHERS OF THE LAW and Scribes appear to be synonymous terms, importing one and the same order of men; as St. Matthew (xxii. 35.) calls him a lawyer whom St. Mark (xii. 28.) terms one of the Scribes. Dr. Macknight conjectures the Scribes to have been the public expounders of the law, and that the lawyers studied it in private: perhaps, as Dr. Lardner conjectures, they taught in the schools. But M. Basnage is of opinion that they were a distinct class or sect of men, who adhered closely to the 4 Josephus, de Bell. Jud. lib. ii. c. 8. § 7. tana, vol. x. p. 592. Michaelis thinks that Saint Paul alludes to the tenets * Jennings's Jewish Antiquities, book i. c. 13. Encyclopædia Metropoli and practices of the Essenes in his Epistle to the Ephesians, and in his first Epistle to Timothy Introd, to the New Test. vol. iv. pp. 79-85. Dr. Priand Pliny have recorded concerning the Essenes. Connection, vol. ii deaux has collected with great industry and fidelity all that Philo, Josephus, book v. sub anno 107 B. c. pp. 343–363. 8th edit. There is a very interest ing description of the institute of the Essenes in vol. ii. pp. 124–150, of phic delineation of Jewish manners and customs, such as they most pro"Helon's Pilgrimage to Jerusalem," which contains an admirable and grabably were at the time when the advent of the Messiah was at hand. For the translation of this very pleasing and instructive work from the German of Frederick Strauss, the lover of sacred literature is indebted to the Rev. John Kenrick, M. A. of York. Dr. Burton's Papists and Pharisees compared, p. 6. (Oxford, 1766. 8vo.) Stranheim's Ecclesiastical Annals, by the Rev. G. Wright, p. 178. Prideaux, vol. ii. p. 343. Lardner's Credibility, part i. book i. ch. 4. $3. (Works, vol. i. p. 126.) Macknight's Harmony, sect. 87. vol. ii. p. 472. 8vo. edit. text of the law, and totally disregarded all traditions, and that they were the same as the modern Karaites.' where their language is taught. The head of this sect is stated to reside at Paris. The Samaritans at Napolose are VI. The SAMARITANS, mentioned in the New Testament, in possession of a very ancient manuscript Pentateuch, which are generally considered as a sect of the Jews. they assert to be nearly 3500 years old; but they reject the This appellation is, in the New Testament, given to a vowel points as a rabbínical invention. In order to complete race of people who sprang originally from an intermixture our notice of this sect, we have subjoined their confession of of the ten tribes with Gentile nations. When the inhabitants faith, sent in the sixteenth century by Eleazar their highof Samaria and of the adjacent country were carried into priest to the illustrious critic Scaliger, who had applied to captivity by Shalmaneser king of Assyria, he sent in their them for that purpose; together with a few additional parplaces colonies from Babylonia, Cuthah, Ava, Hamath, and ticulars from the baron de Sacy's Memoir on the Samaritans, Sepharvaim; with which the Israelites who remained in the and the Rev. W. Jowett's Christian Researches in Syria.8 land became intermingled, and were ultimately amalgamated 1. The Samaritans observe the Sabbath with all the exinto one people. (2 Kings xvii. 24.) An origin like this actness required in Exodus; for not one of them goes out of would, of course, render the nation odious to the Jews; and the place where he is on the Sabbath-day, except to the the Samaritans further augmented this cause of hatred by synagogue, where they read the law, and sing the praises of rejecting all the sacred books of the Jews, except the Penta- God. They do not lie that night with their wives, and neiteuch, which they had received from the Jewish priest who ther kindle nor order fire to be kindled whereas the Jews had been sent to them from Assyria to instruct them in the transgress the Sabbath in all these points; for they go out true religion. (2 Kings xvii. 27, 28.) On the return of the of town, have fire made, lie with their wives, and even do Jews from the Babylonish captivity, when they began to not wash themselves after it.-2. They hold the passover to rebuild Jerusalem and the temple, the Samaritans requested be their first festival; they begin at sunset, by the sacrifice to be acknowledged as Jewish citizens, and to be permitted enjoined for that purpose in Exodus; but they sacrifice only to assist in the work; but their application was rejected. on Mount Gerizim, where they read the law, and offer (Ezra iv. 1—4.) In consequence of this refusal and the sub-prayers to God, after which the priest dismisses the whole sequent state of enmity, the Samaritans not only took occasion congregation with a blessing. [Of late years, however, havto calumniate the Jews before the Persian kings (Ezra iv. 5. ing been prohibited from ascending Mount Gerizim by their Neh. iv. 1-7, 8.); but also, recurring to the directions of oppressors the Turks, they offer the paschal sacrifice within Moses (Deut. xxvii. 11-13.), that on entering the promised their city, which they consider to be within the precincts of land the Hebrews should offer sacrifices on Mount Gerizim, the sacred place.]-3. They celebrate for seven days tothey erected a temple on that mountain, and instituted sacri-gether the feast of the harvest, but they do not agree with tho fices according to the prescriptions of the Mosaic law. Jews concerning the day when it ought to begin; for these From all these and other circumstances, the national hatred reckon the next day after the solemnity of the passover; between the Samaritans and Jews increased to such a height, whereas the Samaritans reckon fifty days, beginning the next that the Jews denounced the most bitter anathemas against day after the Sabbath, which happens in the week of the them (Ecclus. 1. 26.), and for many ages refused them unleavened bread, and the next day after the seventh Sabbath every kind of intercourse. Hence the woman of Samaria following, the feast of the harvest begins.-4. They observe was astonished that Jesus Christ, who was a Jew, should the fast of expiation on the tenth of the seventh month: they ask drink of her. (John iv. 9.) Hence also the Jews, when employ the four-and-twenty hours of the day in prayers to they would express the utmost aversion to Christ, said to God, and singing his praises, and fasting. All fast, except him-Thou art a SAMARITAN, and hast a devil. (John viii. children at the breast, whereas the Jews except children 48.) The temple on Mount Gerizim was destroyed by Hyr- under seven years of age.-5. On the fifteenth of the same canus, B. c. 129:3 but the Samaritans, in the time of Jesus, month, they celebrate the feast of tabernacles.-6. They esteemed that mountain sacred, and as the proper place of never defer circumcision beyond the eighth day, as it is comnational worship. (John iv. 20, 21.) At that time, also, in manded in Genesis, whereas the Jews defer it sometimes common with the Jews, they expected the advent of a Mes- longer.-7. They are obliged to wash themselves in the siah (John iv. 25.), and many of them afterwards became morning, when they have lain with their wives, or have been the followers of Jesus Christ, and embraced the doctrines of sullied in the night by some uncleanness; and all vessels his religion. (Acts viii. 1. ix. 31. xv. 3.)1 that may become unclean, become defiled when they touch Towards the close of the Jewish polity, the Samaritans them before they have washed.-8. They take away the fat suffered much from the Romans; and though they received from sacrifices, and give the priests the shoulder, the jaws, a little favourable treatment from one or two of the pagan and the belly.-9. They never marry their nieces as the emperors, yet they suffered considerably under some of the Jews do, and have but one wife, whereas the Jews may have professing Christian emperors, particularly Valentinian and many.-10. They believe in God, in Moses, and in Mount Justinian. At present, the Samaritans are very much re- Gerizim. Whereas, say they, the Jews put their trust in duced in point of numbers. Their principal residence is at others, we do nothing but what is expressly commanded in Sichem or Shechem, now called Napolose or Nablous. In the law by the Lord who made use of the ministry of Moses; 1823, there were between twenty and thirty houses, and but the Jews swerve from what the Lord hath commanded about sixty males paid the capitation-tax to the Mohamme- in the law, to observe what their fathers and doctors have dan government. They celebrated divine service every invented.-11. They receive the Torah or Pentateuch, and Saturday. Formerly they went four times a year, in solemn hold it as their only sacred book; they reverence the books procession, to the old synagogue on Mount Gerizim: and on of Joshua and Judges, but do not account them sacred in the these occasions they ascended before sunrise, and read the same manner as the Torah, considering Joshua not to have law till noon; but of late years they have not been allowed been a prophet, but only the disciple of a prophet, that is, of to do this. The Samaritans have one school in Napolose, Moses.-12. They expect a prophet, whom they term Hathab; Banage's History and Religion of the Jews, book i. ch. 8, 9. pp. 101-but, say they," there is a great mystery in regard to Hathab, We shall be happy when he comes." 114. The Karaites claim a very remote antiquity, some pretending that who is yet to come. they are descended from the ten tribes who were carried into captivity by When the Rev. Mr. Jowett, in November, 1823, interrogated Shalmaneser, while others glory in their descent from Ezra. This sect was the officiating Samaritan priest concerning their expectation reformed by Rabbi Anun in the eighth century. They are found in diffe of a Messiah, the latter replied that they were all in expectarent parts of Russia, Poland, Lithuania, Austria, the Caucasus, Turkey, Egypt, Abyssinia, India, and the Holy Land; but their numbers are not tion of him;-" that the Messiah would be a man, not the known. The principal point of difierence between them and the rabbi. Son of God,-and that this" (Naposloe) "was to be the nists or Pharisaical Jews consists in their rejection of the oral law, and their rigid appeal to the text of Scripture, as the exclusive and only infalli place which he would make the metropolis of his kingdom: ble source and test of religious truth. On this account they are called this was the place, of which the Lord had promised, he KABAITES (ON KARAIM) or Scripturists, from p KaRA or Scripture. Would place his name there." The report of the Samaritans Dr. Henderson's Biblical Researches and Travels in Russia, p. 319. In worshipping a dove is groundless; nor is it true that they pp. 315–339. he has given a very interesting account of the principles, &c. deny the resurrection of the dead, or the existence of angels. of the Karaites in the Crimea. Carpzov has given an abstract of the earlier writers concerning this sect in his Antiquitates Hebrææ Gentis, pp. They admit, however, that they recite hymns and prayers 163-172. 2 Josephus, Ant. Jud. lib. xi. c. 8. § 4. 3 Ibid. lib. xiii. c. 10. §§ 2, 3. Robinson's Gr. Lex. voce Expтs. Tappan's Lectures on Jewish Antiq. pp. 224-227. Kuinöel, on John iv. 9. 25. Basnage's History of the Jews, pp. 73-77. In pp. 63-96. he has given minute details respecting the history, tenets, and practices of this sect or people. Jowett's Christian Researches in Syria, p. 195. Visit of the Rev. James Connor, in 1819 and 1820, to Candia, Rhodes, Cyprus, and various parts of Syria and Palestine, annexed to the Rev. W. Jowett's Christian Researches in the Mediterranean, p. 425. Mémoire sur l'Etat actuel des Samaritains, par M. Silvestre de Sacy. Paris, 1812. 8vo. Jowett's Christian Researches in Syria, pp. 196-198. See also Joan. Christoph. Friedrich, Discussionum de Christologia Sama. ritanorum Liber. Accedit Appendicula de Columba Dea Samaritanorum. Lipsia, 1821. Svo. |