106

TWO CLASSES OF THE ESSENES.

[LECT.

more astonishing picture of the folly of the Stylites. The Essenes, of whom we are speaking, professed a great regard for the written law of Moses, and we are not aware that they rejected any part of the canon of Scripture: they had, however, amongst them some other mysterious writings of great antiquity, which, according to Philo, they made constant use of; they even considered the law of Moses as an allegory, under which was concealed mysterious truths, and they never interpreted the words literally. They were distinguished in their retired life by their abstinence, their love of peace and solitude, and they had their goods in common: their ablutions and purifications, on account of cleanliness, were carried to a ridiculous extreme; their observance of the Sabbath was such that they secluded themselves from the light of day; they generally lived in celibacy, and adopted the children of others, educating them with care as their own; every one becoming a member of their society was sworn to observe the rules of their religion, justice, fidelity, and chastity; to keep the secrets of their brethren inviolate, to maintain their institutions, and above all to commemorate the names of the angels. Philo the Jew divides them into two classes, the practical and the contemplative, called the Therapeutæ; the former were chiefly

1 See Mosheim Ecc. Hist. vol. i. cap. 3, sect. 12.

Iv.] TWO CLASSES OF THE ESSENES.

107

about Palestine and Syria, and their number is estimated by Josephus at four thousand; the latter dwelt near Alexandria, which gave Philo so good an opportunity of describing them: they made happiness to consist entirely in contemplation retiring from the world, they gave up all their earthly possessions to their relations and friends, and lived as hermits in separate huts; in each of those huts was an oratory consecrated to the uses of devotion. St. Paul undoubtedly alludes to these Therapeutæ in his Epistles to the Colossians, where he warns the Christians against their voluntary humility and worshipping of angels, against that superstitious observance of ordinances implied in the "touch not, taste not, handle not," and where he censures that kind of will-worship, and humility, and neglecting of the body, which distinguished these Egyptian ascetics. They were, notwithstanding, rather objects of pity than of condemnation, for we must at least suppose they were sincere; and it cannot be denied, from the testimony we have of them, that they were virtuous. are no where mentioned in the New Testament; nor does it appear that they ever came in the way of our Lord, or if they did, He had not the same cause for rebuking them as He had in the case of the Pharisees. It is with good reason supposed that John the Baptist had passed his early life in the solitudes of the Essenes, and

They

108 THE HERODIANS AND THE GALILEANS. [LECT.

perhaps many of them were waiting for the consolation of Israel.

The Herodians may rather be considered as a political body; but their religious tenets were probably those of the Sadducees, for the leaven of Herod and the leaven of the Pharisees seems to be identified by the Evangelists.

The Galileans or the Gaulonites were also a political faction, raised by Judas Theudas, a native of Gaulon, in the Upper Galilee ten years after the birth of Christ, this man excited his countrymen to take up arms against the Romans in order to free themselves from the payment of tribute, and an attempt seems to have been made to implicate our Lord in the rebellious acts of that party; for although Theudas was soon defeated, he left many admirers of that independence which he desired to establish. The religious opinions of the Galileans were in all probability those of the Pharisees.

A glance at the Samaritans will now complete our review of the religious condition of the Jews. This is more especially a great national distinction, the Jews of whatever sect "have no dealings with the Samaritans ;" they were originally heathens, who joined the worship of the God of Israel with that of other gods, and it was not until the high priest Manasses left Jerusalem with some other fugitive Jews, and carried the Samaritans a copy of the law, that they

IV.]

THE SAMARITANS.

109

were considered as a Jewish sect. They believed themselves to be descended from Joseph, and they considered that they alone were the favorites of Heaven: their Mount Gerizim (they thought) must one day become the very seat of the Messiah, and only in that mountain could God be worshipped with acceptance; they looked upon the prophet Ezra as an innovator and impostor, bearing in memory, no doubt, the rejecting of their suit to be allowed to share in the building of the second temple. They agreed with the Sadducees in only considering the Pentateuch as inspired, in other points of doctrine they perhaps differed but little from the Pharisees; in their outward forms there is some discrepancy; but they were not accused like the Pharisees of having made the word of God void by their traditions. Yet their notions of a future state, and, if we may judge from the woman that talked with our Lord, their moral condition, were not less deplorable than those of the people of Jerusalem; they rather adhered to divers washings and ceremonies than to the weightier matters of the law, and if we were to investigate closely the state of Samaria, we should but close the mournful scene we have now depicted with other instances of the depravity of human nature: and thus it will appear, upon a recapitulation of the state of "God's people," that the days had

110

NEED OF A SAVIOUR APPARENT.

[LECT.

come when the Lord, according to his promise, must have visited them, or they must have for ever perished. They had wrought themselves into such impenetrable darkness that the sun of righteousness was now required to give them light, and in whatever way we view the dispensations of Providence we must acquiesce in this conclusion-that whilst the human race (Jews and Gentiles) were "yet without strength, in due time Christ [came and] died for the ungodly." He visited this lower world, and now at the end of eighteen centuries we celebrate his advent; Heaven has conferred the boon upon a perishing world, and no contempt or abuse of it can change the fact. But, my brethren, as far as we are individually concerned the necessity of receiving the same Christ into the hearts and affections still exists: no time nor circumstance can change it so long as human nature is full of sin and misery without this inward operation we might as well have been of the schools of Greece or of the Sanhedrim of Jerusalem, for "this only is life eternal, to know God, and Jesus Christ whom he hath sent."

If, upon a fair and candid inquiry into God's dealings with us, as a nation, our hearts be touched with gratitude for the inestimable gift of revealed truth, and all the blessings which follow in its train; and if that grand scheme of