THE ESSENES.
Eomans, Christian Church
29
and heathen writers have been alike constrained
historians,
the most unqualified praise on this holy brotherhood.
The assertion of Josephus that they " live the same kind of
Greeks
^
call
Life
as do those
has led some writers to believe that Essenism
is
to lavish
whom
the
the offspring
Pythagoreans,"
This view has been ably presented by Zeller in his celebrated " History of
Philosophy," but the points of resemblance he adduces are disposed of seriatim by Dr
of Pythagorism.
who proves that some did not exist, or, at least, rest upon very doubtful authority,
that the Essenes worshipped the sun, believed in intermediate beings between the Deity and
e.fj.,
the world, and devoted themselves to magic arts (outside the boundaries of their miraculous
Ginsburg,
whilst others, such as the
community of goods, the secrcsij about tlicir institutions^ the
and allegorical interpretation of ancient traditions,
he argues, were the natural result of their manner of life, and such as will naturally develop
themselves among any number of enlightened men who devote themselves almost exclusively
cures)
;
symbolic representation of their doetrines,
to a contemplative
religious
life.
Dr Ginsburg then
proceeds to enumerate ten vital differences between the two brotherhoods, of which I give a few specimens.
1. The
Pythagoreans were essentially polytheists the Essenes were monotheistic Jews.
;
2.
The Pythagoreans believed
in the doctrine of metempsychosis
—Pythagoras
is
said to have
interceded in behalf of a dog that was being beaten, because he recognised in its cries the
voice of a departed friend
the Essenes believed in no such thing. 3. Pythagorism- taught that
man can control his fortune; Essenism maintained that fate governs all things.^ 4. The
—
Pythagoreans were an aristocratic and exclusive club, and excited an amount 01 jealousy
and hatred which led to its destruction; the Essenes were meek and lowly, and so much
beloved by those belonging to other sects that
upon them.
joined in bestowing the highest praise
all
In doctrine, as well as practice, the Essenes and the Pharisees were nearly alike. In both
systems there were four classes of Levitical purity, a novitiate of twelve months, an apron was
bestowed in the
first
members
and the mysteries of the cosmogony and cosmology were only
year,
Stewards supplied the needy strangers of either order with
Eoth regarded office as coming from God, and their meal as a sacrament.
clothing and food.
Both bathed before meals, and wore symbolic garments on the lower part of the body whilst
revealed to
so doing.
a complete