LETTER IV.

Of the various religious Sects which flourished in Palestine during the time of our Lord's Ministry.

MY DEAR NIECES,

When the Son of God appeared upon earth, various religious sects prevailed in Palestine; and the hatred which subsisted between them, augmented the calamities of the Hebrew nation.

Of the origin of the Samaritans, who may be regarded, in some sort, as a Jewish sect, we find an account in 2 Kings, chapter xvii. the 24th and following verses. After the ten tribes who inhabited Samaria were carried into captivity, about 720 years before Christ, the king of Assyria repeopled the country with heathen colonies. These mixed with the remains of the former inhabitants. They brought with them their pagan idolatries; but apprehending that they had been exposed to

the vengeance of the God of Israel, whom they regarded as the tutelary god of the land, on account of their neglect of him, they, under the direction of a Hebrew priest who was sent to them, joined his worship with that of their former divinities. At a subsequent period they gave up their idolatry, and worshipped Jehovah alone. They did not, however, resort to the temple at Jerusalem; but built a rival temple on Mount Gerizim. It was with reference to this, that the Samaritan woman said to our Savionr: "Our fathers worshipped in this mountain; and ye [Jews] say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship." From this and from other causes there was the greatest enmity between them and the proper Jews, to which there are frequent references in the Gospels. They received none of the other books of the Old Testament, except the Pentateuch, or the five first books of Moses.

The Pharisees were the most numerous and powerful of the proper Jewish sects. By their superior strictness in ritual observances, and their apparent zeal for religion, they ob

tained the highest offices, both in the state. and priesthood. Their influence over the

minds of the people was unbounded, and their authority, both in public and private affairs, almost absolute. The Evangelists frequently mention the Scribes and Pharisees in conjunction. Hence it appears that the former were chiefly Pharisees. Those were called Scribes who had made the law their particular study, and were considered as particularly skilled in expounding it. The Pharisees were distinguished by their belief in a large body of oral traditions, which they pretended had been regularly transmitted, through a series of ages, from Moses, who received them from God on Mount Sinai. They not only maintained that these traditions were of equal authority with the written Scriptures; but explained the latter by the former, that is, by corrupt glosses and inventions, many of which were intended to evade its obligation. Hence our Lord reproved them for "making the law of God of no effect by their traditions." They taught, that men may perform works of supererogation; and by alms, ablutions, and various ritua

observances, make atonement for sin. It was their doctrine, that impure desires were not wicked, unless they produced wicked actions. They held also, that, while the external circumstances of all the human race were predestinated, their moral character depended on their own free will. According to them, every part of the sacred Scriptures had a spiritual and mystical as well as a plain and obvious sense. They acknowledged the immortality .of the soul, a future state of rewards and punishments, and the resurrection of the body. They alleged, that the grounds of justification for the Jews were, the merits of Abraham, the knowledge of God which existed among them, circumcision, and the offering of sacrifices.

The Sadducees were much inferior to the Pharisees in number and influence. But part of them were of illustrious families, and others distinguished by their opulence. They received only the Pentateuch, which they interpreted literally, and rejected all traditions. They denied the immortality of the soul, the existence of angels and spirits; and taught that men were perfectly free to do good or

evil. This sect, like the other Jews, expected the Messiah as a temporal deliverer, and impatiently waited for the commencement of his splendid reign, with the hope of participating in his conquests and glory. But their expectations were so contrary to the humble appearance of our Saviour, that they joined their inveterate enemies the Pharisees, in persecuting him and his disciples. The council, before whom both our Lord and St Paul were accused, consisted partly of Sadducees, and partly of Pharisees. In process of time, many of the Sadducees appear to have admitted the immortality of the soul, and the existence of angels; and, in the eighth century, these were denominated Caraites. Both the Sadducees and Pharisees were in existence about 150 years before Christ.

The Essenes were a sect who despised riches, and led a very recluse and austere life. One branch of this sect passed their lives in celibacy, and devoted themselves to the education of the children of others, whom they adopted. Some of them employed themselves wholly' in contemplation; and made it