Christian D. Ginsburg

“ But when she has children, the woman becomes full of pride and arrogance, audaciously speaks out that which she previously merely indicated in treacherous disguise, and without any shame compels one to do whatever is hostile to the brotherhood; for he who is chained by the charms of a woman or cares for children by necessity of nature, is no longer the same person to others, but is entirely changed, having unawares become a slave instead of a free man. ”

“ Those ascetic Jews deserve well of mankind for the light they gave out in a dark age. We admire the humanity and justice of their principles; their disapproval of war and slavery in the midst of a world lying in wickedness, and the noble example of industry, frugality and moderation in the things of this life they set before all. ”

“ Pythagorism taught that man can control his fortune and overrule his circumstances: Essenism maintained that fate governs all things, and that nothing can befal man contrary to its determination and will. 8. Pythagorism enjoined ointment to be used by its followers: the Essenes regarded it as defilement 9. The Pythagoreans had a sovereign contempt for all those who did not belong to their ranks: the Essenes were most exemplary in their charity towards all men, and in their unbounded kindness to those who were not of the brotherhood. ”

“ Towards the west [of the sea] and sufficiently distant from it, so as to escape its noxious exhalations (ab occidente litora Esseni fugiunt, usque qua nocent) , are the Essenes. They are a hermitical society, marvellous beyond all others throughout the whole earth. They live without any women, without gratifying sensual desires, without money, and in the company of palm trees. Their ranks are daily made up by multitudes of new comers who resort to them; and who being weary of life, and driven by the surges of ill-fortune, adopt their manner of life. ”

“ There is not a single slave to be found among them, for all are free, and mutually serve each other. They condemn owners of slaves, not only as unjust, inasmuch as they corrupt the principle of equality, but also as impious, because they destroy the law of nature, which like a mother brought forth and nourished all alike, and made them all legitimate brethren, not only in word but in deed; but this relationship, treacherous covetousness, rendered overbearing by success, has destroyed by engendering enmity instead of cordiality, and hatred instead of love. ”

“ Benign are the luminaries which our God has created. He has formed them in wisdom, intelligence, and understanding; He has endowed them with power and strength, to bear rule in the midst of the world. ”

“ The Pythagoreans were essentially polytheists; the Essenes were real monotheistic Jews, worshippers of the Holy One of Israel. 2. The Pythagoreans clustered round Pythagoras as the centre of their spiritual and intellectual life, and estimated the degree of perfection of any of the members by the degree of intimacy which he enjoyed with Pythagoras: the Essenes regarded the inspired Scriptures as their sole source of spiritual life, and called no man master on earth, every one having the same right to teach, and being alike eligible for all the offices in the commonwealth. ”

“ Hall has thrown no light on the Essenes, yet his reflections upon their moral character and their connection with Christianity are so just, sensible and candid, that we subjoin them to show that good Christians may honestly acknowledge the good in Essenism without detracting from Christianity.
“Let us give the Essene credit for all that he was as a worshipper of the true God, and as a man striving after moral purity in a corrupt age. The Gospel that breathed new life into the higher nature of man, can afford to allow all his virtues. ”

“ They despise riches, have all things in common in a very admirable manner, and there is not one to be found among them who is richer than another; for it is a law that those who enter the sect must give up their possessions to the [42] society as common property,43 so that there is not to be seen among them all, either the abjectness of poverty or the distinction of riches; but as every man’s goods are cast into a common treasury, they all, like brothers, have one patrimony. ”

“ The earnestness and determination of these Essenes to advance to the highest state of holiness were seen in their self-denying and godly life; and it may fairly be questioned whether any religious system has ever produced such a community of saints. Their absolute confidence in God and resignation to the dealings of Providence; their uniformly holy and unselfish life; their unbounded love of virtue, and utter contempt for worldly fame, riches or pleasure; their industry, temperance, modesty and simplicity of life; their contentment of mind and cheerfulness of temper ”

“ As to the relationship which Essenism bears to Judaism, the very fact that the Essenes, like the other Jews, professed to he guided by the teachings of the Bible, and that a rupture between them and the Jewish community at large is nowhere mentioned, but that on the contrary they are always spoken of in the highest terms of commendation, would of itself be sufficient to prove it. ”

“ Hence there are properly speaking no newly born ones among the Essenes, no children, no youths, as the dispositions of these are unstable and liable to change from the imperfections incident to their age;33 but they are all full grown men who are already approaching old age; and are no longer carried away by the impetuosity of their bodily passions, but possess the genuine and the only true and real liberty. A proof of their freedom is to be found in their life. ”

“ Whilst they do nothing without the injunctions of their overseers, yet there are two things in which they have free action, viz., helping the needy, and shewing mercy; to help the deserving when they are in want, and to give food to the hungry, they have perfect liberty; but to give anything to their relations they are not allowed without the permission of the overseers. They are just dispensers of their anger, curbers of their passions, representatives of fidelity, ministers of peace; and every word with them is of more force than an oath. ”

“ They regard the soul as immortal, and say that the attainment to virtue must be fought for with all our might. Although they send consecrated gifts to the Temple, yet they never bring any sacrifice on account of the different rules of purity which they observe; hence, being excluded from the common sanctuary, they offer sacrifices in themselves (spiritually) . Otherwise, they are in their manner of life the best of men, and employ themselves wholly in the labour of agriculture. Their uprightness is to be admired above all others who endeavour to practice virtue ”

“ No wonder that Jews, of different sects, Greeks and Romans, Christian church historians, and heathen writers have been alike constrained to lavish the most unqualified praise on this holy brotherhood. It seems that the Saviour of the world, who illustrated simplicity and innocence of character by the little child which he took up in his arms, also showed what is required for a holy life in the Sermon on the Mount by a description of the Essenes. ”

“ There is also another order of Essenes who, in their way of living, customs, and laws exactly agree with the others, excepting only that they differ from them about marriage. For they believe that those who do not marry cut off the principal part of human life—that is, succession—especially that, if all were of the same opinion, the whole race would soon be extinguished. ”

“ It is very surprising that the Essenes, whose exemplary Virtues elicited the unbounded admiration of even the Greeks and Romans, and whose doctrines and practices contributed so materially to the spread of Christianity, should be so little known among intelligent Christians. The current information upon this remarkable sect or order of Judaism, to be found in ecclesiastical histories and Cyclopædias, is derived from the short notices of Philo, Pliny, Josephus, Solinus, Porphyry, Eusebius, and Epiphanius. ”

“ Hence though both rest upon the same foundation, the Therapeutae gave themselves up absolutely to the highest aim of man, as they marked it out, the contemplation of God; whilst the Essenes to some extent voluntarily lingered in the outer court of the Holy of Holies, placed themselves intentionally for the good of the brethren in more frequent contact with the world than the requirements of nature demanded, thereby generously, but certainly unphilosophically, temporarily retarding their own highest perfection and happiness. ”

“ In doctrine, as well as in practice, the Essenes and the Pharisees were nearly alike. Both had four classes of Levitical purity, which were so marked that one who lived according to the higher degree of purity, became impure by touching one who practised a lower degree, and could only regain his purity by lustration. Both subjected every applicant for membership to a noviciate of twelve months. Both gave their novices an apron in the first year of their probation. Both refused to propound the mysteries of the cosmogony and cosmology to any one except to members of the society. ”

“ Of their love of virtue they give proofs in their contempt for money, fame, and pleasures, [35] their continence, endurance, in their satisfying their wants easily, simplicity, cheerfulness of temper, modesty, order, firmness, and every thing of the kind. As instances of their love to man, are to be mentioned, their benevolence, equality, and their having all things in common, which is beyond all description, and about which it will not be out of place to speak here a little. ”

“ It was the great aim of the Essenes to live such a life of purity and holiness as to be the temples of the Holy Spirit, and to be able to prophesy: the apostle Paul urges the Corinthians to covet to prophesy ( 1 Cor. xiv. 1, 39 ) . When Christ pronounced John to be Elias ( Matt. xi. 14 ) , he declared that the Baptist had already attained to that spirit and power which the Essenes strove to obtain in their highest stage of purity.7 It will therefore hardly be doubted that our Saviour himself belonged to this holy brotherhood. ”

“ For they firmly believe that the bodies perish and their substance is not enduring, but that the souls are immortal—continue for ever and come out of the most subtile ether—are enveloped by their bodies, to which they are attracted through a natural inclination, as if by hedges—and that when freed from the bonds of the body, they, as if released from a long servitude, rejoice and mount upwards. ”

“ Hence those who style themselves the true evangelical Christians are very anxious to destroy every appearance of affinity between Essenism and Christianity, lest it should be said that the one gave rise to the other; whilst those who are termed Rationalists multiply and magnify every feature of resemblance, in order to show that Christianity is nothing but a development of Essenism—so that the poor Essenes are crucified between the two.
The design of this essay is to give an impartial statement of the doctrines and practices of the Essenes ”

“ Is a labourer to labour all day and not receive his wages in the evening? Now if our fathers had believed that there is another world, and a resurrection of the dead, they would not have spoken thus.’ Hence they dissented from the law, and from them originated the two sects, the Sadducees and the Baithusians, the Sadducees from Sadok and the Baithusians from Baithus. ”

“ They have no separate city, but some of them live anywhere; and if any of the society come from other places, whatever they have lies open for them, just as if it were their own; and they go to those whom they have never seen before as if they had been most intimate. ”

“ Many of the carnal Jews defiling themselves either by being too deeply plunged in worldly affairs, even to the neglect of their religion, or, which was worse, by sensual compliances with their idolatrous lords, thereby to secure their carnal interests, these ‏חסדים‎ or Essenes, to preserve themselves from these common pollutions, separated and retired themselves from the crowd of worldly affairs into an holy solitude, and private condition of life ”

“ No noise or tumult ever desecrates their house, but they let every one take part in the conversation in turn; and the silence of those who are within appears to those that are without as some awful mystery. ”