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The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah Vol 1 - Predestination

The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah Vol 1 - Predestination

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<strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Essenes on purification, <strong>and</strong> on Sabbath<br />

observance, <strong>and</strong> <strong>the</strong>ir denial <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Besurrection,<br />

we feel that, whatever points <strong>of</strong> resemblance<br />

critical ingenuity may emphasise,* <strong>the</strong> teaching <strong>of</strong><br />

Christiwity was in a direction <strong>the</strong> opposite trom<br />

that <strong>of</strong> Essenism.'<br />

We possess no daixi for <strong>the</strong> history <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> origin<br />

<strong>and</strong> development (if such <strong>the</strong>re was) <strong>of</strong> Essenism.<br />

We may admit a certain connection between<br />

Pharisaism <strong>and</strong> Essenism, though it has been<br />

greatly exaggerated by modem Jewish writers.<br />

Both directions originated from a desire after ^<br />

purity,' though <strong>the</strong>re seems a fundamental<br />

difference between <strong>the</strong>m, alike in <strong>the</strong> idea <strong>of</strong> what<br />

constituted purity, <strong>and</strong> in <strong>the</strong> means for attaining it.<br />

To <strong>the</strong> Pharisee it was Levitical <strong>and</strong> legal purity,<br />

secured by <strong>the</strong> * hedge' <strong>of</strong> ordinances which <strong>the</strong>y<br />

drew around <strong>the</strong>mselves. To <strong>the</strong> Essene it was<br />

absolute purity in separation ftx)m <strong>the</strong> * material,'<br />

which in itself was defiling. <strong>The</strong> Pharisee attained<br />

in this manner <strong>the</strong> distinctive merit <strong>of</strong> a saint; <strong>the</strong><br />

Essene obtained a higher fellowship with <strong>the</strong>

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