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

Before stating our conclusions as to its relation to
Judaism and tibe meaning of the name, we shaU
put together what information may be derived of
the sect from the writings of Josephus, Philo, and
Pliny.' Even its outward organisation and the mode
of life must have made as deep, and, considering
the habits and circumstances of the time, even
deeper impression than does the strictest
asceticism on the part of any modem monastic
order, without the unnatural and repulsive
characteristics of the latter. There were no vows
of absolute silence, broken only by weird chaunt of
prayer or ' memento mori;' no penances, nor selfchastisement.
But the person who had entered the '
order' was as effectually separated from all
outside as if he had lived in another world.
Avoiding the large cities as the centres of
immorality,® they chose for their settlements
chiefly villages, one of their largest colonies being
by the shore of the Dead Sea.* At the same time
they had also * houses ' in most, if not all the cities
of Palestine,* notably in Jerusalem,'' where,
indeed, one of the gates was named after them.« In