Part 4

[89] _Assidæi, de quibus agitur 1 Machab. 7. 13. vocantur à Josepho. lib. 12. cap. 16. ἀγαθοὶ καὶ ὅσιοι τοῦ ἔθνους._

Now as long as these Works of supererogation remained arbitrary, and indifferent, not required as necessary, though preferred before the simple obedience to the Law; so long the heat of contention was not great enough to breed Sects and Heresies: But when once the Precepts and Rules of supererogation were digested into _Canons_, and urged with an opinion of necessity; then from the _Chasidim_ issued the brood of _Pharisees_;[90] and also from them (as it is probably thought) the Heresie of the _Essenes_, both obtruding unwritten Traditions upon the People, as simply necessary, and as a more perfect rule of sanctity than the Scripture. At this time the _Tsadikim_ in heat of opposition rejected not only Traditions, but all Scripture, except only the five books of _Moses_; for which reason they were called _Karaim_. Some are of opinion,[91] they rejected only _traditions_, and embraced all the books of Scripture: Which opinion soever we follow; they had their name ‎‏קראים‏‎, _Karaim_, _Textuales_, _Scriptuarii_, i. _Text-men_, or _Scripture-readers_, because they adhered to Scripture alone, withstanding and gain-saying _Traditions_ with all their might. And if we follow the latter, then all this while the _Karaim_ were far from Heresie: but in process of time, when from _Sadock_, and _Baithus_, these _Karaim_ learned to deny all future rewards for good works, or punishment for evil, or resurrection from the dead; now the _Karaim_ became compleat _Sadduces_, and perfect _Hereticks_, taking their denomination from their first Author _Sadok_. The time of each Heresies first beginning, shall be more exactly declared in their several Chapters.

[90] _Joseph. Scalig. Trihæres. c. 22._

[91] _Joseph. Scalig. ib._

CHAP. X.

_Of the Pharisees._

There are[92] three Opinions concerning the _Etymology_ of the name _Pharisee_. The first are those which derive it from ‎‏פרש‏‎ _Parash_, _Expandere_, _Explicare_; either from the enlarging and laying open their Phylacteries, or from their _open performance_ of good works in publick view of the People, as being ambitious of mans praise. Secondly, from ‎‏פרש‏‎ _Parasch_, _Exponere_, _Explanare_; because they were of chief repute; and counted the profoundest _Doctors_ for the _exposition_ of the Law, so that they were termed[93] _Peruschim_, _quia_ _Poreschim_; _Pharisees_, because they were _Expounders_ of the Law. Thirdly, others derive the name from the same Verb, but in the conjugation _Piel_, where it signifieth _dividere_, _separare_, to _separate_.[94] In this acception, by the _Greeks_ they were termed ἀφωρισμένοι, we may _English_ them _Separatists_. Their _separation_ is considerable, partly in the particulars _unto which_, partly in those _from which_ they _separated_.

[92] _Quartam etymologiam (cujus fundus & autor putatur Hieronymus, Præfat. in Amos) refellit Scriptura Hebraica; si enim Pharisæus diceretur a verbo ‎‏פרץ‏‎ Dividere, scriberentur Pharisæi ‎‏פריצים‏‎ non ‎‏פרושים‏‎._

[93] _Gorionides. c. 22._

[94] _Suidas._

First, They _separated themselves to the study of the Law_, in which respect they might be called, ἀφωρισμένοι εἰς τὸν νόμον, _Separated unto the Law_. In allusion unto this, the _Apostle_ is thought[95] to have stiled himself, _Rom. 1. 11._ ἀφωρισμένον εἰς εὐαγγέλιον, _Separated unto the Gospel_: when he was called from being a _Pharisee_, to be a _Preacher of the Gospel_; and now not _separated unto the Law_, but to the _Gospel_.

Secondly, They _separated_ themselves, or at least pretended a[96] _separation to an extroardinary sanctity of life above other men_. God, I thank thee, that I am _not as other men are_, Extortioners, Unjust, Adulterers _&c._ _Luke 18. 11._

[95] _Drusius de trib. sectis, l. 2. c. 2._

[96] _Suidas._

The particulars, _from which they separated themselves_, were these.

First, _From commerce with other people_, as afterward will appear in their Traditions: whence they called the common people, by reason of their ignorance, ‎‏עם הארץ‏‎ _populum terræ_, the _people of the earth_. In the Gospel of Saint _John 7. 49._ they are called ὄχλος. _This people_ who knoweth not the Law are cursed.

Secondly,[97] _From the apparel and habit of other men_: for they used particular kinds of Habits, whereby they would be distinguished from the vulgar. Hence proceeded that common speech, _Vestes populi terræ, conculcatio sunt Pharisæorum_.

[97] _R. David. Sophon. 1. 8._

Thirdly,[98] _From the customs and manners of the world_. This heresie of the _Pharisees_ seemeth to have had its first beginning in _Antigonus Sochæus_. He being a _Pharisee_, succeeded _Simon the Just_; who was Coetanean with _Alexander_ the Great: he lived three hundred years before the birth of Christ.

[98] _Thisbites._

The _Pharisees_ were[99] not tied to any particular Tribe or Family, but indifferently they might be of any; S. _Paul_ was a _Benjaminite_; _Hyrcanus_ was a _Levite_.[100] Each Sect had its _Dogmata_, his proper _Aphorisms_, _Constitutions_, or _Canons_: so the _Pharisees_ had theirs. My purpose is, both concerning these and the other Sects, to note onely those _Canons_, or _Aphorisms_, wherein chiefly they were heretical, and one differing from the other.

[99] _Chrys. Mat. 15._

[100] _Flavius Jos. lib. 13. c. 18._

First, The _Pharisees_[101] ascribed _some things_ to _Fate_, or _Destiny_, and _some things_ to mans _Free-will_.

[101] _Joseph. l. 13. c. 9._

Secondly, They confessed that there were _Angels_, and _Spirits_, _Acts 23. 8._

Thirdly, Concerning the resurrection of the dead, they acknowledged it, and taught[102] that the souls of evil men deceased, presently departed into everlasting punishiment; but the souls, they say, of good men, passed by a kind of Pythagorean μετεμψύχωσις into other good mens bodies. Hence it is thought[103] that the different opinions concerning our Saviour did arise; Some saying that he was _John Baptist_; others, _Elias_; others, _Jeremias_, _Matth. 16. 14._ As if Christ his body had been animated by the soul either of _John_, _Elias_, or _Jeremias_.

[102] _Joseph. de bello Judaic. l. 2. cap. 12._

[103] _Serar. Trihæres. l. 2 c. 3. It. Drus. in præter._

Fourthly, They did stifly maintain the Traditions of their _Elders_. For the better understanding what their _Traditions_ were, we must know that the _Jews_ say the Law was _twofold_,[104] one committed to writing, which they called ‎‏תורה שבכתב‏‎ _Thorah schebitchtah_, _The written Law_; the other delivered by tradition, termed by them, ‎‏תורה בעל פה‏‎ _Thorah begnal pe_. They say both were delivered by _God_ unto _Moses_ upon Mount _Sanai_, the latter as an exposition of the former, which _Moses_ afterward delivered by mouth to _Joshua_, _Joshua to the Elders, the Elders to the Prophets, the Prophets to those of the great Synagogue_, from whom successively it descended to after-ages. These Traditions were one of the chief Controversies between the _Pharisees_, and the _Sadduces_.[105] The _Pharisees_ said, _Let us maintain the Law which our fore fathers have delivered into our hands, expounded by the mouth of the wise men, who expounded it by tradition_. And lo, the _Sadduces_ said, _Let us not believe or hearken to any tradition or exposition, but unto the Law of ~Moses~ alone_. The Traditions which they chiefly urged, were these;

[104] _Moses Kotsen. in præf. lib. præcept._

[105] _Gorionides, c. 29._

1. _They would not eat until they washed their hands_, Why do thy Disciples transgress the Tradition of the _Elders_? for they wash not their hands when they eat bread, _Mat. 15. 2._ This washing is said to have been done πυγμῇ _Mar. 7. 3._ that is, _often_, as some translate the word, taking πυγμῇ in this place, to signifie the same as πύκα in _Homer_, _frequenter_. Others translate the word _accurate_, _diligenter_, intimating the great care and diligence they used in washing: with this the _Syriack_ Text[106] agreeth. Others[107] think that there is, in the phrase, allusion unto that rite or manner of washing in use among the _Jews_, termed by them ‎‏נטילת ידים‏‎ _Netilath iadaim_, the _lifting up of their hands_. The _Greek_ word πυγμὴ is thought to express this rite, because in this kind of washing, _They used to joyn the tops of the fingers of each hand together with the thumb_, so that each hand did after a sort resemble τὴν πυγμὴν i. a _fist_. This Ceremony was thus performed: First, they washed their hands clean. Secondly, they composed them into the fore-mentioned form. Thirdly, they lifted them up, so that the water ran down to the very elbows. Lastly, they let down their hands again, so that the water ran from off their hands upon the earth.[108] And that there might be store of water running up and down, they poured fresh water on them when they lifted up their hands, and poured water twice upon them when they hanged them down. Unto this kind of washing _Theophylact_ seemeth to have reference, when he saith, that the _Pharisees_ did[109] _cubitaliter lavare_, _wash up to their elbows_. Lastly, others[110] interpret πυγμὴ, to be the fist, or hand closed, & the manner of washing thereby denoted to be _by rubbing one hand closed in the plain or hollow of the other_. All imply a diligent and accurate care in washing: the ceremonious washing by lifting up the hands, and hanging them down, best expresseth the superstition, which only was aimed at in the reproof, though all the sorts of washing, to the _Pharisee_ were superstitious, because they made it not a matter of outward _decency_ and _civility_, but of _religion_, to eat with washt or unwasht hands, urging such a necessity hereof,[111] that in case a man may come to some water, but not enough both to wash and to drink, he should rather chuse to wash than to drink, though he die with thirst. And it was deemed amongst them as great a sin to eat with unwasht hands, as to commit fornication. This Tradition of washing hands, though it were chiefly urged by the _Pharisees_, yet all the _Jews_ maintained it, as appeareth by the places quoted.

[106] _‎‏כטילאית‏‎ μετὰ σπουδῆς. Luke 1. 39._

[107] _Joseph. Scalig. Tribær. c. 7._

[108] _Munster. in Deut. 8._

[109] _Theophylact. in Marc. 7. 3._

[110] _Beza in majoribus suis annotationibus. Marc. 7. 3._

[111] _Drusius præterit. Mat. 15. in addend. & Buxtorf. synag. Judaic. c. 6. p. 93. ex Talmud._

We may observe three sorts of washing of hands in use among the _Jews_. 1. _Pharisaical_ and _superstitious_, this was reproved. 2. _Ordinary_, for outward _decency_; this was allowed. The third, in token of _innocency_; this was commanded by the _Elders_ of the neighbour-Cities, in case of murder, _Deut. 21. 6._ It was practised by _Pilate_, _Matth. 37. 24._ and alluded unto by _David_, I will _wash my hands in innocency_, so will I compass thine altar, _Psal. 26. 6._

2. _When they came from the Market they washt_, _Mar. 7. 4._ The reason thereof was, because they there having to do with divers sorts of people, unaware; they might be polluted. The word used by Saint _Mark_, is, βαπτίσωνται, _they baptized themselves_: implying the _washing of their whole body_. And it seemeth that those _Pharisees_ who were more zealous than others, did thus _wash_ themselves alwayes before dinner. The _Pharisee_ marvelled that _Christ_ had not first washed himself before dinner, _Luke 11. 38._ Unto this kind of superstition St. _Peter_ is thought to have inclined, when he said, _Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands, and my head_, _John 13. 9._ Thus finding his modesty disliked, when he refused to have his feet wash’d by his _Lord_ and _Master_; now he leapeth into the other extream, as if he had said, Not _my feet only, but my whole body_. Hence proceeded that Sect of the _Hemerobaptistæ_, i.e. _Daily baptists_, so called[112] because they did _every day thus wash themselves_.

[112] _Epith. l. 2. Tom. 1. c. 17._

3. _They wash’d their cups, and pots, and brazen vessels, and tables_, _Mark 7. 4._

4. _They held it unlawful to eat with sinners_, _Mat. 9. 11._ yea, they judged it a kind of pollution to be touched by them, _Luke 7. 39._ If this man were a _Prophet_, he would surely have known who, and what manner of woman this is which toucheth him, for she is a sinner. Of such a people the _Prophet_ speaketh: They said, stand a part, come not near to me, or (as the words may be rendred)[113] _Touch me not_, for I am holier than thou, _Esay. 65. 5._ The like practice was in use among the _Samaritanes_,[114] who if they met any stranger, they cryed out, μὴ πρόσψαυσον, _Ne attingas_, _Touch not_.

[113] _‎‏אל תגע בי‏‎ Ne attingas me._

[114] _Scalig. de emend. temp. lib. 7. Idem refert Epiphan. lib. 1. Tom. 1. cap. 13._

5. _They fasted twice in the week_, _Luke 18. 12._ Namely,[115] _Mundays_ and _Thursdays_. Because _Moses_ (as they say)[116] went up into the Mount _Sinai_ on a _Thursday_, and came down on a _Munday_.

[115] _Theophylact. in Luke 18. 12. It. Epiph. hær. 16._

[116] _Drusius in Luc. 18. 13._

6. _They made broad their Phylacteries, and inlarged the borders of their garments_, _Matth. 23. 5._ Here three things are worthy our consideration. First, What these _Phylacteries_ were. Secondly, What was written in them. Thirdly, Whence they were so called. _Epiphanus_[117] interpreteth these _Phylacteries_ to be πλατέα σήματα πορφύρας, _purple studs, or flourishes, woven in their garments_: as if _Epiphanius_ had conceived the _Pharisees_ garment to be like that which the _Roman Senators_ were wont to wear, termed, by reason of those _broad-studs_ and _works_ woven in it, _Laticlavium_: but seeing that these _Phylacteries_ were additaments and ornaments, whereof there were[118] two sorts, the one tied to their _Fore-heads_, the other to their _Left-hands_; hence it followeth, that by these _Phylacteries_ could not be meant whole garments, or any embosments, or flourishings woven in the cloth. Generally they are thought to be schedules or scroles of parchments, whereof, as I noted, there were two sorts; _Phylacteries for the Fore-head_, or _Frontlets_, reaching from one Ear to the other, and tied behind with a thong; and _Phylacteries for the hand_, fastned upon the Left-arm above the Elbow on the inside, that it might be near the heart. Both these sorts were worn, not by the _Pharisees_ only,[119] but by the _Sadduces_ also, but with this difference; The _Pharisees_, haply for greater ostentation, wore their _Hand-Phylacteries above their Elbows_: the _Sadduces on the palms of their Hands_.[120] Nay, all the _Jews_ wore them, our _Saviour Christ_ not excepted. The command was general, _Exod. 13. 9._ It shall be for a sign unto thee upon thine hand, and for a memorial between thine eyes. So that it is not the wearing of them which our _Saviour_ condemned, but the making of them broad, whereby they would appear more holy than others.

[117] _Epiph. lib. 1. Tom. 1. cap. 15._

[118] _Moses Kot. præcept. affirm. 22._

[119] _Maimon. in Tephillim. c. 4. sect. 3._

[120] _Scal. Trihæres. p. 258._

In these Parchments they wrote[121] only the _Decalogue_, or Ten Commandments, in the opinion of _Chrysostome_ and _Hierome_: but generally, and upon better grounds, it is thought they wrote these four sections of the Law.

[121] _Chrysost. & Hieronym. in Mat. 23._

1. The first began, Sanctifie unto me all the firstborn, _&c._ _Exod. 13. 2._ to the end of the 10. _verse_.

2. The second began, And it shall be when the Lord shall bring thee, _&c._ _Exod. 13. 11._ to the end of the 16. _verse_.

3. The third began, Hear O Israel, _Deut. 6. 4._ and continued to the end of the ninth _verse_.

4. The fourth began, And it shall come to pass; if you shall hearken diligently, &c. _Deut. 11. 13._ to the end of the one and twentieth _verse_.

These four Sections written in scrols of Parchment, and folded up, they fastned to their _fore-heads_ and their _left-arms_: those that were for the _fore-head_, they wrote in four distinct pieces of parchment[122] especially, and if they wrote it in one piece; the length of every Section ended in one column, and they did put them into one skin, in which there was the proportion of four houses or receptacles, and not into four skins: every receptacle was distinct by it self; and those that were for the hand, were written in one piece of Parchment principally, the four Sections in four columns; but if they wrote them in four pieces, it was at length, and they put them in a skin that had but one receptacle.[123] In time of persecution when they could not openly wear these _Phylacteries_, then did they tye about their hands a red thread, to put them in mind of the blood of the Covenant of the Law.

[122] _Moses Kotsen. fol. 104. col. 3._

[123] _Munster. de præcept. affirm._

Touching the name _Moses_ calleth them ‎‏טוטפות‏‎ _Totaphot_, which word hath almost as many _Etymologies_, as Interpreters; the most probable in my opinion, is, that they should be so called _per Antiphrasin_, from ‎‏טטף‏‎ _Incedere_, _to go_ or _move_, because they were _immoveable_: Hence the _Septuagint_ translate them, ἀσάλευτα _Immoveable ornaments_. The Rabbins call them _Tephillim_, _Prayer ornaments_:[124] others call them _Pittacia_, & _Pittaciola_, from πιττάκιον, which signifieth a piece or parcel of Cloth. In the Gospel they are called φυλακτήρια, _Phylacteries_, from φυλάττω, to _conserve_ or _keep_. First, because by the use of them, the _Law_ was _kept_ and _preserved_ in memory. Secondly, because the _Pharisees_ superstitiously conceited, that by them, as by Amulets, Spells, and Charms, hanged about their necks themselves might be _preserved from dangers_. The word φυλακτήριον signifieth a Spell; and _Hierome_ testifieth, that the _Pharisees_ had a such a conceit of these ornaments: In which place he compareth the _Pharisees_ with certain superstitious women of his time, who carried up and down, upon the like ground, _pervula evangelia, & crucis ligna_, short sentences out of the Gospel, and the reliques of the Cross. The same superstition hath prevailed with many of latter times, who for the same purpose hang the beginning of[125] Saint _John_’s _Gospel_ about their necks. And in the year of our _Lord_ 692. certain Sorcerers were condemned for the like kind of _Magick_, by the name of[126] φυλακτήριοι, that is, _Phylacterians_.

[124] _Hieronym. in Mat. 23._

[125] _Scalig. Tribær. cap. 70._

[126] _Concil. quini Sexti, Canon 61._

Thus much of their _Phylacteries_: In the same verse is reproved the _inlarging of their borders_.[127] That which we read borders in the _Gospel_, is called, _Num. 15. 38._ ‎‏ציצות‏‎ _Tsitsith_, _Fringes_: and ‎‏גדילים‏‎ _Gedelim_, _Deut. 22. 10._ which word we likewise translate in that place, _Fringes_. They were in the fore-quoted places commanded, and our _Saviour Christ_ himself did wear them, _Luk. 8. 44._ The latter Hebrew word signifieth a _large Fringe_, which agravateth the superstition of the _Pharisees_, in making their Fringes _larger_, when the Law had allowed them _large_. This literal exposition I take to be most agreeable with the _Text_, though to _inlarge_ in _Greek_ and _Latine_[128] sometimes, signifieth to _boast, vaunt, or brag of a thing_; and in this sense it may very well fit a _Pharisee_. The reason of this command was, to put them in mind of the Commandments, _Numb. 15._ And for the furtherance of this duty,[129] they used sharp thorns in in their Fringes, that by the often pricking of the Thorn, whether they walked or sate still, they might be the more mindful of the Commandments.

[127] _Vide D. Kimchi. Radic._

[128] _Τὸ μεγαλύνεσθαι, apud Euripidem in Bacchis, valet, Magnifice jactare, Efferre. Magnificare apud Varronem & Plinium eadem significatione usurpatur, Theodor. Beza in Mat. 23._

[129] _Hieron. in Mat. 23._

There were[130] seven sorts of _Pharises_. 1. _Pharisæus Sichemita._ He turned _Pharisee_ for gain, as the _Sichemites_ suffered themselves to be circumcised.

[130] _Talmud. tract. Suta. cap. 3._

2. _Pharisæus truncatus_, so called, as if he had no feet, because he would scarce lift them from the ground when he walked, to cause the greater opinion of his meditation.

3. _Pharisæus inpingens._ He would shut his eyes when he walked abroad, to avoid the sight of Women, in so much that he often dash’d his head against the walls, that the blood gush’d out.

4. _Pharisæus, Quid debeo facere, & faciam illud._ He was wont to say, _What ought I to do? and I will do it._ Of this sort seemeth the man in the _Gospel_ to have been, who came unto _Christ_, saying, _Good Master, what shall I do? &c._ and at last replyed, _All these I have done from my youth upward_, _Luke 18._

5. _Pharisæus mortarius_; so called because he wore a hat in manner of a deep _Mortar_, such as they use to bray spice in, in so much that he could not look upward, nor of either side; onely downward on the ground, and forward or forthright.

6. _Pharisæus ex amore_; Such a one as obeyed the Law for the Love of Vertue.

7. _Pharisæus ex timore_; Such a one obeyed the Law for fear of punishment. He that conformed for fear had respect chiefly to the _negative Commandements_; but he that conformed for love, especially respected the _Affirmative_.

CHAP. XI.

_Of the Sadduces._

To omit other _Etymologies_ of the name, there are two onely which have shew of probability. Some[131] derive it from _Sedec_, _Justitia_; as if they had been _Justitiaries_, such as would justifie themselves before _Gods_ Tribunal. There are[132] that derive it, and that upon more warrantable grounds, from _Sadoc_, the first Author of the heresie; so that the _Sadduces_ were so called from _Sadoc_, as the _Arrians_ from _Arrius_, the _Pelagians_ from _Pelagius_, the _Donatists_ from _Donatus_, &c.

[131] _Epiphan. l. 1. cap. 14._

[132] _ἀπὸ αἱρεσιάρχου Σαδὼκ ὀνομάζεται. Theophylact._

This _Sadoc_ lived under _Antigonus Sochæus_, who succeeded _Simeon_ the _Just_. He was _Antigonus_ his scholar, and by him brought up in the Doctrine of the _Pharisees_, but afterwards fell from him, and broacht the heresie of the _Sadduces_; which heresie, because it had much affinity with that which the Heretique _Dositheus_ taught, hence are the _Sadduces_ said to[133] be a branch or skirt of the _Dositheans_, though in truth _Dositheus_ lived not till[134] after _Christ_; and although these two heresies did agree in many things; yet in a main point they differed.[135] _Dositheus_ believed the Resurrection, the _Sadduces_ denyed it; and by consequence the _Dositheans_ believed all other points necessarily flowing from this.

[133] _Epiph. hæres. 14. It. Tertul. de præscript. c. 5._

[134] _Origen. contra Celsum. l. 2._

[135] _Epiph. hæres. 13._

The occasion of this heresie was this.[136] When _Antigonus_ taught, that we must not serve God as servants serve their Masters, for hope of reward, his scholars _Sadoc_ and _Baithus_ understood him, as if he had utterly denied all future rewards or recompence attending a godly life, and thence framed their heresie, denying the _resurrection, the world to come, Angels, Spirits, &c._

[136] _Aboth. cap. 1._

Their _Dogmata_, _Canons_, or _Constitutions_, were, 1. _They rejected[137] the Prophets, & all other Scripture save only the five books of Moses._ Therefore our _Saviour_ when he would confute their errour, concerning the resurrection of the dead, he proves it not out of the _Prophets_, but out of _Exod. 3. 6._ _I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob_, _Mat. 22. 32._

[137] _Joseph. Antiq. lib. 13. c. 18._