Moses and Aaron. Goodwin Thomas Aiken
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 Latine128 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.
There were130 seven sorts of Pharises. 1. Pharisæus Sichemita. He turned Pharisee for gain, as the Sichemites suffered themselves to be circumcised.
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. Some131 derive it from Sedec, Justitia; as if they had been Justitiaries, such as would justifie themselves before Gods Tribunal. There are132 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.
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 to133 be a branch or skirt of the Dositheans, though in truth Dositheus lived not till134 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.
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.
Their Dogmata, Canons, or Constitutions, were, 1. They rejected137 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.
2. They rejected138 all traditions. Whence, As they were called מינין Minæi, i. Heretiques, in respect of the general opposition between them and Pharisees. First, because the Pharisees were in repute the only Catholicks. Secondly, because in their Doctrine, the Pharisees were much nearer the truth than the Sadduces: so in this respect of this particular opposition, in the ones rejecting, the others urging of traditions, the Sadduces were termed139 קראים Karaim, Biblers, or Scripturists.
3. They said there was no reward for good works, nor punishment for ill, in the world to come. Hence Saint Paul perceiving that in the Councel the one part were Sadduces, the other Pharisees, he cried out, Of the hope of the reward expected, and of the resurrection of the dead, I am called in question, Act. 23. 6.
4. They denied the resurrection of the body, Act. 22. 8. Matth. 22. 23. Luke 20. 27.
5. They said the souls of men are annihilated140 at their death.
6. They denied Angels and spirits, Act. 23. 8.
7. They wholly denied141 Fate or Destiny, and ascribed all to mans Free-will.
The Samaritanes and the Sadduces are of near affinity: but yet they differ. First142 The Samaritanes sacrificed at the Temple built upon Mount Gerizim, but the Sadduces sacrificed at Jerusalem. Secondly, The Samaritanes allowed no commerce with the Jews, John 4. 9. yea, the mutual hatred between the Samaritans and the Jews was so great, that it was not lawful for the Jews to eat or drink with the Samaritans. How is it that thou being a Jew, askest drink of me which am a woman of Samaria, Joh. 4. 9. Nay, whereas liberty was granted unto all Nations of the earth to become Proselites to the Jewes, so did the Jews hate the Samaritanes, that they would not suffer a Samaritan to be a Prosylite. This appeareth by that solemn Excommunication,143 termed Excommunicatio in secreto nominis tetragrammati: the form thereof: as it was applyed (say they) by Ezra and Nehemiah unto the Samaritanes, was thus, They assembled the whole Congregation into the Temple of the Lord, and they brought 300 Priests, and 300 Trumpets, and 300 books of the Law, and as many boys, and they sounded their Trumpets and the Levites singing cursed the Samaritanes by all the sorts of Excommunication, in the mystery of the name Jehovah, and in the Decalogue, & with the curse of the superiour house of judgement, and likewise with the curse of the inferiour house of judgement, that no Israelite should eat the bread of a Samaritane, (whence they say, he which eateth of a Samaritans bread is as he who eateth swines flesh) and let no Samaritane be a Prosylite in Israel, and that they should have no part in the resurrection of the dead. R. Gersom144 forbade the breaking open of the Letters, under the penalty of this Excommunication. This proveth what formerly was said; namely, that between the Jews and