_The Essene Jesus._
We now come to an important question, Did Christianity emerge from
Essenism?
Historical questions are sometimes made more clear by being treated
broadly. Let us first deal with this from the impersonal side, leaving
out altogether the alleged words and deeds of Christ, Paul, etc. Fifty
years before Christ's birth there was a sect dwelling in the stony
waste where John prepared a people for the Lord. Fifty years after
Christ's death there was a sect in the same part of Palestine. The sect
that existed fifty years before Christ was called Essenes, Therapeuts,
Gnostics, Nazarites. The sect that existed fifty years after Christ's
death was called "Essenes or Jesseans," according to Epiphanius,
Therapeuts, Gnostics, Nazarites, and not Christians until afterwards.
Each had two prominent rites: baptism and what Tertullian calls the
"oblation of bread." Each had for officers, deacons, presbyters,
ephemereuts. Each sect had monks, nuns, celibacy, community of goods.
Each interpreted the Old Testament in a mystical way, so mystical, in
fact, that it enabled each to discover that the bloody sacrifice of
Mosaism was forbidden, not enjoined. The most minute likenesses have
been pointed out between these two sects by all Catholic writers
from Eusebius and Origen to the poet Racine, who translated Philo's
"Contemplative Life" for the benefit of pious court ladies. Was there
any connection between these two sects? It is difficult to conceive
that there can be two answers to such a question.
And if it can be proved, as Bishop Lightfoot affirms, that Christ was
an anti-Essene, who announced that His mission was to preserve intact
every jot and tittle of Mosaism as interpreted by the recognised
interpreters, this would simply show that he had nothing to do with the
movement to which his name has been given.
There are two Christs in the gospels. Let us consider the Essene Christ
first.
The first prominent fact of His life is His baptism by John. If John
was an Essene, the full meaning of this may be learnt from Josephus:--
"To one that aims at entering their sect, admission is not immediate;
but he remains a whole year outside it, and is subjected to their rule
of life, being invested with an axe, the girdle aforesaid, and a white
garment. Provided that over this space of time he has given proof of
his perseverance, he approaches nearer to this course of life, and
partakes of the holier waters of cleansing; but he is not admitted
to their community of life. Following the proof of his strength of
control, his moral conduct is tested for two years more; and when he
has made clear his worthiness, he is then adjudged to be of their
number. But before he touches the common meal, he pledges to them in
oaths to make one shudder, first that he will reverence the Divine
Being, and, secondly, that he will abide injustice unto men, and will
injure no one, either of his own accord or by command, but will always
detest the iniquitous, and strive on the side of the righteous; that
he will ever show fidelity to all, and most of all to those who are in
power, for to no one comes rule without God; and that, if he become a
ruler himself, he will never carry insolence into his authority, or
outshine those placed under him by dress or any superior adornment;
that he will always love truth, and press forward to convict those that
tell lies; that he will keep his hands from peculation, and his soul
pure from unholy gain; that he will neither conceal anything from the
brethren of his order, nor babble to others any of their secrets, even
though in the presence of force, and at the hazard of his life. In
addition to all this, they take oath not to communicate the doctrines
to any one in any other way than as imparted to themselves; to abstain
from robbery, and to keep close, with equal care, the books of their
sect and the names of the angels. Such are the oaths by which they
receive those that join them." (Josephus, De B. J., ii. 8, 2, 13.)
As a pendant to this, I will give the early Christian initiation from
the Clementine "Homilies."
"If any one having been tested is found worthy, then they hand over to
him according to the initiation of Moses, by which he delivered his
books to the Seventy who succeeded to his chair."
These books are only to be delivered to "one who is good and religious,
and who wishes to teach, and who is circumcised and faithful."
"Wherefore let him be proved not less than six years, and then,
according to the initiation of Moses, he (the initiator) should
bring him to a river or fountain, which is living water, where the
regeneration of the righteous takes place." The novice then calls to
witness heaven, earth, water, and air, that he will keep secret the
teachings of these holy books, and guard them from falling into profane
hands, under the penalty of becoming "accursed, living and dying, and
being punished with everlasting punishment."
"After this let him partake of bread and salt with him who commits them
to him."
Now if, as is believed by Dr. Lightfoot, the chief object of Christ's
mission was to establish for ever the Mosaism of the bloody altar, and
combat the main teaching of the ἀσκητής, or mystic, which "postulates
the false principle of the malignity of matter," why did He go to an
ἀσκητής to be baptised? Whether or not Christ belonged to mystical
Israel, there can be no discussion about the Baptist. He was a Nazarite
"separated from his mother's womb," who had induced a whole "people"
to come out to the desert and adopt the Essene rites and their
community of goods. And we see, from a comparison of the Essene and
early Christian initiations, what such baptism carried with it. It
implied preliminary instruction and vows of implicit obedience to the
instructor.
It is plain too that the Essene Christ knows at first nothing of any
antagonism to his teacher.
"The law and the prophets were until John. Since that time the kingdom
of God is preached, and every man presseth into it." (Luke xvi, 16.)
This shows that far from believing that he had come to preserve the
Mosaism of the bloody altar, he considered that John and the Essenes
had power to abrogate it.
Listen, too, to the Essene Christ's instructions to his twelve
disciples:--
"As ye go, preach, saying the kingdom of heaven is at hand."
This is the simple Gospel of John:--
"Provide neither gold nor silver nor brass in your purses, nor scrip
for your journey, neither two coats, neither shoes."
Here again we have the barefooted Essenes without silver or gold. "He
that hath two coats let him impart to him that hath none," said the
Baptist. "And into whatsoever city or town ye shall enter, inquire
who in it is worthy; and there abide till ye go thence. And when ye
come into an house, salute it. And if the house be worthy, let your
peace come upon it; but if it be not worthy, let your peace return to
you. And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear your words, when
ye depart out of that house or city, shake off the dust of your feet.
Verily I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom
and Gomorrha in the day of judgment, than for that city. Behold, I
send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise
as serpents, and harmless as doves. But beware of men; for they will
deliver you up to the councils, and they will scourge you in their
synagogues; and ye shall be brought before governors and kings for my
sake, for a testimony against them and the Gentiles. But when they
deliver you up, take no thought how or what ye shall speak; for it
shall be given you in that same hour what ye shall speak. For it is not
ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you. And
the brother shall deliver up the brother to death, and the father the
child: and the children shall rise up against their parents, and cause
them to be put to death. And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's
sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved."
This passage is remarkable. No Christian disciple had yet begun to
preach, and yet what do we find? A vast secret organisation in every
city. It is composed of those who are "worthy" (the word used by
Josephus for Essene initiates); and they are plainly bound to succour
the brethren at the risk of their lives. This shows that Christ's
movement was affiliated with an earlier propagandism.
There is another question. On the hypothesis that Christ was an
orthodox Jew, why should he, plainly knowing beforehand what mistakes
and bloodshed it would cause, make his disciples mimic the Essenes in
externals? The Essenes had two main rites, baptism and the bloodless
oblation. Christ adopted them. The Essenes had a new name or conversion.
"Thou shalt be called Cephas, which is, by interpretation, a stone."
(John i. 42.)
The Essenes had community of goods:--
"And all that believed were together, and had all things common." (Acts
ii. 44.)
"If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the
poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven; and come and follow me."
(Matt. xix. 21.)
A rigid continence was exacted:--
"All men cannot receive this saying, save they to whom it is given....
There be eunuchs which have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom
of heaven's sake. He that is able to receive it, let him receive it."
(Matt. xix. 11, 12.)
"And I looked, and, lo! a Lamb stood on Mount Zion, and with him an
hundred and forty-four thousand, having his Father's name written on
their foreheads.... These are they which were not defiled with women,
for they are virgins." (Rev. xiv. 1, 4.)
Divines tell us that this first passage is to have only a "spiritual"
interpretation. It forbids not marriage but excess. We might listen to
this if we had not historical cognizance of a sect in Palestine at this
date which enforced celibacy in its monasteries. The second passage
shows that the disciples understood him literally.
The bloody sacrifice forbidden:--
"I will have mercy and not sacrifice." (Matt. ix. 13.)
"Unless ye cease from sacrificing, the wrath shall not cease from you."
(Cited from Gospel of the Hebrews by Epiphanius, Hær. xxx. 16.)
Bishop Lightfoot, as I have mentioned, considers that Jesus was an
orthodox Jew, whose mission was to perpetuate every jot and tittle of
Mosaism; and that "emancipation" from the "swathing-bands" of the law
came from the Apostles. (Com. on Galatians, pp. 286, 287.) It might
be thought that this was a quaint undertaking for the Maker of the
million million starry systems to come to this insignificant planet in
bodily form to "perpetuate" institutions that Titus in thirty years
was to end for ever; even if we could forget that human sacrifices,
concubinage, polygamy, slavery, and border raids were amongst these
institutions. But if this Christ is the historical Christ, it appears
to me that we must eliminate the Christ of the gospels almost entirely.
For capital offences against the Mosaic law, the recognised authorities
three times sought the life of Jesus, twice after formal condemnation
by the Sanhedrim. These offences were Sabbath-breaking, witchcraft, and
speaking against Mosaic institutions. According to the Synoptics, he
never went to Jerusalem during his ministry until just the end of it;
although the three visits for the yearly festivals were rigidly exacted.
In my "Buddhism in Christendom" I give reasons for supposing that the
"multitudes" whose sudden appearance in stony wastes have bewildered
critics, were in reality the gatherings for the Therapeut festivals
described by Philo.
Bishop Lightfoot makes much of the fact that John's gospel makes Christ
go up once for the feast of tabernacles. But did he go as an orthodox
worshipper, to present his offerings for the bloody sacrifice? On the
contrary, on this very occasion he was accused of Sabbath-breaking and
demoniac possession; and the rulers of the people sent officers to
arrest him.
Leaving Mr. Gladstone and Professor Huxley to discuss whether Christ's
acts in the temple among the money changers were illegal, I must point
out that His dispersing the sellers of doves goes quite against the
theory that He desired to perpetuate Mosaic institutions, for the sale
of these doves was a necessity for the temple sacrifices.
Much has been made in modern pulpits of a vague word, "fulfilling."
Christ, it is said, did not overthrow the old law, he "fulfilled" it.
This is nonsense.
Mosaism was an "eternal covenant." It was a "perpetual statute,"
offerings of the "food of the Deity" on the altar of burnt sacrifice.
It was concubinage, slavery, polygamy, the _lex talionis_ made eternal
institutions. To say that a teacher who preaches forgiveness in place
of revenge, continence for concubinage, slaving for, instead of
slaving others, immortality of the soul for the religion of to-day, is
"fulfilling" merely an abuse of words.