EST
547
EST
was sent then to his appointed emploj-ment at which
he worked until the fifth hour, i. e. eleven o'clock,
when all assembled and having bathed in water spe-
cially exorcised, and clothed themselves in white, they
entered the common dining-room quietl}' and silently.
Before each were placed some bread and a dish of one
sort of food. A priest said grace and then, but not
before, they might eat. .\t the end of the repast
prayer was again said, the white garments laid aside,
and resuming their ordinary attire they worked until
evening, when they supped in the same manner. At
the noonday meal, which was regarded apparently as a
sacrificial feast, being prepared by their priests, no
stranger was admitted, but at supper it was otherwise.
As they spoke only in t um and observed great modera-
tion in food and drink the silence at the meals ap-
peared to outsiders, so we are told, something very
solemn and mysterious. Many of the Essenes reached
a great age and they acquired such fortitude of mind
and body that the worst torments inflicted on them by
the Romans failed to shake their constancy and they
met death with a smile.
Most of the Essenes rejected marriage, not on ac- count of any wrong in it but because they did not trust women and desired peace and harmony. They perpetuated their sect by adopting children and ad- mitting adults who were " wearj' of battling with the rough sea of life", as Pliny says. At their coming they received an apron to wear during their ablutions, a white garment, and a little spade-like instrument with which to dig a hole and cover their excrement from the rays of the sun For one year their temper- ance was tested by observing outside the community its ascetic rules. Then came a fresh trial of two years, during which they shared in the lustral rites, but not in the meals, of the initiated. If found satisfactory they were chosen full members and bound themselves by fearful oaths to honour God, obser\-e justice, to be loyal to all, but especially to those in authority, and if ever in authority themselves not to outshine others by dress, to love truth and honesty, to conceal nothing from their fellows, and to reveal nothing to strangers, also to keep secret at all costs their books and the na mes of their angels. This was the only time when Essenes took oaths, their word being regarded by all as so sacred that Herod excused them from the oath of alle- giance. Some of them observed the same rules yet married, but merely for the order's sake and only after three years' probation and if the woman appeared healthy and likely to bear children.
The Essenes have received an amount of attention during the last three centuries out of all proportion to their numbers, their influence upon contemporary life, or their importance as factors in religious develop- ment. This sprang from two causes, one external and the other internal. The latter was the curious mixt- ure of Jewish and foreign elements in their tenets and customs. This peculiarity aroased the curiosity and exercised the ingenuity of tlie learned to account for the combination. That the Essenes were really Jews, though speaking verj' likely Greek (Jews by race, says Josephus), is admitted. Their belief in one God, rev- erence for Moses, strict observance of the ."sabbath, fanatic adherence to circumcision (Hippolj'tus), etc. all show this; while their attitude towards the sun, election of priests, their mode of life, likened to the Pj-thagorean by Josephus himself, etc. seem to show outside influence. The source of this Influence, like everything Esscnic, begets controversy, but .so far no one "has succeeded in determining it satisfactorily. Buddhism, Parsooism, Pythagnreanism (old, new, and Orphic), Hellenism, etc. have all had tlieir claims put forth as one of the parents of this liylirid sect. Suffice it to say that Persian-Babvl<>iii:in iiillucnce through the Captivity, and Hellenism filtering in through .\lex- andria and the use of the tireek tongue can amply account for foreign elements. The claim that these
elements, if divested of their Grecian appearance,
could be proved to have their roots in Biblical ground
is not lightly to be set aside. The external cause of
attention was the bias of English deists and Conti-
nental rationalists who strove to metamorphize the
Essenes into predecessors from whom gradually and
quite naturally Christians developed ; and Freemasons
pretended to find in Essenism pure Christianity. In
reference to such chimeras it is enough to say that
between Essenism in certain aspects and Christianity
there are some points of resemblance; it could not
very well be otherwise because Essenism was Judaic in
its foundation and Christianity was not destructive
but progressive. On the other hand, the differences
are fundamental. That John the BaptLst and Christ
were Essenes are mere assumptions based on simi-
larities which spring naturally and independently
from asceticism and voluntary poverty. So likewise
the vaunted dependence between Essenism and mo-
na-sticism can be resolved into necessary traits of any
ascetic, communistic life (see "AVuku" m "Studien u.
Mittheilungen d. Ben. CLst. Ordens", 1S90, I, 223-30;
Berliere in "Revue B6ned.", 1S91, VIII, 12-190). "The
attitude of Jesus and His disciples is altogether anti-
Essenic" (Jewish Encyc). The strict silence about
any Messias is due partly perhaps to the secrecy of the
Essenes and mainly no doubt to His rejection by their
chronicler, Josephus. In fine, om- present knowledge
of the Essenes is slight and not aU of it trustworthy, as
its sources are scanty, coloured, and imreliable.
^ .^NCiEXT .Authorities: Philo, Quod Omnis Probus L/iber, xii, also extracts from his Apologia Jud. in Eusebius, Prceji, Evang.,Ylll,xi; JosEPHCs, Bell. Jud., II, ^du■. I, iii, 5; 11, vii, 3; Idem, Ant. Jud.. XIII, v. 9; XV, x, 4-5; XVIII, i, 5, etc., in tr. Complete Works (Paris. 1875). ed. Din-dorf; Plmt, Hist. Nat., V. xvi-xvii; Hippolyttjs, Philosophumena (Gottingen, 1859), IX: Epiphan'ICS, Hcereses, xix.
Modern LiTERATrRE. — This is very extensive. See: Light- foot, Colossians and Philemon (London, 1884); Edersheim, Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah (New York. 1S96), I; RiGGS, Hist, of the Jew. People (New York, 1900); Morrison, The Jeu-s under Roman Rule (New York, 1890); Oesterley and Box, The Religion and Worship of the Synagogue (New York. 1907), vi; Keim, Hist, of Jesus of Nazara (London, 1873); Prideaux, Connection of the O. and N. Test.: Carpzovics, Ap^ paratus Hist.-Crit. (Leipzig, 1748), 31, 215; ScHi rer, A Hist, of the Jewish Peoplein the Timeof Christ (tr. Edinburgh, 1886), a full bibliography; Graetz. Ge.sch. d. Juden (1905), III (tr. London, 1892); Dollinger, Heidenthum u. Judenlhum (1857), tr. The Gentile and Jew (London); EwKhD, Gesch. d. Volk. IsraeHlSGS), tr. Hist, of Israel (London, 1870): KrCger, Beilrage zur Kennl. d. Pharisaer u. Essener in Theol. Quart. (Tubingen, 1894); Friedlander, Zur EnistehungsgescJi. d. Christenthums O'ienna, 1894); Idem, Die reliffiosen Bewegungen d. Judent. im Zeil. Jesu (BerUn, 1905); Smith, Diet, of the Bible; Ginsburg in DicL Christ. Biog.: Convbeare in Hast., Diet, of Bible, s. v.; Idem, Diet, of Christ and the Gospels, s. v.; Konig in Kirchenlex.; Ths Jewish Encyclopedia.
E. P. Gr,\ham.
Est (EsTius), WiLLBM Hessei^s VAN, a famous commentator on the Pauline Epistles, b. at Gorcimi, Holland, in 1542; d. at Douai, 20 .Sept., 1(313. Gor- cum at that time contained about 5000 inhabitants, among whom the most illustrious belonged to the family of Est, both on his father's and mother's side. Est was bom at a time of great excitement, and though the mildest of men his whole life was spent amidst scenes of controversy and civil war. Luther was still in full vigour, though he had only four years to live, Calvin was active at Geneva, and Europe was flooded with books and pamphlets \-iolently attacking the Church. Very few writers did more to show (and that in quite an unostentatious manner) the hollow- ness of the reformers' Biblical arguments than Est. He received his early education at home, after which he went to Utrecht, where lie studied classics and thence proceetled to Louvain, where he spent about twenty years in the study of philosophy, theology, and Holy Scripture. During the la.st ten years there he was professor of philosophy in one of the colleges. In 1.580 he received the degree of Doctor of Theology. He was throughout distinguished by sincere piety, great ability, and application to study. During this
