Saducees

SADUCEES, Disciples of Sadoc now mention’d. They constituted one of the four principal Sects of the Jews. What chiefly distinguish’d them from the other Jews, was the Opinion they maintain’d concerning the Existence of Angels, and the Immortality of the Soul. They did not deny but that we had reasonable Souls; but they maintain’d this Soul was mortal;¹ and, by a necessary Consequence, they deny’d the Rewards and Punishments of another Life. Joseph. ibidem.They pretended also, that what is said of the Existence of Angels, and of a future Resurrection, are nothing but Illusions.² St. Epiphaneus,³ and after him St. Austin,⁴ have advanced, that the Saducees deny’d the Holy Ghost. But neither Josephus, nor the Evangelists accuse them of any Error like this. It has been also imputed to them, that they thought God to be corporeal; and that they received none of the Prophecies.

It is pretty difficult to apprehend how they could deny the being of Angels, and yet receive the Books of Moses, where such frequent mention is made of Angels, and of their Appearances. It is very likely they look’d upon Angels, not as particular Beings, and subsisting of themselves, but as Powers, Emanations, or Qualities inseparable from the Deity,⁵ much as the Sunbeams are inseparable from the Sun. Or perhaps they held Angels not to be spiritual, but mortal; just as they thought that Substance to be, which animates us and thinks in us. The Antients do not acquaint us how they solved this Difficulty, that might be urged against ‘em from so many Passages of the Pentateuch, where mention is made of Angels.

As the Saducees acknowledg’d neither Punishments nor Recompences in another Life, so they were inexorable in their chastising of the Wicked.⁶ They observed the Law themselves, and caus’d it to be observed by others, with the utmost Rigour. They admitted of none of the Traditions, Explications, or Modifications of the Pharisees; they kept only to the Text of the Law; and maintain’d, that only what was written was to be observed⁷.

The Saducees are accused of rejecting all the Books of Scripture, except those of Moses;⁸ and to support this Opinion it is observed, that our Saviour makes use of no Scripture against them, but Passages taken out of the Pentateuch. But Scaliger⁹ produces good Proofs to vindicate them from this Reproach. He observes, that they did not appear in Israel till after the Number of the holy Books were fix’d, and that if they had been to choose out of the Canonical Scriptures, the Pentateuch was less favourable to them than any other Book, since it is often makes mention of Angels and their Apparition. Besides the Saducees were present in the Temple, and at other religious Assemblies, where the Books of the Prophets were read indifferently, as well as those of Moses. They were in the chief Employs of the Nation, many of them were even Priests. Would the Jews have suffer’d in these Employments Persons that rejected the greatest Part of their Scriptures? Menasse ben-Israel says expressly,¹⁰ that indeed they did not reject the Prophets, but that they explain’d them in a Sense very different from that of the other Jews.

Josephus assures us¹¹, that they deny’d Destiny or Fate, alledging, that these were only Sounds void of Sense, and that all the Good or Evil that happens to us, is in Consequence of the good or evil Side we have taken, by the free Choice of our Will. They said also,¹² that God was far removed from doing or knowing Evil, and that Man was the absolute Master of his own Actions. This was roundly to deny a Providence, and upon this Footing I know not what could be the Religion of the Saducees;or what Influence they could ascribe to God in things here below. However, it is certain they were not only tolerated among the Jews, but that they were admitted to the High-priesthood itself. This shews what must be then the State of the Religion of the Jews.

Acts v. 17. iv. 1.John Hyrcanus, Highpriest of the Nation, separated himself in a signal Manner from the Sect of the Pharisees, and went over to that of Sadoc. a ‘Tis said also, he gave strict Command to all the Jews, on pain of Death, to receive the Maxims of this Sect.¹³ Aristobulus and Alexander Jannæus, Son of Hyrcanus, continued to favour the Saducees; and Maimonides assures us¹⁴, that under the Reign of Alexander Jannæus, they had in Possession all the Offices of the Sanhedrim, and that there only remain’d of the Party of the Pharisees, Simon the Son of Secra. Caiaphas, who condemned Jesus Christ to Death, was a Saducee; as also Ananus the younger¹⁵, who put to Death St. James the Brother of our Lord. At this Day the Jews hold as Hereticks, that small Number of Saducees that are to be found among them. See upon this Matter Serrar. Tribæres. Menasse ben-Israel, l. 1. de Resurrectione mortuorum; Basnage’s History of the Jews, l. 3. c. 5, 14, &c. and our Dissertation upon the Sects of the Jews, n. 13. before the Commentary upon St. Mark.

The Sect of the Saducees is not extinguish’d; it was much reduced by the Destruction of Jerusalem, and by the Dispersion of the Jews; but it revived afterwards. At the Beginning of the third Century it was so formidable in Egypt, that Ammonim,¹⁶ Origen’s Master, when he saw them propagate their Opinions in that Country, thought himself obliged to write against them, or rather against the Jews who tolerated the Saducees, though they deny’d the fundamental Points of their Religion. The Emperor Justinian mentions the Saducees in one of his Novels, banishes them out of all the Places of his Dominions, and condemns them to the severest Punishments, as People that maintain’d atheistical and impious Tenets; denying the Resurrection and the last Judgment.

Annus, or Ananus, a Disciple of Juda, Son of Nachman, a famous Rabbin of the eighth Century, declared himself, as it is said, in favour of the Saducees, and strenuously protected them against their Adversaries. They had also a celebrated Defender Ganz. Tzemath. David. p. 125.in the twelfth Age, in the Person of Alpharag, a Spanish Rabbin. This Doctor wrote against the Pharisees, the declared Enemies of the Saducees; and maintain’d by his publick Writings, that the Purity of Judaism was only to be found among the Saducees: That the Traditions avow’d by the Pharisees were useless, and that the Ceremonies which they had multiplied without end, were an insupportable Yoke. The Rabbi Abraham-ben-David Italleri reply’d to Alpharag, and supported the Sect of the Pharisees by two great Arguments, that of their Universality, and that of their Antiquity. He proved their Antiquity by a continued Succession from Adam down to the Year 1167; and their Universality, because the Pharisees are spread all the World over, and are found in all the Synagogues.

There are still seen of the Saducees in Africa, and in several other Places. They deny the Immortality of the Soul, and the Resurrection of the Body; but they are rarely found, at least, there are but few, who declare themselves for these Opinions. Among the Mahometans also there is known a Sect of Hereticks call’d Zendik;¹⁷ who believe neither a Resurrection, nor a Life to come. But others maintain, that this Word properly signifies a Magian, a Disciple of Zoroaster, and a Worshipper of Fire. Certain it is, that among the Arabians, and other Mahometans, Zendik signifies in general an impious Person, who is neither Jew, nor Christian, nor Mahometan; or one that makes a Pretence of belonging to one of these three Religions, and yet does not believe the Principles, nor conforms himself to the Practice of it. There have been those that confound the Saducees with such as hold the Metempsychosis, and with the Defenders of the two Principles, that is, the Manichees; but it is very certain these Sects are different from the Saducees.

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