never afterwards be received back again.

Three words of modern significance, with which of late we have all become too familiar,

will probably better help us to understand the whole state of matters than more

elaborate explanations. They are connected with that ecclesiastical system which in so

many respects seems the counterpart of Rabbinism. Ultramontanism is a direction of

religious thought; the Ultramontanes are a party; and the Jesuits not only its fullest

embodiment, but an "order," which, originating in a revival of the spirit of the Papacy,

gave rise to the Ultramontanes as a party, and, in the wider diffusion of their principles,

to Ultramontanism as a tendency. Now, all this applies equally to the Pharisees and to

Pharisaism. To make the analogy complete, the order of the Jesuits also consists of four

degrees  53 --curiously enough, the exact number of those in the fraternity of "the

Like that of the Jesuits, the order of the Pharisees originated in a period of great

religious reaction. They themselves delighted in tracing their history up to the time of

Ezra, and there may have been substantial, though not literal truth in their claim. For we

read in Ezra 6:21, 9:1, 10:11 and Nehemiah 9:2 of the "Nivdalim," or those who had

"separated" themselves "from the filthiness of the heathen"; while in Nehemiah 10:29 we

find, that they entered into a "solemn league and covenant," with definite vows and

obligations. Now, it is quite true that the Aramaean word "Perishuth" also means

"separation," and that the "Perushim," or Pharisees, of the Mishnah are, so far as the

meaning of the term is concerned, "the separated," or the "Nivdalim" of their period. But

although they could thus, not only linguistically but historically, trace their origin to

those who had "separated" themselves at the time of Ezra and Nehemiah, they were not

their successors in spirit; and the difference between the designatio ns "Nivdalim" and

"Perushim" marks also the widest possible internal difference, albeit it may have been

gradually brought about in the course of historical development. All this will become

immediately more plain.

At the time of Ezra, as already noted, there was a great religious revival among those

who had returned to the land of their fathers. The profession which had of old only

characterised individuals in Israel (Psa 30:4, 31:23, 37:28) was now taken up by the

covenanted people as a whole: they became the "Chasidim" or "pious" (rendered in the

Authorised Version, "saints"). As "Chasidim," they resolved to be "Nivdalim," or

"separated from all filthiness of heathenism" around. The one represented, so to speak,

the positive; the other, the negative element in their religion. It is deeply interesting to

notice, how the former Pharisee (or "separated one"), Paul, had this in view in tracing

the Christian life as that of the true "chasid," and therefore "Nivdal" --in opposition to

the Pharisees of externalis m--in such passages as 2 Corinthians 6:14-7:1, closing with

this admonition to "cleanse ourselves from all filthiness54 of the flesh and spirit,

perfecting holiness in the fear of God." And so St. Paul's former life and thinking seem

ever to have served him as the type of the spiritual realities of his new state.55

Two points in Jewish history here claim our special attention, without attempting to

unravel the whole somewhat tangled web of events. The first is the period immediately

after Alexander the Great. It was one of the objects of the empire which he founded to

Grecianise the world; and that object was fully prosecuted by his successors.

Accordingly, we find a circle of Grecian cities creeping up along the coast, from

Anthedon and Gaza in the south, northwards to Tyre and Seleucia, and eastwards to

Damascus, Gadara, Pella, and Philadelphia, wholly belting the land of Israel. Thence the

movement advanced into the interior, taking foothold in Galilee and Samaria, and

gathering a party with increasing influence and spreading numbers among the people.

Now it was under these circumstances, that the "Chasidim" as a party stood out to stem

the torrent, which threatened to overwhelm alike the religion and the nationality of

Israel. The actual contest soon came, and with it the second grand period in the history

of Judaism. Alexander the Great had died in July 323 BC. About a century and a half

later, the "Chasidim" had gathered around the Maccabees for Israel's God and for Israel.