THE ESSENES.
questioned whether his food of locusts would have been permitted
by the Essenes, if they really ate nothing which had life (ἐμψυχον").
And again ; his baptism as narrated by the Evangelists, and their


 Instrations as described in Josephus, have nothing in common except
the use of water for a religious purpose. When therefore we are
_ told confidently that ‘his manner of life was altogether after the
᾿ Fasene pattern’,’ and that ‘he without doubt baptized his converts
into the Essene order,’ we know what value to attach to this bold
_asertion. If positive statements are allowable, it would be more


true to fact to say that he could not possibly have been an Essene.
‘The rule of his life was isolation ; the principle of theirs, community’.
In this mode of life John was not singular. It would appear
that not a few devout Jews at this time retired from the world and
buried themselves in the wilderness, that they might devote them-


_ telves unmolested to ascetic discipline and religious meditation.
