ESSENES

A sect among the Jews in the time of our Saviour, of whom an account is preserved to us by Joseph us and Philo, though they are not mentioned in Scripture. They were few in number, and lived chiefly in solitude, taking no part in public affairs, but devoting their lives to contemplation. There were indeed two cla es of them, distinguished as the practical and contemplative, who differed in the degree of strictne and austerity which they observed. They believed in the immortality of the soul, and held the Scripture in the highest reverence; interpreting it,however, after an allegorical system of their own. (See Blackwood's Mag., 1840.) ESSENTIAL OILS, or [s. 431]