There was another sect that joined with the Pharisees, in persecuting and opposing our Saviour; though otherwise they did not, in the least, accord with one another; and these were the Sadducees, who appeared in the world about the same time with the Pharisees: These were men generally reputed as profligate in their morals, and for that reason, as much hated by the common people, as the Pharisees were caressed by them. They adhered to the Philosophy of Epicurus; and took occasion, from thence to deny the resurrection, angels, and spirits, as they are said to do in scripture, Acts xxiii. 8. It is true they did not desire to be thought irreligious, though they were really so; yet our Saviour describes them, as well as the Pharisees, as _hypocrites_, and inveterate enemies of the gospel. There was another sort of people sometimes mentioned in the New Testament, _viz._ the Samaritans, who separated from the Jews, out of a private pique, and built a distinct temple on mount Gerizzim[48]; and for this they were excommunicated by the Jews, and universally hated, so that there was no intercourse between them, John iv. 9, especially in those things in which one might be said to be obliged to the other: These did very much corrupt the worship of God, so that Christ charges them with _worshipping they knew not what_, ver. 12. and it is observed concerning them, after the ten tribes were carried captive into Assyria, and they who were left in the land _feared not the Lord_, that he _sent lions amongst them_, 2 Kings xvii. 25. upon which occasion a priest was dismissed by the king of Assyria, under pretence of _instructing them in the manner of the God of the land_; and he erected a strange medly of religion, consisting partly of those corruptions therein, which had been practised by the Israelites for some ages past, and partly of the Heathen idolatry, which they brought from Assyria; upon which account it is said, _They feared the Lord, and served their own gods after the manner of the nations whom they carried away from thence_, 2 Kings xvii. 33.