True as this doctrine was in itself, it was perverted by the disciples of Sadoc, who first attract our attention under the name of _Sadducees_[159], in the time of Jonathan the Asmonean[160]. While on the one hand especially after the Maccabæan period, they were far removed from any actual adoption of Grecian customs, or apostasy from the national faith, yet on the other, they betrayed evident marks of the influence on their opinions of Grecian philosophy. Hence they denied the doctrine of the Resurrection[161] (Mtt. xxii. 23; Lk. xx. 27), any rewards or punishments after death, and the existence of angels or spirits (Acts xxiii. 8). Holding that the actions of men depended entirely on their own free will, they denied that there was such a thing as destiny, and while they admitted the creation, they removed the Deity as far as possible from any actual administration of the world. It has been thought that they recognised as Scripture only the five books of Moses, but the truth appears to be that while holding the Law in higher estimation than the prophetical and other books of Scripture, they acknowledged the authority of the Old Testament like the rest of the Jews, but refused to hold the authority of tradition. Aiming as they did at a philosophic elevation of sentiment they found little favour with the common people, and caring little about making proselytes numbered their followers chiefly among the rich and powerful[162], and especially the young men of Judæa, and those who were in a position to live a life of ease and worldly enjoyment[163]. (b) _The Pharisees._ The tendency to adopt Grecian customs and modes of thought above alluded to was not, of course, shared by the entire nation. When Mattathias unfurled the banner of revolt against the heathenizing policy of Antiochus Epiphanes, it will be remembered that he was joined before long by a class calling themselves _Assideans_[164] (1 Macc. ii. 42), who seem to have been already in existence as a distinct party, and bound by a vow to the strict observance of the Law. The name they assumed sufficiently indicates their views. Living in times when their countrymen were becoming more and more infected with heathen customs, they protested against such declension from the spirit of the law, and in opposition to _the impious_ (1 Macc. iii. 8; vi. 21; vii. 5), _the lawless_ (1 Macc. iii. 6; ix. 23), _the transgressors_ (1 Macc. i. 11), as they called the Hellenizing faction, adopted for themselves the title of the Assideans, _the pious_, and in these days of _mixing_ (2 Macc. xiv. 3, 38) maintained the strictest observance of the Law[165].