The teaching of the Apocalyptists is on more than one subject inconsistent; this is mainly due to the fact that their minds were, on the one hand, saturated with the traditional thoughts and ideas of the Old Testament, while on the other hand they were eagerly absorbing the newer conceptions bred of the spirit of the age. Nevertheless, the Apocalyptists were the true prophets of the people, to whom they brought a message of comfort and hope by telling of the new world which was soon to come; to the ungodly they addressed words of stern warning. The teaching of the Apocalyptists dealt mainly with the world to come, and most of what they taught was characterized by its supernatural colouring. They held strongly that all things had been predestined by God before all time. In spite of much mysticism and a gaze concentrated on that which was to come, the Apocalyptists were loyal to the Law, though not in the Pharisaic sense, the spirit of its observance being regarded as more important than obedience to the letter. Normally the Apocalyptists were universalists rather than particularists, though in this they were inconsistent. The main points in the doctrinal teaching of the Apocalyptic Literature are: Individualism, the importance of the individual being strongly emphasized; the inclusion of the Gentiles in the divine plan of salvation; the transcendental character of the Messiah; and the teaching concerning the future life; in this latter inconsistency is found, sometimes the resurrection of the body is taught, at other times only the immortality of the soul; there is also variety of teaching on the subject of those who are to attain to the future life and their lot there. CHAPTER VI The Scribes [LITERATURE.—In addition to the literature given at the head of the next chapter reference may be made to Schürer II, i. pp. 306-379, German ed., II, pp. 363-447; Lightley, _Les Scribes, Étude sur leur origine chez les Israélites_ (1905). Also the articles “Scribes and Pharisees” (Prince) in the _Encycl. Bibl._, and “Scribes” (Eisenstein) in the _Jewish Encycl._] It is important that we should try, as far as possible, to present the available _data_ concerning the Scribes in their chronological order; that would, of course, be desirable in any case, but it is doubly so when, as here, a clear statement of the development of the scribal class and its activities may be a help in understanding some of the difficult questions which will come before us in dealing with the Sadducees and Pharisees. We shall, therefore, state the evidence chronologically, as far as may be, making our deductions as we proceed. (_a_) _The Old Testament data._