Not only is this combined testimony insufficient, but it is too much tainted with the peculiar dogmas of the respective witnesses, to furnish the general reader with an unbiassed notion of the character and doctrines of this ancient sect. Philo and Josephus, writing in Greek and in apology for their Jewish brethren, were too anxious to represent to the Greeks and Romans every phase and sect of Judaism, as corresponding to the different systems of Greek and Roman philosophy; Pliny, Solinus, and Porphyry, again, betray too great an ignorance of the inward workings of the Jewish religion, and too much prejudice against the Jews; whilst Epiphanius draws upon his imagination, and Eusebius simply copies the account of Philo, with the well-known patristic pen. Nor can the modern descriptions of the Essenes, as given in the histories of the church and in the popular Cyclopædias, be always relied upon when they profess to give the results of the aforementioned garbled scraps of ancient information; since the writers are either too much afraid of, or too much pleased with, the marked resemblance between some of the doctrines and practices of Christianity and Essenism. Hence those who style themselves the true evangelical Christians are very anxious to destroy every appearance of affinity between Essenism and Christianity, lest it should be said that the one gave rise to the other; whilst those who are termed Rationalists multiply and magnify every feature of resemblance, in order to show that Christianity is nothing but a development of Essenism—so that the poor Essenes are crucified between the two. The design of this essay is to give an impartial statement of the doctrines and practices of the Essenes; to show their rise and progress, their relationship both to Judaism and Christianity, their numbers and localities, to trace the most probable signification of their name, &c., &c. To do this, I not only appeal to the seven stereotyped witnesses, but to the information upon this subject scattered throughout the Midrashim and the Talmud. But not to incur the charge of partiality, as well as to enable you to test my conclusions, I have collected all that the ancients have written upon this subject, and append to this paper the whole account which Philo, Pliny, Josephus, Solinus, Porphyry, Eusebius, and Epiphanius give of the Essenes.