roclaimed Himself the one Master; and, as touching the interpretation
of the title held by some as "father", Jesus proclaimed but one Father
and He in heaven: "But be not ye called Rabbi: for one is your Master,
even Christ; and all ye are brethren. And call no man your father upon
the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven. Neither be ye
called masters: for one is your Master, even Christ."[171]

The scribes, whether so named or designated by the more distinguishing
appellation, rabbis, were repeatedly denounced by Jesus, because of the
dead literalism of their teachings, and the absence of the spirit of
righteousness and virile morality therefrom; and in such denunciations
the Pharisees are often coupled with the scribes. The judgment of the
Christ upon them is sufficiently expressed by His withering imprecation:
"Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!"[172]

The origin of the Pharisees is not fixed by undisputed authority as to
either time or circumstance; though it is probable that the sect or
party had a beginning in connection with the return of the Jews from the
Babylonian captivity. New ideas and added conceptions of the meaning of
the law were promulgated by Jews who had imbibed of the spirit of
Babylon; and the resulting innovations were accepted by some and
rejected by others. The name "Pharisee" does not occur in the Old
Testament, nor in the Apocrypha, though it is probable that the
Assideans mentioned in the books of the Maccabees[173] were the original
Pharisees. By derivation the name expresses the thought of separatism;
the Pharisee, in the estimation of his class, was distinctively set
apart from the common people, to whom he considered himself as truly
superior as the Jews regarded themselves in contrast with other nations.
Pharisees and scribes were one in all essentials of profession, and
rabbinism was specifically their doctrine.

In the New Testament the Pharisees are often mentioned as in opposition
to the Sadducees; and such were the relations of the two parties that it
becomes a simpler matter to contrast one with the other than to consider
each separately. The Sadducees came into existence as a reactionary
organization during the second century B.C., in connection with an
insurgent movement against the Maccabean party. Their platform was that
of opposition to the ever-increasing mass of traditional lore, with
which the law was not merely being fenced or hedged about for s