“Men having knowledge of Enoch (a friend of God, who walked with God in Truth) desired to know about PARADISE and thus began to seek GOD, their CREATOR. These men were called PHARISEE which strictly meaneth, to seek God, in the language of Canaan, for there did the name begin by way of deriding good men, seeing the Canaanites were given up to idolatry, which is worship of human hands. Whereupon the Canaaites beholding those of our people that were separated from the world to serve God, in derision when they saw such a one, would say; Pharisee, that is, HE SEKETH GOD, as if to say: Oh mad fellow, thou has no idols and adorest the wind, wherefore look to thy fate and come and serve our gods.” Jesus continued, “ Verily, all the Prophets of GOD have been PHARISEES not in name, as you are, but in very deed. For in all their acts they sought God their Creator and For LOVE of GOD they forsook cities and their own goods, selling these and giving to the poor, FOR LOVE OF GOD. In the time of Elijah there were twelve mountains inhabited by seventeen thousand Pharisees, with not a single reprobate.

...........................................................COMMENTARY

Many of the Pharisees in Jesus’ time, like many clergy today, did not follow the Law, nor did they practice what they preached. They wanted the best seats, they wanted to be recognized, they wanted honor and they were full of arrogance and pride, none of the attributes of a true Pharisee. As we know, Jesus told them so.

...................TO LIVE AS JESUS LIVED, IS TO UNDERSTAND HIS TEACHING

.......................LOVE GOD ...........THINK OF GOD ............LIVE WITH GOD

Two Pharisees went into the mountains to dwell there; and the one-abode fifteen years knowing nought of his neighbors, although they were but one hour's journey apart. See, then, if they were inquisitive ! It came to pass that there arose a drought on those mountains, and thereupon both set themselves to search for water, and so they found each other. Whereupon the more aged said (for it was their custom that the eldest should speak before every other, and they held it a great sin for a young man to speak before an old one) the elder, therefore, said: "Where dwellest thou, brother?"
    He answered, pointing out the dwelling with his finger: "Here dwell I", for they were nigh to the dwelling of the younger.
    Said the elder: "How long is it, brother, that thou hast dwelt here?"
    The younger answered: "Fifteen years."
    Said the elder: "Perchance thou camest when Ahab slew the servants of God?"
    "Even so," replied the younger.
    Said the elder: "O brother, knowest thou who is now king of Israel?"     The younger answered: "It is God that is King of Israel, for the idolaters are not kings but persecutors of Israel."
    "It is true," said the elder, "but I meant to say, who is it that now persecuteth Israel?"
    The younger answered: "The sins of Israel persecute Israel, because, if they had not sinned, God would not have raised up against Israel the idolatrous princes."     Then said the elder: "Who is that infidel prince whom God hath sent for the chastisement of Israel?"
    The younger answered: "Now how should I know, seeing these fifteen years I have seen no man save thee, and I know not how to read, wherefore no letters be sent unto me."
    Said the elder: "Now, how new thy sheepskins be! Who hath given them to thee, if thou hast not seen any man?"
    The younger answered: "He who kept good the raiment of the people of Israel for forty years in the wilderness hath kept my skins even as thou seest."
    Then the elder perceived that the younger was more perfect than he, for he had every year had dealings with men. Whereupon, in order that he might have [the benefit of] his conversation, he said: "Brother, thou knowest not how to read, and I know how to read, and I have in my house the psalms of David. Come, then, that I may each day give thee a reading and make plain to thee what David saith"
    The younger answered: "Let us go now." Said the elder: "O brother, it is now two days since I have drunk water; let us therefore seek a little water."
    The younger replied: "O brother, it is now one week since I have drunk water. Let us go, therefore, and see what God saith by his prophet David; the Lord is able to give us water.
    " 'Whereupon they returned to the dwelling of the elder, at the door whereof they found a spring of fresh water.
    Said the elder: "O brother, thou art an holy one of God; for thy sake hath God given this spring."
    The younger answered: "O brother, in humility sayest thou this; but certain it is that if God had done this for my sake he would have made a spring close to my dwelling, that I should not depart in search thereof. For I confess to thee that I sinned against thee. When thou saidst that for two days that thou didst not drink thou soughtest water; and I had been for one week without drinking, whereupon I felt an exaltation within me, as though I were better than thou."
    Then said the elder: O brother thou saidst the truth, therefore thou didst not sin. Then said the younger: "O brother, thou hast forgotten what Elijah said, he who seeketh God ought to condemn himself alone. Assuredly be wrote it not that we might know it, but rather that we might observe it."
    Said the more aged, perceiving the truth and righteousness of his companion:
    "It is true; and our God hath pardoned thee."
    And having said this he took the Psalms, and read that which David saith: "I will set a watch over my mouth that my tongue decline not to words of iniquity, excusing with excuse my sin.

    And here the aged man made a discourse upon the tongue, and the younger departed. Whereupon they were fifteen years more until they found one another, because the younger changed his dwelling.
    Accordingly, when he had found him again, the elder said: "O brother, wherefore returnedst thou not to my dwelling?"
    The younger answered: "Because I have not yet learned well what thou saidst to me."
    Then said the elder: "How can this be, seeing fifteen years are past?     The younger replied: "As for the words, I learned them in a single hour and have never forgotten them; but I have not yet observed them. To what purpose is it then, to learn too much, and not to observe it? Our God seeketh not that our intellect should be good, but rather our heart.
    So, on the day of judgement, He will not ask us what we have learned, but rather what we have done.
The elder answered: "O brother, say not so, for thou despisest knowledge, which our God willeth to be prized.
    " The younger replied: "Now, how shall I speak now so as not to fall into sin: for thy word is true, and mine also. I say then, that they who know the commandments of God written in the Law ought to observe those first if they would afterwards learn more. And all that a man learneth, let it be observed and not merely known.
    " Said the elder: "O brother, tell me, with whom hast thou spoken, that thou knowest thou hast not learned all that I said?"
    The younger answered: "O brother, I speak with myself. Every day I place myself before the judgement of God, to give account of myself. And ever do I feel within myself one that excuseth my faults.
    " Said the elder: "O brother, what faults hast thou, who art perfect?"     The younger answered: "O brother, say not so, for that I stand between two great faults: the one is that I do not know myself to be the greatest of sinners, the other that I do not desire to do penance for it more than other men."
    The elder answered: "Now, how shouldst thou know thyself to be the greatest of sinners, if thou art the most perfect of men"

    The younger replied: "The first word that my master said to me when I took the habit of a Pharisee was this: that
    I ought to consider the goodness of others and mine own iniquity for if I should do so I should perceive myself to be the greatest of sinners."
    Said the elder: "O brother, whose goodness or whose faults considerest thou on these mountains, seeing there are no men here?"
    The younger answered: "I ought to consider the obedjence of the sun and the planets, for they serve their Creator better than I. But them I condemn, either because they give not light as I desire, or because their heat is too great, or there is too much or too little rain upon the ground." '
    Whereupon, hearing this, the elder said: "Brother, where hast thou learned this doctrine, for I am now ninety years old, for seventy-five years whereof I have been a Pharisee?"
    The younger answered: "O brother, thou sayest this in humility, for thou art a holy one of God. Yet I answer thee that
God our Creator looketh not on time, but looketh on the heart:
wherefore David, being fifteen years old, younger than his six breathen, was chosen king of Israel, and became a Prophet of GOD our LORD."
    Know ye what is the true Pharisee? HE is the oil of human nature. For even as oil resteth at the top of every liquor, so the goodness of the true Pharisee reseth at the top of all human goodness. He is the living book, which God gives to the world, for everything that he saith and doeth is according to the Law of God.