A natural reaction to this severity in keeping minute ordinances, alike narrow, fanatical, and unreasonable, produced another sect called the Sadducees,—­a revolutionary party with a more progressive spirit, which embraced the more cultivated and liberal part of the nation; a minority indeed,—­a small party as far as numbers went,—­but influential from the men of wealth, talent, and learning that belonged to it, containing as it did the nobility and gentry.  The members of this party refused to acknowledge any Oral Law transmitted from Moses, and held themselves bound only by the Written Law; they were indifferent to dogmas that had not reason or Scriptures to support them.  The writings of Moses have scarcely any recognition of a future life, and hence the Sadducees disbelieved in the resurrection of the dead,—­for which reason the Pharisees accused them of looseness in religious opinions.  They were more courteous and interesting than the great body of the people who favored the Pharisees, but were more luxurious in their habits of life.  They had more social but less religious pride than their rivals, among whom pride took the form of a gloomy austerity and a self-satisfied righteousness.

Another thing pertaining to divine worship which marked the Jews on their return from captivity was the establishment of synagogues, in which the law was expounded by the Scribes, whose business it was to study tradition, as embodied in the Talmud.  The Pharisees were the great patrons and teachers of these meetings, which became exceedingly numerous, especially in the cities.  There were at one time four hundred synagogues in Jerusalem alone.  To these the great body of the people resorted on the Sabbath, rather than to the Temple.  The synagogue, popular, convenient, and social, almost supplanted the Temple, except on grand occasions and festivals.  The Temple was for great ceremonies and celebrations, like a mediaeval cathedral,—­an object of pride and awe, adorned and glorious; the synagogue was a sort of church, humble and modest, for the use of the people in ordinary worship,—­a place of religious instruction, where decent strangers were allowed to address the meetings, and where social congratulations and inquiries were exchanged.  Hence, the synagogue represented the democratic element in Judaism, while it did not ignore the Temple.

Nearly contemporaneous with the synagogue was the Sanhedrim, or Grand Council, composed of seventy-one members, made up of elders, scribes, and priests,—­men learned in the law, both Pharisees and Sadducees.  It was the business of this aristocratic court to settle disputed texts of Scripture; also questions relating to marriage, inheritance, and contracts.  It met in one of the buildings connected with the Temple.  It was presided over by the high-priest, and was a dignified and powerful body, its decisions being binding on the Jews outside Palestine.  It was not unlike a great council in the early Christian Church for the settlement of theological questions, except that it was not temporary but permanent; and it was more ecclesiastical than civil.  Jesus was summoned before it for assuming to be the Messiah; Peter and John, for teaching false doctrine; and Paul, for transgressing the rules of the Temple.