obey so severe a rule, he passed from father to teacher. Every one of
us must love truth and make it his purpose to confute those who speak
falsehood; to keep his hands from stealing and his soul from unjust
gain. He must never conceal anything from a member of the order, nor
reveal its secrets to others, even if he should have to suffer death by
withholding them; and above all, while trying to engage proselytes he
must speak the doctrines only as he has heard them from us. Thou'lt
return perhaps to Jerusalem....

He broke off to speak to the brothers who were passing into the village
from their daily work, and presented Joseph as one who, shocked by the
service of the Sadducees in the Temple, had come desiring admission to
their order. At the news of a new adherent, the faces of the brothers
became joyous; for though the rule seems hard when related, they said,
in practice, even at first, it seems light enough, and soon we do not
feel it at all.

They were now on the outskirts of the village, and pointing to a cabin
the Essene told Joseph that he would sleep there and enter on the morrow
upon his probationship. But, Father, may I not hear more? If a brother
be found guilty of sin, will he be cast out of the order? The president
answered that if one having been admitted to their community committed
sins deserving of death, he was cast out and often perished by a most
wretched fate, for being bound by oath and customs he could not even
receive food from others but must eat grass, and with his body worn by
famine he perishes. Unless, the president added, we have pity on him at
the last breath and think he has suffered sufficiently for his sins.