^ft?»r;>***¥*tHirtt* CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY BOUGHT WITH THE INCOME OF THE SAGE ENDOWMENT FUND GIVEN IN 1891 BY HENRY WILLIAMS SAGE Cornell University Library BR45 .B21 1829 olin 3 1924 029 180 905 Cornell University Library The original of tliis book is in tlie Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924029180905 Jitn. 1S37. SERMONS PRINTED FOR AND SOLD BY J. G. & F. RIVINGTON, ST. PAUL'S CHURCH YARD, AND WATERLOO PLACE, PALL MALL, NEW VOLUMES. NEWMAN A Third Volume of Parochial Sermons. By the Rev. Joha Henry Newman, M.A. Vicar of St. Mary tbe Virgin's, Oxford, and Fellow of Oriel College. 8vo. 10s. 6d. *«* Lately Published, Vols. I. & 11. Second Edition. 8vo. Tl. Is. GIRDLESTONE.— Twenty Parochial Sermons, (Third Series) on particular occasions, for the most part referring to Charitable Collections. With an Appendix of Notes and Illustrations. BytheRey. 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The Second Edition, revised and enlarged. 8vo, 95 AN INQUIRY INTO THE HERESIES OF THE APOSTOLIC AGE, EIGHT SERMONS PREACHED BEFORE THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD, IN THE YEAR MDCCCXXIX. AT THE LECTURE FOUNDED BY THE REV. JOHN BAMPTON, M. A. CANON OF SALISBURY. BY THE REV. EDWARD BURTON, D. D. REGIUS PROFESSOR OF DIVINITY AND CANON OP CHRIST CHURCH. OXFORD, PRINTED BY SAMUEL COLLINGWOOD, PRINTER TO THE UNIVERSITY, FOR THE AUTHOR. SOLD BY J. PARKER; AND BY C. AND J. RIVINGTON, LONDON. MDCCCXXIX. CONTENTS. INTRODUCTION Page ix. LECTURE I. Subject proposed. An investigation into the early heresies will illustrate passages and expressions in the New Testament. The orthodoxy of these heretics has sometimes been maintained. Definition of the term Heresy, and its meaning as used by the Fathers. Not unreasonable that heresies should appear so early. Length of time which elapsed before the apostles quitted Ju- dsea. Brief sketch of the first propagation of Christianity, and particularly by St. Paul. Acts xx. 30. Ako of your otvn selves, shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them. - - - - i . LECTURE IL Means of ascertaining the doctrines of the early heretics. Necessity and utility of consulting the Fathers. The early here- tics were Gnostics. Outline of the Gnostic philosophy. It has been traced to three sources. Examination of two of them, the Eastern doctrine of two Principles, and the Jewish Cabbala. Col. ii. 8. Beware lest any man spmt you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. • - - - - - - 29. LECTURE III. Examination of the third and principal source, the Platonic philosophy. Effect of the foundation of Alexandria upon Gre- cian philosophy. Jews in Ale?fandria; Essenes. Rise of the iv CONTENTS. eclectic philosophy and of Gnosticism. Peculiar use of the term Knowledge. Allusions to this knowledge in the New Testament. I Tim. vi. 20, 3i. O Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust, avoiding profane and vain babblings, and oppositions of science falsely so called: which some prof essing have erred concerning the faith. 57. LECTURE IV. Simon Magus the parent of Gnostic heresies. His history. Doctrine of .^ons. Passages in the New Testament concerning ^ons. 2 Tim. iii. 13. Svil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived. - - - - - 87. LECTURE V. Tertullian mistaken concerning Elements. Opinion of the Gnostics concerning the Pleroma. Allusions to this opinion in the New Testament. Gnostics denied the inspiration of the prophets ; and the Resurrection. Heretics mentioned by name in the New Testament. Moral practice of the Gnostics of two opposite kinds. Fatal effect of their licentiousness upon Chris- tianity. Nicolaitans. Titus i. 16. They profess that they know God, but in works they deny Him. 119. LECTURE VL Opinions of the Gnostics concerning Jesus Christ. Docetae. AUuded to in the New Testament, and specially refuted by St. John. History of Cerinthus and Ebion. Explanation of the text. 1 John v. 6. This is he that came by water and blood, even Jesus Christ ; not by water only, but by water and blood. . - . . jcy. CONTENTS. V LECTURE VII. Gospel of St. John. That apostle accused of corrupting the Gospel. Justin Martyr defended from the charge of introducing Platonism. Pecuhar use of the term Logos by St. John. The term not so used in other parts of scripture, nor in the Targums. Date of St. John's writings. The term itself was borrowed from the Platonists or the Gnostics. St. John's intention in writing his Gospel. John xx. 31. These are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God ; and that believing ye might have life through his name. -------- 193. LECTURE VIII. Recapitulation. An acquaintance with early heresies may be of use in the Unitarian controversy. Mistakes of the Unitarians in appealing to the Ebionites. No heretic in the first century maintained the simple humanity of Christ. Theodotus. Paul of Samosata. SabeUius. Conclusion. Heb. X. 23. Let us holdfast the prof ession of our faith without wavering. 227. as EXTRACT FROM THE LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT OF THE REV. JOHN BAMPTON, CANON OF SALISBURY. " I give and bequeath my Lands and Estates to " the Chancellor, Masters, and Scholars of the University " of Oxford for ever, to have and to hold all and sin- " gular the said Lands or Estates upon trust, and to the " intents and purposes hereinafter mentioned ; that is to " say, I will and appoint that the Vice-Chancellor of the " University of Oxford for the time being shall take and " receive all the rents, issues, and profits thereof, and " (after all taxes, reparations, and necessary deductions " made) that he pay aU the remainder to the endowment " of eight Divinity Lecture Sermons, to be established for " ever in the said University, and to be performed in the " manner following : " I direct and appoint, that, upon the first Tuesday in " Easter Term, a Lecturer be yearly chosen by the Heads " of Colleges only, and by no others, in the room adjoin- " ing to the Printing-House, between the hours of ten in " the morning and two in the afternoon, to preach eight " Divinity Lecture Sermons, the year following, at St. " Mary's in Oxford, between the commencement of the " last month in Lent Term, and the end of the third week " in Act Term. a 4 viii EXTRACT FROM CANON BAMPTON'S WILL. " Also I direct and appoint, that the eight Divinity " Lecture Sermons shall be preached upon either of the " following Subjects — to confirm and establish the Chris- " tian Faith, and to confute aU heretics and schismatics « — upon the divine authority of the holy Scriptures — " upon the authority of the writings of the primitive Fa- " thers, as to the faith and practice of the primitive Chiurch 'f — upon the Divinity of our Lord and Saviour Jesus " Christ — upon the Divinity of the Holy Ghost — upon the " Articles of the Christian Faith, as comprehended in the " Apostles' and Nicene Creeds. " Also I direct, that thirty copies of the eight Divinity " Lecture Sermons shall be always printed, within two " months after they are preached, and one copy shall be " given to the Chancellor of the University, and one copy " to the Head of every College, and one copy to the Mayor " of the city of Oxford, and one copy to be put into the " Bodleian Library; and the expense of printing them shall " be paid out of the revenue of the Land or Estates given " for establishing the Divinity Lecture Sermons; and the " Preacher shall not be paid, nor be entitled to the revenue, " before they are printed. " Also I direct and appoint, that no person shall be "qualified to preach the Divinity Lecture Sermons, un- " less he hath taken the degree of Master of Arts at least, " in one of the two Universities of Oxford or Cambridge ; " and that the same person shall never preach the Divinity " Lecture Sermons twice." INTRODUCTION. X HE first of the following Lectures sufficiently explains the nature of the subject, which is proposed for discussion : and I shall employ this Introduction in giving some account of the authors^ whose works I hare either myself consulted, or a perusal of which is recommended as useful for making us acquainted with the heresies of the apostolic age. It is hardly necessary to observe, that the writings of the early Christians, who are commonly quoted under the name of the Fathers, constitute the most valuable authority upon this point *. They are in fact the only original works to which we can appeal : and though the minds of men will differ exceedingly as to the degree of credit which is to be given to the Fathers in particular instances, yet we cannot reject them altogether : and the most critical or most scep- tical reader must consent to receive the little which he ad- mits to be true in ecclesiastical history, upon the testimony of the Fathers. I do not mean to say that it is necessary to peruse all the patristical writings in order to obtain a knowledge of the early heresies. There are perhaps none of these works, which do not contain some scattered and incidental notices connected with this subject : and it would be rash to pronounce a decided opinion upon controverted points, or to give a critical delineation of heretical and orthodox belief, without some acquaintance at least with the Fathers of the three, or even the four, first centuries of the Christian era. Most of the professed heresiologists lived later than this period : and we generally find the most systematic classification, and the most detailed accounts, of heretics in the works of more recent writers. This is a circumstance, which requires us to read such works with » Id quoting from the Fathers, I list at the end of the last, volume of have always intended to refer to the Bishop Bull's Works, published at best editions, of which I have given a Oxford in 1827. X INTRODUCTION. caution: but even where they stand alone, we must not always entirely reject their statements: and although we may sometimes suspect them, and not unfrequently convict them of contradictions, they have often been the means of preserving information, which would otherwise have been lost ; and we must in fairness consider them not as always speaking the language of their own day, but as having copied from much older and more valuable documents. For a minute and critical account of the principal ancient writers, who have treated of heresies, I would refer to the work of Ittigius, de HeeresiarcMs (Evi Apostolici et Aposiolico pro- ximi, Lipsiae, 1690. from the Preface to which I have ex- tracted the greatest part of the following statement. Justin Martyr, in the former part of the second century, wrote a work against Marcion, and another against all here- sies : but neither of them has come down to us. The great work of Irenaus was directed, according to the Latin translation, against Heresies : but Eusebius and Photius, who have preserved the Greek title, represent it as being, A Refutation and Subversion of Knowledge falsely so called: which shews, as I shall observe in the course of these Lectures, that it was intended as a refuta- tion of the Gnostic heresies. It was in fact directed chiefly against the heresy of Valentinus : but the writer takes the opportunity of giving a short account of all the heretics who preceded him, beginning with Simon Magus. Irenaeus flourished about the year 185. The Greek original of his work is unfortunately lost, except the greater part of the first book and a few occasional fragments : but the whole of it is preserved in a very ancient Latin translation. The best edition was published by Massuet, at Paris, in 1710; and was reprinted at Venice in 1734, page for page, with some new fragments discovered at Turin, and edited by Pfaffius: but the genuineness of these fragments is ex- tremely doubtful. Tertullian, who flourished about the year 200, has left several works, which are of value in a history of heresies. He treated of all the heresies which preceded his own day, in INTRODUCTION. xi a Dissertation, entitled De FroBscriptione Hareticorurn : but the concluding part of this treatise, subsequent to the forty-fifth chapter, is now generally looked upon as a later addition. TertuUian also wrote against several particular heresies, as that of Hermogenes, who believed in the eter- nity of Matter ; of Valentinus and Marcion, who were two of the most distinguished Gnostics in the second century ; and of Praxeas, who was one of the earliest supporters of the Patripassian heresy. AH these treatises have come down to us : and it is impossible to have an adequate notion of the Gnostic doctrines without a perusal of the work against Valentinus, and the five books against Marcion. The best edition of TertuUian was published at Paris, in 1675, by Priorius ; though that in 6 volumes 8°. by Semler, Halae, 1770 — 6, is valuable as containing some additions to the tract de Oratione, which were discovered by Muratori. Phrlaster, or Philastrius, who was Bishop of Brescia about A. D, 380, drew up a small work, de Hceresibus, which has been published in different Bibliothecce Patrum, and sepa- rately in 1528, 1611, and 1721'': but it has been proved to contain many inaccuracies. We know from Augustin, that Jerom wrote a treatise upon heresies, though Augustin himself does not appear to have seen it. CI. Menardus published at Paris, in 1617, Indiculus de Hceresibus Judceorum, which was supposed by him to have been written by Jerom ; but good reasons have been alleged for thinking it spurious ; and the work itself is extremely short. The longest and most elaborate work which has come down to us upon ancient heresies, is that of Epiphanius, who was Bishop in the island of Cyprus, and flourished A.D. 368, It was published by Petavius, at Paris, in 1662, and reprinted with some few additions in 1682, at Leipsic, though ColonicE appears in the title-page. The authority of Epiphanius does not stand high ; and he must be allowed to have been a credulous writer, who did not exercise much ^ This edition is valuable ob ac- contain much information connected count of the notes of Fabricius, which with the early heretics. xii INTRODUCTION. judgment or criticism in the collection and arrangement of his materials. But still his work is indispensable to the ecclesiastical historian ; and it contains a mass of valuable information, much of which must have been taken from more ancient documents, and which certainly was not the produce of his own invention. Augustin, who lived in the same century with Jerom and Epiphahius, also wrote a short treatise upon heresies. He enumerates eighty-eight different sects, of which the Pela- gians are the last. The notices of each heresy are concise, and do not supply much new information. The work is to be found at the commencement of the eighth volume of the Benedictine edition of Augustin. . In the year 1643 J. Sirniondus published a work upon heresies, divided into three books, and bearing the name of Praedestinatus. The writer appears to have lived not long after the time of Augustin, and to have followed the same order in the enumeration of heresies. Various conjectures have been formed as to his real name. Some have supposed him to have been Primasius, an African bishop; others have attributed the work to Arnobius Junior, or to a per- son named Vincentius: but this must be looked upon. as a point which is still undecided. The author, whoever he may have been, had either access to some docuriients which had not been seen by the other writers, whose works have come down to us, or he added many particulars from his own. imagination. I should rather suspect the latter to have • been the case. The work has been republished in 1677 and 1686. The writer, who has treated the subject of heresies at most length, next to Epiphanius, is Theodoret, who was bishop of Cyrus in Syria, and composed a work; in five books against all heresies, about the year 452. It! may be found in the fourth volume of the edition of the works of Theodoret,' published at Paris by J. Sirmondus in 1642. This writer, though he is much more concise than Epiphanius, appears in many respects to be more deserving of credit. His sources of information were evidently not the same ; and he INTRODUCTION. xiii has given proofs of being a much more judicious and criti- cal compiler. Wherever Epiphanius and Theodoret differ, few persons would hesitate to follow the latter. Leontius of Byzantium, a writer of some note at the end of the sixth century, wrote a work de Sectis, which is di- vided into ten parts, and contains an account -of several early heresies. It has been published in 1578 by Leun- claviuSj and in the Bibliotheca Patrum, 1624, vol. I. p. 493. Isidorus, bishop of Hispala, who flourished A. D. 595, wrote a work entitled Origenes; and in the third, fourth, and fifth chapters of the eighth book, a description is given of all the early heresies. The best edition of the works of Isidorus is that of Du Breul, 1617. It is hardly necessary to mention the work of Anastasius, entitled Hodegus, which was composed towards the end of the sixth century ; and in the fourth chapter of which there is a brief enumeration of all the heresies down to the time of Nestorius. It may be found in the BiblioiheccB Patrum, and in fabricius, Bibl. Gr. vol. VII. p. 480. The same may be said of the circular Epistle written by Sophronius, patriarch of Jerusalem, about the year 629, in which he gives a long list of several heretics : but of some of them he mentions little more than the names. It may be found in the Collections of general Councils, and in Fabri- cius, Bibl. Gr. vol. VII. p. 483. A more detailed account of the early heresies was given by Tifflotheus, a presbyter of Constantinople, who is placed by different writers at the beginning of the sixth or seventh centuries. The object of his work was to describe the process of admitting heretics into the church. It was published by Meursius in 1619 : by Combefisius, in the second volume of his Auctarium Novum, Paris, 1648 ; and, lastly, by Co- telerius, in the third volume of his Monumenta Ecclesice GraccB, p. 377 : but this edition of the work differs very much from the preceding. John Damascenus, as he is generally called from his native place, Damascus, was one of the most distinguished xiv LNTRODUCTION. writers of the eighth century, and he has left a work of some length, which treats of all heresies. But the greater part of it is in fact nothing else than a compilation from Epiphanius ; and the account of the later heresies is alone the ori^nal work of Damascenus. The best edition of this author is that of Lequien, Paris, 1712. Rabanus Maurus, who wrote in the ninth century, has given a list of early heresies in the 58th chapter of the second book of his work de Clericorum Institutione : but he has evidently copied Isidorus of Hispala. We do not meet with any other heresiologist till the twelfth century, when Euthymius Zigabenus published his Panoplia DogmaUca Orihodoxce Fidei, in which the tenets of several heretics are refuted. The whole of this work has never been published in Greek : but copies of it exist in the Bodleian and other libraries, Zonaras, who flourished at the beginning of the same century, composed, among many other works, a Tract, en- titled Canon in Sanctissimam Deipa/ram, in which he briefly refutes several heresies. It was published for the flrst time entire by Cotelerius, in his Monumenta Ecclesice GrmccB, vol. III. p. 4)65. In the same century, Honorius, a presbyter of Aucun in Burgundy, composed a work upon Heresies, which was published at Basle in 1544: at Helmstadt in 1611: and in the Bibliotheca Patrum, 1618. vol. XII. p. 1009. and Constantinus Harmenopulus wrote a book de Sectis Hareticis, which was published by Pronto Ducaeus, in his Auctuariitm, 1624. vol. I. p. 533. Nicetas Choniates, (whose history of the emperors of Constantinople is well known among the works of the By- zantine historians, and who fled to Nice in Bithynia, when Constantinople was taken by the Crusaders,) wrote also a long work in twenty-seven books, entitled Thesaurus Or- ihodoxce Fidei. The five first books were published in Latin by P. Morellus in 1580, but the Greek has never yet appeared in print, though MSS. of the entire work are preserved in the Bodleian and in the Laurentian library at INTRODUCTION. xv Florence. Tlie fourth book contains an account of forty- four heresies, which preceded the time of Arius. It is hardly necessary to mention the works of later 'writers, who from the time at which they lived cannot be quoted with any confidence, when they differ from more ancient authors. Some of them, however, if they did not altogether invent the facts which they have recorded, must have had access to older works which are now lost. Itti- gius mentions the names of the following writers who have given an account of early heresies : Guido de Perpiniano, (A. D. 1330.) Matthaeus Blastares, (A, D. 1335.) Bern- hardus Luxenburgensis, (A. D. 1520.) Gabriel Prateoli, (A. D. 1570.) Alphonsus a Castro, (A. D. 1540.) Theo- dorus Petreius, (A. D. 1594.) Bonaventura Malvasia, and Daniel Cramerus. For the whole of this list of heresiologists, I am greatly indebted to the work of Ittigius, already referred to, and to the laborious collections of Fabricius and Cave. The history of early heresies has been illustrated by se- veral modern writers, who have either undertaken to com- pose a general ecclesiastical history, or have applied them- selves specifically to a consideration of the subject, which occupies the following pages. In the department of eccle- aastical history, our own country does not hold so conspi- cuous a place as in some other branches of theological learn- ing:- and the French and German writers have perhaps been most laborious and most successful in throwing light upon those early times. I need only rnention the names of Du Pin, Tillemont, and Mosheim : but the work of Tille- mont, entitled M^moires pour servir a THistoire ecclesias- tique des six premiers Siecles, will be found particularly va- luable in an inquiry like the present. The reader will not want to be reminded, that the author of these Mimoires was a member of the Romish church : but Tillemont was not only an indefatigable compiler and scrupulous in giving references, but his candour and liberality are often worthy of admiration ; and it i& evident that he would have spoken more plainly, and given a more critical decision, upon some xvi INTRODUCTION. occasions, if he had not been fettered by the decrees of his own credulous church. For a copious list of modern ecclesiastical historians, I would refer to Fabricius, Bibliotheca Grasca, vol. XII, p. 161. and Salutaris Lux Evangelii, &c. c. V. p. 64, Ittigius, Historice Ecclesiastics primi a Christo nato secidi ' selecta Capita, {Prcpf.) Weismannus, Hist. Ecelesiastica Novi Testamenti, p. 28. The name and the writings of Mosheim are too illus- trious to require much comment : but if TUlemont and the French historians were warped by the spirit of Romanism, Mosheim and others of his school are to be read with cau- tion, as having been influenced by that love of scepticism, which has shewn itself so much more openly and more dan- gerously in the German divines of our own day. I would observe also, that the Ecclesiastical History of Mosheim, which is more known and studied in this country than any of his other works, is by far the least satisfactory as record- ing the state of the church in the first century. That inter- esting and momentous period occupies only 146 pages in the English translation of the work: and it is to be re- gretted that an account, which is so meagre and superficial, has not 'been superseded by some history in our own lan- guage, which is written more in detail, and in a spirit more congenial with the forms and institutions of our own churchj There are however two other works of Mosheim, which de- serve much greater praise, and much more attention than they commonly meet with in this country. These are In- stitutiones HistbricB Christianee Majores, and De Rebus Christianorum ante Constantinum Magnum Commentarii. The first contains a very elaborate and detailed account of the affairs of the church in the first century : and it was the intention of the author to have illustrated the history of the six first centuries on the same plan : but this scheme was never completed. The other work, as the title implies, records the events of the three first centuries, and of about, twenty-five years of the fourth century. The reader of ecclesiastical history will find every point connected with INTRODUCTION. xvii those times illustrated in these two works. The most co- pious and accurate references are given to original writers : every fact and every statement is submitted to the rhost minute and rigid criticism : and though a member of the Church of England will sometimes think, that the con- clusions of Mosheim are erroneous, I should be unwilling to suppose that he did not mean to be strictly impartial, and that he was not guided by a sincere love of truth. I would also observe, that Mosheim published several disser- tations upon subjects connected with ecclesiastical history, which have been collected into two volumes, and published for the second time with considerable additions in 1767. It is impossible to speak too highly of the use and importance of these admirable dissertations. There is an ecclesiastical history now in progress in Ger- many, which promises to be of considerable value in this department of theology. I allude to the Allgemeine Geschichte der Christlichen Religion und Kirche, pub- lished at Hamburg by Dr. Aug. Neander. The first part of the second volume has already appeared, which carries the history nearly to the end of the fourth century. I have derived no small advantage from this learned work in composing the Notes to the following Lectures ; and it is to be hoped, that, when completed, the whole will be trans- lated into English. The writer is a theorist, as are many of his countrymen ; and I could wish that some of his ob- servations had not been made : but he has investigated with great patience of research, and with a very ori^nal train of thought, the early history of the church ; and if he carries into execution, what he has partly promised to undertake, a full and special history of the church in the time of the apostles, he will probably confer a lasting benefit on litera^ ture in general. I may now mention the names of some other writers, who have directed their attention particularly to the history of early heresies. The first place is deservedly claimed by Ittigius, to whose work I have already referred, de Hare- siarcMs aim, ApostoUci et Apostolico proximi, seu primi et h xviii INTRODUCTION. secundi a Cfmsto nato Seculi Dissertatio, Ljpsise, 1690. This laborious and valuable work is directed specifically to the investigation of the subject, which I have proposed for discussion in these Lectures; and it would be endless to point out the benefit which I have derived from a perusal of it. Ittigius also published Histories Ecclesiastical primi a Christo nato Seculi selecta. Capita, Lipsias, 1709; the fifth chapter of which contains an account of the early heresies, with some additional observations, which were not in the former work. I would next mention the work of Buddeus, entitled, Ec- clesia Apostolica, Jense, 1729. which contains a minute and critical account of all the heresies of the first century. There is also another treatise by the same author, Dissertatio de HcBresi Vdlentiniana, which though belonging more pro- perly to the history of the second century, is of consider- able service in the present investigation. The following work of Colbergius will be found to con- tain much useful information, de Origvne et Progresstl Hwresium et Errorum in Ecclesia. 1694. Van Till also wrote a short treatise de primi ScecuU AdA versariis, which is closely connected with this subject, and which forms the preface to his Commentarius in IV. PaiM Epistolas. Amsterdam, 1726. The work of Fabricius, entitled, Salutaris Lux Evani gelii toti orbi exoriens, Hamburgi, 1731, contains a fund of information concerning the early history of the Gospel. The eighth chapter is especially devoted to a consideration of the philosophers and heretics who opposed the rise of Christianity : but the heresies are discussed very briefly.- The same may be said in some respects of the work of Weismannus, entitled, Introductio in ynemorahilia ecclesi^ astica Historic sacrcs Novi Testamenti, or Historia ecch. siastica Novi Testamenti, though the References to other writers are by no means so copious. The thirty^fourth section in the first century is devoted to a History of the Heresies of the apostolic Age. The Prolegomena of Lampe to his Commentarius ana- INTRODUCTION. xix lytico-exegeticiis Evangelii secundum Jocmnem, Amster- dam, 1724, contains nearly all the information which we possess concerning the thirty last years of the first century. It deserves to be read with great attention, though I can- not but look upon maipy of the conclusions as erroneous. The name ofVitringa is well known in several depart- ments of theological learning: but I would confine myself at present to his Observationes SacrcB, the best edition of which was printed in three volumes at Amsterdiam in 1727. This work contains dissertations upon various subjects : and in the following Lectures I have availed myself of those de Sephirdth KabbaMsfarum, (vol.1, p. 125.) de Occasione et ScopoProhgi EvangeM Joannis Apostoli, (vol. II. p. 122.) de Statu EcctesicB ChrisUance a Nerone ad Trqjdm/um, (vol. III. p. 900.) de HtBresibus natis in Ecclesia Apo- stolica, (p. 922.) The following works I have either not been able to meet with, and am indebted for a knowledge of their titles to Mosheim, or I am acquainted with them only by partial and occasional reference, as not being immediately con- nected with the subject under discussion. Voigtius, BibUotheca Hceresiologica. LangiuSj Heeresiologia scbcuU post Christum primi et Pfaflius, Institutiones HistoricB Ecclesiasticce sceculi primi, Hartmannus, de Rebus gestis Christicmorum sub Apo- stolis. 1699. 1710. Dodwell, Dissertatkmes in Irenaum. Alstedius, Chronol. Hares. A further account of these and other works connected with the history of heresy may be seen in Mosheim, Instit. Maj. p. 322. ; and still more copiously in Sagittarius, In- troductio ad Hisioriam Ecclesice, tom. I. p. 812 ; torn. II. p. 655. Also in Walchius, BibUotheca Theohgica, c. VII. sect. 10. vol. III. p. 742. There is also a work written in Italian by Travasa, en- titled, Istoria Critica delle Viie degli Eresiwrchi del prima b2 XX INTRODUCTION. secoh; and another in German by Godf. Arnold, entitled, UnpartJieyische Kirchen und Ketzer Historie von Anfang desNeuen Testaments bis aivfdas JaArCAmii, 1688, Frank- fort, 1700-15, or An impartial History of the Church and of Heretics from the commencement of the New Testament to the year of Christ 1688. The latter work has been greatly extolled by some writers, and as vehemently con- demned by others, according as they have approved or dis- approved of the liberal and philosophical spirit which ap- pears to have influenced the author <=. Another German work may also be mentioned, which will perhaps be thought less objectionable, Entwurfeimer vollstdndigen Historie der Kezereien, 8^c. or Sketch of a complete History of Heresies, Sfc. by C W. F. Walchs, Leipsic, 1762, &c. in eleven volumes, the first of which contains an account of the early heresies. To many persons it is needless to mention the collection of Dissertations in four volumes folio, which form so valu- able an appendix to the Critici Sacri. In investigating the hjeresies of the Apostolic age, I have been . particularly inr debted to the Dissertation of J. S. Saubertus de voceAoyo(, of B. Stolbergius de Agapis, of E. R. Rothius, de JVisco-| laitis, and of J. M. Langius de Genealogiis nunquami finiendis, Sgc. and some others, to which I have referred in the course of these Lectures. An inquiry into the heresies of the first century migh|| appear to exclude a consideration of the tenets of the Ma- nichees. But though Manes, or Manichaeus, who gave the name to these heretics, did not appear till the end of the third century, it is well known that the tenets which he; espoused had been held before under different namesi There is a work upon this particular subject, which may be recommended to the attention of the reader, and which throws light upon the history of many heretics who pre- ceded Manes. I allude to the treatise of J. Ch. Wolfius, entitled, MamichcBismus ante Manichceos, Hamburg!, 1707; « Mosheim has given an account of this work, Instit. Maj. p. 329. INTRODUCTION. xxi 'which in addition to much valuable information, and many judicious reflections, contains copious and accurate refer- ences to the works of other writers. There is another work, which is indispensable in the his- tory of Manicheism, and which is full of information upon many points connected with earlier heresies. This is the well-known work of Beausobre, in two volumes 4°. Histoire critique de MwnicMe et du McmicMisme, Amsterdam, 1734. This may truly be characterized as one of the most extraor- dinary productions which ever came from the pen of a writer, who professed to be a believer in the truth of the Gospel. We have no right to doubt, whether this was the case with M. De Beausobre : and yet there never was a work, which required from us a largier portion of charity, when form- ing a judgment of the author's reli^ous belief; or which should be read with greater caution, both for the principles which it inculcates and the conclusions which it draws. The object of Beausobre may be described in a few words to have been, to depreciate the Fathers, and to prove that their statements are worthy of no credit ; while on the other hand he justified the tenets and the conduct of every here- tic, and shewed that their characters had been most unjustly calumniated. To a certain extent, and within certain limits, such an attempt is serviceable and even praiseworthy. I am most willing to admit, that the Fathers have in many cases misrepresented the early heretics, and circulated ca- ■ lumnies concerning their enormities. Beausobre has shewn the most unwearied industry, and the most profound criti- cal acuteness, in detecting these falsehoods, and in placing several points of history in a new and a truer light : but it would be an outrage upon historical candour and upon philosophical criticism to deny that he has often run into paradox, and that he has sometimes laboured to defend his favourite heretics at the expense of truth. I am aware, that the present age lays claim to particular merit for dis- carding prejudices, and for casting off the shackles of au- thority in matters of ecclesiastical antiquity. There is an air of sincerity, as well as of originality, in the declaration bS xxii INTRODUCTION. of a modern writer, who says, " I must a«knovsrlfedge a con- " sciousness of something hke a bias in favour of a heretic, " whether ancient or modern 86Kaere<7(^i)xP"''^''ar of Alexandria and Eusebius. The r^s'lepm>craKrin(y. 18.) Whe- former quotes the words of our ther this tradition rested upon Saviour from the apocryphal fact, or was a mere invention; work, called the Preaching of (founded perhaps upon a forced Peter, iav fiev oiv Tis BeKqirri rov construction of Acts i. 4.) Jeru- 'IcrpafjKiuravofja-aijSiaTovovoiiaTos salem must have been taken for funi moTfveiv ini tov Qeov, caf>e6{)r Judeea, including Samaria : for ■ Herod's persecution, which The money collected at Antioch took place in 44, may have dis- may have been sent to the pres- persed the apostles. That they byters, because it was their were .absent from Jerusalem, business to superintend the dis- when . St. Paul went thither, tribution of it by the deacons. (Acts xi. 30.) is ably argued by The apostles might stiU have Lord Baxrington,.(Essay II. 3. been at Jerusalem, but this I. Vol. II. p. 140.) and by Mr. was not their office. See Acts Hinds in his History of the vi. 2. Rise &c. of Christianity. (Vol. ^ See Fabricius, Lux Evan- I. p. 350.) But this argument gelii toti orbi exoriens, c. 5. p. from the word presbyter in v. 94. 30. is not perhaps conclusive. c 3 22 LECTURE I. of that vast concourse of foreign Jews, who were present at the following Pentecost. In those days, when thousands, or rather millions of Jews, were settled in co\mtries remote from Judsea, it is plaiii that only the most zealous would observe the ancient custom of attending the mother city at the great fes- tivals '. It is natural also to suppose, that some of these persons, after performing so long a pilgrimage, would stay at Jerusalem, not only for the Passover, but would remain there a few weeks, so as to be present also at the feast of Pentecost. We know, that on the day of Pentecost, which followed the crucifixion of Jesus, 3000 persons were baptized: part of these must iave been Jews, who cattie from a distance "* : and it is probable, that some of them had been present at the conversation with Jesus, which St. John records, and that many of them had witnessed the crucifixioti. When these men re- turned to their several homes, both those that were baptife;ed, and those that were not, they would relate the wonderful things which they had seen and heard; and within a few weeks after the day of Pentecost, men believing the gospel would be found in Persia and Cyrenaica, in Rome arid in Arabia. (Acts ii. 9— %i.) The next event, which contributed to the propa- gation of the Gospel, was the persecution which fol- lowed upon the death of Stephen, when we read that they were all scattered abroad throughout the re- gions qfJudcea and Samaria: (Acts viii. 1.) but it is added, except the apostles. We learn afterwards, that Judsea and Samaria were not the only places to which these persecuted believers fled. (xi. 19.) The inhabitants of those countries escaped to their LECTURE I. 23 own homes : but among the Jews, who had come from a greater distance, and had been converted, some, we are told, belonged to Cyprus and Cyrene, as well as to the nearer places of Phoenicia and An- tioch. All these appear at first to have fled to An- tioch, (xi. 19. 20.) and to have stayed there some time preaching the gospel in that populous and wealthy capital. At length however they would return to iiheir homes : and the Christian doctrines would be spread by their mouths in Cyprus and CjTene. Of Cyrene we hear nothing more in the New Testa- ment * ; nor of Cyprus; till St. Paul visited it in his first journey^. It has been thought indeed, from the vicinity of this island to the coast of Cilicia, that St. Paul may have gone thither during his tong resi- dence at Tarsus. But this is mere conjecture. The Acts of the Apostles leave St. Paul at Tarsus in the » The Rufas, who was at Rome, when St. Paul wrote to the Romans, (xvi. 13.) has been supposed to be the same with the son of Simon of Cyrene, Who is mentioned by St. Mark, XV. 2 1 . If sb, Chris- tianity may have been carried by Simon to his native country, when he returned thither : but the mother of Riifiis appears to have resided at Rome together with her son. *" Barnabas was a native of Cyprus ; (Acts iv. 36.) and it might have been thought, that he was among those persons of Cyprus and Cyrene, who are Said to have gone to Antioch after the death of Stephen, (xi. 19. 20.) But we find in the same passage, that when those persons had collected a large body of believers at Antioch, Barnabas was sent by the apo- stles from Jerusalem to that city. (22.) This was about twelve years after the conver- sion of Barnabas; and we know nothing of his history during that period. It is not impro- bable, that he paid a visit to his native country : though if the laiid, which he sold, was in Cyprus, (iv. 37.) he would have less interest in residing there; But being a Levite, (ib; 36.) he w£is probably a settled inhabit- ant of Je^salem,, though his family was of Cyprus, and he himself may have been born there. It is plain, that he felt an interest in the spiritual con- cerns of the people of Cyprus. (XV. 39.) C 4 M LECTURE I. third year after his conversion ; (ix. 30.) and ten years afterwards we find him still at Tarsus, when Barnabas went thither and brought him to Antioch. During this period the gospel was making its way in many parts of the three quarters of the worldj though as yet none of the apostles had travelled beyond Judaea : and when we come to consider the state of philosojjhy at that time, and the fashion Which prevailed of catching at any thing new, and of uniting discordant elements into fanciful systems, we shall not be surprised to find the doctrines of the gospel disguised and altered ; and that according to the language of that age many new heresies were formed. The gospel in those days and in those coun- tries may be compared to small vessels drifting with- out a pilot, where conflicting currents altered their course, and rocks and shoals awaited them on every side. In the midst of such dangers we cannot won- der that many were carried about with every wind of doctrine, (Eph. iv. 14.) and that some made ship- wreck of their faith. (1 Tim. i. 19.) The example of Rome, the seat of empire and of science, may serve to illustrate what has here been said. We read, that among the multitudes assem- bled at Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost, there were strangers of Rome, both Jews and proselytes^., (Acts ii. 10.) i. e. descendants of Abraham, who lived at Rome, and inhabitants of Rome, who were Jewish proselytes. There can be no doubt, that all these men would carry back with them a report of what had happened at Jerusalem : and some of them would carry also the doctrines which they had em- braced. From this time we have scarcely any men- tion of Rome in the Acts of the Apostles, till St. LECTURE I. 25 Paul arrived there as a prisoner twenty-five years after our Lord's ascension. It seems almost demon- strable, that no apostle had preceded him in a visit to that city"^: and it is equally plain, that Chris- tianity had made great progress there long before his arrival'': we cannot therefore wonder, when the masters of the field were so long absent, if many tares grew up together with the wheat. We know what was the case at Corinth, where the great apostle himself planted the church, (1 Cor. iii. 6, 10. iv. 15.) and at his first visit continued a year and six months teaching the word of God among them: (Acts xviii. 11.) and yet in the fourth year ■^ This may be inferred from Romans i. 1 1 . where St. Paul says. For I long to see you, that I may impart unto you some spi- ritual gift. The xop''<'"/^• Those, persons who express were likely to have noticed it. surprise at finding so little men- The only persons wtom we tion of Christianity in heathen could name in the historical authors, have not perhaps con- department, between the death sidered how few writers there of Christ and the end of the were in the first century who century, were Valerius Maxi- LECTURE II. 33 those that are preferred, it is difficult to pronounce whether the term classical is, or ought to be, applied to them. But thus much appears certain, that the Christian writers of the second century do not come under that description. In this, perhaps* there is more of chance than of rational or systematic classi- fication. If the second century, instead of the fourth, had witnessed the conversion of the Roman goyern- ment, the Fathers of the Christian Church might have been ranked among the classics : or if, from defect of style, this name had been denied them, there is no reason why Justin Martyr, Irenseus, and Clement of Alexandria, might not have held as high a rank in literature as Plutarch, Lucian, or Athe- naeus. If style and language are to decide the ques- tion, the Christian Fathers need not fear the test. Both parties may have drawn from the same cor- rupted soiu-ces of eloquence ; but Justin Martyr is much less obscure than Plutarch, and decency is at least not outraged by the Christian Avriters. If depth of argument be required, Irenaeus is as close and as convincing a reasoner as his heathen contem- poraries : and if the lighter reader loves to gather in Athenaeus the flowers of ancient poetry, he may gratify the same taste in the amusing and diversified pages of Clement of Alexandria. The Christian Fathers are not surely neglected, because, abandon- mus, Q. Curtius, Tacitus, and in the same period were Petro- Suetonius : and of these, ' the nius Arbiter, Pomponius Mela, two last are the only persons L. A. Senecaj Pliny Senior, "who, from their date, or the QuintiUan,Epictetus,DioChrys- subject of their histories, would ostom, and Pliny ■Junior. The have been likely to notice the poets' were Persius, Lucan, Si- Christians ; and the greater lius Italicus, Val: Flaccus, Sta- part of the history of Tacitus tius, Juvenal, and Martial, is lost. The other prose writers D 34 LECTURE II. ing the speculations of men, they give us truths which are revealed from heaven : or if philosophical opinions have so great a charm, and if we must know the systems and the fancies which one man has invented and another has destroyed, there never was a greater record of intellectual absurdity than the history of Gnosticism. It will be said, perhaps, that the absurdity of a system is not exactly the point which we should choose, to recommend its study. But if we would know the human mind, we must observe its failings and aberrations, as well as its more successful flights. History, it has been said, is only a record of the vices and cruelties of mankind : and if man had never erred in the pursuits of science, the his- tory of philosophy would be reduced to a narrow compass. Gnosticism, it is true, is pregnant with absurdities : but this can be no argument against the study of it, when volumes have been written to explain the follies of Epicurus ; or when the mazes in which Plato has involved his unintelligible re- finements, are held up as speculations almost too sublime for unassisted reason^. I do not say that Gnosticism deserves to be studied on its own ac- count. We might well forget that our fellow-beings had ever devised so wild and irrational a scheme : but if the rise of Gnosticism was contemporary with that of the gospel, and if the apostles felt themselves called upon to oppose its progress, it thenceforward assumes a kind of dignity from the contact, and we wish to be acquainted with doctrines which occupied the attention of St. Paul and St. John. ' See Dacier's translation of the works of Plato. Epit. dedicat. LECTURE 11. 35 In attempting to give an account of these doc- trines, I must begin with observing, what we shall see more plainly, when we trace the causes of Gnos- ticism, that it was not by any means a new and dis- tinct philosophy, but made up of selections from almost every system. Thus we find in it the Pla- tonic doctrine of Ideas, and the notion that every thing in this lower world has a celestial and imma- terial archetype We find in it evident traces of that mystical and cabbalistic jargon which, after their return from captivity, deformed the religion of the Jews : and many Gnostics adopted the oriental no- tion of two independent coeternal principles, the one the author of good, the other of evil. Lastly, we find the Gnostic theology full of ideas and terms, which must have been taken from the gospel : and Jesus Christ, under some form or other, of Mon, emanation, or incorporeal phantom, enters into all their systems, and is the means of communicating to them that knowledge, which raised them above all other mortals, and entitled them to their peculiar name. The genius and very soul of Gnosticism was mystery : its end and object was to purify its fol- lower's from the corruptions of Matter, and to raise them to a higher scale of being, suited only to those who were become perfect by knowledge. We have a key to many parts of their system, when we know that they held Matter to be intrin- secally evil, of which consequently God could not be the author. Hence arose their fundamental tenetj that the Creator of the world, or Demiurgus, was not the same with the supreme God, the author of good, and the father of Christ. Their system al- lowed some of them to call the Creator God: but D 2 36 LECTURE II. the title most usually given to him was Demiurgus. Those, who embraced the doctrine of two princi- ples, supposed the world to have been produced by the evil principle: and in most systems, the Creator, though not the father of Christ, was looked upon as the God of the Jews, and the author of the Mosaic law. Some again believed, that angels were em- ployed in creating the world : but all were agreed in maintaining, that matter itself was not created ; that it was eternal ; and remained inactive, till dispositam, quisquis fuit ille Deorum, Congeriem secuit, sectamque in membra rfedegit. Ovid. Metam. I. 32. The supreme God had dwelt from all eternity in a Pleroma of inaccessible Light ; and beside the name of first Father, or first Principle, they called him also Sythus, as if to denote the ixnfathomable na- ture of his perfections. This Being, by an operation purely mental, or by acting upon himself, produced two other beings of diffierent sexes, from whom by a series of descents, more or less numerous according to different schemes, several pairs of beings were formed, who were called ^ons from the periods of their existence before time was, or Emanations from the mode of their production. These successive jEons or Emanations appear to have been inferior each to the preceding ; and their existence was in- dispensable to the Gnostic scheme, that they might account for the creation of the world without mak- ing God the author of evil. These iEons lived through countless ages with their first Father : but the system of emanations seems to have resembled that of concentric circles ; and they gradually de- teriorated, as they approached nearer and nearer to LECTURE II. 37 the extremity of the Pleroma. Beyond this Pleroma was Matter, inert and powerless, though coeternal with the supreme God, and like him without be- ginning. At length one of the iEons passed the limits of the Pleroma, and meeting with Matter created the world after the form and model of an ideal world, which existed in the Pleroma or in the mind of the supreme God. Here it is, that incon- sistency is added to absurdity in the Gnostic scheme. For let the intermediate JSons be as many as the wildest imagination could devise, still God was the remote, if not the proximate cause of creation. Added to which, we are to suppose that the Demi- urgus formed the world without the knowledge of God, and that having formed it he rebelled against hiin. Here again we find a strong resemblance to the Oriental doctrine of two Principles, Good and Evil, or Light and Darkness. The two Principles were always at enmity with each other. God must have been conceived to be more powerful than Mat- ter, or an emanation from God could not have shaped and motdded it into form : yet God was not able to reduce Matter to its primeval chaos, nor to destroy the evil which the Demiurgus had produced. What God could not prevent, he was always endea- vouring to cure : and here it is, that the Gnostics borrowed so largely from the Christian scheme. The names indeed of several of their Mons were evidently taken from terms which they found in the gospel. Thus we meet with Logos, Monogenes, Zoe, JEcclesia, all of them successive emanations from the supreme God, and all dwelling in the Ple- roma. At length we meet with Christ and the Holy Ghost, as two of the last ^ons which were D 3 38 LECTURE II. put forth. Christ was sent into the world to remedy the evil which the creative ^on or Demitirgus had caused. He was to emancipate men from the ty- ranny of Matter, or of the evil Principle ; and by revealing to them the true God, who was hitherto unknown^, to fit them by a perfection and sublimity of knowledge to enter the divine Pleroma. To give this knowledge was the end and object of Christ's coming upon earth: and hence the inventors and believers of the doctrine assumed to themselves the name of Gnostics^. In all their notions concerning Christ, we still find them struggling with the same difficulty of reconciling the author of good with the existence of evil. Christ, as being an emanation from God, could have no real connection with matter. Yet the Christ of the Gnostics was held out to be the same with him who was revealed in the gospel : and it was notorious, that he was revealed as the son of Mary, who appeared in a human form. The methods which they took to extricate themselves from the difficulty were principally two. They either denied that Christ had a real body at all, and held that he was an unsubstantial phantom ; or granting that ' It was a leading tenet of " sive de ces Emanations, r6- Gnosticism, that the supreme " demption et retour vers la God was tinfenown before the " puret6duCr6ateur,r6tablisse- coming of Christ : and this may " ment de lai primitive har- perhaps throw some light upori " monie de tous les fitres, vie the altar to the unknown' Gad, " heureuse et vraiment divine ayvaara Qe^, which St. Paul " de tous dans le sein m6me found at Athens, (Acts xvii. " de Dieu : voilk les enseigne- 33.) and which is also men- "mens fondamentaux 'dia tioned by Lucian. " GnostiGisme." Matter, Hist. B " Emanation du sein de Critique du Gnosticisme. Introd. " Dieu de tous les 6tres ispiri- vol. I. p. 18. " tuels, d6g6n6ration progres- LECTURE II. 39 tiiere was a man called Jesus, the son of hiunan parents, they believed that one of the iEons, called Christ, quitted the Pleroma, and descended upon Jesus at his baptism. It is not difficult to see how the scriptures would be perverted to support both these notions : though if we are right in assigning so early a date to the rise of Gnosticism, it was rather the preaching of the apostles, which was perverted, than their written doctrines : and from what was stated in my former Lecture, concerning the progress of the gospel in distant countries which the apostles had not yet visited, we can easily im- derstand, that truth would be mixed; with, error, and that the mysterious doctrines would be most likely to suffer from the contact. We have seen, that the God, who was the father or progenitor of Christ, was not considered to be the creator of the world. Neither was he the God of the Old Testament, and the giver of the Mosaic law. This notion was supported by the same ar- guments which infidels have often urged, that the God of the Jews is represented as a God of ven- geance and of cruelty: but it was also a natural consequence of their fundamental principle, that the author of good cannot in any manner be the author of evil. In accordance with this notion^ we find all the Gnostics agreed in rejecting the Jewish scrip- tures, or at least in treating them with, contempt. Since they held, that the supreme God was revealed for the first time to mankind by Christ, he" could not have been the God who inspired the prophets : and yet with that strange inconsistency, which we have already observed in thena, they appealed to these very scriptures;. in support of th^ir own doc- D 4 40 LECTURE II. trines. They believed the prophets to have been inspired by the same creative Mon, or the same Principle of evil, which acted originally upon mat- ter : and if their writings had come down to us, we should perhaps find them arguing, that though the prophets were n6t inspired by the supreme God, they still could not help giving utterance to truths. , Their same abhorrence of matter, and their same notion concerning that purity of knowledge, which Christ came upon earth to impart, led them to re- ject the Christian doctrines of a future resurrection and a general judgment. They seem to have under- stood the apostles as preaching liteirally a resurrec- tion of the body: and it is certain, that the Fathers insisted upon this very strongly as an article of be- lief. But to imagine, that the body, a mass of cre- ated and corruptible matter, could ever enter into hea- 'ven, into that Pleroma which was the dwelling of the supreme God, was a notion which violated the fundamental principle of the Gnostics. According to their scheme, no resurrection was necessary, much less a final judgment. The Gnostic, the man who had attained to perfect knowledge, was gradually emancipated from the grossness of matter, and by an imperceptible transition, which none but a Gnos- tic could comprehend, he was raised to be an inha- bitant of the divine Pleroma. If we would know the effect, which the doctrines of the Gnostics had upon their moral conduct, we shall find that the same principle led to two very op- posite results. Though the Fathers may have ex- aggerated the errors of their opponents, it seems un- deniable, that many Gnostics led profligate lives,- and maintained upon principle that such conduct was LECTURE II. 41 not unlawful. Others again are represented as prac- tising great austerities, and endeavouring by every means to mortify the body and its sensual appetites. Both parties were actuated by the same common notion, that matter is inherently evil. The one thought that the body, which is compounded of matter, ought to be kept in subjection ; and hence they inculcated self-denial, and the practice of moral virtue : while others, who had persuaded themselves that knowledge was every thing, despised the dis- tinctions of the moral law, which was given, as they said, not by the supreme God, but by an inferior ^on, or a principle of evil, who had allied himself with matter. Such are the leading doctrines of the Gnostics, both concerning their theology and their moral prac- tice. The sketch, which I have given, is short and imperfect; and a system of mysticism, which is always difficult to be explained, is rendered still more obscure when we have to extract it from the writ- ings of its opponents. The System, as I have said, was stated to have begun with Simon Magus ; by which I would understand, that the system of uniting Christianity with Gnosticism began with that he- retic '' : for the seeds of Gnosticism, as we shall see presently, had been sown long before. What Simon Magus began, was brought nearly to perfection by Valentinus, who came to Rome in the former part of the second century : and what we know of Gnos- ticism, is taken principally from writers who opposed Valentinus. Contemporary with him there were many other Gnostic leaders, who held different opin- '■ See Siricius, de Simone Mago, Disq. I. Thes. 65. p. 58. 42 LECTURE II. ions : but in the sketch, which I have given, I have endeavoured to explain those principles, which under certain modifications were common to all the Gnos- tics. That the supreme God, or the Good Principle, was not the Creator of the world, but that it was created by an evil, or at least by an inferior Being ; that God produced from himself a succession of ^ons, or Emanations, who dwelt with him in the Pleroma; that one of these iEons was Christ, who c^me upon earth to reveal the knowledge of the true God; that he was not incarnate, but either assumed an unsub- stantial body, or descended upon Jesus at his bap- tism ; that the God of the Old Testament was not the father of Jesus Christ ; and that the prophet were not inspired by the supreme God ; that there was no resurrection or final judgment; this is an outline of the Gnostic tenets, as acknowledged by nearly all of them ; and it will be my object to con- sider whether there are allusions to these doctrines in the apostolic writings. These writings are in fact the only contemporary documents to which we can appeal for the first cen- tury. The brief Epistles of Ignatius may contain a few facts connected with the end of that century, and the beginning of the next ; and the writings of Justin Martyr, (though his work directed expressly against Marcion and other heretics is unfortunately lostS) may throw light upon many points disputed between the Christians aud the Gnostics. But the work of Irenaeus, which was intended as an answer to all heresies, arid entitled, with a manifest reference ' Justin himself says, eoTt 8e vov. Apol. I.' 26. p. 60. The ^juv Koi a-vvrayfia Kara, iraxrav tS>v first Apology was written about yeyfvrfufvav alpeirvav trwrerayni- the year 1 40. LECTURE II. 43 to the words of St. Paul, (1 Tim. vi. 20.) a Detection and refutation of knowledge falsely so called, is the great storehouse from which we draw our informa- tion concerning the Gnostics. Most probably a na- tive, and certainly an inhabitant of Asia Minor in the early part of his life, Irenaeus could well judge of the Gnostic doctrines, which, as we shall see, were received with peculiar eagerness in that country. Having been instructed in Christianity by Polycarp, who was the immediate disciple of St. John, he would not only know what were the true doctrines of the gospel, but the points also in which St. John thought those doctrines to be most in -danger, from the cor- ruptions of the Gnostics. Being afterwards removed to the bishopric of Lyons in Gaul, he would have ample opportunity to observe the heresies which in- fested the western churches : and all these advan- tages, added to the qualifications of his own mind, which seems to have been acute and amply stored, give a value to his authority, which can hardly be attached to the works of later writers. TertuUian at the end of the second century wrote many elaborate refutations of the early heresies : and his works will be studied with more attention, because he belonged to another great division of the Christian church, the African, and in diflFerent quarters of the world heresies might naturally assume very different aspects. We should look perhaps with particular interest to the Fathers of the Alexandrian church: not only from the fact, that the catechetical schools of that efty were particularly distinguished ; but because Alexandria and E^rpt,^ as we shall see presently, were the great promoters of the Platonic doctrines, with which, those of -the Gnostics were closely con- 44 LECTURE II. nected. Clement at the end of the second, and Origen in the middle of the third century, supply us with many facts connected with the early heretics : and their information concerning the apostolic age agrees with what we had already collected from writers of the Asiatic^ the Western, and the African churches. All these writers assert with one consent, that the gospel was corrupted by the Gnostics during the lifetime of the apostles ; and they point out many passages in the apostolic writings, which were directed against these corruptions. So far therefore as external tes- timony is concerned, there can be no doubt that the New Testament contains allusions to Gnosticism: and I should proceed without further delay to examine these passages, if I was not desirous to consider pre- viously the most probable causes which led to the Gnostic doctrines. There is no system of philosophy, which has been traced to a greater number of sources, than that which we are now discussing : and the variety, of opinions seems to have arisen from persons either not observing the very different aspects which Gnos- ticism assumed, or from wishing to derive it from one exclusive quarter. Thus some have deduced it from the eastern notion of a good and evil principle; some from the Jewish Cabbala ; and others from the doctrines of the later Platonists. Each of these systems is able to support itself by alleging very strong resemblances : and those persons have taken the most natural and probably the truest course, whp have concluded that all these opinions contributed to build up the monstrous system, which was known by the name of Gnosticism'. We will begin with considering that, which is un- LECTURE II. 45 doubtedly the oldest of the three, the Eastern doc- trine of a Good and Evil Principle. There is no fact, connected with remote antiquity, which seems more certainly established, than that the Persian re- ligion recognised two Beings or Principles, which, in some way or other, exercised an influence over the world and its inhabitants. To the one they gave the name of Ormuzd, and invested him with all the attributes of Light and Beneficence : the other they called Ahreman, and identified him with the notions of Darkness and Malignity*. It has often been disputed, whether these two Principles were considered as self-existing coetemal Gods, or whether they were subject to a third and superior power. The knowledge which the Greeks had upon this subject seems to have been no clearer than our own. Thus Plutarch says, that some persons be- lieved them to be two rival Gods ; while others gave the name of God to the Good Principle, and of DtBmon to the Evil. Aristotle applied the latter term to both of them, calling them the Good and the Evil Daemon'. It is observable, however, that Herodotus, when speaking of the religion of the an- cient Persians, takes no notice whatever of these two Principles ; and though he charges them with sacrificing to a plm'ality of Deities, it is plain that he looked upon them as the worshippers of one supreme God"". Aristotle also could hardly have thought otherwise, or he would have applied to the two Principles a higher term than that of Daemon. Plutarch evidently considered that both of them had had a beginning, and that one of them at least 131- 46 LECTURE II. would come to an end : for he says, that Ormuzd took its rise from Light, and Ahreman from Dark- ness; so that Light and Darkness must have existed before them: he adds, that the time would come when Ahreman would be destroyed, and an age of pure unmixed happiniess would commence. Upon the whole, I cannot but consider that those persons have taken a right view of this intricate subject, who represent the Persians as having been always worshippers of one supreme God. It is true, that the simplicity of their worship was soon corrupted : and the heavenly bodies, par- ticularly the great source of light and heat, became the objects of adoration. It is ^undoubted that the Sim, under the name of Mithra, received from them the highest honours : and it will solve many diffi- culties, if we conceive, that as their ideas became more gross, and the externals of religion occupied more of their attention, they came at length to identify the Sun with the one supreme God. That Light should also be worshipped, as an emanation from the Sun, seemed a very natural step in their idolatry ; and Light could only be hailed as a Prin- ciple of Good. We know that Fire, the material emblem of their God, has its worshippers in that country even in the present day : and to personify Darkness, or the absence of Light, required but a small additional stretch of superstition or of fancy. Here, then, we have at once the two Principles of Good and Evil, of Light and Darkness : and so far the system of the Magi was a natural consequence of their worship of the Sun. With respect to the creation of the world, it seems probable, that at first it was supposed to be effected by one supreme Being; LECTURE II. 47 and in the purer days of their religion the Sun hiifi- self would be included in the works of creation. But when the Sun came, as I have supposed, to be identified with the supreme Being, the work of cre- ation was attributed to him ; and the two Principles were looked upon as subordinate agents, the min- isters of his mercy and his vengeance". There is evidence that a difference of opinion existed among the Magi upon this subject. Some of them em- braced what has been called the dualistic system, or the notion that both Principles were uncreated and eternal : while others continued to maintain the an- cient doctrine, either that one Principle was eternal, and the other created ; or that both proceeded from one supreme, self-existing soiu-ce". This funda- mental difference of opinion, together with the idol- atry which was daily gaining ground, seems to have led to that reformation of religion, which, it is agreed on all hands, was effected in Persia by Zoroaster. All the nations of antiquity seem to have had some great leading character, who, like Zoroaster of the Persians, stands at the head of their religious code. The history of all of them is involved in ob- scurity : and there is a general tendency to call dif- ferent persons by the same name ; or, rather, to ascribe the acts of many to one individual. Such seems to have been the case with Zoroaster : and nothing can shew more strongly the celebrity of his name, and at the same time the ignorance concern- ing him, than that Plutarch speaks of his having lived five thousand years before the Trojan war. More rational chronologists have supposed that Zer- 48 LECTURE II. dusht, or Zoroaster, flourished in the reign of Darius Hystaspes ; and he is said to have introduced a re- formation of religion in Persia, which was generally, though not universally, received. The oriental writers are fond of asserting, that Zoroaster conversed with the captive Jews, and bor- rowed from them many of his ideas. The fact is perhaps chronologically possible ; and the religion of the descendants of Abraham, who was by birth a Chaldaean, could hardly fail to occupy the attention of a man who was seeking to reform his national creed. The Jews in Babylon, whatever they and their fathers may have been before, were certainly known as the worshippers of one God. I have en- deavoured to shew that this was also the belief of the ancient Persians : and Zoroaster may well have consulted with the Jews, if it be true that the re- form which he introduced consisted in establishiag the doctrine, that the two Principles were subservi- ent to a third and higher Principle, by which they were originally created. This third Principle, or supreme God, was perhaps very different from that pure Being who revealed himself to Abraham: there may still have been an identification of Mithra, or the Sun, with the first cause : but to bring back his countrymen to an acknowledgment of a first Cause, is worthy of the praises which have been bestowed on the name of Zoroaster '^ He established, though not perhaps without some alloy, that great truth which God announced to Cyrus by His prophet, and which contains an evident allusion to the Persian doctrines, / have surnamed thee, though thou hast not known me : I am the Lord, and there is none LECTURE II. 49 else: there is no God beside me: 1 form the light, and create darkness; I make peace, and create evil ^. (Isaiah xlv. 4-7.) Such then was the doctrine of the two Principles subsequent to the time of Zoroaster: and if this doctrine had any effect in producing the Gnostic philosophy, we must expect to find in the latter some traces of the Persian system. The notion of the Good and Evil Principles being distinct and contrary to each other would be in accordance with the sentiments of the Gnostics, who believed the supreme God and the Demiurgus to be perpetually at variance : but still there were some essential dif- ferences between the two systems. The Good Prin- ciple of the Gnostics was not produced from God, but was the supreme God himself, who was in no way concerned with the creation or government of the world : so also the Evil Principle of the Gnos- tics, or Demiurgus, though ultimately deriving his origin from God, derived it through several succes- sive generations. We have seen, that the jEons or Emanations of the Gnostics were invented, that as many degrees as possible might be interposed be- tween the supreme God and the Creator of the world. It might perhaps be shewn, that the reli- gion of the Magi would suggest the idea of succes- sive emanations : but if the Gnostics borrowed any thing from the Persians, it would be by investing their Demiurgus or Creator with those attributes of malignity, which were assigned to the Evil Princi- ple. There may be good reasons for thinking that ' This is referred to the Per- p. 486. ed. Amst. and by Wol- sian doctrine of two Principles fius, ManichtBismus ante Mani- by Spencer de Leg. Heb. III. chaos II. 3. p, 38, E 50 LECTURE II. this was the case : and while Valentinus was per- fecting and spreading the Gnostic system which I have described above, Cerdon, who was also classed with the Gnostics, was propagating a doctrine, whiA bore some resemblance to that of the Persians. This doctrine became better known under his successor Marcion, who has been charged with holding two Principles, and with believing that there was one supreme God, and another produced by him, who became evil, and created the world. These two branches of Gnostics agreed in teaching, that the Father of Jesus Christ was not the Creator of the world, nor the God of the Old Testament. They agreed also in believing, that Christ had not a real body, and in denying the inspiration of the pro- phets, and the resurrection of the body. The Orien- tal doctrines became better known in the world at large, when Manes or Manichaeus at the end of the third century came direct from Persia, and blended the religion of the Magi with that of the gospel. The Manichaean doctrines however lead us to a period too remote from our present subject: and I only mention them at present to observe, that the fact of Manes being placed so decidedly at the head of a party shews that his doctrines were difc ferent in some points from those of the rest of the Gnostics. They most nearly resembled those of Marcion ; and Marcion is represented as a native of Pontus ; which would be more likely to bring him into contact with the Persian doctrines. Gnosticism however had certainly taken deep root long before : and upon the whole I conclude, that the Oriental doctrines were not the principal cause which led to Gnosticism, though those who embraced Gnosticism LECTURE II. 51 would find much in the notion of a Good and Evil Principle, which was in accordance with their own opinions ''. We come next to consider the mystical philoso- phy of the Jews, which has been known by the name of Cdbhala. But this part of our subject need not detain us long : for though some persons may have ascribed too much influence to the Cabbalistic doctrines, none perhaps have meant to argue, that the Cabbala was the only source of Gnosticism : and on the other hand, if the Cabbala contained any points of resemblance to the leading tenets of the Gnostics, few persons would deny that those who mixed Judaism with Gnosticism wotdd be likely to draw from the Cabbala™. In one sense all the Gnostics borrowed from the Jewish religion, as they did from the Christian ; that is, they considered the Jewish and Christian revelations to have been made by beings of a superior order to man. Here then we have a distinction between the Gnostic philo- sophy, and every other that preceded it. It ad- mitted the Mosaic dispensation to be part of that great system, which proceeded from the Beings who governed the world : and when we consider the period at which Gnosticism arose, we should expect to find in it the opinions of the later Jews rather than of the more ancient. The Jewish Cabbala may be loosely defined to be a mystical system, affecting the theory and practice of religion, founded upon oral tradition. It has >" In note ' I have mention- that several of the Gnostic sects ed some of the writers, who were founded by Jews. De re- referred Gnosticism to the Cab- hus ante Const. Introd. II. i8. bala. Mosheim has observed, E 2 52 LECTURE II. been disputed, at what time the Cabbala may be said to have begun: and it has been argued, be- cause a Rabbi at the end of the second century was the first to make a collection of the scattered tradi- tions of his countrymen, that the Cabbala, as a system, did not exist before, and that therefore it could not have contributed to the rise of Gnosticism. It has however been satisfactorily shewn, that the Presidents of the Sanhedrim, for several years before the birth of Christ, had gradually been raising un- written tradition to a level with the written law. If we would believe the Cabbalists themselves, a collection of those traditions had already been made by Ezra : but such a document has never been pro- duced. They say also, that God revealed some secret doctrines to Adam, which were received from him by tradition : similar doctrines were received from Abraham and Moses : and hence these unwritten traditions were known by the name of Cabbala, from a Hebrew word signifying to receive. It will perhaps be conceded, that some communications were made to the Patriarchs beyond those which the sacred books have recorded. Thus the history of the Creation, if it was known to the Jews before the time of Moses, must have been preserved among them by an unwritten tradition. It is also plain,' that a mystical interpretation of scripture, which is another important part of the Cabbala, did not rest entirely upon a false and artificial foundation. St. Paul has taught us, that under certain restrictions we are authorized in extracting a double sense from scripture : and I say this to shew, what has been the conclusion of learned men, and which seems in fact to be the fair and rational conclusion, that there LECTURE II. 53 was once a pure Cabbala, that is, there were some genuine unwritten traditions ; and there was a sober and rational mode of allegorizing scripture : but in both these points the later Jews sadly departed from the simplicity of their fathers '"•. In both these points there was a striking resemblance between the Cabbalists and the Gnostics. With the latter, to interpret scripture literally was the exception ; and they only did it, when it suited their purpose : their rule was to extort a hidden meaning from every passage; and to make every word, and al- most every letter, contain a mystical allusion. The Gnostics also resembled the Cabbalists in appealing to oral tradition. They said, that Christ taught two doctrines ; one, the common and popular ; and another, which he delivered to his disciples only'^ But this was a small part of the resemblance be- tween the Cabbalists and the Gnostics : nor would it have been inferred, that the two doctrines were connected, if the Cabbala had not contained a sys- tem of emanations, which bears some affinity to that adopted by the Gnostics. Few subjects are more perplexing, than to explain the ten Sephiroth or Emanations, which according to the Cabbala proceeded from the first Cause : and we ought to be very cautious of theorising upon the sub- ject, because the system of the Cabbala approaches so near to that of Spinoza, that the one as well as the other may be open to the charge of atheism. Very strong proof should be brought, before we peaP- suade ourselves, that the Jews admitted a system which led even indirectly to atheism : and the whole perhaps may be solved by that unfortunate desire, which we have already seen to have perplexed the E 3 54 LECTURE 11. Gnostics, a desire to explain the origin of Matter and of Evil. The Cabbalists seem so far to have forgotten their scriptures, that they adopted the prin- ciple, which pervaded the whole of heathen philo- sophy, that " nothing can be produced out of no- " thing." They did not hold the eternity of Matter with the Greeks ; nor with the Persians had they recourse to two opposite Principles : they cut the knot which they could not solve ; and they taught, that God being a spirit, who pervaded all space, the universe also was not material, but spiritual, and proceeded by emanation from God. The first Ema- nation was called in their language the first man, or the first begotten of God ; and he was made the medium of producing nine other Emanations or Se- phiroth, from which the universe was formed. All this is highly mystical ; and it is melancholy to see how low the human mind can fall, when it attempts the highest flights. Imperfectly as I have described the system of the Cabbalists, it will be seen that it bears no small resemblance to that of the Gnostics, who interposed several iEons or Emana- tions between the supreme God and the creation of the world. The names also of some of the Gnostic ^ons are evidently taken from the Hebrew. All this has led some persons to imagine, that the Cab- bala was a cause of Gnosticism. There undoubtedly was a Cabbala, or secret doctrine, among the Jews, before we hear any thing of the Gnostic philosophy : See note ^, and Brucker, phus, Antiq. XIII. 5.9: XVIII. vol. II. p. 654. I, 2. de Bella Jud. II. 8. i. ^ The origin and history of where he wiU find the most the Jewish sects have been ancient and valuable account treated of by so many writers, of the Pharisees, Sadducees, that I shall only refer the reader and Essenes ; and to Brucker, in the first instance to Jose- vol. II. p. 712. who has named- F 4 7? LECTURE III. bala, of which I spoke iu my last Lecture, contains many doctrines concerning angels and other mystical points, which can only have come from an Eastern quarter : and the secondary or allegorical interpre- tation of Scripture, with which the Cabbala abounds, began soon after the return from captivity. If far- ther proof be wanting of the tendency of the Jews to adopt foreign manners, we may find it in Jose- phus and the books of the Maccabees^'. The situa- tion of Jerusalem between the rival kingdoms of Syria and Egypt, brought them into perpetual con- tact with Grecian institutions; and though Antio- chus Epiphanes, when he tried to force the Jews to change their customs, met with that resistance which persecution always creates ; though zealous and in- flexible patriots were found, who resisted every in- novation ; yet in times of security, and when the enemy was not at their gates, they were eager enough to depart from their national habits, and to adopt the superstitions of their more polished neigh- bours. It was with Jews of this character, that the Greek philosophers of Alexandria came into contact : and the influence^ seems to have been mutual which both parties had upon each other. The Greeks, and par- ticularly the Platonists, learnt a purer doctrine than their own concerning the unity of God : but theyr leamt aJao, what the Jews had lately imported from Persia, a more complicated system of good and evil Daemons, who had great power over the earth, and who were perpetually at war with each other and with God. The allegorical mode of interpretation nearly all the principal visiters Prideaux, Connexion, sub an. upon the subject. I may add 107. A. C. LECTURE III. 73 was also particularly attractive to the Platonists : and this seems to have been a method of compro- mise agreed upon by both parties: the Jews pro- posed it as a means, by which they might persuade the Platonists, that their doctrines were not so dissi- milar : and the Platonists consented on these terms to admit the theology of the Jews. Hence arose a new school in Alexandria, which might be called that of the Platonizing Jews* : and out of the same system, as I conceive, arose the Judaizing Platonists, who, with a few other additions, -became afterwards the Gnostics. If any person should doubt what has been said concerning the effect of Platonism upon the Jews, he may satisfy himself by reading the Apocryphal book of Wisdom, which was certainly written some time in the second century before our Saviour. The writer of it evidently thought that Matter was not created, (xi. 17.) and he speaks of the Word or Logos of God exactly in the same sense which the Platonists attached to the term^°. (xviii. 15.) At a later period than this, and contemporary with the rise of Christianity, we have a stronger evidence in the works of Philo Jud2eus, who was so decided a copier of Plato, that the coincidence grew into a proverb''. Philo himself, as well as Josephus, gives us many proofs of that mixture of opinions, which is the peculiar character of the Alexandrian school : and whoever reads the accounts, which these two writers give of the Essenes, will see that opinions were rapidly verging towards that eclectic and mys- " For the preference given II. p. 692. Walchius, Obs. in by the Jews to the Platonic Nov. Fadt 14. p. 99- philosophy, see Brucker, vol. 74 LECTURE III. tical system, which was known by the name of Gnosticism*'. The question has often been asked, why the Evangelists do not represent our Saviour as taking- any notice of the sect of the Essenes : but the words of Philo will, I think, furnish us with a sufficient answer. He divides the Essenes into the practical and the contemplative : the former were those who lived in Syria and Palestine ; the latter were those who were dispersed in other countries. The prac- tical Essenes appear to have been few : Philo and Josephus compute them at only four thousand ; a small niunber for the whole of Syria and Palestine : and since we read that they lived in villages,., avoid- ing the large towns, it is not extraordinary that we do not hear of them in the discourses of our Saviour, who was generally in Jerusalem when he addressed the Pharisees and Sadducees. The fact seems to have been, that the Essenes were originally Phari- sees : but adopting more rigid habits, and living in retired places, they preserved the austerity of the Pharisees without their hypocrisy ; and as to mat- ters of religion, they did not much depart from the manners of their forefathers. But the contemplative Essenes, or Therapeutae, were a very different race of men. According to Philo, they were to be found in several parts of the world, but abounded particularly '' We have the most vaJu- i. 5. Ae Bella Jud. II. 8. 2. able and authentic materials Eusebius has also preserved an for the history of the Essenes account, which was given of in the two works of Philo, them by Porphyry, de Ahsti- Quod liber sit quisquis, &c. vol. nentia, IV. p. 332.(Pr8ep.Evang. II. p. 457. and rfe Vita Cm- IX. 3.) but it is evidently taken templativa, p. 47 1 : and in Jose- from Josephus. phus, Antiq. XIII. 5.9 : XVIII. LECTURE III. 75 in Egypt and in the neighbourhood of Alexandria. Egypt, it may be observed, has at all periods been distinguished for men leading solitary lives : mon- achism took its rise in Egypt : and the contempla- tive Essenes might not unfitly be described as Jew- ish, or rather Platonic monks". In religion, they were so far Jews, that they worshipped one God : but Josephus expressly says, that they did not par- take in the public sacrifices ; and when Philo speaks of their books, he does not mean merely the scrip- tures, but writings of the founders of their sect, which were filled, as he says, with dark and obscure sayings. Their life, as their name implies, was a life of contemplation. Temperate and abstemious in their habits, and shunning the abodes of men, they passed their days in retirement, giving themselves up to an unceasing and mystical devotion '^ Per- sons in this frame of mind were well suited to pre- pare the way for Gnosticism : and the same state of things, which led to the eclectic philosophy and the schools of the later Platonists, would also produce the doctrines of the Gnostics. ° The Pseudo-Dionysius ap- crates says, that do-KijT-ijpia had pears to have considered depa- probably existed a long time TTevToi and iwvaxpi as synony- in Egypt, but that the system mous. {Ecdes. Hierarch.Nl. ^. was carried much further by p. 386. ed. 1634.) But the Ammon, who lived A.D. 330. term luovaxps was not used till (IV. 23.) Sozomen observes, long after the apostoUc age ; that there were no monastic and monachism probably owed establishments in Europe about its rise to the severity of per- the year 340 ; and that they secution, as Sozomen observes, were introduced into Palestine I. 12. and Niceph. Call. VIII. by HUarion, who hved at the 39. 'Aa-KrjTqs was a term in same period. (III. 14. p. 116.) much earlier use with the Athanasius mentions ao-Ki^rai at Christians, and was taken from Rome in the year 35^. (Hist. heathen writers. (See Casaub. Arian. adMonachos, 38. p. 366.) Exerc. II. ad Baron. §. 13. See Bingham, Antiquities, VII. Suicer. voc. axTKryi-qs et fiovaxos. I, 4. Mosheim, de Rebus ante Valesius in Eus. II. 17.) So- Const. Cent. II, 35. Not. m. 76 LECTURE III. The eclectic philosophy, of which Potamon has been looked upon as the founder, was an attempt, not in itself irrational, to unite different systems. The supporters of it read the Jewish and Christian scriptures : and their ambition was to prove that both of them were borrowed from Plato. It was in this school that some of the Christian Fathers stu- died : and the names of Ammonius, Plotinus, Por- phyry, Proclus, and others, though connected with some of the most formidable attacks which were ma^e upon Christianity, were suflScient to entitle the later Platonists to a great and merited ce- lebrity ^^- Gnosticism in the mean time had proceeded from the same source, but had run on in a much more tortuous and devious course. I have perhaps said enough to shew, that the Platonic school of Alex^ andria was the real cause of Gnosticism ^. We may suppose, that discussions would be frequent among the learned men of different sects, who frequented that city ; and it appears, that leaving the more useful branches of ethical, political, or physical phi- losophy, many or most of them perplexed themselves with the eternal question, Unde malum, et quare f What is the source and the cause of evil*"? This diffi- "^ Strabo, who flourished ancient times, and TimonPhliar while our Saviour was upon sius wrote this epigram upon earth, says of the Alexandrians, their endless contentions ; " they receive many foreign- ttoXXoI fih ^oo-kovtw. iv Alyi- " ers, and have sent out not a nrm ttoXdc^vXoj " few of their own people : and ^i^XuuaA x«poK€iTai, airetpi/Ta " there are schools there of aU fiiypioSyT-es, " sorts of science and litera- Mova-eav Iv rakapa. " ture."XIV. p. 463.ed. 1587. Athen. Beipnos. I. 22. (p. 84. = The minute discussions of ed. Schw.) the Alexandrian philosophers Philetas of Cos, who was re- aiforded much amusement in ceived by Ptolemy Soter, wast- LECTURE III. 77 culty has been thought by some to have led to all the false religions which have appeared in the world : and the Gnostics, in order to solve the question, built up a monstrous and extravagant system by the union of many creeds. It was with this view, that they placed Matter beyond the limits of the Pleroma, which was the abode of the supreme God. For this also they invented their numerous succession of ^ons, by one of whom, without the command or the will of God, the world was preated. This was the scheme and framework of the Gnostic theology. Whatever militated against it, was alle- gorized and tortured into agreement. To study this system, was not the means, but the end. They boasted that they alone could have the knowledge of God : and to become perfect in this knowledge, was the only true object of human existence. The disputes of different sects in Alexandria, and the ad- tional excitement, which was given by the Jewish scriptures, led gradually to this mystical philosophy; and if we are right in supposing that the Jews after the captivity borrowed many opinions from Persia, we may add £he eastern doctrine of two Principles as another and important element in Gnosticism ^ This view of the subject may reconcile all hypo- theses : and we may conclude, that those who have deduced Gnosticism from the doctrines of the Magi, ed away and died, because he forms us, that the followers of could not solve the fallacy call- Prodicus (who were Gnostics) edi^e«8d/ievos" (Suidasinv.) and boasted of having some mys- Diodorus of lasus about the terious books of Zoroaster, same period died of grief, be- (Strom. I. 15. p. 357-) The cause he could not answer same is said of the Gnostics by StUpo of Megara (Diog. Laert. Porphyry in his life of Ploti- 1. II. Vit. Euclid.) nus. f Clement of Alexandria in- ' 4i" ■ 78 LECTURE III. of Plato, or of the Cabbala, are all in one sense right ; and that from these three sources, with the addition of Christianity as soon as it appeared, the different schemes of Gnosticism were formed. It is not so important, nor indeed would it be possible, to mark the time when Gnosticism began. The seeds of it were sown, when rival schools first disputed upon the origin of evil; when the Jews first took to allegorize their scriptiu-es ; and when the Platonic Essenes made religion consist in con- templation. The name of Gnostic was of much later application; probably not till some time after the appearance of Christianity. We meet with it first in Irenaeus, who uses it as a generic term to de- scribe all the heretics, who engrafted Christianity upon heathen philosophy : and he teUs us, that the persons, against whom he was writing, assumed the title to themselves s. We may conclude therefore, that the term Gnostic was in common use before the time when the work of Irenaeus was composed : and some writers have imagined it to be introduced about the middle of the second century ^. It is demonstrable, however, that long before this time, and in the early days of Grecian philosophy. s I. 25, 6. p. 104, 105. The Heeresiarchis, II. 9. 22. p. 181. term yvaa-is is used in the Epi- Thomasius, Schediasm. Hist. stle of Barnabas for the mysti- §. 32. p. 20.) Justin Martyr cal interpretation of scripture, seems to allude to the Gnostics, (§. 6. p. 18. §. 9. p. 29. §. 10. when he says, " He that thinks p. 35.) But though it may be " to know any thing without proved that this Epistle was " true knowledge, knows no- in existence in the middle of " thing: he is deceived by the the second century, there is no " serpent." Epist. ad Diognet. positive evidence that it was 12. p. 240. written before the end of the '' See Colbergius, de Orig. et first century. (See Ittigius de Prog. Hares. II. 2, p. 50. LECTURE Iir. 79 the term knowledge, as applied to the Deity and the essence of things, was used in a peculiar sense. Some philosophers denied that any thing could be known : others boasted to have this knowledge. The Platonists always maintained their claim to a more perfect knowledge of divine truths^"*: and it was in the Platonic schools of Alexandria, that Clement and other of the Fathers learnt to apply the term yvSia-is to a fiill and perfect knowledge of the Chris- tian doctrine. Clement uses the term in a good sense : in the same manner that our Saviour often speaks of wisdom and knowledge with reference to the gospel: but Clement tells us expressly, that there were others, who, puffed up with their own conceit, boasted of being perfect and possessing ex- clusive knowledge^^. These were evidently the Gnostics, and they would learn to arrogate the title, not only from the Platonists, but also from the Jews of Alexandria, who soon came to use the term Wis- dom with a mystical signification. It is well known that Wisdom, as it is used in the Book of Proverbs, was understood by the Fathers in a personal sense ; and they referred it to the first or second Persons of the Trinity. Their personification of the term was probably learnt from the Platonizing Jews : and the idea was carried to a greater length in the Apo- cryphal book of Wisdom, which, as I have already, observed, was written in the second century before Christ. Philo Judseus also has many expressions, which shew the mystical sense, in which Knowledge and Wisdom were used by some of his country- men^*. We may assume it therefore as a point suffi-» ciently established, that before and after our Sa- viour's birth there were Jewish and heathen phi- 80 LECTURE III. losophers, who professed that to know God was the only Wisdom, and who boasted themselves to pos- sess that knowledge. Such notions might have passed oflf", like other phi- losophical errors, without being noticed by the apo- stles, if the Gnostics had not proceeded, in pursuance of their eclectic system, to draw Christianity also into the vortex of their philosophy. Then it was, I conceive, that St. Paul thought fit to say to the Colossians, Beware, lest any man spoil you throtigh philosophy and vain deceit, (ii. 8.) But he had al- ready spoken more plainly to Timothy in those emphatic words which I have chosen for my text, O Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust, avoiding profane and vain babblings, and (yppositions of science falsely so called: which some professing have erred concerning the faith. The oppositions of science falsely so called, avrt&ta-etg t^j tj/^v^cevv/jiov yvaffeces, seem to point so directly at the pretensions of the Gnostics, that we can hardly doubt as to the meaning of St. Paul. The Fathers with one consent apply the expression to the Gnos- tics ; and Irenseus evidently alluded to these words, when he entitled his great work, An Exposition and Refutation of Knowledge falsely so called 3'. It has been disputed, whether by the antitheses qf Gnosti- cism we are merely to understand the opposition which false teachers offered to the gospel ; or whe- ther allusion was intended to Light and Darkness, God and Matter, the Good and Evil Principle, and other such oppositions, which formed part of the Gnostic system'. The latter interpretation is more ' This interpretation was pre- ante Const. Introd. I. 24: Bud- ferred by Mosheim, de Rebus deus, Eccles. Apost. p. 347. LECTURE III. 81 recondite, and might be more satisfactory for our present purpose : but it is safer perhaps to adopt the former ; and the vain habblings, to which the apo- stle alludes, may well be referred to that mystical jargon in which the Gnostics explained their notions of the Creation. If we are right in our application of this passage, there is also another, which may be referred to Gnos- ticism, in which the same expression of vain hah- hlings^ is repeated. St. Paul saysin his second Epistle to Timothy, Of these things put them in remem- hrance, charging them before the Lord, that they strive not dhout words to no profit, hut to the sub- verting of the hearers. Study to show thyself ap- proved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth ^ Sut shun profane and vain babblings ; for they will in- crease unto more ungodliness ; and their word will Ittigius, de llceresiarchis^ P- 38. and Thomasius, Schediasm. Hist. §. 35. p. 25. It was op- posed by Wolfius, Manichasis- mus ante Manicheeos, II. 41. p. 1 78. and Calovius ad 1. ^ I should mention, that Ire- nseus in i Tim. vi. 20. read Kmvomiias for Kevocjiavias' at least his translator wrote vocum novitates. (II. 14, 7.' p. 135.) Irenseus also refers Kaivo^avlas, as well as avriSccreis to ■sjfevSavv- fwv yvina-eas, which the position of the article requires us to do. Most Latin authorities support the reading of natvoipavtas ; and beside the Greek Fathers men- tioned by Griesbach, we may add Epiphanius, HeEr. LXXIII. II. p. 858. (See Thomasius Schediasm. Hist. §. 35. p. 26.) Buddeus thought, that St. Paul alluded to the ovofwra p'ap^apiKa, which according to Epiphanius (Haer. XXI. 4. p. 58.) were in- vented by Simon Magus, (Ec- cles. Apost. p. 348.) The same was thought.by Ittigius, rfe ir«- resiarchis, p. 38. and that St. Paul alluded to Simon, is said also by Estius, and Espeucaeus ad 1. and by Magalianus, Op. Hierarch. vol. I. p. 764. ' The metaphor in dpdorofwvvTa is taken from the art of cutting or forming a road : and so it is coupled with SSovin Prov.iii. 6. xi. 5. St. Paul therefore ex- horts Timothy to follow the straight and undeviating line of truth in preaching the gospel, neither turning to the right nor to the left. See Suicer in voc. G 82 LECTURE III. eat as doth a canker : of whom is Hymeneeus and Philetus : who concerning the truth have erred, say- ing that the resurrection is past already ; and over- throw the faith of some. (2 Tim. ii. 14 — 18.) I shall have occasion to notice these words again, when I consider that tenet of the Gnostics, to which I have already alluded, that they did not believe in the re- surrection. For the present I shall only observe, that this is an additional argument for applying the passage to the Gnostics ™ : and we may therefore conclude that Hymenaeus and Philetus had distin- guished themselves as leaders of that sect. There are other passages in which St. Paul alludes to profane babblings and strifes about words ": but I would particularly notice what he says in the chapter from which the text is taken : If any man teach otherwise, and consent not to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doc- trine which is according to godliness, he is proud, knowing nothing, hut doting about questions and strifes of words, whereof cometh envy, strife, railings, evil surmisings, perverse disputingsqfmen of corrupt minds, and destitute of the truth, supposing that gain is godliness : from such withdraw thyself. {1 Tim. vi. 3.) What is here said of questions and strifes of words, might be applied to any of the sects, which were at that time numerous in Asia Minor: but from the expression, he is proud, knowing nothing, I should infer that an allusion was intended to the vain pretensions of the Gnostics : and if so, there were either persons among them, like the sophists of " It is so applied by Tertul- " i Tim. i. 4. iv. 7. 2 Tim. ii. lian, de Preescript. 7. p. 204. 23. Tit. i. 14. iii. 9. LECTURE III. 83 old ", who taught their doctrines for money ; or the pretended Christians sought to make a gain by a show of miraculous power p. There is perhaps more direct allusion to the pre- tended knowledge of the Gnostics in the Epistle to the Ephesians, where the apostle prays, that ye may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth and length and depth and height; and to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God; (iii. 18,19.) and again, Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ, (iv. 13.) The fulness of God and the fulness of Christ in these two places may be thought, as I shall observe hereafter, to relate to the Gnostic doctrine concerning the pleroma : and the knowledge of the Son of God, is said to bring us unto a perfect man; which is a direct application of a Gnos- tic sentiment. In the first of these two passages we read, that the love of Christ passeth knowledge, i. e. it passeth the knowledge or wisdom of the world : and I have little doubt, that when St. Paul spoke of comprehending the breadth and length and depth and height, he had in his mind some mystical notions of the Gnostics, which he here turned, as he did upon other occasions, to a higher and holier sense •), " For the crowds which at- tives of gain in Acts xx. 29. tended the sophists, I would Rom. xvi. 18. 2 Cor. ii. 17. refer to Plato, Protag. p. 314, i Thess. ii. 5. Tit. i. 11. Jude 315, and for the sums of money 16. which they collected, to Hipp. 'i We find some traces of a Maj. p. 282. notion of this kind in Nume- P Allusion is made to false nius, a Platonist of the second teachers being actuated by mo- century, who, in an inquiry G 2 84 LECTURE III. The interpretation;, which I have given to these two passages, will perhaps be confirmed, when we find at the end of the last, that we he no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, hy the sleight of men and cunning crcfti- ness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive. (Ephes. iv. 14.) Some false doctrines are evidently alluded to in these words : and the passages which precede them, incline us to refer them to the Gnostics. There is also a passage in the Epistle to the Colossians, which may strongly reniind us of the mystical knowledge to which the Gnostics pretended. St. Paul expresses his hope, that their hearts might be Comforted, being knit together in love, and unto all riches of the full assurance qf understanding, to the acknowledgment of the mystery of God, and qf the Father, and qf Christ ; in whom are hid all the treasures qf wisdom and knowledge, (ii. 2, 3.) Ac- cording to the Gnostics, the mystery qf God and the treasures qf wisdom and knowledge belonged exclu- sively to themselves. St. Paul therefore means to point out to the Colossians the emptiness of this boast, and to lead them to that pure and holy source, where true knowledge was only to be found. In the same manner I might quote many passages, where St. Paul contrasts the wisdom of the world with the wisdom of God. The Greeks, ^\e says, seek after after to ov, says that Matter aopurros, oKoyov' el 8e aXoyos, ay- cannot be t6 ov, Trdra/ios yap rj vwcttov. The pretensions of the vXri poahrjs Koi o^vpponos, ^ddos Gnostics to penetrate the depths Koi irkdros koI iijjkos dopuTTos. of God, may perhaps be alluded (Eus. Prcsp. Evang. XV. 17. p. to in Rev. ii. 24. by the words 819.) and what follows might to, ^ddri rov Sarava. This was seem to connect this sentiment the opinion of Hammond, de with the Gnostics, etfo-Tii/cfTreipos Antichristo. III. i. p. 5. See 7] vki], ddpurrov elvai airrjV el Se also Rom. xi. 33. I Cor. ii. lo. LECTURE III. 85 wisdom : but we preach Christ crucified, the power of God, and the wisdom of God. (1 Cor. i. 22 — 24.) and again, We speak wisdom among them that are perfect : ye$ not the wisdom of this world, nor of the princes of this world, that come to nought: but we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory, (ii. 6, 7.) There is a danger perhaps of indulging our fancy in tracing these allusions to the Gnostic doctrines ^ I have confined myself at pre- sent to those passages which seem to refer to that knowledge which gave to the Gnostics their peculiar name. In my next Lecture I shall endeavour to illustrate some other texts, in which different points of this philosophy appear to be described. But since the Gnosticism, which we have to consider, was not merely a mixture of Platonism and Judaism, but also adopted and corrupted some doctrines of the gospel, I shall begin by inquiring who was the Gnostic that first borrowed any part of the Chris- tian scheme : and if we can ascertain what were the principles which he professed, or the system which he invented, we shall be most likely to discover the eiTors which the apostles were called upon to* op- pose. That St. Paul had to combat some false sys- tems, and to caution his flock against some preten- sions of worldly wisdom, is evident beyond dispute. The Fathers, as I have observed, conceived him to allude to Gnosticism. Upon this point, at least, their ' The word yvaaris may be a Cor. vi. 6. viii. 7. x. 5. xi. 6. used with reference to theGnos- The first of these is referred to tics in the following passages, the Gnostics by Irenseus, II. I Cor. viii. i. 7. xii. 8. xiii. 8. 26. i. p. 154. G 3 86 LECTURE III. testimony is of the highest value. The writers of the second century saw the evil at its height : and though they may sometimes have strained a passage, to expose the errors of their opponents, yet they had no interest in tracing back the Gnostic doctrines to the apostolic age, or in shewing, contrary to truth, that knowledge falsely so called could raise alarm in the mind even of St. Paul. LECTURE IV. 2 Tim. iil. 13. Evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived. I STATED in my last Lecture, that I should now proceed to consider who was the first Gnostic, that mixed up Christianity with his own false and hete- rogeneous philosophy. If ancient testimony is to decide the question, there could only be one opinion upon the subject : for the early Fathers are nearly unanimous in saying, that the parent of all heresies, by which they mean of Gnostic heresies, was Simon Magus*. The truth of this assertion has been de- nied by some writers, and particularly by Mosheim, who says, " This impious man is not to be ranked " among the number of those who corrupted with " their errors the purity and simplicity of the Chris- " tian doctrine ; nor is he to be considered as the " parent and chief of the heretical tribe, in which " point of light he has been injudiciously viewed by " almost all ancient and modern writers : he is " rather to be placed in the number of those who " were enemies to the progress and advancement of " I may mention Irenseus I. 4. p. 58. XXVII. i. p. 102. 23. 2. p. 99. II. Prsef. I. p. Pseudo-Cyprian, de Rebaptism. 115. III. Praef. p. 173. Eu- p. 365. CyriU. Hierosol. Ca- seb. Hist. Eccles. II. 13. The- teches. VI. 14. p. 95. XVI. 6. odoret. H Eccles. Hist. vol. I. p. 140. Librorum. IV. p. 226. J. F. ■^ lb. p. 143. Buddeus had previously ex- ^ Mosheim has asserted the pressed a doubt, de Hter. Fa- same in his Com. de Rebus ante lentin. XVI. p. 641. and they Const. Cent. I. 65. not. ^- and have been followed by Orsi, in his Dissertation de uno Si- Storia Ecclesiastica, vol. I. p. mone Mago, 6. p. 68. Instit. 348. Beausobre.vol.I. p.34. II. Maj. p. 394. though he rather p. 2. Brucker, vol. II, p. 670. qualifies his assertion in his See also Buddeus, jBcc/es../iposf. Dissertation de Causis suppos. p. 317. LECTURE IV. 89 united it to his own, he would be cafled, in ancient times, an heretic; and the Fathers assert that he was the parent of all heretics. Mosheim could hardly have been ignorant, that this is precisely the way in which many of the Fathers explain their meaning. Thus Irenseus, though he says that all heresies were derived from Simon ^, and that all, who in any man- ner corrupt the truth, were disciples and successors of Simon Magus ^, yet states expressly, that Simon only pretended to believe in Christ, and that his followers held out the name of Jesus as an attrac- tion, wishing by that means to conceal their real doctriness. Origen, in his work against Celsus, quotes that unbeliever as objecting to the Christians, that some among them made the God, who was Father of Jesus Christ, not to be the same with the God of the Jews^. This we know to have been a Gnostic doctrine ; and Origen replies, " that there " may be some persons who call themselves Gnosr " tics, as there may be Epicureans who call them- " selves philosophers : but neither can they be " really philosophers, who deny a Providence, nor " can they who introduce strange inventions,, not " agreeable to the doctrine of Jesus, be Christians : " there may be some who receive Jesus, and there- ° I. 23. 2. p. 99. positive in asserting, that they -f, Pag. 106. held the. doctrines of Simon. 8 Pag. 106. This passage is This may account for what, is quoted by Mosheim, as proving said by Origen,that there could that "not one of the Gnostic not be found thirty Simofiians " sects held Simon in the least in the whole world in his day. "reverence:" but whoever Cont. Cels.I.57. p.372. VI.ii. consults the passage,' wiU see p. 63 8: yet the sect appears not that it by no means proves so to have been extinct. See much. Irenaeus is only speak- Mosheim, Inst. Maj. p. 408. ing of the name which these ^ V. 61. p. 624. heretics assumed : but he is 90 LECTURE IV. " fore boast themselves to be Christians ; but how " does this accusation affect the true believer?" He then adds, that among those heretical Christians Celsus particularised Simon Magus ; and he replies, " But Celsus seems not to be aware that the follow- " ers of Simon by no means acknowledge Jesus to " be the Son of God." Eusebius says. expressly, that Simon Magus was looked upon as the first founder of every heresy ; and then adds, that all those who embraced his opinions pretended that they were Christians'. The words of Epiphanius are equally express, who says, " The first heresy after the " time of Christ is that of Simon Magus, which is " not properly and regularly classed with those " which bear the name of Christ'^." I have perhaps stated enough to shew that the Fathers knew well what they were asserting, when they called Simon Magus the father of all heresies. They knew that he was not a Christian, but they believed him to be the first who mixed Christianity with Gnosticism, and consequently the leader of all those heretics who professed to believe in Christ^*. Some persons have felt so great a difficulty in ad- mitting this assertion of the Fathers, that they have resorted to what is a common refuge in dilemmas of this kind ; and have imagined, contrary to all his- torical evidence, that there were two different per- sons of the name of Simon ; one who is mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles, and another ,who was leader of the Gnostics. This notion has been so completely refuted by Mosheim in a special disser- ■ Eccles. Hist. II. 13. p. 62. mon " only assumed the name ^ Haer. XXI. i. p. 55. In " of Christ." Anaceph. vol. II. another place, he says that Si- p. 139. LECTURE IV. 91 tation, that little more need be said upon the sub- jecf . Though Mosheim denied that this Simon was the parent of all heresies, yet he was well aware that the Fathers, who declared him to be so, in- tended the same Simon Magus who is mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles. There can indeed be no doubt upon the subject ; and I shall only use one argument in support of the testimony of the Fathers. Justin Martyr, about the year 140, presented a Defence of Christianity to the emperor Antoninus Pius ; in which he mentions as a well-known fact, that Simon, a native of Gittum', a village in Sama- ria, came to Rome in the reign of Claudius, was looked upon there as a god, and had a statue erected to him, with a Latin inscription, in the river Tiber, between the two bridges. Justin adds, that nearly all the Samaritans, and a few also in other nations, acknowledged and worshipped him as the supreme God™. There is in this passage such a minute detail, such a confident appeal to the em- peror's own knowledge of what the apologist was saying, that we can hardly suppose the story to be false, when not only the emperor, but every person in Rome, would have been able to detect it. I would observe also, that Justin Martyr was himself a native of Samaria: hence he was able to name the very place where Simon was born ; and when he says in his second Defence, which was presented a few years later, " I have despised the impious and " false doctrine of Simon which is in my country"," ' Or Gitta. For the ortho- p. 337. graphy of this name, see Le •" Apol. I. 26. p. 59« Clerc ad Constit. Apost. VI. 7. " Apol. II. 15. p. 98. 92 LECTURE IV. whqn we see the shame which he felt at the name oi .Christian being assTimed by the followers of that impostor, we can never believe that he would have countenanced the story, if the truth of it had not been notorious.; much less would he have given to his own country the disgrace of originating the evil. We jaiay now proceed to the life: of Simon Magus, as far as we can collect it from different vrriters. We have seen that he was a native of Gittum, a town in- Samaria ; and it is .stated in a suspicious document, of ancient, though idoubtful date, that he studied for some time at Alexandria". Concerning the time of his birth, and of his first risi^ng into no- tice, little can now be known. The only contempo- rary document which mentions him, is the Acts of the Apostles ; and we there read, that when Philip the deacon preached the gospel in Samaria after the death of Stephen, there was a certain man, called Simon, which hefdreiime in the same city used sor^ eery, and bewitched the people of Samaria, giving out that himself was some great one : to whom they all gave heed, from the least to the greatest, sayings ' This man is the great power of God. And to him they had regurdi because that of long time he had bewitched them with sorceries, (viii. 9 — 11.) Ac- cording to the calculation, which I followed in my last Lecture, the death of Stephen happened in the ° This is taken from the post. 6.) but Montfaucon sup- Clementine Homilies, II. 22. a posed the composition of them work consisting of nineteen to be later by some centuries. Homilies, and falsely ascribed (Op. Athanas. vol. II. p. 125.) toClemeiHofRome. LeClerc They were first published by considered' them to be written Cotelerius, in his edition of the by an Ebionite in the second Patres Apostolici, in 1672. See century: (Praef. ad Patres A- Lardner, Credibility, c. 29. LECTURE IV. 93 same year with the crucifixion of oixr Lord : and it appears from the passage now quoted, that Simon's celebrity had begun some time before. We are then told, that Simon himself believed aho : and when he was ha/pti%ed, he continued with Philip, and won- dered, beholding the miracles and signs which were done. (13.) I need not mention how he shortly fell away from the faith which he had embraced ; and how St. Peter rebuked him for thinking that the gift of God might be purchased for rnoney: (20.) but I would observe, that some of those persons who insist upon the fact that Simon was not a Christian, appear to have forgotten that he was aiCtually baptized. For a time at least he believed in Jesus Christ ; and part of this belief he appears always to have retained: i. e. he always believed that Jesus Christ was a Be- ing more than human who came from God. If these events happened, as I have supposed, within a short time of our Lord's ascension, the Fathers had good reason to caU Simon Magus the parent of all heresies : for he mtiSt then have been among the first persons, beyond the limits of Jeru- salem, who embraced the gospel ; and we might hope, that there was no one before him who per- verted the faith which he had professed. St. Luke at least mentions no other; and thoxigh Dositheus has been named as the companion of Simon Magus, and the Dositheans are placed before the Simonians by some writers, yet it seems probable, if such a person existed at all, that Dositheus was leader of a Samaritan sect before or after the period of which we are speaking ; and the time would hardly allow him to have embraced Christianity, and fallen away from it, before Simon Magus'"". 94 LECTURE IV. From the detailed account which we have of Si- mon in the Acts of the Apostles, I should be inclined to infer these two things : 1, that St. Luke knew no earlier instance of apostasy from the gospel; and he mentions this because it was the first: and 2, that when St. Luke wrote the Acts of the Apostles, the heresy of Simon was widely spread, and there- fore he tells his readers how it had begun. Concerning the remainder of Simon's life we know little; and. in that little it is difficult to se- parate truth from fiction. I should be inclined, for the reasons given above, to believe the account of Justin Martyr, who says that Simon Magus went to Rome in the reign of Claudius, and attracted numerous followers. Eusebius quotes this passage of Justin Martyr: but he adds, upon some other authority, which he does not name, that St. Peter came to Rome at the same time ; and that in conse- quence of his preaching, the popularity of the im- postor was entirely destroyed p. This would be a most interesting and important fact, if we were cer- tain of its being true: but Eusebius contradicts himself in his accoimt of Simon Magus going to Rome^: and later writers have so embellished the story of this meeting, and made the death of Simon so astonishingly miraculous, that criticism is at a loss to know what to believe. The account which we have of Simon's death is in a few words as fol- lows, St. Peter and St. Paul being both at Rome, Simon Magus gave out that he was Christ, and in P Eccles. Hist. II. 13 et 14. " irovs," and yet in c. 14. he 1 In c. 13. he says that Si- says that he went to Rome mon went to Rome, " when immediately after the rebuke " the religion of Christ had which he received from St, " now spread «i mvras dvdpm- Peter, Acts viii. 20. &c. LECTURE IV. 95 proof of his assertion he undertook to raise himself aloft into the air. The attempt at first appeared as if it would succeed ; but the two apostles addressing themselves in prayer to God, the impostor fell to the ground, and his death ensued shortly after. It is difficult to give this marvellous narration without forgetting that we are treating of a grave and sacred subject : and the question for us to consider is, whe- ther we are to look upon the whole as a fiction, or whether, as is most probable, it contains a basis and groundwork of truth. I would observe in the first place, that Arnobius, who did not write till the beginning of the fourth century, is the first person who says any thing of Simon's death at all approaching to this story : nor does he by any means give it with all the particu- lars which later writers have supplied. It will be observed also, that Eusebius, who wrote after Ar- nobius, does not say any thing of Simon's extraordi- nary end ; but merely states that his credit and in- fluence were extinguished, as soon as St. Peter began to preach in Rome. It is probable therefore that no Greek writer before the time of Eusebius had men- tioned this story : but on the other hand, there is such an host of evidence, that the death of Simon Magus was in some way or other connected with the presence of St. Peter and St. Paul at Rome, that we might be carrying our scepticism too far, if we rejected it altogether "*'. Perhaps the relation of Eu- sebius, so far as it is supported by Justin Martyr, may enable us to ascertain the truth. Eusebius, in the first placed says that Simon Magus came to ' Eccles. Hist. II. 13. 96 LECTURE IV. Rome, where the religion of Christ had been preach- ed throughout the world, ek wavrag avBpanrovg. This expression is not upon any hypothesis to be taken very literally : but the gospel could not in any sense be said to be preached throughout the world, till at least some time after the apostles had left Jerusa- lem. I conjectured in my first Lecture that this did not take place till about the time of St. Paul setting out on his first joiu-ney. He set out in the year 45, which was the fifth year of the reign of Clau- dius : and since that emperor reigned nearly four- teen years, we have about nine years remaining, during which Simon Magus, according to the state- ment of Justin Martyr, may have gone to Rome. We might perhaps quote Justin as indicating that the arrival of Simon in that city was late in the reign of Claudius : for sufiicient time had previously elapsed for the religious tenets of Simon to spread through all Samaria, and to be received in several other parts of the world. It might be thought also from the. Epistle to the Romans, that St. Paul, at the time of his writing it, had not heard of the Gnostic philosophy making much progress in Rome. He says that the faith of the Romans was spoken of throughout the whole world, (i. 8.) and their obedience was come abroad unto all men: (16, 19.) nor can I discover in this Epistle any allusions to Gnosticism : except it be in these words at the conclusion, Now I beseech you, brethren, mark th€m which cause di- visions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them: Jbr they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly; and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple. For your obe- LECTURE IV. 97 dience is come abroad unto all men. I am glad therefore on your behalf': but yet I would have you wise unto that which is good, and simple concern-^ ingevil. (xvi.17-19.) These words may certainly have been directed against the false doctrines and pre- tended wisdom of the Gnostics ; and what is said of men not serving Jesus Christ, hut their own helh/^ may remind "ns of what we know to have been the original desire of Simon Magus, to purchase the gift of the Holy Ghost for money, that he might exercise it himself : and the same allusion may be intended in the words which I quoted in my last Lecture, where St. Paul speaks of false teachers^ who supposed that gain was godliness ^ (1 Tim. vi. 5.) i. e. who turned religion into gain. If this be so, we may at least infer, that the doctrines of Simon Magus were but beginning to spread in Rome when this Epistle was written. It was written early in the year 53j which was the last year but one of the reign of Claudius : so that if we suppose the im- postor to have gone to Rome in the year before^ Justin Martyr's testimony is so far confirmed, who says that he was there in the reign of Claudius ^ I should also infer from the words of Justin, that Simon remained a considerable time at Rome ; or he would hardly have attracted so many followers, and received such honours in that city. St. Paul * The Recognitions of Cle- men in that city, it must have ment (II. i.) speak of Aquila been previous to the year 46 : as having been a disciple of and Simon himself, though a Simon : and they evidently Samaritan, would probably mean the Aquila who joined- have been obliged to leave St. Paul at Corinth. (Acts xviii. Rome by the decree of Clau- 2.) This was in the year 46, dius. But the authority of th* and Aquila was just come from Recognitions cannot be de- Rome; so that if he heard Si- pended on. H 98 LECTURE IV. arrived in Rome for the first time in 56, two years after the death of Claudius; and from the total silence of ancient writers upon the subject, it seems not probable that Simon Magus was at Rome during the two years of St. Paul's residence. I should con- clude therefore that Simon Magus went to Rome some time after the year 45 in the reign of Clau- dius, probably about the year 52, but had left it before the year 56 : and since St. Luke appears to have published the Acts of the Apostles at the ex- piration of the two years which St. Paul spent at Rome, he may have inserted what he there says of the early history of Simon Magus, on accoimt of the mischievous traces which he found of his doc- trine in Rome. If this h3rpothesis is correct, and if the testimony of Eusebius is also to be received, we must conclude that Simon Magus made a second visit to that city; a notion Which is by no means improbable, if he was received there as a god, and honoured with a statue '*^ But notwithstanding his boasting and his success, he may stiU have been glad to leave Rome before St. Paul arrived there. The awful threatenings of St. Peter, (Acts viii. 20 — 23.) though delivered about twenty years before, may still have sounded in his ears : and it may have been the dread of again confronting an apostle, which had driven him from place to place, that his spurious and garbled Christianity might circulate without encountering the truth. When St. Paul quitted Rome in the year 58, Simon Magus was probably on the watch, and again returned thither : or at least, according to Eusebius, when St. Peter was preaching in that city, the impostor was also there. Many ancient accounts agree in saying that LECTURE IV. 99 St. Peter and St. Paul suffered martyrdom together at the end of the reign of Nero. The Neronian persecution began in the year 64 : and it is probable that St. Paul arrived at Rome about that time, and was followed by St. Peter. We have thus an in- terval of sik years between St. Paul leaving Rome and returning to it again : and in the course of that interval I should infer that Simon Magus once more preached his doctrines in that city. The history of these six years, so far as concerns the labours of the apostles, is almost a perfect blank. We may learn a few facts concerning St. Paul from his Second Epistle to Timothy, which was written after his arrival in Rome : and this Epistle contains many expressions which may be referred to the Gnostic doctrines: but they relate to what hap- pened at Ephesus, where Timothy was then re- siding; and we learn nothing of what had been going on at Rome, except from one short sentence. At my first answer no man stood with me, hut all men forsook me. (iv. 16.) There may have been a predisposition in these persons to desert St. Paul, from the efforts which Simon Magus had made to gain proselytes during the apostle's absence: and when the flames of persecution arose, these false or wavering Christians may have been glad to screen themselves by saying, that they were followers of Simon, and not of Christ. What became of the im- postor himself at that eventful period, we cannot learn: and when Eusebius tells us that his power and influence were extinguished ,by the preaching of St. Peter, it is difficult to conceive how this effect could have been produced, when the apostle himself was suffering from Nero's ferocious cruelties. Per- H 2 100 LECTURE IV. haps we are to understand, that the followers of Simon, when they saw that the name of Christian, which they had assumed, exposed their lives to danger, would readily abandon a belief which had gained no hold upon their hearts*: but the true believers, whether at the stake or in the lion's mouth, confessed their Saviour and their God ; and the con- stancy of these men would gain converts to the true faith, while the trembling followers of Simon were glad to be forgotten and unknown'*. This perhaps may be the true interpretation of the statement in Eusebius, without our having recourse to the dra- matic effect of a public disputation between the apostle and the impostor ^, or to the still more mar- vellous accounts which are given of the impostor's death. Certain it is that the church of Rome was less infected by heresies for several years than the churches of the easty: and when Ignatius wrote to the Romans, about forty or fifty years after the time of which we are treating, he particularly mentions their being free from false doctrines ^ It is possible * This is confirmed by Ori- Hist. p. 206. Nicephor. II. 27. gen, who says of Simon, "that Glycas, Annul, p. 235. L. J. a " in order to gain followers, S. Carolo, BibUoth. Pontif. p. " he removed from his disci- 484. " pies the danger of death, >■ This is said in several " which the Christians were places by bishop BuU. (Jud. " taught to undergo, by teach- Eccl. Cath. V. 2, 3. VI. 2. 19.) "ing them that idolatry was He quotes Ruffinus, who ob- " indifferent." c. Cels. VI. 11. serves, that " no heresy had p. 638. " taken its rise in Rome -." (In " For the principles and con- Symbol. §. 3 :) and he consi- duct of the Gnostics with re- ders this to have been the spect to the duty of martyr- meaning of Tertullian when he dom, see note 64. calls the church of Rome " fe- ^ For the public conferences " lix ecclesia." (de Prsescript. between St. Peter and Simon 36. p. 215.) Magus, see Cedren. Compend. ^ ^ In tit. Epist. LECTURE IV. 101 that the persecutions, which always raged more in the capital than in the provinces^, may have contri- buted to this happy result : in those days persons would not embrace Christianity, without well con- sidering what they were doing : it was the fire of persecution which tried every man's worJe of what sort it was; (1 Cor. iii. IS;) and in this manner it may be perfectly true, that the preaching of St. Pe- ter in those perilous and sanguinary times was the means of extinguishing the doctrine of Simon Ma- gus. That doctrine, however, as we have seen, had been spreading for upwards of twenty years in vari- ous parts of the world : and Justin Martyr informs us, that its progress was surprisingly great. It is plain from his statement, and from that of other writings, that no small injury arose from this cir- cumstance to the cause of the gospel. The absurd opinions and flagitious lives of many of the Gnostics caused the name of Christ to be blasphemed among the Gentiles, who did not distinguish between the real and pretended followers of Jesus Christ. It is not improbable, that the name of Samaritan, which was confounded by some heathen writers with that of Christian, may have become so widely spread from the popularity of Simon Magus '*^. That popularity seems principally to have arisen from his astonishing success in exhibitions of the magic art''. It may seem absurd in our own day to ' a See Mosteim, {de Rebus note *3. Brotier in Tacit. An- ante Const. Cent. I. 35. note ", nal. XV. 44. and Instit. Maj. I. 5. 22. p. •> The Recognitions of Cle- 129.) where references will be ment are filled with the most found to several other writers, fabulous stories of Simon's as- Also Gibbon, c. 16. p. 412. tonishing performances. Lib. H 3 102 LECTURE IV. speak of magic being practised so successfully as the Fathers assure us that it was by Simon and his fol- lowers. But we need not go far back from our own enlightened times, if we would learn to what lengths human credulity can be carried. St. Luke himself has used the term magic, when speaking of Simon, (Acts viii. 9. 11.) and again with reference to Ely- mas, whom St.Paul struck blind in Cyprus'^, (xiii. 6.) Irenaeus is express in saying that the followers of Simon, and other adherents of Gnosticism, were ce- lebrated for magic**: nor can we think that this was merely a calumny of the Fathers, when we find Justin Martyr acknowledging that many Christians, before they were converted, had practised these wicked superstitions'^. We have also the testimony of heathen writers to the same point. Thus Sueto- nius, when speaking of the persecution of the Chris- tians under Nero, describes them as " a race of men " of a new and magical superstition*^ :" from which we may conjecture, that the Christians were falsely charged with those tricks and delusions which were really practised by the Gnostics. I may mention also, that Plutarch, who wrote at the beginning of the second century, had evidently heard of these in- cantations ; and the heathen philosopher might be mistaken for a Christian Father, when he states as a well-known fact, that " magicians order those who " are vexed by devils to repeat the Ephesian words ^." These Ephesian words or letters are well known to the classical reader as a popular method of enchant- II. See also Nicephorus, Hist, in Gal. v. 20. Eceles. II. 27. ^ Apol. I. 14. p. 51. ' St.Paul mentions ^ap/uzKeic^ ' Sympos. VII. 5. p, 706. D. among the works of the flesh LECTURE IV. 103 ment^; and we have proof that Ephesus, for some centuries before, had been celebrated in this ways. That enchantments were practised there in the days of the Apostles, we may learn from the New Testa- ment itself: for it was at Ephesus that many of them which used curious arts brought their books together, and burned them before all men: (Acts xix. 19 "^O and Timothy was residing at Ephesus, when St. Paul forewarned him, as in the text, that evil men and seducers shall wax worse and wors6, deceiving, and being deceived. These seducers, or yovjTes, were evidently men who dealt in magic : and though the charitable expression of St. Paul may have been partly true, that some of them were not deceivers, but deceived ; this can hardly have been the case with Simon Magus, whose heart, we know, was not right in the sight of God. (Acts viii. §1.) There is no positive evidence that Simon Magus ever was at Ephesus, though that city seems to have been particularly infected with Gnostic doc- trines' : but there is every reason to believe that he was engaged for a long time, and with great success, f See Wyttenbach's Note to of J. Ch. Ortlob, de Ephesiorum Plutarch, de Sent. Profect. in Libris, in the same Collection, Virt. p. 85. B.i andEustathius Part II. ad Od. I. p. 694. ed. 1559. ' There is reason, however, DUherr, Eccles. Syr. p. 355. to hope, that the faith of the Praetorius, Alectryomantia, p. Ephesians was not more shaken 175. by these attacks than that of B Plutarch speaks of Sa-oi tS>v other Churches. See the ad- fiayav iv "E^co-a biairpi^vres in dress to the Church of Ephesus the time of Alexander. Rev. ii. 2. So Ignatius praises •» Concerning these books, the Ephesians, " that no heresy- see Ursinus, Analect. Sacr. vol. " dwettethinjou:" (6.) though II. c. 5. p. 60. and a Disserta- he speaks immediately after of tion of Ch. Siberius de irepiep- pretended Christians being a- yia Ephesiorum, appended to mong them, to whom they had the Critici Sacri : also another not Ustened. H 4 104 LECTURE IV. in deluding the inhabitants of Samaria and Judaea. Our Lord foretold, that false Christs and false pro- phets should arise, who would shew great signs and wonders: he adds, If they shall say unto you. Be- hold he is in the desert, go not forth^: (Matt. xxiv. 24-26.) and it is remarkable how exactly the words of Josephus prove the completion of the prophecy. The Jewish historian tells us, that toward the end of the reign of Claudius magicians and impostors persuaded the multitude to foUow them into the de- sert, for they would shew them signs and wonders ; and many were persuaded, and suffered for their foUy^ It has been thought by some that Josephus actually names the person of whom we are now speaking: for he mentions a Jew, of the name of Simon, a Cyprian by birth, who was a friend of Felix the governor, and pretended to be a magician'". This, however, is mere conjecture : and the name of Simon was so common in that country, that we can- not infer any thing from the coincidence, particularly when Justin says expressly, that Simon Magus was a native of Samaria"- We need not go beyond the mys- teries of the Cabbala to understand that the exercise of magic would be popular in Judaea : and if it be true that Simon Magus studied at Alexandria, he would find that the Pythagorean and Platonic doc- trines were by no means free from such supersti- ^ See Matt. xxiv. 5. 11. BaroM. ad an. 35. n. 20. p. 104. Mark xiii. 5, 6. Luke xxi. 8. It is doubted by Ittigius, p. 27. ' Antiq. xx. 8. 6. p. 972. J. C. Wolfius, Cur. Philol. ad "" lb. 7. 2. p. 969. Act. Apost. viii. 9. p. 11 25. " The Simon mentioned by Brucker, vol. II. p. 668. Mo- Josephus was considered to be sheim thinks it safer to follow Simon Magus by Le Moyne, Justin. Instit. Maj. p. 39S, 9. Proleg. ad Var. Sacr. 18. 2. 6. though he once held a different Basnage, Exerc. H. Crit. a o^imon,DeunoSimoneMago,i'j. LECTURE IV. 105 tions. We have thus a key to the astonishing suc- cess which Simon Magus obtained in propagating his doctrines. He deluded the multitude by lying wonders ; he enticed the learned by philosophi/ and vain deceit. It is probable that the natae of Christ was profaned to both these purposes. We know from the Acts of the Apostles that exorcism was a regular profession among the Jews" : (xix. 13.) and though Simon found that the gift of God was not to be purchased with money, (viii. 20.) he would try to imitate the Apostles as much as he could, and, like the sons of Sceva, he would call over them which had evil spirits the name of the Lord Jesus. (xix. 13.) When the unhappy demoniacs were acted upon by fancy, the experiment would often succeed : and thus that holy name, at which every knee should bow, was associated with impious rites, and used as the spell of an enchanter. With respect to the doctrines of Simon Magus, we know for certain that Christ held a conspicuous place in the philosophy which he taught: but to define with accuracy the various points of this phi- losophy, is a difficult, if not impossible task. The Fathers perhaps may be suspected of laying too many impieties to the charge of this heretic ; and some of their accounts cannot be reconciled with each other. StiU, however, we may extract from their writings an outline of the truth ; and in this instance, as before, I wotdd attach particular weight to the authority of Justin Martyr. That writer says, that nearly all the inhabitants of Samaria, and a few persons in other countries, acknowledged and " See HarenbergiuSi, de Magis Judais, in Mus. Bremens,,vol,-I. 106 LECTURE IV. worshipped Simon Magus as the first, or supreme GodP: and in another place he says that they styled him God above all dominion and authority and power*!. Later writers have increased the blasphemy of this doctrine ; and said that Simon declared him- self to the Samaritans as the Father, to the Jews as the Son, and to the rest of the world .as the Holy Ghost '. But I cannot bring myself to believe that he ever advanced so far in wickedness or absurdity. The true state of the case may perhaps be collected from the words of St. Luke, who tells us that Simon gave himself out to be some great one, and that the people said of him. This man is the great power of God. (Acts viii. 10.) Such is the title which he bore before he had heard of Christ ; and there is no reason to think that he afterwards raised his pre- tensions, and identified himself with God. He gave himself out as the great power of God, i. e. a person in whom divine power resided^ : and, after he had heard the Apostles, he seems to have so far enlarged his doctrine, as to have said, that the God, whose minister he was, and who had always been wor- shipped in Samaria, had revealed himself to the p Apol. I. 26. p. 59. '< speciosus, ego Paracletus, 1 Dial, cum Tryph. 120. p. " ego omnipotens, ego omnia 214. " Dei." (in Matt. xxiv. 5. vol. ' Iren. I. 23. p. 99. II. 9 2. p. 1 26. Epiphan. Haer. XXI I. Vol. I. p. 55. Vol. II. p 139. Theodoret. Har. Fab. I I. p. 192. Augustin. //«r. vol VII. p. 193.) See Siricius de Simone Mago, Disq, I. Thes. 31. p. 30. ' For the meaning attached by Simon to the word divafus. VIII. p. 6. TertuUian also see Mosheim, Instit. Maj. p. says, that Simon called himself 401. Suicer, v. Svvaius. It " summum Patrem." (DeAni- may have been on this account ma, 34. p. 290.) Jerom repre- that St. Paul calls Christ the sents Simon as saying, " Ego power of God and the wisdom " suxa Sermo Dei, ego sum of God, 1 Cor. i. 24. LECTURE IV. 107 Jews by his Son, and to the rest of the world by the Holy Ghost. There is reason to believe that he de- clared himself to be the Christ who appeared to the Jews ; or rather, he said that the same spirit which descended upon Jesus had descended afterwards upon himself; for he did not believe that Jesus had a real body, but he taught that he was only a phan- tom. To this he added, that the Holy Ghost, by which God was revealed to the Gentiles, resided in himself: and this I take to be the real origin of the story, that he was the God who revealed himself as the Father to the Samaritans, as the Son to the Jews, and as the Holy Ghost to the rest of the world**. Another charge, which it is equally difficult to believe, relates to a female companion, whom he is said to have declared to be the first Idea, or Con- ception, which he, as God, put forth from his mind. By another mental process, in which this first Idea was a partner, he produced the Angels, and they created the world. All this is highly mystical, and writers have had recourse to different allegories, by which the absurdity may be explained. That Simon never identified a real living person with an Idea emanating from the mind of God, may, I think, be assumed as certain*'. But we see in this story evi- dent traces of the Gnostic doctrines. Valentinus, in the second century, made the first Cause, or Bythus, act upon Si7>;, or 'Evvaiec, i. e. upon his own mind, and produce the first pair of jEons. This, then, was the doctrine of Simon : The supreme God, by a mental process, produced different orders of Angels, and they created the world. It was this same God, whose first or principal power resided in Simon 108 LECTURE IV. Magus. But when later writers had said that he actually proclaimed himself as God, it followed that it was he, who, by an operation of his own mind, produced the Angels. If I have argued rightly, I have freed the doctrine of Simon Magus from some of its impieties ; but there is still much which is absurd, and much which is impious ; for he believed that the world was cre- ated, not by the supreme God, but by inferior be- ings : he taught also, that Christ was one of those successive generations of ^ons which were derived from God ; not the ^on which created the world ; but he was sent from God to rescue mankind from the tyranny of the Demiurgus, or creative iEon*^. Simon was also inventor of the strange notion, that the Person who was said to be born and crucified had not a material body, but was only a phantom. His other doctrines were, that the writers of the Old Testament were not inspired by the supreme God, the fountain of good, but by those inferior be- ings who created the world, and who were the au- thors of evil. He denied a general resurrection ; and the lives of himself and his followers are said to have been a continued course of impure and vicious conduct. Such was the doctrine and the practice of Simon Magus, from whom all the pseudo-Christian or Gnostic heresies were said to be derived. Simon himself seems to have been one of those Jews, who, as we learn from the Acts of the Apostles, travelled about the country, exorcising evil spirits K But he was also a man of speculative mind ; and, having •■ See also Matt. vii. 22. xii. 27. LECTURE IV. 109 studied the doctrines of Plato, he entered into the questions which were then so commonly agitated, concerning the eternity of Matter, and the origin of Evil ". Hence we find him embracing the opinion, that the world was created by Angels who were themselves produced from God. This, as we have seen, was a corrupted Platonism ^- Plato imagined, that the Ideas which were in the mind of the Deity created intellectual beings : Simon taught that the supreme God by an operation of his own mind pro- duced the Angels. The first Intelligences of Plato were employed by God to create the world : Simon also taught that the Angels, or iEons, created the world : but in one respect, as I have observed before; the Gnostics had totally changed the philosophy of Plato ; for they taught that the Angel, or Angels, who created the world, acted contrary to the wishes of the supreme GodJ". We will now see whether the New Testament contains any allusions to this leading tenet of the Gnostics, that the world was not created by God, but by Angels or jEons. " The Recognitions speak of ion ofthe later Gnostics, though Simon as " particularly weU Simon himself appears to have " versed in Greek literature." departed less abruptly from the (li. 7.) That he wrote books, doctrine of Plato. The author is said by Jerom, (in Matt, of the Recognitions makes him XXIV. 5. vol. VII. p. 193.) the say, " Ipse (bonus Deus) misit Apostolical Constitutions, (VI. " creatoremDeum, ut conderet 16.) and Dionysius Areop. de " mundum : sed iUe, mundo Divin. Nom. VI. 2. p. 736.) " condito, semetipsum pro- He is also stated to have been " nunciavit Deum." II. 57. a distinguished orator and dia- Yet Epiphanius represents him lectician, (Recogn. II. 5.) as teaching that the world was * According to Hyde, the Per- not of God; (p. 52.) that he sians also taught, that God or- himself created the Angels, who dered the good Angels to create created the world, (p. 56.) The- the heavens, and the Devil odoret says the same, p. 192. caused darkness, c. 22. p. 293. See Brucker, vol. II. p. 677. ' Thiswas certainly the opin- Mosheim, Instit. p. 414. no LECTURE IV. The term u^Eon, is one to which it is very difficult to attach a definite or uniform meaning". It seems however ahnost demonstrable, that in its primary sense the Greek term was applied to an indefinite period, and that period was relatively a long one \ When philosophers had agreed that the world had a beginning, but that God was without beginning, a word was Wanted to express the duration of God's ex- istence. The indefinite term aim naturally presented itself: and hence we find Aristotle deducing from it, even et)rmologically, the notion of Eternity''; and Plato expressly opposed it to yj>ovo?, or Time''- Time began when the Intelligences, which were produced by God, created the world : but God himself, and these Intelligences, had existed before Time. The duration of their existence was therefore measured by ^ons. It is obvious however, that the term was applied with difierent notions to God and to these In- telligences. When applied to God, it properly signi- fied eternity, or unoriginated immensity of duration. But the Intelligences which He formed, had a begin- "^ TheodoretsaysoftheGnos- 153. Suicer v. aiiv. Mange/s tics, " They are not aware that note to Philo Judeeus, \oL. I. •' JEon is not sometHng which p. 619. Tittman. de Vestigm " has a substantial existence, Gnosticismi in N. T. f rostra " but a certain space indicative qutesitis, p. 210. " of time ; of infinite time, 'Kal yap tovto tovvoiui fieias " when it is applied to God, eCJiSeyicTal wapa rSni apxaian/ .... " sometimes of a period com- tariv dwo tov del etvai elKriipas rtju " mensurate with creation, iirawiiLav. De Ccelo, I. 9. p. 97. " sometimes with human life." ed. 1605. HiEr. Fab. V. 6. p. 264. "^ Eikoj 8' emvoei Kivryrov rwa ^ Aristotle says that alav was al&vos ttoi^o-cu, koi buiKoa-fi&v Spa used for the measure of the ovpavov ttokI pevovros al&vos ev period of human life, de Cwlo, ivl kot dpiBpJov Imiaav alaviov I. 9. For the different meanings ehova, tovtov ov 817 xp"""" ""o- of the term, see Damascen. paxapev. Tinums, p. 37. xp°v°^ ^ de Orthod, Fid. II. I. vol. I. p. ovv per ovpavov yeyovfv, ib. 38. LECTURE IV. Ill ning, though not in Time : and the same term, when applied to their existence, signified a long, but not an eternal duration. We have only to carry on this idea, and we may easily comprehend the jiEons of the Gnostics. Philosophers had already personified the Platonic Ideas, and converted them into intellectual beings : the next step was to call them by the name which properly signified the duration of their exist- ence". The JEons therefore of the Gnostics were incorporeal beings, who had a beginning, but whose existence commenced before time, or the creation of the world. This however was an esoteric and pecu- liar sense of the term : in common language it still continued to signify a certain portion of time: and' Philo Judaeus, though when speaking philosophi- cally he opposes it to time, yet in several places uses it for any period which is relatively long, and even for a portion of human life. The Greek trans- lators of the Bible also used it in both these senses. When applied to God, it generally means eternity; but it frequently signifies merely a long period of time. The writers of the New Testament evidently used it in this sense : and they often qualify the expres- sion, so as to mark the present state of human ex- istence^. But when we read in the Epistle to the Hebrews, that God hath spoken unto us hy his Son, hy whom also he made the worlds, tov( alavaq, (i. 2.) we have perhaps here an evident allusion to the Gnostic doctrines: and the apostle may have in- tended to say, that Christ was not one of the later ^ons, as the Gnostics vainly taught, but it was he by whom the iEons themselves were made ^. Nor ■i Matt.xii. 32. xiii. 22. Luke ' Theodoret charges the xvi. 8. 2 Tim. iv. 10. &c. &c. Gnostics with saying that there 112 LECTURE IV. would the apostle by this use of the term counte- nance the Gnostic doctrine of ^ons : he would merely mean to say, that before those periods of time which the Gnostics had personifiedj or before those angelic beings, out of which the Gnostics had made their imaginary iEons, Christ the Son of God existed ; and it was he who made those very beingsj which were said by the Gnostics to have made the world. I do not mean to say, that the term almag ought not in this place to be translated thfi worlds : it probably had obtained that meaning before the time of the Apostle: (see Psalm Iv. 19. and Heb. xi; 3.) but I conceive that the Jewish Christians, to whom he was writing, would well know the Gnostic use of the term, and it would convey to their ears the doctrine which was intended by the apostle, that Christ the Son of God was before all time^. It was probably for the same reason, that the act of crea- tion is so often attributed to Christ : and when St; John said, ^/Z things were made hy him, and with- out him was not any thing made, (i. 3,) he certainly meant to include intellectual beings, such as the Gnostics called jEons, as well as the visible world, which he afterwards calls Koa-[j.oi. In many other places all things are said to have been made by Christ s; but nowhere is the Gnostic doctrine of Mons and of the creation more fully refuted than in the Epistle to the Colossians : JBy him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in were many ^ons older than N. T. I. p. 710. the Creator. Har. Fab. V. 6. f Valentinus said that St. p. 264. Fabricius says, " that Paul spoke of the ^ons. Iren. " it would not be absurd to I. 3, i. p. 14. " understand angels in this s See i Cor. viii. 6. " place by aiffli/er." Cod. Apoc. LECTURE IV. 113 earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him and for him: and he is before all things, and by him all things consist, (i. 16, 17.) St. Paul appears to exhaust his vocabulary, and to dive into the arcana of Grnosticisni, that he may prove Christ to have existed before all time; not only before the world, though that was made by him ; but before every being which the most profound ab- straction, or the most inventive fancy, had clothed with an imaginary existence. By these and similar expressions the system of the Gnostics was totally subverted: they held that God and the Creator were two different persons^: but the apostles say in one place that God created the world, in another that Christ created it ; in another that God created it by Christ and for Christ: nor is this aU: not only was the material world created by Christ, but all amgeiic beings (one of whom was said by the Gnostics to be tiie Creator, and another to be Christ!) are declared by the aposties to be themselves cre- ated by Christ. If these dedarations were so repeatedly made by the apostles for the purpose of refuting the Gnostic doctrines, it is probable that those commentators may be right, who have supposed St, Paul to have had the same object in view, when he said to Titus, But avoid foolish qtie&tions, and geiiealogi^, and contentions, and strivings about tke law; for they are unprv^iahle and vain. ^ man that is am, heretic after the firM and second mdmomtion reject; know- ing that he that is such is subverted, and sinneth, being condemned of himself, (iii. 9, 10.) It has been supposed, that the genealogies here mentioned might 114 LECTURE IV. relate to those numerous generations of ^ons, which the Gnostic philosophy interposed between the su- preme God and the Demiurgus : and, if so, we might feel still less doubt concerning another passage, where these genealogies are called endless. St. Paul says to Timothy, Neither give heed to fables and end- less genealogies, which minister questions, rather than godly edifying, which is in faith— from which some having swerved have turned aside unto vain jangling; desiring to he teachers of the law; under- standing neither what they say, nor whereof they affirm. (1 Tim. i. 4-7.) In both passages, beside these genealogies, mention is made of contentions ahout the law: from whence some have inferred, that the Jewish genealogies, rather than the Gnostic ^ons, were the subject of the apostle's vituperation. We know, that the Jews were particular in pre- serving their genealogies : but it is difficult to see what mischief could arise from this cause to St. Paul's Christian converts at Ephesus. Beside which he says, that these teachers of the law understood neither what they said, nor whereof they affirmed; which could hardly be the case with any Jews, if they were so attached to their religion, as to be careful in keeping their genealogies. Neither would St. Paul be likely to speak of these genealogies as fool- ish questions, when it is plain from two of the gospels, that the Jewish genealogy of Jesus Christ and his descent from Abraham were considered im- portant points'". On the other hand, we know that the Jewish Cabbala was filled with: fables about ^ The descent of Christ from preaching. 2 Tim. ii. 8. Acts David, and therefore from A- xiii. 23. Rom. i. 3. ix. 5. Heb. braham, appears to have been vii. 13, 14. an important point in St. Paul's LECTURE IV. 115 successive emanations from God : and these fables, together with the corrupted philosophy of Plato, contributed to the growth of Gnosticism. The Gnostics therefore, according as the case required, would endeavour to support their doctrines by ap- pealing to Plato or to the Jewish scriptures : they would try to pervert both to suit their purpose; and these may have been the persons, who St. Paul speaks of as desiring to he teachers of the law, understanding neither what they say, nor whereof they affirm. The Epistle to Timothy con- tains some other passages, which allude very plainly to the Gnostic doctrines ; and I should therefore conclude, that what is here said of endless genealo- gies may very probably relate to their successive generations of jEons^'. I am only aware of one other place in the New Testament where the word iEon can be thought to be personified, and used for one of the Angels or Spirits of the Gnostic creed. It is in the Epistle to the Ephesians (ii. 2.) where St. Paul speaks of their having walked in time past according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the chil- dren of disobedience. What is here translated the course of this world is the ^on of this world, tIv alZva TOW Koa-[^ov tovtov, and if this member of the sen- tence is to be explained by the one which follows, according to the prince of the power of the' air ^ it might certainly seem to be inferred, that the ^on of this world, and the prince of the power of the air were one and the same". It is plain from other ' Buddeus confesses that no about this text. Beausobre-pre- interpreter ever satisfied him feirs taking alma in a personal I2 116 LECTURE IV. expressions of St. Paul, that the Almighty does allow evil spirits to have some power in injuring his crea- tures'^: but when the apostle said, that the Ephe- sians had walked formerly according to the course^ or tEou, o/' this world, he may have used the term in its proper sense, and have meant to say, that they had walked according to those evil habits which had prevailed in the world from the commencement of that period, which marks its duration. (Compare Col. iii. 6, 7. Rom. xii. 2.) The ^Eon of this world would thus be the period of time allotted to the existence of this present scene of things : and St. Paul seems to use it in this sense, when he speaks of our wrestling against the rulers of the darkness of this world, or ^on, (Eph. vi. 12.) and of the God of this world, or Mom, having blinded the minds of them which believe not. (2 Cor. iv. 4.) In both these passages St. Paul is evidently speaking of evil spi- rits : and the term ^on can only be used with reference to that period of time, in which these fallen beings are allowed to exercise their malignant power. The Gnostic philosophy was filled with superstitious and mystical notions concerning Angels or ^ons. . The speculations of Plato would furnish an ample foundation for such a superstructure ; and the Cabbalistic Jews would load it with several orders of good and evil Angels, the names of which were brought with them from Babylon ^ Hence sense, " selon TEon, ou le " quae in saeculo versantur, ac- " Prince de ce Monde." vol. I. " cipitur : ut in Gal. i. 4: Eph. p. 575. I should mention that " ii. 7." vol. VII. p. 594. Jerom interprets aifflvwn in Eph. ^ Eph. iv. 27. vi. 12. Col. L iii. 9. of " omnes spirituales et 13. i Pet. v. 8. James iv. 7. " rationabiles creaturae quae in ' I may refer to notes 24, " saaculis fuerunt. Sseculum and 28, where I have spoken " quippe frequenter pro his of the belief in Angels as held LECTURE IV. 117 every leader of the Gnostics had some peculiar no- tion concerning Angels ; and it has been thought that St. Paul alluded to some of them, or to Simon Magus in particular, when he said to the Colossians, Let no man beguile you of your reward in a volun- tary humility and worshipping of Angels, intrud- ing into those things which he hath not seen, vainly puffed up hy his fleshly mind, and not holding the head, from which all the body by joints and bands having nourishment ministered, and hnit together, increaseth with the increase of God. (ii. 18, 19.) It is said by TertuUian™, that Simon Magus wor- shipped Angels, and that he was rebuked for this by St. Peter, as for a species of idolatry. He evidently means, that Simon worked his pretended miracles by invoking the agency of spirits : and we have abundant proof, that great power was attributed to the spiritual world in the time of our Saviour, and for many ages after. Clement of Alexandria" in- forms us, that those who practised magic offered worship to Angels and daemons ; and he appears to have had in his mind this passage of the Epistle to the Colossians. Epiphanius also says, that Simon in- vented certain names for principalities and powers": all which may incline us to think that St. Paul may have alluded to the Gnostics, and particularly to the Jewish Gnostics, who intruded into things which they had not seen, when they speculated upon the creation and government of the world- by Angels ; who were vainly puffed up by their fleshly mind, by the Platonists and the Cab- ™ De Prsescript. Haeret. 33. balists : and from these two p. 214. quarters the Gnostic notion of " Strom. III. 6. p. 533. Angels was derived. " Haer. XXI. 4. p. 58. I 3 118 LECTURE IV. when they boasted of having arrived at the per- fection of knowledge in these matters ; and who did not hold the head, from which all the body hy joints and hands is knit together; when instead of making God and Christ p the head of all things in heaven and in earth, they only gave to Christ a place among the other ^ons, and taught that the world was cre- ated by an Angel or Angels, who in so doing acted in opposition to God*'. With the examination of these passages I shall close the present Lecture, reserving for the next some other points of the Gnostic doctrines, which appear to be alluded to in the apostolic writings. We have perhaps been considering the history of a man, who caused a greater portion of evil, than ever proceeded from the mere aberrations of a speculating mind. If Simon Magus was the first who profaned the name of Christ to his philosophical ravings and his unholy mysteries, he is a proof to what an ex- tent delusion and credulity may be carried ; but he is also a proof that mere human philosophy alone may play around the ear, and exercise the head, but it does not touch the heart. Where is the wise ? where is the scribe f where is the disputer of this world f the foolishness of God is wiser than men: and the weakness of God is stronger than men. p Compare Eph. iv. 15, 16. LECTURE V. TiTcs i. 16. They profess that they know God, but in works they deny him. JlJEFORE I proceed to consider the other points of the Gnostic system, which are alluded to in the New Testament, I should wish to notice an opinion of TertuUian, which, if correct, would go further to shew that the apostles referred to that false phi- losophy, than almost any instance which we could produce. TertuUian, in his work upon heresies, ex- pressly discusses our present subject; and among the heresies which he represents as refuted by the apostles, he says, that " St. Paul, when he con- " demned those who served, or were in bondage to " elements, points to a doctrine something \\ke. that " of Hermogenes, who taught that Matter was not " produced, and put it on a level with God who is " not produced ; and thus making a deity out of " Matter, the parent of the elements, he brings' him- " self to worship that which he put on a level with " God*." I would observe upon these words, that Hermogenes appeared as the leader of a sect about the year 170; and taught, as we see from this pas- sage, that matter is eternal, and that God did not create the world out of nothing''. This we know to ^ De Praescript. Hseret. 33. ^ Mosheim, de Rebus ante p. 214. Const. Cent. II. 7°- I 4 ■ 120 LECTURE V. have been the belief of many philosophers long before the days of Hermogenes ; and TertuUian thought that St. Paul meant to expose this error, when he spoke of persons being in bondage to elements'^. There are two .Epistles of St. Paul to which TertuUian may have alluded, that to the Galatians, and that to the Colossians ; but in neither of them can it be sup- posed, that the elements, which are spoken of, relate to the elements of Matter, out of which the world was made. The error of the Galatians was evi- dently that of a fondness for Judaism : and St. Paul almost defines his use of the term elements, when he says. How turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bon- dage f Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years^. (iv. 9. 10.) So also in his Epistle to the Colossians, he explains himself in the same way. Wherefore if ye be dead with Christ from the rudi- ments [or elements] of' the world, why, as though living in the world, are ye object to ordinances. Touch not, taste not, handle not^f (ii. 20, 21.) No person can doubt, that in both these places allusion is made to the ordinances of the Mosaic law. It may be conjectured indeed, that the Gnostics, whose principle it was to borrow something from every creed, made a boast of observing these outward or- dinances, and thus succeeded in gaining the Jews. In the Epistle to the Colossians, which was written ' Chrysostom supposed St. so we, when, we were children, Paul in Col. ii. 8. to allude to were iniondageunder the elements the error of observing certain of the world. days, and to mean by orotx"" * So in v. 8. he had said, Be' the Sun and Moon. Serm. VI. ware lest any man spoil you, &c. in Col. after the rudiments of the world, '' He had said in v. 3. Even and not after Christ. LECTURE V. 121 probably six years after that to the Galatians, there are many allusions to Gnostic errors *^: and it may have been these insidious teachers, (some of whom, it will be remembered, were Jews by birth,) who endeavoured to bring the Colossians into bondage, under the elements of the world. But the Galatians seem to have suffered merely from Jewish teachers, who wished scrupulously to enforce every precept and ordinance of their religion. It is not difficult to see why St. Paul spoke of these ordinances as the elements of the world. An element is the first beginning or outline of any thing: as when St. Paul says to the Hebrews, Ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles [or elements] of the oracles of God, (v. 12.) It was thus that the letters of the alphabet were called elements : and so the component parts of Matter were called elements ; in which sense TertuUian supposes St. Paul to have used the term ; and in which sense it is unquestionably used by St. Peter, when he says, that at the last day the ele- ments shall melt with fervent heat. (2 Pet. iii. 10.) But in the same manner the Mosaic dispensation was merely the element or imperfect beginning of the Christian dispensation. As St. Paul says in the f Buddeus refers it generally (cont. Mardon. V. 19. p. 485.) to the Cerinthians, who may In another place he refers Col. be considered a branch of Jew- ii. 8. to Grecian philosophy, ish Gnostics. Eccles. Apost. (De Preescript. 7. p. 204, 5.) p. 461. 464. Clem. Streso re- Grotius himself conceived St. ferred it to Jewish philoso- Paul to have used expressions phers. Medit. in Col. ad 1. p. which might be applied to the 49. Grotius observes, that Jews and to philosophers, par- Col. ii. 21. is said by Tertullian ticularly the Pythagoreans. — not to refer to the Mosaic law. See Wolfius, ManiehtEismas an- But Tertullian only says, that it te ManichtBos, II. 42. p. 1 8 1 . does not refer to it exclusively. 122 LECTURE V. first of these two Epistles, the law was our school- master to bring us unto Christ: (Gal. iii. 24.) it taught merely the elements of that faith which was afterwards to be revealed. TertuUian appears to have been deceived by St. Paul speaking of the ele- ments of the world; and to have understood him to mean the elements of matter, out of which the world was made. But the form of expression is one very common in Greek, and might perhaps be better ren- dered by worldly elements^. St. Paul calls them weak and poor elements ; because, as he says in an- other place, the law, having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never make the comers thereunto perfect. (Heb.x.l.) So also he says, that the Mosaic sacrifices could not make him that did the service perfect, because they stood only in meats and drinks, and divers washings and carnal ordinances. (Heb. ix. 9, 10.) These ordi- nances of the flesh, or carnal ordinances, were pre- cisely the same with the elements of the world, or worldly elements : and we may conclude, therefore, that it was to the elements of Christianity contained in the Mosaic ceremonies ^ and not at all to the ele- s So in Col. ii. i8. we find pMnly, when speaiing of the Tov voos TTjs capKos for trapKiKov law, 6 /lev, naiSaymyov rpoirov voos' in James i. 25. OKpoar^s vrjiria^ovri ra irporepm \aa otoi- imXrjcriwvTJs for eiriKr]v cucpoa- ;(£ia t^s "PX^* ™'' '"''*' ^f"'' irape- TTjs. Si'Sou Xoy'uiv. cont. Marcell. I. p. '' This was evidently the in- 3. This shews in what sense terpretation of Eusebius, who, Eusebius understood to. orotxela when speaking of rh wp&ra koI roB K6a-p,ov, though in another aa-6evfi (TToixela, calls them (rip,- place he quotes the words rois /3oXa Koi elxovas. Dem. Evang. I. KoirpiKois This is the argument of " eis nomen aufertur. Crude Archelaus, in his dispute with " autem non susceptei, nee Je- Manes: " Si non est natus, " sus ex mortuis resurrexit, " sine dubio nee passus est ; " nee aliquis alius resurget." " quod si non est passus, Cru- Rel. Sacr. vol. IV. p. 259. LECTURE V. 131 and spirit once more into contact, and again to amalgamate the elements of good and evil. This leads me to consider, in the second place, what were the opinions of the Gnostics themselves concerning the resurrection : for pretending, as they did, to receive the preaching of the apostles, they could not deny that in some sense or other the doc- trine of a resurrection was contained in the gospel. Their explanation of the doctrine was this. Before the coming of Christ, the world was in ignorance of the true God. Christ revealed this God to the world : and they who received the revelation, rose ^ain from the death of ignorance to perfect hnow-r ledge. So far did they carry their eclectic principle, that they baptized their converts, and even borrowed something like the Christian form. The favourite metaphor of St. Paul would not escape them : and skilled as they were in allegory and figitre, they taught that the Gnostic baptism was a real resur- rection, and the only resurrection which was ever intended". It will he asked, perhaps, what was their opinion concerning the state of the soul after death? Upon this point we have abundant evidence. They taught, that the soul of the perfect Gnostic, having risen again at ba|ri;ism, and being enabled by perfection of knowledge to conquer the Demiur- gus, or Principle of evil, would ascend, as soon as it was freed from the body, to the heavenly Pleroma, and dwell there for ever in the presence of the Fa- ther : while the soul of him, who had not been al- lowed while on earth to arrive at such a plenitude of knowledge, wotdd pass through several transmi- grations, till it was sufficiently purified to wing its flight to the Pleroma**. K 2 132 LECTURE V. Such was the doctrine of the Gnostics concerning the resurrection : and we may now proceed to con- sider what notice is taken of it in the New Testa- ment. I need not dwell upon the fact, that the re- surrection formed the prominent point in all the preaching of the apostles. If this, the corner-stone of the edifice, was removed, they consented that the whole should fall : and among what are called the first principles of the doctrine of Christ, we find the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. (Heb. vi. 1, 2.) Nor was the importance of the doctrine their only reason for thus enforcing it. From some cause or other connected with the phi- losophy of the heathen, there seems to have been more difficulty in admitting the doctrine of the re- surrection, than any other tenet of Christianity. Fond as the Athenians were of hearing and telling some new thing, the notion of a resurrection was too strange even for them. It was for this that St. Paul was brought before the Areopagus ; and when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked, and others said. We will hear thee again of this matter. (Acts xvii. 32.) St. Paul seems to have weU known the bent of Agrippa's mind, when he said to him, Why should it he thought a thing in- credible with you, that God should raise the dead f (Acts xxvi. 8.) We know from other evidence that it did seem a thing the most incredible of all" : and " Some curious observations 33 and 35 : but the passages upon this subject may be seen by no means prove so much, in Jortin's Remarks upon Ec- TTie instance which he quotes clesiastical History, vol. II. p. from a lost work of Plutarch is 198, &c. Eusebius wishes to more to the purpose, (c. 36.) prove that Plato believed in a though it may be nothing more resurrection: Prap.Evang.XI. than a return of suspended LECTURE V. 133 when the minds of thinking men were in this state, the gospel had to encounter an obstacle which did not affect the preaching of the Gnostics. The first instance which we find of the resurrec- tion being questioned among Christians, is in the Epistle to the Corinthians. If Christ be preached, says St. Paul, that he rose from the dead, how say some among you that there is no resurrection of the deadf (1 Cor. xv. 12.) And we find afterwards, that these persons asked. How are the dead raised up f and with what body do they come? (35.) I need not here discuss the physical or metaphysical ques- tion, either how the scattered particles of matter can again be united, or how, if the material particles are dispensed with, the identity and consciousness of the individual can be preserved. It is plain that St. Paul saw no difficulty; and we might be satisfied with knowing that in some way or other we shall he changed. (51.) But the question of the Corin- thian Christians was evidently the result of philo- sophical speculation : and though I do not say that in this instance the Gnostics were the chief movers, yet St. Paul well knew the evil which was abroad, and that if his converts once doubted the fact of the resurrection, they might soon learn to explain it away by the allegorical subtleties of the Gnostics^'. animation. I should say the Hody, (Resurrection of the same same of the cases referred to Body, ■ (Ecumenius referred the ' St. Paul alludes to the same passages in St. Peter and St. history in i Cor. x. 7, 8. Jude to the Nicolaitans. LECTURE V. 158 feasts of charity, when, theyjeast with yoti, feeding themselves without fetor. (12.) This is the only place where the Agapee, or LoVe'-feasts of the early Chris- tians, are mentioned by name in the New Testament: but St. Peter evidently alludes to them in the words already quoted, Sp&ts they are and blemishes, sport" ing themselves with their own deceivings, whih they feast with you. (ii. 13.) It seems that the Nico- laitans, stiU acting in their feigned and double cha- racter, attended the Christian Agapee as fearlessly as they partook of an idol-Sacrifice : and then it was that they tried with success the fiendlike policy of Balaam : they converted those pure and simple meetings into scenes of riot and debauchery ; till the Agapae of the Christians became a by-word among the heathen ; and the gospel was charged with en-^ couraging crimes, which had scarcely defiled the ob- scenest rites of Paganism *^ There is another question concerning the Nieo- laitans, which has excited much discussion : but to Which I can only briefly allude in this place. It is a question entirely of evidence and detail : and the two points to be considered are, 1. whether the Nicolaitans derived their name from Nicolas of An- tioch, who was one of the seven Deacons : 2. suppose ing this to be the fact, whether Nicolas had disgraced himself by sensual indulgence. Those writers, who have endeavoured to clear the character of Nicolas, have generally tried also to prove that he was not the man, whom the Nicolaitans claimed as their head. But the one point may be true without the other : and the evidence is so overwhelming, which states that Nicolas the Deacon was at least the person intended by the Nicolaitans, that it is diflScult to 154 LECTURE V. come to any other conclusion upon the subject. We must not deny that some of the Fathers have also charged him with falling into vicious habits, and thus affording too true a support to the heretics who claimed him as their leader. These writers however are of a late date ; and some, who are much more ancient, have entirely acquitted him, and furnished an explanation of the calumnies, which attach to his name. At this distance of time we can only weigh testimony and probabilities : there is at least no harm in hoping, that the faith of so many Christians was not destroyed by the altered doctrine or vicious ex- ample of one, who had helped to sow the first seeds of the gospel, and nursed it with a parent's care*^ We know that the Gnostics were not ashamed to claim as their founders the apostles, or friends of the apostles. These same Nicolaitans are stated to have quoted a saying of Matthias in support of their opinions*. The followers of Marcion and Valen- tinus professed also to hold the doctrine of Matthias": those of Basilides laid claim to the same apostle ^ or to Glaucias, who, they said, was interpreter to St. Petery. Valentinus boasted also of having heard Theudas, an acquantance of St. PauP. At a much latier period Manes was said to have succeeded Bud- das, who was the disciple of Scythianus, a contem- porary of the apostles". The latter story is not even chronologically possible : and it may be observed in all these cases, that the heretics claimed connexion t Clem. Alex. Strom. III. 4. ' lb. p. 523. ' Disput. Archelai et Ma- " lb. VII. 17. p. 900. netis, 51. (Rel. Sacr. vol. IV. =- lb. p. 267.) y lb. p. 898. LECTURE V. 155 either with persons, of whom the New Testament mentions only the names ; or who are not recorded at all in the apostolic writings. The same may have been the case with Nicolas the Deacon : and though I allow, that if the Nicolaitans were distinguished as a sect some time before the end of the century, the probability is lessened that his name was thus abused ; yet if his career was a short one, his his- tory, like that of the other Deacons, would soon be forgotten : and the same fertile invention, which gave rise in the two first centuries to so many apo- cryphal gospels'', may also have led the Nicolaitans to give a false character to him whose name they had assumed. '' See note '^. Irenaeus speaks add the following passage from of the Gospel of Judas, as a, hook the same author concerning used by the Caiani. (I. 31. i. the Ebionites, " They pretend p. 112.) Epiphanius mentions " to admit the name of the apo- the same, and another book " sties in order to persuade forged by them, entitled Pauli " those who are deceived by Anabaticum, {H(Er. XXXVIII. " them : and they forge books 2. p. 277.) I have selected " in their names, as if they were these instances, because the " written by James and Mat- Caiani were connected with " thew, and the other apostles." the Nicolaitans : and I may (Heer. XXX. 23. p. 147.) LECTURE VI. 1 John v. 6. This is he that came iy water and blood, even Jesus Christ; not hy water only, hut iy "water and ilood. In my last Lecture I took occasion to consider all those heretics who are mentioned by name in the New Testament. All of them appear to have been connected with the Gnostics. I have likewise no- ticed the moral practice of those heretics, and their sentiments concerning God, the creation of the world, the inspiration of the prophets, and the resurrection. There were also two other persons, whose names, though not mentioned in the New Testament, are connected by many of the Fathers with the history of St. John ; and who are stated to have lived some time before the close of the first century. I allude to Cerinthus and Ebion ; whose doctrines I propose to examine in the present Lecture : and this will enable us to consider what hitherto I have only noticed incidentally, the place which was assigned to Jesus Christ in the Gnostic philosophy. I have remarked more than once, that Christ was believed by the Gnostics to be one of the JEons, who was sent into the world to reveal the knowledge of the true God, and to free the souls of men from the power of the .creative ^on or Demiurgus. This was the outline of the belief which was held by all the Gnostics concerning Christ ; and as a necessary consequence of this belief, they all jdenied his in- 158 LECTURE VI. carnation. It is the observation of Irenaeus% that according to the opinion of none of the heretics was the Word of God made flesh : and I stated in my second Lecture, that there were two ways in which the Gnostics explained the appearance of Jesus upon earth, and obviated the difficulty of making an ^on sent from God to be united to Matter, which is in- herently evil. They either denied that Christ had a real body at all, and held that he was an unsub- stantial phantom ; or granting that there was a man called Jesus, the son of human parents, they be- lieved that the Mon Christ quitted the Pleroma and descended upon Jesus at his baptism ''. The former of these two opinions seems to have been adopted earlier than the latter : and those who held it, from believing that Jesus existed only in appearance, were called Docetce. The Docetae again were divided into two parties : some said that the body of Jesus was altogether an illusion: and that he only appeared to perform the functions of life, like the Angels who were entertained by Abraham ; or as Raphael is made to say to Tobit, All these days I did appear unto you : but I did neither eat nor drink, hut ye did see a vision: (xii. 19.) The other Docetae thought that Christ had a real and tangible body ; but that it was formed of a celestial substance, which was resolved kgain into the same etherial elements, when Christ returned to the Pleroma. We need " III. II, 3. p. 189. " indicasset innominabilem Pa- b These two notions are thus " triem, incomprehensibiliter et described by Irenseus, " Quo- " invisibiliter intrasse in Ple- " niam autem sunt qui dicunt, " roma — alii vero putative euni " Jesum quidem receptacvdum " passum, naturaliter impassi- " Christi fuisse, in quem de- " bilem exsistentem," &c. III. " super quasi columbam de- 16, i. p. 204. " scendisse Christum, et quum LECTURE VI. 159 not in the present inquiry take any further notice of this distinction : and it is sufficient to know, that the notion of Christ's body being a phantom was entertained at a very early period. Eusebius says expressly that the first heretics who erred from the truth were Docetae*^: and though the language of Jerom is somewhat poetical, we are perhaps to understand him literally when he said, that the body of our Lord was declared to be a phantom, while the apostles were still in the world, and the blood of Christ was still fresh in Judaea ^. The fact seems to be, that as soon as the Gnostics admitted Christ into their heterogeneous philosophy, it was said that Christ had not a real body; and here again we find the Fathers referring to Simon Magus as the author of this heresy. Simon, as we have seen, is charged by the Fathers with declaring himself to be Christ ; which I have endeavoured to explain by the supposition, that he claimed to have the same Mon residing in himself, which had appeared to be united to Jesus. His followers invented a still more absurd and impious doctrine : and Irenaeus records it as the notion of Basilides, that Simon of Cyrene was crucified instead of Jesus". It might be thought that this story was invented, after that the publica- tion of the gospels made it impossible to deny, that a real and substantial body had been nailed to the cross : and we can easily accoimt for the fact pre- served to us by Irenaeus, that the Docetae made most use of the gospel of St. Mark «. This gospel c De Eccles. Theol. I. 7. " Qui autem Jesum sepa- p. 64. rant a Christo, et impassibilem <• Adv. Lucif. 33. vol. II. perseverasse Christum, passum p_ 107. ~ vero Jesum dicunt, id quod se- 160 LECTURE VI. enters into no detail concerning the birth of Jesus, and omits some particulars, which I shall notice presently, as proving the reality of the body of Jesus. The Docetse therefore found less difficulty in accommodating St. Mark's gospel to their pecu- liar notions ; and we may suppose, that they also alleged passages from the other gospels in support of their own opinions. The whole history of our Saviour, between his resurrection and ascension, would be quoted as prov- ing their hypothesis. His escape from the close and guarded sepulchre ; his vanishing from the disciples at Emmaus ; his appearing among them while the door was shut, might all seem to lead to the idea, which the disciples indeed on one occasion enter- tained, that he was an incorporeal spirit. If it were said, th^t his body after death might have under- gone some change; they would have appealed to what he did before his cruciflxion, to his walking upon the sea, and to his twice making himself invi- sible, that he might elude the malice of his enemies^, AU these were strong facts in favour of the J)ocetae: and we may suppose that they made the most of them, when we find them resting on much weakey arguments, such as those words of St, Paul, that God sent his Son in the likeness of siriful flesh, (Rom. viii. 3.) and that Christ took y/pon him- the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of m£n%. (Phil. ii. 7.) So fearless indeed were they in cundum Marcum est prseferen- tion, but begins with the de- tes Evangelium, &c. III. 11,7. scent of the Spirit at his bap- p. 190. Epiphanius informs us tjsm. fl«r. LI. 6. p. 428. that the Alogi were partial to '' See Luke iv. 29, 30. Jphn this gospel, because it says no- jt. 39. thing of Christ's divine genera- s TertuUian alludes to the LECTURE VI. 161 perverting, the plainest passages, when they made against them, that they explained our Saviour's words to mean, A spirit hath not flesh and hones, as ye see that I have not"^. (Luke xxiv. 39.) Upon which last passage I would observe, that the doubts entertained by the disciples were totally different from those of the Docetae. The disciples, and par- ticularly St. Thomas, hesitated whether the person, whom they then saw, was the same who had been crucified : but they never doubted his having had a real body, or whether that body was nailed to the cross. The points to which I have alluded, as favouring the Docetae, are taken from the written Gospels : but the same facts, and perhaps others, would be well known in the world by the oral preaching of the apostles. From the first beginning of the gospel, Simon Magus was active in spreading his false doc- trines concerning Christ : and if they gained ground, we might expect to find some refutation of them in the apostolic writings. I mentioned in my first Lecture, that at least fifteen years elapsed between the death of Christ and the date of St. Paul's earliest Epistle. With respect to the date of the three first (Gospels, it is difficult to come to any definite con- clusion: but there seems probability in the notion that St. Luke's Gospel was written during the two abuse of these texts, de Carne Vult itaque sic dictum, quasi, Christi, i6. p. 320. adv. Mar- Spiritus ossa non habet, sicut don. V. 14. p. 478. Hilarius me videtis habentem, ad Spir speaks of their being quoted ritum referatui", sicut me vide- by theManichees. defifyMorf. 85. tis habentem, id est, non ha- p. 1198. See Beausobre, vol. bentem ossa sicut et spiritus. II. p. 533. Adv. Marc. IV. 43. p. 460. *• Tertul. says of Marcion, M 162 LECTURE VI. years of St. Paul's imprisonment at Caesarea'; and there is strong traditional evidence that St. Mark's was written about the time of St. Peter's death. The date of St. Matthew's Gospel is more open to dispute. Some have placed it within a few years of our Saviour's ascension : while others, and, I think, with more reason, have supposed it to be not much earlier than that of St, Mark''. If we adopt this calculation, the Gospel of St. Luke is the earliest document in which I should trace any allusion to the notions of the Docetse ; and this was probably written between the years 53 and 55, or about twenty-three years after our Lord's ascension. The Epistles which St. Paul wrote before this period, with the exception of the First to Timothy, were not addressed to places, where the Gnostic doctrines seem to have prevailed. These doctrines, as we might expect from the history of their founder, appear to have been earlier known in Asia than in Europe ; and for some reason, with which we are not acquainted, they have been seen to have taken deep root in the neighbourhood of Ephesus. Timo- thy was residing at Ephesus when St. Paul addressed to him his first Epistle : but there was no need to tell Timothy, from whom he had not long parted, ' The Acts appear to have ^ Perhaps the most extraor- been published soon after St. dinary omission in the Gospel Paul's release from Rome, or of St. Matthew is the fact of they would probably have con- the ascension : but if it was" tinned his history. We may written after the publication of suppose that St. Luke com- theActs, which begins with that posed them during the two fact, and which formed a kind years which St. Paul spent at of supplement to all the Gos- Rome : and it is demonstrable, pels, the omission is not un- that his Gospel was published natural, before the Acts. LECTURE VI. 163 what were the opinions of the Gnostics concerning Christ. Accordingly we find no allusion to the Do- cetse in this Epistle : and if the Gospel of St. Mark was written at Rome, that may perhaps explain why it contains no traces of the same opinions. But St. Luke, who pl'obably composed his Gospfel in Pa- lestine, (and the same I'emark will apply to St. Mat- thew,) had seen that the Gnostic doctrines were sadly prevalent in the east, and therefore both of them inserted in their Writings the human genfealogy of Christ ^. The Gnostics were uhatiimous in deny- ing Christ to have been bdrn. Someof them alloti^ed that Jesus might have hkd human parents : but Jesus and Christ were two separate beings; and the Mon, Christ, descended upon Jesus at his baptism. Now the history of the miraculous conception, as told by St. Matthew and St. Luke, is totally sub- versive of this hypothesis : and there may be some weight in the verbal criticisin of Irenaeus, who says that " Matthew niight have written, iVbic the birth " of Jesus was on this wise: (i. 18.) but the Holy " Ghost, foreseeing corrupters and guarding against " their deceitfulne^, said by Matthew, iVW the " birth of Christ was on this wise"K" But it is needless perhaps to dwell on these mi- nute points, when the three first Evangelists all ' Hence Marcion expunged vol. IV. p. 165. Theodoret. the genealogy from the Gospel Heer. Fab. I. 24. p. 210.) of St. Luke : not, as the Unita- '" III. 16. 2. p. 204, 205. It' rianssay.becausehedid notbe- appears that the copies used lieve the divinity of Christ, but by Irenaeus read XptoroO only, because he v^ould not believe and not 'Iqa-ov Xpiarov, in Matt, his humanity. (Iren. III. 11, 7. i. 18. and such is the reading p. 190. 12. 12. p. 198. Ter- of some other Fathers, the Vul-' tuU. ach. Marcion. IV. 2. p. gate, and some MSS. 414. Origen. in Joan. torn. X. M 2 164 LECTURE VI. relate the institution of the Eucharist and the his- tory of the crucifixion. When Christ declared ma- terial bread and wine to be symbols of his body and blood, it is almost impossible to conceive that the substance represented a shadow. If Christ had nei- ther body nor blood, as the Docetae taught, he would never have deceived his disciples by saying. This is my body, and this is my blood: and whenever the Christians celebrated the Eucharist, they shewed, as St. Paul says, the Lord's death: they shewed their belief in that which the Gnostics unanimously de- nied ". This perhaps may explain, why we find in St. Paul's Epistles so few allusions to the Docetae. While he knew that his converts celebrated the Eu- charist, he also knew that their faith was sound concerning the body of Christ": and on the same principle we can understand why the Docetae, as Ignatius informs us, did not meet to celebrate the Eucharist. Holding the opinions which they did, it would have been most irrational to have taken the bread and wine as symbols of that which had no real existence. We have seen, it is true, that the Nicolaitans attended the Christian Agapae, where the mystical elements were certainly received. But the presence of these men, as is well observed by St. Peter and St. Jude, were spots in their feasts of n This argument is used in " blood did he give the images, the Dialogue to which I have " when he ordered his disci- referred in note ", de recta in " pies to keep up by them a Beam Fide, IV. p. .853. where " recollection of himself?" the hypothesis of the Docetse is " Whichever reading we a- refated at great length: " If," dopt in i Tim. iii. 16. St. Paul as they say, " he was without expressly asserts that Christ " flesh and blood, of what flesh, appeared in the flesh, i. e. with " or of what body, or of what a real body. LECTURE VI. 165 charity. They came, as is said by St. Paul of other false teachers, they came in privily to spy out the liberty which they had in Christ Jesus. (Gal. ii. 4.) This was not to eat the Lord's supper: and when we think that the same men came reeking from an idol sacrifice to profane the Christian Agapae, we may conceive that the strong language of St. Paul was addressed to them, Ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of devils: ye cannot he par- takers of the Lord's table, and of the table of devils^\ (1 Cor. x. 21.) The same argument which was furnishfed against the Docetse by the celebration of the Eucharist, was also supplied by the history of the crucifixion. The Docetae struck at the very root and foundation of the gospel : they held that Christ did not die, and consequently that we are not redeemed by his blood. Every expression therefore, which the apostles used concerning redemption by the death of Christ, was an express contradiction to the Gnostic notions: and since we hear in our own day that a real redemption through the blood of Christ was not the doctrine of the apostles, let us listen to Irenseus, the disciple of Polycarp, in his argument against the Docetae. " The Lord," he says, " having redeemed us by his " own blood, and given his life for our lives, and his " own flesh for our flesh, — all the doctrines of the " heretics are overthrown. For they are vain, who " say that he suffered in appearance only ; for these " things did not come to pass in appearance, but in " substantial truth p." And in another place, " If " he did not really suffer, then are no thanks due to, 1' V. I. I. p. 292. ■ M 3 166 LECTURE VJ. " him, since his suffering was nothing'^— He there- " fore united t;he human nature to the divine. For ^' if it had not been man who overcame the adver- " sary of man, h^ would not have been really over- " come : and, on the other hand, if it had not been " God who gave salvation, we should not have had " it with security 1." Such was the argument of Irenaeus against the Docetae : and it is equally strong against all who deny the divinity of Christ, and redemption through his blopd. Many expres- sions also in the apostolic writings, which we might otherwise pass over, may have been directed against this fatal error. As when St. Paul says. We are members of his body, of Ms flesh, and of his hones''; (Eph. Y- 30.) or when he speaks of those who are enemies of the cross of Christ: (Phil. iii. 18^) or St. Peter, of the Jals^ teachers who privily shall hfing in damnable heresies, denying the Lord that bought them. {2 Pet. ii. 1.) These and other ex- pressions are scattered up and down in the apostolic writings, and would be well understood by the true believers : but I would now return to the Gospiel of St. Luke, where we find a plain allusion to the fan- cies of the Docetae in the passage already referred to, Sehold my hands and my feet, that it is I my- self, handle me and see : for a spirit hath not flesh 1 III. i8. 7. p. 211. " Jesus Christ is come in the ' Ireneeus quotes this text, " flesh is Antichrist, and who- wh en arguing ag?Linst the Gnos- "ever does not confess the tics, and in favour of the Eu- " mystery of the Cross is of charist. V. 2, 3. p. 294. " the Devil." {Ad Philip. 7. ^ This is referred to the Do- p. 188,) Buddeus refers it to cetae by Theodoret ad 1. and i^ the Judaizing teachers. Eccles. at least very similar to the ex- Apost. p. 126. 555. Compare pression of Polycarp, " Who- i Cor. i. 17. " ever does not confess that LECTURE VI. 167 and hones, as ye see me have. And when he had thus spoken, he shewed them his hands and his feet. (Liike xxiv. 39, 40.) I can hardly conceive that St. Luke, who was not present at the time, intro- duced this passage, without intending to remove some doubts which Gnostic teachers may have caused : and that these doubts were circulated in Palestine, we may infer also from the Epistle to the Hebrews, which was perhaps written about four years after the Gospel of St. Luke. The two first chapters of this Epistle are occupied in proving that the nature of Christ was not that of Angels : a notion, which, as I have observed, one party of the Docetae was inclined to entertain : and the apostle concludes his argument with what must be consi- dered a direct refutation of these heretics. Foras- much then as the children are partakers of flesh and Mood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, i. e. the devil. For verily he took not on him the nature of angels : hut he took on him the seed of Abraham. Wherefore in all things it behoved him to he made like unto his brethren^. (Heb. ii. 14 — 17.) All this is very strong: but the Gospel and Epistles of St. John contain pas- sages which are still more express. It is not material for us to decide the question, which of these documents was written first : but in conformity with the opinion of most critics, I will begin with referring to the First Epistle of St. John, the earliest date of which is placed at about ten ' This is considered as a refutation of the Docetae by Theodo- ret. Her. Fab. V. 12. p. 283. M 4 168 LECTURE VI. years after the Epistle to the Hebrews". It is per- haps not unworthy of remark, that St. John was acting together with St. Peter, when Simon Magus, the parent of all heresy, was rebuked by him in Sa- maria. (Acts viii. 14.) He had watched the pro- gress of heretical opinions for a much longer period than any other of the apostles, and so impressed was his mind with the danger arising from the tenets of the Docetse, and so forcibly does he seem to have been struck with these doctrines at Ephesus, that without any prelude he immediately begins his Epistle with contradicting them : That which was frmn, the beginning, he says, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled of the word of life — that which we have seen and heard declare we unto you. (1 John i. 1 — 3.) Again he warns his converts in express terms of the danger which awaited them : Beloved, he says, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God:, because many false prophets are gone out into the world. Hereby know ye the spirit of God: every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God" : and every spirit that " " Drs. Benson, Hales, and " place it before the destruc- " others, place it in the year " tion of Jerusalem, but with- " 68 ; bishop Tomline in 69 ; " out specifying the precise " Lampe, after the first Jewish " year." Home's Introduc- " war, and before the apostle's tion, &c. vol. IV. p. 428. See " exile in Patmos ; Dr. Lard- Lampe, Prolegom. in Joan. I. 7. " ner, A. D. 80, or even later; 4. p. 106. " Mill and Le Clerc, in A.D. ^ Concerning the remarkable " 91 or 92 ; Beausobre, L'En- various readings in this place, I " fant, and Du Pin, at the end would refer to my Testimonies "of the first century ; and of the Ante-Nicene Fathers, " Grotius, Hammond, Whitby, No. 248. Sixtus Senensis " Michaelis, and Macknight, might be thought to say that LECTURE VI. 169 confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the fleshy, is not of God: and this is that spirit of Antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come ; and even now already is it in the world. (1 John iv. 1 — 3.) The same declaration is made in the Second Epistle, Many deceivers are entered into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This is the deceiver and the Antichrist. (2 John 7.) To deny that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh, was nothing else than to hold the doctrine of the Doce- tae : and if any doubt were felt upon this subject, it would be removed by the testimony of Ignatius^ and Polycarp'', both of whom had heard St. John, and both of whom allude to this passage, when they are proving against false brethren that Christ was truly bom, that he truly died, and truly rose again. If we now turn to the Gospel of St. John'', we find him declaring, almost at the beginning of it, that the Word was madefl^sh and dwelt among us: (i. 14.) an expression, which, as Irenseus justly ob- serves, shews the falsehood of every notion enter- tained by the Docetse*^. It must also have been re- marked by every one, that St. John relates much more circumstantially than St. Luke the proofs which our Saviour gave after his resurrection of his the corruption was made by Joan. II. 2. who places it be- Manicheus. Bibl. S. 1. VII. fore the destruction of Jerusa- hser. I. p. 561. ed. 1591. lem. y Marcion said this. Tertull. " III. 11. 3. p. 189. Barde- rfe PrtEscn^?. 33. p. 214. It is sanes, who was a Docetist, applied to the Docetae by Pe- tried to evade the force of this tavius, Dogmat. Theol. de In- text. See Beausobre, vol. II. cam. I. 4. p. 8. p. 138. Epiphanius observes, ^ Ad Smym. 5. p. 36. that it also refuted those who " Ad Philip. 7. p. 188. said that Christ descended upon *> For the date of this Gos- a mere man. H