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is a sufficient key to explain the divisions that reigned in this sect, since uniformity can never subsist, with assurance, but upon the basis of evident and substantial truth; and variety must naturally introduce itself into those systems and institutions which are formed and conducted by the sole powers of invention and fancy. X. As then the Christian religion was, in its rise, corrupted by the mixture of an impious and chimerical philosophy with its pure and sublime doctrines, it will be proper to mention here the heads of those sects, who, in the first century, cast a cloud upon the lustre of the rising church. Among these, many have given the first place to Dositheus, a Samaritan. It is certain, that, about the time of our Saviour, a man so named, lived among the Samaritans, and abandoned that sect; but all the accounts we have of him tend to show, that he is improperly placed among mere heretics, and should rather be ranked among the enemies of Christianity; for this delirious man set himself up for the Messiah, whom God had promised to the Jews, and disowning, in consequence, the divine mission of Christ, could not be said to corrupt his doctrine.*

XI. The same observation is applicable to Simon Magus. This impious man is not to be ranked among those who corrupted with their errors the purity and simplicity of the Christian 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 Christianity; for it is manifest, from all the records we have concerning him, that after his defection from the Christians, he retained not the least attachment to Christ, but opposed himself openly to that divine personage, and assumed to himself blasphemously the title of the supreme power of God.t

XII. The accounts which ancient writers give us of Simon the magician, and of his opinions, seem so different and indeed so inconsistent with each other, that several learned men have considered them as regarding two different persons, bearing the name of Simon; the one a magician, and an apostate from Christianity; the other a Gnostic philosopher. This opinion, which supposes a fact, without any other proof than a seeming difference in the narration of the ancient historians, ought not to be too lightly adopted. To depart from the authority of ancient writers in this matter is by no means prudent: nor is it necessary to reconcile the different accounts already mentioned, whose inconsistency is not real, but apparent only. Simon was by birth a Samaritan, or a Jew: when he had studied philosophy at Alexandria, he made a public profession of magic (which was not a very uncommon circumstance at that time,) and persuaded the Samaritans, by fictitious miracles, that he had

*See Basnage, Histoire des Juifs, lib. ii. cap. xiii. and
Rich. Simon, Critique de la Bibliotheque des Auteurs
Ecclesiastiques de M. Du-Pin, tom. iii. cap. xiii.
Origen adv. Celsum, lib. v.

Clementina Homil. ii. p. 633, tom. ii. PP. Apost.
VOL. I.-7

received from God the power of commanding and restraining those evil beings by which mankind were tormented. Having seen the miracles which Philip wrought by a divine power, he joined himself to this apostle, and embraced the doctrine of Christ, but with no other design than to receive the power of working miracles, in order to promote a low interest, and to preserve and increase his impious authority over the minds of men. Then S Peter pointed out to him solemnly the impiety of his intentions and the vanity of his hopes, in that severe discourse recorded in the eighth chapter of the Acts of the Apostles: then the vile impostor not only returned to his former ways by an entire defection from the Christians, but also opposed, wherever he came, the progress of the Gospel, and even visited different countries with that odious intent. Many things are recorded of this impostor, of his tragical end, and of the statue erected to him at Rome, which the greatest part of the learned reject as fabulous. They are at least uncertain, and destitute of all probability.†

XIII. It is beyond all doubt, that Simon was in the class of those philosophers, who not only maintained the eternity of matter, but also the existence of an evil being who presided, and thus shared the empire of the universe with the supreme and beneficent Mind; and, as there was a considerable variety in the sentiments of the different members of this sect, it is more than probable, that Simon embraced the opinion of those who held that matter moved from eternity by an intrinsic and necessary activity, had, by its innate force, produced at a certain period, from its own substance, the evil principle which now exercises dominion over it, with all his numerous train of attendants. From this pernicious doctrine, the other errors attributed to him concerning fate, the indifference of human actions, the impurity of the human body, the power of magic, and the like extravagances, flow naturally, as from their true and genuine source.f But this odious magician still proceeded to more shocking degrees of enormity in his mon

*Acts viii. 9, 10.

Van Dale's Dissertation, de Statua Simonis, subjoined to See Beausobre, Histoire de Manich. p. 203, 395.his discourse concerning the ancient oracles;-Dellingius, Observat. Sacr. lib. i. observ. xxxvi. Tillemont, Memoires pour servir a l'Histoire de l'Eglise, tom. i. p. 340.

The circumstances of Simon's tragical end; his having pretended to fly by a miraculous power, in order to please the emperor Nero, who was fond of magic; his falling to the ground, and breaking his limbs, in consequence of the prayers of St. Peter and St. Paul; and his putting himself to death, through shame and despair, at having been thus defeated by the superior power of the apostles; all these romantic fictions have derived their credit from a set of ecclesiastical writers, who, on many ble to a system of religion, or rather superstition, which occasions, prefer the marvellous to the truth, as favouratruth and reason loudly disown.

The dissertation of Horbius, concerning Simon, the magician, which was published not long ago in the Biblipreferable to any thing else upon that subject, though it oth. Hæresiologica of Voigtius, tom. i. part iii. seems be a juvenile performance, and not sufficiently finished. He follows the steps of his master, Thomasius, who, with admirable penetration, discovered the true source of that multitude of errors with which the Gnostics, and par ticularly Simon, were so dismally polluted. Voigtius gives a list of the other authors who have made mention of this impostor.

strous fictions; for he pretended, that in his person resided the greatest and most powerful of the divine mons; that another won of the female sex, the mother of all human souls, dwelt in the person of his mistress Helena,* and that he came, by the command of God upon earth, to abolish the empire of those who had formed this material world, and to deliver Helena from their power and dominion.

XIV. Another wrong-headed teacher, named Menander, a Samaritan also by birth, appeared in this century. He is said to have been instructed by Simon; but this opinion has no other foundation than the groundless notion, that all the Gnostic sects derived their origin from that magician. He ought rather to be ranked with the lunatics, than with the heretics of antiquity, since he also took it into his head to exhibit himself to the world as the promised Saviour; for it appears, by the testimonies of Irenæus, Justin, and Tertullian, that he pretended to be one of the æons sent from the pleroma or celestial regions, to succour the souls that lay groaning under bodily oppression and servitude, and to maintain them against the violence and stratagems of the dæmons who held the reins of empire in this sublunary world. As this doctrine was built upon the same foundation with that of Simon Magus, the ancient writers looked upon him as the instructor of Menander.

the Gnostics, though the learned are not entirely agreed whether he belongs to the heretics of the first or the second century.* This man was by birth a Jew, and, having applied himself to letters and philosophy at Alexandria,† attempted at length, to form a new and singular system of doctrine and discipline, by a monstrous combination of the doctrines of Christ with the opinions and errors of the Jews and Gnostics. From the latter he borrowed the pleroma, their æons, their demiurge, &c. and so modified and tempered these fictions, as to give them an air of judaism, which must have considerably favoured the progress of his heresy. He taught "that the Creator of this world, whom he considered also as the sovereign and lawgiver of the Jewish people, was a being endowed with the greatest virtues, and derived his birth from the Supreme God; that he fell by degrees, from his native virtue and his primitive dignity; that God in consequence of this determined to destroy his empire, and sent upon earth, for this purpose, one of the ever-happy and glorious æons, whose name was Christ; that this Christ chose for his habitation the person of Jesus, a man of the most illustrious sanctity and justice, the son of Joseph and Mary, and, descending in the form of a dove, entered into him while he was receiving baptism from John in the waters of Jordan: that Jesus, after his union with Christ, opposed himself with vigour to the God of the Jews, and was by his instigation, seized and crucified by the Hebrew chiefs; and that, when Jesus became a prisoner, Christ ascend

XV. If then we separate these three persons now successively mentioned, from the heretics of the first century, we may rank among the chief of the Christian sectaries, and particularly those who bear the general name of Gnos-ed into heaven, so that the man Jesus alone tics, the Nicolaitans, whom Christ himself mentions with abhorrence by the mouth of his apostle. It is true, indeed, that the divine Saviour does not reproach them with erroneous opinions concerning the deity, but with the licentiousness of their practice, and the contempt of that solemn law which the apostles had enacted (Acts, xv. 29.) against fornication, and the use of meats offered to idols. It is, however, certain, that the writers of the second and the following centuries, Irenæus, Tertullian, Clemens, and others, affirm, that the Nicolaitans adopted the sentiments of the Gnostics concerning the two principles of all things, the ons, and the origin of this terrestrial globe. The authority of these writers would be entirely satisfactory in this matter, were there not some reason to imagine that they confounded, in their narrations, two sects very different from each other; that of the Nicolaitans, mentioned in the Revelations; and another, founded by a certain Nicolaus, in the second century, upon the principles of the Gnostics. But this is a matter of too doubtful a nature to justify a positive decision on either side.

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was subjected to the pains of an ignominious death." Cerenthus required of his followers, that they should worship the Father of Christ, even the Supreme God, in conjunction with the Son; that they should abandon the lawgiver of the Jews, whom he looked upon as the Creator of the world; that they should retain a part of the law given by Moses, but should, nevertheless, employ their principal attention and care to regulate their lives by the precepts of Christ. To encourage them to this, he promised them the resurrection of this mortal body, after which was to commence a scene of the most exquisite delights, during Christ's earthly reign of a thousand years, which would be succeeded by a happy and never-ending life in the celestial world; for he held, that Christ will one day return upon earth, and, renewing his former union with the man Jesus, will reign with his people in the land of Palestine during a thousand years.

XVII. It has been already observed, that the church was troubled with early disputes concerning the law of Moses and the Jewish rites. Those, however, who considered the observance of the Mosaic rites as necessary to salvation, had not, in this first century, proceeded so far as to break off all communion with

See Sam. Basnage, Annal. Polit. Eccles. tom. ii.; and Faydit, Eclaircissemens sur l'Histoire Eccles. des deux premiers Siecles, cap. v. The opinion of these two learned men is opposed by Buddeus, de Eccles. Apostolica, cap. v.

Theodoret. Fabul. Hæret. lib. ii. cap. iii.

such as differed from them in this matter; | renes and Ebionites, by which the judaizing therefore they were still regarded as brethren, Christians were distinguished from those who though of the weaker sort. But when, after looked upon the Mosaic worship and ceremothe second destruction of Jerusalem, under the nies as entirely abolished by the appearance of emperor Adrian, these zealots for the Jewish Christ upon earth. We shall only observe farrites deserted the ordinary assemblies of Chris-ther under this head, that though the Nazarenes tians, and established separate meetings among themselves, they were numbered with those sects who had departed from the pure doctrine of Christ. Hence arose the names of Naza

and Ebionites are generally placed among the sects of the apostolic age, they really belong to the second century, which was the earliest period of their existence as a sect.

THE SECOND CENTURY.

PART I.

THE EXTERNAL HISTORY OF THE CHURCH.
CHAPTER I.

Concerning the prosperous Events that happened

to the Church during this Century.

I. In this century, the Roman sceptre was, for the most part, swayed by princes of a mild and moderate turn. Trajan, though too eagerly bent upon the pursuit of glory, and not always sufficiently attentive to his conduct, or prudent in his measures, was nevertheless endowed with many virtues; and the predominant lines of his character were clemency and benevolence. Adrian was of a more harsh and intractable temper, yet far from deserving the odious appellation of a wicked or unjust prince. He was of a mixed character, chargeable with several vices, and estimable on account of some excellent qualities. The Antonines were illustrious models of humanity, goodness, and sublime virtue. Severus himself, in whose character and disposition such an unexpected and disadvantageous change was effected, was, in the beginning of his reign, unjust toward none; and even the Christians were treated by him with equity and mildness.

often been perfidiously exposed to the greatest sufferings. Antoninus Pius went so far as to enact penal laws against their accusers;† and others, by various acts of beneficence and compassion, defended them from the injurious treatment of the priests and people. Hence it came to pass, that, in this century, the limits of the church were considerably enlarged, and the number of converts to Christianity prodigiously augmented. Of the truth of this, we have the most respectable and authentic testimonies in the writings of the ancients; testimonies, whose evidence and authority are every way superior to the vain attempts which some have made to obscure and weaken them.t |

other nations;§ but which of them received the Gospel in the first century and which in the second, is a question unanswerable at this distance of time. Pantænus, the head of the Alexandrian school, is said to have conveyed to the Indians the knowledge of Christ.|| But,

III. It is not easy to point out particularly the different countries on which the light of celestial truth first rose in this age. The ancient records that yet remain, do not give us information sufficient to determine that point with certainty; nor is it, indeed, a matter of high importance. We are, however, assured, by the most unexceptionable testimonies, that Christ was worshipped as God almost throughout the whole East, as also among the GerII. This lenity of the emperors proved ad-mans, Spaniards, Celts, Britons, and many vantageous to those Christians who lived under the Roman sceptre; it sometimes suspended their suffering, and alleviated the burthen of their distresses; for, though edicts of a severe nature were issued out against them, and the magistrates, animated by the priests and by the multitude, shed their blood with a cruelty which frequently exceeded even the dictates of the most barbarous laws, yet there was always some remedy that accompanied these evils, and softened their severity. Trajan, however condemnable in other respects, on account of his conduct toward the Christians, was yet engag-nas ed, by the representation that Pliny the younger gave of them, to forbid all search to be made after them. He also prohibited all anonymous libels and accusations, by which they had so

See Pliny's epistles, book x. let. xcviii.

Eusebius, Eccl. Hist. lib. iv. cap. xiii.

See Moyle's letters concerning the thundering legion. with the remarks which Dr. Mosheim has annexed to his

Latin translation of them, published at the end of a work entitled, Syntagma Dissert. ad Sanctiores Disciplipertinentium. See also the Dialogue between Justin Martyr and Trypho the Jew.

Irenæus contra Hæres, lib. i. cap. x. -Tertullian adv. Judæos, cap. vii.

Eusebius, Hist. Eccl. b. v. c. x. Jerome, Catal. Script. Eccl. c. xxxvi.

after an attentive examination of the account But this is carrying the matter too far. The which Eusebius gives of this point, it will ap- wisdom of human counsels, and the useful efpear that these supposed Indians were Jews, forts of learning and prudence, are too inconinhabitants of the happy Arabia, whom Bar-siderately excluded from this account of things; tholomew the apostle had before instructed in the doctrines of Christianity; for, according to the account of St. Jerome, Pantænus found among this people the Gospel of St. Matthew which they had received from Bartholomew, their first teacher.

for it is beyond all doubt, that the pious diligence and zeal, with which many learned and worthy men recommended the sacred writings, and spread them abroad in translations, so as to render them useful to those who were ignorant of the language in which they were written, contributed much to the success and propagation of the Christian doctrine. Latin versions of these sacred books were multiplied by the pious labours of the learned, with particular diligence, because that language was now more general than any other. Among these versions, that which was distinguished by the name of the Italic obtained universally the preference, and was followed by the Syriac, Egyptian, and Æthiopic versions, whose dates it is impossible to fix with certainty.†

IV. The Christian religion, having penetrated into the province of Gaul, seems to have passed thence into that part of Germany which was subject to the Romans, and afterwards into Britain.* Certain German churches, indeed, are fondly ambitious of deriving their origin from St. Peter, and from the companions of the other apostles. The Britons also are willing to believe, upon the authority of Bede, that in this century, and under the reign of Marcus Antoninus, their king Lucius addressed himself to Eleutherus, the Roman pontiff, for doctors to instruct him in the Christian religion, and, having obtained his request, embraced the Gospel. But, after all, these traditions are extremely doubtful, and are, indeed, rejected by such as have learning sufficient to weigh the credibility of ancient nar-sented to the credulous multitude, who were rations.

V. It is very possible that the light of Christianity may have reached Trans-Alpine Gaul, now called France, before the conclusion of the apostolic age, either by the ministry of the apostles themselves, or their immediate successors. But we have no records that mention, with certainty, the establishment of Christian churches in this part of Europe before the second century. Pothinus, a man of exemplary piety and zeal, set out from Asia in company with Irenæus and others, and laboured in the Christian cause with such success among the Gauls, that churches were established at Lyons and Vienne, of which Pothinus himself became the first bishop.

VII. Among the obstacles that retarded the progress of Christianity, the impious calumnies of its enemies were the most considerable. The persons, the characters, and religious sentiments of the first Christians, were most unjustly treated, and most perfidiously misreprerestrained by this only from embracing the Gospel. Those, therefore, who, by their apologetic writings for the Christians, destroyed the poisonous influence of detraction, rendered, no doubt, signal service to the doctrine of Christ, by removing the chief impediment to its progress. Nor were the writings of such as combated with success the ancient heretics without their use, especially in the early periods of the church; for the insipid and extravagant doctrines of these sectaries, and the gross immoralities with which they were chargeable, were extremely prejudicial to the Christian religion, by disgusting many at whatever bore the Christian name; but, when it was known by the writings of those who defended ChrisVI. The writers of this century attribute tianity, that these corrupt heretics were held. this rapid progress of Christianity to the power in aversion, instead of being patronized by the of God, to the energy of divine truth, to the true followers of Christ, the clouds that were extraordinary gifts which were imparted to the cast over the religion of Jesus were dispersed, first Christians, and the miracles and prodi-and the prejudices that had been raised against gies that were wrought in their behalf, and at their command; and they scarcely ascribe any part of the amazing success that attended the preaching of the Gospel, to the intervening succours of human means, or second causes.

Ursinus, Bebelius and others, have written learnedly concerning the origin of the German churches, which Tertullian and Irenæus mention as erected in this cen

tury. Add to these the ample illustrations of this subject, which are to be found in Liron's Singularites Histor. et Liter. tom. iv. The celebrated Dom. Calmet has judiciously refuted the common and popular accounts of the first Christian doctors in Germany, in his Hist. de la Lorraine, tom. i. Diss. sur les Eveques de Treves, par ii. iv. See also Bollandus, Act. Sanctor., and Hontheim, Diss. de Era Episcop. Trevir. tom. i.

See Usher's Antiq. Eccles. Britann. cap. i.; as also Godwin, de Conversione Britan. cap. i.; and Rapin's History of England.

See the epistle of Peter de Marca, concerning the rise of Christianity in France, published among the dissertations of that author, and also by Valesius, in his edition of Eusebius' Ecclesiastical History. See also Histoire Literaire de la Frauce, tom. i., and Liron's Singularites Histor. et Literaires, vol. iv.

it were fully removed.

VIII. It is easier to conceive than to express, how much the miraculous powers and extraordinary gifts, which were displayed in the ministry of the first heralds of the Gospel, contributed to enlarge the bounds of the church. These gifts, however, which were bestowed for Wise and important reasons, began gradually to diminish in proportion as the reasons ceased for which they were conferred. And, accord

*See Augustin. de doctrina Christiana, lib. ii. cap. xi. † See Jo. Gottlob Carpzov. Critica sacra Vet Test. p. 663. Nothing more injurious can be conceived than the terms of contempt, indignation, and reproach, which the Heathens employed in expressing their hatred against the Christians, who were called by them atheists, because they derided the heathen Polytheism; magicians, because they wrought miracles; self-murderers, because they suffered martyrdom cheerfully for the truth; haters of the light, because, to avoid the fury of the persecutions raised against them, they were obliged, at first, to hold their religious assemblies in the night. See Bingham's Antiquities of the Christian Church, book i. cap. ii.

ingly, when almost all nations were enlighten-a considerable number of Christians served at ed with the truth, and the number of Chris- this time in the Roman army; and it is extian churches daily increased, the miraculous ceedingly probable, that, in such trying cirgift of tongues began gradually to decrease. cumstances of calamity and distress, they imIt appears at the same time, from unexception-plored the merciful interposition and succour able testimonies, that the other extraordinary of their God and Saviour; and, as the Chrisgifts with which the omnipotence and wisdom tians of those times looked upon all extraordiof the Most High had so richly endowed the|nary events as miracles, and ascribed to their rising church, were in several places continued prayers all the uncommon occurrences of an during this century.* advantageous nature that happened to the IX. We cannot indeed place, with certainty, Roman empire, it will not appear surprising, among the effects of a miraculous power yet that, on the present occasion, they attributed remaining in the church, the story of the the deliverance of Antoninus and his army to Christian legion, who, by their prayers, drew a miraculous interposition which they had obfrom heaven a refreshing shower upon the army tained from above. But, on the other hand, of Marcus Antoninus, ready to perish with it must be carefully observed, that it is an inthirst, when that emperor was at war with the variable maxim, universally adopted by the Marcomanni. This remarkable event (which wise and judicious, that no events are to be esgave to the Christians, to whom it was attri- teemed miraculous, which may be rationally buted, the name of the thundering legion, on attributed to natural causes, and accounted for account of the thunder and lightning that de- by a recourse to the ordinary dispensations of stroyed the enemy, while the shower revived Providence; and, as the unexpected shower, the fainting Romans) has been mentioned by which restored the expiring force of the Romany writers. But whether it was really mi- mans, may be easily explained without rising raculous or not, has been much disputed beyond the usual and ordinary course of nature, among learned men. Some think that the the conclusion is manifest; nor can it be doubtChristians, by a pious sort of mistake, attribut-ful in what light we are to consider that reed this unexpected and seasonable shower, markable event. which saved the Roman army, to a miraculous interposition; and this opinion is, indeed, supported by the weightiest reasons, as well as by the most respectable authorities.†

XI. The Jews were visited with new calamities, first under Trajan, and then under Adrian, when, under the standard of Barcochebas, who gave himself out for the Messiah, they rose in X. Let us distinguish what is doubtful in rebellion against the Romans. In consequence this story, from that which is certain. It is of this sedition, prodigious numbers of that undoubted, that the Roman troops, enclosed miserable people were put to the sword; and a by the enemy, and reduced to the most deplo- new city, called Elia Capitolina, was raised rable and even desperate condition, by the upon the ruins of Jerusalem, into which no thirst under which they languished in a parch- Jew was permitted to enter. This defeat of the ed desert, were revived by a sudden and un- Jews tended to confirm, in some measure, the expected rain. It is also certain, that both the external tranquillity of the Christian Church; Heathens and the Christians considered this for that turbulent and perfidious nation had event as extraordinary and miraculous; the hitherto vexed and oppressed the Christians, former attributing it to Jupiter, Mercury, or not only by presenting every where to the Rothe power of magic; the latter to Christ, inter-man magistrates complaints and accusations posing thus unexpectedly, in consequence of their prayers. It is equally indisputable, that

* Pfanner, de donis miraculosis; Spencer. Not. ad Orig. contra Celsum; Mammachius, Origines et Antiqui

tat. Christian. tom. i.

† Such readers as are desirous to know what learned men have alleged on both sides of this curious question, may consult Witsius' Dissertat. de Legione Fulminatrice, which is subjoined to his Ægyptiaca, in defence of this miracle; as also what is alleged against it by Dan. La

Roque, in a discourse upon that subject subjoined to the Adversaria Sacra of Matth. La Roque, his father. But, above all, the controversy between Sir Peter King [*] and Mr. Walter Moyle, upon this subject, is worthy of the attention of the curious; and likewise the dissertation of the learned Jablonski, inserted in the eighth volume of the Miscellanea Lipsiensia, p. 417, under the title of Spicilegium de Legione Fulminatrice. The last mentioned author investigates, with great acuteness, the reasons and motives which induced the Christians to place so inconsiderately this shower in the list of miracles.

[*]It is by mistake that Dr. Mosheim confounds Sir Peter King, lord Chancellor of England, with the person who carried on the controversy with Moyle, concerning the thundering legion. Moyle's adversary was Mr. King, rector of Topsham, near Exeter, which was the place of his nativity, and also that of the famous chancelfor who bore his name. See the letters addressed to the Rev. Mr. King, in the posthumous collection of Locke's Letters, published by Collins. See also Lardner's Collection of Heathen and Jewish Testimonies, &c., vol. ii.

against them, but also by treating them in the most injurious manner in Palestine and the neighbouring countries, because they refused to succour them against the Romans. But this new calamity, which fell upon that seditious nation, put it out of their power to exercise their malignity against the disciples of Jesus, as they had formerly done.

XII. Among other accessions to the splendour and force of the growing church, we may reckon the learned and ingenious labours of those philosophers and literati, who were con Verted to Christianity in this century. I an sensible that the advantages hence arising te the cause of true religion will be disputed by many; and, indeed, when the question is thu proposed, whether, upon the whole, the interests of Christianity have gained or lost by the Writings of the learned, and the speculations of philosophers who have been employed in its defence, I confess myself incapable of solving it in a satisfactory manner; for nothing is more manifest than this truth, that the noble simplicity and dignity of religion were sadly corrupted in many places, when the philoso* Justin Mart. Dial. cum Tryphone, p. 49, 278.

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