ancestors, and the customs of the Pharisees, which were added to the law.'

§ 4. These little and obscure sects were not very detrimental to the Christian cause. Much greater disturbance was produced by those whose founders explained the doctrines of Christianity agreeably to the precepts of oriental philosophy respecting the origin of evil. These latter sects, having lived in obscurity, and made little noise previously to this century, came forth into public view during the reign of Adrian, and gathered churches of considerable magnitude in various countries. A long catalogue of these semiChristian bodies might be extracted from ancient monuments: but of the greater part of them we know no more than their names; and perhaps many of them differed only in name from each other. Those which acquired notoriety beyond others may be divided into two classes. The first class originated in Asia, and maintained the philosophy of the East in regard to the origin of the universe (if I may so say), pure and entire: the other class, which was formed in Egypt and by Egyptians, mingled with that philosophy many of their country's prodigies and precepts. The systems of the former were more simple and intelligible; those of the latter were much more complicated, and more difficult of explication.

§ 5. The first place in the Asiatic class seems to belong to Elxai, a Jew, who is said to have founded the sect of the Elcesaites, in the reign of Trajan. Though he was a Jew, and worshipped one God, and revered Moses, yet he corrupted the religion of his fathers by many false notions derived from the philosophy and superstition of the orientals; and, after the example of the Essenes, expounded the Mosaic law according to the dictates of reason, or, in other words, made it an allegory. But Epiphanius, who had read one of Elxai's

Epi

Irenæus, contra Hæreses, i. 26. phanius treats largely of the Ebionites in his Hæres. xxx. But he is worthy of no credit; for he acknowledges (§ 3, p. 127, and § 14, p. 141) that he has joined the Sampsæans and the Elcesaites with the Ebionites, and that the first Ebionites did not hold the errors which he attributes to the sect.[The correctness of Epiphanius, as an historian, is often called in question; and perhaps justly. But if the term Ebionites designated a variety of minor sects, all of them Jewish Christians, and if some of these sects had, in the fourth century, imbibed Gnostic sentiments, unknown to the original Ebionites, then Epiphanius may here be entirely correct, which others suppose to be the fact. See Neander, as cited above, Note 2, p. 139. Tr.]

[Neither he (Tertullian) nor any other of the early Fathers, appears to have thought that the heretics derived their notions from the oriental philosophy. On the contrary, Tertullian repeatedly charges them with borrowing from Pythagoras, and

Plato, and other Greek philosophers. In like manner, Irenæus affirms that Valentinus was indebted for his succession of Eons to the Theogonies of the Greek poets.' Kaye's Tertullian, 472. S.]

3 Clemens Alex. Stromat. 1. vii. c. 17, p. 898. Cyprian, Epist. lxxv. p. 144, and others.

4

* [Elxai appears to have been entirely unknown to Tertullian.' Kaye's Tertullian, 473. S. The name of Elcesaite is variously derived from the town Elcesi in Galilee, from Elxai, the founder, or from Hebrew words signifying secret power. They were found about the Dead Sea, and their tenets are the basis of the Clementines. (Gieseler, i. 101.) According to Hippolytus, this heresy was brought to Rome in the time of Callistus, 218-223, by Alcibiades of Apamea, who produced a book which Elchasai, a just man, had received from the Seres of Parthia in the time of Trajan, delivered by an angel. Wordsworth (Hippolytus, p. 270-272) compares them with the Mormonites. Ed.]

books, acknowledges himself in doubt, whether the Elcesaites should be reckoned among the Christian sects, or among the Jewish. In his book Elxai mentions Christ, and speaks honourably of him; but he does not explain himself so as to make it manifest whether Jesus of Nazareth was the Christ of whom he speaks.1

:

§ 6. If no account be taken of Elxai, Saturninus of Antioch will justly stand at the head of this class at least he lived earlier than all the other Gnostic heresiarchs. He supposed two first causes of all things, the good God, and matter, which is in its nature evil, and subject to a Lord. The world and the first men were created by seven angels, that is, by the rulers of the seven planets, without the knowledge of God, and against the will of the Lord of matter. But God approved of the work when it was completed, imparted rational souls to the men who before had only animal life, and divided the entire world into seven parts, which he subjected to the seven creators, of whom the God of the Jews was one, reserving, however, the supreme power to himself. To the good beings formed, the men, that is, possessed of wise and good souls, the Lord of matter opposed another sort of men, to whom he imparted a malignant soul. And hence the difference between good and bad men, which is so visible. After the creators of the world had revolted from the supreme God, he sent down Christ from heaven to our globe, clothed not with a real body, but with the shadow of one, that he might destroy the kingdom of the Lord of matter, and show good souls the way of returning back to God. But this way is difficult and harsh. For souls that would mount up to God, when the frame dissolves, must be prepared by abstinence from flesh, wine, marriage, and every other thing which either invigorates the body or delights the senses. Saturninus taught in Syria, which was his native country, and especially at Antioch; and he drew many after him, by a great show of virtue.3

1 Eusebius, H. E. vi. 38. Epiphanius, Hæres. xix. § 3, p. 41. Theodoret, Fabul. Hæret. ii. 7, p. 221. [Hippolytus, adv. Hær. p. 292 and 330. Wordsworth's Hipp. 271 and 316. Burton's Eccl. Hist. 304, 524. Gieseler, i. 100, 206. Ed. - Of these Elcesaites, who were also called Sampseans, everything afforded by antiquity, that is important, has been collected by Walch, Hist. Ketz. i. 587, &c. He justly accounts them enthusiasts. Schl.]

2 [Having taught his doctrine in the reign of Adrian. Tr.]

Irenæus, i. 24. Euseb. H. E. iv. 7. Epiphan. Hares. xxiii. Theodoret, Fabul. Hæret. i. 2. And the other writers on the heresies. [Among the modern writers, see Mosheim, de Rebus Christ. &c. p. 336, &c. Walch, Hist. Ketz. i. 274, &c. Ittig, de Hæresiarch, sæcul, secundi, c. 1. Tillemont, Mémoires, ii. 215. Tr.-The seven starspirits,' as Neander calls the creating angels, being stationed between the realms of light and those of darkness, united in a design, according to Saturninus, to win from

the regions of darkness a land in which they could establish an independent kingdom. Thus arose the earth; but when it was created, its architects had the mortification of seeing that no more than a faint gleam of light from the celestial regions shone upon it here and there. To secure more of this, they formed a being cast in the image of that luminous form which played before them. Their workmanship, however, could not even stand upright, until the Supreme God, compassionating its helpless condition, breathed into it a spark of his own divine nature. Thus originated man as he really is, a being not only created after the most exalted model, but also kindly endued from above with a power of looking upwards in life, and of mounting thither after death.' Rose's Neander, ii. 107. Saturninus, the name occurs but once in our author's (Tertullian's) writings. He is there described as a disciple of Menander, who was himself a disciple of Simon Magus.' Kaye's Tertullian, 474. S.]

Of

§ 7. In the same class of Asiatic Gnostics, must be placed Cerdo, a Syrian,' and Marcion, the son of a bishop of Pontus.2 The history of these men is obscure and uncertain. It appears, however, that they began to establish their sect at Rome; that Cerdo taught his principles there before Marcion's arrival; that Marcion, failing to obtain some office in the Roman church from his own misconduct, joined Cerdo's party, and then with great success propagated his tenets over the world. In the manner of the orientals Marcion taught that there are two first causes of all things, the one perfectly good, the other perfectly evil. Between these two deities, is interposed the Architect of this lower world, which men inhabit, and who is the God and lawgiver of the Jews. His nature is neither perfectly good nor perfectly evil, but mixed, or, as Marcion expressed it, he is just; and therefore can dispense punishments as well as rewards. The author of evil and the Creator of the world are perpetually at war. Each wishes to be worshipped as God, and to subject the inhabitants of the whole globe to himself. The Jews are the subjects of the Creator of the world, who is a very powerful spirit; the other nations, which worship many gods, are under the author of evil. Each is an oppressor of rational souls, and holds them in bondage. In order, therefore, to end this war, and give freedom to the souls which are of divine origin, the supreme God sent among the Jews Jesus Christ, who is of a nature very similar to himself, or his Son, clothed with the appearance or shadow of a body, to render him visible, with commission to destroy both the kingdom of the world's Creator, and that of the evil principle, and to bring souls back to God. He was assailed both by the prince of darkness, and by the God of the Jews, or the world's Creator; but they were unable to hurt him, because he had only the appearance of a body. Whoever shall, as he prescribed, withdraw their minds from sensible objects, and, renouncing as well the laws of the God of the Jews as those of the prince of darkness, shall turn wholly to the supreme God, at the same time subduing and mortifying their bodies by fasting and other means, shall, after death, ascend to the celestial mansions. The moral discipline which Marcion prescribed to his followers was, as the nature of the system required, very austere and rigorous. For he condemned marriages, wine, flesh, and whatever is grateful and pleasant to the body. Marcion had numerous followers; among whom Lucan, or Lucian, Severus, Blastes, and others, but especially Apelles,3 are said to have

1 [Of Cerdo, Tertullian only states that Marcion borrowed many notions from him.' Kaye's Tertullian, 474. S.]

2[From various notices scattered over Tertullian's writings, we may collect that Marcion was a native of Pontus, that he flourished during the reign of Antoninus Pius and the pontificate of Eleutherus, being originally in communion with the church at Rome; that he was a man fond of novelties, by the publication of which he unsettled the faith of the weaker brethren,

and was in consequence more than once ejected from the congregation; that he afterwards became sensible of his errors, and expressed a wish to be reconciled to the church; and that his wish was granted, on condition that he should bring back with him those whom he had perverted by his doctrines. He died, however, before he was formally restored to its communion.' Kaye's Tertullian, 475. S.]

3

['Lucan is once mentioned by Tertullian as holding the opinion, that neither

deviated in some respects from the opinions of their master, and to have established new sects.1

§ 8. Bardesanes and Tatian are commonly supposed to have been of the school of Valentinus the Egyptian, but erroneously; for their systems differ in many respects from that of the Valentinians, and come nearer to the oriental principle of two first causes of all things. Bardesanes was a Syrian of Edessa, a man of great acumen, and distinguished for his many learned productions. Seduced by love of the oriental philosophy, he placed, in opposition to the supreme God, who is absolute goodness, a prince of darkness, who is the author of all evil. The supreme God created the world free from all evil, and formed men with celestial souls, and subtle ethereal bodies. When, however, the prince of darkness had induced the first men to sin, God permitted the author of all evil to enclose them in gross bodies formed out of sinful matter, and also to corrupt the world, in order that men might suffer for their iniquity. Hence the struggle between reason and concupiscence in man. Jesus, therefore, descended from the celestial regions, clothed, not with a real, but with a celestial and ethereal body, and taught men to subdue their depraved bodies, and to free themselves from the bondage of vicious matter, by abstinence, by meditation, and by fasting; and whoever will do so, on the dissolution of the body, shall ascend to the mansions of the blessed, clothed in the ethereal vehicles, or celestial bodies, which properly belong to them. Bardesanes afterwards returned to sounder sentiments; but his sect long survived in Syria.2

§ 9. Tatian, by birth an Assyrian, a distinguished and learned man, and disciple of Justin Martyr, was more noted among the ancients for his austere moral principles, which were rigid beyond measure, than for the speculative errors or dogmas which he proposed as articles of faith to his followers.3 Yet it appears from credible witnesses, that he held matter to be the source of all evil, and

the soul nor the body would rise again, but a sort of third substance.' Kaye's Tertullian, 505. Apelles is frequently mentioned by Tertullian, who taxes him with immorality; but Rhodon, who lived at the beginning of the third century, and who was hostile to him, says that his good conduct earned him general respect. He differed from his master as to Christ's human body, which he considered to have been real, though not born of the Virgin Mary, but brought down from the stars. It was, therefore, flesh, although not the ordinary flesh of men. Rose's Neander, ii. 135. Kaye's Tertullian, 507. S.]

Besides the common writers on the heresies, as Irenæus, Epiphanius, Theodoret, &c., see Tertullian's five Books against Marcion; and the Poem against Marcion, also in five books, which is ascribed to Tertullian; and the Dialogue against the Marcionites, which is ascribed to Origen.

Among the modern writers, see Massuet, the editor of Irenæus, Tillemont, Is. de Beausobre, Histoire du Manichéisme, ii. 69, &c.-[Walch, Historie der Ketzereyen, i. 484-537. Mosheim, de Rebus Christ. &c. p. 401-410. A. Neander, Kirchengeschichte, i. pt. ii. P. 779-807. Tr.]

2 Eusebius, H. E. iv. 30, and the writers on the ancient heresies. Origen, Dial. contra Marcionitas, § 3, p. 70, ed. Wetstein. Fred. Strunzius, Historia Bardesanis et Bardesanistar. Wittemb. 1722, 4to. Beausobre, Hist. du Manichéisme, ii. 128, &c. [Mosheim, de Rebus Christ. &c. p. 394, &c. Walch, Historie der Ketzereyen, i. 407–424. A. Neander, Kirchengesch. i. pt. ii. p. 743, &c. Tr.]

[Tatian, after the death of Justin Martyr, was said to have borrowed some errors from the Gnostics, others from the Valentinians, others again from the Marcionists. Cent. Magdebb, ii. 100. S.]

therefore recommended the abhorrence and the mortification of the body; that he supposed the Creator of the world and the true God to be not one and the same being; that he denied to our Saviour a real body; and corrupted Christianity with other doctrines of the oriental philosophers. His followers, who were numerous, were sometimes called from him, Tatiani, or Tatianists; but more frequently were designated by names indicative of their austere morals. For, as they discarded all the external comforts and conveniences of life, and held wine in such abhorrence as to use mere water in the Lord's Supper, fasted rigorously, and lived in celibacy, they were denominated Encratita, or abstainers, Hydroparastata, or Water-drinkers, and Apotactitæ, or Renouncers.3

1

§ 10. The Gnostics of the Egyptian class differed from those of the Asiatic, in combining the oriental with Egyptian philosophy, and more especially in the following particulars:-1. Although they supposed matter to be eternal, and also animated, yet they did not recognise an eternal prince of darkness and of matter, or the evil principle of the Persians. 2. They generally considered Christ our Saviour as consisting of two persons, the man Jesus, and the Son of God, or Christ; and the latter, the divine person, they supposed to have entered into Jesus the man, when he was baptized in Jordan by John; and to have left him when he was made a prisoner by the Jews. 3. They attributed to Christ a real and not an imaginary body, though they were not all of one sentiment on this point. 4. They prescribed to their followers a much milder system of moral discipline; nay, seemed to give precepts which favoured the corrupt propensities of men.

§ 11. Among the Egyptian Gnostics, the first place is commonly assigned to Basilides of Alexandria. He maintained that the supreme and all-perfect God produced from himself seven most excellent beings, or Eons. Two of the Eons, namely, Dynamis and Sophia (Power and Wisdom), procreated the angels of the highest order. Those angels built for themselves a residence, or heaven, and produced other angels of a nature little inferior. Other generations of angels succeeded, and other heavens were built, until there were three hundred and sixty-five heavens, and as many orders of angels; that is, just as many as there are days in a year. Over all these heavens and angelic orders, there is a Prince or Lord, whom Basilides called Abraxas; a word doubtless in use among the Egyptians before his time, and which, when written in Greek, contains letters that together

p. 77, ed. Oxon. and by others of the ancients; but no one of them has attempted to delineate his system. [Of the moderns, see Walch, Historie der Ketzereyen, i. 445 -447, and A. Neander, Kirchengesch. i. pt. ii. p. 762-766. It should be remembered, that the names Encratites, Apotactites (Εγκρατῖται, Απότακτοι) were applied to all the austere sects; so that though all Tatianists were Encratites, yet all Encratites were not Tatianists. Tr.]