I. PART II.

counts of them which are yet extant. Of one CENT. thing, indeed, we are certain, and that is, that the most of these doctrines were chimerical' and extravagant in the highest degree, and so far from containing any thing that could recommend them to a lover of truth, that they rather deserve to occupy a place in the history of human delusion and folly [r].

the Gnos

III. Among the various sects that troubled the The sect of tranquillity of the Christian church, the leading the one was that of the Gnostics. These enthusiastic and self-sufficient philosophers boasted of their being able to restore mankind to the knowledge (gnosis) of the true and Supreme Being, which had been lost in the world. They also foretold the approaching defeat of the evil principle, to whom they attributed the creation of this globe, and declared in the most pompous terms, the destruction of his associates, and the ruin of his empire. An opinion has prevailed, derived from the authority of Clemens the Alexandrian, that the first rise of the Gnostic sect is to be dated after the death of the Apostles, and placed under the reign of the emperor Adrian; and it is also alleged,

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[r] Certain authors have written professedly concerning the sects that divided the church in this, and the following century, such as Ittigius, in his treatise, De hæresiarchis ævi Apostoli ci et Apostolico proximi, printed at Leipsick in 1690, and also in the Appendix to the same work, published in 1696. Renatus, Massuet, in his Dissertations, prefixed to Irenæus, and Tillemont in his Memoires pour servir à l'Histoire de l'Eglise. But these authors, and others whom we shall not mention, have rather collected the materials, from which an history of the ancient sects may be composed, than written their history. Hinckelman, Thomasius, Dodwell, Horbius, and Basnage, have some of them promised, others of them attempted such a history; but none of them have finished this useful design. It is therefore to be wished, that some eminent writer, who, with a competent knowledge of ancient philosophy and literature, is also possessed of a penetrating and unbiassed judg ment, would undertake this difficult, but interesting work.

PART II.

CENT. leged, that, before this time, the church enjoyed I. a perfect tranquillity, undisturbed by dissensions, or sects of any kind. But the smallest degree of attention to the language of the Holy Scriptures, not to mention the authority of other ancient records, will prevent our adopting this groundless notion. For, from several passages of the sacred writings [s], it evidently appears, that, even in the first century, the general meeting of Christians was deserted, and separate assemblies formed in several places, by persons infected with the Gnostic heresy, though, at the same time, it must be acknowledged, that this pernicious sect was not conspicuous either for its number, or its reputation, before the time of Adrian. It is proper just to observe here, that under the general appellation of Gnostics, are comprehended all those who, in the first ages of Christianity, corrupted the doctrine of the gospel by a profane mixture of the tenets of the oriental philosophy (concerning the origin of evil, and the creation of the world) with its divine truths.

sprung from the oriental

IV. It was from this oriental philosophy, of which the leading principles have been already philosophy, mentioned, that the Christian Gnostics derived their origin. If it was one of the chief tenets of this philosophy, that rational souls were imprisoned in corrupt matter, contrary to the will of the supreme Deity; there were, however, in this same system, other doctrines which promised a deliverance from this deplorable state of servitude and darkness. The oriental sages expected the arrival of an extraordinary messenger of the Most High upon earth; a messenger invested with a divine authority, endowed with the most eminent sanctity and wisdom, and peculiarly appointed to enlighten, with the knowledge of the Supreme

[s] 1 John ii. 18. 1 Tim. vi. 20. Col. ii. 8.

Being,

I.

Being, the darkened minds of miserable mortals, CENT. and to deliver them from the chains of the tyrants, and usurpers of this world. When there- PART II. fore, some of these philosophers perceived that Christ and his followers wrought miracles of the most amazing kind, and also of the most salutary nature to mankind, they were easily induced to believe that he was the great Messenger expected from above, to deliver men from the power of the malignant genii, or spirits, to which, according to their doctrine, the world was subjected, and to free their souls from the dominion of corrupt matter. This supposition once admitted, they interpreted, or rather corrupted all the precepts and doctrines of Christ and his apostles, in such a manner as to reconcile them with their own pernicious tenets.

nicious er

matters.

V. From the false principle above mentioned, occasions arose, as it was but natural to expect, a multitude many perof sentiments and notions, most remote from the rors contenor of the gospel-doctrines, and the nature of cerning the its precepts. The Gnostic doctrine, concerning and other the creation of the world by one or more inferior beings, of an evil, or, at least, of an imperfect nature, led that sect to deny the divine authority of the books of the Old Testament, whose accounts of the origin of things so palpably contradicted this idle fiction. Through a frantic aversion to these sacred books, they lavished their encomiums upon the serpent, the first author of sin, and held in veneration some of the most impious and profligate persons of whom mention is made in sacred history. The pernicious influence of their fundamental principle carried them to all sorts of extravagance, filled them with an abhorrence of Moses and the religion he taught, and made them assert, that, in imposing such a system of disagreeable and severe laws upon the Jews, he was only actuated by the malignant author of this world,

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PART II.

CENT. world, who consulted his own glory and authoI. rity, and not the real advantage of men. Their persuasion that evil resided in matter, as its centre and source, prevented their treating the body with that regard that is due to it, rendered them unfavourable to wedlock, as the means by which corporeal beings are multiplied, and led them to reject the doctrine of the resurrection of the body, and its future re-union with the immortal spirit. Their notion that malevolent genii presided in nature, and that from them proceeded all diseases and calamities, wars and desolations, induced them to apply themselves to the study of magic, to weaken the powers or suspend the influences of these malignant agents. I omit the mention of several other extravagancies in their system, the enumeration of which would be incompatible with the character of a compendious history.

Their opinions concerning Christ.

For,

VI. The notions of this sect concerning Jesus Christ were impious and extravagant. though they considered him as the Son of the Supreme God, sent from the pleroma, or habitation of the Everlasting Father, for the happiness of miserable mortals; yet they entertained unworthy ideas, both of his person and offices. They denied his deity, looking upon him as the Son of God, and consequently inferior to the Father; and they rejected his humanity, upon the supposition that every thing concrete and corporeal is, in itself, essentially and intrinsically evil. From hence the greatest part of the Gnostics denied that Christ was clothed with a real body, or that he suffered really, for the sake of mankind, the pains and sorrows which he is said to have sustained, in the sacred history. They maintained, that he came to mortals with no other view, than to deprive the tyrants of this world of their influence upon virtuous and heaven-born souls, and, destroying the empire of these wicked spirits, to teach man

kind,

I.

kind, how they might separate the divine mind CENT. from the impure body, and render the former worthy of being united to the Father of spirits.

PART II.

Their mo

VII. Their doctrine, relating to morals and practice, was of two kinds, and those extremely ral docdifferent from each other. The greatest part of trines. this sect adopted rules of life that were full of austerity, recommended a strict and rigorous abstinence, and prescribed the most severe bodily mortifications, from a notion that they had a happy influence in purifying and enlarging the mind, and in disposing it for the contemplation of celestial things. As they looked upon it to be the unhappiness of the soul to have been associated, at all, to a malignant, terrestrial body; so they imagined that the more that body was extenuated, the less it would corrupt and degrade the mind, or divert it from pursuits of a spiritual and divine nature; all the Gnostics, however, were not so severe in their moral discipline. Some maintained that there was no moral difference in human actions; and thus confounding right with wrong, they gave a loose rein to all the passions, and asserted the innocence of following blindly all their motions, and of living by their tumultuous dictates [t]. There is nothing surprising or unaccountable in this difference between the Gnostic moralists: For, when we examine the matter with attention, we shall find, that the same doctrine may very naturally have given rise to these opposite sentiments. As they all in general considered the body as the centre and source of evil, those of that sect, who were of a morose and austere disposition, would be hence naturally led to mortify and combat the body as the enemy of the soul; and those who were of a voluptuous turn,

[] See Clemens Alexandrinus Stromatum, lib. iii. cap. v. p. 529, edit. Potter.