ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 



307 



til-.. 



Rodesiasti- heresy of the Gnostics ; a heresy which must be consi- 

 <ol History. c i ere( f as the fruitful parent of many others, we had al- 

 ~.~' most said of every error which has corrupted and dis- 

 figured the simplicity of the primitive faith. 



Heresy of At the bottom of this predominating heresy, lay the 

 the Gnos- eastern dogma of the two principles, the one the source of 

 good and the other the source of evil. To the good princi- 

 ple, the Gnostics gave the titles of the Supreme Divini- 

 ty and the Everlasting Father ; while they considered 

 nialler as the evil principle, and represented it as in- 

 dependent and active, the antagonist, and, in some in- 

 stances, the successful rival of the benignant power. 

 To the evil principle, they attributed the creation of 

 the earth, and the disposition or arrangement of the 

 habitable globe. They held too, that the soul, which, 

 according to their idea of it, was naturally ethereal and 

 pure, was clogged and depressed by the material body, 

 that its inherent energies were restrained, and its pro- 

 gress towards heavenly happiness obstructed. They 

 contended, that a great Messenger and Deliverer was 

 expected from above, who was to put an end to all 

 such restraints and obstructions, to emancipate the im- 

 prisoned and shackled spirit, and to relieve the whole 

 intellectual world from the dominion of matter. They 

 believed in Jesus Christ as the messenger and deliverer, 

 \i\ whom those mighty revolutions were to be accom- 

 plished. They spoke of him as the Son of the Supreme 

 Divinity, commissioned and dispatched from the habi- 

 tation of the Everlasting Father. They regarded him 

 as a created existence ; and maintained, that though to 

 the eye of man he appeared to be invested with a real 

 body, and exposed to actual pains and privations, he 

 was, in point of fact, destitute of all corporeal organs, 

 and incapable of raftering. In a perfect consistency 

 with their own opinions, they denied the resurrection 

 of Christ, and that of the body in general. They be- 

 lieved, moreover, in a great pleroma, or space above the 

 visible heavens ; and this pleromn they sometimes re- 

 presented as the immediate residence of the benevolent 

 divinity, and at other times as filled with interior ex- 

 istences, called (Eons. To the higher (Eons were ad- 

 ded the genii, whose abode was chiefly upon the earth, 

 and whose l>i'-inc-s and delight it was to thwart the 

 purposes, and disturb the enjoyments of the human 

 race. And in addition to all these jarring particulars, 

 they denied trip .-mthority of the Jewish uriptures, and, 

 with an unaccountable and repulsive absurdity, held 

 the serpent in high estimation as the author of sin. 

 of From the motley and incoherent system which we 

 Jno<tio:-in. have now attempted to describe, certt'in practical con- 

 sequences arose. First of all, it led the Gnostics to the 

 incessant study of magic, in order to avert the influence, 

 or weaken the power of the malignant genii. And, se- 

 condly, they were taught by it to practise all the' va- 

 rieties of mortification and modes of austerity. The 

 body was the source and centre of evil, and it was not 

 to be supported or cherished, lest the soul, the ethereal 

 part, should be still farther degraded and enslaved. 

 Hence the more rigid of the sect abstained from the 

 nio-t innocent gratifications ; they rejected marriage 

 and the society of women, and spent their whole lives 

 in a complete abstraction from the world, in penitence, 

 obmnt. Kence, and prayer. Who does not see that the 

 celibacy of the lioinish clergy, and the penances which 

 the IJomish church enjoins upon her votaries, may In- 

 traced to the heresy of the Gnostics, and especially to 

 that part of it which respects the malignity of matter? 

 Monastic institution^ had their origin in the same error. 

 Simon Stylites must be regarded a a practical disciple 

 of the Gnostic school. St Dunstan, if there be any 



truth in the history which is given of him, may be Ecclesiasti. 

 classed with Simon Stylites ; and the race of pilgrims cai History, 

 and flagellants will complete the catalogue of deluded '"n"""" 

 individuals, and the triumph of philosophical specula- 

 tion over the simplicity of genuine Christianity, and the 

 obvious application of its precepts. What we have stated 

 above was the practice of the more numerous and rigid of 

 the Gnostics ; others of them, however, made a different 

 use of their favourite notion, the malignity of matter ; 

 for they regarded the soul as utterly unaffected by the 

 actions of the body, asserted the innocency and the pro- 

 priety of yielding to every dictate of nature, ami in- 

 dulged themselves in every species of vice. This di- 

 vision of the Gnostics could not possibly have any great 

 respect for the decalogue or the authority of Moses ; 

 and we may not perhaps be very far mistaken, if we 

 suppose them to have been the chief admirers of the 

 serpent. 



The tenets of the later Platonists were scarcely less PUtoniit-. 

 pernicious than the reveries of the Gnostics. Besides 

 their philosophical opinions, which were those of the 

 Eclectics, they maintained that the morality of the sa- 

 cred scriptures was of two sorts, one more gross, for the 

 multitude, and another more refined, for Christians of 

 superior merit and sanctity. Hence the counsels of our 

 religion were distinguished from its precepts ; the for- 

 mer being meant for those who, by contemplative ab- 

 straction, aspired to an immediate intercourse with the 

 Divinity, and the latter for such as were disposed to 

 satisfy themselves with discharging the ordinary duties 

 of life. They maintained likewise the pernicious dog. 

 ma, that the end, if good, justifies the means which are 

 employed in order to attain it, of whatever description 

 those means may be. It is true, this sentiment was 

 propagated at first with great caution, and with many 

 explanations ; but it soon spread abroad, and was ge- 

 nerally received, and it gave birth to all that train of 

 imposture, and all those pretended miracles and legends, 

 which, in succeeding ages, brought disgrace upon the 

 Christian church. Alexandria was the chief seat of 

 the later Platonists. Ammonius Saccus is regarded as 

 the founder of the sect ; and it ranks among its adhe- 

 rents no less a man than the respectable Origen himself. 



For an account of the primitive order and govern- 

 ment of the church, the reader may consult the history 

 f the following period, wlu'rc the rise and progress of 

 the papacy is traced. 



CHAP. II. 



The History of the Christian Church from the time of 

 Conttanline, A. D. 3 L >5, to the Year 755, n-hcn the 

 supremacy of the Pope was acknowledged, and his 

 temporal Dominion established. 



THE order established and recognized in the primi- The order 

 live church, was exceedingly simple. The care of each established 

 congregation was entrusted to it.-: pastor or bishop, along in the pri- 

 witha certain number of assistants; and these last were 5*? 

 particularly consulted in matters of government and c 

 discipline. To the pastor or bishop, and his assistants, 

 were added the deacons, whose business it was to take 

 charge of the poor. The office of pastor continued for 

 life, unless it was forfeited by some instance of miscon- 

 duct on the part of him who enjoyed it. He was com- 

 monly styled the bishop or overseer, and sometimes the 

 angel of the congregation to which lie belonged : (See 

 BlSHOP.) In the first age, the ecclesiastical functiona- 

 ries were supported by the voluntary contributions of the 



