G N O 



Icfs certaia than affliAinjr, from tin: rulihilli wLicli covers it, 

 and a great part of which has ferved for the buildings of 

 modern CaniTuu \\\i\<:\\ fee. See aifo Cih;te. 



GNOSTICS, ill Ecdrfi.tflical Hiflory, aucifiit heretics, 

 famous from the firll rife of Chridiaiiitv, principally in the 

 Eall. 



It appears from feveral jjafTages ot the facrcd writings, 

 partieularly i John ii. l8. i Tim. vi. 20. and Col.-ii. 8. that 

 nany perforis were iiifecled with the Onottic hercfy in the 

 'irft century ; though the left did not render itfeif confpi- 

 ;iiou», either for number or reputation, before the time of 

 Adrian, wh?n fonie writers erroneoufly date its rife 



The word is formed of the Latin gnofiirus, and that of the 

 Greek %>*-*>'-'>", Ltioivirtg, ot ^ivi^rxv, 1 knn-iv. 



The name Gnolbc was adopted bv thofe of this fecf , as 

 if they were the only perfons who had the true knowledge of 

 Chrillianity. Accordingly they looked on all the Chrillians 

 v< fimple, ignorant, and barbarous perfons, who explained 

 a;id irtci"p;-eted the ficrcd writings, in a too low, hteral, and 

 unedifying fignification. 



At firlt, tlie Gnoltics were only the philofisphers and wits 

 of thofe times, who formed for themfelve^ a peculiar fyllem 

 if tlieology, agreeable to the philolophy of Pythagoras 

 md Plato ; to which they accommodated all their interpre- 

 tations of fcripture. Thefe enthufiailic and felf-fufficient 

 philofophcrs boafted of their being able to retlore mankind 

 to the knowledge igno/ir) of the tnie and Supreme Being 

 which had been loft in the world. They alfo foretold the ap- 

 proaching defeat of the evi! /'rinr:p!f, to whom they attributed 

 the creation of this globe, and declarei.'., in the moll pompous 

 terms, the dellructioa of his aifociates, aud the ruin of his 

 empire. But 



Gnostics afterwards became a gcnerical name, compre- 

 hending divers fefts and parties, of heretics, who rofe in the 

 firft centuries, and \vho, though they differed among them- 

 felvcs as to circumftances, yet all agreed in fome common 

 principhs. They were fuch as corrupted the doclrine of the 

 gofpel by a profane mixture of the tenets of the oriental 

 philofophy, concerning the origin of evil and the creation of 

 the world, with its divine truths. 



It was one of the chief tenets of the philofophy of the 

 Chriftian Gnollics, that rational louls were imprifoned in cor- 

 rupt matter, contrary to the will of the Supreme Deity. In 

 conformity to the opinion of the oriental fages, who expected an 

 extraordinary mefienger from the Mod High, endowed with 

 wifdom and invefted with authority to communicate to ir.iie- 

 rable mortals juft noti jns of the Supreme Being, and to deh- 

 ver them from the chains of the tyrants and ufurpers of this 

 world, they believed, when Chrift appeared and wrought 

 miracles of the moll aftonilTiing and falutary kind, that he 

 was the expecled and wi(hed-for mefienger. Accordingly 

 they imagined that he would refcue men from the po«-er of 

 the malignant genii, or fpirits, to which, agreeably to their doc- 

 trine, the world was fubjefted, and fo free their fouls from the 

 dominion of corrupt matter. Having admitted this fuppo- 

 lition, they interpreted, or rather corrupted, all the precepts 

 and dodlrines of Chrill and his apcllles, in fuch a manner as 

 to reconcile them with their own erroneous tenets. 



Such were the Valentinians, Simonians, Carpocrivjians, 

 Nicolaitans, &c. 



GxosTKs, a denomination fometim.es alfo more particular- 

 ly attributed to the fuccefibrs of the iiril Nicoluitans and 

 Carpocratians, in the fecond century, upon their laying afide 

 the names of the firft authors. Such as would be thorough- 

 ly acquainted with all their doctrines, reveries, and vifions, 

 may confult St. Iren.-sus, Tertullian, Clemens Alexandrinus, 

 Origen, and St. Epipluuiius ; particularly the firft of thefe 



G N O 



writers, who relates their fentiments at lyge, and confafe* 

 them at the fame lime : indeed, he dwells more exprefslv on 

 the Valentinians than any other fort of Gnollics; but he 

 fiiews the general principles whereon all their ir.i.lalctn opi- 

 nions \yere founded, and the method they followed in explain- 

 ing fcripture. lie accufes them with introducing into reli- 

 gion certain vain and ridiculous genealogies, i. e. a kind ef 

 divine procelTions or emanations, which had no other founda- 

 tion but in their own wild imagination. 



In elTccl, the Gnollics confelfed, that thefe scons or ema- 

 nations « ere no where exprefsly delivered in the facrcd writ- 

 ings ; but infifted, at the fame time, that Jcfus Ciirill had inti- 

 mated them in parables to fuch as could underlland him. 

 They built their theology not only on the gofpels and the 

 epilUes of St. Paul, but'alfoon the kw of Moles and the 

 prophets. 



Thefe laft laws were peculiarly ferviceable to them, on ac- 

 count of the allegories and allufions with which they abound j 

 which are capable of different interpretations. 



However, their doclrine, concerning the creation of the 

 world by one or more inferior beings of an evil or imperfect 

 nature, led them to deny the divine authority of the books of 

 the Old Teftament, which contradifted this idle fiction, acd 

 liUed them with an abhorrence of Mofes and the religion he 

 taught ; alleging, that he was afluated by the malignant 

 author of this world, who confulted his own glor}- and au- 

 thority, and not the real advantage of men. Their perfua- 

 fion that evil refided in matter, as its centre and fource, made 

 them treat the body with contempt, difcourage marriage, 

 and reject llie dcclrineof the refurrection of the bodv and its 

 re-union with the immortal fpirit. Their notion, that male- 

 volent genii prelided in nature, and occafioued difeafes and 

 calamities, wars and defolations, induced them to apply 

 thcmfelves to the fludy of magic, in order to weaken thi" 

 powers or fufpend the influence of thefe mahgnant agents. 



The Gnollics confidered Jefus Chrill as the Son of God, 

 and, confequently, inferior to the Father, who came into the 

 world for the refeue and happinefs of mifcrable mortals, op- 

 preffed by matter and evil (jcings : but they rejected our 

 Lord's humanity, on the principle that ever)- thing corporeal 

 is effentially and intrinfically evil ; and, therefore, the great- 

 eft part of them denied the reality of his fufferings. They 

 fet a great value on the beginning of the gofpel of St. John, 

 where they fancied they law a great deal of their scons or 

 emanations under the //'on/, ihe L if ^, the Lig/jf, $ic. Thcv 

 divided all nature into three kinds of beings, viz. ir/if, or 

 material ; pfychic, or animal ; and pneumatic, or fpiritual. 



On the like principle they alfo dillinguifhed three forts 

 of men ; material, animal, andjpirilu.il. The firft, who were 

 material, and incapable of knowledge, inevitably periihed, 

 both foul and body ; the third, fuch as the Gno'ftics thcm- 

 felves pretended to be, were all ccrt.iinly faved ; the pfychic^ 

 or animal, \\ho were the middle between the other two» 

 were capable either of being faved or damned, according 

 to their good or evil actions. 



With regard to their moral dbftrines and condiift, they 

 were much divided. 'Hie greateft part of this feft adopted 

 very auftere rules of life, .-ecoinmended rigorous abllinence, 

 and prelcribed fevere bodily mortifications, with a view of 

 puriiying and exalting the mind. However, fome main*. 

 taiiied, that there was no moral difference in human actions j 

 and thus, confounding right with wrong, thev gave a loofe 

 rein to all the palfions, and affcrted the innocence of follow- 

 ing bhndly all their motions, and of Kving by their tumul« 

 tuous diftates. They fupportcd their opinions and practice 

 by various authorities : fome referred to fictitious and apo- 

 cryphal writings of Adam, Abraham, Zoroafter, Chrill, 

 3 D 2 aad 



