Several writers have speculated upon the sources of the Gnostic errors; but, I believe that the assertion of Irenæus remains uncontradicted, that Simon Magus was the first to give them a definite form538. We learn from Theodoret539, Elias Cretensis540, and Nicetas541, that he imagined an ogdoad of superior [pg 263] beings, all the rest of whom emanated from the first. He imagined one First Cause, the source of all existence, with whom he joined his Thought (Ἔννοια). Irenæus mentions no more than these542. Simon taught that this Thought, issuing forth from the Supreme Father, and knowing his intentions, descended from above, and produced the Angels and Powers by whom the world was made, and who were ignorant of the Father: that they, not wishing to acknowledge any author of their existence, detained her, and subjected her to every kind of contumely, to prevent her return to the Father, and caused her to exist in this world in perpetual transmigration from one female form to another.
He taught that he himself was this Supreme Father543, and a prostitute, named Helena, whom he had purchased at Tyre, and with whom he cohabited, was his Thought, who had been formerly the Trojan Helen: that she was the lost sheep544, and that he was come down upon earth to rescue her from the bondage in which she was held; and to rescue man by the knowledge of himself from the tyranny they were under to the angels who created the world. This tyranny was obedience to the moral law, which was imposed upon man by the agency of the inspired persons of the old dispensation solely to keep him in [pg 264] subjection: and the deliverance he accomplished for his followers was to bring them to believe that all actions were indifferent in their own nature, and that the will of the Creative Powers was the only thing which made one action more just than another. To do away with this tyranny, he declared that he had transformed himself first into a resemblance to the angels, then into that of man; in which latter form he had appeared in Judæa as the Son, and there apparently suffered; but only apparently545; that he had afterwards manifested himself to the Samaritans as the Father, and to the rest of the world as the Holy Ghost546.
Irenæus gives it as his own opinion that the conversion of Simon was only pretended; that he regarded the Apostles as nothing more than impostors or sorcerers of a somewhat deeper skill and subtler knowledge than himself, which he hoped to be initiated into: and that his mortification at the rebuff he met with caused him to set himself in opposition to them, and to dive deeper into magic arts for that purpose; on account of his proficiency in which he was honoured by Claudius Cæsar with a statue547.
The natural fruits followed from such doctrines and such an example. The priests of his heresy [pg 265] were sorcerers of various degrees of ability, and their lives were very impure. They taught their followers to worship Simon under the form of Jupiter, and Helena under that of Minerva548.
It is obvious that such a scheme was adapted only to the gross and ignorant, with just enough of mysticism about it to enable its founder to keep up the character of a philosopher with the more refined, and enable him to pass off his lewdness as the result of a philosophical system, rather than the dominion of low propensities. The Emperor Claudius, notorious as a man of weak intellect, was an extremely likely person to be both amused and duped by his magical performances.
We have here the germ of all the Antinomian heresies from that time to the present. However they may have been espoused by refined and virtuous minds, they all originate with persons of impure and unbridled propensities, who are unwilling to avow the real grossness of their characters, and therefore set up for some deeper knowledge or more subtle system than ordinary men.
It will be observed, too, that Irenæus confirms the [pg 266] statement of Justin Martyr respecting the statue erected in honour of Simon549. The subject is so well taken up by the late Dr. E. Burton, in the 42nd note to his Bampton Lectures, that I do not purpose to enter into it here, further than to remark that Irenæus ought not to be regarded as merely following Justin: for he himself had visited Rome, and was therefore likely to have informed himself personally upon a subject which he thought sufficiently important to bring forward in controversy.
It is likewise a fact deserving notice, that the first instance we have of the worship of images amongst persons recognizing in any degree the gospel, is to be found amongst the followers of Simon Magus. Something of this kind probably suggested St. John's caution: “Little children, keep yourselves from idols.”
Concerning Nicolas, the author, whether intentionally or not, of the sect which bears his name550, he informs us that he was one of the seven deacons, which some have doubted. He gives us no additional information concerning the sect, beyond that furnished by St. John551. This, however, connects [pg 267] them with the Gnostics in their licentious doctrines, and no further.
The Ebionites are mentioned by Irenæus, as though he meant to class them with the Gnostics: but all the information he gives respecting them leads to the conclusion that they had nothing in common with them, except their schism. He expressly states that they believed differently from the Gnostics, and agreed with Christians as to the creation of the world; and that they differed from Cerinthus and Carpocrates on the subject of the miraculous conception552. Tertullian553 indeed implies that Ebion denied this latter fact; and Eusebius distinctly asserts of the great body of his followers, that they thought, as Carpocrates and Cerinthus did, that Jesus was a mere man, and exalted for his excellence like other men554: but he states, and Theodoret555 confirms his statement, that there were Ebionites who believed the miraculous conception.
The succession of heresy, unlike that of the Church, had not for its object the keeping up of one uniform system of doctrine, but the exhibition of something sufficiently attractive or striking to prevent the minds of men from dwelling upon the truth. It required leaders, and therefore persons remarkable for ability of some kind or another. A successor was therefore provided to Simon in the person of Menander, a Samaritan like himself556, and, as Justin informs us, his pupil557; but whose great qualification was, that he equalled or excelled his master in the knowledge of magic558. Heresy, likewise, not requiring to be uniform, permitted its successive teachers to improve upon the system of their predecessors; and by this means both satisfied the natural love of mankind for novelty, and kept up the appetite. So Menander differed a little from Simon, at least in expression, in saying that the Supreme Essence was unknown to all men. He likewise introduced another name from the Gospel, representing himself, not as the Supreme [pg 269] Being, either personally or by direct emanation and operation, (as Simon did,) but as the Saviour, sent by the unseen Powers for the salvation of man. He likewise taught his followers, that by the magical practices in which he instructed them, they might even vanquish the Angelic Creators of this lower world, which was somewhat more than Simon promised.
It appears likewise that he initiated his followers by baptism, which he represented as the true and only resurrection, and taught them to believe that after receiving it they could neither grow old nor die559. How he got over the fact that they did both, we are not informed: but this making baptism the same thing as the resurrection, explains St. Paul's words560, where he represents some as teaching that “the resurrection is already past.” Hymenæus and Philetus, who spread this error in all probability in Asia Minor, might easily have been disciples of Menander, who made Antioch his head quarters561.
Menander was succeeded by two of his pupils562, Saturninus and Basilides, who, though taking up the same general system, were very different men, [pg 270] and therefore modified it in different ways, and were employed by their invisible master in different parts of his vineyard.
Saturninus remained at Antioch, teaching the same general doctrine as his preceptor Menander. He defined the number of the angels by whom the world was made to be seven563, one of whom was the God of the Jews; and he introduced one of the remaining angels, who had not been concerned in the creation, under the name of Satan, as the opponent of the Creators, and more especially of the God of the Jews564. He represented the creation of man as having taken place at the suggestion of the Supreme Power, who exhibited to the angels a bright image of himself; which, as he immediately drew it up again to himself, they endeavoured to copy, and thus made man after its image and likeness: but not having the power to make him erect, he would have grovelled on the earth like a worm, had not the Supreme Power, taking compassion on this poor copy of himself, sent forth into it a spark of life, which gave it limbs and an erect posture565. By an unaccountable inconsistency, however, (for having a system to make or improve at pleasure, he might as well have made its parts consistent with each other,) he likewise taught that there were at first [pg 271] created two sorts of men, one of which was not enkindled with the celestial spark: that those alone would be saved who possessed it566; and that when they died, this heavenly portion of them would ascend to the Powers above, and the other portions of their nature would be dissolved567.
The cause of the coming of the Saviour, or Christ, as they also called him, (who was unborn, incorporeal, and man only in appearance,) he declared to be the conspiracy of all the Angelic Princes, headed by the Jewish God, against the Supreme Father; which obliged him to come down to destroy the God of the Jews, together with demons and wicked men, and to save those who believed in him, that is, those who had received the spark of life. Who these demons were, or whether the whole of the angels were to be destroyed, we are not told568.
The prophecies of the Old Testament he attributed partly to the Creators and partly to Satan569.
It is evident that this is merely a modification of the scheme of Simon Magus, with the addition of Satan, and the Jewish God, and the spark of life: but there is another feature of his system which is remarkable, as differing widely from that of his [pg 272] predecessors. Instead of opening the door to unbridled lust, he affected an extraordinary repugnance to every thing carnal, declaring marriage and its natural consequences to be works of Satan; and some of his followers entirely abstain from animal food570.
Basilides571, the other successor of Menander, settled at Alexandria in Egypt. He was, as I have said, a man of very different character from Saturninus, and followed his master in his addiction to magical practices, and in his licentious doctrines; teaching likewise that meats offered to idols were to be eaten indifferently with others572.
But that he might have something of his own, he greatly modified and added to the speculative system of his predecessors. He taught that from the Unborn Father was born his Mind, and from him the Word, from him Understanding (Φρόνησις), from him Wisdom and Power, and from them Excellences, and Princes, and Angels, who made a heaven. He then introduced a successive series of angelic beings, each set derived from the preceding one, to the number of 365, and each the author of their own peculiar [pg 273] heaven573. To all these angels and heavens he gave names574, and assigned the local situations of the heavens. The first of them is called Abraxas, a mystical name containing in it the number 365575; the last and lowest is the one which we see; the Creators of which made this world, and divided its parts and nations amongst them. In this division the Jewish nation came to the share of the Prince of the Angels; and as he wished to bring all other nations into subjection to his favourite nation, the other angelic Princes and their nations resisted him and his nation576. The Supreme Father, seeing this state of things, sent his first-begotten Mind, who is also called Christ, to deliver those who should believe in him from the power of the Creators. He accordingly appeared to mankind as a man, and wrought mighty deeds. He did not, however, really suffer, but changed forms with Simon of Cyrene, and stood by laughing whilst Simon suffered; and afterwards, being himself incorporeal, ascended into heaven. Building upon this transformation, Basilides taught his disciples that they might at all times deny him that was crucified, and that they alone who did so understood the providential dealings of the Most High, and by that knowledge were freed [pg 274] from the power of the angels, whilst those who confessed him remained under their power577. Like Saturninus, however, but in other words, he asserted that the soul alone was capable of salvation, but the body necessarily perishable578.
He taught, moreover, that they who knew his whole system, and could recount the names of the angels, &c., were invisible to them all, and could pass through and see them, without being seen in return: that they ought likewise to keep themselves individually and personally unknown to common men, and even to deny that they are what they are; that they should assert themselves to be neither Jews nor Christians, and by no means reveal their mysteries579. This, of course, and their unscrupulousness as to actions of any kind whatever, would entirely exempt them from persecution.
It appears likewise, from a fragment preserved in Origen's Commentary on the Romans580, that he taught the transmigration of souls. He affirmed that the martyrs suffered for offences committed at some other time: for he thought it contrary to the divine justice that any innocent person should suffer581.
[pg 275]In this scheme we find a feature, which was afterwards taken up and amplified, viz., the connection of mystical numbers with Gnosticism.
It is likewise curious to observe how much of the Gospel history and phraseology was interwoven with it, without one single atom of its purity and regenerating influence.
Carpocrates is placed by Irenæus next to Basilides582: but as there is a general agreement amongst the early writers that Carpocrates was prior to Cerinthus583, and that the latter flourished in the last years of St. John, it appears most probable that Carpocrates was, if any thing, earlier than Basilides, and more properly coeval with Menander. In favour of this idea there is this internal argument, that his system does not appear to be in any degree an amplification [pg 276] or alteration of that of Basilides, but rather to have been an independent modification of the original scheme of Simon.
He agreed with him, and Menander, and Basilides, in professing magic584, and in preaching licentious doctrines. He agreed with Simon likewise in teaching the doctrine of the transmigration of souls, and adapted it to the support of profligacy, by asserting that every soul is destined to become acquainted with every kind of action, and that it passes from body to body until it has accomplished every thing to which it is predestined585.
Like all other Gnostics, he asserted that the world and human bodies were made by Angels586; he agreed with some in teaching that all souls were originally in the same sphere (περιφορὰ) as the Supreme Being587, but that when once placed in bodies, they continued under the power of the Angels, until they had fulfilled their destined task; that when a person died, his soul was brought before the Prince of the Angels, by the Devil, and if it had not accomplished every thing, was handed over to another Angel, to be inclosed again in a body; but that when it has fulfilled [pg 277] its destiny they have no longer any power over it, but it returns to the Father, from whom it originally came588.
Unlike Simon, however, or any whom I have yet mentioned, (except, perhaps, Ebion) he taught that Jesus was a mere man, the son of Joseph; that being brought up in the Jews' religion, remembering what he had been when in the same sphere with the Father, and being of an unusually firm and resolute mind, he looked down upon the Angels, and set at nought bodily suffering589. But his followers thought that there was no reason why any individual man might not surpass Jesus, and that, in point of fact, many of their sect were superior to the Apostles. Others went so far as to affirm, that the Apostles were not at all inferior to Jesus, and that if any man whatever could attain to a greater degree of contempt for the Creators than Jesus arrived at, he would become superior to him590.
They affirmed that we are to be saved by faith and love; all actions being good or bad only according to human opinion; and that Jesus taught their system as an esoteric doctrine to the Apostles, who delivered it to those who were worthy591.
[pg 278]Some branded their followers upon the right ear592.
I mentioned before that the first worship of images arose amongst heretics: and it is remarkable that heretics again, viz. the Carpocratians, were the first to pay honour to the image of Christ, whom they worshipped equally with Pythagoras, and Plato, and Aristotle, with the same kind of honour as that which was customary amongst the heathen593.
One of the female followers of Carpocrates, by name Marcellina, is said to have visited Rome in the time of Anicetus, and to have seduced many594.
Respecting Cerinthus, whom we know from Irenæus to have been a contemporary of St. John595, the information he furnishes is very slight. He did not attribute the Creation to the Angels in a body, but to some one Power far removed from the Supreme Power. He made Jesus a mere man, but more excellent than other men: he affirmed that the Christ had descended upon him at baptism, and made known to him the unknown Father, and empowered him to work miracles, but that he departed from him before the crucifixion, and left him to suffer alone596.
Cerdon would seem to be another independent offset from the stock of Simon. He likewise taught a Supreme God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, and another inferior deity, who inspired the prophets597. He joined the church at Rome under Hyginus, its bishop, i. e. about a.d. 141, and appears to have wished by all means to remain in its communion; and accordingly he recanted his error. He could not, however, refrain from spreading it covertly, and being detected, he again recanted; still he kept his heresy, and being at length judged incorrigible, he was withheld from the communion of the Church598.
Marcion succeeded Cerdon599, and took up and amplified his doctrine. He likewise made the Creator [pg 280] inferior to the Supreme God, and the author of evil, fond of war, inconsistent, and self-contradictory; and taught that Jesus was sent by the Supreme God to do away all the operations of the Creator, and especially the Law and the Prophets600. He agreed with other Gnostics in declaring that the soul alone was capable of salvation, and of souls only those which received his doctrine; but the peculiarity of his system was, that Cain, and the Sodomites, and Egyptians, &c. were saved by believing in Jesus, when he descended into hell; but that Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, and all the good men and prophets of the Old Covenant, having often been deceived by their God, were afraid to trust in Jesus, and consequently remain still in the state of death601.
Another peculiarity was that, whilst professing to receive portions of the New Testament, such as the Gospel of St. Luke and the Epistles of St. Paul, he rejected every portion of them which he imagined to militate against his hypothesis602.
Marcion, who, having been originally a Christian, [pg 281] and the son of a Bishop, had been excommunicated for seduction603, appears to have harmonized with Saturninus in professing extraordinary strictness of habits604. Hence some of the followers of both formed themselves into a separate sect, called by a name (Ἐγκρατεῖς) of which perhaps Puritans is the best English Translation. Tatian, who had been a sincere Christian, was formerly a disciple of Justin, and had written a treatise to set forth the folly of the heathen religion605, became a leading man amongst them: for they adopted an opinion of his that Adam was not saved. Their most distinguishing characteristics however were, their abstinence from marriage, and from animal food606.
Marcion taught that Cain and the Sodomites, &c. were saved by believing in Jesus607. Others went further, and declared that they were agents of the Supreme Power, to oppose the God of this world. [pg 282] They likewise took Judas under their patronage, and declare that he betrayed Jesus, not from treachery or a love of gain, but because, being better instructed than the rest, he was aware that the death of Jesus would be the means of dissolving and breaking up the whole work of the Creator, whom they regarded as in rebellion against the Great Original608.