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Ophites or Naassenes, lxxviii.; origin of the name investigated, ibid. lxxix.; their system a fusion of Cabbalistic notions with heathen mysteries, lxxx.; man the subject of two distinct acts of creation, ibid.; origin of soul, necessity of baptismal regeneration, lxxxi.; though in a heathen sense, lxxxii.; Light the creative principle, lxxxiii.; the Ophic Nus evolved, ib.; fall of man, lxxxiv.; Ophite worship and Christology, ib.; not strictly Docetic, lxxxv.; a perversion of certain important Christian doctrines, lxxxvi.

Perata of Chaldæa, astrological fatalists, lxxxvii.

Saturninus, last of the Samaritan following, lxxxviii. ; copied Simon, and mediately Zoroaster, lxxxix.; two distinct races of men, by nature good and bad, xc.; vegetarian and Docetic, ib.

Basilides, a Syrian, engrafted on the theories of Simon Peripatetic and Platonic principles, xci. xcii.; negative term for the Deity, ib.; probable meaning, xciii.; held the Diarchic theory, xciv.; still in subordination to one supreme principle, xcv.

Creation spoken of Peripatetice, rather than Platonice, xcvi.; Atheistic in language, not in idea, ib.; his Cosmogony, originating from Light, xcvii. xcviii.

Three vibrηres, and angelic essences evolved, xcix.-ci.; Demiurge, ci.; Gospel light kindling as flame, cii. ciii.; later Platonism compared, civ.; varying accounts examined, cvi.—cix.

Valentinus an Egyptian, cx.; gave a strong Oriental colouring to his Platonic and Pythagorean notions, cxi.; copied Basilides, cxii.—cxv.

Three groups of Æons, cxvi. ; as in the Egyptian Theogonia, cxvii.; rationale of the Ogdoad, cxx. cxxi. ; of the Decad and Dodecad, cxxii. cxxiii.

Enthymesis in relation with Gnosis, cxxv.; Passion eliminated from the Pleroma and materialised, cxxvii.

Valentinian Christology, cxxviii.; a fourfold Christ, cxxix.

Formation of Achamoth, ib. cxxxii.; origin of matter, cxxx.; philosophical analogies, cxxxi.; introduction of evil, cxxxiii.; and of the spiritual principle, ibid.; değiòv kal ȧpíσtepov, ib. cxxxiv.; Demiurge, cxxxvi; Hebdomas, cxxxvii.; Cosmocrator, cxxxviii.

Creation of man as a quadruple compound, cxl.; Docetic view of Christ, cxli.; gift of Spirit indefectible, ib. cxlii.; moral effect of this doctrine, cxlii.; Valentinian theory of inspiration, cxliii.

The Valentinian scheme in closer contact with the Platonic system, than with the East, cxliv.; still certain striking analogies with Oriental theories, cxlvi.; the system popular rather than lasting, ib.

Marcion's three principles, cxlvii.; Christology Docetic, cxlviii.; symbolised with the Encratita, cxlix.; repudiated Jewish and heathen systems alike, cl.; vitality of his system, cli.

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for Plato, read Philo.

exponent (dele to them).

for was, read were.

read, came from Egypt to Rome, from whence he passed to Cyprus.

read, δορυφόρους.

note l. 5, read, Foncion.

note 3 and in text, read ovorаρÉVтWV.

add to note I, ἐνεδείξατο δὲ καὶ Στησιχόρῳ τῷ ποιήτῃ τὴν αὑτῆς
δύναμιν· ὅτε μὲν γὰρ ἀρχόμενος τῆς ᾠδῆς ἐβλασφήμησέ τι περὶ
αὐτῆς, ἀνέστη τῶν ὀφθαλμῶν ἐστερημενος· ἐπειδὴ δὲ γνοὺς τὴν
αἰτίαν τῆς συμφορᾶς τὴν καλουμένην παλινῳδίαν ἐποίησε, πάλιν
αὐτὸν εἰς τὴν αὐτὴν φύσιν κατέστησε. ISOCR. Enc. Hel. 28.
read rememorantem.

n. 4, 1. 9, read (Act. Soc. Lit. Jen.)
n. 4, l. 7, read παγκρατές.

the Cabbala learned by the Jews in Babylon, the Isiacal traditions of Egypt, as refined into a system of harmony by Plato, the arithmetical theories of Pythagoras, possibly of Indian origin, and symbolising the abstract truth and un-but ef. A. limited power of the Deity, were severally laid under Ph. 1. 201.

VOL. I.

a

Butler, H.

Ophites or Naassenes, lxxviii.; origin of the name investigated, ibid. lxxix.; their system a fusion of Cabbalistic notions with heathen mysteries, lxxx.; man the subject of two distinct acts of creation, ibid.; origin of soul, necessity of baptismal regeneration, lxxxi.; though in a heathen sense, lxxxii.; Light the creative principle, lxxxiii. ; the Ophic Nus evolved, ib.; fall of man, lxxxiv.; Ophite worship and Christology, ib.; not strictly Docetic, lxxxv.; a perversion of certain important Christian doctrines, lxxxvi.

Peratæ of Chaldæa, astrological fatalists, lxxxvii.

Saturninus, last of the Samaritan following. lxxxviii. : copied Simon, and mediately

The Valentinian scheme in closer contact with the Platonic system, than with the East, cxliv.; still certain striking analogies with Oriental theories, cxlvi.; the system popular rather than lasting, ib.

Marcion's three principles, cxlvii.; Christology Docetic, cxlviii.; symbolised with the Encratitæ, cxlix.; repudiated Jewish and heathen systems alike, cl.; vitality of his system, cli.

PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS

ON THE

GNOSTIC SYSTEM.

Early Forms of

Belief.

Plot. 16.

THE Gnostic system in its original development, marks an earnest endeavour on the part of the human intellect to recur to certain primary principles, that gave a starting of. Porph. v. point to the philosophical theories of Greece, and that subsisted among other races also, in proportion to their civilisation, as the arcane soul of their faith in things unseen. That glimpses of truth, of which man had an unclouded view in Paradise, were still retained in the earliest ages of the world, is very evident, so far as the Bible has revealed to us the religious history of the various families of the human race after the deluge. For a time, at least, the traditions of Paradise held their ground; nor had they wholly died away when Christ appeared. Gnosticism applied itself to collect and re-arrange these fragmentary portions of truth; although, as might be expected of a work performed without reference to Divine Revelation, the materials were thrown together in much grotesque confusion, and presented at the best a rude and undigested mass of dimly appreciated truth. The Persian theosophy of Zoroaster, p. 44, n. 1. the Cabbala learned by the Jews in Babylon, the Isiacal traditions of Egypt, as refined into a system of harmony by Plato, the arithmetical theories of Pythagoras, possibly of Indian origin, and symbolising the abstract truth and un- but cf. A. limited power of the Deity, were severally laid under Ph. 1. 201.

VOL. I.

a

Butler, H.

Forms of

Early contribution; they were amalgamated successively by the Belief. Gnostic schools, and eventually all met in the Valentinian theory.

A brief review of the earlier forms of religious belief so far as History, whether Sacred or Profane, has revealed them to us, will enable the reader to judge of the correctness of this view.

Before Abraham was chosen to be the especial guardian of the truth, we may trace the existence of a primitive theology upon earth. Melchizedek, most probably of the race of Shem, whose genealogy coincided with that of Abraham in some ancestral link, was a Preacher of RighteHeb. vii. 1. ousness and Priest of the Most High God, and he ex

pressed doctrines that, without doubt, were handed down from a more ancient source. Are we to imagine that the same truths were altogether hidden from other collateral branches of the same widely spreading stock; such as the children of Elam, and Aram, and Asshur, the Joktanida of the Arab coasts, or the Shemitic dispersion of the days of Peleg?

If we follow the patriarch Abraham in his descent to Egypt, we observe clearly that the primitive traditions of the Asiatic had not yet wholly evaporated. They still possessed in direct descent, a fragmentary ray of the religious light inherited by the sons of Noah; for we cannot fail to be struck with the similarity of faith in fundamental verities, that brought Abraham and the Egyptian king into closer relations than could have subsisted without it. Their intercourse was established upon the immutable Gen. xii. 19; basis of justice and truth; whilst Hagar, the Egyptian handmaid of Sarah, confessed faith in an All-wise Deity, Gen. xvi. 10. and was favoured with an angelic vision and message.

xvi. 13.

Gen. xx.

3-8.

Abimelech also, king of Gerar of the Philistines, gave evidence of his belief in one God, and expressed himself in a religious point of view very much as the patriarch

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