77
Now it is to be conceived ytthat the mystery of iniquity wchwhich consisted in these heresies
& began to work in the Apostles days, worked more & more
till it prevailed & th it brake in upon the Church & caused that
Christian religion was purest in the first ages of Christianity & de
cayed gradually till the man of sin was revealed. [And since the
Man of Sin was opposed & exalted himself above every thing that is
called God or that is worshipped we may conclude that he was under
no temporal with a power both temporal &
spiritual. The by the sword Christian religion set up one God rejected against all the Gods of the heathens & was propagated against the religion of yethe Empire by poor men
preaching the gospel under all temporal discouragemtsdiscouragements to the hazzard & sometimes
to the loss of their lives: the Antichristian worked according to yethe
theology of the heathens was a branch of the heathen religion owning many consubstantial Gods according to the theology of the heathens & making
Christ to be one of them,
to the Christian untill it. The Christian religion was set up against
the power of the sword, the mystery of ini Antichristian by the
power of the sword. The Christian maintained one God & one Lord
against all the Gods of the heathens & all the hereticks & was propagated
by poor
men against the religion of yethe Empire by poor men preaching yethe
gospel under all temporal discouragements to the hazzard & sometimes
to yethe loss of their lives: the Antichristian was a branch of yethe heathen
religion owning many Gods according to the Theology of the heathens
& making Christ to be one of them & worked in vitious men in
opposition to the Christian untill it pre gained the power of the sword & thereby
exalted it self above every thing that itis called God or that is wor
shipped. But This power of the sword it could not have while the heathen
empire stood, & but yet worked & encreased in strength untill
under this Empire that when that wchwhich letted should be taken
out of yethe way it might be eis power.] of the sword.
Let us therefore now see by what steps this mystery of ini iniquity
grew up untill it gained the dominion, [& the Christian religion
at the same time decreased in vertue] And for this end let us
distinguish the For yethe first times of Christianity may be distinguished into the three or four following states, Christian religion into ages recconing that
first age in wchwhich the Christian religion was in its purity &
heresies were kept under by the Apostolick authority, the second
in wchwhich they encreased but without making a breach upon th heresies multiplied & gained many followers but without breaking
in upon the ChruchChurch, the third chwhich they were refined grew more plausible & refined & began to break in upon insinuate themselves into
the Church & divide her against her self the fourth in wchwhich
they began to unite into one general heresy & to divide the Church against her self.
The first of Church continued in the first of these four states
till the reign of Trajan & . For Iohn the Apostle lived till the 2d
or 3d year of his reign & Ignatius bishop of Antioch & Symeon the son of Cleopas & cousin
unkle of Christ son of Cleopas a disciple & kinsman of XstChrist & bishop of Ierusalem till was martyred about the middle of Trajans his
reign being 120 years old. But And Hegesippus who was contemporary to Polycarp the disciple of
Iohn tells us mentioning the death of Symeon, subjoyns Ecclesiam ad hæc usqꝫque
tempora instar cujusdam virginis integram atqꝫque incorruptam permansisse . . . . . . . . obtrudere aggressi
sunt. Euseb. Eccl. Hist. l. 3. c. 32. Hactenus Et Ecclesiam quidem hactenus
virginem vocabant propterea quod vanis sermonibus nondum corruptam
fuerat. Hegesippus apud Euseb. Hist. Eccl. l 4. c. 22. ✝ ✝ In this age flourished several hereticks as Simon, Nicolaus, Ebion, Cerinthus, Menander, but
their heresies being checkt by the authority of the Apostles were of short continuance
And concerning the Nazarenes & Ebionites its observable – – – – – – chronicles circumcision.
✝ The Gnosticks began to rise up before the destruction of Ierusalem
for in oppsition to them the Apostle Paul advises to avoid endless profane & old wives fables &
endless genealogies & oppositions of science falsly so called, that is the fables of the ancient Poets wchwhich were profane & foolish & the genealogies of yethe
Gods wchwhich were endless & the philosophy of the hea disputes about the metaphy
sical philosophy of the heathens & doctrines of demons wchwhich was false. Some reccon Simon others others
& Nicolaus the first authors of the Gnosticks. The genealo Simon made some
Genealogies, Nicolaus & others might encrease their number & give occasion to
the Apostle to call them endless. After these flourished Ebion Cerinthus & Menander
but all their heresies being checkt by the authority of the Apostles were of
small extent & short continuance. And concerning the Ebionites & Nazarenes its observable that the Christians of yethe first age Church of Ierusalem – – – – – – Churches
of yethe circumcision. And the Church of Ierusalem was of the circumcision & had bishops
of the circumcision till the 18th year of Adrian A.C. 135 when all Iews were forbidden the city. And its observable
that the Christians of the Church of Ierusalem in this age were all
zealous of the law (Act. 21.20) Gal. 2.12, 13. & the churches of the uncircumcision were by & by the Iews were called the sect of the the Nazarenes (Acts 24.5) & when the dispersion of this Church by yethe
wars of yethe Romans was at hand Matthew wrote his Gospel in hebrew for
the sake of thisese Christians,
amongst the hereticks. They were all circumcised & by circumcision had
covenanted wthwith God to keep the law & it was no crime to keep their
covenant for yethe law was good. (Rom. 7.7, 12. Gal. 5.3) But to impose the law upon yethe gentiles as
necessary to salvation, made void the faith of in Christ, & this was the crime
of the Ebionites. There were Apostles of the circumcision & Apostles of yethe
uncircumcision & the Nazarenes were the Churches of the circumcision.
The second state or age of the Church lasted till the Episcopacy of Victor reign of
Severus, Victor being bishop of Rome, ffor in this interval of time the Gnosticks
flourished Saturninus, Basilides, Carpocrates, Valentinus, Secundus Ptolmæus
Marcus Colarbasus Heracleon, Cerdon, Marcion, Apelles, Tatian, &
some other eminent hereticks of the great after them arose Montanus & his weomen Prisca &
Maximilla. T But the Church notwithstanding these heresiedheresies continued entire
till the days of Victor. For Irenæus who wrote against heresies in the days
of Eleutherus the predecessor of Victor – – – – heard above. And Hegesippus who
who wrote about the same time wthwith Iren in the days of the same Eleutherus tells us – – – taught by orour Lord.
After the reign of Trajan rose up a multitude of eminent Gnosticks
Saturninus, Basilides, Carpocrates, Valentinus, Secundus, Ptolomæus, Marcus, Colar
basus, Heracleon, Cerdon, Apelles Marcion, Apelles, Tatian. All these rose up
in the days of Polycarp the disciple of Iohn the Apostle, who was martyred
A.C. 169 & about yethe time of his death rose up Montanus with his weomen
Prisca & Maximilla whose heresy being a more refined sort of Gnosticism then
any of the former spread much faster & within the space of twenty or thirty years
insinuated it self into the Church of Rome, Pope Victor or his succcessor Zepherinus in the beginning
of in the reign of the Emperor Severus becoming a Montanist. And therefore
I end the second age of the Church wthwith the reign of his prec beginning of
his reign. In this age flourished those great lights of the Church The Christians of chief note who the & defended the Church in this age were Polycarp bpbishop of Sm Melito bishop
of Serdica, In Theophilus bishop of Antioch, Iustin Martyr, Apollinaris bishop of
Hierapolis Dionysius bishop of Corinth, Iustin Martyr, Athenagoras, & Hegesippus the historian Pantænus & Irenæus.
x Penytus bishop of Gortymus Crete Philip bishop of Gortym The Christians of chief note who
instructed the Churches & defended them against heresies in this age were Polycarp
bishop of Smyrna, Melito bishop of Hieropolo Sardica, Theophilus Bishop
of Antioch, Apollinaris bishop of Hierapolis, Dionysius bishop of Corinth,
Pinytus bishop of Crete. Iustin Martyr, Athenagoras, Irenæus & Pantænus
Xystus or Sixtus was made BpBishop of Rome in the 3d year of the Emperor
Adrian & after 10 years was succeded by Telesphorus in yethe 12th year of Adrian & he after 11 years
by Hygjnus in yethe first year of Antoninus Pius. Hyginus was bishop of Rome
4 years & his successor Pius 15 years, Anicetus 11, Soter 8, Eleutherus 13
13 Victor Zepherinus 18, Callistus 5, Vrbanus Pontianus 6 Anteros
4. Fabianus Cornelius Lucius Stephanus Soter began in ye the 8th year of Antoninus78 Verus, Eleutherus in yethe 17th year of Verus. Victor in yethe 10th year of Con
spread much faster but yet the church continued entire till yethe
days of Pope Victor. & the reign of the Emperor Tra Irenæus
| A.C. | 119 | Sextus |
| 128 | Telephorus |
| 139 | Hyginus |
| | Pius |
| | Anicetus |
| | Soter |
| | Eleutherus |
| | Victor |
| | Zepherinus |
Lydiats Canones
Chronologic. Oxon
1675
Basnages Hist. of
the Iews.
As the heathens deified the souls of dead men & made all their Gods to be
consubstantial both to one another & to the supreme God whom they called Iupiter,
so the
It was in its purity in the days of the Apostles by whose authority heresies
were kept under. After they were all dead heresies were at li In the
next age heresies multiplied, in the third they brake in upon the Church & in
the fourth they began to divide the Church against her self.
They circumcised their children. ffor all the Bishops of Ierusalem with i (15 in number were of the circum
cision & observed till the year 135 A.C. 135, at wchwhich time the Emethe
19th year of his reign A.C. 136 banished all yethe neighbouring regions neare it, & thereby
dispersed the churches of the circumcision Every man was to remain in the state
in wchwhich he was called. ffor C If he was called being a gentile he was to remain in
the state of uncircumcision. If he was called being a Iew he was to remain in the state
of circumcision. if he w And these two sorts of Christians were not to fall out about their
circumcision & keeping the law2 or uncircumcision1 & not keeping the law but to eat
together & convers love one another. ffor in Christ Iesus neither circumcision availeth
any thing nor uncircumcision, but faith wchwhich worketh by love Gal. 5.6. [ that is yethe faith
being conteined in yethe primitive creed, & was no ways opposite tochwhich neither commanded nor prohibited circumcision. Is any man
called being cicumcised? let him not become uncircumcised. Is any called in uncircumcision let
him not become circumcised. Circumcision is nothing & uncircumcision is nothing, but the
keeping of yethe commandmtscommandments of God. Let every man abide in yethe same con calling wherein he
was called. 1 Cor. 7.18, 19, 20. [This was the ground of reason why the Nazarenes or children converted Iews
circumcised itng the law & therefore they were not to be blamed
for doing so.] This was the Apostles rule & by this rule all the converted Gentiles were forbidden & all the converted Iews were bound
commanded to
Churches of the circumcision were not to be blamed for doing so. But if the
converted Iews wh imposed circumcision upon the converted Gentiles & refused to eat wthwith
them or keep company with themcommunicate wthwith them unless they were circumcised – this excommunication was a breach
of Christian charity, & made circumcision & the observation of the law made imped by making by making the circumcision an a fundamental article of faith ne
cessary to communion & by consequence to salvation & baptism & salvation & thereby made void the faith in
Christ as yethe Ap. explains in his Epist., & rending the Church catholick into parties & made the party offending guilty of schism. And the crime was as great
if the converted Gentiles refused to communicate with the converted Iews unless
they became uncircumcised. [In both cases the parties offending were schismaticks
guilty of schism.] But They were to converse thwith one another & be of one communion & one Church & might intermarry. And the children of a Iew & of a Gentile were at liberty either to remain
uncircumcised or to become circumcised, as in yethe case of Timothy, And this wa & had
reason to chuse yethe former uncircumcision for avoiding the burden of the observing the law.
by wchwhich means the churches of the circumcision d And this was the state of yethe
primitive Church Catholic in relation to yethe Churches of the circumcision &
uncircumcision of wchwhich she was composed during her virgin age & for some time
longer. ffor the Churches of the circumcision being dispersed by the wars of yethe
Romans & intermixing with the Churches of the uncircumcision by marriages & in such cases not circumcising their children were but
of short continuance.
After the death of Symeon the successor of Iames & second metropolitan bishop of the churches of the
circumcision,
– – – – And therefore I end the second age of the Church wthwith the beginning of yethe
reign of Severus. the Emperor
For Irenæus who wrote against heresies in the days of Pope Eleutherus [Bishop of
Rome] the Predecessor of Pope Victor testifies – – – – heard above. And Hegesippus a Greek the historian a Christian
Iew historian who in the days of Arietus bishop of Rome travelled to had had travelled from Syria by Corinth to Rome Rome & staid there at Rome till
the days of Eleutherus, thwith the bishop of
many bishops of bishops of Rome testifies that he found them all agree in the
faith th exactly in one & the same doctrine Anicetus Bishop of that city he was the predecessor Soter the predecessor of Eleutherus
affirmedin his his travels written he had conversed with Primus bishop of Corinth & with very many very many others bishops, & affirmed that he heard one & the same doctrine from them all, & that things remained in the several
cities as they had been taught by our Lord, same & that in yethe several successions of bishops & in the several cities things remained the as they had been preached
by the Law & by the Prophets & by our Lord.
& wrote in the days of Eleutherus the successor of Soter the successor of Anicetus
So then the Christian Chu till the days of Soter & Eleutherus the faith re
mained the same in all yethe Churches: but about that time it began to vary, the Latines someof the Latines inserting in adding to their Creeds the resurrection of the body body & the life everlasting in opposition to the Gnosticks who denyed yethe
resurrection of the body & made the soul after various states & transmi
grations return into God.
The fi In the days of Pope Victor or not long before some Latines began –
About the end of the second age of the Church In opposition to yethe Gnosticks who denyed the resurrection of the body &
maintained that the souls of men after death various states & transmigrations
returned back into God: some Latines towards before about the end of the second age of
the Church began to add the resurrection of the body & life everlasting
to yethe end of their creed And the Church of Rome began also to be preju
diced against also growing prejudiced against the law now began also to be in the end of this age made the religion of the Nazarenes a heresy. For & Pope Victor in the end of this age
made it a heresy. ffor he excommunicateding the Churches of Asia for keeping
Easter with the Iews upon yethe 14th day of the Moon. as if it Also the Church of Rome
also began to place religion in things indifferent, And make them fundamental began also to be prejudiced against the religion of the Nazarenes & to lay stress
upon thing ceremonies & things indifferent & to err in the faith, Pope Victor excommunicating the true
Churches of Asia for keeping Easter with the Iews & with Iohn the Apostle & Polycarp upon the 14th day
of the Moon & w firstof the first month of the Iewish year & writing communicatory letters to the
Montanists in Asia & Phrygia, as Tertullian a Montanist thus mentions & then afterwards turning patripassian
[& recalling those letters by the advise of Praxeas,] a Patripassian, as Tertullian
a Montanist in his book against Prxeas written about the year 201 thus mentions
– – – – crucifixit. The predecessors of Victor who had opposed the Montanists
were Soter & Eleutherus. For Soter wrote against them at their first rise
& Irenæus a sharp enemy to all heresies was sent to Rome by to confer the Church of
Lyons to confer with Elutherus against them Cataphrygians
[And whereas the Nazarenes & some other Christians knew nothing of the hypo
statical union] The creation of yethe world by Iesus Christ began also about
this time to be inserted into some Creeds of the Greeks & thereby
the Churches Christians Churches which had flourished under Iames the brother of orour Lord & Symeon & their successors were made hereticks
79
At the same time came in also the great contention about
Metaphysical opinions, directly contrary to yethe rules of the Apostle.
② O Timothy tab keep that wchwhich is committed to thy trust avoiding profane &
vane bablings & oppositions of science falsly so called, wchwhich some professing
have erred in the faith. 1 Tim. 6.20. ① Beware least any man spoile you
through philosophy & vain deceipt after the tradition of men after yethe
rudiments of the world & not after Christ Coloss. 2.8. [3 Now I beseich you
brethren mark them wchwhich cause divisions & offenses contrary to the doc
trine wchwhich ye have learned, & avoid them. Rom. 16.17. Hold fast yethe form of sound words 2 Tim. 1.13. ffoolish & unlearned questions avoid
knowing that they gender strife. 2 Tim. 2.23 & the servant of the
Lord must not strive. 2 Tim 2.23. For avoiding contentions they
Christians Churches were to hold fast the form of sound words 2 Tim 1.13 & therefore
had
therefore to make any alteration, so much as in words, was against
the Apostle's rule.] & they that made yethe alteration
of the schism [This was in opposition to the heathen Philosophers who
coming over to the Christian religion retained their old opinions or invented new ones &
endeavoured to spread them in the churches as points of knowledge:
whence they were called Gnosticks, & to this head are to be referred
all philosophical opinions whether true or false wchwhich have been
na were not articles of communion in the Apostles days but have
been made articles of communion at any time since by any party
what ever. To make a any humane science true or false it an article of communion that there are
or are not Antipodes, that the earth rests or moves about the sun,
that there are or are not more ihhabited that matter is or is not out of nothing, that the souls of men are
or are not particles sparks of yethe divine light, that they are or are
not præexistent, that they are or are not sparks of yethe divine light &c would tends not to
salvation but to strife & faction & schism & therefore would be criminal a degree of
wicked [& might
These are & such like philosoph opinions in resp may be examined by Philosophers
but not by divines. In respect of religion salvation they are vain & useless philosophy &
I beseech you brethren, saith the Apostle, mark them wchwhich cause divisions &
offences contrary to yethe doctrine wchwhich ye have learned & avoid them Rom. 16.17.
ffoolish and unlearned questions avoid knowing that they gender strife, &
the servant of the Lord must not strive. 2 Tim. 2.23. All humane
All opinions merely humane tend to strife & Philosophical opinions may be
examined by Philosophers & demonstrated by such as can understand demonstration but of them if they must not be made a part of religion
becaus they tend to strife. & to establish them In respect of salvation they are foolish & unlearned & To make them a part of religion
is to father them upon humane opinions upon yethe Holy Ghost & to disturb the
world. by pretending to science & if the opinions be false or uncertain the
pretending to science is Gnosticism by oppositions of science wchwhich was the
crime of yethe Gnosticks.] By philosophy & vain deceipt after the traditions
of men he understands the old opinions of old Philosophers handed down by tradi
tion concerning the origin & nature of body & spirit, the origin of the world, the & hist number sons power qualities & actions & genealogies of the Gods, the preexistence
transmigration & transmigration of souls & other doctrines of Dem Ghosts or Dæmons the nature
of body and spirit & all other philosophical doctrines or opinions not revealed by
by the spirit of God not revealed whether they be false or uncertain. All disputes about
these matters are opposit in respect of
& oppositions of science falsly so called, & therefore are here forbidden by the
Apostle, & they & they that endeavoured to introduce any such opininsopinions into
the Christian religion wer under yethe notion of science were in the first
ages of Christianity called reputed hereticks
ages of Christianity there were two sorts of people who troubled the Churches of the gentiles uncircumcision very much, the Iews who laboured
to impose upon them the ceremonies of the law & the traditions of their Doctors & & the Gentiles
who endeavoured to impose upon them the opinions of the hea
then Philosophers. The law was good & was observed by the
Churches of the circumcision while the Temple stood. For
those with Iames were zealous of the law & Paul circum
cised Timothy & thereby obliged him to keep the law. For
every man that is circumcised is a debter to the law.Act 21.21 Act 61.3 Gal. 5.3 Bu And
he that was called being circumcised was not to become
uncircumcised
wheter in circumcision or uncircumcision. 1 Cor. 7.18.Is any man called
being uncircumcised? let him not become uncircumcised. Is any man
called in uncircisionuncircumcision? let him not become circumcised. For the
Apostles were not sent to preach the law of Moses but
only to preach the Gospel.Act 21.21, 24, 25 They neither taught the Iews
to forsake the law nor the Gentiles to receive it: but
& when any endeavoured to impose the law upon the Gentiles
as necessary to salvation they were looked upon opposed as false teachers, & the Gentiles were
told taught to Gal. 5.1, 2stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ
had made them free & that they not to be entangled again
with the yoke of bondage, & that if they be circumcised
Christ shall profit hem nothing. For Rom. 4.14if they which are of yethe law be heirs, faith is made void. Gal. 2.16.A man is not justified by
.
And for this reason the Apostles & Christians of yethe circum
cision wrote to yethe gen who kept the law wrote meeting in a Council at IerusalemAct 15.24, 28 & 21.25 wrote to the Ie Gentiles that they should not observe the law it
but that they should only abstein from meats offered to idols
& from blood & from things strangled & from fornication.
Strangling is a painful death & therefore we are not to kill
strangle things food but to let out for food & eat them with their blood, but to let out
their blood upon the earth. For we are to avoid all unnecessary acts of cruelty
Now the Iews who were for imposing the law upon
the Christian Gentiles were apt to trouble the Churches also wthwith
unnecessary questions about yethe traditions of their Doctors &
And these were thus reprehended by the Apostle. I besought
thee, saith he to Timothy,1 Tim. 1.4 to abide still at Ephesus that thou
mightest charge some that they teach no other doctrines
neither give heed to fables & endless genealogies wchwhich minister
questions rather then godly edifying wchwhich is in faith. Now the
end of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart
& of a good conscience & of faith unfeigned: from wchwhich some
having swerved, have turned aside unto vain janglings,
desiring desiring to be teachers of the law; understanding
neither what they say nor whereof they affirm. And again:
Tit. 1.10There are many unruly & vain talkers & deceivers, especi
ally they of the circumcision: whose mouths must be stopped
who subvert whole houses, teaching things wchwhich they ought
not for filthy lucres sake — — Wherefore rebuke them (the sharpl80 (the Cretans) sharply that they may be sound in the faith not giving
heed to Iewish fables & commandments of men that turn from the
truth. And again: A man Tit. 3.9.Avoid foolish questions & genealogies
& contentions & strivings about the law for they are unprofi
table & vain.
The other sort of men who troubled the Churches were such
Gentiles as adhered to the any opinions of the old heathen Philosophers
& endeavoured to propagate them among the Christians. In
opposition to whom Paul thus admonished the Churches. Colos. 2.8Beware
least any man spoile you through philosophy & vain deceipt
after the tradition of men after the rudiments of the world
& not after Christ. And again 1 Tim. 6.20.Timothy keep that wchwhich is committed to
thy trust avoiding profane & vane bablings & oppositions of
science falsly so called wchwhich some professing have erred in yethe
faith. By philosophy & vain deceipt after the tradition of men
he understands the uncertain & disputable opinions of the old philo
sophers handed down by tradition among their several sects. And
the disputes about these being endless & of no consequence to salvation
he calls vane bablings & oppositions of science falsly so called.
And because the disputers pretentedpretended to science they were ca
Christians called them Gnosticks. To this head may be referred
all disputes about the nature & origin of matter & spirit, the origin
or production of the world by natural causes, the nature,
origin, qualities, powers, actions, species & genealogies of the Gods,
the preexistence & transmigration of souls & doctrines of
ghosts & the kingdom of the dead & the like in hades the state &
kingdom of the dead & the like. And the mischief of
such introducing opinions about these matters into the christian
religion was that they tended to disputes wrangling & discord & & faction & schism
whereas the chief end of the Christian religion was mutual
love & charity & peace. I beseech you brethren, saith yethe
Apostle, mark them wchwhich cause divisions & offences contrary
to yethe doctrine wchwhich ye have received & avoid them Rom. 16.17
ffoolish & unlearned questions avoid knowing that they gender
strife & the servant of the Lord must not strive 2 Tim 2.23.
And for enabling the Christians to
keep out such p philosophical disputes & opinions the
Apostles delivered the faith in certain forms of words
with direction not to vary from those forms. Hold fast
the form of sound words wchwhich thou hast heard of me 2 Tim.
1.13. And b The Christians were to
of sound words delivered by the Apostles & set down in
the scriptures or in the Creed or learned by heart. ffor the form of sound words
wchwhich they were to hold fast & deliver down to posterity they
would certainly set down in writing least their memory should
fail them or at least learn by heart. And hence came the Creeds, these being the forms
of words in wchwhich they instructed new Christians in order to
baptism & for handing down the true faith to all posterity. For
they were not to be baptized till they were well instructed
in the true faith. The things, Paul saith Paul, that thou hast heard heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou
to faithfull men who shal be able to teach others also. That
is, the principles of religion or Articles of faith wchwhich thou hast heard of me in cate
chizing thee before many Christians who were witnesses of
the truth of what I taught thee, the same commit thou to faithfull
men who shall be able to teach others also by cathechising
others also for handing propagating down the true faith to all posterity.
And this could not be done without setting down a form of
faith in writing words wchwhich being either written down or learned by heart might remain unchanged. O This form
the Apostle calls the form of doctrine chwhich was delivered
to new converted Christians. Ye were the ser God be thanked saith he that ye
were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the
heart that form of doctrine wchwhich was delivered you. Being
then made free fom sin ye became the servants of
righteousness. Rom. 6.17. That is, at your first conversion
when you were instructed in the faith, ye beleived & obeyed thaet form
of doctrine wchwhich was delivered you set down conteined wchwhich was delivered you in your Creed, &
thereby being made free from sin ye became the s were
ye became the servants of righteousness. This form of
sound words the Churches were to hold fast till without varia
tion [& did so during the reign of the heathen Roman Em
perors. They had no more authority to correct their
Creeds then to correct the scriptures, They ha In the d And
tho in the
became Christian. In the times of the heathen Empire They had many disputes wthwith Hereticks
but did not alter their in the times of but did not alter
their Creeds in opposition to any of them before untill Con
stantine the Great coming in person into the CoucillCouncil of Nice
prevailed with the Bishops of that Council to insert into
the Creed of the Church of Cæsarea a new philo article wchwhich had never been in any Creed before. And this innovationsinnovation
had all the ill consequences described by the Apostle. ffor it
occasioned vehement & lasting disputes & contentions for
almo setting the Churches of yethe whole Roman Empire in
flame for above an hundred years together, the Roman Empe
rors calling Councils to & caused several new articles of
faith to be decreed by several Councils of Bishops every
Council enac decreing whatever the reigning Emperor was for convened them for.
& the Emperor putting the Decree in force by the power of yethe
sword. It was called the symbol of the Christians that is, the
token by wchwhich they knew one another to be Christians, & distinguished
themselves from the rest of the world, & others to be none ignorant of it to be be the none & therefore was learned by
heart committed to memory by all Christians that by repeating it they might know one another.
& was not committed to writing published in writing least the heathens should
learn it by heart, & was the same in all the Churches without any material
variation
cause it was an universal unwritten tradition of all the Churches it
was called the tradition of faith. It was the unwritten tradition mentioned by of wchwhich
Paul sa of wchwhich Paul makes this mention. Therefore brethren stand fast
& hold the traditions wchwhich ye have been taught whether by word
or our Epistle 2 Thes. 2.15. And again: Now I praise you brethren
that ye keep the traditions I as I delivered them to you. 1 Cor 11.2.
The manner of handing down this unwritten tradition was this. The
new converts were first instructed in the principles of religion without81out the Creed, then they were taught the Creed by memory as
being a summary of themir faith, wchwhich they & at baptism they repeated
it by memory as a profession of the faith into wchwhich they were
baptized. Thus every man was obliged to learn that creed before he could be baptized. And After this manner they handed down the Creed by oral or unwritten
tradition & they had no other & this was the only unwritten tradition of faith the only t
then by handing down the Creed wchwhich they took special such care of
obliging every man to learn it before he was baptised. And this
I take to be the only unwritten tradition of the Churches faith.
Tertullian tells usadvers. Prax. p. 316. the rule of faith (so he calls yethe Creed) had
been current from the Apostles days descended down from yethe beginning
of yethe gospel. And Irenæus repeating the substance of it saith
that the church dispersed throughout the whole world had
received this faith from the Apostles & their disciples. And
the substance of this Creed Irenæus sets down in this manner speaking of the Creed affirms the same
& sets down the substance of the Creed in theise words
manner. The Church altho dispersed throughout the whole
world to yethe ends of yethe earth, preserves keeps that faith wchwhich was received
from the Apostles & their disciples wchwhich is, In one God the
father Almighty, who made the heaven & earth & sea &
all things in them, & in one Iesus Christ the son of God incar
nate for our salvation, & in the Holy Ghost who by the
Prophets preached the disensations of God & the coming of Iesus
Christ our beloved Lord & his birth of the Virgin & passion
& resurrection from the dead & ascent into heaven with
his flesh &his coming from heaven to restore to li all things &
to raise from death to life all the flesh of all all mankind that
every knee may bow of things in heaven celestial terrestrial
& infernal may bow to Christ Iesus our Lord & God &
Saviour & King according to the good will & pleasure
of the invisible father, & every tongue may confess to him
& he may give just judgment in all things, & sending into æternal fire the the wicked
spiritual beings wchwhich are wicked & the fallen & rebellious Angels &who transgressed
& revolted fell & the ungodly & unjust & lawless & blasphemous
men, & to the into eternal fire; & giving giving life unto the just & holy
& those whoremain in his love who
wheither from the beginning or after repentance remain
his love, giving life, & incorruptibility & eternal glory may make
them incorruptible & compass them with glory. This preaching
& faith, being received as I said above, the Church having receivedaltho dispersed
throughout the whole world keeps carefully as if she inhabited
but one house & beleives these things even as if she had but
one soul & one & the same heart, & with one voice prea
ches & teaches & delivers these things as if she had but one
mouth. For altho there be various languages in the world
yet the power of the tradition is one & the same. Neither
do the Churches seated in Germany beleive otherwise or deliver
otherwise nor those wchwhich are in Spain or in France or in the East
or in Egypt or in Afric or in the middle regions of yethe world. But as
the sun created by God is one & the same in the whole world, so
the preaching of the truth shines every where & illuminates all
men who are willing to come to the knowledge of yethe truth. Neither
doth any man very prevalent in speech amongst those who preside in
the Church, speak other things then these, for no man is above
his master. Nor does he that is weak in speech diminish the tradition ffor the faith being one & the same, neither does he who can
speak much of it enlarge it, neither does he who can speak
but little diminish it. Thus far Irenæus concerning the Creed
framed by the Apostles & delivered down by universall by universal tradition from the
beginning of the gospel it being conteining that one faith by wchwhich & baptism all Christians were admitted into the Church Cath. from the beginning. For if was it had not been from the
beginning of the gospel it could not have been Irenæus was the disciple of Polycarp & Polycarp was the disciple of Iohn the Apostle & had conversed with others also who had seen the Lord & Irenæus was the disciple of Polycarp, & therefore in reciting the Creed primitive Creed & telling us that it was received from the Apostles & their disciples, could deserves to be credited.
It contains the whole faith. He that beleived all the Articles
of this Creed into wchwhich Christians were baptized from the be
ginning & therefore I & therefore was from the beginning In order to their being baptized &
thereby admitted into the Church Catholick they were to
beleive nothing more nothing or less then the articles of this
Creed. They were not obliged to beleive the auth in the infalli
bility or supremacy of the Pope nor
Church or Councils. If they beleived all the articles of this Creed
they were qualified for baptism&, & therefore this Creed was
the rule & measure of Church communion wthwith the Church
Catholic in the primitive times of Christianity, & the bond by
wchwhich all Christians were united throughout the whole world
were united into one Church Catholick. And therefore after
the Apostles had fixed this rule & measure of communion
no [humane authority power on earth could enlarge or diminish it, no not that
of General Councils & the Pope together or general Councils
or of the whole Church catholick. ffor the Church has
no power servant is not above her master]
When Christ rose from the dead he conversed with his disci
ples 40 daysLuke 24. & explained to them the scriptures how Christ t
to suffer & rise & again from the dead, & w saying unto them
O fools & slow of heart to beleive all that the Prophets have
spoken! Ought not Christ to rise from the dead have suffered
these things & to enter into his glory. And beginning at Moses &
all the Prophets he expounded to them in all the scriptures
the things concerning himself. And he said unto them, These
are the words wchwhich I spake unto you while I was yet
with you that all things must be fulfilled wchwhich were written
in the law of Moses & in the Prophets & in the Psalms con
cerning me. Then opened he their understandings that they
might understand the scriptures; & said unto them, Thus it is
written & thus it behoved Christ to suffer & to rise from the
dead the third day & that repentance & remission of sins
should be preached in his name among all nations beginning
at Ierusalem. And ye are witnesses of these things. And behold
I send the promise of my father upon you: All po but tarry
ye in in the city Ierusalem untill ye be endued with power from on high. All
power is given unto me in heaven & in earth.Mat. 28. Go ye therefore & teach
all nations baptizing them in the name of the father & of yethe
son & of the holy Ghost, teaching them to observe all things
whatsoever I have commanded you. & lo, I am with you alway
unto the ends of the world. And Luk. 24Behold I send the promise
of my father upon you: but tarry ye in the city of Ierusalem
untill ye shall be endued with power from on high. Thus was
Christ instructed h after his resurrection instructed his Apostles in
the principles of the Christian religion & commanded them to teach
all nations the same principles, & then to baptize them in the name of the82 the father son & holy Ghost in whom they had been taught to believe
They were first to beleive in the father son & holy ghost & then to be baptized in their name The Apostles therefore collecting into one body the heads of what Christ
had taught them & commanded them & their disciples to teach all nations to yethe end of
the world, composed the Creed as the rule of faith into wchwhich all nations
were to be baptized & this Creed Irenæus received from Iohn the Apostle by Polycarp & recites: telling us that the Church
throughout the whole world to yethe ends of the earth had received it from the
days of yethe Apostles & their disciples, & kept it every where with one
heart & one voice as if she were but one house, none of the Bishops
how wise learned or eloquent soever adding any thing to it or taking any thing from it. ffor the servant
is not above his master. They were to hold fast the form of sound
words without presuming to add or alter; this Creed being the rule & measure of communion & the bulwark of
the Church without against all heresies. the rule & measure of
communion, the bond by which all Christians were united into one
body & the bulwark of the Church against all heresies.
Yet some of the Churches altered the order of the articles
was not the same in all the Churches as may be seen in Creedthe Creed of the Rom Church of Rome usually called the Apostles
& in that established by the Council of Constantinople: wchwhich runs thus.
I beleive in one God the ffather Almighty maker of heaven & earth & in
Iesus Christ his only son orour Lord who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born
of yethe Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate was crucified dead & buried [He descended into Hell;] the thrid day he rose again from the
dead, He ascended into heaven, And sitteth on the right hand of God
the father Almighty; From whence he shall come to judge the quick &
the dead. I beleive in the Holy Ghost [The Holy Catholick Church, The
Communion of saints] the forgiveness of sins; the resurrection of the
body, And the life everlasting.
We beleive in one God the father Almighty, maker of
heaven & earth, & of all things visible & invisible, And in one Lord Iesus
Christ the only begotten son of God, born [begotten of the father
before all worlds, God of God, light of light, very God of very God,
begotten not made, Consubstantial to the father (that is of the same
substance with the father) by whom all things were made,] Who for
us men &orour salvation descended & was incarnate by the Holy Ghost
of the Virgin & was made man & crucified for us under Pontius
Pilate & buried & rose again the third day & ascended into heaven
& sitteth on the right hand of the father, & shall come again
in glory to judge the quick & the dead, of whose kingdom there
shall be no end; And in the Holy Ghost [the Lord, of whose king
dom there shall be no end & giver of life, who proceedeth from
the father, Who with the father & the son together is worshipped
& glorified] Who spake by the Prophets. [And in one Catholick Church
& Apostolick Church.] We acknowledge one baptism for the remission
of sins & look for the resurrection of the dead & the life of the
world to come.
In These three two Creeds, wchwhich were were were if the chwhich were inserted
in the fourth Century & are conteined within the brackets, be omitted & were
inserted in the fourth Century, & if they be omitted, the Creeds agree wthwith one another
& with the Creed set down by Irenæus & by their agreement confirm
one another to be the true universal tradition of faith during the three
first centuries.
There is extant a fourth Creed recited & commented on in the middle of yethe 4th century
by Cyrillus bishop of Ierusalem. It runs thus. I beleive in one God the father almighty Almighty maker of heaven & earth & of all things visible & invisible.
And in one Lord Iesus Christ the only begotten son of God [begotten of
his father before all worlds, the true God, by whom all things were made]
who was incarnate & made man, crucified & buried, rose again from the dead the third day & ascended into heaven & sitteth at the right
hand of the father & shall come to judge the quick & the dead, of
whose kingdom there shall be no end. And in the Holy Ghost the comforter
who spake by the Prophets, [& in one holy Catholick Church] & in the re
surrection of the flesh & in life everlasting
The Creed of the Church at Hippo in Afric set down by Austin
Bishop of that city is the same wthwith the Roman abovem men
tioned except that the descent into Hell the Communion of saints
& life everlasting are omitted. And Tertullian in his book de Virginibus
velandis recites the same Creed in these words. Regula quidem fidei una
omnino est, sola immobilis & irreformabilis, credendi scilicet in
unicum Deum, mundi conditorem, & filium ejus Iesum Christum
natum ex virgine Maria, crucifixum sub Pontio Pilato, tertia die
resuscitatum a mortuis, receptum in cælis, sedentem nunc ad dexterāam
Patris, venturum judicare vivos & mortuos per car
surrectionem. He omits here the article of beleiving in the Holy Ghost
but adds it in his book de præscriptione Hæreticorum where he para
phrases the Creed in this manner. Credimus unum omnino Deum esse
nec alium præter mundi conditorem qui universa de nihilo produxe
rit per Verbum suum primo omnium demissum: Id Verbum filium
ejus appeallatum, in nomine Dei varie visum a Patriarchis, in Prophetis
semper auditum, postremo delatum ex spiritu patris Dei et virtute in
Virginem Mariam, carnem factum in utero ejus, & ex ea natum
egisse Iesum Christum, exinde prædicasse novam legem & novam
promissionem regni cælorum, virtutes fecisse, fixum cruci, tertia
die resurrexisse, in cœos ereptum sedisse ad dexteram patris, misisse
vicariam vim spiritus sancti qui credentes agat, venturum cum clari
tate ad sumendos sanctos in vitæ æternæ & promissorum cælestium
fructum et ad profanos adjudicandos igni perpetuo, facta utriusqꝫque
partis resuscitatione cum carnis restitutione. Hæc regula a
Christo at p instituta nullas habet apud nos quæstiones nisi
quas hæreses inferunt & quæ hæreticos faciunt. Thus far Ter
tullian. Now by comparing all these Creeds together it is easy to
see what were the primitive Articles of the primitive Creed & in what
sence they were to be understood.
Hitherto yethe whol Cath Church cont throughout the whole world continued
united in one faith & the Creed continued was every where one & the same as to yethe sense
& substance of it no dispute arising between the Churches about it: but in the fourth Century new Articles began to be in
serted. And first Alexander BpBishop of Alexandria in making a large declaration of his faith in
serted the Catholick & Apostolick Church in this manner. We confess also one Holy Ghost
—– & one only Catholick Apostolic Church wchwhich is ever inexpugnable tho
the whole world attack it
IrenSimon Magus is generally accounted the founder of all the
heresies & the father of all the hereticks. Epiphan Hæres. 20.He taught that one & yethe
same God in the form of the father son & holy ghost w three persons was
the father son & holy Ghost, that this God had a & the first conception or
Idea of this God he called Ennœa & Prunicus & a holy spirit & said that by her he
conceived in his mind in the beginning to make Powers & Archangels & Angels. He made several heavenly Orbs &
placed this God & Ennœa above the heavenly Orbs & said that when she
came out of him she descended to the lower regions & generated
Powers & Angles & that they created the world & when they governed it
the world amiss contending for dominion & that she was He placed these These Powers & Angels he placed in the several Orbs according to their degrees & said ytthat that they governed the world & gave barbarous names to their weomen whom he called intelligences & said that the Angels governed the world amiss contending for dominion & that Ennoia was very
beautifull & enticed the Powers & Angels to her embraces & they used
her injuriously & deteined her below & made war upon one another
for her sake & that she was the lost sheep & that the first God
from above to rescue her & save those who that acknowledged him from the tyranny of the Angels which deteined their souls below & ytthat in passing through the Orbs changed his descending changed his
form in every Orb into that of the Powers & Angels in that Orb that they might not know him, & among men appeared as a
ffor he placed powers & Angels in every Orb with a proper dominion
& called He said also that Ennœa the Angels & Powers & Ennœa passed into various successively into the bodies of
bodies of men & broke hearts & that she several weomen & was in Minerva & afterwards in Hellena the Greek
& of other weomen of in his & in many others & at length came into his concubine Hellena
a leud w a leud Tyrian woman the concubine of Simon, & that the powers &
Angels also passed into the bodies of men & beasts & in the bodies of the Greeks
& Trojans made war upon one another for Ennoia then in the body of Hellena.
& that he himself was the supreme God after his descent
/various bodies & And that Steichoras the Greek Poet was blinded for cursing her, He said also that he himself (that is his soul) was the supreme God &
appeared in Iudea as the son, in Samaria as the ffather & in other nations
as the holy ghost: & his disciple Menander said that who followed his masters philosophy in all things, said that the first Virtue was unknown but he was the power sent by the invisible Æons to be the Savior he was sent by the superior powers or Æons to be the Saviour of yethe world. I suppose they meant in the sense that they feigned Hellena to be Ennoia I suppose they meant by a Pythagoric transmigration, and
But he said that he did not suffer really upon the Cross but
had only an apparent body. He instituted also obscure mysteries in the same sense that they feigned Hellena to be Ennoia, that is, by a Pythagorick metmpsychosis, or something like it Yet Simon
Yet Simon said that he only appeared as a man in Iudæ & did not really suffer in Iudæa upon the cross when
he was thought to suffer. [Whence I gather that he either assigned
an pu apparent body to Iesus, or made himself the Christ wchwhich descended
upon Iesus & left him when he was led to Pilate or both.] His
He said also that men were to be saved not by just works but only by faith in him & Helena & therefore might do what they pleased that the Prophets were inspired by Angels his enemies & therefore
were to be rejected them of to be rejected, & that men were to be saved (he meant from the Angels
(he meant from the tyranny of the Angels who detained their souls below) not by just works but only by faith in him & Helena & therefore might
do what they pleased. By the saving of men he & his followers meant the rescuing Whence his Priests lived in lust & used exorcisms
& incantations & mag sorcery sor magical arts & philters
& incitations toassisting
them & of prophetick dreams, & worshipped the images of Simon & Helena
in the form of Iuppiter & Minerva, And in their assemblies had filthy mysteries
instituted by Simon, wchwhich consisted in offering to their Gods the seminal profluvia of men
& menstrua of weomen instead of yethe Eucharist. And this was the philosophy
& practice of the Simonians & the beginning original of science falsly so called
rom whence the Gnosticks had their name. By what he saith of Steichoras & Helena & the celesial orbs & their intelligences & comparing himself & Ennoia to ♃ & Minerva its manifest that his doctrine was borrowed from the heathen theology thwith an abuse of the christian religion In the supreme father & the
intelligences presiding in yethe seven Orbs you have the original of their Ogdoas
of Æons & of the creation of the world by the seven Archangels Angels & their seven
their seven Presidents their Presidents their Presidents the seven Archangels. And in the
lusfulness of their Æons, filthiness of their mysteries & leudness of their
lives you have the deeds of the doctrine & deeds of the Nicolaitans.
Epiphanius For Irenæus tells usIren. l. 3. c. 11. & l. 1. c. 25. that Cerinthus & long before him the Nicolaitans taught who were ἀπόσπασμα a sect of the Gnosticks, taught that the maker of the world was one & the father of our Lord was another; the son of the fabricator was one & Christ from above was another who being impassible being descended upon Iesus the son of the fabricator in the form of a dove & returned to flew back to his Pleroma or Ogdoas of Æons & that Αρχὴ was the only begotten & Λόγος the son of the only begotten, & our world was made not by the first God but by a Power very inferior & cut off from the communication of those who are invisible & innominable: & that for putting abolishing these heresies Iohn wrote in his Gospel that there was one God who made all things by the Word who was with him in the beginning. The Nicolaitans therefore being a branch of the Gnosticks were the disciples of Simon. ffor they were contemporary to him & so far as I can find held the same doctrines. His Ennœa bb Iren l. 1. c 20. Epiphan Hæres. 25 &267. they called Prunicus & Barbelo – – – – – – – – – – every Orb. When Nicolas upon being reprehended by the Apostles for uxoriusnes quitted his wife to other mens embraces he seems to have resented it the reprehension as deserved and quitted his & fallen away to the Simonians & founded the party called by his name for Irenæusl. 1. c. 26 27. calls him the Nicolas the master of the Nicolaitans, & therefore reputed him the (next after Simon) the author of the sect.
Carpocrates held much the same opinions aa Epiphan Hæres. 28 sect. 1. & 27. Iren: l. 1. c. 24. wthwith Cerinthus & the Nicolaitans. He said that Iesus was the so with Cerinthus that the world was made by Angels & that Iesus was the son of Ioseph & Mary & like other men but had a soul from above & more firm & pure then those of other men, & remembred what it had seen in the circumlation & conversation above wthwith the unbegotten God & for that reason a vertue (called Christ by Cerinthus & the Nicolaitans) was sent to him from above by wchwhich he might avoid the Angels who made the world & having gone through performed gone through all things return to God & to those who acted lived like him, & by means of the vertues wchwhich was sent to him, he virtues wchwhich he (or graces) wchwhich he received from above he voided (or made nothing of) the passions wchwhich other men underwent in pains or punishments sufferings. And that other mens souls of yethe same circulation might perform the contemning the powers wchwhich made the world might be worthy of the same vertue from above, & return to the same station. By this circulation he meant that the souls of men came down from the unbegotten God & circulated by a Pythagoric Metempsychosis untill they were worthy to return up to their first station & condition. He said that the devil was one of the Angels in the world & delivered the souls of those that perish to yethe Prince or chief of the Angels who made the world, & the Prince delivered the soul to another Angel to shut it up in other bodies untill by Pythagoric transmigration it it had suffered all things requisite undergone all what it deserved & when it had paid yethe uttermost farthing (for they called the body its prison) it should return to its first station above. They used also magical arts & inchantments incantations & philtres & things provoking lust & pretended to have assisting (or guardian) Angels & prophetic dreams: so that they were genuine disciples of Simon & Nicolas. And Epiphanes the son of Carpocrates was instructed by his father & recconed among the Nicolaitans. But Cerinthus imposed the Law & therein differed from Simon & Carpocrates.
For Irenæus aa l. 3. c. 11 tells us that the Nicolaitans were a branch of yethe Gnosticks & so far as I can find, they held the same doctrines wthwith Simon. His Ennœa they bb l 1. c. 20. Epiphan called Prunicus & Barbelo, & placed her with the father & God of the univers in the eighth heaven, & seven Intelligences or Æons whom they some of them called Ialdabaoth, Elilæus Adonæus, Daden, Seth, Saclan & Iao they placed successively in the seven heavens under her, & said (with Simon) that Barbelo was beautiful & enticed the other powers to her embraces & that Ialdabaoth (or as some called him Sabaoth) was her son & made the heaven & earth & was shaped like an Ass or Hog & therefore forbad swinesflesh to the Iews, & that Saclan was the God of lust. And in the eighth heaven they placed also the father of all things and the Lord who of himself was the father & another Christ another Christ who was self originated, unborn & also & was the Christ who descended & revealed this knowledge to mankind, who was also called Iesus & was manifested by yethe Virgin Mary but not born of her nor took flesh otherwise then in appearance appearance. [Whence I gather that they were of the same opinion with the Gnosticks who had but] And whereas Nicolas had a beautifull wife & ed that souls destitute of the knowledge were cast down from above & transferred into the bodies of hoggs & other animals but by their knowledge & science & practise the soul should be set at liberty to return up & pass by the Princes to Sabbaoth & thence to yethe highest habitation where Barbelo resided. And this they called the saving of the soul. And whereas Nicolas had a beautiful wife & being reprehended being reprehended by the Apostles for uxoriousness quitted her to them that would make use of her, as the supreme father was feigned to quit his wife Ba Prunicus to the Powers & inferior Powers & Angels: the Milita the Nicolaitan Gnosticks lived indulged carnal pleasures & invited one another to their tables & after dinner departed from their wives & said to them, Arise & be eating, the man departed from his wife saying to her: Arise & be charitable to the brother. And after adultery some of them (as the Militaries in Egypt) copulation they filthily offered the seed of the man to yethe unknown father calling it the body of Christ, & preserving the menstrua of the weomen offered that also calling it the blood of Christ. Of these Nicolaitan Gnosticks there were various sects called Phibionites Gnosticks, Phibionites, BarbelititesBarbelites, Ophites Cainites Militaries, Levites, followers of Epiphanes, & by other names, every master finding out something or other to gratify the curiosity & pleasures of his followers & thereby setting up new denominations of sects. And the Phibionites increased the number of the heavenly orbs to 365 the number of days in the year. placing an Intelligence or Æons in each of them every orb.
Iren. l. 1. c 22Saturninus & Basilides were the disciples of Menander & Saturninus taught with Simon & Menander that there was one unknown father who made vertues powers Archangels & Angels. And that seven of these Angels [the Presidents who reigned in seven parts of the world [vizt the Presidents of the seven Orbs] made the world & all things therein & man. And And when the man crept upon the grownd & could not erect himself: a virtue from above emitted a spark of life wchwhich erected him & made him live & after death this spark of life (the soul of the man) is to return upward to those things wchwhich are consubstantial to it self. He said also that the Saviour was unborn & incorporeal & only appeared to be a man, & that one of the Angels [vizt Sabbaoth] was the God of the Iews & ytthat prophesies were either from yethe Angels or the Devil.
Iren l. 1. c. 23.Bailides, after he had been instructed by Menander at Antioch went to Alexandria. He said wthwith Cerinthus & wthwith the Nicolaitans that the unknown father whom he called Abranas emitted Nous & Nous emitted Logus & further that Logus emitted Phronesis & she emitted Dynamis & Sophia & they emitted Virtues Princes & Angels who made the first heaven, & these emitted others who made the second heaven & these others who made the third heaven & so on till to yethe number f three hundred sixty five heavens: (wchwhich was the philosophy of the Phibionites a sect of Nicolaitans in Egypt:) & that the Angels in the lowest orb made the world & all things therein & spake by the Prophets, & the Prince of those Angels was the God of the Iews & gave the law & that the unknown father sent Nous his first begotten son (who is also called Christ) to free the world from the power of the Angels who made it: & that he appeared in the world & did miracles but was incorporeal & suffered not, but reascended to his father while Simon of Cyrene suffered in his stead. And that prophesies were given by the Angels who made yethe world & the Law by their Prince. He gave names also to the Princes of the several orbs
Iren l. 1. c. 1The Valentinusians the scholar of Basilides that Ennœa e (whom he called also Charis & Sige, being impregnated by the said that yethe unbegotten invisible God whom he called Proarche Propator & Bythos & a perfect Æon remained infinite ages in quiet & silence wthwith Ennœa whom he called also Charis & Sige & then willing to emitt a Principle of all things impregnated her & she brought forth Nous who was like & equal (& therefore consubstantial) to his father, & was called also the only begotten & yethe father & ἡ Ἀρχὴ the Principle of all things. And at the same time his sister Alethea was also emitted, & these four Bythus & Sige Nus & Alethia were the Pythagoric Tetractys. Then N Nus & Ellethea emitted Logus & Zoe & these two emitted Anthropus & Ecclesia & so completed the first Ogdoas answering to the seven Orbs &eight heavens the84 heaven above them. But because Christ was 30 years old before he was baptized & began to act, Valentinus carried on the generation of Æons to the number of thirty wchwhich constituted the Pythagoric Æons & were set by him above theOrbs. He said also that Bythos was unknown to all the Æons but Nus. That Nus Monogenes produced also I Christ & the holy Ghost, & that out of all the Æons arose Iesus the Saviour called the inferior Christ & the Angels arose with him, & that that Iesus passed through Mary as water through a pipe & the superior this inferior Christ descended upon Iesus in the form of a Dove & left him at his passion. And that Iesus himself did not really suffer nor was really incarnate but had a body wchwhich passed through the Virgin Mary as as water through a pipe. And whereas the Apostle Iohn had said In the Beginning was the Word & the word was wthwith God — In him was Life — And the word became flesh & dwelt among us . . . . full of Grace & Truth, they took the Beginning, the Word, God, Life, Grace & Truth for their six first Æons.
Secundus, Ptolomæus Epiphanes, Marcus Colarbasus & Heracleon were Valentinians & held much the same number of Æons but with some variation of Names & Circumstances, & gave the name of Ogdoas to the first eight of them: Epiphanes was also a Nicola reputed a Nicolaitan. 85
natural branches again into the root of their own olive tree.
The Christians of the uncircumcision during the three first centuries & some part of the fourth generally held that Iesus Christ was in the beginning before all things, & that God said to him Let us make man & all things all things were created by him & that he had the dominion over all things & sometimes appeared to Adam in Paradise & to Cain & Noah & the Patriarchs & Moses & Ioshuah & at length was bo incarnate & born of the Virgin Mary without the help of a man & suffered & rose again from the dead & reascended into heaven, & some there were also Christians of the circumcision of the very same opinion in the first ages of the Church. ffor EpiphaniusHæres. 30. sect. 3. tells us that among the Ebionites some of the Ebionites said that some of the Ebionites said that Christ was Adam, even that Adam who was first formed by God & animated by the divine breath; & that others of them said thathe Christ was from above & that he was a spirit which was created before all things [I suppose they mean not that he was created out of nothing but that he was the first begotten of every creature] & was above the Angels & had dominion over all things & was called Christ, & that his habitation or residence was there perpetually, & but as often as he pleased he descended to these lower regions, as when he came in Adam & appeared to the patriarchs cloathed wthwith a body, coming to Abraham & to Isaac & to Iacob. This same Christ spirit Christ came in these last times & cloathed himself wthwith the body of Adam that is wthwith flesh & bones of the race of Adam) & appeared a man & was crucified & rose again & ascended. But these Ebionites again when they please sub say it was not thus, but that a spirit who is the Christ came into Iesus & cloathed himself with him who is called Iesus. Thus far Epiphanius. And a little afterib. sect. 14 & 16. describing the third opinion more fully, he saith he represents that the Chionites, in com̄mmon wthwith those of the third opinon said that Iesus was born of the seed of man, & was chosen, & by election was called the son of God from the Christ who came upon him from above in the form of a Dove, & that they said not that this Christ was generated of God the father but that he was created as one of the Arch-angels & was greater then they & reigns over them both the Angels & all things else wchwhich were made by the Omnipotent, & came & taught what was in their Gospel, that is, in the Gospel according to Matthew. And b both Epiphanius & Irenæus say that the Ebionites taught that Iesus was a mere man born of Ioseph & Mary. Now for understanding all this it is to be observed that the two first opinions are one & the same. Now these three opinions I consider as but two, the first of them seeming to be the same with the second. And the tw The second is the opinion of the Ebionites of the circumcision properly so called who said that Iesus was a mere man the son of Ioseph & Mary, which acording to IrenæusIren. l. 1. c. is the proper character of the Ebionites. Now according to all three opinions the Ebionites taught that Christ was as old as the creation of the world. According to the third opinion Iesus was but a mere man the son of Ioseph & Mary. And this was the proper opinion of the Ebionites according to Irenæus: but they added that Christ was from above & descended upon Iesus. And in opposition to this opinion the Apostle Apostle Iohn asks the questions, Who is he that overcometh the world but he that beleiveth that Iesus is the son of God? And, Who is a lyar but he that denyeth that Iesus is the Christ? ‡ ‡ And Irenæus.Iren l. 4. c. 1. Vani autem et Ebionæi unitionem Dei et hominis per fidem non recipientes in suam animam, sed in veteri generationis perseverantes fermento, neqꝫque intelligere volentes quoniam spiritus sanctus [nempe Verbum] advenit in Maria & Virtus Patris obumbravit eam: quapropter et quod generatum est sanctum est, et filius Altissimi Dei patris omnium, qui operatus est incarnationem ejus, & novam ostendit generationem. And againIren l. 4. c. 59 Iudicabit autem et Ebionitas. Quomodo possunt salvere nisi Deus est qui salutem illorum super terram spiritus est, ὴ πως ανθρωπως χωρήσει ἐις θεὸν ἐιμὴ ὁ Θεὸς έχωρήθη ἐις ἄνθρωπον et quomodo transit in Deum si non Deus in hominem. The first second opinion I understand not unless it be the same wthwith the second. [And the second is the opinion of those of the circumcision who were of the same faith with those of the Christians of the uncircumcision during the three first centuries. ] And The third opinion is condemned by Iohn condemns in saying Who is he that overcometh the world but he that beleiveth that Iesus is the son of God. And again, Who is a lyar but he that denyeth that Iesus is the Christ. Theis second opinion is condemned by Epiphanius as the opinion of the Ebionites sometimes contradicting themselves. But Epiphanius is surely in some mistake It's not likely that the same men would thus contradict themselves nor that those of the second opinion were Eb of the same sect with those of the third: I had rather call them Nazarenes because they taught that Christ descended upon Iesus the son of Ioseph by then Ebionites unless they had the name of Ebionites from their poverty. ffor they followed knew of no such Mary, but that upon descending he was really incarnate & suffered wchwhich was the truth suchno such man as Ebion but said tha gloried in their povertyEphiphan. Hær. 30, sect. 17. & said that they from the time of the Apostles it had been the practise to distribute their goods for the releif of their brethren & thereby they being were reduced to poverty. & ytthat from the hebrew word Ebion wchwhich signifies a poore man they had the name of Ebionites. Vpon the siege of Ierusalem They & the Nazarenes are said to have fled from Ierusalem into Pella & oth Peræa & chiefly to Pella upon the siege of Ierusalem & from thence to have spread their heresies. Whence I gather that they were originally of the Church of Iames, called Nazarenes by the unconverted & by consequence were wthwithout of called Nazarenes by the unconverted Iews, An And as that name being given by the unconverte theomse Iews to all those Iews them of the circumcision who owened Iesus of Nazareth to be the Messiah. And as But the name of Ebionites seems not to have been so general whether it was taken from a man called Ebion or from the supposed author of a sect, or from the poverty of the beleiving Iews in Peræa, seems not to have been so general, nor so ancient. And whilst these Iews beleiving Iews of those parts gloried in the name of poor people (that is (in the Iewish language) in the name of Ebionsits, its probabableprobable that the I Nazarenes of tho we need not wonder that this name was given as well by Epiphanius [ as well by th if the best Christians of those parts who beleived Iesus to be the son of God, called themselves poor people or or at least were called so so by others Ebionites, while the worst who called beleived him to be the son of Ioseph recommended themselves by that name so as at length to make it the name of a heresy. And [It seems therefore that among the Christian Iews of Peræa & the parts adjacent, who beleived that Iesus was the son of God, & there were some who taught that he was the son of Ioseph, & by boasting of their poverty gave the name] But be it us it willing it But whatever be the original & signification of that name it is manifest that among the beleiving Iews there were churches of the circumcision as well as who agreed with the churches of the uncircumcision from the days of the Apostlesthat Iesus was in teaching that in the beginning there was a Spirit, then by whom all things were created & who was above the Angels & reigned over all things & appeared to the Patriarchs & to Moses & came down from heaven & took flesh of the virgin & became a man the son of God & not of Ioseph, & was crucified & rose from the dead & ascended whilst others taught that he this was the son of Ioseph & Mary & that Christ descended upon Iesus the son of Ioseph. And for distinguishing these two sorts of Christian Iews from one another by I will for the future call calling the first Nazarenes & the second Ebionites. ffor I know of no other difference between them in point of faith. They b both observed the law themselves, but the Ebionites imposed the law upon the Gentiles & on that account were vain schismaticks in respect of the Gentiles. They Ebionites also absteined from eating flesh & all some things endued with life, & in the Eucharist used water alone instead of wine. Which Customes might arise from their poverty. But the cheif chief difference is that the Nazarenes owned owned Christ to be the son of God born of the Virgin, & that he was crucified & rose again & the Ebionites said that Christ was did not born but nor suffered but descended upon Iesus the son of Ioseph wthwith who was the only the son of Ioseph & suffered alone.
Now for enlightning the Iews
They said that he was 86
Sabellius (like Paul of Samosat) made the father son & holy Ghost but one person & compared them to the body soul & spirit wchwhich composed the person of a man & to the body light & heat of yethe Sun, & the father & Son he compared also to a man & his reason or speech making the Son to be the only inward reason & wisdom of the father before the creation of the world & also the word spoken by him at the creation & after the creation then received back into the father after the creation, & that when the son came into the world he was emitted from the father as a ray of light & after his passion returned back into God. Concerning this heresy Basil tells us that – – – Basil Epist. 64. p. 850. Whence this heresy of Sabellius was fundamentally the same wthwith that of Simon Magus who made one & yethe same God according to the subject appear at several times in the form of several persons
Some
For unders The next shock of of wchwhich the church received from these heresies was by gaining the prevailing wthwith the Church of Rome's to allowing their baptism of all hereticks & excommunicating other churches who would not allow it. And this was in the days of Stephen bishop of Rome A.C. 356 done by Stephen BpBishop of Rome presently after the sharp persecution of Decius, T Stephen being bishop of Rome & allowing the baptism of Marcion Valentinus Apelles & all other hereticks, as Basnagius in his Annals has proved abundantly) & excommunicated Cyprian in his Cyprian having received a letter from Stephen about this matter) For Stephen allowed the baptism of all hereticks, as Basnagius has abundantly proved by Basnagius, & is sufficiently manifest by Cyprians Epi Stephns Stephens epistle to Cyprian & the Africans a paragraph of which is thus quot recited by Cyprian in his Epistle to Pompeius. Quia desiderasti, saith Cyprian, in notitiam tuam perferri, quæ mihi ad literas nostras Stephanus frater noster rescripserit, misi tibi rescripti ejus exemplum – – – – – – – coacervata congessit
The next shock wchwhich the Church received from these heresies was by the Church of Romes allowing the baptism of all hereticks & excommunicating other Churches wchwhich would not allow the same. For hereticks received one another into communion by imposition of hands without baptism this was done by Stephen Bishop of Rome presently after the sharp persecution of Decius. A.C. 355 tho Agrippinus Bishop of Carthage in the second century calling calling a Council being called of many bishops of Africa & Numidia, rejected the O they delivered caused that hereticks were to be baptized, Apud & this custome continued in use till Cyprian's days & was followed by Cyprian. Apud nos autem,saith Cyprian,Epist. 71, 73 non nova aut repentina res est, ut baptizandos censeamus eos qui ab hæreticis ad ecclesiam veniunt quando multi jam anni sunt & longa ætas ex quo sub Agrippino bonæ memoriæ vero convenientes in unum Episcopi plurimi hoc statuerunt, atqꝫque exinde in hodiernum tot millia hæreticorum in provincijs nostris ad Ecclesiam conversi, non aspernati sint neqꝫque cunctati imo et rationabiliter & libenter amplexi sint ut lavacri vitalis ac salutaris baptismi gratiam consequerentur. Ep Vpon occasion of the schism of the Novatians Cyprian called a Council of many bishops & sent to Stephen their sentence for baptizing hereticks & schismaticks. It The A former Bishop of Rome had formerly received Praxeas into communion by laying on of hands without baptism, & Stephen claimed this practise as delivered down in his Church from Peter & defended it in a letter wchwhich he wrote to Cyprian, of wchwhich Cyprian makes this mention in a Letter to Pompeius. Cyprian Epist 74Quia desiderasti in notitiam tuam perferri, quæ mihi ad literas nostras Stephanus frater noster rescripserit, misi tibi rescripti ejus exemplum quas magis ac magis ejus errorem denotabis, qui hæreticorum causam contra Christianos & contra ecclesiam Dei asserere conatur. Nam inter cætera vel superba vel ad rem non pertinentia, vel sibi ipsi contraria, quæ imperite atqꝫque improvide scripsit, etiam illud adjunxit, ut diceret: [Siquis ergo a quacunqꝫque hæresi venerit ad nos, nihil innovetur nisi quod traditum est, ut manus illi imponatur in pœnitentiam: cum ipsi proprie alterutrum ad se venientes non baptizent sed communicent tantum.] A quacunqꝫque hæresi venientem baptizari in Ecclesia vetuit, id est omnium hæreticorum baptismata justa esse & legitima judicavit Et cum singulæ hæreses singula baptismata & diversa peccata habeant, hic cum omnium baptismo communicans universorum delicta in sinum suum coacervata congessit. And a little after in reference to the words of Stephen, [nihil innovetur nisi quod traditum est] he adds Præclara sane et legitima traditio Stephano fratre nostro docente proponitur, quæ auctoritatem nobis idoneam præbeat. Nam in eodem loco Epistolæ suæ addidit et adjecit [cum ipsi hæretici proprie alterutrum ad se venientes non baptizent sed communicent tantum] Ad hoc enim malorum devoluta est ecclesia Dei et sponsa Christi ut hæreticorum exempla sectetur, ut ad celebranda sacramenta cælestia disciplinam lux de tenebris mutuetur et id faciant Christiani quod Antichristi faciunt. And a litte after Cum vero nulla omnino hæresis sed neqꝫque aliquod schisma habere sanctificationem salutaris baptismi sanctificatiationemsanctificationem foris possit, cur in tantum Stephani fratris nostri obstinatio dura prorupit ut etiam de Marcionis baptismo, item Valentini et Apelletis & cæterorum blasphemantium in Deum patrem contendat filios Dei nasci.
Athanasius in many places of (as you may frequently in see in many places of his works) explains him self thu frequently takes the λόγος for an attribute of the father, the λογος ἐνδιάθετος without wchwhich the father would be ασ ἄλογος & ἄσοφος, & thence argues his eternity & making this attribute to be a substance saith the λογος arose from the father not as an empty vanid voice but wthwith a substance as light from the Sun, a river from the fountain & a tree from the root & so was consubstantial to him: wchwhich was the language & doctrine of the Montanists as you may see in Tertullian above was e hath been explained above. you have heard above. 87
I The From these beginnings And And from these metaphysical disputes opinions arose all that vehement religious war wchwhich dis The disturbed the whole Roman Empire for above seventy almost all the fourth century, & a good part of yethe fift, the Council of Nice at the importunity of Constantine the great repealing the decree of the Council of Antioch against Paul of Samosat & making the condemned language of Paul an article of faith in , & many other the other following Councils of that Centur contending about it: all wchwhich wrangling would have been prevented by holding fast the form of sound words by in the faith wchwhich was once delivered to yethe saints & only rejecting the novel language of Arius & other rash men.
Whilst the heathen Philosophers made derived the souls of men from the substance of God & accounted them consubstantial to him the supreme God & accounted them consubstantial to him & worshipped them after death as true Gods consubstantial to him consubstantial to the t him: all they became dearer would be readily embraced by we may reason that the heathens who in the fourth centrycentury came over in great crouds to yethe profession of Christianity would readily embrace the Nicene decree. For in by the words of they that decree they were obliged to beleive nothing more then that Christ was a mere man deified after death like their old Gods one of one of the heathen Gods: & the Gnosticks also who received their opinions from yethe heathen philosophers & took yethe λόγος to be one of their Æons would readily embrace the same decree. The Trinity of Montanists Montanus & the Cataphrygians (whether κατὰ Proclus or κατὰ Æsthine) And much more would the Cataphrygians & Sabellians. For the Trinity of Montanus was henceforward accounted orthodox & I do not hear of any man henceforward excommunicated for Sabellianism. [And instead of allowing calling Christ the son of God with respect to his nativity of the virgin & his resurrection from the dead, we are taught to (as we are taught in scripture), that is, wthwith respect to yethe his humane nature; we are now taught an eternal generation of a divine nature that is, a generation wchwhich never was; a generation of a new being wchwhich was nature necessarily existing & so incapable of being generated therefore not generated.
[We are taught in scripture that Christ is the son of God with respect to his gene nativity of the Virgin & his resurrection from the dead that is wthwith respect to his humane nature coming in the flesh & his humane nature & that he Antichristis Antichrist who denieth the father & yethe son & that Iesus Christ was come in the flesh, that is, who denyeth that God & Christ are called the ffather & Son wthwith respect to this generation, & yet the Bishops of yethe 4th century were not afraid to c] And yet the fathers of yethe fourth centurecentury were not afraid to lay aside this relation of yethe father & son & instead of his thereof to substitute a generation wchwhich has no relation to his coming in the flesh, an eternal generation or generation wchwhich never was; a generation of a diviner & nobler nature then the humane, nor consists in action or if it be perpetual will always be to come, a generation of a divine nature, a nature necessarily existing & so not generated, a nature wchwhich came not in the flesh so as to see wthwith the eyes of yethe body & hear wthwith the ears of the body & feel the pains of death upon the cross but only dwelt in Iesus. The Word wchwhich according to Simon Magus Basilides Saturninus Valentinus Marcion Tatian &c was not really incarnate nor suffered really on the cross but only appeared to be so incarnate & to suffer, & wchwhich according to Cerinthus Carpocrates Marcus Colarbasus & Paul of Samosat san descended upon yethe man Iesus & dwelt in him, [the fath Bishops of the fourth & fift century lodged in him by a new term of art wchwhich called] more lastingly by as a holy spirit in a good man without feeling the pains of death upon the cross, the Bishops of yethe fourth & fift century lodged in him more artificially by a new term of art, the hypostatical union, a phrase wchwhich yethe old hereticks would never have opposed had it been invented in their days, because it leaves the λόγος as much a distinct nature & substance with his own will & understanding, & as free from feeling the actual pains of death upon the cross, as they beleived him to be.]
Neither would the ancient hereticks who taught that yethe λογος came not in the flesh but only dwelt in Iesu the man Iesus as a holy spirit in a good man, have been much offended at yethe hypostatic union of the two natures each remaining distinct with its own substance will & understanding, & the λόγος not being affected subject to the infirmities of the flesh nor feeling the pains of death upon the cross.
or yethe son for the λόγος ἐνδιάθετος of yethe father, & his generation for an action act whereby God emitted him outwardly not from all eternity but in the beginning of yethe creation in order to his work as the principle by wchwhich he would created the world, & accounted yethe Holy Ghost ἀπό᾽ρρ῾οιαν an efflux emission or emationemanation of the substance of God as light is of yethe sun.
And of yethe same opinion was T his contemporary Theophilus bishop of Antioch ffor Theophilus in his second book to Autolicus he writes thus, Εχων ὀυν ὁ θεος
Of the
For Tatian made the Son to be Word to subsist in God from all eternity & by th at length to emerge out of him by his will, & being not an empty emission by became but the first begotten work of his spirit, born of him by division not by avulsion but by division only without diminution of the father. ffor as at one lamp many others lamps may be kindled without diminishing the light of yethe first lamp, so the Word coming out from yethe power of the father did not make his father ἄλογον void of reason & understanding. And This was the full first emission or Æon of of Tatian & h
Tatian & his followers the Encratites seem to have held much yethesame opinion about the Son, yethe [& by their appearance of sanctity to have contributed much to yethe spreading of this opinion.] ffor he made the Word
So also Clemens Alexandrinus a great admirer of Plato, made the Word to be the omnipotent power & wisdom & Idea of yethe father & at length to come out of him for sake of effecting the creation & afterwards to have begot himself when the was Word became flesh so as to be visible
By these instances it is manifest that Platonism began to spread much in the Churches before yethe end of yethe second century. And therefore we need wonderneed not wonder if it prevailed in yethe fourth. By the condemnation of Paul of Samosat in the middle of the third it met with some check especially in the east: but yet spread silently. Athanasius declares frequently in his works that the son of Godwas the λογος ἐνδιάθετος wthwithout wchwhich the father of God of the father wthwithout wchwhich the father would be ἄσοφος & ἄλογος & saith that he arose from yethe father as light from yethe sun a river from yethe fountain & a tree from the root. And Alexander of Alexandria in his general Epistle directed & sent to to yethe all the bishops of the Church catholick in the beginning of their controversy wthwith Arius has these words & subscribed by all those of his party, writes thus. Quid si filius ratio Patris est ac sapientia, quomodo fuit tempus cum non esset? Perinde est enim est ac si dicerent Deum aliquando rationis & sapientiæ expertem fuisse ἄλογον καὶ ἄσοφον ποτὲ τὸν Θεόν, Deum aliquando rationis & sapientiæ expertem fuisse. This being subscribed by all the party may be taken for their common opinion. And Constantine the great & his party were of yethe same opinion. For in an Epistle wchwhich he composed against Arius & sent to the Church of Alexandria against Arius before the meeting of yethe Council of Nice & wchwhich (according to Epiphanius & Socrates) was then published in all the cities of the Roman Empire writes speaks thus to Arius. Verum Dicis Deum: habes ejusdem me sententiæ. Sic igitur sentias. Ejus essentiæ Verbum & pricnipij et finis expers, Verbum esse dicis: Eo contentus sum; ita crede. Siquid præterea adjungis, id tollo. Siquid ad impiam separationem fraudulenter consuis id nec videre nec intelligere me confiteor. Si hospitium corporis assumis ad divinorum operum dispensationem, non improbo. These things shew that the opinion of the son being the λογος and of the father was then very much spread And the bishops of Egypt & the west convened soon after, say in at Serdica say in their general Epistle Confitemur filium esse virtutem patris. Confitemur illum esse Verbum Dei Patris præter quod nullum est aliud: et Verbum verum Deum et sapientiam et virtutem esse Verum autem filium esse tradimus non sicut alij Filij appellantur. Nam hi quidem aut regenerationis causa Dij dicuntur, aut eo quod digni habiti fuerint Filij noncupantur: non autem ob unam ὑπώστασιν substantiam quæ est Patris et Filij. This was in those days the opiniōon of the Bishops of the West. For ὑπωστασις was inthen those days taken for in the same sense wthwith ουσια, the language of one υσια & the ὑπωστασεις being not yet established. And these things shew that yethe opinion of the sons being the λογος ἐνδιαθετος of the father was in those days grown spread very much in the whole empire.
The words of Tertullian run thus, Tertull. adv. Prax initio.Nam idem [Praxeam] tunc Episcopum Romanum, agnoscentem jam prophetias Montani Priscæ Maximillæ et ex ea agnitione pacem Ecclesijs Asiæ et Phrygiæ inferentem, falsa de ipsis Prophetijs et Ecclesijs adseverando, & præcessorum ejus auctoritates defendendo, coegit et literas pacis revocare jam emissas, et a proposito recipiendorum charismatum concessare ita duo negotia diaboli Praxeas Romæ procuravit; prophetiam expulit, & hæresin intulit; Paracletum fugavit et Patrem crucifixit. 88
Simon Menander
For The Gnosticks like the Cabbalists & Heathens & Cabbalists derived many emissions or Æons male & female successively from the first God by generation & emission & Archangels & Angels from these Æons & the world not from the first God but either from the Angels or from one or more of the Æons. And Simon the founder of Gnosticism And the first God who & his wife whom they called the unknown father the unbegotten God, Propator, Proarch Bythos & Abraxas, they placed in the eight or highest heaven together with his wife whom they called Ennœa, Prunicus Barbelo Ataris & Sige, & in yethe seven inferior Orbs they placed seven intelligences or chief Æons with Angels under them & the world under them & called the first of those Æons Αρχή, Nous, Pater, Hang, Cyn Ialdabaoth & the second Λόγος, & Iao & by other names And hence came their Ogdoas of Æons. Æ And some added a Decas of Æons answering to the number of yethe nations wchwhich God promised to give to Abraham for a possession & a Dodecas of Æons answering to the twelve signes. All wchwhich made up 30 Æons answering to the da number of days in the month & of years in the age of Christ before he was baptized & began to act. And some increased the number of Æons to that of days in the year. This was the Philosophy of Simon, Nicolaus, Menander, the Nicolaitans, Saturninus, Basilides, Carpocras, Valentinus, Epiphanes, Secundus, Ptolomæus, Marcus, Colarbasus, Heracleon, Tation & the Canaites Ophites Sethians Borbelites, Militaries Phibeonites, Militaries &c, tho not without variety of opinions. Simon began with the Ogdoas of Æons & Angels & the creation of the world by the Angels, & others added to his inventions. These hereticks pretending to be Simon said Simon making a Pythagoric Simon said that the first God appeared on mount Sina & in Iuda Samaria as the father, In Iudea as the son & in other nations as the holy Ghost & making Pythagoric transmigration of souls said that he himself (that is his soul that is his soul) was the first God & his wife Hele concubine Helena was Minerva (meaning their souls) & accordingly his followers erected statues to him & his concubine in the form of Iupiter & Minerva & worshipped them & And By this worship, & the male & female Gods & Pythagoric transmigrations worship, & Pythagoric transmigrations & his placing Æons in the Orbs of the Planets & deriving all things from the substance & power of the first God you are you may know that he borrowed part the main of his philosophy from the Poetry Philosophy Poetry & Astrology of the heathens.
These hereticks pretending to learning & science [& introducing the Philo philosophical opinions of the heathens & Cabbalists into the Philosophers Astrologers & Cabbalists into the Iewis Christian religion] were thence called Gnosticks. And their Æons had – – – – – – affinity with the Iewish Cabbala.
For the Nicolaitans & Cerinthus called the first emission of Proarc
For the first emission of Proarche & Borbelo was by the NicolaitasNicolaitans & Cerinthus & Basilides called Αρχὴ & the second Λόγοσ & the third (by Basilides) Enthymasis: & these were the first four. sephiroths of the Cabbalists. Their Æn Soph Infinite was the first God called by some of the Cabbalists Gnosticks Bythos & Megethos, Abyss & Magnitude, meaning without bounds. Their first sephiroth called Kether Kether the Crown or beg Beginning, was the Ἀρχὴ of the Gnosticks. Th The Cabbalists said that the first sephiroth Kether was the principle wchwhich conteined all the following Sephiroths eminently in it self, & the Gnosticks said the same thing of Ἀρχὴ the first Æon. And The seco two next sephiroths Cochmah & Binah Wisdom & Prudence. are the same wthwith yethe two next Æons λόγος & Φρόνησις Reason & Prudence Some of the Gnosticks called the supreme father the first man & Ennoia the second man: wchwhich names answer to the Arech Anpin & Scir Anpin [& Adam Kalmon] of the Cabbalists. The hereticks of the circumcision & those wchwhich had opportunity of conversing with the Iewish Cabbalists took therefore seem to have taken some things from their Cabbala & in this oppinion I am confirmed by the Apostle who in opposition to these heresies admonishes the Christians not to give heed – – – pretending to science.
The Gnosticks of the uncircumcision rose later – – – – – – derived the same heresy in the Apocalyps. The Siimonians said that Ennoea [& the Nicolaitan Gnosticks] said that Ennoea was very handsom & descending into the lower Orbs to emit the Æons, wa enticed them by her beauty & was detained by them below & shut up in the bodies of weomen & passed from woman to woman by a Pythagoric metempsychosis [& was in Minerva & the Trojan Hellena] & that yethe Angels passed into the bodies of men that they might enjoy her [& in the bodies of the Greeks & Trojans made war for her]. And that the souls of men came from above & were detained below till by the tyranny of the Angels & that he but might escape & be permitted to return up again to their first stations by [their science & practises. And of their sect. And this] learning their science & living trying all things according to the practise of their sect. And this leaving escaping & returning up again they called the salvation of men. And by this sort of philosophy & the examples of their Gods they encouraged one another in all manner of uncleanness. And in like manner the Nicolaitans Gnosticks said that Borbelo was very handsom & enticed the other Gods to her embraces & upon this doctrine founded their lascivious practices. Nicholas After the example of these Gods After the example of the unknown father & Ennœa Nicholas the master of the Nicolaitans as Irenæus calls him abandoned his wife to the lust of other men, [& is by Irenæus called the master of the Nicolaitans] And Those of this sect invited one another to their tables & after eating, the man said to his wife Be charitable to the brother. And when the brother had lain wthwith her they offered to their fals Gods a filthy sacrifice of the profluvia of men & weomen saying (in derision of the Christian religion) This is my body & this is my blood. This abominable sacrifice was first instituted by Simonby Simon, the Nicolaitans being a sect of the Simonians the first founder of this heresy. And by all this you may understand that under the names of yethe Nicolaitans & Antichristians the impure Gno & idolatrous Gnosticks are condemned by Iohn in his Gospel & Apocalyps & epistles.
Irenæus tells us that Cerinthus & long before him the Nicolaitans, a branch of the Gnosticks said – – – – . . . . . . . . – philosophy of the Nicolaitans. Simon feigned that the first God came down to rescue Ennoia whom he called yethe lost sheep & to save those that beleived on him from the tyranny of the Angels, but had not a real body nor suffered on the cross. Others said that Ialdabaoth or Νους was the Christ the saviour who descended upon Iesus, others said that this Saviour was another of the Æons. And some said that Iesus was yethe son of Ioseph & Mary others that he passed through Mary as water through a pipe.
As the Sephiroths of the Cabbalists were nothing else then the powers & affections of God the father considered as divine persons (namely his Crown or first & supreme emanation, his Wisdom, his Prudence, his Magnificence, his Power, his Beauty his Eternity, his Glory, his being the Support & Foundation of all things & his Reign) so the Æons of the Gnosticks were of the same kind. Simon said that Ennoia was the first conception of his mind & made her the mother of all the rest. And Basilides said that God emitted Νους & Νους emitted Λόγος & Λόγος emitted Φρόνησις & Φρόνησις & all these are nothing else then Gods at the powers & attributes of God. And Valentinus said that Α Αληθεια was the wife of Νους & ennoia Ζ Ζωη the wife of Λογος. And all these are nothing else then the attributes the Powers & Attributes of God And the inherent word of God. the attributes of God or the modes & powers of his being called by the Greeks λ his λογος ἐνδιάθετος. Ptolomæus a disciple of Valentinus assigned to the unknown father two wives Ennœa & Thelesis, Vnderstanding & Will & called them the affections of the unknown father, & said that the understanding was the older wife because the understanding precedes the will. Ennœa t Ennœa Nus & Thelesis, Thinking, Mind & Truth are h And the Valentinians in one of the books said: I cited by Epiphanius said: In the beginning he who of himself is the father – – – – – – – – – & therefore Sige is not ἐνδιάθετος Iren. l. 2. c. 14, 15, 16, 47, 48, 49.
The doctrine therefore that the λόγος ἐνδιάθετος or Word of God was the λογος ἐνδιάθετος of the father & that the λογος ἐνδιάθετος was emitted or exerted & thereby generated into a son before the world began came originally from the Gnosticks Basilides Valentinus& Ptolomæus & their followers Marcus Secundus Marcus & Heracleon & perhaps from Saturninus the fellow disciple of Basilides. ffor Irenæus tells us that Valentinus had his opi blames Saturninus Basilides Valentinus & Marcion for & the Gnosticks in general for pretending to know the generation of yethe Son & Word & explaining it & comparing it to a Word spoken by a man. ffrom this opinion the name of Sige was given to Ennœa & therefore it was as old as that name. They feigned that God was silent before he spake & thence gave the name of silence to his intellectual power of thinking &
Before the Apostles beg gave the name writing of the Apocalyps, in wchwhich the name of λόγος was given to Christ the Gnosticks said that Christ descended upon Iesus
The Gnosticks at first said that Christ descended upon Iesus, but after the writing of the Apocalyps & Gospel & first Epistle of Iohn & the Epistle to the Hebrews in wchwhich XtChrist is called the λόγος, some of the Gnosticks began to say that the Λόγος [descended upon Iesus] was assumed Iesus Christ, or assumed him 89
Cyprian reading Tertullians works as t the works of Tertullian as his master & seems to have imbibed his notions about the Deity. For he calls the f. s. & h. g. Trinitas adunata & In the second book of testimonies against yethe Iews (ch. 1) for proving Christ to be the first begotten & the wisdom of God by wchwhich all things were made, he alledges yethe words of Solomon (Prov. 8.) [v. 22, 23, 24, 25, & sequ.] [wchwhich are spoken of that wisdom wchwhich is Gods attribute or λογος ἐνδιάθετος of God the father.] The lord created me [are possessed in the beginning of his Dominus condidit me initium viarum suarum ad opera sua, in opera sua ante sæculum fundavit me: in principio atequamantequam terram faceret, et antequam abyssos constitueret, priusquam procederent fontes aquarum antequam montes collocarentur, ante omnes colles genuit me Dominus. & those in Ecclesiasticus: Ego ex ore altissimi prodivi ante omnem creaturam. both wchwhich places are spoken of Wisdo that wisdom wchwhich is seated in God as his attribute or λογος ενδιαθετος. Ruffin tells us that many in the parts about Constantinople took him to be of the same faith in these matters, wthwith Tertullian.
The author of the book de Trinitate ascribed to Novatian, tells us his opinion in these words. Antequam nihil præter Patrem. pag. 349. Ex quo [patre] quando ipse voluit, sermo filius natus est, qui non in sono percussi aeris aut tono coactæ de visceribus vocis accipitur, sed in substantia prolatæ a Deo virtutis agnoscitur. And a little after. Hic ergo quando pater voluit processit ex patre: et qui in Patre fuit processit ex Patre: et qui in Patre fuit, quia ex Patre fuit cum Patre postmodum fuit, quia ex Patre processit: substantia scil. illa divina cujus nomen est Verbum, per quod facta sunt omnia et sine quo factum est nihil.
② Lactantius seems to have been of opinion that the Son was an emitted part of the fathers substance ‡ ‡ And afterwards. Est ergo Deus pater omnium institutor et creator, solus originem nesciens, invisibilis, immensus, immortalis, æternus, unus Deus, cujus neqꝫque magnitudini, neqꝫque majestati, neqꝫque virtuti quicquam non dixerim præferri, sed nec comparari potest. Ex quo, quando ipse voluit, sermo filius natus est, qui non in sono percussi aeris, aut tono coactæ de visceribus vocis accipitur sed in substantia prolatæ a Deo virtutis agnoscitur. . . . . . . Hic ergo cum sit genitus sit a Patre, semper est in Patre. Semper autem sic dico, ut non innatum [vel ab æterno sine initio existentem,] sed natum probem. Sed qui ante omne tempus est, semper in patre fuisse dicendus est. Nec enim tempus illi assignari potest qui ante tempus est. Semper enim in patre ne pater non semper sit pater: Quia et Pater etiam illum præcedit, quòd necesse est prior sit quæ pater [generandi potentiam in se habens antequam filium generavet.] Quoniam antecedat necesse est eum qui habet originem ille qui originem nescit. His meaning seems to be ytthat the father was before the son the son not in respect of time wchwhich was not yet created, but in respect of the power of generating the wchwhich was in the father from all eternity before he generated the son & by the son created time, And that yethe son was semper in Patre & that the son was in the father even before he was g was generated & by generation came out of him. ffor he adds Hic ergo quando Pater voluit processit ex patre: Et qui in Patre fuit processit ex patre: et qui in Patre fuit quia ex Patre fuit processit ex Patre: et qui in Patre fuit quia ex Patre fuit, cum Patre postmodum fuit, quia ex Patre processit: substantia scilicet illa divina cujus nomen est Verbum per quod facta sunt omnia et sine quo factum est nihil. The saume author explaining the sons g makes yethe father omnipresent & yethe son comprehended in place: Q emitted without division before yethe Cum dicimus saith he Deum Patrem et Deum filium quæ asseveratio non diversum dicimus, nec utrumqꝫque separamus secernimus; quia nec pater sine filio esse potest nec filius sine a Patre secerni, siquidem nec Pater sine Filio esse potest nec Filius a Patre secerni nuncupari nec filius potest sine patre generari. Cum igitur & Pater filium faciat et filius patrem; una utriqꝫque mens, unus spiritus una substantia est: sed ille quasi exuberens fons hic tanquam defluens ex eo rivum ille tanquam Sol ille hic quasi radius a sole porrectus; qui quoniam summo Patri et fidelis et charus est, non separatur, sicut nec rivus a fonte, nec radius a sole quia et aqua fontis in rivo est & solis lumen in radio. And a little after: Quare Quapropter cum mens & voluntas alterius in altero sit vel potius una in utroqꝫque: merito unus Deus uterqꝫque appellatur: quia quicquid est in filio ad Patre ad Filium transfluit, et quicquid in Filio a Patre descendit. And in another place Yet Lactantius seems to place the deity of the son rather in the power & dominion given him by the father then in the metaphysical nature of his substance.
① Lactantius seems to have been of opinion that the Son was a part of the father emitted without separation before yethe world began but not separated. lib. 4.sect 6.Deus igitur, saith he, antequam præclarum hoc opus mundi adoriretur, sanctum incorruptibilem spiritum genuit, quem filium nuncuparet. Et quamvis alios postea innumerabiles per ipsum creavisset quos angelos dicimus hunc tamen solum primogenitum divini nominis appeallatione dignatus est, patria scilicet virtute ac majestate pollentem. Then he applies to him the words of SolomenSolomon, Deus condidit me in initio viarum suarum in opera sua &csect. 8. & describes how he came out of the mouth of God as word wthwith a voice & sound, whilst Angels were spirits or breath without a soun God speaking him in the first place that by him he might speak to us, whilst Angels were spirits breathed out without a sound & that he was not an empty vanid voice but a but a living permanent substance, And afterwards & by unity of mind with substance one God with the father: sect. 29Cum dicimus, saith he, Deum Patrem – – – – – – – – – – – – a Patre descendit. And in another place. Docuit [Christus] quod unus solus
The author of yethe book de Trinitate ascribed to Novatian, makes the son a God generated by th not by necessity of existencexistence but by the power of the fathers will, not from all eternity but in the beginning so that before the father was before him Est enim p he generated the son, & that the son was generated before yethe father created all things by him. Est enim, saith he, periculum grande . . . . . . generare non potuit. p. 349. ‡
‡Hitherto therefore, that is, till the beginning of the fourth century the opinion lasted that yethe father was the supreme Lord God, the one God whom we are always to understand by one God, the God Lord God God of Gods the God of God his son the God to whom of our Lord Iesus Christ, the Lord God & of God the Son, the Lord God almighty to whom all whose dominion all things are subject not excepting the son himself is over all other persons without exception & whose worship is the foundation & end of the Christian religion. Platonism had hitherto been spreading as a philosopicalphilosophical opinion, but had not yet made any material alteration in the worship of the Christian Churches. [And that text of scripture Eructavit cor meum Verbum bonum he applies to the Sons generation. p. 354. Quod si et primogenitus omnis creaturæ ab Apostolo dictus sit Christus, quomodo omnis creaturæ primogenitus esse potuit, nisi quoniam secundum divinitatem ante omnem creaturam ex patre Deo sermo processit. p. 361. Deus ad formam Dei patris ex ipso genitus atqꝫque prolatus p 364. semper [ab initio] habet rerum omnium potestatem sed qua traditam, sed qua concessam, sed qua a patre proprio sibi indultam. p. 375. Quem volunt hîc Deum descendisse ad turrem illam & homines tunc illos visitare quærentem? Deum patrem? Ergo jam loco clauditur p. 387.] Also the texts of scripture Eructavit cor meum verbum bonum & primogenitus omnis he applies to his creaturæ he expounds of the Sons coming out from the father as a word or voice by generation in yethe beginning. Quomodo omnis creaturæ primogenitus esse pouitpotuit (saith he) nisi quoniam secundum divinitatem ante omnem creaturam ex patre Deo sermo processit. p. 361. And that his dominion over all things was not by necessity of nature but by the voluntary concession of his father. Semper [s. ab initio] mundi] habet rerum omnium potestatem sed qua traditam, sed qua concessam sed qua a patre proprio sibi concessam. p. 375. And that that yethe father was differed from the son in that he was not comprehended in any place Quem volunt hic Deum descendisse ad turrem illam et homines tunc illos visitare quærentem? Deum patrem? Ergo jam loco clauditur. p. 387.
Platonism grew spread in all the Churches of both Greeks & Latines, & yet yet notwithstanding the growth of this philosophy, the opinion still lasted in the Churches, that father was 90
Arnobius speaks of God the Father as the supreme King, & sole object of orour worship, & of Christ as Deus Sospitator sent to us from the supreme King to be our Master & to teach us the worship of his father. Nihil sumus aliud Christiani, nisi, magistro Christo, summi Regis ac Principis veneratores: nihil, si consideres, aliud in ista religione versari. Hæ totius summa est actionis: hic propositus terminus divinorum officiorum, hic finis, huic omnes ex more prosterimur, hunc collatis precibus adoramus. And a little after. O maxime, O summe rerum invisibilium procreator. O ipse invise et nullis unquam comprehense naturis, dignus, dignus es vere (si mode te dignum mortali dicendum est ore) cui spirans omnis intelligensqꝫque natura et habere et agere nunquam desinat gratias: cui tota conveniat vita gen nixo procumbere et continuatis precibus supplicare. Prima enim tu causa est es, locus rerum ac spacium fundamentum cunctorum quæcunqꝫque sunt, infinitus, ingenitus, immortalis perpetuus, solus quem nulla deliniat forma corporalis, nulla determinat circumscriptio qualitatis, expers quantitatis, sine situ, sine motu et habitu &c. By these characters he distingishes the Father from all other beings: but yet He speaks also magnificently of Christ. Deus ille sublimis fuit, Deus radice ab intima, Deus ab incognitis regnis & ab omnium principe, Deus sospitator est missus. But he calls the father the supreme God & seems to restore think the worship sufficient He calls Christ a true God but makes him a derivative & subordinate God as in the Platonic philosophy & so first calling the father the first God, he represents the worship of this God sufficient Possumus interim dicere ad cultum divinitatis obeundum satis est nobis Deus primus: Deus (inquam) primus pater rerum ac dominus, constitutor moderatorqꝫque cunctorum. In hoc omne quod colendum est colimus: quod adorari convenit, adoramus: quod obsequium venerationis exposcit, venerationibus promeremur. Cum enim divinitatis ipsius teneamus caput, a quo ipsa divinitas divinorum omnium quæcunqꝫque sunt ducitur: supervacaneum ducimus putamus personas ire per singulas. He distinguishes Christ from the man wchwhich he who suffered on the cross & saith that he put on that man & carried him about in a small part of himself. This opinion savours of Platonism & And I meet wthwith nothing in his book by wchwhich it may be concluded that he differed in these notions from his disciple Lactantius in his opinion about the nativity of the son of God. in opinion about the nativity of the son But Now Lactantius tho he makes Christ a God an derivative God subordina This opinion savours of Platonism, & if we may judge of him by his calling God pater rerum & by the opinion of his disciple Lactantius, he held the nativity of yethe son of God before the creation of the world began.
Thus Here Lactantius makes God the Son subordinate in power & dominion to his father as the supreme God, the God whom we are to understand whenever we speak of one God & whom alone we are to worship as one God. And of the same opinion was Arnobius the master of Lactantius. Nihil sumus aliud Christiani, saith he, nisi, magistro Christo, summi . . . . . . per singulas.
The Chur We have heard that Clemens the master of the divinity school at Alexandria was tainted with Platonism, & I beleive it will easily be granted that his disciple & successor in that school was tainted with the same principles not altogether free from error.
Arius & those
The hereticks Gnosticks maintaining that the Angels & souls of men Angels & other creatures were either parts or powers of the substance of God, many of the Christians in opposition thereunto maintained th affirmed that they were created out of nothing. [And hence at length arose a question between in the Church of Alexandria whether the Son] & because its said that all things were made by Iesus Christ therefore it became a growing opinion that all God created all things out of nothing by Iesus Christ & by consequence that Iesus Christ was omnipotent, & time & place being recconed among the creatures it followed also that Christ was in all time & in all place & that he was begotten before all ages & before all time & was always with the father, that is, always from yethe beginning of time. These were the opinions of many of them who held that Christ the word was the λόγος ἐνδιάθετος, & the inherent reason & wisdom of yethe father, & that creation was signified the producing of things out of nothing & generation the emission of so the λογος out of the father. And these opinions at length occasioned a the great famous dispute in the Church of Alexandria, A Arius affirming that the s between Alexander the bishop & Arius one of the Presbyters both parties allowing that the father had a λόγος ἐνδιάθετος from all eternity, & Alexander affirmin & those with him of his party affirming as you have heard that this λόγος was the son of God, but and Arius & those of his party de affirming that the son was not this λόγος but another λόγος a substance begotten by the father out of nothing before the creation of the world. & that there was a time when the son was not or a duration of the being of God from all eternity before the son was generated by him. Now And [Arius & those with him] in their an epistle wchwhich they sent to Alexander before the meeting of yethe C. of Nice in the beginning of the controversy they wrote to him in thus. The son . . . . . . . . proper to bodies. Vide Epist. Alexandri ad Alexandrum Episcopūum BizantijBut Alexander avoided these difficulties by recconing time among the creatures & taking denying that the son came out of the father in or out of yethe womb in any part of time or was in him in any part of time before he came out of him, or had any other antemundane generation then what was from all eternity before all time & even by consequence from all eternity, there being no prius & posterius in time or duration before the creation of time was created by the son. He affirmed therefore, as I find by his epistles, ytthat the father was always a father & that Son the son being the λόγος ἐνδιάθετος the only inherent reason & wisdom of yethe father, was a natural son always coexisting with the father without a by a generation without beginning & coequal to him in all things except paternity & uncapable of mutation. And they that opposed Alexander replied that according to this opinion the son was ἀγένητος unbegotten, meaning that the necessary & eternal generation of the son existence of the λογος ἐνδιάθετος was no generation & by consequence amounted to a denial of the father & the son. that the calling him the son of God with respect to such an existence made him ἀγένητον the affirming it made him ἀγένητος & that the placing the generation of the son in such an existence made the son ἀγένητον & And this is the first material instance that I meet with of calling the λόγος ἐνδιάθετος of the father the natural son of the father by an eternal generation The eternity of this λογος before he came out of the father by an act of generation was not a new opinion, but the calling this λογος the son of God by an eteral act of generation was a new one ‡ ‡ or at least had but few followers before Alexander expoused it.
And as it is seems to me to be the first instance of this opinion so far as I can observe was now broached set on foot so it was some time beforeit began to be generally received. For while the Council of Nice . . . . . . . . . . . .
that yethe father it is the father never was without yethe son nor can be, & that none of them deny that yethe son was begotten, & that the Word he could not have alway been if he had had a beginning. And that he is called the only begotten because the word because he always was & is in the Father & that the Father is greater then yethe son
that yethe son had no beginning & defend themselves from the objection of making him unbegotten & affirm th / And these were the Pastors & sheppherds of Israel frequently reproved by the prophets for neglecting their flocks Ier 2.8 & 3.15 & 10.21 & 23.1, 2 & 50.6 & Ezek 34.
wchwhich makes it probable that the bishop was not recconned among the ten They called him Preses, the president of the council or board of Presbyters.
We have recconed eleven officers which makes it probable that
The Deacons are were the same as among the Iews. The Lectors were those whom the BpBishop called forth to read the scriptures
The Dean seems to be the chief Ruler of the synagogue. For yethe word Decanus signifies a ruler over ten. But whereas the chief Rulers of the synagogue was above the Chazan in the Iewish synagogues: the teachers & Pastors & teachers are set before governments in the Christian Churches 1 Cor 12.28. & Eph. 4.11.