76 Their mis-interpretation of S. Luke xii. 58, 59. Book 1. for the thought to enter our mind, or to believe that any such thing is thought of in the states of our time. And so, by what their writings say, their souls obtaining all sorts of experience of life, when they go forth may have nothing still wanting to work in: lest haply, because somewhat is still wanting to their liberty, they be forced again to enter into some body. To this purpose, they say, Jesus uttered S. Luke this Parable; When thou art in the way with thine adversary, xii. 58, 59. give diligence to be delivered from him; lest at any time he deliver thee to the judge, and the judge to the officer, and he cast thee into prison. Verily I say unto thee, thou shalt not depart thence, until thou pay the last farthing. And the Adversary they say is one of the Angels which are in the world, whom they call the Devil: saying that he was made for this purpose, that he might lead those souls which have perished, from the world unto the Prince (who they say is the first of the Makers of the World); and that he again delivers such souls to an Angel who ministers unto him, to be inclosed in other bodies: for the body, they say, is a prison. And His expression, Thou shalt not come out thence, until thou pay the last farthing, they interpret as though one could not get out of the power of those Angels who made the world. Thus a continual change of bodies is going on, until one have been absolutely in every work which is done in the world. And when he shall have failed in none, then his freed soul is uplifted to that God, Who is above the Angels, makers of the world. Yea, and that so all souls are saved, whether in a single visit here they voluntarily mingle themselves with all sorts of doings, or whether it be by way of transmigration from one body to another, or infusion, that in each several way of life they fulfil and pay their debts, and are so delivered, not having to act any more in the body.

§ 5.

Now whether or no they practise among themselves such things as are godless, and lawless, and irreligious, I cannot make up my mind'; but so it is written down in their books,

y transcorporatum semper.

zyw oùк av mioтevσaiui. Petav. on Epiph. Hær. 27. 5. conjectures π

66

σTwσai" affirm;" but this is not supported by the old Latin.

They brand, respect images. Cerinthus: the Ebionites. 77

and this exposition themselves give, saying that Jesus spake in mystery apart to His Disciples and Apostles, and bade them deliver these things to the worthy and obedient: for that we are saved by faith and love, but other things, being indifferent, are according to the opinion of men reckoned here evil and there good, nothing being evil by nature.

And some of them use a mark, searing their disciples § 6. with a hot iron upon the lower part of the lobe of the right ear. Whereby also Marcellina, who came to Rome under Anicetus, being of this sect, misled many. Moreover, they call themselves Gnostics, and have images, some painted, and some formed of other materials, saying that it is the figure of Christ made by Pilate, at the time when Jesus was with men. And these they crown and exhibit, with the images of the Philosophers of the world, I mean with the likeness of Pythagoras, Plato, and Aristotle and the rest and other respect towards them they practise, as the Gentiles do.

And a certain Cerinthus too in Asia taught that the world was not made by the First God, but by a certain power far separated and distant from the Royalty which is above all, and which knows not the God who is over all. And he added that Jesus was not born of a virgin (for that seemed to him impossible), but was the son of Joseph and Mary, like all other men, and had more power than men in justice, prudence and wisdom. And that after his Baptism there descended on him from that Royalty which is above all, Christ in the figure of a Dove, and that he then declared the unknown Father, and did mighty works, but that in the end Christ again soared back from Jesus, and that Jesus suffered and rose again, but Christ remained impassible, as being spiritual.

CHAP.

XXVI.

§ 1.

But those who are called Ebionites agree indeed that the § 2. world was made by God, but in the opinions which relate to the Lord they do not hold with Cerinthus and Carpocrates. But the only Gospel they use is that according to Matthew; and they reject the Apostle Paul, calling him an Apostate from the Law. And the prophetic writings they try to exa Exterminavit: answers to ŋtátnoe, c. xiii. 2.

78 Nicolaitans. Cerdon. Marcion mutilates Holy

BOOK 1. plain with peculiar accuracy: and they are circumcised, and persevere in the customs which belong to the Law, and in a Jewish mode of life: even to the worshipping of Jerusalem, as though it were the House of God.

§ 3.

But the Nicolaitans have for their Master Nicolaus, one of the seven who were first ordained to the Diaconate by the Apostles: and they live as though things were indifferent. However the Apocalypse of John declares most fully what they are, teaching as they do that it is indifferent whether or no one commit adultery and eat idol sacrifices. WhereRev. ii. 6. fore concerning them too the Word said, But this thou hast, that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.

CHAP. XXVII. § 1.

§ 2.

One Cerdon too, taking his beginning from Simon and his set, sojourned in Rome under Hyginus, who occupied the ninth place in the Episcopal succession from the Apostles, and taught that the God proclaimed by the Law and the Prophets is not the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the one being revealed, the other unknown: the one again being Just, the other Good.

And Marcion of Pontus came in his place, and extended his school, shamelessly blaspheming Him Who is declared God by the Law and the Prophets: affirming Him to be an evil-doer, and fond of wars, and inconstant also in His judgment, and contrary to Himself: and as for Jesus, that He came from that Father who is above the God who made the world, into Judæa in the time of Pontius Pilate the Governor, who was Tiberius Cæsar's Procurator, and was manifest in human form to the inhabitants of Judæa, to do away the Prophets and the Law and all the works of that God who made the world, whom he also calls Ruler of 5 Cosmo- the world. And moreover, mutilating the Gospel according to St. Luke, and taking away all that is written of our Lord's Birth, and much also from the doctrine of our Lord's discourses, wherein it is most plainly written how our Lord confessed the Maker of this world to be His Father: he persuaded his disciples that he was himself more trustworthy than the Apostles who delivered the Gospel: while he was

cratorem.

Scripture, and reverses God's Judgements.

79

79

putting into their hands not the Gospel but a small portion of it. And in like wise the Epistles of the Apostle Paul too were mutilated by him, by taking out whatever is plainly spoken by the Apostle of the God Who made the world, how that He is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ; and whatsoever out of the prophetic writings the Apostle hath quoted in his teaching, as predictive of the coming of the Lord.

And salvation he says will be of our souls only, those § 3. souls which have learned his doctrine; but the body, because forsooth it is taken from the earth, cannot possibly partake of salvation. And over and above his blasphemy against God, he added this also, truly taking to him the mouth of the Devil, and saying every thing contrary to the truth That Cain, and the like of him, and the Sodomites, and Egyptians, and the like of them, and in a word all the nations which had walked in a medley of all kinds of mischief, were saved by the Lord, upon His going down into Hell, and their running to meet Him; and that He received them into His Kingdom; while Abel and Enoch and Noe and the other righteous men, and those who belonged to the Patriarch Abraham, with all the Prophets, and such as pleased God, did not partake of salvation: so the serpent which was in Marcion proclaimed. For, saith he, because they knew that their God was always tempting them, they suspected Him of tempting them then, and accordingly did not hasten to Jesus, nor believe His preaching: and therefore, he said, their souls remained in Hell.

But him indeed,-because he alone dared openly both to § 4. mutilate the Scriptures, and to revile God more shamelessly than all others, we will refute in a separate place, convicting him out of his own writings: and by those discourses of our Lord and the Apostle, which are retained by him, we will by God's help effect his overthrow. But we were obliged to mention him now, that thou mightest know of all who in any way adulterate the truth, and damage the preaching of the Church, how that they are disciples and successors of Simon the sorcerer of Samaria. Although in order to seduce others they profess not their master's name, yet they

80 The Continent; Tatian, renegade disciple of S. Justin.

Book 1. teach his opinion. Holding forth the Name of Christ Jesus

CHAP. XXVIII.

§ 1.

§ 2.

as an allurement, while in various ways they bring in Simon's impiety, they destroy many, by the good Name foully corrupting their views, and by the sweetness and glory of that Name holding out to them the bitter and malignant venom of the Serpent, the beginner of apostasy.

Now from these who have been mentioned many offshoots of many heresies have in course of time arisen; because many of them, yea all, desire to be teachers; and set themselves to withdraw from the sect in which they were, and to teach in a new way, forming one doctrine out of one opinion, and another out of another; still proclaiming themselves the inventors of whatever notion they have put together. To give an example: from Saturninus and Marcion those who are called The Continent preached abstinence from marriage, setting at nought God's original formation, and tacitly blaming Him Who made male and female for the generation of men. And they brought in abstinence from the things which are called among them animate, behaving themselves unthankfully to God Who made all. And they deny the salvation of the first Man. And this has even now been invented among them, one Tatian having in the first instance brought in that blasphemy who having been a hearer of Justin, as long as he was with him uttered nothing of the kind, but after his martyrdom falling away from the Church, elated and puffed up with the conceit of being a teacher, did as one excelling all others establish for himself a school with a peculiar stamp: like Valentinus' people, making out a mythology of certain invisible Eons; like Marcion and Saturninus, denouncing marriage, as corruption and fornication; but his denial of Adam's salvation he invented of himself.

But others again, taking their hint from Basilides and Carpocrates, have brought in indiscriminate concubinage, and polygamy, and carelessness about eating things offered to idols; saying that God doth not greatly regard these things. To be short, there is no counting the number of those who in one way and another have fallen away from the truth.