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V. The Great Division. Part 2. The desire to explain the mystery of the universe, with its strange contrasts of good and evil, of order and anarchy, is probably ineradicable, for the heart of man, and with this has often been joined the pride of possessing a higher wisdom, which the crowd of inferior beings can only approach in gross material symbols. probably the most striking exhibition of these tendencies with which we are acquainted is to be found in the various systems existing in every part of the roman empire in the early days of christianity which have received the general name of gnostic the origin of these systems has been much disputed the contemporary opponents of gnosticism thought it little else than the greek philosophy of religion putting on a mystic disguise modern enquirers have traced it to the zorostrian system of zendavesta to the hebrew kabbala to the talmud to the teaching of the buddhists

the very variety of these theories shows that no one of them accounts for all the phenomena the influence of all may be found in one or other of the gnostic systems the antithesis of light and darkness reminds us of persia the series of emanations from the divine essence recalls the buddhists while the allegory not seldom resembles that of the hebrew in cities like alexandria antioch and ephesus these theories ran together and met with nascent christianity knossus is knowledge in a special sense an inner and deeper knowledge of the mystery of the existence not accessible to the vulgar and a source of pride to the initiated but the gnosticism with which we are concerned the gnosticism which came into contact with christianity has certain special characteristics in the first place some evil principle generally identified with matter is held to oppose the pure creative energy of the divinity in nothing is the pagan origin of the system more distinctly visible than in this

for ancient speculation rarely rises to the conception of one sole creative will all gnostic systems derive the universe from the contact of spirit with matter but spirit must lower itself by a gradual descent to matter the great gulf between the two is bridged over by a long series of emanations from the highest or absolute being these emanations under the name of ions occupy a very important place in most gnostic systems the same effort to provide a medium between spirit and matter is found in the gnostic conception of a psychic or animal principle between the purely spiritual or pneumatic and the mere material or helic portion of the universe the actual creation of the visible and palpable world is often attributed to demiurgus the working or forming deity whose special realm is separated from the most high god by a long series of ions and acting on matter as his subordinate in several of the systems this demiurgus or handicraft deity is identified with the god of the jews

yet the conception itself seems to be derived from plato whose creator of heaven and earth is a demiurgus superior indeed to the gods of the old mythology but subject to the eternal forms which rule the universe so far gnosticism seems to have no very obvious contact with christianity it has however in fact a very intimate connection both with christianity and with judaism in the first place many of the gnostics theosophists professed to draw much of their system from the scriptures just as philo and his school found a whole system of platonic philosophy in the plain facts of scripture history so by the help of allegoric or esoteric explanations these gnostics found in the sacred books a whole series of divine beings or emanations the number thirty the years of our lord's life when he began his ministry became the number of the valentinian ons the lost sheep of the parable became achamoth the lower or earthly wisdom wandering from its true home

nor did the gnostics appeal only to scripture they set up a tradition of their own against that of the church the disciples of carpocrates for instance asserted that jesus had imparted their doctrine in secret to his apostles bidding them in turn impart it to faithful unworthy men the offites declared that the lord in the interval between his resurrection and ascension had taught their peculiar wisdom to those few disciples whom he found worthy of so great a trust or that james the lord's brother had disclosed it to mariamme basilides professed to derive his system from glaucias an interpreter of st peter valentius his from one theudas a companion of st paul both appealed to the tradition of matthias and ptolemy the valentinian claimed an apostolic tradition which had come down to him through a succession of persons

all gnostic teachers taught their disciples to look for some kind of redemption this was generally regarded as the liberation of the pneumatic element from the bones of matter the escape of the spiritual man from the realm of the lower world-forming deity this redemption was said to be effected by one of the ions of which the man christ jesus was merely the instrument we may almost say the mask or disguise all the gnostics differed widely from the catholic teaching on the person of christ many thought that he had but a seeming body and suffered only in appearance whence they received the name of again all the gnostic leaders in some shape or other took up a definite position friendly or hostile to judaism in the older and more numerous systems both judaism and heathendom are represented as preparing the way for the advent of the complete and perfect religion their own there is no essential opposition between them in spite of innumerable differences of detail they agree in this that the old religions of the world were a preparation for the complete and perfect religion

the disciples of marsyon indeed as we have seen supposed christianity to be in absolute contrariety both to judaism and heathenism while the gnosticism of the judaizers tended to the exaltation of judaism but neither of these systems can be considered as purely and simply gnostic the moral system of the gnostics was the natural outcome of their religion as they regarded matter as the seat of evil morality consisted to a large extent of the struggle to free the spiritual principle from the influence of matter that so it might acquire hence the really serious and religious gnostics tended to ascetism some allowed marriage some even enjoined it on the spiritual some as saturnius and tatian seemed to have forbidden it either altogether or at least for those who would be perfect the coarser natures among them on the other hand drew very different conclusions from the same premise and scorned the ordinary restraints of social decency

mere outward acts were they contended indifferent as matter was distinct from spirit self-restraint was of little value in those who had never tasted the delights of dissoluteness the real victory was for the spirit to stand unconquered amid the passions of the lower nature carpocrates and prodicus as also the later marcosians are said to have taken this direction gnostics of this kind as was natural readily conformed to pagan worship and despised those who endured martyrdom for conscience sake the rise of gnosticism is coival with that of christianity we can scarcely doubt that when simon magus in samaria was accepted by the people as that power of god which is called great he had given himself out to be some kind of gnostic emanation from the divinity he was regarded indeed in later times as the head and source of heresy we find distinct traces of gnosis probably in an escenic form at colossae in the days of st paul

and again we meet with an angelology which is apparently gnostic in the letters to timothy it was against docketism that st john wrote of him whom his eyes had seen and his hands handled the nicolaitans of the apocalypse and the false teachers of the apostle of jude may probably have based their licentious views on gnostic speculations towards the end of the apostolic age carenthus propagated views akin to gnosticism in the district of asia minor which was under the influence of st john saying that the christ descended on jesus who was mere man at his baptism and that while jesus suffered the christ ascended again into heaven in the age immediately succeeding that of the apostles the simple practical nature of the church work pressed upon it as it was by surrounding heathenism was not favorable to the spread of gnosticism it gained more influence as the desire grew stronger for theoretical completeness in the teaching of theology basilides one of the most famous gnostic teachers

a younger contemporary of carinthus was said to be assyrian by birth but passed the greater part of his active life in alexandria and there his son also isidorus became a famous teacher about the same time flourished carpocrates an egyptian and his son epiphanes as also the syrian saturninus or saturnilus even in these early days of gnosticism its systems present the greatest diversities in valentinus an alexandrian settled in rome the speculative and imaginative development of gnosticism reached its highest point he produced in fact a highly poetic account of the creation and constitution of the universe from the point of view of a thoughtful and cultivated heathen his school which split into an eastern and a western or italian branch produced many distinguished teachers heracleion against whom origen wrote his comment on st john ptolomius marcus bardaizen or bardasinis an armenian who lived long in edessa and who is said to have been the first of syrian

contemporary with valentinus was cerdo who initiated marcion in gnostic tenets to this period also belongs the restless tatian who after passing through the most various forms of religion at last settled in his disciples received the names of encrotates from the excessive rigor of their lives of hydroparastatae or aquarii from their abstinence from vine even in the holy common union and sometimes that of severiani from one severus who was a pupil of tatian this sect still existed in the fourth century the ophites or naseni who regarded the serpent as the beginner of true knowledge and the great benefactor of mankind probably existed before christianity though their gnostic development may have been as late as the second century with these we may reckon the cessiani the cainites the peratisi and the gnostic justine with his followers to the second century also we may refer a gnostic of arabian origin mentioned only by hippolytus monoimus or menemhem it is difficult to estimate the number and the influence of the gnostics nowhere does it appear that the gnostic community was superior to the catholic church of the place but almost everywhere there were gnostics and gnostics distinguished by intellectual activity and boldness

there was much agnosticism to attract the greeks its generally anti-judaic spirit its promise of a conquest over matter and an advance to the fulness and perfection of knowledge the imaginativeness of its adventurous systems the ease with which it adopted votaries but it nevertheless could not endure the steady disciplined attack of the church its unsubstantial pageants vanished before the light of truth in the third century it had already lost its creative force in the fourth it is powerless in the sixth it vanishes leaving hardly a wrack behind the effects of gnosticism on the church were by no means wholly disastrous the efforts of the gnostics to construct a system which should explain all the varied and perplexing phenomena of the universe led the christian teachers to point out with more distinctness that they were explained by the principles already revealed in christ the contest with men so able and so well acquainted with pagan philosophy as many of the gnostic teachers were led to the more systematic development of christian theology and as a truly christian theology was developed the jewish elements in the church fell more and more into the background

it is very largely due to the pressure of gnosticism that art and literature were enlisted in the service of the church but these benefits were counterbalanced by serious evils the redemption which gnosticism offered was merely knowledge which certainly tended to puff men up with a vain sense of their own superiority its systems were based not upon historic reality but upon the mere creations of erratic fancy in an ideal world gnostic asceticism and gnostic laxity both found their way into the church and corrupted the pure springs of christian morality it is not wonderful then that the catholic teachers conscious that the religion of christ is for man as man not for a select coterie of initiated conscious that speculation is not religion and that life as well as truth is to be found in christ it is not wonderful that such teachers set themselves emphatically to oppose the claims and the allurements of the gnostics faith conquered knowledge falsely so called

five in the third century arose on the eastern frontier of the empire a system which was destined to trouble the church for many a year this was the doctrine of mani or manichaius which was in its origin a renewal and reform of the old zoroastrian teaching which probably some admixture of buddhism this religion adopted as it spread westward a certain coloring of christian ideas and phrases but it remained a foreign and rival power not a heresy developed from the bosom of the church itself the accounts of mani's life given by the eastern and the western authorities differ materially we can hardly say of him with any degree of certainty more than this that in the revival of national and religious life in persia which took place under the native dynasty of the sassanidae mani a member of a distinguished median family became prominent as a teacher

by his eloquence and his many accomplishments he acquired fame and influence and the favor of more than one persian king but was at last cruelly put to death by varanis behram the second mani attempted as many had done before him to explain the enigmas of human life by the supposition of two eternal all-pervading principles a good and a bad the good god of his realm of light are opposed to the evil spirit and his realm of darkness good struggles with evil after a long internal conflict the devilish powers drew together their forces on one tremendous day to battle against the army of light the first-born of god the pattern man fought with the help of the five pure elements light fire air earth and water for the realm of goodness was overthrown and again delivered leaving behind some portion of his light in the power of darkness for the reception of this god calls the living spirit to form the material universe in which the vital force or soul of the world is the fragment of light which is held in the bonds of darkness

to redeem this light from its bondage god sent forth two powers christ and the holy spirit the one as sun and moon the other as the ether or pure supramundane atmosphere attract to themselves the elements of light enveloped in earth to retain these elements of light the evil spirit formed man after the image of the patterned man making of him a microcosm in which light and darkness mingled as in the great world man then had within himself two vital principles the reasonable soul which aspires to the source of light and the unreasonable soul full of passionate lusts and longings hence he was constantly subject to the crafts and deceits of the evil one then appeared christ in his own person upon earth in a seeming human body and seemed to suffer death the design of the coming of the jesus potibilis was by his attractive force to draw to himself the kindred spirit distributed throughout the world of nature and of man

he began the work of setting free the imprisoned particles of light but even the apostles misunderstood him through the force of jewish prejudice the scriptures of the old testament were the work of evil spirits those of the new were corrupted partly by the mistakes of men partly by the guile of demons mani the promised paraclete came to reveal all mysteries and to teach the means whereby the noble part of the universe may be freed his writings alone are the guide to all truth in the end the light shall be separated from the darkness and the powers of darkness mutually destroy each other like several of the gnostic sects mani divided his community into the two classes of initiated or chosen and hearers or catechumens the latter were prepared by a long course of instruction for the revelation of the mysteries of man and nature which was to be granted to them in the higher stage these during their catechumenate received indulgence for the enjoyment of the ordinary pleasures of life in consequence of the intercession of the chosen

the society was organized in direct imitation of the catholic church during mani's life he was himself the head of his church after his death his place was supplied by a succession of vikers or locum tenentes the representative of the founder was supported and assisted by a body of twelve masters or apostles under whom were seventy-two bishops and under these again a body of breast-beaters and diacons all these were taken from the initiated these elect disciples received the seal of the mouth the hand and the bosom the first symbolized their abstinence from all calumny and evil speaking as well as from flesh and all intoxicating drinks the second they are desisting from all common toil and from every act injurious to the life whether of man or beast the third they are refraining from all indulgence of fleshly lust the hearers not yet bound to so strict an observance were permitted to engage in trade and agriculture and had to provide food for the initiated who were above terrestrial cares

the ministers of the mani haian sect were said to grant absolution with too great readiness for sins committed as sins well regarded rather as the work of the evil principle within him than of the man himself as misfortunes rather than crimes their exoteric worship seems to have been extremely simple without altars or elaborate ceremony sunday was a fast day a great annual festival called the feast of the bema or pulpit was held in march to commemorate the tragic death of money and a magnificent pulpit a symbol of the teaching power of the paraclete stood in manihayan meeting-houses raised on five steps the symbols perhaps of the five pure elements the esoteric worship of the initiated was kept a close secret it was thought to consist of baptism in oil and the participation of a sacred feast without wine a parody of the eucharist in spite of the terrible fate of mani his disciples rapidly increased in numbers they spread in a short time from persia over mesopotamia syria and palestine over egypt and north africa and even reached italy gaul and spain

but a few years after the death of mani we find diocletian who hated religious division in general and a new sect from the hostile realm of persia in particular addressing a severe addict to julian proconsul of africa against this abominable gang of maniheans and condemning their chiefs to the flames their adherence to beheading and confiscation of goods they spread however notwithstanding and though their public worship was suppressed in the sixth century we find scattered secret societies of manichians late in the middle ages if indeed they can be said to be even now extinct six in the stir of parties and the struggles of sects there became manifest a great unity the catholic church the church not of paul or cephas of montanus or marcion but of christ in the midst of the winds of doctrine which blew from all quarters men felt it the more necessary to take their stand upon the rock the great mass of the disciples clung to the central truths of christian doctrine which were neither judaic nor gnostic but christian and apostolic

they felt that behind all partial views where truths which are indeed universal destined for all men in spite of all divisions there was still one all-embracing or catholic church of which particular churches were members the divisions of the early generations played a large part in bringing these things into distinct consciousness even st paul in his lifetime appealed against the strange opinions of isolated innovators to the greater antiquity and universality of the true faith and after the death of the last surviving apostle it was even more necessary to appeal to such a standard against the almost infinite variety of opinions which claimed to be in some sort christian the sense of unity and continuity to which the early writers appeal was brought into greater prominence as it was brought into danger and as the expectation of the speedy coming of an earthly reign of christ faded away the conception of the church as itself the earthly province of the kingdom of god asserted its true place in men's minds it presented itself as a divine institution a means of deliverance from the world

and of adoption into the heavenly kingdom it is the guardian of the truth committed to it and the bestower of grace throughout the word and the sacraments which christ ordained the ministry is divinely instituted as a continuation of the apostolic office it is the church under the guidance of the successors of the apostles which is recognized as the apostolic church it is the whole congregation of christian people dispersed throughout the world which is recognized as catholic to belong to the catholic church is not only to hold the true faith but to be a member of that great and unique organization to which its lord has given exceeding great and precious privileges and promises to be outside this organization to be disowned by it is the last and most fatal of penalties chapter five