Of idolatry a discourse, in which is endeavoured a declaration of, its distinction from superstition, its notion, cause, commencement, and progress, its practice charged on Gentiles, Jews, Mahometans, Gnosticks, Manichees Arians, Socinians, Romanists : as also, of the means which God hath vouchsafed towards the cure of it by the Shechinah of His Son / by Tho. Tenison ...

CHAP. VIII. Of the Idolatry with which some are charged, who profess and •…•…all themselves Christians. And first of the Idolatry of the Gnosticks and Manichees. (Book 8)

PART 1. Of the Idolatry of the Gnosticks.

WHen Christ was incarnate, he soon weakned the visible Empire of the Devil, removing his Idols, and putting his Oracles to silence. One of his great designs in coming in the flesh, was to perswade the World to leave Idols, and the Atheism of many gods, as Maximus speaketh a 1.1. He manifested the one true God in Trinity, declaring that there were three in Heaven, and that they Three were One. He reveal∣ed much of the nature of the Daemons which had been worshipped in the World, and decried them as wicked and malicious spirits. God in him gave to the World the greatest help against the worship of Daemons and Idols; as shall afterwards be shewed at large, if God permit. His Apostles and followers spake and wrote with zeal against Idols; and God be thanked, not with∣out admirable success. Amongst them was St. John the Beloved Disciple. And he having shewn the Son (in one b 1.2 of his Epistles) to be the true Image of the Father, and very God of very God, does thence pro∣ceed to exclude all other Symbols in this dehortation, Little children, keep your selves from Idols. And with that as with advice of moment, and fit to be reserved

for a word to take leave with, he closeth his Epistle. Idols also were with zeal declaimed against, after him by divers Christians; of whom some were converted Jews, who had lived under an express Law against Images; and others were converted Gentiles, who bent themselves quite another way from their former Rites. And these expressed their detestation of Idols in such severe manner, that they looked upon Statuaries and Painters as men of unlawful Callings.

Others there were Christians by profession, who though they worshipped not (unless by fear or stealth, as Epiphanius a 1.3 noteth), the same Statues and Deities with the Gentiles; yet did they set up afresh an Ido∣latrous worship, which was in truth but disguised Hea∣thenism. Such were the Scholars of Simon Magus, Me∣nander, Saturninus, Basilides, Carpocrates, or according to Epiphanius, Carpocras; Valentinus, Cerdon, Marcion, Secundus, Ptolomaeus, Marcus, Colorbasus, Heracleon, Lucian, Apelles, and very many others, who from their arrogant boasting of a 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, or sublime and extraor∣dinary sort of knowledg, obtained the name of Gno∣sticks. These I will consider as worshippers, firft of Dae∣mons, and secondly, of Images.

The worship of Daemons they learned from the Ca∣bala of Thales, Pythagoras, and Plato. It was the Dogma of Menander, and after him of Saturninus, that b 1.4 this outward World was made by Angels; that is, that it was framed and composed by those Encosmical gods formerly mentioned, and spoken of by Sallust the Platonist. Alcinous a Disciple of the same School, in his Introduction to the Philosophy of Plato c 1.5, professeth the same Doctrines. He teacheth it as a Dogma of his Master, That God did not properly make, but rather adorn and excite the Soul of the World, awakening it as it were out of its profound inactivity: that thence∣forth

(as an awakened man who stretcheth out his arms) it extended it self far and near, and joined and con∣served a 1.6 the whole of Nature. And to this eternal Soul of the World, a principle which in some sort com∣prehended in it the inferior Angels, the Gnosticks per∣haps alluded in their 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, or fulness of the God∣head, to which St. Paul opposeth the true principle, by which God made all things, his eternal co-essential Son. Beyond the Daemons Alcinous doth not extend the care of God, but setteth them as his Sons b 1.7 over other things. And he ascribeth the formation of Ani∣mals, and even of man himself, to Junior Daemons c 1.8.

Basilides was an Alexandrian where the Pythagorean Cabala had gotten deep footing; and it appeareth by the Errors of Origen, that the very preaching of St. Mark had not worn out the prints of it. Some of them are easily discerned in the writings of that Father, and especially in his Book which hath the Title of 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉. Basilides enjoin'd silence to them to whom his Myste∣ries were revealed d 1.9, both in imitation of the si∣lence in the School of Pythagoras, and as a means to a∣void the trouble which might arise by the more open publication of them.

Carpocrates and Valentinus, both of them were pro∣fessed Pythagorean Platonists. Valentinus placeth his By∣thus, or Profundity, and Siges, or Silence, as the first conjugation of his 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, or Fullness. And by this he might mean the Soul of the World awakened out of that deep inactivity, which just now we heard of in the Jargon of Alcinous.

Marcion expresly maintained the two Principles of Pythagoras; and he taught that they were distinct, and without beginning, and infinite e 1.10.

These Hereticks worshipped a Deity under the my∣stical name of Abraxas, [or Abrasax, according to the

inscription a 1.11 on some Basilidian Gems.] This name, some think, they took up with respect to the impositi∣on of that of Abraham. By it they understood a su∣preme Power, and seven subordinate Angels, the Pre∣sidents of the seven Heavens, together with their three hundred and sixtyfive Virtues, answering to the num∣ber of the days of the year; and by Basilides in Epi∣phanius, set over so many members of the body of man.

By the name as one word they understood their one Deity, and under it the Eighth Sphere, which the Pla∣tonists called the highest Power, by which all things were circumscribed b 1.12. By the seven Letters of that one word they understood the seven Angels, and un∣der them the seven Orbs. And therefore Gassendus (if the Printer hath not injured him) committeth a mi∣stake c 1.13 in writing it ABRSAX, as sometimes he doth. He spoileth their Mystery by the diminution of one Letter. Such injury the Engravers have done them in their Gems, unless they designed by false Letters to render them still more mysterious d 1.14. By the Nume∣ral Powers of their seven Letters in Greek (they a∣mounting to the sum of 365 days), they understood the abovesaid Virtues, Members, and Days of the Year e 1.15. St. Austin in his Catalogue of Heresies, seems in this matter to commit a mistake f 1.16, for he represen∣teth Basilides as one that held, 365 Heavens, and affir∣med them to be the makers of this World. Whereas Basilides and Saturninus ascribed such power to the se∣veral Virtues of the seven Angels g 1.17. St. Hierom h 1.18 judged that this Abraxas was the Sun, or the Mithra of the Persians, because its Annual course doth make up the abovesaid number of days. But a good Reason ought to weigh down his Authority; and there is a reason sufficient to perswade us that they meant some

other supreme God. For in the seven Spheres they in∣cluded the Sun as one of the Planets, and therefore did not intend him as the Deity that was above Saturn himself, but their 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, or Logos a 1.19, or Artist of all, or 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 himself. For he in Epiphanius b 1.20 possesseth the place of the highest Orb. And in many of the Basi∣lidian Gems, particularly in that in the custody of Baronius c 1.21, that name of 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 is inscribed, though the Omega be misrepresented in the form of a W.

They who consider this Systeme of their Deities will be apt to think them those Coelicolae which the Em∣perours condemned; their Religion being a sort of Astrological Magick.

Now this their worship of the Heavens or Angels, came (as I said) from the Schools of Thales and Plato; together with some tinctures from the Heathen Poets, and particularly from Hesiod in his 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉. But the Systeme of it was much further enlarged, and va∣ried also with Mystical signs and interpretations. And they ran a kind of Enthusiastick descant upon a more natural or Geometrical ground. He that fixeth his atten∣tion on the Platonick Scheme of the World, observing the several proportions which Plato fancied in the ad∣justing of its parts when it was first framed: He that reads in Timaeus Locrus d 1.22, of the hundred and fourteen thousand, six hundred ninety and five divisions of the Soul of the World; and in Alcinous e 1.23 of the Octoe∣dral, Icosaedral, Duodecaedral figures in the compo∣sing of the Universe: He that readeth further in Ire∣naeus f 1.24 of the Principle called 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, or the Divine fulness, and of the Quaternations, Octonations, Decads, Dodecads, and numberless Conjugations of the AEons of the Gnosticks, who began their Fancies very early, though the Scheme of them was successively varied, as likewise the very wording of it, the Simonians chan∣ging

their Masters 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 into St. John's Logos a 1.25, after his Gospel became publick; such a one will guess with∣out the gift of Prophesie, what Doctrines did set their imaginations on work. He will not wonder that the Disciples of Simon Magus worshipped in private the Image of Pythagoras b 1.26. They will not think it strange that the Valentinians in Irenaeus called their first Tetrad, the Pythagorick Tetractys.

Celsus mistaketh these Gnosticks for true Christians, and compareth c 1.27 their Mystical scale of things with that of the Mithriacs, or Persian Divines. Origen d 1.28 supposeth those whom he pointeth at to be the Sect of the Ophians, a kind of spawn of the Gnosticks. And he mentioneth a Diagram of theirs e 1.29 which had fallen into his hands; and in which they described the Soul of the World penetrating all things, under the name of Leviathan. If that Diagram had been preserved, it might have been compared with other Pythagorick and Magick Systemes; and a Torch might have been ligh∣ted from it, for further discoveries of that nature than can now be made. For the Ophites they were manifest Idolaters, worshipping a living Serpent for Christ f 1.30. And the Gnosticks were no better whilst they worship∣ped their Angels as Rulers of the World. Hence Mar∣cus the Gnostick is reproached expresly in Irenaeus g 1.31, after the mention of the AEons, as a maker of Idols. Neither is St. Hierom of another mind; for on the third Chapter of Amos thus he discourseth:

Every Heretick feigneth what pleaseth himself, and then he worshippeth his own fiction. Thus did Marcion with his idle Deity, Valentinus with his thirty AEons, Ba∣silides with his god Abraxas h 1.32.

As these were the sink of Hereticks, so were they the principal of Idolaters, giving to the Devil him∣self by way of honour, the title of Cosmocrator i 1.33,

or Ruler of this World: As if he had been such by the Commission of that Demiourgus, whose creature (they say) he was, and not by the consent of wicked men.

Idolaters then they were in the first place, with respect to the Daemons whom they worshipped. And in the se∣cond place I am inclined to think them such with re∣spect to the Images of their Deitie and his Daemons. Some such things were the Gems a 1.34 of the Basilidians, preserved till these late times. Joseph Scaliger had one of them in his possession b 1.35, and the excellent Peires∣kius very many c 1.36. Amulets they were d 1.37, and Sym∣bols too of their Deities, whose names of Abraxas, Mi∣chael, Gabriel, Ouriel, Raphael, Ananael, Prosoraiel, Yabsoe e 1.38, (names of their god, and their seven Angels the Presidents of their seven Heavens) were inscribed on them, together with the Figures of Men, Beasts, Fowls, Plants, Stars; the Schemes of which may be seen in Pignorius f 1.39. Abraxas is represented with hu∣mane body, with buckler and whi•…•…, or sword in hand, as Ensigns of Power; and with Serpents, as feet. Of a like abuse of Magical Gems the Jews and Mahometans themselves have been guilty g 1.40. And what are such Gems but Idols, when there is an expectation from them of supernatural virtue, which God hath not com∣municated to them?

Irenaeus reporteth of the Gnosticks h 1.41, that they had Pictures and Images, and particularly one of Jesus made by Pilate; also that they crown'd them and set them with the Images of Pythagoras, Plato and Aristotle, and other Gentile Philosophers, observing or worshipping them after the manner of the Heathens. The like is said by Epiphanius in his Twenty-seventh Heresie; and

by Theodoret, in his first Book of Heretical Fables, where he informeth us, that Simon's Statue was like to that of Jupiter's, and Helen's like to that of Minerva's; and that they were worshipped with Sacrifice and In∣cense. The same is written by St. Austin a 1.42, who fur∣ther mentions b 1.43 the Idolatry of Marcellina, one of that Sect, who worshipped together with the Images before remembred, the Statue of Homer. I will end this Discourse of the Idolatry of the Gnosticks, with the following words of the very learned Mr. Thorndike c 1.44.

For the Idolatry of the Gnosticks (which I am confi∣dent is mentioned in divers Texts of the new Testa∣ment) it may well be counted the Idolatry of the Pagans, though pretending to be Christians. Because they did not stick to exercise the same Idolatry when occasion was offered; though they had their own Idolatries besides; whether peculiar to their several Religions, or as Magicians.

PART 2. Of the Idolatry of the Manichees.

WIth the Gnosticks I will join the Manichees, both agreeing in obscene Superstitions d 1.45, and in the worship of the principal evil Daemon; and both being branches from the same Magical Trunk of Py∣thagorean Philosophy. Cubricus or Manes took the oc∣casion of his Heresie from his Marriage with the Wi∣dow of Terbinthus, who died in exercising his Magical Tricks. Terbinthus, who also disguis'd himself in Per∣sia under the name of Budda, deriv'd his folly from his Master Scythianus a Saracen in Egypt. Scythianus was learned in the Writings of the Grecians, and wrote four Books of Pythagorean Magick. And Lucas Holste∣nius rightly observeth e 1.46, that the twofold 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 of

the Pythagoreans which comprehendeth [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉], the contrary combinations of the principles of unity and division, was the root of the two contrary Manichaean Powers. These Pythagoras learned from the Egyptians, who be∣sides a good principle own'd Typhon (called also Seth, Bebon, and Smy) a principle of Evil and Tyranny.

For Manes, he strain'd the conceit of the Pythagore∣an Soul of the World to such a degree of extravagance, that he plac'd a perceptive spirit, (as Epiphanius no∣teth) in every Creature. He would not so much as break his Bread, or cut a Pot-herb, though he had cru∣elty enough to eat them. For certainly if Bread were still alive after grinding and baking, it remained so in the broken pieces of it. But how wild a flight does mans fancy take, when it moves it self only upon its own wings!

I do not recall any passage in History which sheweth concerning this monstrous Heretick, that he either prayed or sacrificed to this principle of evil. If he did neither, he yet made an Idol of it by exalting it in his mind, to that undue supremacy. And on the other hand, he turned the Author of all good into another Idol. For as we are instructed by Theodoret in his first Book of Heretical Fables, he confined that Principle to three quarters of the World, bestowing the Sou∣thern parts upon Matter, the dark Principle, or the De∣vil. He likewise sacrilegiously robbed God of that part of his Providence which dispenseth righteous judg∣ments. Further, as the same Theodoret relateth, he some∣times called the Sun and Moon his Deities. Sometimes he called the Sun, Christ; and prov'd it as Enthusiasts prove their Dreams, by the Eclipse it suffered at his Crucifixion. Sometimes he maintained them to be two Ships which conveyed the Souls which depart hence,

from Matter to Light. With reason then did St. Austin a 1.47 thus confess his Manichaean impiety;

My vain fantasm and my error was [then] my God.

But of the Gnostick and Manichaean extravagance enough. I I come in the next place to speak of people much more sober, and yet not without a mixture of madness.

Notes

• a 1.1

  Maxim. al. Orig. in Exhort. •…•…d Martyr. p. 193.—〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉. Origen. contr. Cels. l. 1. p. 5.—〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉.
• b 1.2

  1 Joh. 5. 20, 21.
• a 1.3

  Epiphan. H•…•…r: 27.
• b 1.4

  S. Aug. Cat. Hoeres. c. 2. p. 6, 7. &c. 3. p. 8, 9.
• c 1.5

  Alcin. de Doctr. Plat. c. 14. p. 35.
• a 1.6

  Alcin. Ib. p. 35, 36.—〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉.—
• b 1.7

  Id. ib. c. 15. p. 38.—〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉.—
• c 1.8

  Id. ib. c. 16. p. 39, &c.
• d 1.9

  Iren. l. 1. c. 23. p. 120.
• e 1.10

  Orig. D•…•…al. cont. M•…•…rc. Sect. 2. p. 43.
• a 1.11

  See Pigno Mens. Isiac. p. 93.
• b 1.12

  Alcin. c. 14. p. 38. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉.
• c 1.13

  Gassend. in vitâ Peireskii. l. 1. p. 16. Ed. Hagae-Com. 1655.
• d 1.14

  See the Ba∣sil. Gem in Cuperi Harpocr. p. 14. ABPACA.—ZCIGI. If the disjoin'd Z belongs not to the first word: for Sigi needs it not.
• e 1.15

  See Epiphan. Haer. 24. and Haer. 26. Th•…•…od. de Haer. sab. l. 1. in Basilide. Et Iren. l. 1. c. 34. p. 134, 135.
• f 1.16

  S. Aug. Cat. Haer. c. 4. p. 10, 11.
• g 1.17

  Id. ibid. c. 3. in Saturnino. p. 〈◊〉〈◊〉, 9.
• h 1.18

  S. Hier. Tom. 6. p. 99.
• a 1.19

  Iren. l. 1. c. 12. p. 88.
• b 1.20

  Epiphan. Haer. 36.
• c 1.21

  Baron. Annal. Tom. 2. p. 72.
• d 1.22

  Timaeus Locr. de An. Mundi, p. 7.
• e 1.23

  Alcin. de Doct. Plat. c. 13. p. 31, &c.
• f 1.24

  Irenaeus adv. Haer. l. 1. c. 1. p. 1, &c. c. 12. p. 85, &c. l. 2. c. 24. p. 178, &c. c. 38. p. 190.
• a 1.25

  See Doctiss. Vind. Epist. S. Ignatii, par. 2. c. 6. p. 59, &c. p. 70, &c.
• b 1.26

  S. Aug. de Haer. c. 7. p. 22. Iren. l. 1. c. 24. p. 122, 123.
• c 1.27

  Cels. ap. Orig. l. 6. p. 290.
• d 1.28

  Orig. contr. Cels. ib p. 291.
• e 1.29

  Id. ib. p. 292.
• f 1.30

  See Epiphan. Haer. 37.
• g 1.31

  Iren. l. 1. c. 12. p. 88. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, &c.
• h 1.32

  S. Hieron. Tom. 6. op. p. 99.
• i 1.33

  Iren. l. 1. c. 1. p. 24. See Feu∣ardent. Annot. p. 47.
• a 1.34

  See Joh. Ma∣car. de Gemmis Basilid. cum Commentar. Joh. Chiffletii, 4. Antv. 1657.
• b 1.35

  See Epist. 119. to Is. Ca∣saub.
• c 1.36

  Gassend. in vitâ Peir. l. 1. p. 16.
• d 1.37

  See the Charm of Q. Serenus Sarmo∣nicus a Disci. of Basil. in Ba∣ron. Annal. Tom. 2. A. C. 120. p. 72, 73.
• e 1.38

  Consider well what is said (in Mari∣an. ap. Card. Raspon. de Ba∣sil. Later. l. 2.) of the original of the Popes Agnus Dei's: The Masons digging in the Vatican, found a Lamb of Wax in a Gol∣den Case, on which these words were engrav'd, Ma∣ria nostra flo∣rentissima, Mi∣chael, Gabriel, Raphael Arch∣angel, & Uriel. Simon, itseems, hath been at Rome.
• f 1.39

  Pignor. de Mensâ Isiacâ, p. 92.
• g 1.40

  See Hotting. Cipp. Hebratc. p. 138, 150, &c.
• h 1.41

  Iren. adv. Haer. l. 1. c. 24. p. 122, 123.
• a 1.42

  S. Aug. Cat. Haer. c. 〈◊〉〈◊〉. p. 1:
• b 1.43

  Id. ibid. c. 7. p. 22. de Car∣pocr.
• c 1.44

  Mr Thorn∣dike's just weights and measures, c. 2: p. 10.
• d 1.45

  Leo Max. Ser. 2. de Fest. Pent. Sect. 6. p. 75. Manichaeus—magister fals•…•…∣tatis diabolicae & conditor su∣perstitiouis ob∣scaenae, &c.
• e 1.46

  Lucus Holst. de vitâ & Script. P•…•…r∣phyr. p. 〈◊〉〈◊〉▪
• a 1.47

  S. Aug. l. 4. Confess. c. 7. Vanum Phan∣tasma & error meus, erat Deus meus.