Affurance, no body could have been feduced by him at a Time when a great Number of the immediate (n) Difciples of the Apostles were still alive. To prove that he was an Impoftor, Origen (0), and after him Jerom (p), and all the modern Hiftorians (q), friendly accufe him of having wrote a Gofpel, and called it by his own Name; but the contrary is proved by Clement of Alexdria (r), who pofitively affirms, that what Bafilides wrote was only a Commentary; and by (s) Eufebe, who as exprefly fays that he wrote twenty-four Books on the Gospels; yet of all the Fathers none fhews lefs Partiality than Origen does; but the Truth is, that they hardly thought themselves bound by any Rules of Honour and Equity with refpect to Heretics. This Charge, as heavy. as it may appear, is, I think, fully evinced by the Inftances already alledged, and will be made out as clearly by thofe I intend to relate.

In the Days of Bafilides, and for several Ages before him, it was customary for Men of Fortune, who ftudied Philofophy, to travel

(2) Claruit Anno 1.12.

Cave Hift. Lit. fæcul. Gnoftic. (0) In Luc. hom. i. p. 210. (p) Præf. in Matth. (q) Vid. Clerici Hift. 2. primor. fæcul. anno 118. 123. P. 573. & & 588. Cave ub. fup. (r) Strom. lib. iv. p. 506. (s) Ub. fup. Ambrof. Proem. in Luc. Vid. & Fabricii Cod. Apa cryph. N. T.

travel through several Countries, in order to be acquainted with the various philofophical Systems then prevailing. This Method of Inftruction he purfued with great Success. He went to Perfia, frequented the Schools of the Magi, who were in great Repute, adopted fome of their Notions on the Origin of Evil, and brought them over to his native Land. This we learn from a Fragment of his Works preserved (tho' most imperfectly, and probably much adulterated) by Hegemonius (t), in his Acts of Archelaus Bishop of Mefopotamia. You may spare yourfelyes the Trouble, fays Bafilides (u), of enquiring what are the feveral Opinions ' of Men on the Cause and Origin of Good and Evil; what the Philofophers of the Eaft have taught on that Subject is worth all the reft. Some of them fay, that there are two Principles, from which all the 'Good and Evil proceed; that these two Principles, which they call Light and Darkness, are eternal, without Beginning, felf-exifting, and both of them fatisfied with their own Share, because each of them loves what fits him, and neither imagines he is Evil itself. These two Principles

(t) Published at Rome by Mr. Zaccagni under the following Title, Monumenta Ecclefie Graca & Latina, Folio, 1698. (u) Ibid. p. 101. Vid. & Grabii Spicil. Patr: fæcul. ii. Tom. ii. P. 39.

ciples happening at laft to know one another, Darkness had no fooner perceived Light than it fell in love with it, as being more excellent, and began to ftrive at being mixed with it.' These are the Grounds of what went afterwards under the Name of Manichæifm; a fhocking Hypothesis, I own, but perhaps much lefs fo than fome Systems of Divinity, which have been the uppermoft for Ages together, under the Sanction of thundering Orthodoxy, and in fpite of Reafon and the Gofpel. To imagine two felf-exifting Beings, is indeed an Abfurdity, but of. fuch a Nature however, as not to rob the Almighty of his Goodness, and unlikely to have any bad Influence over our Morals: Whereas the Notion of an Only and All-perfect Being, who willeth and decreeth the Wickedness of his Creatures, and their Mifery without End, is to the full as abfurd, and withal most impious, as it reprefents him deftitute of Goodness and Equity, effectually deftroys the effential Difference between Good and Evil, and must of courfe drive, either into Defpair, or into Unrighteoufnefs, the unhappy Man who adopts it; unless his Heart be ftored with moral Feelings ftrong enough to over-bear and get, in Practice, the better of his wretched Principles.

What

1

What Bafilides relates, as the Opinion of the Perhan Magi about the Love between Light and Darkness, muft not be taken literally.' Every Body knows their Allegoric way of expreffing themfelves; and were the Writings of the Antients, and the Bible itself, judged of according to our way of thinking and writing, they would appear to us full of childish Thoughts aud Inconfiftences. Nor did he inconfiderately receive this Syftem of theirs, but new moulded, and endeavoured to adapt it to the Christian Doctrine. We would think he made it much worse than it was originally, were we to receive the account given of it by Irenæus, Tertullian, Eufebe, Jerom, Epi. phanius and others. Here is an Abstract of the fair Description made of his Principles by Irenæus (a). Power and Wisdom have produced the Principalities of the first Order: Thefe created the Powers of the fecond Clafs, and fo on to the number • of three hundred and fixty five. Each • Clafs have their own Prince, and formed the Heaven they inhabit. The first of 'them is called Abraxas; and the most inferior Prince created our World, Man and Beasts, and had the Jews under his • Govern

་

- (a) Iren. lib. i. c. 23. vid. et Athanaf. cont. Arian. Orat, â. p. 202.

Government.

He endeavoured to fubdue

created this the Word of Ifraelites from

' all other Nations of the Earth (b), was ged War with the Angels, Protectors of 'thofe People, and has been the Cause of all Blood fpilt between the Jews and the Gentiles. The Doctrine and Oracles of the Prophets owe their Origin to those Angels that have • World ;-and the Law is ⚫ that Angel, who freed the the Egyptian Yoke.-When God faw the • Perdition of the World, he sent his firstBorn, the Intelligence (N) to refcue thofe, that should believe in him, from the Power of the creating Angels.He appeared as if he had been a Man, and made a great number of Miracles; He was not crucified, but having lent his own Figure to Simon the Cyrenian, the Jews crucified him inftead of the Lord, who in the mean while was looking`at them and laughing at their Mistake.'There will be no fuch Thing as a Refurrection of the Flefh.- Debauchery of the worst Kind is but an indifferent Thing.- -And Martyrdom is not an Act pleafing to the Almighty'.

This

(b) This opinion of Wars waged between the feveral Angels Protectors of the World, was alfo a Tenet of fome Fathers, vide Affeman. Biblioth. Orient. Tom. i. p. 78.