Million Book Collection - The Fishers of Men Ministries

THE SECOND AGE OF THE MARTYR CHURCH.259absolute evil represented by matter: it denied thereality of the Incarnation ; it made the body aprinciple of evil in man's nature: but we will herelimit ourselves to the characteristic and formalprinciple of the system from which it derived itsname, to Gnosis as the means of acquiring divinetruth. Now the Christian religion taught that re-vealed truth was to be attained by the individualthrough receiving, upon the ground of the divineveracity, those mysterious doctrines superior butnot contrary to reason which it unfolded; and thatthe communication of such doctrines might continueunimpaired and unchanging, it taught thatour Lord had established a never-failing authoritycharged with the execution of this office, andassisted by the perpetual presence of His Spiritwith it to the end. But the Gnostics admittedonly in the case of the imperfect or natural manthat faith was the means for acquiring religioustruth; to the spiritual, the proper gnostic, gnosisshould take the place of faith: for to many a hea-then, accustomedunlimited philosophical speculation,the absolute subjection of the intellect todivine authority, required by the principle of faith,was repugnant. Now this Gnosis was in their mindnoted upon faith, but eitherLC science, or a supposed mtuiticth, which was not only to replace faith "the whole moral life, inasmuch as the completsto be wrought by