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17 Of the number, costliness, and heathenish origin of those gems called Abraxæi

18 Of the derivation and meaning of the word Abraxas, and to what the Basilideans applied it

19 It probably referred to their philosophical Arcana

20 The gems called Abraxai were used by the heathens as charms

21 The Christians accused by Adrian of worshipping Scrapis

20 An examination of Montfaucon's figures

23 These gems were undoubtedly of heathenish origin

24 From hence came the superstitious custom of writing Abrasadabra as a charm

25 Beausobre's Observations on Chifflet, and arguments against these gems being Christian; first,

from the incredibility of the thing: secondly, from the silence of the fathers

26 Farther observations on Chifflet

27 of the names of angels found on those gems.

28 Conclusions drawn from the foregoing observations

29 Of the scriptures received by Basilides

1 He did not pay great regard to the Old Testament

2 He received the whole, or at least the greater part of the New

30 Of the gospel of Basilides

33 These things prove the authenticity and wide-spread of the scriptures of the New Testament

31 Of the prophets Barcabbas and Barcoph

52 Of the Odes of Basilides

OF CARPOCRATES AND HIS FOLLOWERS.

1 Some account of Carpocrates and Epiphanes, from Clement of Alexandria and other ancient authors

2. Of the time in which Carpocrates lived

7 Of marking their disciples and incensing the pictures of Christ and others

8 A general view of what they believed

9 They are accused of asserting that there is no difference in the nature of things

10 And of practising the grossest impurities in their assemblies

11 The utter improbability of these accusations shewn from a variety of considerations.

12 What scriptures they received

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OF PRODICUS AND HIS FOLLOWERS.

1 Of the account of him from Clemens Alexandrinus

2 Theodoret's account of him, in which he is far from being exact

ib..

3 Observations on Clement, which render it probable that his followers were not such licentious livers

as they are said to have been

4 They are accused of believing the uselessness of prayer

5 From the arguments used against them by Clement it appears that they respected Christ and the

6 They are accused of denying the necessity of suffering for religion

7 of the time and general character of Prodicus and his followers

CHAPTER VI.

OF THE ADAMIANS, OR ADAMITES.

1 The account of these people from Epiphanius and Austin

2 Considerations tending to prove there never were such heretics

3 An objection taken from the practice of the Gnostics, and answers

4 An objection taken from Theodoret's assertion, that Prodicus instituted the sect of the Adamites,

CHAPTER VII.

OF MARC AND HIS FOLLOWERS, CALLED MARCOSIANS.

1 Of his time, his country, and the sect from which he sprang

2 He is accused of being a magician

3 He is said to have had an assisting dæmon, and to have used various arts of deceiving

4 Some observations upon these accusations

5 The Marcosians are said to have regarded the letters of the alphabet as mysterious

6 They are unjustly accused of holding two principles, and being Doceta

7 They continued in the practice of Baptism and the Eucharist

8 Of their opinion concerning Jesus Christ

9 Of their rites of redemption, and the meaning of them, as given by Rhenford

10 They believed the facts recorded in the gospels

11 They received the scriptures both of the Old and New Testament

12 A particular enumeration of the books of the New Testament used by them

13 Of their apocryphal books

1 Ancient writers who speak of him, and of the time when he lived

2 He was a follower of Valentinus, with whose opinions his sentiments nearly corresponded

3 Commentaries were written by him on several parts of scripture

4 Containing remarks on the foregoing passages, particularly concerning what parts of scripture he

3 He was an admirer of virginity, and is said to have recanted his errors

4 What scriptures were received by him

OF MARCION AND HIS FOLLOWERS.

1 Some general account of him from Irenæus

2 Of the time in which he lived

6 Some reason to suspect it was the invention of Epiphanius

7 He began to propagate his errors in his own country, for which he was expelled by his father

S His way of life was very unsettled

9 He had a great number of followers

10 Of his opinions, and the number of principles which he held

11 His notion of the Creator, and the world formed by him, and the God superior to him

12 The Marcionite idea of the difference between good and just

13 The good God was the maker of beings spiritual and invisible

14 The Marcionites erroneous in dividing the Deity

15 They were believers in a future judgment, and in the necessity of human actions

16 They thought the soul, but not the bodies of the virtuous would be happy in a future state

17 The belief of a transmigration ascribed to them by Epiphanius

18 Some account of their notion that Christ delivered the wicked but left the good

19 Marcion's opinion of the person of Christ that he was not a real man

20 Tertullian's arguments against this notion

21 Marcion believed there were to be two Christs

22 He allowed the truth of our Saviour's miracles

23 And of his death

24 And resurrection

25 And of the principal facts related concerning him

26 The manners of the Marcionites were virtuous, and they had many martyrs

27 They contemned marriage, and highly extolled virginity

28 They fasted on the Sabbath

29 They celebrated Baptism and the Eucharist, but were somewliat irregular in the administration

33 He mutilated the New Testament wherever it contained quotations from the Old

34 He framed antitheses to shew the opposition of the law to the gospel

36 He rejected the genealogy and baptism of our Saviour

35 Marcion received but eleven books of the New Testament, and of the gospels only that of St.

Luke, and this mutilated

37 He also rejected the history of the temptation

38 An account of many other alterations inade by him in St. Luke's gospel

39 There is a sufficient number of texts remaining to confute his errors

40 The catholic Christians asserted the antiquity of the unmutilated gospel

41 Marcion rejected the Acts of the apostles

42 And received only ten epistles of St. Paul, and most of these altered

43 Of the alterations and omissions of Marcion in the epistle to the Galatians

44 In the first epistle to the Corinthians

49 In the epistle to the Ephesians, called by him the epistle to the Laodiceans

50 He probably did not much alter the epistle to the Colossians

51 Nor at all that to Philemon

52 Nor but little that to the Philippians

53 An argument from hence in favour of the authenticity of the New Testament.

OF LUCIAN, OR LEUCIUS.

1 Some general account of him from ancient authors, with observations thereon

2 Of the time when he lived

3 Of his opinions

4 Some observations on his notion about the souls of brutes and the resurrection of them

5 A belief in another kind of resurrection, ascribed to him by Tertullian

6 Some general account of his writings

7 Some observations on the assertion of Mr. Jones that Leucius was a Manichec

8 Leucius was the author of the History of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary

9 The writer of it not a Jew

10 The Protevangelion, or Gospel of James, was composed by Leucius

11 A current tradition that Joseph was a widower, and had children by a former wife

12 Passages in Epiphanius referring to the Gospel of the Nativity and the Protevangelion

13 Observations on some of the contents of these two Gospels

14 Leucius is thought to have interpolated the Gospel of the infancy

15 He was the forger of the Gospel of Nicodemus

16 Two other Gospels ascribed to Leucius

17 Of the traditions of Matthias. It is rather uncertain what they were

18 Leucius was the author of the forged Acts, or Journeying of the apostles

19 Some account of the contents of this book

20 These forgeries prove the truth of the canonical scriptures

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11 In other matters he generally agreed with Marcion

12 He did not pay any great regard to the Old Testament

13 His sentiments about the New Testament probably not very different from Marcion's

14 It is likely he rejected the beginning of St. Matthew's gospel as well as that of St. Luke

15 He treated the scriptures just as Marcion did, by receiving part, and rejecting what did not suit

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1 Some general observations concerning these Heretics, and the Ophites and Cainites

2 Epiphanius's account of the Sethians

4 They spoke of Seth in a very honourable manner

5 They ascribed the creation of the world to angels

6 They believed that Jesus Christ descended from Seth in an extraordinary way

7 By Christ who descended upon Jesus they probably meant the Holy Ghost

S An account of what books they used

1 Some account of the accusations brought against them, from Epiphanius and Irenæus

2 Observations tending to shew the incredibility of these accounts

ib.

3 That the denoinination Cainites arose from a way of speaking among the Sethians, rendered pro-

bable by passages from scripture and other writings

4 There never was a sect of Christians who called themselves Cainites, or who professed the princi-

ples above described

OF THE OPHIANS, OR OPHITES.

1 The Ophians are said by Irenæus and Theodoret to be the same with the Sethians

2 Very different representations given of these people by Epiphanius and others

3 Origen's account of the Ophians, with some observations thereon

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4. Two observations on what Epiphanius says about him

5 The scriptures of the Old and New Testament were received by him

6 There were several of the same name in the second century

7 Theodotus the banker, is generally supposed to be the author of the sect of the Melchisedechians

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7 He ascribed to matter an irregular motion, but introduced no cons

8 No distinct account of his opinion concerning the person of Jesus Christ

9 Some other opinions of his about the origin of the soul, human liberty, the devil, dæmons, and a

future judgment

10 He never set up a separate communion

11 His testimony to scripture

12 He received both the Old and New Testament

13 No account of any writings of his

OF THE MONTANISTS.

ib.

3 From whence they derived their name, and of the extent and continuance of their opinions

4 Where Montanus was born, and of certain reproaches cast on him and his followers

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