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weli sus, that naturo and instruction V are lilio sata oster. d me have briossy assigned the cause. For instruction ha moniges man, and is harmoniaing mahos his naturat; and itis no matter Whether one Was made incli as he is is nature, or
At uat propheta, minstreis, and physicians, And sis foremost among mortal men, approach; Whenco spring goda supreme in hono s. '
Μm, then, genericalty considered, is formed in accordance missi sto idea os the connato spirit. For lio is not created formiess and shapetess in the workshop es nature, Where mysticatly tho production os man is accomptished, both artand essence being common. But the individuat man is stamped according to tho impression produced in tho soulis tho objects of his choice. Thus me say that Adam Waspersect, as far as respecis his formation; for nono of thodistinctive characteristics os the idea and sorm of man mers
anting to him; but in the act os coming into being horeceived perfection. And ho was justified by obedienco; this
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things that moW. And mani iness in man, Who is subjectio perturbation, as they say, mahes him Who partahes of it essentialty searless and invincibie; and angor is tho mind ssatellite in patience, and ondurance, and the like; and self- constraint and salutary senso are set over destre. But Godis impassible, free os anger, destituto os destre. And Ho isnot free os fear, in the sense of avoiding What is terriblo; or temperate, in the sense of having command of destres. For neither can tho nature os God fall in With anythingterribie, nor does God fide iear; just as Ho will not foet destre, so as to rule over destres. Accordin y that 'thagorean saying Was mysticatly ultered respecting us, that manought to becomo one; sor tho high priest himself is one, God being one in the immutabie state os tho perpetuat flow of good things. Nore the Saviour has taken away Wrath in and with lusi, wrath being lust of vengoance. For universallyllability to ieeling belongs to every hind of destre ; and man, when deified purely into a passioniess state, becomes a unit. As, then, those, Who at sea are held by an anchor, puli atthe anchor, but do not drag it to them, but drag themselves to the anchor; so those Who, according to the gnostic lise, dram God towards them, imperceptibly bring themselves to
the contemplativo lise, then, orae in Worshipping God attendsto himself, and through his oWn spoliess purification belloldstho holy God holily; for seincontrol, being present, Sure ingand contemplating itseli uninterruptedly, is as sar as possibio assimilated to God.
or disbolievo. In consequence, then, os our being equallymasters of each of the opposites, viat depends on us is found
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possibie. NON the commandmonis may be done or not done by us, Who, as is reasonablo, are liable to praise and blamo. And thos' again, Who are punished on account of Silas committed by them, are punished for them alone; sor What is done is past, and What is done can never be undone. Τhe
been done. But not ali,' says Basilides, but only sins involuntary and in ignorance, are torgiven; ' as Would be thocase Were it a man, and not God, that conserrod such a boon. Το such an one Scripture says, Thou thoughtest that Iwould bo liko theo.' But is wo are punishod sor voluntary sins, We are punished not that the sins whicli aro dono may bo undone, but because they were done. But punishment does not avail to him Who has sinnod, to undo his sin, but that he may sin no more; and that no one else fali intotho like. Theresore the good God corrocis sor these three causes: Firat, that he who is corrected may beconio bellerthan his formor seis; then that thoso who are capable of
aro tWo methods of correction-the instructive and the punitive, Which Wo have called tho disciplina . It ought to boknown, then, that those Who sali into sin astor baptism' arethose Who are subjected in disciplino; sor tho deods dono besore are remitted, and those done aster are purged. It is in reserence to the unbelleving that it is sald, that they arerechoned as tho chass whicli the wind drives trom the face of the earth, and the drop whicli salis from a vesset.'
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ΗAPPY he who possesses the culture os knowledge, and is uot moved to the injury of the citigens or to Wrong actions, but contemptates the undecaying order of immortat nature, hoW and in What way and mannor it subsista. To such thopraetice of base deeti attaches not.' Rightin then, Plato says, that the man who devotes himself to the contemplationos ideas mill livo as a god among men; no the mind is thoplace of ideas, and God is mind.' ΗΘ says that he who contemptates the unseen God lives as a god among men. Andin tho Sophiat, Socrates calis the stranger of Elea, Who Was a dialoetician, god Such are the gods who, lihe strangerguosis, frequent cities. For When the foui, rising above thesphere of generation, is by itiself apari, and dwelis amidstidoas,' liko tho Coryphaeus in Theaetetus, noW beeomo as an
God, then, being not a subject for demonstration, cannotho the object os science. But the Son is misdom, and knowledge, and truth, and ali else stat has amni thorato. Hois also susceptibio os demonstration and of description. Andali tho pomers of the Spirit, becoming collectively ono thinnterminate in tho fame potnt-that is, in tho Son. But Hois incapillo os being declared, in respect os the idea os cachone os His powers. And the Son is notther simply one thingas one thing, nor many things as paris, but One thing as allthings; Whenco also He is ali things. For He is tho circlo os ali powors rolled and united into one uni . Wherofore tho Word is called tho Alpha and the Omega, of Whom alone the
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not in lauch dead bodies, or approach the dead; not that the body was polluted, but that sin and disobedience were incarnate, and embodied, and dead, and thereiore abomin- able. It was only, then, When a faster and mollier, a sonand daughter died, that tho priest mas allo ed to enter, heca e these Were related only by flesh and seed, to Whomilio primi mas indebled for tho immediate causo of his en-tranco into lite. And they purisy themselves seven dus, the period in Which Creation Was consummated. For onino seventh day tho rest is celebrated; and on the eighth hobrings a propitiation, as is written in Egehiel, accorditig to Wbicli propitiation the promise is to bo received. Αnd thoperieci propitiation, I talis it, is stat propitious salth in thogospet whita is by the laW and the propheis, and the puritywhich shows iraeli in universat obedience, With the abandon-ment of ths things of the world; in ordor to that gratesul sum render of tho tabernacle, whicli resulta fram the enjoyment ostho mul. Whether, then, ths time bo that whicli throngii thoseon periods enumeraled retums to the chistest rest,' or thoseon heavens, which somo rectan ono above tho other; or.
Whether also the fixed sphoro which bordors on the intellectuat w id bo called the eighth, the expression denotes that the Gnostic ought to riso out of the sphere os creation and
of sin. Astor these seven dus, sacrifices are offered for sins.
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also He generaled us smm our mother-the water' For the intent of one generation succeeding another is to immortaligo
os God; V and tho glory of God is immortali ty. This is in
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And is any one Will inquire curiousty What they are, let him
THOSE, then, Who run doWn created existenco and vilisy thobody are Wrong; not considering that the framo of man was formed erect for the contemplation os heaven, and that theorganigation os the senses tends to knowledge; and that thomembers and pares are arranged sor good, not sor pleasure. Whence this abode becumes receptive of the foui Whicli is most
precious to God; and is dignified With tho Holy Spirit throughthe sanctification os mul and body, perfected With the persection os the Sariour. And tho succession of the three virtvesis found in the Gnostic, Who morally, physically, and logicallyoccupies himself With God. For Wisdom is tho knowledge of things divine and human ; and righteousnem is the concordos the paris os the wul; and holiness is the service of God. But is one mero to say that he disparaged the flesti, and gen ration on account of it, by quoting Isaiah, Who sus, Allnein is gram, and ali the glory of man as the floWer of grass:
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the grass is Withered, and the flower has fallen; but thoword of tho Lota endureth for over; in tot him heis tho Spirit interpreting the matter in question by Jeremia dΙ scatisred them liko dry sticis, that axe made to h by thowind into tho desert. Τhis is tho tot and portion of yourdis edience, salth the Lord. As thou hast formiten me, and hast trusted in lius, so mill I discover thy hinder paristo tis sace; and thy disgrace shali be seen, thy adulter'
NWays thereiore the good actions, as beller, attach to thebetier and ruling spirit; and voluptuous and sinsul actionsare attributed to the worse, the sinsul one. NoW the foui of the wise man and Gnostic, as sοjourning in tho bo in conducta iraeli toWaria it gravely and respect- fully, not with inordinate affections, as about is leave thetabernacle is the timo os departuro summon. I am a strangerin ius earin, and a solourner with you,'' it is said.' Andhence Basilides sus, that he apprehenda that the electionare strangers to the Worid, being supramundane is nature. But this is not tho case. For ali things ars of one God. d aio one is a stranger to the world by nature, their essence ing one, and God one. But tho eieci man dWelis M a
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comparison. d comparison obtains in the case of thingsthat fiat under resemblanco; as the more Vatiant man is mors vallant among thct Vatiant, and most Vatiant amongco arti. Whenco he adds, Wheroforo me strive, Whether present or absent, to bo accepted with Him, that is, God, Whose Work and creation aro ali things, both the worid and things supramundane. I admire Epicharmus, Who ciearly SVS:
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this man, as man excommunicate i. ' And another prophetsays again, Hear, o heaven; and give ear, O earth, ' callingunderstanding ear,'' and the foui os the Gnostic, that of thoman who has applied himself to the contemplation of heavenand divine things, and in this Way has become an Israelite,