ence 74 THE DECLINE AND FALL ^XV ^* ^^'^^^'^^^ *'^^^ *'^^ religion of the jews was somewliat less ! — criminal than the idolatry of the gentiles ; but it was their fundamental doctrine, that the Christ whom they adored as the first and brightest emanation of the Deity, appeared upon earth to rescue mankind from their various errors, and to reveal a new system of truth and perfection. The most learned of the fa- thers, by a very singular condescension, have impru- dently admitted the sophistry of the Gnostics. Ac- knowledging that the literal sense is repugnant to every principle of faith as well as reason, they deem them- selves secure and invulnerable behind the ample veil of allegory, which they carefully spread over every tender part of the Mosaic dispensation «. Their sects, It has been remarked with more ingenuity than progress, i. i i •• • n ^ t and inHu- "'utli, that the vu'gm purity of the church was never violated by schism or heresy before the reign of Trajan or Hadrian, about one hundred years after the death of Christ *". We may observe with much more pro- priety, that, during that period, the disciples of the Messiah were indulged in a freer latitude both of faith and practice, than has ever been allowed in succeeding ages. As the terms of communion were insensibly nar- rowed, and the spiritual authority of the prevailino- party was exercised with increasing severity, many of its most respectable adherents, who were called upon to renounce, were provoked to assert their private opinions, to pursue the consequences of their mistaken principles, and openly to erect the standard of rebellion against the unity of the church. The Gnostics were distinguished as the most polite, the most learned, and the most wealthy of the christian name; and that general appellation which expressed a superiority of knowledge, was either assumed by their own pride, or ironically bestowed by the envy of their adversaries. e See Beausobre, Hist, du Manicheisme, 1. i. c. 4. Origan and St, Au- gustm were among the allegorists.
- • Hegesippus ap. Euseb. 1. iii. 32. iv. 22 ; Clemens Alexandriu.
Stromal, vii. 17,
