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HISTORY OF HERETICS, &c.

BOOK THE FIRST.

GENERAL OBSERVATIONS CONCERNING HERETICS.

SECTION I.,

a

The Meaning of the Word Heresy.

b

HERESY, in Greek, signifies election or choice, and is used for any opinion which a man chooseth as best, or most probable.

Heresy and heretic are often used by ancient writers as words of indifferent meaning. And the several ways of philosophizing were called sects or heresies.

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Instances of the innocent meaning of the word heresy occur in the New Testament, Acts v. 17. “Then the high-priest rose up, and all they that were with him, which is the sect of the Sadducees." Ch. xv. 5. "Then rose up certain of the sect of the Pharisees, which believed." xxvi. 5. "After the strictest sect of our religion I lived a Pharisee."

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Josephus, in like manner, speaking of the Pharisees, Sadducees, and Essenes, calls them sects or heresies, without any mark of censure. They were the several ways of philosophizing among the Jews. *

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In several places of the epistles of the New Testament, as 1 Cor. xi. 19. Gal. v. 20. 2 Pet. ii. 1. Tit. iii. 1o. the words heresy and heretic are used in a bad sense. Nor is it, I apprehend, void of reproach in Acts xxiv. 5, where Tertullus, the orator, pleading before Felix, says of Paul: "We have found this man a pestilent fellow-and' a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes. Nor does the meaning appear quite innocent in Acts xxviii. 22. "As concerning this sect we know that it is every where spoken against." Nor in chap. xxiv. 14. "But this I confess unto thee, that after the way which they call heresy, so worship I the God of my fathers, believing all things which are written in the law and the prophets." Where the apostle honestly owns before Felix that he was a Christian, or of that way which most of the Jewish people called heresy, or a sect, a new sect or heresy. At the same time he intimates, (though without being very solicitous to avoid the imputation) that the scheme and principles professed and taught by him, was so agreeable to the law and the prophets, that there hardly was sufficientreason to call it heresy, or to reckon the followers of it a new and distinct sect.

a Alperis autem Græce ab electione dicitur: quod scilicet eam sibi unusquisque eligat disciplinam, quam putat esse meliorem. Hieron. ad Galat. cap. v. Tom.. 4. P. i. p. 302. Conf. Suicer. V. Aiperis, et Cleric. H. E. An. 83. n. ii. iii. Ο Αίρεσις η λογῳ τινι κατα το φαινόμενον ακολοθεσα, η doneσa axoλfev. Suid. Vid. et Diog. Laërt. lib. i. proœm. sect. 19, 20.

• Ἱπποβοτος δεν εννεα φησιν αἱρεσεις ειναι των φιλοσοOur nas aywyas. Suid. et Diog. Laërt. ibid. Opiniones omnium philosophorum, qui sectas varias condideruntsex non parvis voluminibus quidam Celsus absolvit. Augustin. de Hær. in Præf.

d Cato autem perfectus Stoïcus, et ea sentit, et in eâ est hæresi, &c. Cicero. Paradox. Intro. Ed. Verbrug. pars 10. Tom. 15.p. 3820. • Η εσα αίρεσις των Σαδδεκαίων.

* Γίνες των από της αίρεσεως των Φαρισαίων.

• Κατα την ακριβεςατην αίρεσιν της ημετερας θρησκείας.

VOL. IV.

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Ηςξαμην τε πολιτεύεσθαι, τη φαρισαίων αίρεσει κατακο λείων, ἡ παραπλήσιος επί τη παρ Ελλησι ζωϊκη λεγομενή. Joseph. Vit.n. 2. -γενος δε σφόδρα λαμπρο, της δε Φαρι σαίων αίρεσεως. Ib. n. 38. Κατα δε τον χρονον τ8τον τρεις αίρεσεις των Ιεδαίων ησαν ών ή μεν Φαρισαίων ελέγετο, ή δε Σαδδεκαίων, ἡ τρίτη δε Εσσηνων. Antiq. Jud. l. 13. c. v. n. 9. i Τρια γαρ παρα Ιεδαίοις ειδη φιλοσοφείται, και το μεν αἱρετισαι Φαρισαιοι, τε δε Εαδδεκαίοι, τρίτον δε, ὁ δε και δοκει CEUVOTyta aokeiv, Econvoi xaλevral. De B. I. 1. 2. c. 8. n. 2. Ιεδαίοις φιλοσοφιαι τρεις ησαν. Antiq. 1. 18. c. i. n. 2.

Of the Jewish sects may be seen more at large in this work, Vol. i. p. 66-72.

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πρωτοσάτην τε της των Ναζωραίων αἱρέσεως.

Περι μεν γαρ της αίρεσεως ταύτης. κ. λ.

-κατα την όδον, ἦν λεγεσιν αίρεσιν.

The reader, if he thinks fit, may see what was said formerly upon this text, Vol. i. p. 104, 105.

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Among Christians these words are very frequently taken in a bad sense: the reason of which seems to lie in what Tertullian says, with a view to the primary meaning of the word heresy, viz. a chosen opinion and doctrine: that there should be no heresies among Christians, and that a heretic forfeits the character of a Christian, forasmuch as there is nothing left to their invention. They ought all to adhere to the doctrine taught by, and received from Christ and his apostles, who have delivered all the principles of true religion.

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Therefore he says that Marcion is plainly convicted to be a heretic, because he had chosen a faith different from what he had received in the catholic church. And Adam, he says, may be called a heretic, because he made a choice contrary to the divine order.

And with regard to the presumption of those men who introduced new opinions, he pleasantly says that invention is an heretical privilege, and that heretics, as well as poets and painters, have a certain license allowed them.

And it is no uncommon thing for catholic writers to blame those called heretics, who took to themselves a particular denomination from some one man or leader. So particularly Justin Martyr. And we have seen upon divers occasions, how the most rational and understanding Christians disclaimed all names but that of their master Jesus Christ.

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We may here take notice of an observation of some learned moderns, that though in Christian writers heresy is often used as equivalent to opinion, and particularly a wrong opinion, or false doctrine; yet that is not the most ancient sense of the word, but sect or party. And indeed it must be so understood in several passages alleged at the beginning of this article.

I may just add, that Chrysostom, Theodoret, and others, whose words are cited by Suicer, do not by heretics, in 1 Cor. xi. 19, understand wrong opinions, but contentions and divisions.

SECTION II.

It is difficult to define what is Heresy, or who is an Heretic.

BUT though so much has been said for settling the meaning of the word, it is not easy to shew by an exact definition what is heresy, or who is an heretic. Thus much is acknowledged

• Sed et in omni pene epistolà de adulterinis doctrinis fugiendis inculcans, hæreses taxat, quarum opera sunt adulteræ doctrinæ, hæreses dictæ Græcâ voce ex interpretatione electionis, quâ quis sive ad instituendas, sive ad suscipiendas eas utitur. Nobis vero nihil ex nostro arbitrio inducere licet, sed nec eligere quod aliquis de arbitrio suo induxerit. Apostolos Domimi habemus auctores, qui nec ipsi quidquam ex suo arbitrio, quod inducerent, elegerunt; sed acceptam a Christo disciplinam fideliter nationibus adsignaverunt. De Præscr. Hær. c. 6. p. 232. B. p. 202. Ed. Fran.

b Si enim hæretici sunt, Christiani esse non possunt, non a Christo habendo quod de suâ electione sectati hæreticorum nomina admittunt. Ib. cap. 37. p. 245. p. 212. Ed. Fran.

• Si propheta es, prænuntia aliquid: si apostolus, prædica publice: si apostolicus, cum apostolis senti: si tantum Christianus es, crede quod traditum est. Si nihil istorum es, merito dixerim, morere. Nam et mortuus es, qui non es Christianus, non credendo quod creditum Christianos facit. Id. de Carne Chr. cap. 2. p. 358. p. 298. Ed. Fran. Unde autem extranei et inimici apostolis hæretici, nisi ex diversitate doctrinæ, quam unusquisque de suo arbitrio adversus apostolos aut protulit, aut recepit? De Præscr. Hær. c. 37. p. 212. Ed.

Fran.

• Marcion Deum, quem invenerat, exstincto lumine fidei suæ, amisit. Non negabunt discipuli ejus, primam illius fidem nobiscum fuisse, ipsius literis testibus; ut hinc jam destinari possit hæreticus, qui deserto quod prius fuerat, id postea sibi elegerit, quod retro non erat, &c. Ady. Marc. 1. i. c. i. p. 431. A. p. 350. Ed. Fraf.

Aut quis dubitabit, ipsum illud Adæ delictum hæresin pronuntiare, quod per electionem suæ potius quam divinæ' sententiæ admisit?Rudis admodum hæreticus fuit. Non obaudiit. Non tamen blasphemavit Creatorem, &c. Adv. M. 1. 2. c. 2. p. 454. C. D. p. 368. Ed. Fran.

Licuit et Valentino, ex privilegio hæretico, carnem Christi spiritalem comminisci. Quidvis eam fingere potuit, quisquis humanam credere noluit. De C. C. cap. 15. p. 370. p. 306. Ed. Fran.

8 si forte poetica, et pictoria licentia, et tertia jam hæretica. Adv. Marc. 1. i. c. 3. in. p. 431. p. 351.

Η Και εισιν αυτών, οἱ μεν τινες καλεμενοι Μαρκιανοι, οἱ δε Ουαλεντιανοί, οἱ δὲ Βασιλειδιανοι, οι δε Σατορνιλιανοι, και aλ a ovoμati, anо to a Ty Dons Exa50s. άλλοι αλλα ονόματι, από το αρχηγείο της γνώμης έκαςος. ονομαζομενος. ἐν τροπον και έκαςος των φιλοσοφειν νομίζονταν

από το πατρός τε λόγε το ονομα ής φιλοσόφει φιλοσοφίας yeaι Ege. Dialog. cum Tr. p. 253, 254. Paris, 1636. iSee Vol. ii. p. 399, 420, 531.

Postea etiam hæreses dictæ vulgo apud Christianos opiniones ipsæ, eæque a rectâ doctrinâ abhorrentes, et hæretici vocati, qui eas tuebantur: quamvis peculiarem nullam sectam, quæ seorsim a cæteris Christianis ageret, condere adgrederentur. Quo tamen sensu in Apostolorum scriptis non, occurrunt. Cleric. H. E. An. 83. n. iii.

Diximus vocem aigerews hac tertia significatione sumi, 1 Cor. xi. 19. Hic tamen dissimulandum non est, veteres non intelligere doctrinam orthodoxia contrariam, sed contentiones, &c. Suicer. V. Aigeois. p. 119, 120.

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by Augustine, who says that every heresy is an error, but every error is not an heresy. In another place he says, It seems to him that heresy is, when a man for the sake of glory or power, or other secular advantages, either invents, or embraces and follows new and false opinions: and he thinks there is a great difference between such a one, and another who is deluded by him under the specious appearances of truth or piety. This will acquit many from the charge of heresy, or very much abate their guilt.

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However, for better understanding this matter we may farther observe, that it is generally allowed that a heretic is one who professeth to be a Christian, but is not supposed to be of the church, having either separated himself from it, or been excluded from it by others. Such descriptions of heretics are very common in Augustine and Tertullian, who says that heretics have no communion with other Christians, but are strangers without the church.

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But whether they were allowed by others to be Christians or not, they always called themselves Christians, and laid claim to that character. What is said of the Valentinians by so ancient a writer as Irenæus is very observable. When the ecclesiastical (or orthodox) Christians refused to converse with them, they complained of it as hard usage, since they held the same or like doctrine with them. Lactantius says that all heretics affirmed that they were the best Christians and the catholic church. To the like purpose Salvian: they believe what they profess to be true; and they think themselves to be orthodox. As they are heretics in our esteem, so are we in theirs. And as for those of the two first centuries who called themselves Christians, and professed faith in Jesus, what good reason can there be to dispute their veracity and integrity? The profession of the Christian name was not then the way to honour, profit, or pleasure.

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Jerom says that heresy is an opinion different from the right interpretation of scripture. He therefore who holds such an opinion may be a heretic, though he is not separated from the church.' Nay' he supposeth that pastors of the church may teach heresy.

a Non enim omnis error hæresis est: quamvis omnis hæresis, quæ in vitio ponitur, nisi errore aliquo hæresis esse non possit. Quid ergo faciat hæreticum, regulari quâdam definitione comprehendi, sicut ego existimo, aut omnino non potest, aut difficillime potest. Quod in processu hujus operis declarabitur. De Hæresib. pr. Tom. 8. Tom. 6. f. 3. D. Vene. 1570.

Nunc vero, cum inter hæc duo plurimum intersit; quandoquidem hæreticus est, ut mea fert opinio, qui alicujus temporalis commodi, et maxime gloriæ principatusque sui gratiâ, falsas ac novas opiniones vel gignit, vel sequitur. Ille autem, qui hujusmodi hominibus credit, homo est imaginatione quâ dam veritatis ac pietatis illusus. De Util. Cred. c. i. in. Tom. 8. T. 6. 29 E.

• Παντες οἱ απο τε των όρμωμενοι, ως εφημεν, Χρισιανοι naheyrai. Just. M. Ap. ii. p. 70. B.- -T018T85 EIVAL avδρας, ὁμολογώντας ἑαυτές είναι Χρισιανες, και τον σαυςοθεντα 1ησεν ὁμολογειν, και κυριον και Χρισον, και μη τα εκεινε διδαγ Mara didaσxovras Dial. cum. Tryph. p. 253. A. Vid. ib. É. Itaque ille hæreticus, siquidem de his nobis sermo est, qui se Christianos dici volunt. Aug. de util. cred. c. 14. n. 30. in. T., 8. T. 6. 35. E. Insidiantur hæretici, pallio velati nominis Christiani. Enarr. in PS. LX. p. 5. T. 4. T. 8. 202. F. Et vos, et omnes hæretici, qui quoquo modo Christiani appellantur. Contr. Faust. 1. 20. c. x. sub fin. T. 8. T. 6. 117. M. Et quoniam quoquo modo Christianum se videri cupit. Contr. Advers. L. et Pto. 1. i. c. i. T. 8. T. 6. 188. M.

d Qui ergo in ecclesiâ Christi morbidum aliquid pravumque sapiunt, si correpti, ut sanum rectumque sapiant, resistunt contumaciter, suaque pestifera et mortifera dogmata emendare nolunt, sed defensare persistunt, hæretici fiunt, et foras exeuntes habentur in exercitibus inimicis. Aug. De Civ. Dei. 1. 18. c. 51. T. 7. T. 5. 184. A. Extolluntur inde, et superbiunt inde, et videntur sibi sapientes. Hoc autem contigit omnibus hæreticis; qui cum essent animales et carnales defendendo sententias suas pravas, quas falsas esse non potuerunt videre, exclusi sunt de catholicâ. Ejusd. Enarr. in Ps. cxxx. c. 9. T. 4. T. 8. 502. A. Baptizatum autem posse separari ab Ecclesiâ quis dubitavit? Inde quippe omnes bære

ses exierunt, quæ vocabulo Christiano decipiunt. Id. De Baptism. Contr. Donat. 1. 5. c. 15. n. 20. T. 9. T. 7. 142. K. Statim enim ut unaquæque heresis existebat, et a congregatione catholicæ communionis exibat-lb. cap. 19. n. 24. T. 7. 143. E.

e Hæretici autem nullum habent consortium nostræ disciplinæ, quos extraneos utique testatur ipsa ademptio communicationis. Non debeo in illis cognoscere quod mihi est præceptum, quia non idem Deus est nobis et illis, nec unus Christus, id est, idem, ideoque nec baptismus unus, quia non idem. De Baptism. c. 15. p. 262. D. p. 224. Ed. Fran.

f Qui etiam queruntur de nobis, quod, cum similia nobiscum sentiant, sine causâ abstineamus nos a communicatione eorum, et cum eadem dicant, et eamdem habeant doctrinam, vocemus eos hæreticos. Iren. 1. 3. c. xv. n. 2. p. 203. p. 237. Ed. Grab. Ox. 1702.

8 Sed tamen quia singuli quique cœtus hæreticorum se potissimum Christianos, et suam esse catholicam ecclesiam putant, sciendum est, &c. Instit. 1. 4. c. ult. p. 450. p. 519. Ed. Walchii Lips. 1715.

h Hæretici ergo sunt, sed non scientes. Denique apud nos sunt hæretici, apud se non sunt. Nam in tantum se catholicos esse judicant, ut nos ipsos titulo hæreticæ appellationis infament. Salvian. De Gub. 1. 5. p. 100, p. 153. Ox. 1633.

Nihil enim causæ erat, cur Valentiniani videri vellent Christiani, a cujus nominis societate iis temporibus nil commodi sperari poterat, sed potius mala omnia. Heuman. ap. Act. Lips. Mens. April. 1712. p. 176.

Algeris autem Græce ab electione dicitur. Quicumque igitur aliter scripturam intelligit, quam sensus Spiritus Sancti flagitat, quo conscripta est, licet de Ecclesià non recesserit, tamen hæreticus appellari potest; et de carnis operibus est, eligens quæ pejora sunt. Hieron. in Gal. c. 5. T. 4. P. i.

p. 302.

Possumus autem hoc juxta tropologiam et de Ecclesiæ principibus intelligere, qui tamen non digne regunt oves Domini-Perdunt oves pastores, qui docent. In Jerem. c. xxiïì. T. 3. p. 634.

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Elsewhere he speaks of heretics being excluded from the church. At other times he says that heretics withdraw and separate themselves from the church; as does Cyprian also in a passage cited by us formerly.

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Origen seems to have supposed that great errors only ought to be reckoned heresies, such as those of Marcion, Valentinus, and Basilides, and some others, who did not believe the same God to have been the God of the Old and New Testament.

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SECTION III.

Of the Causes of Heresies.

We need not solicitously inquire into the causes of heresies, or the moving principles of heretics. It is well known that heresies have been often ascribed to pride, a love of preeminence, envy, revenge, disappointed ambition, love of sensual 'pleasure, a desire to be wise and knowing above others, and curiosity to search out the reason of all things, and to other faulty causes and principles: which indeed may have very much contributed to the great variety of opinions which there has been among Christians; from which those who are called catholics, and who have been generally esteemed orthodox, have not been always free.

One cause already hinted, of no small effect in this affair, may have been an eager curiosity to pry into and know every thing. Too curious inquiries into the origin of evil seem to have misled many men. The question was difficult, and they went into several opinions, some of which were wrong and absurd. Their prejudices and their arguments upon this head occur in 1 Tertullian, Epiphanius, Jerom, and others, as we shall see more particularly hereafter.

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a Omnis enim hæreticus nascitur in Ecclesiâ, sed de Ecclesiâ projicitur: et contendit, et pugnat contra Ecclesiam. In Jerem. cap. xxii. p. 631.

b Propterea vero a semet ipso dicitur damnatus, quia fornicatoret cætera vitia, per sacerdotes de Ecclesiâ propelluntur. Hæretici autem in semetipsos sententiam ferunt, suo arbitrio de Ecclesiâ recedentes. Quæ recessio propriæ conscientiæ videtur esse damnatio. Inter hæresim et schisma hoc esse arbitrantur, quod hæresis perversum dogma habeat. Schisma propter episcopalem dissensionem ab Ecclesiâ separetur, &c. Id. ad Tit. iii. T. 4. p. 439. Conf. eund. in Js. c. xxii. T. 3. p. 196. See Vol. ii. p. 22.

d Quid vero sit hæreticus homo, pro viribus nostris secundum quod sentire possumus, describamus. Omnis qui se Christo credere profitetur, et tamen alium Deum Legis et Prophetarum, alium Evangeliorum Deum dicit, et Patrem Domini nostri Jesu Christi, non eum dicit esse, qui a Lege et Prophetis prædicatur, sed alium nescio quem, ignotum omnibus-Hujusmodi homines hæreticos designamus sicut sectatores Marcionis, et Valentini, et Basilidis, et ii qui se Ethnianos appellant-sed et Apelles-Pamph. pro Orig. Apol. ap. Hieron. Tom. v. p. 226.

• Omnes tument, omnes scientiam pollicentur. Ante sunt perfecti catechumeni, quam edocti. Ipsæ mulieres hæretica, quam procaces! Tertullian. De Pr. Hær. cap. xli. 111.213. Fran. Quis enim hæreticorum non superbus est? Qui ecclesiasticam despiciens simplicitatem, ita habeat Ecclesiæ homines quasi bruta animalia, et in tantum superbiæ injuriæque tumore erigitur, ut contra ipsum Creatorem armet os suum. Hieron. in Is. cap. xvi. T. 3. p. 171. Hæretici matrem habent iniquitatis suæ superbiam, dum semper altiora scire se jactitant, et in Ecclesiæ contumeliam debacchantur. Id. in Osee. cap. v. p. 1266. Et quia semper hæretici tumentes superbiâ, et incidentes in laqueum diaboli, magna sibi promittunt. Id. in Amos. cap. iv. p. 1402. Vide hæreticos in dialecticâ sibi et rhetoricà, et omnium sophismatum dogmatibus applaudentes, contemnere Ecclesiæ rusticitatem, &c. In Sophon. ib. p.

1664. Egenum et pauperem intellige ecclesiasticum virum, qui veritatis simplicitate contentus, hæreticorum supellectilem, et eloquentiæ fulgorem, argumentorumque divitias, non requirit. Id. in Amos. cap. iv. p. 1398. Omnes enim hæreticorum principes intumescunt superbiâ, &c. In Amos cap. ii. Quis enim hæreticorum non in superbiam extollitur, Ecclesiæ simplicitatem parvi pendens, et fidem imperitiam rèputans. Id. in Abd. c. i. p. 1458. fin.

1383.

* Ούτος [Μοντανος] οις ρηθεις ερωτι φιλαρχίας παρακλητικ ἑαυτον προσηγόρευσε. Theod. H. F. 1. 3. c. 2.

8 Ζηλωσας λοιπον, και εις μέγαν αρθεις θυμον και υπερηφα νιαν, το σχισμα εργάζεται ὁ τοιέτος, ἑαυτῷ την αίρεσιν προση σαμενος, και ειπων. Εγω σχίσω την εκκλησιαν ύμων και βαλω σxioμa ε AUTη EIS TOY aιura. Epiph. contr. Marcion. H. 42. n. 2. D.

Huic, ut et multis aliis hæreticis, effrænis ambitio, și Tertulliano fides, ruinæ occasio fuit. Speraverat,' inquit adv. Valentin. cap. 4, episcopatum Valentinus, quia et ingenio poterat, et eloquio. Sed alium ex Martyrii prærogativă loci positum indignatus, de ecclesiâ authenticæ regulæ abrupit, 'ad expugnandam conversus veritatem. Massuet. Diss. Pr. ad. Iren. p. xvi.

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