their commands were obeyed with the utmost reverence. The Auditors provided them with everything necessary for subsistence. Every act of kindness to them was regarded as something toward expiating any sins they might have committed; such as tasting of meat, or carelessly neglecting to spare the life of some animal. Among Hindoos and Buddhists, there was the same idea that benefits conferred on holy men procured remission of sins. The Elect also copied those devotees in strict chastity, abstinence from meat, wine, and every pleasure of the senses. They lived on fruit and vegetables, and drank water only. Some of them considered even the bath objectionable, as bestowing too much care upon the body. They never harmed an animal, pulled an herb, or plucked fruit. They particularly disliked husbandry, because it involved the continual wounding of plants and insects. They sometimes wept to see vegetables gathered for food; because "in them also there was a certain portion of life, which was a part of the Deity." They had an idea that fruit and vegetables became purified when eaten by the saints. Augustine says: "When a fig was plucked, they believed the tree, its mother, shed milky tears. Yet if eaten by some Manichean saint, he would breathe out of it angels; yea, there should burst forth particles of divinity at every moan or groan in his prayer; which particles of the Most High and True God had remained bound in that fig, unless they had been thus set at liberty by some of the Elect saints. And I, miserable, believed that more mercy was to be shown to the fruits of the earth, than to men, for whom chose fruits were created. For if any one not a Manichean was hungry, and asked for a fig, the fruit would be condemned to capital punishment, as it were, if given to him.” Jerome says: "Mani asserts that his Elect are free from all sin; that they could not sin, if they would." Proselytes who practised rigid self-denial, and loved to meditate on religious subjects, were thought to give evidence that their souls had a large endowment of the pure light, and thus possessed holiness as a birthright. After going through

suitable probation, they were received among the Elect. Mani aimed at teaching a strict system of morals, and even the enemies of his sect acknowledged that their conduct was generally exemplary.

A pure and holy life, by abstracting the soul from the senses, rendered it worthy, after death, to ascend to the regions of the moon, where during fifteen days it was purified in a great lake; thence it passed to the regions of the sun, where it was purified by fire. Through these ordeals, it gained admission to the presence of Christ, who dwelt in the sun, surrounded by sanctified Spirits, who had been redeemed through his influence. The souls thus happily released from the thraldom of Matter, had no remembrance of the bodies they had quitted. Wicked and sensual souls were obliged to enter other bodies, and begin another career for purification. At last, there would come a time when Spirit would be entirely withdrawn from Matter, which would then be consumed by fire, and reduced to a dark inert mass, as it was before the world was made. Evil Spirits would be confined to their own realms, and remain there forever. The least perfect souls would be stationed on the frontier of the Realm of Light, to keep watch over the extinguished mass of Matter, and prevent the two from mingling again. This was a departure from Zoroaster, who taught that even the Prince of Evil would finally worship the Good, and be admitted to his spheres of glory.

The worship of the Manicheans was extremely simple. They had no temples, images, or altars. They prayed with faces turned toward the sun, and sang hymns to the Principle of Light. Mani appointed twelve apostles to preside over the sect; and this constitution continued after his death, with the addition of a thirteenth at the head of them all, to represent him. Subordinate to them were bishops, presbyters, and deacons. These were called brethren by the others, and lived on terms of perfect equality with them. They celebrated Sunday as a festival, consecrated to Christ, their Spirit of the Sun. As they supposed him never to have had a human body, they could not, of course, asso

ciate that day with the resurrection. They observed the Lord's Supper as sacredly symbolical; but in what manner is not known, as they veiled it with great mystery.

Mani claimed to be endowed with divine authority for the reformation of the church; and his followers acknowledged him as the Paraclete sent by Christ; of course, his was the infallible authority by which everything was to be judged. He considered the Hebrew Scriptures as the work of inferior and even bad Spirits, and containing little' that was of value. He thought partial revelations of divine truth had been made to prophets and philosophers of all nations; and some of them he preferred to those of the Jews. He said Jesus accommodated himself to Jewish opinions, with a view to prepare men gradually for the reception of truth; that the Apostles were entangled in various Jewish errors; and that the original records had been corrupted by the Prince of Darkness. It was for the Paraclete to distinguish the true from the false, by the light of the Gnosis within him. Accordingly, they received such portions of the Christian Scriptures as he endorsed, and understood them according to his interpretation. He also composed a Gospel, called the Book of Mani, which his followers believed to be written by inspiration from above. He excelled as a painter, and illustrated the book with pictures, which were the wonder of his age, and famous long afterward.

He returned to Persia, and having become involved in controversies with the Magi, he was pronounced a heretic. He refused to renounce his opinions, and was flayed alive, in the year two hundred and seventy-seven. His skin was stuffed and hung before the gates of the city, as a warning to his followers. They cherished his memory with the utmost reverence. On the anniversary of his martyrdom, they erected in their hall of worship a pulpit hung with rich drapery. All the Manicheans, as they entered, prostrated themselves to the ground, in obeisance to his spirit, which was always supposed to be present on the occasion. Later Manicheans said that Buddas, Zoroaster, Mithras, Christ, and Mani, were all the same Spirit; a view in ac

cordance with the idea that Buddha had appeared on earth at various epochs, and under various forms, to teach the same religion.

This sect spread with wonderful rapidity from Persia, through Syria, Asia Minor, Northern Africa, and even into Italy. The strong impression they made on the minds of men is indicated by the active animosity they encountered. They suffered much from the severity of Persian kings, zealous for the religion of Zoroaster; from Roman emperors, equally zealous for the worship of Jupiter; and from Christians, who persecuted them with more violence than was manifested toward any other heretical sect. After flying from place to place, to hide themselves from those furious storms, they at last retreated to Eastern Asia. The name of the sect disappeared, but its doctrines became mixed with various forms of Gnosticism in Syria and Egypt, and, during the Middle Ages re-appeared in various European and Asiatic countries, sometimes publicly, sometimes privately.

The numerous Gnostic sects differed from each other in a variety of particulars. They generally believed that the Gnosis was received directly from heaven, in ecstatic states of mind; some supposed it was originally such a revelation, but had been orally transmitted by the Children of Light, from generation to generation; a very few believed they had received it from some disciple of Christ, more capable than others of understanding his meaning in its purity. From some source or other, they were always passive recipients of what they deemed spiritual truth. What the Gnosis revealed was not to be analyzed by reason.

The Syrian sects were generally strict to asceticism in their morals, and less inclined to speculative theories than the Gnostics of Egypt, who lived in the shadow of the ancient mysteries, and were excited to greater activity of intellect and imagination by the presence of the Alexandrian Library, and the vast concourse of seekers after truth, who flocked thither from all quarters of the world. Most of the Gnostic leaders were of Gentile origin, and VOL. II.-35

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men of education. Of course, they were familiar with Oriental theories, and with the writings of Grecian and Roman philosophers, who all represented the Supreme God as a serene Existence, happy in his own purity, and utterly devoid of passions. Therefore, when they were attracted toward Christianity by the superiority of its moral maxims, they were at the same time repelled by its Jewish appendages. They regarded the Hebrew Scriptures with extreme aversion, because they were sincerely shocked at the idea that the Supreme Being could be jealous or angry, or changeable of purpose; that he could command slaughter, or be capable of punishing the beings that had proceeded from Him. In their view, all that seemed like punishment was a benevolent process of purification. Tertullian brings it as an accusation against the Gnostics, that they denied God was to be feared. Clement of Alexandria says: "Their worship consists in continual attention to their souls; in meditations upon the Divinity, as being inexhaustible love." Very few of their founders were of Jewish origin; and those few changed the literal sense of their Scriptures, by allegorical interpretations, which rendered the character of Jehovah less repulsive; a lesson they had previously learned from the writings of

Philo.

Jews believed that the human soul was created out of nothing, or was merely the breath of God. But Gnostics held the Oriental theory that all Spirits emanated from God, and were a part of Him; therefore, they were accustomed to speak not only of Christ, but of human souls, as being of one substance with God, though inferior in degree. Theodoret says: "The soul is not consubstantial with God, as the wicked Manicheans hold, but was created out of nothing." Gnostics taught that the universe was created by Angels, who governed it, as agents of the Supreme. By most of them this mission was assigned to the Seven Great Angels, who ranked next to the immediate emanations from the Highest. When a distribution of offices was made among them, they supposed that the Chief of the