(4) The seeds of God, 'tis true, are few, but vast and fair, and good - virtue and self-control, devotion. Devotion is God-gnosis; and he who knoweth God, being filled with all good things, thinks godly thoughts and not thoughts like the many [think]. For this cause they who Gnostic are, please not the many, nor the many them. They are thought mad and laughted at; they're hated and despised, and sometimes even put to death. For we did say that bad must needs dwell on earth, where 'tis in its own place. Its place is earth, and not Cosmos, as some will sometimes say with impious tongue. But he who is a devotee of God, will bear with all - once he has sensed the Gnosis. For such an one all things, e'en though they be for others bad, are for him good; deliberately he doth refer them all unto the Gnosis. And, thing most marvelous, 'tis he alone who maketh bad things good.

(98) And here is seen the separating of the Christian Church from the Cainish, where God expelled Cain, that he must dwell in another Place; and the true Understanding of these high hidden Secrets sticks wholly in the Word, under the Vail [of Moses,] and was almost never known [yet,] but (in the Time of the Lily) it shall stand in the Wonders. And thou Antichristian Church on Earth shouldst know, that all (whatsoever thou inventest without the Spirit of God for thy Adorning and Pride, also for thy Strength and Power) is gone forth with Cain from Abel, out from the Church of Christ, beyond Eden, into the Land of Nod; if thou art so highly learned, and dost understand this in the Language of Nature, what it is, as thy Flatterers in their Bonnet [or Promotion] suppose [they do;] but they apprehend nothing but the four Elements in the Going forth with Cain, and not the [one] Element before God; therefore the same is the Babel of Confusion and of various Opinions, and not the Ground in the [one] Element, which stands in one alone, and not in Multiplicity.

(102) Here is the clear and plain Ground and Root of the false Cainish Church; for Cain had made himself a Lord of this World, and built [or relied] upon himself. Yet now he had in fin Self. himself nothing for a Propriety, but the first and the third Principles; for as to his Soul, he was in the first Principle, as all Men [are,] and as to the Body, he was in the third Principle in the Kingdom of this World. And now he should with his Soul go out of the Kingdom of this World, and press into the second Principle, (viz. into the Trust in God, into the Word of the Promise) to God, as Abel did, and labour with his Hands in this World, and plant and build; but his Mind should be directed to God in Confidence, and should commend the Kingdom of this World to God, and carry himself therein as a travelling Stranger, which only with this strange Body is in his Propriety, as to the Body, and a Stranger only as to the Soul, and besides as an ashamed Guest like a Prisoner in it, whose only Study should be, to get again into his true native Country, out of which he is gone forth with his Father Adam; but he let the second Principle, the Kingdom of Heaven go, and yielded himself wholly with his Soul into the Kingdom of this World, where he would be Lord; and so the Anger took hold on him, for he went out from the Word, the Promise of Grace.

(91) And now when the Anger of God stirred the Sin in Cain, then it became awakened, and he was perplexed [or troubled,] and then his false Faith was seen; for he despaired, and said, My Sins are greater than that they can be forgiven me; behold thou drivest me away from the Lord this Day, and I must bide myself 'c from thy Countenance, and I must be a Fugitive and Vagabond upon the Earth; and it shall so befall me, that whosoever dfindeth me will slay me.

(6) But when it was allayed again by the Voice of God, then Cain did not know how that came to pass, and set his Murder at Rest, like one who has a secret gnawing Dog sitting in the Dark; yet he proceeded and built his powerful earthly Kingdom, and did not wholly put his Trust in God. For when he saw, that he must seek for his Bread out of the Earth, and must take his Clothing from the Children of the Earth, therefore all his Business lay in the Art of seeking how and which Way he might find, and how possess the Treasure of that which was found, that he might always have enough; because he saw God no more, therefore he did like Israel, who were brought out of Egypt by Moses, and when they saw him not (because he was on the Mount) then they began their Dancing and false Worship of God, and asked after Moses no more.

(99) Thou hast been a clear Glass (in him) of Men's own Conceits [or Opinions,] what one's own good Meaning (without the Spirit of God) is. Cain went not into the Sheepfold at the Door (which God made for Adam and Eve, with the Word, and Treader upon the Serpent,) but climbed into it another Way, by his strong lionish Mind, and would be a Lord over the Sheep, and became a Thief and Murderer of the Sheep, and the Sheep followed him not, but they went (with Abel) through the Sword of the Angel [or] Cherubim (out of this frail and corruptible Life) with the Treader upon the Serpent, into their resting Sheepfold, where there is not one Wolf; for the Cherubim will let none of them in. And if any of them come, then he cuts their Wolf's Heart of the Fierceness of the Kingdom of this World quite away, and then they also become Sheep, and lay themselves patiently among the Sheep, and seek no more after the Wolf, for he is beyond Eden, in the Land of Nod; but they are gone through the Sword of the Cherubim into Paradise, where no Wolf enters in; there is a Wall of a Principle and whole a Birth before it.

(516) Yes, he said, I think that he would rather suffer anything than entertain these false notions and live in this miserable manner. Imagine once more, I said, such an one coming suddenly out of the sun to be replaced in his old situation; would he not be certain to have his eyes full of darkness? To be sure, he said. And if there were a contest, and he had to compete in measuring the shadows with the prisoners who had never moved out of the den, while his sight was still weak, and before his eyes had become steady (and the time which would be needed to acquire this new habit of sight might be very considerable), would he not be ridiculous? Men would say of him that up he went and down he came without his eyes; and that it was better not even to think of ascending; and if any one tried to loose another and lead him up to the light, let them only catch the offender, and they would put him to death. No question, he said. This entire allegory, I said, you may now append, dear Glaucon, to the previous argument; the prison-house is the world of sight, the light of the fire is the sun, and you will not misapprehend me if you interpret the journey upwards to be the ascent of the soul into the intellectual world according to my poor belief, which, at your desire, I have expressed—whether rightly or wrongly God knows. But, whether true or false, my opinion is that in the world of knowledge the idea of good appears last of all, and is seen

(59) And then they looked one upon another, and were ashamed one before another, and they were afraid of the Wrath [or Severity] that entered into them, for it was the Anger of God; and thus they were captivated by the first Principle, as by the Abyss of Hell, which held Adam and Eve captive in their Souls in the eternal [Part;] for it sprung up with Terror, Fear, and Doubt, concerning the Kingdom of God; and they could have no Comfort, [in that Condition,] for they saw the Paradise no more, but the Garden in Eden; so also they had lost the Deity, they could set no Will [or Desire] into it, for the Wrath and Doubt stood in the Way.

(1) THE entire history of Christian and pagan Gnosticism is shrouded in the deepest mystery and obscurity; for, while the Gnostics were undoubtedly prolific writers, little of their literature has survived. They brought down upon themselves the animosity of the early Christian Church, and when this institution reached its position of world power it destroyed all available records of the Gnostic cultus. The name Gnostic means wisdom, or knowledge, and is derived from the Greek Gnosis. The members of the order claimed to be familiar with the secret doctrines of early Christianity. They interpreted the Christian Mysteries according to pagan symbolism. Their secret information and philosophic tenets they concealed from the profane and taught to a small group only of especially initiated persons.

(1) "Now, therefore, say unto all men who would seek the godhead: 'If north wind cometh, then ye know that there will be cold; if south wind cometh, then ye know that there will be burning and fervent heat.' Now, therefore, say unto them: 'If ye have known the face of the heaven and of the earth from the winds, then know ye exactly, if then any come now unto you and proclaim unto you a godhead, whether their words have harmonized and fitted with all your words which I have spoken unto you through two up to three witnesses, and whether they have harmonized in the setting of the air and of the heavens and of the circuits and of the stars and of the light-givers and of the whole earth and all on it and of all waters and all in them.' Say unto them: 'Those who shall come unto you, and their words fit and harmonize in the whole gnosis with that which I have said unto you, I will receive as belonging unto us.' This is what ye shall say unto men, if ye make proclamation unto them in order that they may guard themselves from the doctrines of error.

(44) Now when Adam and Eve went out of the Garden, they kept together, as now married People do, and now would make Trial of their bestial Condition, [to try] what Wonders might proceed from them; and the Spirit of the great World did well enough to teach them, in their Reason, what they were to do. And Adam knew his Wife Eve, and she conceived and bore a Son, and called him Cain; for she said, I have a Man from the Lord. These are sealed Words which Moses writes, that she said, / have a Man from the Lord. [For] then said the Major Mundus, I have the Lord of this World. Eve spoke no otherwise, than as the Apostles thought, that Christ was to erect a worldly Kingdom; so Eve thought that her Son (as a strong Champion) should break the Head of the Devil, and set up a glorious Kingdom; from whence instantly a twofold Understanding [or different Condition] followed, and two Sorts of Churches; the one [built or relying] upon the Mercy of God; and the other, upon their own Might, Authority or Power.] And therefore Cain could not endure his Brother, because Abel pressed hard upon the Mercy of God, and Cain [relied] upon his own Power [Might and Authority.] He thought himself to be the Lord of the whole World, as his Mother had instructed him; and therefore now he would break the Head of the Serpent in his own Might as a Warrior [or Soldier,] and began with his Brother Abel, for his Faith relied not on God, but on his own Power; and here the Serpent stung the Treader upon the Serpent in the Heel the first Time. The Gate of the Mysteries, [or the Explanation of the hidden Secrets.]

(3) For God departed not from Cain, but Cain went himself from God: If he had been strong in Faith and Confidence in God, then he might have been able to enter into God again; even as he thought before the Fall [into the Murder,] that he would break the Head of the Serpent, but there it was seen what Man's Ability was. If he had laid hold on the true Treader upon the Serpent, then he might have gone instantly (in the Virtue of the Treader upon the Serpent) into God again.

(12) The Gnostics divided humanity into three parts: those who, as savages, worshiped only the visible Nature; those who, like the Jews, worshiped the Demiurgus; and lastly, themselves, or others of a similar cult, including certain sects of Christians, who worshiped Nous (Christ) and the true spiritual light of the higher Æons.

(3) That Simon was a philosopher there is no doubt, for wherever his exact words are preserved his synthetic and transcending thoughts are beautifully expressed. The principles of Gnosticism are well described in the following verbatim statement by him, supposed to have been preserved by Hippolytus: "To you, therefore, I say what I say, and write what I write. And the writing is this. Of the universal Æons [periods, planes, or cycles of creative and created life in substance and space, celestial creatures] there are two shoots, without beginning or end, springing from one Root, which is the power invisible, inapprehensible silence [Bythos]. Of these shoots one is manifested from above, which is the Great Power, the Universal Mind ordering all things, male, and the other, [is manifested] from below, the Great Thought, female, producing all things. Hence pairing with each other, they unite and manifest the Middle Distance, incomprehensible Air, without beginning or end. In this is the Father Who sustains all things, and nourishes those things which have a beginning and end." (See Simon Magus, by G. R. S. Mead.) By this we are to understand that manifestation is the result of a positive and a negative principle, one acting upon the other, and it takes place in the middle plane, or point of equilibrium, called the pleroma. This pleroma is a peculiar substance produced out of the blending of the spiritual and material æons. Out of the pleroma was individualized the Demiurgus, the immortal mortal, to whom we are responsible for our physical existence and the suffering we must go through in connection with it. In the Gnostic system, three pairs of opposites, called Syzygies, emanated from the Eternal One. These, with Himself, make the total of seven. The six (three pairs) Æons (living, divine principles) were described by Simon in the Philosophumena in the following manner: The first two were Mind (Nous) and Thought (Epinoia). Then came Voice (Phone) and its opposite, Name (Onoma), and lastly, Reason (Logismos) and Reflection (Enthumesis). From these primordial six, united with the Eternal Flame, came forth the Æons (Angels) who formed the lower worlds through the direction of the Demiurgus. (See the works of H. P. Blavatsky.) How this first Gnosticism of Simon Magus and Menander, his disciple, was amplified, and frequently distorted, by later adherents to the cult must now be considered.

(13) After the death of Basilides, Valentinus became the leading inspiration of the Gnostic movement. He still further complicated the system of Gnostic philosophy by adding infinitely to the details. He increased the number of emanations from the Great One (the Abyss) to fifteen pairs and also laid much emphasis on the Virgin Sophia, or Wisdom. In the Books of the Savior, parts of which are commonly known as the Pistis Sophia, may be found much material concerning this strange doctrine of Æons and their strange inhabitants. James Freeman Clarke, in speaking of the doctrines of the Gnostics, says: "These doctrines, strange as they seem to us, had a wide influence in the Christian Church." Many of the theories of the ancient Gnostics, especially those concerning scientific subjects, have been substantiated by modern research. Several sects branched off from the main stem of Gnosticism, such as the Valentinians, the Ophites (serpent worshipers), and the Adamites. After the third century their power waned, and the Gnostics practically vanished from the philosophic world. An effort was made during the Middle Ages to resurrect the principles of Gnosticism, but owing to the destruction of their records the material necessary was not available. Even today there are evidences of Gnostic philosophy in the modern world, but they bear other names and their true origin is not suspected. Many of the Gnostic concepts have actually been incorporated into the dogmas of the Christian Church, and our newer interpretations of Christianity are often along the lines of Gnostic emanationism.

(22) On account of his senselessness, then, he is worse than a pagan, for the pagans know the way to go to their stone temple, which will perish, and they worship their idol, while their hearts are set on it because it is their hope. But to this senseless man the word has been preached, teaching him, "Seek and inquire about the ways you should go, since there is nothing else that is as good as this thing." The result is that the substance of hardness of heart strikes a blow upon his mind, along with the force of ignorance and the demon of error. They do not allow his mind to rise up, because he was wearying himself in seeking that he might learn about his hope.

(4) T: And where hath He set it up? H: He filled a mighty Cup with it, and sent it down, joining a Herald [to it], to whom He gave command to make this proclamation to the hearts of men: Baptize thyself with this Cup's baptism, what heart can do so, thou that hast faith thou canst ascend to him that hath sent down the Cup, thou that dost know for what thoudidst come into being! As many then as understood the Herald's tidings and doused themselves in Mind, became partakers in the Gnosis; and when they had "received the Mind" they were made "perfect men". But they who do not understand the tidings, these, since they possess the aid of Reason [only] and not Mind, are ignorant wherefor they have come into being and whereby.

(100) And thou Cainish Church (with thy Laws and Pratings, thy acute Comments, and Explanations of the Writings of the holy Men who spoke in the Spirit of God) should look well upon thyself, and do not build thy voluptuous and soft Kingdom so much upon those Things; for they are most of them in Paradise; they speak out of the Root of the holy Element through the the Out-Birth) the fierce Wrath, which Men had awakened; therefore look to it, that thou build not Stubble, Straw, or Weeds thereupon. If thou hast not the Spirit of Understanding out of the holy Element, then let them alone, do not daub them with the four Elements, or else those Things stand in Babel, it is not good to build the four Elements thereupon; for the Cherubim stands between, and he will cut off whatsoever does not belong to the Sheepfold; thou wilt have no Benefit of it, for thy Labour [or Work] stays fin the Land of Nod.

(105) Yet God would not have it so, but kkindled the Anger in Cain, which rested before in the swelled Kingdom of the four Elements, and was only climbed up in great and mighty Joy, whereas Cain did not know the Anger, nor understand any Thing of it; only the Essences of the Soul knew that they dealt falsly, but they knew not the fierce Source in the Kindling of the Fire, till they went forth from the Center of God into the Horror, Trembling, and Crying; for they were gone out from Or Wickedness. God, and neither saw nor felt the heavenly Source any more; and therefore they despaired, because they found [or felt] themselves in the Source of the Wrath; and the Body with all its Essences cried; My Sins are greater than that they can be forgiven.

(20) But these - the ones who are ignorant - do not seek after God. Nor do they inquire about their dwelling-place, which exists in rest, but they go about in bestiality. They are more wicked than the pagans, because first of all they do not inquire about God, for their hardness of heart draws them down to make them their cruelty. Furthermore, if they find someone else who asks about his salvation, their hardness of heart sets to work upon that man. And if he does not stop asking, they kill him by their cruelty, thinking that they have done a good thing for themselves.