(16) Neither have I any command to bring in complaints against them, to condemn them for anything, except for their wickedness and abominations, as pride, covetousness, envy and wrath, against which the spirit of nature complaineth very exceedingly, and not I: For what can I do, that am poor dust and ashes, also very weak, simple, and altogether unable?

(35) Hearken, thou antichristian Scorner; it is not enough for thee to stand and say, I have the true Ground of the Knowledge [that leads] to the Kingdom of Heaven. I have found the true Religion, and condemnest every one that has not thy Knowledge, or does not consent to thy Opinion; thou sayest, Such a one is nothing else but confound the Sheep with thy Fierceness, and causest them to offend, and to calumniate those whom neither thou nor they know, as the Ephesians did by Paul. Dost thou suppose that thou hast hunted away the Wolf by this means? Or hast thou not rather generated a Heap of young scornful Wolves, which howl and yell, and every one would devour, and yet know not where the evil Beast is, nor especially that most evil Beast of all, which generated them? O blind Babel, the Kingdom of Christ does not consist herein, but the abominable Antichrist of Confusion in Babel.

(1) SOME there be, that although they be not deceived with this error as it is set here, yet for pride and curiosity of natural wit and letterly cunning leave the common doctrine and the counsel of Holy Church. And these with all their favourers lean over much to their own knowing: and for they were never grounded in meek blind feeling and virtuous living, therefore they merit to have a false feeling, feigned and wrought by the ghostly enemy. Insomuch, that at the last they burst up and blaspheme all the saints, sacraments, statutes, and ordinances of Holy Church. Fleshly living men of the world, the which think the statutes of Holy Church over hard to be amended by, they lean to these heretics full soon and full lightly, and stalwartly maintain them, and all because them think that they lead them a softer way than is ordained of Holy Church.

(9) Convicted by this utterance, the heretics reject the Epistles. to Timothy.

(15) Not laying as foundations the necessary first principles of things; and influenced by human opinions, then making the end to suit them, by compulsion; on account of being confuted, they spar with those who are engaged in the prosecution of the true philosophy, and undergo everything, and, as they say, ply every oar, even going the length of impiety, by disbelieving the Scriptures, rather than be removed from the honours of the heresy and the boasted first seat in their churches; on account of which also they eagerly embrace that convivial couch of honour in the Agape, falsely so called.

(21) But, as appears, we incline to ideas founded on opinion, though they be contrary, rather than to the truth. For it is austere and grave. Now, since there are three states of the soul - ignorance, opinion, knowledge - those who are in ignorance are the Gentiles, those in knowledge, the true Church, and those in opinion, the Heretics. Nothing, then, can be more clearly seen than those, who know, making affirmations about what they know, and the others respecting what they hold on the strength of opinion, as far as respects affirmation without proof.

(14) Seeing, therefore, the danger that they are in (not in respect of one dogma, but in reference to the maintenance of the heresies) of not discovering the truth; for while reading the books we have ready at hand, they despise them as useless, but in their eagerness to surpass common faith, they have diverged from the truth. For, in consequence of not learning the mysteries of ecclesiastical knowledge, and not having capacity for the grandeur of the truth, too indolent to descend to the bottom of things, reading superficially, they have dismissed the Scriptures. Elated, then, by vain opinion, they are incessantly wrangling, and plainly care more to seem than to be philosophers.

(37) What does thy Knowledge avail thee, thou Opposer of Christ, that thou knowest how to speak of the Kingdom of Or stir up. Heaven, of the Suffering and Death of Christ, and of the New- Birth in Christ, when thou art without it, sticking merely in the History? Shall not thy Knowledge be a Witness against thee, which shall judge thee? or wilt thou say, Thou art not the Antichrist of Babel? Surely thou art the Hypocrite, and thou fattenest thy evil Beast yet more and more, and thou art the Devourer in the Revelation of John. Thou dwellest not only at Rome, but thou hast possessed the Breadth of the Earth. I have seen thee in the Spirit, and therefore it is that I write of thee, thou Wonder of the World, of Heaven, and of Hell.

(1) Do not imagine this a victory, holy Sopatros, to have denounced a devotion, or an opinion, which apparently is not good. For neither--even if you should have convicted it accurately--are the (teachings) of Sopatros consequently good. For it is possible, both that you and others, whilst occupied in many things that are false and apparent, should overlook the true, which is One and hidden. For neither, if anything is not red, is it therefore white, nor if something is not a horse, is it necessarily a man. But thus will you do, if you follow my advice, you will cease indeed to speak against others, but will so speak on behalf of truth, that every thing said is altogether unquestionable.

(2) Also the learned have scuffled about it with many strange scurrilous writings, falling one upon another in calumnious and disgraceful terms, whereby the holy name of God has been reproached, his members wounded, his temple destroyed, and the holy heaven profaned with their calumniating and malicious enmity.

(1) For it was ludicrous. It is I who bear witness that it was ludicrous, since the rulers do not know that this is an ineffable union of undefiled truth, as exists among the children of light, of which they made an imitation, having proclaimed a doctrine of a dead man and lies so as to resemble the freedom and purity of the perfect assembly, and having joined themselves in their doctrine to fear and slavery, worldly cares, and abandoned worship, being small and ignorant, since they do not contain the nobility of the truth. For they hate the one in whom they are and love the one in whom they are not. For they did not know the knowledge of the greatness that it is from above and from a fountain of truth and not from slavery and jealousy, fear, and love of worldly matter. For that which is not theirs and that which is theirs they use fearlessly and freely. They do not desire because they have authority, and they have a law from themselves over whatever they will wish.

(8) And the spirit of persecution has not as yet died out in the land. There are certain Hermetic Teachings, which, if publicly promulgated, would bring down upon the teachers a great cry of scorn and revilement from the multitude, who would again raise the cry of "Crucify! Crucify."

(3) No fame of them the world permits to be; Misericord and Justice both disdain them. Let us not speak of them, but look, and pass." And I, who looked again, beheld a banner, Which, whirling round, ran on so rapidly, That of all pause it seemed to me indignant; And after it there came so long a train Of people, that I ne'er would have believed That ever Death so many had undone. When some among them I had recognised, I looked, and I beheld the shade of him Who made through cowardice the great refusal. Forthwith I comprehended, and was certain, That this the sect was of the caitiff wretches Hateful to God and to his enemies. These miscreants, who never were alive, Were naked, and were stung exceedingly By gadflies and by hornets that were there. These did their faces irrigate with blood, Which, with their tears commingled, at their feet By the disgusting worms was gathered up. And when to gazing farther I betook me. People I saw on a great river's bank; Whence said I: "Master, now vouchsafe to me,

(316) They who are ashamed of what they ought not to be ashamed of, and are not ashamed of what they ought to be ashamed of, such men, embracing false doctrines enter the evil path.

(15) And exhibiting the Christian life, he writes in the Theoetetus in these words: "Let us now speak of the highest principles. For why should we speak of those who make an abuse of philosophy? These know neither the way to the forum, nor know they the court or the senate-house, or any other public assembly of the state. As for laws and decrees spoken or written, they neither see nor hear them. But party feelings of political associations and public meetings, and revels with musicians [occupy them]; but they never even dream of taking part in affairs. Has any one conducted himself either well or ill in the state, or has aught evil descended to a man from his forefathers? - it escapes their attention as much as do the sands of the sea.

(21) Thus the poor ignorant People looked upon the Mouth- Apes, those greedy covetous Men, which were no other than Vizard-Priests, and so lost their dear Immanuel; for Christ in them (from whence the Holy Ghost goes forth, which drives and leads Men, and who at first had begotten them with Power and Miracles) must now be nothing but a History, and they became but historical Christians; yet so long as the Apostles and their true Disciples lived, they stopped and reproved such Things, and showed them the right Way; but where they were not, there the History-Priests misled them, as may be clearly seen in the Galatians.

(29) Now it may be asked, why art thou called the Antichrist? Hearken, thou art the Opposer of Christ, and thou hast built thyself a seeming [holy] hypocritical Kingdom, with a great Show; therein thou exercisest thy Hypocrisy, thou earnest the Law of God upon thy Lips, and thou teachest it, but with thy Deeds thou deniest the Power thereof, thy Heart is only bent upon the Spirit of this World, the Kingdom of thy Hypocrisy tends only to thy own Honour [and Repute] under a pretended Holiness; all Knees must bend before thee, as if thou wast Christ, and thou hast the Heart of a greedy Wolf.

(23) But seeing thou knowest it, and dost it not, and the others know it not, but yet do it, they, with their doing, judge thy knowledge; and thou art found to be a hypocrite, a dissembler, and an unprofitable servant, who wert put into the vineyard of the Lord, and wilt not work therein.

(25) Of the heretics we mentioned Marcion of Pontus as forbidding the use of this world's goods on the ground of opposition to the Creator. The Creator himself is thus the reason for continence, if this can be called continence; for this giant o thinks he can resist God is not continent by an act of free choice, in that he attacks the creation and the process by which n is formed. If they quote the Lord's words to Philip, "Let dead bury their dead, but do thou follow me," they ought to consider that Philip's flesh is also formed in the same way; body is not a polluted corpse. How then could he have a body of flesh which is not a corpse? Because he rose from the tomb when the Lord killed his passions, and he began to live unto Christ. We also mentioned the blasphemous immorality of Carpocrates. But when we spoke about the saying of Nicolaus we omitted to say this. Nicolaus, they say, had a lovely wife. When after the Saviour's ascension he was accused before the apostles of jealousy, he brought his wife into the concourse and allowed anyone who so desired to marry her. For, they say, this action was appropriate to the saying: "One must abuse the flesh." Those who share his heresy follow both his action and his words simply and without qualification by indulging in the gravest enormity.

(1) MANY wonderful practices follow them that be deceived in this false work, or in any species thereof, beyond that doth them that be God’s true disciples: for they be evermore full seemly in all their practices, bodily or ghostly. But it is not so of these other. For whoso would or might behold unto them where they sit in this time, an it so were that their eyelids were open, he should see them stare as they were mad, and leeringly look as if they saw the devil. Surely it is good they be wary, for truly the fiend is not far. Some set their eyes in their heads as they were sturdy sheep beaten in the head, and as they should die anon. Some hang their heads on one side as if a worm were in their ears. Some pipe when they should speak, as if there were no spirit in their bodies: and this is the proper condition of an hypocrite. Some cry and whine in their throats, so be they greedy and hasty to say that they think: and this is the condition of heretics, and of them that with presumption and with curiosity of wit will always maintain error.