consistency in their accounts of things; when, in fact, the blunders imputed to them by more modern authors, have arisen solely from an ignorance of their language. We confine their words by an usage of our own, which, though it came gradually to obtain some ages afterwards, did not obtain in their time. Hence Dositheus, Simon Magus, Menander, and some others, are commonly ranked among the ancient heretics; though nothing can be more evident, from the accounts given by the most early writers who so denominate them, than that they were denyers of Jesus Christ in every sense, and avowed opposers to the Gospel. Dositheus gave himself out 100, to his countrymen, the Samaritans, for the Messiah promised by Moses.

Simon Magus, as we learn from holy writ 101, was baptized; but that, after the rebuke which he received from Peter, instead of repenting, he apostatized, the uniform voice of antiquity puts beyond a question. Origen says expressly 102, "The Simonians by no means acknowledge "Jesus to be the Son of God; on the contrary, they "call Simon the power of God." Accordingly, they were never confounded with the Christians, in the time of persecution, or involved with them in any trouble or danger 203. Justin Martyr is another evidence of the same thing 104 ; as is also Irenæus,

100 Orig. adv. Cels. lib. I.

191 Acts, viii. 13.

102 Ουδαμως τον Ιησουν ὁμολογουσι διον Θεου Σιμωνιανοί, άλλα δυνα MIV OBOU REYOUTI TOV Zμava. Orig. adv. Cels. lib. V.

103 Orig. adv. Cels. lib. VI.

104 Apól. 2da. Dialog. cum Tryphone.

So

in the account which, in his treatise against heresies, he gives 105 of Simon and his disciple Menander. is likewise Epiphanius. From them all it appears manifestly, that the above-named persons were so far from being, in any sense, followers of Jesus Christ, that they presumed to arrogate to themselves, his distinguishing titles and prerogatives, and might therefore be more justly called Antichrists than Christians. The like may be said of some other ancient sects which, through the same mistake of the import of the word, are commonly ranked among the heresies which arose in the church. Such were the Ophites, of whom Origen acquaints us, that they were so far from being Christians, that our Lord was reviled by them as much as by Celsus, and that they never admitted any one into their society, till he had vented curses against Jesus Christ 105.

Mosheim, sensible of the impropriety of classing the declared enemies of Christ among the heretics, as the word is now universally applied, and, at the same time, afraid of appearing to contradict the unanimous testimony of the three first centuries, acknowledges that they cannot be suitably ranked with those sectaries who sprang up within the church, and apologizes, merely from the example of some moderns who thought as he did, for his not consi

105 Adv. Hæreses, lib. I. cap. xx. xxi.

106

Οφιανοι καλούμενοι τοσούτον αποδέουσι του είναι Χρισιανοι, ώςε ουκ ελαττον Κελσου κατηγορειν αυτους του Ιησου. Και μη πρότερον προς σιεσθαι τινα επι το συνέδριον έαυτων, εαν μη αρασθηται κατα του Ιησού. Adver. Cels. lib. VI.

dering those ancient party-leaders in the same light wherein the early ecclesiastic authors, as he imagines, had considered them. But he has not said any thing to account for so glaring an inaccuracy, not of one or two, but of all the primitive writers who have taken notice of those sects. For even those who deny that they were Christians, call them heretics 17.

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107 66 Quotquot tribus prioribus sæculis SIMONIS Magi me"minerunt, etsi hæreticorum eum familiam ducere jubent, 66 per ea tamen quæ de eo referunt, hæreticorum ordine exclu66 dunt, et inter Christianæ religionis hostes collocant. ORICo GENES Simonianos disertissime ex Christianis sectis exturbat, eosque non Iesum Christum, sed Simonem colere narrat. "Cum hoc cæteri omnes, alii claris verbis, alii sententiis, 66 quas SIMONI tribuunt, consentiunt: quæ quidem sententiæ 66 ejus sunt generis, ut nulli conveniant quam homini CHRISTO "longissime se præferenti, et divini legati dignitatem sibimet "ipsi arroganti. Hinc Simoniani etiam, quod ORIGENES et "JUSTINUS MARTYR præter alios testantur, quum Christiani "quotidianis periculis expositi essent, nullis molestiis et injuriis "afficiebantur: CHRISTUM enim eos detestari, publice notum "erat. Sic ego primus, nisi fallor, quum ante viginti annos "de Simone sentirem, erant, quibus periculosum et nefas vi"debatur, tot sanctorum virorum, qui SIMONEM hæreticorum "omnium patrem fecerunt, fidem in disceptationem, vocare, "tot sæculoram auctoritatem contemnere. Verum sensim plu66 res hæc sententia patronos, per ipsam evidentiam suam sibi "acquisivit. Et non ita pridem tantum potuit apud Jos. Au66 GUSTINUM ORSI, quem summo cum applausu ipsius Pontificis "Maximi Romæ Historiam Ecclesiasticam Italico sermone " scribere notum est, ut eam approbaret." Moshemius. De Rebus Christianis ante Constantinum Magnum Commentarii. Sæculum primum, § 1xv. No. 3, The words in the text, to which

Now, I will take upon me to say, that though this, in one single writer, might be the effect of oversight, it is morally impossible that, in so many, it should be accounted for otherwise than by supposing that their sense of the word 'upeixos did not coincide with ours; and that it was therefore no blunder in them, that they did not employ their words according to an usage which came to be established long after their time. I am indeed surprised, that a man of Mosheim's critical sagacity, as well as profound knowledge of Christian antiquity, did not perceive that this was the only reasonable solution of the matter. But what might sometimes be thought the most obvious truth, is not always the first taken notice of. Now, I cannot help considering the easy manner in which this account removes the difficulty, as no small evidence of the explanation of the word in scriptural use, which has been given above. To observe the gradual alterations which arise in the meanings of words, as it is a point of some nicety, is also of great consequence in criticism; and often proves a powerful means both of fixing the date of genuine writings, and of detecting the supposititious.

66

the preceding note refers, are, Toti hæreticorum agmini, "maxime cohorti gnosticæ, omnes veteris ecclesiæ doctores r præponunt SIMONEM MAGUM.-Omnia quæ de SIMONE me"moriæ ipsi prodiderunt, manifestum faciunt, eum non in "corruptorum religionis Christianæ, id est, hæreticorum, sed "infensissimorum ejus hostium numero ponendum esse, qui et "ipsum CHRISTUM maledictis insectabatur, et progredienti rei "Christianæ quæ poterat, impedimenta objiciebat.”

§ 14. I SHALL observe, in passing, that the want of due attention to this circumstance has, in another instance, greatly contributed to several errors, in relation to Christian antiquities, and particularly, to the multiplication of the primitive martyrs, far beyond the limits of probability. The Greek word uaprup, though signifying no more, originally, than witness, in which sense it is always used in the New Testament, came, by degrees, in ecclesiastical use, to be considerably restrained in its signification. The phrase δι μαρτυρες τε Ιησs, the witnesses of Je. sus, was, at first, in the church, applied, by way of eminence, only to the Apostles. The reality of this application, as well as the grounds of it, we learn from the Acts 108 Afterwards, it was extended to include all those who, for their public testimony to the truth of Christianity, especially when emitted before magistrates and judges, were sufferers in the cause, whether by death or by banishment, or in any other way. Lastly, the name martyr (for then the word was adopted into other languages) became appropriated to those who suffered death in consequence of their testimony: the term oμoλoynτns, confessor, being, for distinction's sake, assigned to those witnesses who, though they suffered in their persons, liberty, or goods, did not

198 Acts, i. 8. 22. ii. 32. iii. 15. v. 32. x. 39. xxii. 15. xxvi. 16. The last two passages quoted relate to Paul, who, by being designed of God a witness of the Lord Jesus to all men, was understood to be received into the apostleship, and into the society of the twelve."