will illustrate this point * :- "Tis this (the body) that cramps our application to philosophy; and the greatest of all our evils is, that when it has given us some respite, and we are set upon meditation, it steals in and interrupts our meditation all on a sudden. It cumbers, troubles, and surprises us in such a manner, that it hinders us from descrying the truth. Now we have made it out, that, in order to trace the purity and truth of any thing, we should lay aside the body, and only employ the soul to examine the objects we pursue. So that we can never arrive at the wisdom we court till after death. ......While we are in this life we can only approach to the truth in proportion to our removing from the body, and renouncing all correspondence with it that is not of mere necessity, and keeping ourselves clear from the contagion of its natural corruption, till God himself comes to deliver us. Then, indeed, being freed from all bodily folly, we shall converse, in all probability, with men that enjoy the same liberty, and shall know within ourselves the pure essence of things; which, perhaps, is nothing else but the truth. .......But he who is not pure, is not allowed to approach to purity itself.......Now the purgation of the soul, as we were saying but just now, is only its separation from the body-its accustoming itself to retire and lock itself up, renouncing all commerce with it as much as possible, and living by itself, whether in this or the other world, without being chained to the body. "When the soul pursues things by itself, without the aid of the body, it betakes itself to what is pure, immortal, immutable; and as being of the same nature, dwells constantly upon it while it is master of itself. Then its errors are at an end, and it is always the same as being united to what never changes; and this passion of the soul is what we call wisdom or prudence..... It is pretty evident that those who instituted the purifications, called by us teletes-that is, perfect expiations-were persons of no contemptible rank, men of great genius, who in the first ages meant by such riddles to give us to know that whoever enters the other world without being initiated and purified, shall be hurled headlong into the vast abyss; and that whoever arrives there after due purgation and expiation, shall be lodged in the apartment of the gods......If the soul depart in this condition, * See Works of Plato, Eng. Trans. 1772, vol. ii. pp. 98, 102, 121, 124. it repairs to a Being like itself-a Being that is Divine, immortal, and full of wisdom; and as it is said, by those who have been initiated in the holy mysteries *, it truly passes a whole course of eternity with the gods." The philosophers, such as Julian, Celsus, Porphyry, Apollonius of Tyana, &c.†, furnished the bitterest persecutors of the church, and the most formidable enemies to Christianity. They saw the necessity of refining the gross system of idolatry, and therefore maintained that "there is one Source of all-existence, the abstract of all perfection, from whose superabundance of life all the gods which are akin to him emanated, and in them the Divinity, which comprehends all things within itself, has unfolded itself, so that in every one of these divinities one individual Divine property or power, stands forth personified. In these divinities the multitude, who are unable to raise themselves by the force of contemplation, to the One Great Source of all, pray to these qualities. Only in relation to these can all worship, which is testified by objects of sense be explained; that Source of all existence, on the contrary, who is far above all connexion with the visible world, cannot be honoured by any outward observance or sensible object; but to Him only the philosopher can raise himself, by pure and spiritual contemplation. Thus speaks Apollonius, of Tyana, in his work on Sacrifices: To the first of gods, who is One, and separated from all others, we shew the most worthy honour, when we sacrifice nothing to him, when we light no altar to him, and consecrate nothing material to him, for he wants nothing, nothing even from beings superior to us.....and from the most excellent of Beings we must ask for good things by the most excellent of all we have, that is, by the spirit, which needs no outward organ ‡.'” Heathenism, when thus refined, is most difficult to uproot. 6 These mysteries originated in Egypt. Candidates for admission were forced to undergo rigorous probationary expiations, tending to weaken the influence of the body, and free spirit from it as much as possible; and, after being sworn to secrecy, were then initiated in the hidden knowledge of the priests. So severe was the probation, that some, it is said, lost their lives in the course of it. + "Mosheim's Commentaries," vol. ii. pp. 84, 67; ner's Works," vol. iv. p. 497. "Lard ‡ "Neander's Three First Centuries," vol. i. pp. 24, 25. Celsus, under the influence of these views, declaimed against the Christians, contending that it is necessary to exclude and reject all notions connected with sense, "in order to contemplate God with the eye of the spirit." The change of heart wrought in those who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, was quite incomprehensible to him. He says, "Now it is manifest to every one, that those to whom sin has become a kind of second nature, no one can change by punishment; how far less then by mercy! for wholly to change any man's nature is the most difficult of all things..... Those who invite us to other religions proclaim, 'Let him draw near, who is pure from all stains, who is conscious of no evil, and who lives in holiness and righteousness: ' but hear what the invitation of the Christians is: Whosoever is a sinner, whosoever is weak or deficient, in a word, every one that is a wretch, him will the kingdom of God receive! What! then was not Christ sent also for those who are pure from sin?.... He reproaches the Christians with a blind belief; that....they have redemption for ever in their mouth: Believe, and you shall become blessed.*'” When genuine mysticism has possession of the mind, it seems peculiarly to close every avenue against the reception of the simplicity of the Gospel, since 1. The belief in a Saviour come in the flesh, the doctrine of atonement for sin through His blood, and the resurrection of the body, are peculiarly foolishness in the sight of this wisdom, which regards matter as the origin of evil, and seclusion and abstraction from matter as rendering the soul fit for re-union with its Parent Deity without any mediator. 2. Reference to any outward revelation, or means of instruction, is superseded by a supposed knowledge of God obtained by the annihilation of thought and abstract meditation. 3. Prayer, according to the mystic, consists in allowing the soul to obey its native tendency towards the Fountain of Spirit, whence it emanated. The early heresies of the Christian Church were deeply imbued with the spirit of mysticism. "They were generally con * Ibid. pp. 169-172. The inspired caution, "Beware lest any man spoil you with philosophy and vain deceit," &c., was indeed much needed. sidered a mixture of Platonism, or Oriental philosophic heathenism, with some Christian truths." Those who held them agreed in denying the resurrection of the dead; and, considering themselves superior in knowledge to other Christians (as the term Gnostic implies), refused to submit to the authority of Scripture, and derived many gross and perverted views from the “philosophy and vain deceit" of the East. They regarded man as possessed of two souls-the one brutal, endowed merely with a perceptive libidinous faculty; the other rational, and gifted with wisdom and intelligence—the latter Divine in its origin; the former earthly, and derived from the soul of matter *." Tatian, in like manner, tells us, "That our first parents were created with two spirits, or souls; the one material, the other immaterial, and emanating from God. All their offspring are also similarly created; they have an earthy and an heavenly spirit. But when Adam and Eve sinned, the latter quitted the former, because it refused to obey its suggestions, and returned to heaven. In this situation also are all their descendants; they have a material soul within them, and an immaterial soul, or in Platonic language, a demon, in heaven. The material soul, however, has a spark of the Divine nature still in it; and is able, by the exercise of its free will, to exalt itself above the earthy taint it had contracted, so as to be fitted for receiving the suggestions of its immaterial counterpart, without which it can never attain the knowledge of heavenly things †." The Jewish sect of the Essenes arose out of an endeavour to reconcile the principles of Judaism with the Oriental Philosophy. They withdrew into solitude, and made it a point to keep the body low, by allowing themselves nothing but a bare subsistence; and as far as possible to disengage the soul from it by contemplation, that the immortal spirit might be prepared to re-ascend to those celestial regions whence it originally sprang. Their grand object was, by the mortification and maceration of the body to afford to the soul a greater facility in obeying the attraction upwards, by which it was always influenced. There was a considerable mixture of heathenism in their rites. They would not sacrifice at Jerusalem; and prided themselves so much on * See Lardner's "History of Heretics." + Osburn's "Doctrinal Errors," p. 322. their superior sanctity, that they were obliged to undergo a purification, if they came in contact with one, even of their own sect, less holy than themselves *. Philo Judæus was the most celebrated expositor of the views of this sect'; and Mosheim says: "Wonderful is it to contemplate the influence and authority which this Alexandrian Jew had at one time acquired among the Christians. We may even go the length of saying, that, without Philo, the writings of those whom we term the Fathers, would, in many respects, be frequently altogether unintelligible. "The tenets of this very celebrated Jew, respecting the soul, were in fact a compound or medley of the Egyptian, Platonic, and Mosaic principles. In the first place, he lays it down that in man there are two souls-the one rational, and generated of the Word; the other sensitive. The former, or rational mind, he regards as a portion of the Deity—that is, according to the Egyptians, a part of the most refined and supreme æther, and that, conformably to the Mosaic account, this had been imparted to man by the breath of God; in which it is to be remarked that he differs from Plato. The latter, or sensitive soul, he considers as impelled or animated by the Divine mind. Proceeding on principles like these, he inculcates a doctrine altogether similar to that taught by the mystics—namely, that the celestial and rational soul should erect itself above every object of the senses; that it should seek, by means of contemplation, to separate itself from the body; that, mindful of its Divine origin, it should be constantly aspiring to communion with its parent; and that it should endeavour by every possible means to undermine and weaken the power and influence of the body, and of the senses. To a soul once exalted above empty and corporeal things he holds forth a promise of Divine illumination, and pleasure incredible; " a kind of "sober intoxication....This high measure of felicity is crowned by a conjunction with the parent Deity of all things...............He divides souls into two classes, the 'confessing' and the ‘labouring.' The confessing' souls *Note the displeasure with which Jehovah speaks of such as say, "Stand by thyself, come not near to me; for I am holier than thou. These are a smoke in my nose, a fire that burneth all the day" (Isai. lxv. 5). K |