Section IV. Cerdon, Marcion, Tatian, And The Cainites.

Cerdon would seem to be another independent offset from the stock of Simon. He likewise taught a Supreme God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, and another inferior deity, who inspired the prophets597. He joined the church at Rome under Hyginus, its bishop, i. e. about a.d. 141, and appears to have wished by all means to remain in its communion; and accordingly he recanted his error. He could not, however, refrain from spreading it covertly, and being detected, he again recanted; still he kept his heresy, and being at length judged incorrigible, he was withheld from the communion of the Church598.

Marcion succeeded Cerdon599, and took up and amplified his doctrine. He likewise made the Creator [pg 280] inferior to the Supreme God, and the author of evil, fond of war, inconsistent, and self-contradictory; and taught that Jesus was sent by the Supreme God to do away all the operations of the Creator, and especially the Law and the Prophets600. He agreed with other Gnostics in declaring that the soul alone was capable of salvation, and of souls only those which received his doctrine; but the peculiarity of his system was, that Cain, and the Sodomites, and Egyptians, &c. were saved by believing in Jesus, when he descended into hell; but that Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, and all the good men and prophets of the Old Covenant, having often been deceived by their God, were afraid to trust in Jesus, and consequently remain still in the state of death601.

Another peculiarity was that, whilst professing to receive portions of the New Testament, such as the Gospel of St. Luke and the Epistles of St. Paul, he rejected every portion of them which he imagined to militate against his hypothesis602.

Marcion, who, having been originally a Christian, [pg 281] and the son of a Bishop, had been excommunicated for seduction603, appears to have harmonized with Saturninus in professing extraordinary strictness of habits604. Hence some of the followers of both formed themselves into a separate sect, called by a name (Ἐγκρατεῖς) of which perhaps Puritans is the best English Translation. Tatian, who had been a sincere Christian, was formerly a disciple of Justin, and had written a treatise to set forth the folly of the heathen religion605, became a leading man amongst them: for they adopted an opinion of his that Adam was not saved. Their most distinguishing characteristics however were, their abstinence from marriage, and from animal food606.

Marcion taught that Cain and the Sodomites, &c. were saved by believing in Jesus607. Others went further, and declared that they were agents of the Supreme Power, to oppose the God of this world. [pg 282] They likewise took Judas under their patronage, and declare that he betrayed Jesus, not from treachery or a love of gain, but because, being better instructed than the rest, he was aware that the death of Jesus would be the means of dissolving and breaking up the whole work of the Creator, whom they regarded as in rebellion against the Great Original608.