he source of
Deity, and, in consequence, possessed of comparatively little strength,
passed over the bounds of the Pleroma, and imparted life to matter.
Another Power, called the _Demiurge_, was now produced, who, out of the
materials already in existence, fashioned the present world. The human
race, ushered, under such circumstances, upon the stage of time, are
ignorant of the true God, and in bondage to corrupt matter. But all men
are not in a state of equal degradation. Some possess a spiritual
nature; some, a physical or animal nature; and some, only a corporeal or
carnal nature. Jesus now appeared, and, at His baptism in the Jordan,
Christ, a powerful Aeon, joined Him, that He might be fitted for
redeeming souls from the ignorance and slavery in which they are
entangled. This Saviour taught the human family the knowledge of the
true God. Jesus was seized and led to crucifixion, and the Aeon Christ
now departed from Him; but, as His body was composed of the finest
ethereal elements, and was, in fact, a phantom, He did not really suffer
on the accursed tree. Many of the Gnostics taught that there are two
spheres of future enjoyment. They held that, whilst the spiritual
natures shall be restored to the Pleroma, the physical or animal natures
shall be admitted to an inferior state of happiness; and that such souls
as are found to be incapable of purification shall be consigned to
perdition or annihilation.

Whilst, according to all the Gnostics, the Demiurge, or maker of this
world, is far inferior to the Supreme Deity, these system-builders were
by no means agreed as to his position and his functions. Some of them
regarded him as an Aeon of inferior intelligence who acted in obedience
to the will of the Great God; others conceived that he was no other than
the God of the Jews, who, in their estimation, was a Being of somewhat
rugged and intractable character; whilst others contended that he was an
Evil Power at open war with the righteous Sovereign of the universe. The
Gnostics also differed in their views respecting matter. Those of them
who were Egyptians, and who had been addicted to the study of the
Platonic philosophy, held matter to be inert until impregnated with
life; but the Syrians, who borrowed much from the Oriental theology,
taught that it was eternally subject to a Lord, or Ruler, who had been
perpetually at variance with the Great God of the Pleroma.

Two of the most distinguished Gnostic teachers who