ed that our Lord was both God and man. [453:1] Even already the
subject was pressed on their attention by various classes of errorists
who were labouring with much assiduity to disseminate their principles.
The Gnostics, who affirmed that the body of Jesus was a phantom, shut
them up to the necessity of shewing that He really possessed all the
attributes of a human being; whilst, in meeting objectors from a
different quarter, they were compelled to demonstrate that He was also
the Jehovah of the Old Testament. The Ebionites were not the only
sectaries who taught that Jesus was a mere man. The same doctrine was
inculcated by Theodotus, a native of Byzantium, who settled at Rome
about the end of the second century. This individual, though by trade a
tanner, possessed no small amount of learning, and created some
disturbance in the Church of the Western capital by the novelty and
boldness of his speculations. In the end he is said to have been
excommunicated by Victor, the Roman bishop. Some time afterwards, his
sentiments were adopted by Artemon, whose disciples, named Artemonites,
elected a bishop of their own, [453:2] and existed for some time at Rome
as a distinct community.

But by far the most distinguished of these ancient impugners of the
proper deity of the Messiah was the celebrated Paul of Samosata, who
flourished shortly after the middle of the third century. Paul occupied
the bishopric of Antioch, the second see in Christendom; and was
undoubtedly a man of superior talent. According to his views, the Divine
Logos is not a distinct Person, but the Reason of God; and Jesus was the
greatest of the sons of men simply because the Logos dwelt in Him after
a higher manner, or more abundantly, than in any other of the posterity
of Adam. [454:1] But though this prelate had great wealth, influence,
and eloquence, his heterodoxy soon raised a storm of opposition which he
could not withstand. The Christians of Antioch in the third century
could not quietly tolerate the ministrations of a preacher who
insinuated that the Word is not truly God. He appears to have possessed
consummate address, and when first arraigned, his plausible
equivocations and sophistries imposed upon his judges; but, at a
subsequent council, held about A.D. 269 in the metropolis of Syria, he
was so closely pressed by Malchion, one of his own presbyters, that he
was obliged reluctantly to acknowledge his real sentiments. He was, in
consequence, depose