ome after Peter, and corrupted by his
successor Zephyrinus."[136:1]

There were also the "_Cerinthians_," named after one Cerinthus, who
maintained that Jesus was _not_ born of a virgin, which to them
appeared impossible, but that he was the son of Joseph and Mary, _born
altogether as other men are_; but he excelled all men in virtue,
knowledge and wisdom. At the time of his baptism, "_the Christ_" came
down upon him in the shape of a dove, and _left him_ at the time of his
crucifixion.[136:2]

Irenaeus, speaking of Cerinthus and his doctrines, says:

"He represents Jesus as the son of Joseph and Mary, according
to the ordinary course of human generation, and _not_ as
having been born of a virgin. He believed nevertheless that he
was more righteous, prudent and wise than most men, and that
_the Christ_ descended upon, and entered into him, at the time
of his baptism."[136:3]

The _Docetes_ were a numerous and learned sect of Asiatic Christians who
invented the _Phantastic_ system, which was afterwards promulgated by
the Marcionites, the Manicheans, and various other sects.

They denied the truth and authenticity of the Gospels, as far as they
related to the conception of Mary, the birth of Jesus, and the thirty
years that preceded the exercise of his ministry.

Bordering upon the Jewish and Gentile world, the _Cerinthians_ labored
to reconcile the _Gnostic_ and the _Ebionite_, by confessing in the
_same Messiah_ the supernatural union of a man and a god; and this
_mystic_ doctrine was adopted, with many fanciful improvements, by many
sects. The hypothesis was this: that Jesus of Nazareth was a mere
mortal, the legitimate son of Joseph and Mary, but he was _the best_ and
wisest of the human race, selected as the worthy instrument to restore
upon earth the worship of the true and supreme Deity. When he was
baptized in the Jordan, _and not till then_, he became _more than man_.
At that time, _the Christ_, the first of the _AEons_, the Son of God
himself, descended on Jesus in the form of a dove, _to inhabit his
mind_, and direct his actions during the allotted period of _his
ministry_. When he was delivered into the hands of the Jews, _the
Christ_ forsook him, flew back to the world of spirits, and left the
_solitary Jesus_ to suffer, to complain, and to die. This is why he
said, while hanging on the cross: "My God! My God! why hast thou
forsaken me?"[137:1]

Here, then, we see t