Chapter XVIII.—Passages from Moses, which the heretics pervert to the support
of their hypothesis.
1. And while they affirm such things as these concerning the creation, every one of them
generates something new, day by day, according to his ability; for no one is deemed “perfect,”
who does not develop among them some mighty fictions. It is thus necessary, first, to indicate
what things they metamorphose [to their own use] out of the prophetical writings, and next,
to refute them. Moses, then, they declare, by his mode of beginning the account of the cre-
ation, has at the commencement pointed out the mother of all things when he says, “In the
beginning God created the heaven and the earth;”231 for, as they maintain, by naming these
four,—God, beginning, heaven, and earth,—he set forth their Tetrad. Indicating also its in-
visible and hidden nature, he said, “Now the earth was invisible and unformed.”232 They
will have it, moreover, that he spoke of the second Tetrad, the offspring of the first, in this
way—by naming an abyss and darkness, in which were also water, and the Spirit moving
upon the water. Then, proceeding to mention the Decad, he names light, day, night, the
firmament, the evening, the morning, dry land, sea, plants, and, in the tenth place, trees.
Thus, by means of these ten names, he indicated the ten Æons. The power of the Duodecad,
again, was shadowed forth by him thus:—He names the sun, moon, stars, seasons, years,
whales, fishes, reptiles, birds, quadrupeds, wild beasts, and after all these, in the twelfth place,
man. Thus they teach that the Triacontad was spoken of through Moses by the Spirit.
Moreover, man also, being formed after the image of the power above, had in himself that
ability which flows from the one source. This ability was seated in the region of the brain,
from which four faculties proceed, after the image of the Tetrad above, and these are called:
the first, sight, the second, hearing, the third, smell, and the fourth,233 taste. And they say
that the Ogdoad is indicated by man in this way: that he possesses two ears, the like number
of eyes, also two nostrils, and a twofold taste, namely, of bitter and sweet. Moreover, they
teach that the whole man contains the entire image of the Triacontad as follows: In his
hands, by means of his fingers, he bears the Decad; and in his whole body the Duodecad,
inasmuch as his body is divided into twelve members; for they portion that out, as the body
of Truth is divided by them—a point of which we have already spoken.234 But the Ogdoad,
as being unspeakable and invisible, is understood as hidden in the viscera.
2. Again, they assert that the sun, the great light-giver, was formed on the fourth day,
with a reference to the number of the Tetrad. So also, according to them, the courts235 of
231 Gen. i. 1.
232 Gen. i. 2.
233 One of the senses was thus capriciously cancelled by these heretics.
234 See above, chap. xiv. 2.
235 Or, rather, perhaps “curtains.” Ex. xxvi. 1.
Chapter XVIII.—Passages from Moses, which the heretics pervert to the support of their hypothesis.
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Chapter XVIII.—Passages from Moses, which the heretics pervert to the support…