from supposed judaizing interpolations, and restoring the true text of the Pauline epistles.[4] He likewise composed a book, called the _Antitheses_,[5] in which he proved the disparity of the two Gods, from a comparison of the Old Testament with the evangelical writings. On the basis of these writings Marcion proclaimed the true Christianity, and founded churches. He taught that all who put their trust in the good God, and his crucified Son, renounce their allegiance to the Demiurge, and approve themselves by good works of love, shall be saved. But he taught further--and here we trace the influence of the current gnosticism on Marcion--that only the spirit of man is saved by the good God; the body, because material, perishes. Accordingly his ethics also were thoroughly dualistic. By the "works of the Demiurge," which the Christian is to flee, he meant the whole "service of the perishable." The Christian must shun everything sensual, and especially marriage, and free himself from the body by strict asceticism. The original ethical contrast of "good" and "just" is thus transformed into the cosmological contrast of "spirit" and "matter." The good God appears as the god of spirit, the Old Testament God as the god of matter. That is Gnosticism; but it is at the same time illogical. For, since, according to Marcion, the spirit of man is derived, not from the good, but from the just God, it is impossible to see why the spiritual should yet be more closely related to the good God than the material. There is yet another direction in which the system ends with a contradiction. According to Marcion, the good God never judges, but everywhere manifests His goodness--is, therefore, not to be feared, but simply to be loved, as a father. But here the question occurs, What becomes of the men who do not believe the gospel? Marcion answers, The good God does not judge them, but merely removes them from His presence. Then they fall under the power of the Demiurge, who--rewards them for their fidelity? No, says Marcion, but on the contrary--punishes them in his hell! The contradiction here is palpable; and at the same time the antithesis of "just" and "good" ultimately vanishes. For the Demiurge now appears as an inferior being, who in reality executes the purposes of the good God. It is plain that dualism here terminates in the idea of the sole supremacy of the good God.