86. The Gnostics desired to avoid making God the author of evil, hence it is a leading principle in their philosophy that all evil has its origin in matter, and as matter was created by one of the Aeons, not by God, the Lord in the Gnostic system is relieved from the responsibility of being the author of evil. 87. The statement of the Gnostic philosophy I have condensed from Mosheim and Dr. Benton, than whom there can be no higher authority on this subject. 88. Gibbon's Decline and Fall, vol. ii, ch. xxii. 89. The subject is difficult of illustration; but the following will perhaps aid the student to grasp the Sabellian doctrine. We see the ocean is a liquid; let us next imagine it frozen into solid ice; next as entirely dissolved into vapor. Here we have the same substance in three different aspects, but whether we speak of it as the liquid ocean, the frozen ocean or the ocean dissolved into vapor, it is always the same ocean, the same substance, but under different aspects. Whether he appeared as the Father, the Son or the Holy Ghost, he was always the same God. Such was the Sabellian theory in respect to Deity. Mosheim represents Sabellius as teaching that the divine nature was divided into portions, that one portion became separate, was called the Son, and was joined to the man Jesus. The Holy Ghost was a similar portion or part of the Eternal Father. The weight of authority is against the learned Doctor in this matter, however, and in favor of the statement of Sabellius' views in the text of this work. 90. This is the Nicene Creed as it was formulated by that celebrated council. The so-called Nicene Creed used in the Catholic, Lutheran and English Churches is this creed as modified by the Council of Constantinople, A. D., 381. There is no material difference in them. 91. Mosheim, Gibbon, Montfaucon and others insist that Athanasius is not the author of this creed, and this may be true, but I have not yet heard of its being rejected as an explanation of the Nicene Creed. Indeed, notwithstanding its authenticity has long been suspected, it still stands in the English prayer book and is recited in the church of England service upon the most notable feasts, Christmas, Epiphany etc. 92. Church of England Book of Common Prayer, p. 49 Athanasius is credited with having confessed that whenever he forced his understanding to meditate on the divinity of the Logos, his toilsome and unavailing efforts recoiled on themselves; that the more he thought, the less he comprehended; and the more he wrote, the less capable was he of expressing his thoughts. (Decline and Fall, vol. II, ch. xxi.) We would naturally think that whoever the author of the Athanasian Creed may be, that such would be his mental condition. Nor are we very much surprised when we hear Gennadius, patriarch of Constantinople, frankly pronouncing it the work of a drunken man. 93. Catholic Belief (Bruno) p. 1. This work is endorsed by His eminence Cardinal Manning.