Title Page

The Stromata, or Miscellanies: Book I

Chapter I.--Preface--The Author's Object--The Utility of Written Compositions.

Chapter II.--Objection to the Number of Extracts from Philosophical Writings in These Books Anticipated and Answered.

Chapter III.--Against the Sophists.

Chapter IV.--Human Arts as Well as Divine Knowledge Proceed from God.

Chapter V.--Philosophy the Handmaid of Theology.

Chapter VI.--The Benefit of Culture.

Chapter VII.--The Eclectic Philosophy Paves the Way for Divine Virtue.

Chapter VIII.--The Sophistical Arts Useless.

Chapter IX.--Human Knowledge Necessary for the Understanding of the Scriptures.

Chapter X.--To Act Well of Greater Consequence Than to Speak Well.

Chapter XI.--What is the Philosophy Which the Apostle Bids Us Shun?

Chapter XII.--The Mysteries of the Faith Not to Be Divulged to All.

Chapter XIII.--All Sects of Philosophy Contain a Germ of Truth.

Chapter XIV.--Succession of Philosophers in Greece.

Chapter XV.--The Greek Philosophy in Great Part Derived from the Barbarians.

Chapter XVI.--That the Inventors of Other Arts Were Mostly Barbarians.

Chapter XVII.--On the Saying of the Saviour, "All that Came Before Me Were Thieves and Robbers."

Chapter XVIII.--He Illustrates the Apostle's Saying, "I Will Destroy the Wisdom of the Wise."

Chapter XIX.--That the Philosophers Have Attained to Some Portion of Truth.

Chapter XX.--In What Respect Philosophy Contributes to the Comprehension of Divine Truth.

Chapter XXI.--The Jewish Institutions and Laws of Far Higher Antiquity Than the Philosophy of the Greeks.

Chapter XXII.--On the Greek Translation of the Old Testament.

Chapter XXIII.--The Age, Birth, and Life of Moses.

Chapter XXIV.--How Moses Discharged the Part of a Military Leader.

Chapter XXV.--Plato an Imitator of Moses in Framing Laws.

Chapter XXVI.--Moses Rightly Called a Divine Legislator, And, Though Inferior to Christ, Far Superior to the Great Legislators of the Greeks, Minos and Lycurgus.

Chapter XXVII.--The Law, Even in Correcting and Punishing, Aims at the Good of Men.

Chapter XXVIII.--The Fourfold Division of the Mosaic Law.

Chapter XXIX.--The Greeks But Children Compared with the Hebrews.

Elucidations.

The Stromata, or Miscellanies. Book II.

Chapter I.--Introductory.

Chapter II.--The Knowledge of God Can Be Attained Only Through Faith.

Chapter III.--Faith Not a Product of Nature.

Chapter IV.--Faith the Foundation of All Knowledge.

Chapter V.--He Proves by Several Examples that the Greeks Drew from the Sacred Writers.

Chapter VI.--The Excellence and Utility of Faith.

Chapter VII.--The Utility of Fear. Objections Answered.

Chapter VIII.--The Vagaries of Basilides and Valentinus as to Fear Being the Cause of Things.

Chapter IX.--The Connection of the Christian Virtues.

Chapter X.--To What the Philosopher Applies Himself.

Chapter XI.--The Knowledge Which Comes Through Faith the Surest of All.

Chapter XII.--Twofold Faith.

Chapter XIII.--On First and Second Repentance.

Chapter XIV.--How a Thing May Be Involuntary.

Chapter XV.--On the Different Kinds of Voluntary Actions, and the Sins Thence Proceeding.

Chapter XVI.--How We are to Explain the Passages of Scripture Which Ascribe to God Human Affections.

Chapter XVII.--On the Various Kinds of Knowledge.

Chapter XVIII.--The Mosaic Law the Fountain of All Ethics, and the Source from Which the Greeks Drew Theirs.

Chapter XIX.--The True Gnostic is an Imitator of God, Especially in Beneficence.

Chapter XX.--The True Gnostic Exercises Patience and Self-Restraint.

Chapter XXI.--Opinions of Various Philosophers on the Chief Good.

Chapter XXII.--Plato's Opinion, that the Chief Good Consists in Assimilation to God, and Its Agreement with Scripture.

Chapter XXIII.--On Marriage.

Elucidations.

The Stromata, or Miscellanies. Book III.

Caput I.--Basilidis Sententiam de Continentia Et Nuptiis Refutat.

Caput II.--Carpocratis Et Epiphanis Sententiam de Feminarum Communitate Refutat.

Caput III.--Quatenus Plato Aliique E Veteribus Præiverint Marcionitis Aliisque Hæreticis, Qui a Nuptiis Ideo Abstinent Quia Creaturam Malam Existimant Et Nasci Homines in Poenam Opinantur.

Caput IV.--Quibus Prætextibus Utantur Hæretici ad Omnis Genetis Licentiam Et Libidinem Exercendam.

Caput V.--Duo Genera Hæreticorum Notat: Prius Illorum Qui Omnia Omnibus Licere Pronuntiant, Quos Refutat.

Caput VI.--Secundum Genus Hæreticorum Aggreditur, Illorum Scilicet Qui Ex Impia de Deo Omnium Conditore Sententia, Continentiam Exercent.

Caput VII.--Qua in Re Christianorum Continentia Eam Quam Sibi Vindicant Philosophi Antecellat.

Caput VIII.--Loca S. Scripturæ Ab Hæreticis in Vituperium Matrimonii Adducta Explicat; Et Primo Verba Apostoli Romans 6:14, Ab Hæreticorum Perversa Interpretatione Vindicat.

Caput IX.--Dictum Christi ad Salomen Exponit, Quod Tanquam in Vituperium Nuptiarum Prolatum Hæretici Allegabant.

Caput X.--Verba Christi Matt. xviii. 20, Mystice Exponit.

Caput XI.--Legis Et Christi Mandatum de Non Concupiscendo Exponit.

Caput XII.--Verba Apostoli 1 Cor. vii. 5, 39, 40, Aliaque S. Scripturæ Loca Eodem Spectantia Explicat.

Caput XIII.--Julii Cassiani Hæretici Verbis Respondet; Item Loco Quem Ex Evangelio Apocrypho Idem Adduxerat.

Caput XIV.--2 Cor. xi. 3, Et Eph. iv. 24, Exponit.

Caput XV.--1 Cor. vii. 1; Luc. xiv. 26; Isa. lvi. 2, 3, Explicat.

Caput XVI.--Jer. xx. 14; Job xiv. 3; Ps. l. 5; 1 Cor. ix. 27, Exponit.

Caput XVII.--Qui Nuptias Et Generationem Malas Asserunt, II Et Dei Creationem Et Ipsam Evangelii Dispensationem Vituperant.

Caput XVIII.--Duas Extremas Opiniones Esse Vitandas: Primam Illorum Qui Creatoris Odio a Nuptiis Abstinent; Alteram Illorum Qui Hinc Occasionem Arripiunt Nefariis Libidinibus Indulgendi.

Elucidations.

The Stromata, or Miscellanies. Book IV.

Chapter I.--Order of Contents.

Chapter II.--The Meaning of the Name Stromata or Miscellanies.

Chapter III.--The True Excellence of Man.

Chapter IV.--The Praises of Martyrdom.

Chapter V.--On Contempt for Pain, Poverty, and Other External Things.

Chapter VII.--The Blessedness of the Martyr.

Chapter VIII.--Women as Well as Men, Slaves as Well as Freemen, Candidates for the Martyr's Crown.

Chapter IX.--Christ's Sayings Respecting Martyrdom.

Chapter X.--Those Who Offered Themselves for Martyrdom Reproved.

Chapter XI.--The Objection, Why Do You Suffer If God Cares for You, Answered.

Chapter XII.--Basilides' Idea of Martyrdom Refuted.

Chapter XIII.--Valentinian's Vagaries About the Abolition of Death Refuted.

Chapter XIV.--The Love of All, Even of Our Enemies.

Chapter XV.--On Avoiding Offence.

Chapter XVI.--Passages of Scripture Respecting the Constancy, Patience, and Love of the Martyrs.

Chapter XVII.--Passages from Clement's Epistle to the Corinthians on Martyrdom.

Chapter XVIII.--On Love, and the Repressing of Our Desires.

Chap. XIX.--Women as well as Men Capable of Perfection.

Chapter XX.--A Good Wife.

Chapter XXI.--Description of the Perfect Man, or Gnostic.

Chapter XXIII.--The Same Subject Continued.

Elucidations.

The Stromata, or Miscellanies. Book V. cChap. I.--On Faith.

Chap. II.--On Hope.

Chapter III.--The Objects of Faith and Hope Perceived by the Mind Alone.

Chapter IV.--Divine Things Wrapped Up in Figures Both in the Sacred and in Heathen Writers.

Chapter V.--On the Symbols of Pythagoras.

Chapter VI.--The Mystic Meaning of the Tabernacle and Its Furniture.

Chapter VII.--The Egyptian Symbols and Enigmas of Sacred Things.

Chapter VIII.--The Use of the Symbolic Style by Poets and Philosophers.

Chapter IX.--Reasons for Veiling the Truth in Symbols.

Chapter X.--The Opinion of the Apostles on Veiling the Mysteries of the Faith.

Chapter XI.--Abstraction from Material Things Necessary in Order to Attain to the True Knowledge of God.

Chapter XII.--God Cannot Be Embraced in Words or by the Mind.

Chapter XIII.--The Knowledge of God a Divine Gift, According to the Philosophers.

Chapter XIV.--Greek Plagiarism from the Hebrews.

Elucidations.

The Stromata, or Miscellanies. Book VI.

Chapter I.--Plan.

Chapter II.--The Subject of Plagiarisms Resumed. The Greeks Plagiarized from One Another.

Chapter III.--Plagiarism by the Greeks of the Miracles Related in the Sacred Books of the Hebrews.

Chapter IV.--The Greeks Drew Many of Their Philosophical Tenets from the Egyptian and Indian Gymnosophists.

Chapter V.--The Greeks Had Some Knowledge of the True God.

Chapter VI.--The Gospel Was Preached to Jews and Gentiles in Hades.

Chapter VII.--What True Philosophy Is, and Whence So Called.

Chapter VIII.--Philosophy is Knowledge Given by God.

Chapter IX.--The Gnostic Free of All Perturbations of the Soul.

Chapter X.--The Gnostic Avails Himself of the Help of All Human Knowledge.

Chapter XI.--The Mystical Meanings in the Proportions of Numbers, Geometrical Ratios, and Music.

Chapter XII.--Human Nature Possesses an Adaptation for Perfection; The Gnostic Alone Attains It.

Chapter XIII.--Degrees of Glory in Heaven Corresponding with the Dignities of the Church Below.

Chapter XIV.--Degrees of Glory in Heaven.

Chapter XV.--Different Degrees of Knowledge.

Chapter XVI.--Gnostic Exposition of the Decalogue.

Chapter XVII.--Philosophy Conveys Only an Imperfect Knowledge of God.

Chapter XVIII.--The Use of Philosophy to the Gnostic.

Elucidations.

The Stromata, or Miscellanies. Book VII.

Chapter I.--The Gnostic a True Worshipper of God, and Unjustly Calumniated by Unbelievers as an Atheist.

Chapter II.--The Son the Ruler and Saviour of All.

Chapter III.--The Gnostic Aims at the Nearest Likeness Possible to God and His Son.

Chapter IV.--The Heathens Made Gods Like Themselves, Whence Springs All Superstition.

Chapter V.--The Holy Soul a More Excellent Temple Than Any Edifice Built by Man.

Chapter VI.--Prayers and Praise from a Pure Mind, Ceaselessly Offered, Far Better Than Sacrifices.

Chapter VII.--What Sort of Prayer the Gnostic Employs, and How It is Heard by God.

Chapter VIII.--The Gnostic So Addicted to Truth as Not to Need to Use an Oath.

Chapter IX.--Those Who Teach Others, Ought to Excel in Virtues.

Chapter X.--Steps to Perfection.

Chapter XI.--Description of the Gnostic's Life.

Chapter XII.--The True Gnostic is Beneficent, Continent, and Despises Worldly Things.

Chapter XIII.--Description of the Gnostic Continued.

Chapter XIV.--Description of the Gnostic Furnished by an Exposition of 1 Cor. vi. 1, Etc.

Chapter XV.--The Objection to Join the Church on Account of the Diversity of Heresies Answered.

Chapter XVI.--Scripture the Criterion by Which Truth and Heresy are Distinguished.

Chapter XVII.--The Tradition of the Church Prior to that of the Heresies.

Chapter XVIII--The Distinction Between Clean and Unclean Animals in the Law Symbolical of the Distinction Between the Church, and Jews, and Heretics.

Elucidations

The Stromata, or Miscellanies.

Book VIII.

Chapter I.--The Object of Philosophical and Theological Inquiry--The Discovery of Truth.

Chapter II.--The Necessity of Perspicuous Definition.

Chapter III.--Demonstration Defined.

Chapter IV.--To Prevent Ambiguity, We Must Begin with Clear Definition.

Chapter V.--Application of Demonstration to Sceptical Suspense of Judgment.

Chapter VI.--Definitions, Genera, and Species.

Chapter VII.--On the Causes of Doubt or Assent.

Chapter VIII.--The Method of Classifying Things and Names.

Chapter IX.--On the Different Kinds of Cause.

Elucidations.