Chapter 35

§ 1.

But as for Basilides in particular, he will be forced to affirm, over and above what has been said, that by his rule not only 365 different heavens were made in succession by different Beings,¹ but that I know not what immense and innumerable multitude of them has been, is, and will be made, and that this framing of Heavens, so to call it, never ceases. For if a second heaven was made by that which flowed down from the former one, in the likeness thereof, and a third in that of the second; and in like manner all the rest in their order; it follows of course with respect to this also, which appertains to us, which also they call the last, that from its drainings another resembling it should be made, and another again from it; and so there should be no end, either to the drainings of those previously made, or to the formation of the Heavens, but we shall be cast upon an immense, not a limited number of Heavens.

§ 2.

And the rest too who are falsely called Gnostics,² who say that the Prophets made their prophecies according to their several gods, will be easily overthrown by this, that all the Prophets set forth one only God and Lord, and Him the Maker of Heaven and Earth, and of all things therein, as also that they intimated the advent of His Son; as we shall prove out of the Scriptures themselves in the following books.

§ 3.

But if any object the various use of certain Scriptural terms in the Hebrew language,³ such as Sabaoth, and Eloe and Adonai, and whatever such there are besides, by these endeavouring to prove divers Powers and Gods: let them learn that to one and the same belong all the aforesaid, being tokens and appellations of Him. For that which is sounded Eloe, in the Jewish speech signifies God; and Eloe True; and Eloeuth⁴d, in the Hebrew tongue means that which containeth all things. And by the term Adonai, sometimes He means that which may be pronounced, and which is the same as “Wonderful,” sometimes, doubling the letter D, with an aspiration, as thus, Addhonai, Him Who sets bounds, and parts the earth from the water, that the water may not mount up over it. Likewise “Sabaoth” is both written with the Greek Ω in the last syllable,⁵ meaning “voluntary;” and by the Greek O, as thus, “Sabaoth,” it expresses the first Heaven. In the same way Jawth again, the last syllable being lengthened with an aspiration, signifies “a foreordained measure”; but when it is shortened by the Greek O, as thus, Jaoth, it means Him that gives flight from evils. And the other terms are all of one and the same application: as in the Latin, Lord of Hosts, and Father of all, and God Almighty, and Most High, and Lord of the Heavens, and Creator, and Fabricator, and the like of these, do not belong to one and another, but are names of one and the same, and are as names by which is signified One God and Father, Who comprehends all, and gives being to all.

§ 4.

And that with our sayings agrees the preaching of the Apostles,⁶ and the teaching of the Lord, and the announcement of the Prophets, and that which is put into our mouths by the Apostles, and the ministration of the Jewish Code;—all of them praising one and the same God of all, the Father; and not now one and now another, nor as having had substance from various Gods or Powers; but all are of one and the same Father (adapted however by Him to the natures and state of the several subjects): and that neither by Angels, nor by any other virtue, but by God the Father alone, were made things both visible and invisible, and all things whatsoever: hath been indeed, as I think, sufficiently shewn hereby, many as the points are, in that we have proved that there is one God, the Father, Maker of all. But that we may not be thought to shrink from that mode of proof which the Scriptures of Christ furnish; although those Scriptures of themselves do much more distinctly and clearly declare the same;—to such as are rightly considerate we will present a special book, tracing out those Scriptures: so out of the Divine writings will our arguments be set within reach of all who love the Truth.