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any previous preparation, in order that he may draw to himself all kindred spiritual natures held in bondage by the power of this lower world. If any point of connexion is admitted in this latter case betwixt Christianity and the lower world, it is certainly not found in Judaism or any historical religion, but in the theosophic schools, where an

esoteric knowledge of the Supreme was cultivated.

IV. Vague, confused, and irrational as Gnosticism in most of its systems is, its influence upon the development of Christian thought was by no means detrimental. It com- pelled Christian teachers to face the great problems of which it attempted the solution in so many fantastic forms. It expanded the horizon of controversy within as without the church, and made men like Irenaeus, and Clement, and Origen, and even Tertullian, feel that it was by the weapons of reason and not of authority that they must win the triumph of Catholic Christianity. Gnosticism, therefore, may be said to have laid the foundation of Christian science, and it is certainly interesting and deserving of notice that it is in the two great cities of Antioch and Alexandria, —;where Gnosticism had chiefly planted itself,—that we see the rise of the first two schools of Christian thought. These centres of half-Pagan and half-Christian speculation became the first centres of rational Christian theology.

The several schools of Gnosticism seem to have gradually lost importance after the middle of the 3d century, although some of them continued to linger till the 6th century. Manichzeism was little else than a revival of it in the Syrian form, and this system in the 4th and 5th centuries became so powerful as almost to be a rival to Christianity. The great Christian father St Augustine, as is well known, was long fascinated by its influence. Again, strangely, in the 12th century the same spirit burst forth afresh, and in special connexion with the name of the great apostle of the lentiles. The sect of Paulicians, originating in the old Syrian haunt of heresy, Samosata, spread through Asia Minor, and then through Bulgaria and the borders of the Greek empire into Italy, Germany, and France. Gibbon, in the 54th chapter of his famous Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, has given a vivid and powerful description of the fortunes and persecutions of the sect, and the readiness with which its doctrines seized upon whole populations. In southern France especially it spread like wildfire, and for a time almost entirely displaced Catholic Christianity. This Western development of the old Oriental dualism was characterized by many of the features of the earlier Gnosticism, such as the doctrine of the radical evil of matter, aversion to the Old Testament as the work of an evil Demiurge, and a docetic Christology. Extinguished in the horrors of the Albigensian war, it can hardly be said to have reappeared in the history of Christendom.

Literature.—Only one original Gnostic work'has survived to modern times, the «ions ao¢la of Valentinus (edited by Petermann, Berlin, 1851); for all further knowledge of the system we are entirely dependent on the treatisesof its avowed opponents,—especially on that of Ircnmus (é’Ae'yxos rfis \pevavénov yva’mews) and on that of llippolytus (E’Ae'yxos Ka-rc‘z mutant aipe’aewu), although reference may also be made to passages bearing on the subject in the writings of Justin Martyr, Tertullian, Clemens Alexandrinus, Origen, Ense- bius, Philastrius, Epiphanius, Theodoret, Augustine, and Plotinus. The subject is taken up with more or less fulness in all the church histories, and histories of philosophy. Among the more important recent works bearing upon the elucidation of Gnosticism may be mentioned those of Neander ( GenetisclzefiEnt u'z'ckelung der rorneh msten Gnostiselzen Systeme, 1818), Matter (IIisto-z're critique du Gnosticisme, 1828, 2d ed. 1843), Baur (De Gnosiz'corum Christianismo Ideali, 18:27; Die Chrisiliche Gnosis, 1835; Die drei erslen Jahrhmzderte, 3d ed., 1863), Bunsen (Hippolytus u. seine Zeii, 1852—53), Lipsius (art. “Cnostieismus” in Eisch and Gruber's Eneyclopc‘idie, repub- lished in a revised form with the title Der Gnosticismus; scin lVesen, Ursprzmg, mul Entwiekelung, 1860), Harnack (Zur Quel- lenlrriiik dcr Geschiclz-ie des Gnostieismus, 1873), Mansel (Gnostic Her-cries, 1875), and Lipsius (Die Quellen der dlteslen Ketzergeschich-ie new untersuchl, 1875). References to the monographs by Ritschl, Volkmar, Heinrici, Hilgenfeld, and others on special branches of the subject will be found under the several headings Bardesanes, Basilides, Marcion, Valentinus, &c.

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Gnu.

GNU (C'atoblepas), a genus of ruminant mammals con-

stituting the equine group of the antelope family, and con- taining two species—the gnu or kokoon (Catoblepas gnu) and the brindled gnu (C'atoblepas gorgon). Owing to their singular appearance, which has been aptly compared to that of a creature compounded of a bison’s head, a horse’s body, and an antelope’s legs. their proper zoological position has been a matter of dispute—some placing them among the oxen, while others regard them as a connecting link between bovine animals and the true antelopes. The gnu measures about 4% feet in height at the shoulders, and 9 feet in ex- treme length. Its nose is broad and flattened, and bears on its upper surface a crest of reversed hair, while there is an abundant growth of bushy black hair beneath the chin and between the forelegs. The horns, which are present in both sexes, are very broad at their base, forming a solid helmet on the forehead, from which they bend downwards and out— wards, thereafter curving rapidly upwards to the tip. A mane of light-coloured hair, tipped with brown, and present- ing a neatly clipped appearance, extends along the neck, while the horse-like tail, which is more or less of a creamy colour, reaches to the ground. The nostrils are large, and are furnished with a muscular valve by which they can be closed. The gnu is a native of the arid plains of South Africa, where it congregates in considerable herds, its rest- lessness of disposition leading it to migrate frequently from place to place. The fantastic appearance of these creatures is fully equalled by the grotesqueness of their actions. Ad— vancing, as they generally do, in single file, they may be seen wheeling and prancing in all directions, tossing their heads, switehing their long tails, and then starting off, especially if alarmed by the appearance of a lion, at tremen- dous speed, raising columns of dust along their track, and leaving their pursuerslhopelessly in the rear. Should they be surprised in their gambols by the sight of a caravan. their exceeding inquisitiveness impels them to approach the intruding object, which they do in a compact square, looking all the while the very picture of defiance. “ During bright moonlight,” says Captain Harris, “curiosity often prompted a clump of gnus to approach Within a few yards of our bivouac, where they would stand for hours in the same

position, staring wildly, lashing their dark flanks, and utter: