Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume VIII.djvu/60

 -.> GNEISS the array of observation on the Polish borders, soon after which he died of cholera. GMH88, one of the roetamorphio rocks, of the same composition with granite, from which it differs in presenting the three ingredients, quartz mica, and feldspar, in tolerably distinct layers. The whole mass is often divided into distinct beds or strata, and these exhibit a ten- dency to cleave along the planes in which the mica" is most largely distributed. By increased proportion of mica and loss of feldspar, it passes into micaceous slate. The name gneissic is sometimes given to the group of metamorphic rocks, including the micaceous and hornblende slates, quartz rocks, &c. They are also called hypozoic in reference to their position beneath the fossiliferous strata. The series is familiarly known in the eastern and middle states, rang- ing through Vermont, Massachusetts, the S. E. part of New York, northern New Jersey, east- ern Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia. The gold region lies in this group. GNEIST, Eidolf, a German author, born in Berlin, Aug. 18, 1816. He is professor of juris- prudence in and pro-rector of the university of Berlin, has been a leading liberal member of the Prussian chamber, and is the author of Dot heutige englische Verfasvungt- vnd Ver- v>altung*recht (2 vols., Berlin, 1857-'60), Die Getchichte det Selfgovernment in England (1868), Gachichte vnd heutige Gestalt der Aemter vnd de* Verwaltungsrecht* in England (2 vols., 1866), Freie Advokatur (1867), Die preuuuche Kreisordnung (1870), Der RecJits- ttaat (1872), and other works on Roman and German jurisprudence and British institutions. GNESEN (Pol. Gniezno), a town of Prussia, in the province and 80 m. N. E. of the city of Posen ; pop. in 1871, 9,910. It is surrounded by walls, has a fine cathedral and other church- es, an ecclesiastical seminary, a monastery, and a nunnery, and is the seat of a cathedral chap- ter. Four annual fairs are held there. It was the capital of Poland till 1320, when it was superseded by Cracow. It has been many times besieged, taken, and pillaged. The arch- bishops of Gnesen were the primates of the state, and acted as vicars during the often dis- puted elections of the kings. GHOfiSrs, or GBOSIS. See CNOSSUS. GM08TICS (Gr. yvuats, knowledge), a name to variom heretical sects in the early in church. We know them mainly through tlu-ir opponents, almost nothing re- iif of Gnostic writings except the frag- rj quotations found in orthodox authors, was a natural result of the con- tact of Christianity with oriental and Greek philosophy, ninl was the earliest attempt to oonatruct a philosophical system of faith. It undertook to answer the most difficult ques- tions, such as that of the origin of evil, and soon became extravagant, and met the opposi- tion of the hading ( 'hristian writers. Gnosti- m rail v n mdenmed as heretical, and, after having been most prosperous in the GNOSTICS 2d century, declined in the 3d, and in the 6th came, with other heresies, under the ban of the Justinian code. It was a speculative system, and exercised little influence upon the masses of the people. It was also mainly confined to the eastern church, and had little to do with the development of the West. There are three principal theories of the character of Gnosti- cism. Baur treats it as a philosophy of religion resulting from the comparison of various reli- gious systems ; Neander as a fusion of Christian ideas with oriental theosophy, caused by the pre- valence of sensuous ideas within the church ; Mohler as an intense and exaggerated Christian zeal, seeking some practical solution of the problems of sin and evil. All minor theories of the purpose and motives of Gnosticism can be comprehended in one of these ; and these three agree in the general definition, that Gnosticism is an attempt to solve the great problems of theology by combining the ele- ments of pagan mysticism with the Jewish and Christian traditions. It is impossible to make an accurate definition of a system of which the speculations are so vague, and the materials for judgment so scattered and fragmentary. Different writers vary widely in their method of classifying the various Gnostic schools. Some classify them by opinions, some by origin, and some by locality. The chief Gnostic ideas may be summed up under seven heads: 1. God is infinitely removed from the actual world, en- closed in the abyss (Gr. /&0oc), with which he is in fact confounded ; he is separate from every work of temporal creation, incomprehensible by any mortal, and communicates with the lower world only through the mediation of the aeons (Gr. ci<5v, age or era), whom he sends forth from the depths of his grand solitude. He has infinite development in the forces which he sends, but no personal or special providence. He is the sum of being, yet the extreme of ab- straction, and is even called the Not Being (OVK uv). 2. Below the abyss, in which God alone dwells, or surrounding this abyss, is the Pleroma (Gr. Tr^pu^a, fulness), that world of light and glory which the aeons inhabit. These seons are emanations from God's central ful- ness, are embodiments of his divine attributes, and fulfil the functions denoted by their seve- ral names. Among the higher seons are Mind, Reason, Power, Truth, and Life. All of these are styled ceons, because they are in some way the representatives of the Eternal Being ; but only one of them, Nous or Mind (v6oc, or in late authors vovf, intellect), proceeds directly from the Deity. The others emanate in de- scending succession from the first aeon. One Gnostic writer compares the emanation of these aeons from the Supreme Being to the tones of the voice lessening steadily to a faint echo. The number and characteristics of these aeons are variously stated ; according to Valen- tinus, there were 365 of them ; but according to all, only the lowest of them has anything to do with the material world, occupying the point