Page:The Gnostic Heresies of the First and Second Centuries.pdf/139

THE OPHITE SECTS. their consequences, not in themselves), and must annihilate the idea of sin, which is not a consequence, but a transgression of God's law. Let no philosophy be trusted, however tempting its promises, however great its apparent success, which does not distinctly recognise the two great correlative ideas of a personal God, and a personal, that is, a free-willing, man. With these, its efforts, however feeble, may be true as far as they go; without these, its most brilliant seeming achievements are at the bottom a mockery and an imposture.