mit. But, as we have seen, the heresiarch
and his followers denied that 'the Word' is also 'the Son' of God. As if
in order to bar the door against this pretence, St. John announces (ver.
18) that 'the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he
hath declared him': thus establishing the identity of the Word and the
Only begotten Son. What else could the Valentinians do with so plain a
statement, but seek to deprave it? Accordingly, the very first time St.
John i. 18 is quoted by any of the ancients, it is accompanied by the
statement that the Valentinians in order to prove that the 'only
begotten' is 'the Beginning,' and is 'God,' appeal to the words,--'the
only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father[513],' &c. Inasmuch,
said they, as the Father willed to become known to the worlds, the
Spirit of Gnosis produced the 'only begotten' 'Gnosis,' and therefore
gave birth to 'Gnosis,' that is to 'the Son': in order that by 'the Son'
'the Father' might be made known. While then that 'only begotten Son'
abode 'in the bosom of the Father,' He caused that here upon earth
should be seen, alluding to ver. 14, one 'as the only begotten Son.' In
which, by the way, the reader is requested to note that the author of
the Excerpta Theodoti (a production of the second century) reads St.
John i. 18 as we do.

I have gone into all these strange details,--derived, let it be
remembered, from documents which carry us back to the former half of the
second century,--because in no other way is the singular phenomenon
which attends the text of St. John i. 18 to be explained and accounted
for. Sufficiently plain and easy of transmission as it is, this verse of
Scripture is observed to exhibit perturbations which are even
extraordinary. Irenaeus once writes [Greek: ho] [?] [Greek: monogenes
uios]: once, [Greek: ho] [?] [Greek: monogenes uios Theos]: once,
[Greek: ho monogenes uios Theou][514]: Clemens Alex., [Greek: ho
monogenes uios Theos monos][515]; which must be very nearly the reading
of the Codex from which the text of the Vercelli Copy of the Old Latin
was derived[516]. Eusebius four times writes [Greek: ho monogenes
uios][517]: twice, [Greek: monogenes Theos][518]: and on one occasion
gives his reader the choice of either expression, explaining why both
may stand[519]. Gregory Nyss.[520] and Basil[521], though they recognize
the usual reading of the place, are evidently vastly more familiar with
the reading [Greek: ho