The remarks of Canon Westcott with regard, to the connection of Valentinus with our New Testament are on a par with the rest of his assertions. He says: "There is no reason to suppose that Valentinus differed from Catholic writers on the Canon of the New Testament."(2) We might ironically adopt this sentence, for as no writer whatever of the time of Valentinus, as we have seen, recognized any New Testament Canon at all, he certainly did not in this respect differ from the other writers of that period. Canon Westcott relies upon the statement of Tertullian, but even here, although he quotes the Latin passage in a note, he does not fully give its real sense in his text. He writes in immediate continuation of the quotation given above: "Tertullian says that in this he differed from Marcion, that he at least professed to accept 'the whole instrument,' perverting the interpretation, where Marcion mutilated the text." Now the assertion of Tertullian has a very important modification, which, to any one acquainted with the very unscrupulous boldness of the "Great African" in dealing with religious controversy, is extremely significant. He does not make the assertion positively and of his own knowledge, but modifies it by saying: "Nor, indeed, if Valentinus seems to use the
2 On the Canon, p. 259. [Dr. Westcott omits these words
from his 4th ed., but he uses others here and elsewhere
which imply very nearly the same assertion.]
whole instrument, (neque enim si Valentinus integro instrumento uti videtur),"(1) &c. Tertullian evidently knew very little of Valentinus himself, and had probably not read his writings at all.(2) His treatise against the Valentinians is avowedly not original, but, as he himself admits, is compiled from the writings of Justin, Miltiades, Irenæus, and Proclus.(3) Tertullian would not have hesitated to affirm anything of this kind positively, had there been any ground for it, but his assertion is at once too uncertain, and the value of his statements of this nature much too small, for such a remark to have any weight as evidence.(4) Besides, by his own showing Valentinus altered Scripture (sine dubio emen-dans),(5) which he could not have done had he recognized it as of canonical authority.(6) We cannot, however, place any reliance upon criticism emanating from Tertullian.
All that Origen seems to know on this subject is that the followers of Valentinus [———] have altered the form of the Gospel [———].(7) Clement of Alexandria, however, informs us that Valentinus, like Basilides, professed to have direct traditions from the Apostles, his teacher being Theodas, a disciple of the Apostle Paul.(8) If he had known any Gospels which he believed to have apostolic authority, there would clearly not have been any need of such tradition. Hippolytus distinctly affirms that Valentinus derived his system from Pythagoras and Plato,
and "not from the Gospels" [——-], and that consequently he might more properly be considered a Pythagorean and Platonist than a Christian.(1) Irenæus, in like manner, asserts that the Valentinians derive their views from unwritten sources [———],(2) and he accuses them of rejecting the Gospels, for after enumerating them,(3) he continues: "When, indeed, they are refuted out of the Scriptures, they turn round in accusation of these same Scriptures, as though they were not correct, nor of authority....
For (they say) that it (the truth) was not conveyed by written records but by the living voice."(4) In the same chapter he goes on to show that the Valen-tinians not only reject the authority of Scripture, but also reject ecclesiastical tradition. He says: "But, again, when we refer them to that tradition which is from the Apostles, which has been preserved through a succession of Presbyters in the Churches, they are opposed to tradition, affirming themselves wiser not only than Presbyters, but even than the Apostles, in that they have discovered the uncorrupted truth. For (they say) the Apostles mixed up matters which are of the law with the words of the Saviour, &c.... It comes to this, they neither consent to Scripture nor to tradition. (Evenit itaque, neque Scripturis jam, neque Traditioni consentire eos.)"(6) We find, therefore, that even in the time of Irenæus the Valentinians rejected the writings
of the New Testament as authoritative documents, which they certainly would not have done had the Founder of their sect himself acknowledged them. So far from this being the case, there was absolutely no New Testament Canon for Valentinus himself to deal with,(1) and his perfectly orthodox contemporaries recognized no other Holy Scriptures than those of the Old Testament.