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vt
^
THE
fVNTE-NICENE FATHERS,
TRANSLATIONS OF
Tlte Writings of the Fathers down to A.D. J2^.
THE REV. ALEXAhlDER ROBERTS, D.D.,
AND
JAMES DONALDSON, LL.D,
EDITORS.
AMERICA!^ REPRINT OF THE EDINBURGH EDITION.
lEVlSED AND CHRONOLOGICALLY ARRANGED, WITH BRIEF PREFACES AND
OCCASIONAL NOTES,
BY
A. CLEVELAND COXE D.D.
. VOLUME III. LATIN CHRISTXAJflTY.- ITS FOUNDER. TERTULLIAN.
L APOLOGETIC; II. APJTI-MARCION; III. ETHICAL.
NEW YORK:
CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS.
1903
V.3
Emend Kccordiiig to Act of CoDgrHB, in (be yeu- 1AS5, by THE CHRISTIAN LITERATURE PUBUSHING COMPANY
LATIN CHRISTIANITY:
ITS FOUNDER. TERTULLIAN.
THREE PARTS: L APOLOGETIC; IL ANTI-MARCION ; lU. ETHICAI.
AMERICAN EDITION.
CHRONOLOGICALLY ARRANGED, WITH BRIEF NOTES AND PREFACES,
BY A. CLEVELAND COXE, D.D.
Thb NiciHi CovHcn.
^'L.^i \'b
PUBLISHERS' ADVERTISEMENT.
We present a volume widely differing, in its contents, from those which have gone before; it contains the worlcs of the great founder of Latin Christianity, the versatile and brilliant Tertullian. Not all his works, indeed, for they could not be contained in one of our books. This book, however, consider^ly overruns the promised number of pages: and gives three complete parts of Tertullian's writings, according to the classification of our Editor-in-chief. The Fourth volume will begin with the fourth class of his works, those which exhibit our author's ascetic ideas and the minor morals of the Primitive Christians, that collection being uoKd by the four treatises which were written in support of a defined and schismatical Mootaoism.
The Editor-in-chief has been in active correspondence with representative men of divers theological schools, hoping to secure their co-operation in editorial work. As yet, however, ttac result has not enabled us to announce more than one additional collaborator: the rapidity with which the successive volumes must be furnished proving an almost insurmountable ob- stacle in the way of securing as co-workers, divines actively engaged in professional duties and literary tasks. The sympathy and encouragement which have been expressed by all with vhom a correspondence has been opened, have been most cheering. To the Rev. Dr. Riddle, ol Hartford, well known as one of the most learned of the American Revisers of the New Testament, we are indebted for his consent to edit one of the concluding volumes of I the Scries, accompanying it with a Bibliographical Review of the entire Literature of the V Pdrvlogia of the Ante-Nicene period: supplying therein a compendious view of all the writers I apoD this period and of the latest critical editions of the Ante-Nicene authors themselves. 1 TIk editor-in-chief will continue his annotations and the usual prefaces, in Professor Riddle's I TClmiie, but will be relieved, in some degree, of the laborious and minute attention to details I ■hich earlier volumes have necessarily exacted.
U is needful to remind the reader that he possesses in this volume what has long been a laknuuni among divines. The crabbed Latin of the great Tertullian has been thought luiltfy translation: and the variety and uncertain dates of his works have rendered classi- Ibtionand arrangement almost an equal difhculty. But here is the work achieved by com- I titett hands, and now, for the first time, reduced to orderly and methodical plan. We have Inlc doubt that the student on comparing our edition with that of the Edinburgh Series, I <JI (Dngratulatc himself on the great gain of the arrangement; and we trust the original |*»tervith which it is illustrated may be found not less acceptable.
I nu
V
Contents of Volume III.
THE WRITINGS OF TERTULLIAN.
rAOi
INTRODUCTORY NOTE i
PART FIRST.
I. THE APOLOGY 17
II. ON IDOLATRY 61
III. THE SHOWS, OR DE SPECTACULIS 79
IV. THE CHAPLET, OR DE CORONA 93
V. TO SCAPULA loS
VI. AD NATIONES 109
APPENDIX, FRAGMENT 149
VII. AN ANSWER TO THE JEWS JS'
VIH. THE SOUL'S TESTIMONY 175
IX. A TREATISE ON THE SOUL 181
PART SECOND.
1. THE PRESCRIPTION AGAINST HERETICS 243
II. THE FIVE BOOKS AGAINST MARCION 369
Book I. 371
Book II 297
Book III 331
Book IV . 345
Book V 419
III. AGAINST HERMOGENES 477
IV. AGAINST THE VALENTINIANS 503
V. ON THE FLESH OF CHRIST 511
VI, ON THE RESURRECTION OF THE FLESH 545
VII. AGAINST PRAXEAS 597
VIII. SCORPIACE 633
IX. APPENDIX. Against all Heresies 649
PART THIRD.
I. ON REPENTANCE 657
II. ON BAPTISM 669
HI. ON PRAYER 681
IV. AD MARTYRAS 693
V. APPENDIX. The Martyrdom of Perpetua and Felicitas . . . 697
VI. OF PATIENCE 707
TERTULLIAN.
PART FIRST.
INTRODUCTORY NOTE.
{A.D. I45-3SO.} Whkh otir Lord repulsed the woman of Caoun (Matt. zv. as) irith apftarcnt harshness, he applied to her people the epithet degt, with which the children of IecuI bad thought it piety to reproach them. When He accepted her faith and caused it to be reoorde<l for our learning, He did something more: He reversed the curse of ibe Canaanite and showed that the Church was designed " for all people; " Catholic alike (or all time and for all torts and conditions of men.
Thus the North-African Church was loved before it was bom; the Good Shepherd was {eniJy leading those " that were with young," Here was the charter of those Christians u be a Church, who then were Canaanites in the land of their father Ham. It is remarkable bideed that among these pilgrims and strangers to the West the first elements of Latin Chnstianity come into view. Even at the close of the Second Century the Church in Rome ii an inconsiderable, though prominent, member of the great confederation of Christian Qurches which has its chief seats in Alexandria and Antioch, nnd of which the entire Lit> nature is Greek. It is an African presbyter who takes from Latin Christendom the reproach of theological and literary barrenness and begins the great work in which, upon his founda. ikns, Cyprian and Augustine built up, with incomparable genius, that Carthaginian School L.d Christian thought by which I-atin Theology was dominated for centuries. It is impor- Ito note (i.) that providentially not one of these illustrious doctors died in Communion the Roman See. pure though it was and venerable at that time; and (i.) that to the vjtks of Augustine the Reformation in Germany and CoDtinental Europe was largely due; . vWe (5.) the tfttialiits of the Anglican Reformation were, in like proponion, due to the jvdings of TertulHan and Cyprian. The hinges of great and controlling destinies forWest- 1 0) Corope and our own America are to be found in the period wc arc now approaching.
The merest school-boy knows much of the history of Carthage, and how the North
lUiaat became Roman citixens. How they became Christians is not to clear. A mclan-
|(Mr<^iny h^ enveloped Carthage from the outset, and its glory and greatness as a
lOmao See were nansient indeed. It blazed out all at once in TertuUian, after about a
iniury of missionary labours had been exerted upon its creation : and having given a Mi-
i Feli», an Amobius and a Laciantius to adorn the cariicst period of Western Ecclesi-
I learning, in addition to its nobler luminaries, it rapidly declined. At the beginning
IHtte Third Century, at a council presided over by Agrippiniis, Bishop of Carthage, there
|*i-r ;>rrscnt not less than seventy bishops of the Province. A period of cruel persecutions
• cU, and the African Church received a baptism of blood.
Tenullian was born a heathen, and seems to have been educated at Rome, where he
Ay practiced as a jurisconsult. We m;iy, perhaps, adopt most of the ideas of Allix,
|B8njccturatIy probable, and a.isign hi* birth to a.i>. 143. He becme a C iristipn about
I I
\
INTRODUCTORY NOTE.
185, and a presbyter about 190. The period of his strict orthodoxy very nearly expires with the century. He lived to as extreme old age, and some suppose even till a.d. 340. More probably we must adopt the date preferred by recent writers, a.d. 330.
It seems to be the fashion to treat of Tertullian as a Montanist, and only incidentally to celebrate his services to the Catholic Orthodoxy of Western Christendom. Were I his biographer I should reverse this course, as a mere act of justice, to say nothing of gratitude to a man of splendid intellect, to whom the filial spirit of Cyprian accorded the loving tribute of a disciple, and whose genius stamped itself upon the very words of Latin theology, and prepared the language for the labours, of a Jerom^. lo cr^UpS ^^^ Vulgate, and 50 lifting the Western Churches int<ra position of intellectual eqnality -with the East, the latter as well as St. Augustine himself were debtors to Tertullian in a degree not to be estimated by any other than the Providential Miod that inspired bis Jwilliant career as a Christian.
In speaking of Tatian I laid the base for what I wished to say of Tertullian. Let God only be, ttieir judge ; let us gratefully recognize the debt we owe to them. Let us ^ead them, as we read ^e works of King Solomon. We must, indeed, approve of the discipline of the Primitive Age, which allowed of no compromises. The Church was struggling for existence, and could not permit any man to become her master. The more brilliant the intellect, the more dangerous to the poor Church were its perversions of her Testimony, Before the heathen tribunals, and in the market-places, it would not answer to let Christian- ity appear double-tongued. The orthodoxy of the Church, not less than her children, was undergoing an ordeal of fire. It seems a miracle that her Testimony preserved its unity, and that heresy was branded as such by the instinct of the Faithful. Poor Tertullian was cut oS by his own act. The weeping Church might bewail him as David mourned for Absa- lom, but like David, she could not give the Ark of God into other hands than those of the loyal and the true. I have set the writings of Tertullian in a natural and logical order,' so as to aid the student, and to relieve him from the distractions of such an arrangement as one finds in Oehter's edition. Valuable as it is, the practical use of it is irritating and con< fusing. The reader of that edition may turn to the slightly differing schemes of Neander and Kaye, for a theoretical order of the works; but here he will find a classification which will aid his inquiries. He will find, first, those works which connea with the Apologists of the former volumes of this series: which illustrate the Church's position toward the outside world, the Jews as well as the Gentiles. Next come those works which contend with internal differences and heresies. And then, those which reflect the morals and manners of Chris- tians. These are classed with some reference to their degrees of freedom from the Mon- tanistic taint, and are followed, last of all, by the few tracts which belong to the melancholy period of his lapse, and are directed against the Church's orthodoxy.
Let it be borne in mind, that if this sad close of Tertullian's career cannot be extenuated, the later history of Latin Christianity forbids us to condemn him, in the tones which pro- ceeded from the Virgin Church with authority, and which the law of her testimony and the instinct of self-preservation forced her to utter. Let us reflect that St. Bernard and after him the Schoolmen, whom we so deservedly honour, separated themselves far more absolutely than ever Tertullian did from the orthodoxy of Primitive Christendom. The schism which withdrew the West from Communion with the original seats of Christendom, and from Nicene Catholicity, was formidable beyond all expression, in comparison with Tertullian's enunglements with a delusion which the See of Rome itself had momentarily patronized. Since the Council of Trent, not a theologian of the Latins has been free.from organic her- esies, compared with which the fanaticism of our author was a trifling aberration. Since the late Council of the Vatican, essential Montanism has become organized in the Latin
> Elucidillon 1.
Qtorches: (or what are the new revelations and oracles of tlie pontiff but the Jtiiria of soother clamant to the voice and jnipiration of tlie Paraclete ? Poor Tenullian ! The sad influences of his decline and folly have hecn fauliy felt in all the subsequent history of the West, but, surety subsaibers to the Modern Creed of the Vatican have reason to " speak patJy of thdr /alfur't lal',." To DoUinger, with the " Old Catholic " remnant only, is left the cigfat to name the Montanisis heretics, or to upbraid Tcrtullian as a lapser from Catholicity.' From Dr. Holmes, I append the fotlowiog Introductorv Notick: *
(I.) QinKTUsSEPTiMiusFLOBENsTERTULUANUs, as our suthor is called in the MBS. of hii ■orks, is thus noticed by Jerome in his Ca/rt/*'^TW Seriptsrum EecUtiattieorum:' "Tcrtul- kau, a presbyter, the first Latin writer after Victor and Apollonius, was a native of the proriooe of Africa and city of Carthage, the son of a proconsular centurion: he was a man af B sharp and vehement temper, flourished under Severus and Antoninus Caracalla, wd wrote numerous works, which (as they arc generally known) I think it unneces- wtj to paniculartze. I saw at Concordia, in luly, an old man named Paulas. He ■aid that when younj; be had met at Rome with an ag:ed amanuensis of the blessed Cyprian, who told him that Cyprian never passed a day without reading some portion ti Tcitutlian's works, and used frequently to say. Give me my mtuter, meaning Ter- tnlBaiL After remaining a presbyter of the church until he had attained the middle age rf life, Tertullian was, by the envy and contumelious treatment of the Roman clergy, idrm to embrace the opinions of Montanus, which he has mentioned in several of his [vorks ooder the title of the New Prophecy. . . . He is reported to have lived to a very age, and to have composed many other works which are not extant." We add [lotiop Kaye's notes on this extract, in an abridged shape: " The correctness of some pans tafthts account has been questioned. Doubts have been entertained whether Tertullian was Mptobyter, although these have solely arisen from Roman Catholic objections to a married Ipritsbood; for it is certain that he was married, there being among his works two treatises liirfniiiii il to his wife. . . . Another question has been raised respecting the place where rmalliaa officiated as a presbyter — whether at Carthage or at Rome. That he at one time [mded at Carthage may be inferred from Jerome's statement, and is rendered certain by JKiBat passages of his own writings. AUix supposes that the notion of his having been a iRibytef of the Roman Church owed its rise to what Jerome said of the envy and abuse of be Ronan clergy impelling him to espouse the party of Montanus. Optaius,* and the aikor of tbc work ri!r Htrrttibui, which Sirmond edited under the title of Pnedestinatus, ex- prcwlT call him a Carthaginian presbyter, Semler, however, in a dissertation inserted in icditton of Tenullian's works,' contends that he was a presbyter of the Roman Church. io»* tells US tliat he was accurately acquainted with the Roman laws, and on other ac- ta dininguished person at Rome.' Tertullian displays, moreover, a knowledge of (he
I
4 4
» ^ Xk- K«lmttinn bnfli«itfid. ud I hive born fofnd lo naovc ibb fipdiure, >■ biwheE* wctolteiulo IhU edUlo« t iJ Anuricui edilun- The perpFluAl Frrumoc* of bncWci fa hii inmlalliHU lua Ird nw to Lmiirove (ht pa^ I inmcvd, vbicb ihnvwcF m *c]] mud nn tjr ^"'^ ^ idIbuIccd fiir thr ■uihur'* /dw«M#nf, *hile i1i«c diifij^- ^« vflVli iBHcb !•■■- X have vnnriimn Bubalimtcd iuUca (or bmclieU, whe» iin mcnriBidcrmbLa word. lik< aWor /^r, I by the B«BlUlor. In every Ciu« thai I havr nni«cl, in jnitUi^cal r»drr will nadM]r p«r<nvr nich inaUncn. bul « k V*|r «M 10 pnoK^Or cuAdefnn, ifaould drvfuilr compare <br Edinburgh |>«£4 vli.b tnir ovn, 1 found (hem » pAlaful I rvv ^rf tm Btwl!— dy ADaoylnf (d tht reader, Uui I hava IsIkd Ihc raponi^btlUr ^ luklDs wImI ««(iu ba ae ■ tvry Cm I iaiprvKSHii.
I TcrtbHiu^ f ]|-> <^««rnmK bit Vorh uealnst MiLrrion. Itf date, «tc.i (iir.l ConoarqJof U«rdoo> (ivJCoQun- ■Dkft'a IAI«; {t.} Vi|Mueiu« of bia MunU&iam an hj» wntintrL
^b BblK9 Ka^'a inniEiiiion '>i ^rrmnr's ■mrk; *" hi« -4.v#««r r/tkt Writing a/ Twvinltian, pp- %-^. . /^rHmdPVisM. i- iCEutp ji. ^K,.!, ihrt.. h. a.
Mi, kovfTrr, HpfioHa ibt hoturiaD't Hurda rvr i^iAtfTi Jffk 'Fvtbn A4*t«air to mMDn ibat TvnuUlu b«d ob(tiu4 dHiint lUitovrtMn
f
INTRODUCTORY NOTE.
proceedings of the Roman Church with respect to Marcion and Valcntinus, who were once membeT* of it, which could scarcely have been obtained by one who had not himself been numbered amongst its presbyters." Scmlcr admits that, after Tertullian seceded from the church, he left and returned to Carthage. Jerome does not inform us whether Tertullian was bom of Christian parents, or was converted to Christianity. There are passages in his writings* which seem to imply that he had been a Gentile; yet he may perhaps mean to describe, not his own condition, but that of Gentiles in general, before their conversion. Allix and the majority of commentators understand them literally, as well as some other j passages in which he speaks of his own infinnities and sinfulness. His writings show that ■ he flourished at the period specified by Jerome — that is, during the reigns of Severus and Antoninus Caracalla, or between the years A.u. 193 and >i6; but they supply no precise in- formation respecting the date of his birth, or any of the principal occurrences of his life. . AUix places his birth about 145 or 150; his cocrversion to Christianity about a.d. 183; his marriage about 186; his admission to the priesthood' atx>ut 191; his adoption of the opinions of Montanus about 199; and his death about a.d. 130. But these dates, it must be under- . , stood, rest entirely on conjecture." *
(II.) TertulHan's work against Marcion, as it happens, is, as to ttt dalt, the best as- y, thenticated — perhaps the only well authenticated — particular conneaed with the author's life. , He himself mentions the fifteenth year of the reign of Severus as the time when he wu writing the work : " Ad itv. jam Severi imperatoris." This agrees with Jerome's Chronicle, where occurs this nole: "Anno aaij Severi xv° Tertullianus . . . celebraiur."* Thii year is assigned to the year of our Lord S07;' but notwitiistanding the certainty of thii date, it is far from clear that it describes more than the time of the publication of tft ' firubook. On the contrary, it is nearly certain that the other books, although connecied^ manifestly enough in the author's argument and purpose (compare the initial and the^ final chapters of the several books), were yet issued at separate times. Noessett' showi'" that between the Book i. and Books ii.-iv. Tertullian issued his De Prascript. Hirrtt. , and previous to Book v. he published his tracts, De Carne CMnsti and De Resurreitimr Carmit, *" After giving the incontesuble date of the xv. of Severus for the first book, lie says it iB i'*^ mistake to suppose that the other books were published with it. He adds: " Although wi'** cannot undertake to determine whether Tertullian issued his Books ii., IJi., tv., againi'^ Marcion, together or separately, or in what year, we yet venture to affirm that Book v. ap '^* pearcd apart from the rest. For the tract Dt Rtturr. Camii appears from its second cliapK "^ ' to have been published after the tract De Carne Christi, in which latter work' (chap, vii.) b ^=*^ quotes a passage from the fourth book against Marcion. But in his Book v. against Matrj^^C (chap. 3C.), he refers to his work De Kesurr. Canu'i; which circumstance makes it e*Hdcnt Tertullian published his Book v. at a different time from his Book iv. In his Book i announces his intention (chap, i.) of some time or other completing his tract De Preth Haret., but in his book De Came Christi (chap, ii.), he mentions how he had completed j
conclusive proof that his Book i. against Marcion preceded the other books."
It
tStt Dl Prittirlfl. Hiftlit.XMX. __ _
>Or PtmiUmiia. i. Hoc e<Diii barelnuni. qund ci Ipd mm fuimua, ceci, line DnmlDl lumine, lUiuii (cnu> nuriiiK* AJV '' ' im ^TtrtKlimt, vi, Nnbb aurcb ct viM ntliufiiini pAUt, in quA tt lovenlt lumut: AJv- Atarif4mtm, ^U. at. £t oXlooa, <tt)cd IM ^ ^xjn tar, Aftltt. Willi, line VI no* rlucDui >ll<l>ua<lo; Ac irHtli fuiinui; abu Dt S/e,lai. Kii.
■ IKJiyr, p. n, A MitIfw gl Ihli pi^ini.) -■ S^
iThcK num ol BkLup >Uyt may be lound. In ihglr (ulltt form, ia hii wgtb oo Tcctullun, pp. B.11. ^
1 Book I, , rli»p «v. ~
*Jtmtn« pnrisbly look ihi> dau ■* (ht nninl iwrlod, wbco Ttnulllan "lliMhibtil." bHaux of lu being Ihc oaly cl« llicnilaicd unr. *nd tK'Uni aim (it may bcluf ibo imponaixc and fane of thr Tnallw aJialniH Mardon.
tSoCIIaiDn, fiiii liim*ni, 1. 1041 or n*. himrliut. I'ita Irrtull. f ^^ -^
SloblalnaliK, Aivrairrwr al AiVryiM trtfl. TirttUlaml, tKtieat il, ij.
INTRODUCTORY
(III.) Respecting Maicion himself, the most formidable heretic who tud m yet opposed
nmled truth, enough will turn up in thi» treatise, with the notes which we h>ve added in
opUnation, to satisfy the reader. It will, however, be convenient to give here a few intro-
daooty particulars of him. Tertullian' mentions Marcion m being, with Valentin us, in
. cgounnnion with the Church at Rome, " under the episcopate of the blessed Elculhenis."
I He goes on to charge them with " ever-restless curiosity, with which they infected crcn the
brethren; " and informs us that they were more than once put out of communion — " Marcion,
ladeed, with the loo sesterces which he brought into the church." ' He goes on to say,
I Am "being at last condemned to the banishment of a perpetual separation, they sowed
iferaod the poisons of their doctrines. Afterwards, when Marcion, having professed peni-
t, agreed to the terns offered to him, that he should receive reconciliation on condition
ihit he brought back to the church the rest also, whom he had trained up for perdition, he
. prevented by death." He was a native of Sinope in fontus, of which dty, according
I B an uxount preserved by Epiphanius,' which, however, is EOmewh.it doubtful, his father
n bishop, and of high character both for his orthodoxy and exemplary practice. He
OBM to Rome soon after the death of Hyginus, probably about a.d. 141 or 143; and soon
iter his arrival he adopted tlie heresy of Cerdon.*
{IV. ) It is an interesting question as to what edition of the Holy Scriptures Tertullian
wd m his very copious quotations. It may at once be asserted that he did not cite from
, te Hebrew, although some writers have claimed for him, among his varied learning, a
I boiiiedge of the sacred language. Bp. Kaye observes, page 61, n. i, that " he sometimes
iptaks as if he was acquainted with Hebrew," and refers to the Anti-Marcion iv. 39, the
. Jdt. pFAxeam v., and the A^. Judftci ix. Be this as it may, it is manifest that Tenulliao'i
I Setipctirc passages never resemble the Hebrew, but in nearly every instance the Septuagint,
;r, as is most frequently the case, that version diHers from the original. In the New
ent there is, as might be expected, a tolerably close conformity to the Greek. There
er, it must be allowed, a sufficiently frequent variation from the letter of both the
Testaments to justify Semler's suspicion that Tertullian always quoted from the old
I Tersion,> whatever that might have been, which was current in the African church in
and and third centuries. The most valuable pan of Semler's Dissertatio dt varia et
\imiMe Librorum Q. S. F. TertulUarnvs, his investigation of this very point. In section
tendeavours to prove this proposition: **Hic scriplor' non in manibus habuit Gnecos
sacros;" and he states his conclusion thus: " Certissimum est nee Tertullianum nee
ttum ncc ullum scriplorem e Latinis illis ecclesiasticis provocare unquam ad Gra-corum
auctoritatcm si vcl maxime obscura aui contraria lectio occurreret;" and again:
I his satis ccrtum est, Latinos satis diu secutos fvisse aucioriiatem luorum librorum ad> Gnecos, nee concessisse nisi serius, cum Augustini et Hieronymi nova auctoritai
[videtetor." It is not ignorance of Greek which is imputed to Tertullian, for he is
In have well understood that language, and even to have composed in it. He probably
the Latin, as writers now usually quote the autborited English, as being current
Ibenknown among their readers. Independent feeling, also, would have weight with
I I temper as Tcrtullian's, to say nothing of the suspicion which largely prevailed in the branch of the Latin church, that the Greek copies of the Scriptures were much cor-
I by the heretics, who were chiefly, if not wholly. Greeks or Greek-speaking persons. [(V.) Whatever perverting effect TenuUian's secession to the sea of Montanus ' may have
I
\
t^wlrl01. HrrH, in. >Con>p, Adv. MatitKim, Iv. (.
.4A. Hmnl. ilL >.
■ '• Latum M Eal. Hitl. if firH T%rtt Ctnlnriti. ij. los-it^. lOc vmlcms. tTdlullUnsi.
\ I IriiMfirti. bt bit ulcbnlcd Ctm^tnitgrtnM, ctpraKi the fi|niiioo of Caihollc cKuFchraen coD«niliiff T#rTu1UA«
ha. aaBa^ iba I^llu. «lili(Hi< oodlroviny, (• iht <U*I dI ill our witlen. Forotu) ■«*(&(« Icaranllhiabcl Whe
8 ' IHTKOm^OWr SOTF..
had on hit judfrment in bit Luest wridngi, it did not rittate the work against Marcion. With a few trivial exoepdons, this trcttisc may be read by the strictest Catholic withoot any feel* ing of annoyance. Hit lapse to Montanism is set down conjecturally as having taken place A.D. 199. Jerome, we have seen, attributed the event to his quarrel with the Roman clergy, but this is at least doubtful; nor must il be forgotten that TertuUian's mind seems to have been peculiarly suited by nature' to adopt the mystical notiooa and ascetic principles of Montanus. It is satisfactory to find that, on the whole, "the authority of TertuUian," aa the learned Dr. Burton says, " upon great points of doctrine is considered to be little, if at all, affected by his becoming a Montanist." {Ltetura «» Eed. Hist, vol. !!. p. 334-) Betides the dil!ercnt works which are expressly mentioned in the notes of this volume, recourse has been had by the translator to Dupin's Hift. Eed. Writers (trans.), vol. i. pp. 69-86; Tilleroont's M^mmrtt Hitt. Eetl. iii. 85-103; Or. Smith's Crtei ami Romam Biography, articles "Marcion" and •'Tertollian;" SchaA's ani. cle, in Herzog's Cythpadia, on " Tertullian;" Munier's Primprdia Eitl. AJritama, pp. 11&-150; Robertson's Church Hist. rol. i. pp. 70-77: Dr. P. Schafl's Hist. ^* ChrisHoH Church (New York, 1859, pp. 511-519), and Archdeacon Evans' Biography af tkt Early Church, vol. i. (Lives of " Marcion," pp. 93-iit, and " Tertullian," pp. 325-363). " This last work, though of a popular cast, shows a good deal of research and learning, ex- 1^ presaed in the pleasant style of the once popular author of The Rectory of Vote HeaJ. The
translator has mentioned these works, because they are all quite accessible to tlie general " reader, and will give htm adequate information concerning the subject treated in tlte present TOlnme. '■
To this introduction of Dr. Holmes must be added that of Mr. Thelwall, the translator^^ of the Third volume in the Edinburgh Scries, as follows: V*
To arrange chronologically the works (especially if numerous) of an author whose own - date is known with tolerable precision, is not always or necessarily easy: witness the con> n troversies as to the succession of St. Paul's epistles. To do this in the case of an author^ whose own date is itself a matter of controversy may therefore l>e reasonably expected tO-to tjc stilt less so; and such is the predicament of him who .'ittempts tu i>crform this task forjbt Tertullian. I propose to give a specimen or two of the difficulties with which the task h^^ beset; and then to lay before the reiider briefly a summar)* of the results at which cminentiii scholars, who have devoted much time and thought to the subject, have arrived. Such a |^ course, 1 think, will at once afford him means of judging of the absolute impossibility oA, arriving at definite certainty in the matter; and induce him lo excuse me if I prefer fumish^i^ ing him with materials from which to deduce his own conclusions, rather than venturing oajj, an ex cathedra decision on so doubtful a subject. ',,
1. The book, as Dr. Holmes has reminded us,* of the d.-ue of which we seem to have the}.
T'l
in divioiljr or bnmanfty Qort pruUlKd I For, \rf ceitaJn woodtrful rHpadtyfif niod. he ■ruined %o bid undtfvlu'Ml kH pUl0P4, vpytf, hII ihi KCt* al philiAtppherx *3X llielr fouoden And ■upportrH. aU their K^BieifA, t^\ xtfta tA biaCune* and flitidie*. AttdP'^ for h'a wii, va« hr ftiA *n wwWtttX, la fnve. Hk ForHlIe, ih«( he Aflrcc ever Qad«»ak ihr ovfrthinw ^f Any iVBkiiiKh, hiif cltbtrti^L iluickneH *A wil he undennlned, fw byvcLfhtcrf reavn he crushed 11/ Funhp'n whn u Kh]« M tupr?** The pr^Lv* vl^ifh hi« elyl* fl| tp«ech (j«cnc*> whicli n fnufht il kno* none Mke 'O «ilh lh«( t>><encr *>' reASun, \{\M wuth u U eannut pcniude, il fTj(n|iel» H^^ Jiffttnl : vh'vc BQ Eiuinr wnrdt ttlmori are H ninny tenieoLYft; whoac k> muir mua. h nuny viclonu' Thu kncnr Mbkha tnd AfiM^ let, rnjie4i and Hfrm'V'nri, Jfnvr, 0<dIiUb, GmA|ict> And divcn uthcn^ (rhovt bleaphfrnout opialont h« tuih oi^tihrvwn vIlU ^ hia muir Bid crr«l lulvmeA. u U lud bftii thLind*rT>atu> And r<i thka nun »Utt 4U. (bit Tenulllu. mA. relainln^ (he Ciithofc ' doclniw— lb«(,ia. fhc uld Uitb— htfb dlteredlled k>fh bl* laler error bkt trorthf Mrllirtf*,'^ eEc--'Ch*p. anv, (Oftfi>rd innL i^h^p, trilLlv.^
■ Nevndrt'e intrvduffitm (o hU ^ iv/j/ibu/' t«' ihould be rc«d in CunaeetJon w^h thu topic, Kb pvirtfrfully deliacaUa '^'^^fOV^ ■ftionnf TertuMUn and ihf ituiwitT ni MonUmani, mnd «ftnhufea bi* Kcn>i(rn to ilut f^cl not to oulwld oiimb, bol Vt'^k IpMnuJ coDtfcniallly ttf mind." Ilul, Inumiirh k« ■ nun't tubj*<-lLvr dnrUfPinpit* !• very niu^h luided by '.■■rc-LinifUrveii, I M«C mciiT] rn atircmN wiiH Ncaiidrr, lo d^believe Mme lufh Account u Jcrumi hv flirea Ui vf Tertullian rSatodflr't ita gutatikmt. ett. Hnbn'a tmnK., »uJ, 11, pp, fc»-*J7J.
■ lniruduL^iiry Nviiot U>ilrt AutUJiarv^tm, pp. nil. m.
INTRODUCTORY NOTE.
KTcsi evidence, is ado. Mart. \. This book was in course of writing, as its author himself |L 15) telU us, " ia the fifteenth year of the empire of Scverus." Now (his dale would be dcu if there were no doubt as 10 which year of our era ourresponds to TcrtuUi&n's fifteenth sfSerenis. Famehuv, honevcr, says Dr. Holmes, makes it a.d. to8; Clinton, (whoce au- taraaS is more recent nnd better,) 107.
t. Another book which promises to give some clue to its date is the dt PtUlio.' The •rter uses these phrases: " prxsenlis imperii tripUx virtus; " " Deo M Auguttis im uiutm iHcnie;" which show that there were at the time /Arte persons unitedly bearin); (he title Itfutti — not Ctmerts only, but the still higher Augutti; — while the remainder of that con- MH, as well as the opening of c i, indicates a time of peace of some considerable duration; tOte of plenty; and a time during and previous to which great ch^ngu had taken place in I tcfcoeral aspect of the Roman Empire, and some particular traitor had been discovered 1 ad frustrated. Such a combination of circumstances might seem to lix the date with some , 4ccree of assurance. But unhappily, as Kayc reminds us,* oommentators cannot agree as (the three August) arc. Some say Scvcrus, Caracalla, and Albinus; some say Scvcrus, and Geta. Hence we have a difference of some twelve years or thereabouts in compulations. For Albinus was defeated by Severus in person, and fell by his own tad, in A.D. 197; and Geta, Severus' second son, brother of Caracalla, was not associated t^bii father with himself and his other son as Auguttui until a.d. 208, though he had re- ined the title of Casar ten years before, in the same year in which CarataUa had received I CHOI AmgMttutJ* For my own pari, I may perhaps be allowed to say that 1 should incline llgrre, like Salmasius, with those who assign the later date. The limits of the present lion forbid my entering at large into my reasons for so doing, I am, however, in ii by the authority of Neander.* In one point, though, 1 should hesitate to rwith Ochlcr, who appears 10 follow Salmasius and others herein, — namely, in under- : the expression " et cacto ct rubo sulxlolx familiaritatis oonvulso " of Albimts. It 1 10 me the words might with more propriety be applied to FiauHanits; and that in the 1 Mi "familiaritatis" we may sec (after TenuUian's, fashion) a play upon the meaning, a reference not only to the long-standing but mischievous intimaey which existed Severus and his countryman {perhaps fellow- townsman) Plautianus, who for his and cruelty is fitly compared to the prickly CffrAw. He alludes likewise to the : which this ambitious pnctorian prefect had contrived to contract with \\\^ family of Icaperor, by the marriage of his daughter Plauiilla to Caracalla, — an event which, as it out, led to his own death. Thus in the "rubo" there may be a reference to the I and conceited " brambU " of Jotham's parable,* and perhaps, too, to the " thistle " I Jdnuh's.* If this be so, the date would be at least approximately fixed, as Flaudanus I aot marry his datighter to Caracalla till a.d. 303, and was himself put to death in the
year, 304. while Geta, as we have seen, was made Augustus in 308.
|. lite date of the Apology, however, is perhaps at once the most contested, and the
strikingly illustrative of the difficulties to which allusion has been made. It is not
■ag that its date should h^iK been more disputed than that of other pieces, inasmuch
tkis the best known, and (for some reasons) the most interesting and famous, of all our
ar*t productions. In fact, the dates assigned to it by different authorities vary from
icitD's 198 to that suggested by the very learned AUix, who assigns it to 117.'
I
■i Uui ii:mtl. frtm TtTtmlUan'i Vritimit, p. )£ Kiq. (id. 3. Load. xUl)-
Car*. ■" ■t»i>i * A mtiffMtitikmt, p. 414 (Belm'i tr., ad. ilfl).
}■«• U Kft. >SaiKln^(. KlngilnLXX. ■ndVulc.lilT, 9.
■•, itriK. <mi Unto fottid ■ diKuwon ; but ilie itlusDn to iht Rhone baring '■ nMitc]y y« 1«M ihc lUia si blDod " which ' 1 Ito A^. yMI- i. >;. ce*|iu*d irtih A/t4. jj. •atni la lavour tho Idea ef IhoH wbo due tha arf. Xttt. earlier (b«n tb«
4- Once more. In the tract «& Monogamia (c. 3) the author says that since the date o: St. Paul's first Epistle to the Corinthians "about 160 years had elapsed." Here, again did we only know with certainty the precise date of that epistle, we oould ascertain "about' the date of the tract. But {a) the date of the epistle is itself variously given, Burton givinj it as early as a.d. 5a, Michaclis and Mill as late as 57 ; and {(•) TcrtuUian only says, " Annii artiitr CLX. exinde productis;" while the way in which, in the ad Natt., within the sbQl space of three chapters, he states first' that 150, and then (in c. 9) that 300, years had no elapsed since the rise of the Christian name, leads us to think that here again' he onli desires to spcalc in round numbers, meaning perhaps more than ijo, but lett than 170.
These specimens must suffice, though it might be easy to add to them. There is, hoi ever, another classification of our author's writings which has been attempted. Finding il hople.ssness of strict chronological accuracy, commentators have seized on the idea thi pcradventure there might be found at all events some internal marks by which to determii which of them were written before, which after, the writer's secession to Montanisn. may be confessed that this attempt has been somewhat more successful than the other. Vi even here there are two formidable obstacles sUnding in our way. The first and great) is, that the natural temper of Tertullian was from the first so akin to the spirit of Montanisi that, unless there occur distinct allusions to the " New Prophecy," or expressions spccia connected with Montanistic phraseology, the general tone of any treatise is not a very s guide. The second is, that the subject-matter of some of the treatises is not such as 1 afford much scope for the introduction of the peculiarities of a sea which professed to dil in disciphne only, not doctrine, from the church at large.
Still the result of this classification seems to show one .mportant feature of agreeraer between commentators, however they may differ upon details; and that is, that considerabl the larger part of our author's rather voluminous productions' must have been subsequei to his lamented secession. I think the best way to give the reader means for forming hik own judgment will be, as I have said, to lay before him in parallel columns a tabular vtv of the disposition of the books by. Dr. Neander and Bishop Kaye. These two modai) writers, having given particular care to the subject, bringing to bear upon it all the advSi^ tagcs derived from wide reading, eminent abilities, and a diligent study of the works ^ preceding writers on the same questions,' have a special right to be heard upon the matt^ in hand; and I think, if I may be allowed to say so, that, for calm judgment, and miai|^ acxiuaintance with his author, I shall not be accused of undue partiality if I express ir^ opinion that, as far as my own observation goes, the palm must be awarded to the Bishop In this view I am supported by the fact that the accomplished Professor Ramsay,* foUo Dr. Kaye's arrangement. I premise that Dr. Neander adopts a threefold division, into:
I. Writings which were occasioned by the relation of the Christians to the heathen, a refer to their vindication of Christianity against the heathen; attacks on heathenism; t sufferings and conduct of Christians under persecution; and the intercourse of Chriitil with heathens:
3. Writings which relate to Christian and church life, and to ecclesiastical discipline:.
3. The dogmatic and dogmatico-controversial treatises, ^»—
And under each head he subdivides into: ^
a. Prc-Montanist writings: b. Post-Monianist writings: -f,^
^fl'O' *n<l oxiildcr the Utwr u ■ kinil nf new editian ol ibe (ornitr : fibllc il would lii Ihe diu o( ihe td. Ntii. ta Ml '^ r Mlidj avIlM ihan ■}7, id which ytw (■• wi have wto) Alblau* ditd. Tht laul hiiilc look place on the bwiki ol tb* Rhoo*. ■ • In (L T. ' *«■ in Uie dt Mmsg. ■ «-
}tl [eoki Mrusf to tu Ttrtulllaii'i arorlB nicmd u u EoniulinK of "ibuul ihirty iktri trtmlint" in Uurdock'l MI -^ Ihriitan. Sm th« td. of (he £/il, Hut. by Or, J, Sutqn Ke Id. p. tii, n, >. Land, and Bel. iSii. ' -:
4Tbli]jHt qualiAcAIIoD ii Tvry ftpttUUr <ib*ervftb1elfi l>r. Kayr. -^^m
Slahlmiticlion Trnulliin in .(n-i/fj I'hi. r/ Bine. ■■"■' -Vjdl. ^^
J
INTRODUCTORY NOTE.
11
[caving no room for what Kaye calls " wurks respecting which nothing certain can be
inocd." For the sake of clearness, this order has not been followed in the table.
iihe other side, it will be seen that Dr. Kaye, while not assuming to spealc with more
a reasonable probability, is careful so to arrange the treatises under each head as to
the ffrder, so far as it is discoverable, in which the books under that head were fui-
i.e., if one book is guoledm another book, the book so quoted, if dislinctty referred
. already btfvrt the world, is plainly anterior to that in which it is quoted. Thus, then.
Heakdck. I. Prt-StftUamiif.
t. De Pcmitentii.
5. I>c Ontiooc.
3. De I)«ptuRio
4. Ad UxorcmL J. Ad Usorem li.
6. Ad UaitjrTM. J. De Patientii. t. Dc StKcUculit, 9. De IdoloUtiia
KL 1 1. Ad NMionc* L U.
IX. Apolo^Icut.
I), De Tewimonio AnimK.
14. De rrsrwt. HcreticonUD.
tj. De Cull. Fcm. L
16. De Coll. Fcta. U.
a. Mmtamiil. ■T-«i. Adv. Marc i. U. til. It< «•
n. Dc Anlnu.
aj. De Carnc Chrisd.
94- De Re«. Cara.
»S. Dc Cor. MiL
■m*. De Viif. VeL
rj. De Bx. Cmi.
98. De Monoj.
>^ Dc Jcjuniii.
«& De Pudidti*.
31. Dc Fitlio.
3s. SooniMt^
3^ Ad ^capoUm
34. Adi. Valcotinianot.
3^ Adv. licrmcigeoeni.
36. A>lv. Prucan.
37. Adv. Judjtos.
]•. De Fatra U Pn«einit!one>
Kays.
t. /'rr.^iHi/jMj'fr (probably), t. De Picnilcnlu.'
a. De Orattone.
3. l>e Itipllitnwx
4. All Uxorem 1. j. Ad Uxorem IL