Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 3.djvu/1020

Rh 1008 TERTULLIANUS. been predicted in the plainest terms by Christ himself, and since false doctrines might be re- garded as valuable touchstones to test the purity of true belief. It is then laid down that all dis- putes or doubts on matters of faith or practice must be decided or solved by the judgment of some one of the churches planted by the Apostles. Thus those who dwelt in Southern Greece might, when difficulties arose, repair to Corinth, those in Ma- cedonia to Philippi or Thessalonica, those in Asia to Ephesus, those in Italy to Rome. And here it is to be observed, that while Rome is represented as singularly happy in having enjoyed the instruc- tions, and witnessed the martyrdom of St. Peter and St. Paul, and in having beheld the tortures inflicted or attempted to be inflicted on St. John the Evangelist, it is neither asserted nor im- plied that she possessed superior privileges or authority. There is some curious logic in the sections where the orthodox are forbidden to appeal to Scripture not merely in their contro- versies with the Gnostics, who were charged with mutilating and interpolating the sacred volume in order to force it into conformity with their own tenets, but in their discussions w^ith all heretics whatsoever. Heretics, it is argued (see cc. 37, 38), have no right to make use of the Scriptures, be- cause they are not Christians, and the Scriptures being the property of the Christians, none others can be permitted to employ them. It follows from this that heretics can be proved to be heretics without reference to the Bible at all, in other words that the authority of the Church must be held as superseding all private judgment, and that whom- soever she pronounces unsound must be held as such, without question or inquiry. No provision however is made for settling any difference which might arise between two Churches, both of which were apostolic, and perhaps, indeed, such a con- tingency was regarded as impossible. The best MSS. give nothing beyond the end of the forty- fifth chapter. What follows is either altogether wanting, or appears as a separate piece, and is generally regarded as the production of a later hand. II. Works certainly written after he BECAME A MoNTANlST. — 9. Advcrsus Marcionem Libri V. The leading tenet of the Pontic heretic was that there were two great principles or deities, the one perfect, the other imperfect. The latter was the creator of the world, the God of the Jews, the author of the Mosaic dispensation. The former was the father of Christ, whose mission was to destroy the old law. Marcion also maintained that the visible bodily frame, and the passion of our Lord were illusory, that he never really assumed human flesh, and never really suffered on the cross. In the first book of this refutation Tertullian asserts the Unity of God, and proves that the hypothesis of two Gods is directly opposed to reason and to all Scripture ; in the second, it is demonstrated that the God of the Jews is the one true God, the author of all good ; in the third, that Christ is the son of the Creator of the world, that his coming was predicted in the Law and the Prophets, that he assumed real flesh, and became a man like unto ourselves ; in the fourth and fifth, the contradictions between the Old and New Testaments brought forward in the " Antitheses " of Marcion are shown to be only apparent, while in fact the utmost har- mony subsists between the different portions of TERTULLIANUS. the Bible. The propositions advanced in the fourth are supported chiefly by quotations from the Gospel of St. Luke, which Marcion is accused of having corrupted, but in the fifth book the Epistles of St. Paul are emploj'^ed for the same purpose. We gather from internal evidence that the first book was written in the fifteenth year of Septimius Severus, that is, in a. d. 207, and that the author was at this time undoubtedly a Montanist. (See cc 15. 2.9.) 10. De Anima. An inquiry into the nature of the soul ; its origin ; its excellence ; its powers ; its immortality ; the period at which it enters into combination with the body ; its progressive deve- lopement ; its susceptibility of sin ; its condition after death ; together with a dissertation on dreams and ecstasies which occupied a prominent position in the system of Montanus. This dissertation possesses peculiar interest from containing a state- ment and examination of the views entertained by the most distinguished heathen philosophers upon these topics, but some of the views propounded by Tertullian himself would seem to lead directly to materialism. 11. De Came Christi. Marcion, Valentinian, and other heretics, denied that the body of Christ was composed of real human flesh and blood. Ter- tullian here demonstrates from reason and revela- tion the double nature of Jesus, who, without ceasing to be God, was a perfect man, born of woman, with limbs formed of flesh in a literal, not in a spiritual or ideal, sense. In order to establish more fully the humanity of the Messiah, it is main- tained that the Mother of God ceased to be a virgin in giving birth to the Saviour, a doctrine most vehemently assailed by St. Jerome and the later fathers, and formally repudiated by the third canon of the Lateran Council, held under Pope Martin I. This piece was written after the De Praescriplione Hereticorum, which is referred to in chapter second, and after the fourth book against Marcion, which is referred to in chapter seven. 12. De liesurredionc Carnis. A confutation of the heresy which denied the resurrection of the body. A. The doctrine does not imply an impos- sibility, because God is omnipotent, and, having created all things out of nothing, he may either re- produce the flesh from nothing, supposing it to have utterly perished, or he may recall and reunite the scattered elements if they have entered into new combinations: B. The doctrine is not even improbable, if we take into account the high dig- nity of the flesh, which is established by the fol- lowing considerations : a. It is the work of God. b. It was assumed by the Saviour, c. It is inti- mately connected with the soul, which cannot be saved until it has formed this connection, d. It is the medium or instrument through which salvation is communicated to the soul in the sacraments and other holy ordinances of the Church. C The doctrine must be true, because it is most clearly enunciated in many texts of Scripture. The tract concludes with various speculations as to the manner in which the resurrection will take place, the absence of mutilation, disease, and de- formity in the body when raised, and similar topics. 13. Adversus Praxeam. Praxeas was a heretic who held that God the Father had been incarnate, had been born of the Virgin, and had been cruci- fied — in other words, that God the Father and