The apology of Tertullian

151쪽

thei hypothesis, the too it an turne it an bent it to a Com

to the Ver JeWs, o homo he were appropriated For i in nyplace truth appeare in iis native simplicit without the disguis of type O metaphor, oridi WiSdom, instea of submittin her aith, blended the certainties of revelation illi her Kn philosophicuncertainties for avin dippe in the Hol Scripture, an Mundthere is no the God ut ne the presenti divide into various

him, and by this cunning conceived by him. In his able o Plato Origenobserve the resemblance etween Iupiter' garde and aradise, an belween Penia and the serpent, et . . Andae is the ather confirme in his conjecture, because helne it tot Plato' custom to rapis his sublimes notions in fabie, for ear of disobliging the fabulous Greelis, ho ate the JewS, and who ould have them Selve pas sor the wiSeSt, i no the mos ancient eo pleri an I may add, too that obod et se might know hom henc Plato ad his notions. M. Orig. coni. lib. v. An a Plato purioine his divinest discoveries rom the propheis, an perplexe them o purpos to hide the thest, socis it ver remarkable that the alter latonisis, such a Jamblichus, Hierocles, Simplicius, etc., tal in chin o evangelica strain, an a much above lato a the apostle doabove the prophet an at the fame time vilis the Christians for a lin tomahelelieve that there a nothin in the Christia doctrine orth borrowing, jus a thei master Plato ad done e re them. For it is to e re membered that lotinus, orphyrius, amblichus, and Hierocles ere brought up unde thegreat Ammonius of Alexandria, as ei as Herennius an Origen This Ammonius both lived and died a Christian, as Eusebius and Jero me testi , HAI. Eccles. lib. i. cap. 9 Hieron de crist. EccL, and so instructed his scholar in the Christia mysteries, as et a the pagan Philosoph a the Same time. Theno observin there re that the admirabie discourses of these alter Platonisis had thei ris stoma Christia master has been the round of two CurvymiStakes amongst ome earne criticS, amely, of vervaluing the Platonicohilosophy, ascis in thei notions of the origi of evit, and the degenerae of ur Souis froin thei primitive purity, etc. the ouidi revelation, though it is evident that their nobtest stight took in stom the gospei. Secondiy, of chargin the primitive athers illi latoniging, a charge a I have proved)the ulteri deny, and o the contrar tax the philosophers it Christianiring, o steatin hom the doctrinem Christ; hicli the wreste oni to serve their hypothesis, and without tellingo ord whenc the had the notion an notoni the philosophers, ut the heretic says Tertullian hadiso a trade os blendin philosopli an Christianit together. An our author complain notoni here os his ampering illi Scripture amon Christians, ut cries ut in his Prescristion adainst Heretias, cap. 7 Viderint qui Stoicum et Platonicum et Dialecticum Christianismum protulerunt. Andri is notorious os lateaears liat attempis have been adeo resor religio by philosophy, instea of mahingphilosophylen to revelation.

152쪽

Pythagora S, an Some of sire, as a the opinion O Heraclitus. The Platonisis likewise maintain his care an providenCe ver his Creation O the Contrary the EpiCureans mali hi a CareleSS, inaCtive God, and a I may say, obod in the orid. Aga in the Stoic place in Without the worid, and turning the globe bout, like a porter sitiing ithout his heel. The Platonisis place imWithin the worid like a pilo of a hi steering the universa vesSeltha contains him. In like manner e find these ages a VarianCeabout the ori itself, hether it a madet unmade, and Whetherit ould dissolve o last for ver The fame disputes e findabout the state of the oul, orne contendiniso it tot os a divine immortat nature, and ther of a natur Corruptibi e every one inferring an reformin a the maggo bit. Nor o Pwonde to

fin the philosophic it pia sucii Qui pranks illi the old

Testament, henes sin sonae of the fame generation amon Ou

selves h have made a bold illi the New, an Composed adeadi mixture o gospei and opinion, a the fame philosophiZingvanit ted them and ut os ne lain road have ut a ori oflabyrintlis an inextricabie mage to coniura me in the Way of salvation; hicli therefore I thought prope to advertiSe O O that this note diversit os opinion amon Christians hould notjustis a parallel between us an philosophers, and mahe mencondem truth itfel froni the contentions bout it But his in Shor is y prescriptiori against these adulterer of the faith, t tryali heir doctrines by the ospei that ut o truth hicli Camestor Christ, and was transmitte by His apostles that, I say, is the

Expedite enim rescribimus Adnueris nostris, illam esse gulam veritatis quae Uentata Christo transnaissa fer comites issius. I shalliso here enter into the neceSSar qualifications of a perfeci ruleis salth, and prove suci qualifications tot inmoly Scripture, ut observe only that suppositi philosophers to e in the right yet ali thei reasoning were ut the reasoning O mere men, and therefore fallible. No ne system os philosophy the could e collecte stomtheir writingi grantinuat necessar trullis to te cattere amongst them for a

Standin authoritative rule in matters of controversy, o such a collectio canaeo no more authorit than the collector, an must an a sanctio more hanhuman for ali men have a natura right to reason sor themselves, ill God determines it by a ule divine : the want of Such rule therefore a a great

desideratum in the Gentile orix and this asine of the great want provided fori Christ' comin into the worid, hocis emphaticali sal to have brought lis an immortalit to light through the gospel. The heathen the of old, and the deist at present, aini objec against Christianit the man differences about it kr says Tertullian, there is an infallibi rule transmitte by Christ throughHi apostles, hicli, appi tompo ali occasion to measure doctrine by, and whichris antin to the philosophers and there re ali the sundamenta disser- ences hi horis amon Christians domo ris se any aut in the ruleaut in

153쪽

teacheriis tot proVed. At the arrowi that re ho a truth are alien rom her Wn quiver so the herestes are to oo with a gospei face in emulationo divine truth, and the spirit os error have a reat strohe in thepicture These are the whicli suborn men to discolour thedoctrines of salvation, and stat them illi their own inventions. By the sanae spiritual ichedraesses are ables Miste in to invali- date the credibilit of ou religion or atheroo proCure this Credibilit for themselves that the doctrines of deviis eira dressediplike truthiight have the fame veneration illi the wor o God; so that illier a man might disbelieve a Christian, ecause edisbelleves a poet o a philosopher, or ather Conclude he has thegreater reaSon to give Credit to a philosophe or a poet, beCaus hecannotin in his ear to belleve a Christian. From his sacrilegious mixture it is that, are so ridicule Whe we reaCh about the da os udgment for in imitation of this the poets and philosophers have thei tribunal in the inferna region an is ethreaten them illi heli, hicli is a Subterranean reaSure of secretsi re reserve for the punishment of the wiched, e re oote at; for thus the apem to with their uriphlegetoi or burning riveramong the hades below and is, mention aradise, a place of

Omnia adversus veritatem de issa veritae construua sunt, operansibus

amulationem istam spiritibus Erroris. The Hol Scriptures ein consessed lyo divine authority the mos essectuat way of oin mischie is noto descrythem, ut to put a crow o thei heau an a ree in thei hands, an to bowbe re them, an cry, Mail in of the Jew. V to pretendis might dea os reverene to the Scriptures, and the crucis them to their own sense. his asal way the way of heretic an designing men, et On Mot Say Our author, and carrie o by the agenc of the spirit os dari ness. An it is observabi that the old serpent too the fame Course in tempting the secon Adam illi a textsrom Scripturea an I know no an author that ver copie close aster the devit in his very thing than the author of the Right y the Christian Chtires, who, illi ait the strengit os delusion has done his best to et up the kingdom ofdarkness, an to unchurch ChriStendo fro Scripture. Sic enina Triphlgeton ud mortuos amnis est. From thest o Daniel and the Ioth verse, here it is sal that a fier Stream issue an came forti Dombe re hima thousand thousand ministeredinto him, and ten thousano times tenthousan stood e re im, and the udgment a set, and the book were opened; V rom his passage, I say, Eusebius hows the assinit between lato and the prophetin to the future udgment, and particulari that theauriphlegetonor urnis rive in lato περ ψυχης, is lainly the ery stream in Daniel. Viri Euseb. Proes Evan lib. i. CAP. 58. Et si Paradisum nominemus, Locum Divina amoenitatis recipiendis Sanctorum spiritibus distinatum, macerit uddam ignei illiks Zonne se eorum.

154쪽

divine leasure, destine for the reception of the spirit os olymen, and guarde sto the notice of the common oridi thetorri gone or at o sire, immediatet the trum tapon us Withthei Elysium. From henC now pray, ad Our Poet and philosopher these resemblance. Whence, is no sto the bookso our sacre mysteries . Andri the Copie froni them, then theyliave the prerogative os antiquity, and Consequently are the more Credibie since ou ook upon an original o more authorit thanthe Copy. ut noW, i the were the Munder of these inventions, the we must ahemur religio sto in them, hicli is as impossibi in

exces of oy. V B Paradis o Abraham' bosom, o Abraham' pori, a the Gree wor κολπος trul signifies, the primitive Christians understoo a placeo eas an divine appiness, ex to heaven, ut o heaven iiseis, o the perfeci fruitio of the beatific vision the were os opinio that the departecisouis of jus me in genera ascendemno into heaven ill aster the resurrection whicli Irenaeus an Tertullian prove seo the example o Christ, o hicli emustae conformem for Christ Himself did not ascend into heaven ill aster His resurrection, bullas Histod rested in the grave so His foui Went into the placeo departe Souis, and when He rose again then He ascende into heavem; and thuS, a they, e musti algo. No that the assirme no ouis immediatelyentere into heaven for the belleve the ouis of martyr did, and this belles Seem to have increased the passion o much for martyrdo in that age. Herethen the reade is destre to observe, that Tertullian asseris a middie state without a urgatory for he asseris aradis to e a garde os divine leasure prepare for the refreshment of hol fouis illi the resurrection and thereire urauthor could no possibi imagine it to e a place of torment, to expiat thetempora punishment due to Sin, hen the eterna punishment is remitted whichi the popiSh urgatory, an invention notini against the current doctrine of the Fathers, ut highly derogator to the all-sussicient merit o our crucified aster, a mos diScouragin an barbarous representatio of the Christia religion, and suci a ne as ad neve been framed, ad it no been a convenient engine tomahem a into the pockets of the eople This Paradis says ou author is guarde about illi a wal of re, lihe what the torridoone is commonlySupposed to e plaint alludin to the cherubim and the flamin sword hichturne every anto hee the way of the re oscilla hereb intimaling, a Iconceive that a Paradis was theilisffulaea of man in innocence so Abraham'shOSOm or port was Such an Eden of happines sor righteous spiriis and a that wa guarde fro the re-entrance os sinsul Adam an his posterit by thoseministerin spiriis, hicli the psalmist, and aster him the author to the HebrewS, calis a flame offre, o was this blessest mansionis pure ovis, his ori aster the Storm os lise, secured by the fame minister sto the incursion o evi spiriis the devii the knew o be prince of the air, and this lower region to e filledwith his legions, hocin the opinion of the ather stood always ready to ei geon a departe foui and there re a the ou of Lagarus a carrie by the anget into Abraham's bosom, o the concluded that ver righteous foui in thelike manne was conducted in triumph through the dominions of the devit, and

155쪽

LΕΤ us no Conside a litile the disserent reaiment of a philosopheran a Christian. I a philosopher assirnis a Laberius rom yth goras has done that aster death the oui os a man deparis into amule, and that of a Oman into a serpent, an turn ali the satis of eloquence to Carry thi absurd oint, halliso he in credit, an harangue ome of o into abstinenc even sto the flesti ofanimat: And illiso many scrupte to eat a pie e o bees, for aris eatin a plece of thei ancestori But nos i a Christianshal amrm that an hali e made ma again after death, and Caius ris the ver sam Caius again, he is in ange of eingmobbed, and havin ali the stiCh an stones in the street presently about his ars But is ou an in it reasonable to belleve the transmigrationis human ovis froni bod to Ody, hy hould outhin it incredibi for the ou to return to the substanc it rstin habited For his is ur notion o a resurrection, to e that

ha he eisure an inclination to ive imself a oose, an hunt

nquam enim orsus Vmbra, aut eritatem navo necessit. It was amight objection illi the eathens, that Christianit was a novel pstari religion, formed ut of the corruption of the eathen mytholore; ut his Tertullian argue tot as impossibi a so the hado to e hesore the substance, or an imitation efore the reality. his ver objection e n almost continuali in the mouth of Celsus the Epicurean sor, saysae, the bulldin os the Tower of Babel and the confusion o longues ere alched up ut of the lable of the Aloidae in Homer'si osse I the stor of the flood, sto Deucalion Ρaradise, fro Alcinous' gardens the burning of Sodom and Gomorrali, homili stor o Phaeton the folly of hicli objection Orige anSwerabi demonstrates by showing the farrareater antiquit of thos relation among the Jews, than of these or an other labies among the Greelis; and thereiore the corruption of the traditio musti in them, and no in thedews.' id Orig. coni Cris. lib. iv. p. 74, 179.

156쪽

estabiisti his doctrine of the resurrection and we propos it smore agreeable to reason and the dignit os human nature obelieve that man illi remad man, and very person after death himself again; so that the oul hali e habited illi the fame qualities it was invested illi in iis forme union, though the manma receive Some alteration in his figure. For Certainly the reasono a resurrection sint in orde to judgment; and theresore it is necessar that the odies hich have been instrumental to the actions houldi the fame odies hi h are summone stom thegraVerio judgment, that every one a receive the things done in

the power of that God to e disputed ho aised his universe stom nothing, stom nothin a it were but the death o privatio orpure void, and animatexit illi that spirit hicli is the universallisep An He has impressed pon this ori for our Convictionman testimonials of the human resurrection For the light hich

157쪽

dati deparis rises again illi it primitive splendour; and darknesssucceed si equa turns the tars hicli leave the ori revive; the seasons, hen the have siniShed thei Course, rene it again; the fruits are consume andiloom fresti; and that hicli e soWis no quichene except it die, and by that dissolution rises more fruitsul Thus o se ho ali hing are renewed by Corruption,

the universe of various elemenis, and ad it a Con Sistent harmonious system by a due temperament of opposite principies, of VRCUum an matter, animate an inanimate, Comprehensibi and

incomprehensibie, light an darkness, life an death. The Same Word Who thus made an preserve the wori has likewis sopointe an distinguished time, that the rs perio sto the

Creation hali run ut the determine stage of ears, ut the SUCCeedin space on hicli ali ur thoughis are fixe is endlessduration. ut etWeen these two there is an isthmus o middie termis time, and when his perio is ver, and the beaut of this

Cum emo nis et Iimes medius qui ince hiat adfuerit, etc. Between the conclusion of this orld and the commencement of the wori eterna there is an isthmus o middie term of time. V B whicli herundoubtedi means the Chiliasm, o thousand years reign pon arti, sor his e maintains in his book agminst arcion, lib. iii cap. 23, p. II. No this is an error i it be ne wherein Tertullia stand not alone, ut in the goo compan os apias Bisho os Hierapolis, Iraeneus Bisho of Lyons, Justi Martyr, Nepos, ApollinariS, Victorinus, Lactantius, an Severus Gallus, illi man others. ut then it is ob remembere that this as an opinion the lai no stres upon, o JuStin Martyr consesses, and without an censure, that there ere many incere and devout Christians ho di no hol it, an many thers also of the fame indwith himself, and so leavescit asin alter indifferent. Viri Dial cum Tryphones,PP. O6, 3O7, 369. his notion seem tot frst sebon Mot by the forementioned PapiaS, a very good man buti no great reach, as Eusebius remarks, Ecc Hist.

158쪽

ne Wori lihewise ad iis eason, hicli is ut a goodi curtain belWeen US and eternity the ali human in stiali e restored tolife to angWer so their severat Works, hether the be good or evit and then Consignedive to a state os immense perpetui ty and thendeath and resurrectio si alti no more, ut e halli the fame Wemo are, and the Same for ever. The orshippers of God shallbe Clothedipon illi a substanc prope for evertaStin duration, and fixe in a perpetuat union illi God; ut the profane and the hypocrite hali e oome to Hahe of verssowing re, and meled illi incorruptibilit sto the divine indefectibi nature filia flame WhiCh torment them. hilosopher are not unacquainted With the differen ei secret and common fire the sire hicli serves for the se of man is quile of another nature rom that hichminister to the justice of God whether it e that hich hoois the thunderbolis sto heaven, o that hich belches sto thebowel o mountains, forcit urn without Consuming, an repatrS What it preys pon the mountain there re burn, an maintain themSelves by burning and the man who is blasted rom heaven is insure Domiein burn to ashes and this may be a testimon of the eternat re, an emblem of thos flames hicli are decreed tonourish the damne in torment. The mountain burn illi perpetua sire, an are mountain still Why, therefore, a no the wiche and the enemies of God bur like these p

159쪽

THΕs thing the are de rie as groundles Whinas and Capricious in us alone ; ut in the philosophers and poets h stole them fromus are deeme prodigious attain ments the rightest discoveries and noblest ights of human wit for the Same hings, the are the Sages and we the simpletons the are aden illi respeCt, and we With derision, and what is orse, illi punishment But allowingour tenet toleras false an grOUndleS presumption as ou ould have them, et Umus teli ou that the are presumption the orid annotae eli Without is the are follies, the are follies of greatu se beCaus the bellevers of them, ho unde the rea os ternalpain, and the liope of evertastin pleasure, re unde the strongestobligation possibi to beCome the est of men. It an neverthereforet a politi expedient to Crylown doCtrines for false and Molisti, hi licit is very an' interest o presume true i is pon

160쪽

Plane volumus pari, verrim eo more quo et bellam miles, nemo et, se libens fatifur. se choos io suffer asJou choose to figlit, hutio an Chooses sagittingserighting's sal e. V Some of the inde an perverser sor of hea thens derideo the primitive martyri a thei passive sollowers since have been for a sect of besotted infatuate sellows, who id either no no Dei ha it a theyunderwent. Buttur author telis them that the est an bloo o Christians was like ther sollis that the understood natura right an liberties, ad the Same VerSion to Suffering the Same paSSion sor preservatio an pleasure that the heathens had and whereas the alone ere the eople ho Seeme to have sorgo humanity by thei enduring the mos exquisite torment not only illi patience, ut illi o and thanksgiving, et his a sar rom the effecti any Stoica apathy, ut purei the strength of thei faith, hich overcam the reluct- ance of nature, the Sure an certain hope of the resurrection to eterna lise, hichenable them to despis the lis present, and that light affliction hicli is but sora moment, and whicli,orheth sor them a sar more exceedin and eternat weight of lory.