Tertullian

It appears that the motives which determined him to embrace the Gospel were the same as those he so effectively highlights in his works, such as the antiquity of the books of Moses, the miracles and wisdom of that holy legislator, the continuity and fulfillment of the prophecies which all lead to Jesus Christ, the certainty of the miracles of the Savior and the Apostles, the excellence of the evangelical law which influences morals so marvelously, the power that the first Christians had over demons, and the testimony of the demons themselves, who, while idolaters worshipped them as gods, became in spite of themselves the preachers of Jesus Christ and made themselves known for what they were in the presence of their own worshippers; finally, the patience and unshakable firmness of the martyrs.

Tertullian, having a genius suited for success in controversy, undertook the defense of Christianity, which on one side was attacked by pagans and Jews, and on the other was disfigured by heretics. He took up the pen against the various enemies of our religion. It was against the pagans that he struck the first blows.

The persecution that afflicted the Church inspired in him the design of writing his Apolog etic. It is Apologétique Tertullian's masterpiece defending Christianity. not only his masterpiece, but also the most perfect and precious of all the works of Christian antiquity. Tertullian did not address his Apologetic to the Roman Senate, as Baronius and several other writers have claimed, but to the proconsul and other magistrates of Africa, perhaps even to all the governors of the provinces and all the magistrates of the empire, among whom the senators of Rome could be included. The title of presidents, which he gives to those he addresses, was only appropriate for the governors of the provinces. As for the proconsul, he names him expressly. He speaks of Rome as a distant city. He says that the idolaters practiced in his homeland, Carthage, the barbaric religious ceremonies used among the Scythians. These words 'in ipso fere vertice civitatis praesidentes' seem to be understood as the 'Byron' of Carthage; they certainly cannot be understood as Rome, which Tertullian always designates by the word 'Urbe', and not by 'Civitas'.

He begins his work by justifying Christians against the accusations of incest and murder with which they were slanderously charged, and shows that it is the height of injustice to punish them solely for their name. He points out the contradiction found in the order of Trajan, who wanted Christians who were denounced to be punished, and who, at the same time, forbade them to be sought out. 'Not all emperors,' he says, 'have persecuted us. Tiberius was favorable to us, as was Marcus Aurelius, when he had miraculously won victory through the prayers of the Christians.' Then comes the refutation of idolatry. If a god was made of Bacchus for having planted the vine, why not make one of Loculius, who first brought cherry trees from Pontus to the city of Rome? Why were divine honors granted to Jupiter, Venus, etc., rather than to an Aristides, a Socrates, a Demosthenes, and so many other great men? Tertullian, after having explained the main articles of our faith and spoken of the origin and worship of demons, dares to issue the boldest challenge to the pagans; in which he was imitated by Saint Cyprian, Lactantius, and other Fathers. 'Let a demoniac be brought,' he says, 'and let a Christian command the evil spirit that possesses him to declare who he is; he will confess that he is a demon, he who previously wanted to pass himself off falsely as a god. Let someone also be brought who is believed to be inspired by some god, such as Aesculapius, etc... If the alleged divinities that agitate these unfortunates do not confess that they are demons, not daring to lie to a Christian, shed the blood of that rash Christian on the spot.' He forcefully represents the submission of Christians to the emperors, the love they bore for their enemies, the charity that united them, the horror they felt for vice, and the constancy with which they suffered torments and death for the cause of virtue. Idolaters called them in derision 'Sarmenticians' or 'Sironians', because they were attached to tree trunks and bound to bundles of wood to be thrown into the fire; but Tertullian answers them in the following manner: 'The state to which we are reduced to be burned is our finest ornament; these are our triumphal robes, embroidered with palm branches as a sign of victory... Having mounted the pyre, we look upon ourselves as being on our triumphal chariot... Who has ever examined our religion without embracing it? And who has ever embraced it without feeling ready to suffer for it?... We give you thanks when you condemn us: it is because there is an infinite distance between the judgment of God and that of men; so that when you condemn us on earth, God absolves us in heaven.'

2° Around the same time, Tertullian wrote his two books against the Gentiles. In the first, he refutes the calumnies with which the idolaters burdened the Christians, and in the second, he attacks the worship of the false divinities of paganism.

3° The book against the Jews was written on the occasion of a dispute that a Christian had with a Jewish proselyte. Tertullian proposes to show therein the triumph won by the faith over a blind and hardened people, who appeared deaf to all the arguments brought before them. It is a solid work and one that should serve as a model for those who write on theological controversies. It only lacks a little clarity in style for it to be regarded as a masterpiece.

4° Hermogenes, a Stoic philosopher who had embraced Christianity, spread a new heresy in Africa, which consisted of maintaining that matter was eternal. In his book against Hermogenes, Tertullian proves that God created matter with the world, and makes felt all the absurdity of the heresiarch's sophisms.

5° In his book against the Valentinians, he focuses more on ridiculing than on seriously refuting the extravagant opinions of these heretics.

6° The Treatise on Prescriptions against the Heretic Le Traité des prescriptions contre les hérétiques Work establishing the legitimacy of the Church against heresies. s is too important for us not to make it known at some length. It is certain that Tertullian composed it before his fall. Indeed, he prides himself therein on being united in communion with all the apostolic churches, especially with that of Rome, and he establishes therein general principles suitable for refuting all the heresies that may arise.

His design, in this work, is to show that heretics cannot, without injustice, appeal to Scripture, since they have no right to it. The Apostles gave the Scriptures in deposit to their successors and, at the same time, entrusted them with the care of interpreting them. Tertullian establishes first that heresies cause the loss and ruin of the faith; that one should not, however, be astonished or scandalized to see them arise; that they have nothing more surprising than those lips that consume human flesh; that after all, they were predicted by Jesus Christ and that they are a necessary consequence of the empire that men allow their criminal passions to take over them. And as if he had wished to prevent or hinder the scandal that his fall later caused, he expresses himself thus: "But what! If a bishop, a deacon, a widow, a virgin, a preacher, or even a martyr, were to abandon the faith?... Do you therefore judge the faith by the persons and not the persons by the faith? One cannot deem a man wise who does not attach himself to the faith... We no longer need research when we have found Jesus Christ and have been instructed in the Gospel. If we believe, we desire nothing else than to be faithful."

Some heretics, alleging as a reason that it is written: "Seek and you shall find," Tertullian shows that these words concern only the Jews, who had not yet found Jesus Christ, and that they cannot mean that we must always conduct new research; but supposing that we had to seek again, it should not be among the heretics, who are far from the truth, who have no power to teach, who have a penchant only for destroying, and whose very lights are but darkness. Jesus Christ has left us a rule of faith superior to all quibbling and against which only heretics can dispute. Overly curious research in matters of faith is a source of heresy. Tertullian ends this article by saying that one must not dispute with heretics over the Scriptures, to which they have no right; that in such disputes, victory is often uncertain; that one must return to what the Apostles taught; that the tradition coming from the Apostles demonstrably proves the truth and annihilates all the sophisms and subterfuges of error; that communion with the apostolic Churches, which live in the unity of the same faith, places the truth beyond any reach on the part of the heretics, whatever objections they may make.

Marcion, Apelles, Valentinus, and Hermogenes have an origin that is too modern. Their separation from the Church, the time of which is known, proves that this Church was before them. They must therefore claim that Jesus Christ has descended from heaven again, that he has taught on earth again, and that he has established them as his Apostles. "If some of these heretics attribute to themselves an apostolic antiquity, let them show the origin of their churches, the order and succession of their bishops, by tracing back to an Apostle, etc.; let them also prove their mission by miracles, as the Apostles of Jesus Christ did... The Church could address these words to them: Who are you? Whence, from when have you come? What are you doing in my pastures, you who are not mine? By what right, Marcion, do you enter my enclosure? Why, Apelles, do you dare to move my boundaries? This field belongs to me by right; how is it that you take pleasure in sowing there and feeding yourself there? It is in my possession; I was mistress of it in times past; I had it first in my hands: my title is incontestable, it derives from those to whom the field belonged and to whom it belonged in its own right. I am the heiress of the Apostles; I possess their property, as they disposed of it by their testament; I preserve it in the state in which they entrusted it to me and in the manner in which they ordered me to keep it."

Tertullian shows that, in the superstitions of paganism, the demon imitates several ceremonies of the religion of the Jews and Christians, and that, following his example, the heretics wanted to pass themselves off as the true Church. He appeals to their conduct, in which one discovers only vanity, love of earthly things, unconsciousness, and contempt for the discipline and truths of the faith they profess. "I am," he says, "much mistaken if they govern themselves by rules, even of their own making. Each of them adapts to his own imaginations the doctrine he has received. They believe they have the right to do what was done by the one they recognize as father. Every heresy was formed at first on the ideas of the one who first introduced it; but the freedom that Marcion and Valentinus arrogated to themselves, their followers have taken equally. If one examines the different heresies, one will see that in many things they depart from the sentiments of their teachers. Most heretics have no churches; they are wandering and vagabond, without mother, without fixed abode, without faith."

7° The book on Penance is one of the most accomplished of all Tertullian's writings. It deals, in the first part, with repentance for sins committed before baptism and, in the second, with repentance for sins of which one has been guilty after regeneration. He teaches therein that the Church has the power to remit even fornication; which he did not admit once he had become a Montanist. He insists greatly on the laborious exercises of penance after baptism.

8° The book on Prayer contains two parts. The Lord's Prayer is explained in the first; he deals, in the second, with several ceremonies that were observed in his time during prayer.

9° The Exhortation to Patience. The motives that lead to this virtue are developed there with much eloquence.

10° The Exhortation to Martyrdom. One cannot read anything more touching than this work.

11° The book on Baptism. Tertullian proves its necessity in the first part, and deals, in the second, with several points of discipline relating to this sacrament.

12° The two books that Tertullian addressed to his wife appear, according to Ceillier, to have been written before he was a priest. He exhorts her, in the first, not to remarry if she survived him, and speaks there of several Christians who lived in perpetual continence. He acknowledges, in the second, that it is permitted to remarry; but he says that a woman who decides to do so cannot marry an infidel. He alleges as a reason the impossibility she would face of rising in the night to pray, of giving alms, of visiting the martyrs, etc. "Will you be able," he adds, "to hide from your husband when you make the sign of the cross on your bed or on your body?... Will he not know what you receive in secret (the Eucharist) before taking any food?" This work is concluded by a beautiful description of Christian marriage. The Church approves the contract, the oblation ratifies it, the blessing puts the seal upon it, the angels carry it to the heavenly Father who confirms it. Two people bear the same yoke; they are but one flesh and one soul; they exhort each other to virtue; they pray, fast, go together to church and to the table of the Lord; they hide nothing from each other; they visit the sick, collect alms without constraint, attend the divine office without interruption, sing psalms and hymns together, and stir each other up to praise God.

13° The book on Spectacles. Tertullian shows therein that spectacles are an occasion for idolatry, impurity, and several other vices. He speaks of a woman who, having been to the theater, returned possessed by a demon. The exorcist asking the spirit of darkness how he had dared to attack a Christian woman: "It is," the latter replied, "that I found her in my house."

14° The book on Idolatry. One finds there the decision of several cases of conscience concerning the worship of the false divinities of the pagans. It is said therein that one cannot make idols, etc., but that a Christian servant can follow his master to a temple, that a friend can attend the wedding of an idolater, etc.

15° The two books on the Ornaments or attire of women. The modesty of their adornments is highly recommended therein, and the custom of painting the face is severely proscribed.

16° The book on the Necessity of veiling virgins. Tertullian proves therein that young persons of the female sex must cover their faces in church: which was contrary to what was practiced in Carthage, where only married persons were veiled.

17° The book on the Testimony of the Soul. The goal of the author is to demonstrate that there is only one God, by the natural testimony of the soul of every man.

18° The book entitled *Scorpiace*. It was written to protect the faithful against the venom of scorpions or fanatics, and especially against the Cainites, who were a branch of this sect. The necessity of martyrdom is proven therein against these heretics.

19° The Exhortation to Chastity. Tertullian dissuades a certain widow from entering into a second marriage, which he nevertheless admits to be permitted, albeit with a sort of pain. The harshness of the expressions he uses shows that he was already leaning toward Montanism.

We shall indicate the works he wrote after his fall only when we have spoken of the fall itself. He had the misfortune to fall, after having served the Church in the capacity of a priest until about the middle of his life, that is to say, until the age of forty, and even beyond.

Montanus, a eunuch from Phrygia, set himself up as a prophet. He was singularly agitated by an evil spirit, claiming to have raptures during which he lost the use of his senses and his reason, as is easy to perceive from the extravagances he uttered at such times. Two wealthy and noble women, but of very dissolute life, joined him: one was named Prisca or Priscilla, and the other Maximilla; they also claimed to have raptures, and by this means they succeeded in deceiving many people.

Around the year 171, Montanus asserted that he had received the Holy Spirit to bring the final perfection to the law of the Gospel. His followers believed him on his word and gave him the name of Paraclete. Affecting an extremely severe doctrine, to which his life in no way corresponded, he condemned second marriages and flight during persecution; he prescribed extraordinary fasts for his disciples.

The Montanists said that besides the Lenten fast observed by the Catholics, there were others imposed by the divine Spirit. They held three Lents every year, each of two weeks, and ate only dry foods during that time, attributing this practice to the Holy Spirit, in consequence of the new revelations of Montanus, which they preferred to the writings of the Apostles, and maintaining that it should be observed in perpetuity. This is why these heretics, even in the time of Sozomen, fasted only two weeks before Easter, although Catholics fasted for forty days before that feast. Pepuza, a city in Phrygia, was their metropolis, and they called it Jerusalem.

The bishops of Asia, having examined the errors and prophecies of Montanus, condemned them. It is said that Montanus and Maximilla, having become insane, hanged themselves.

Tertullian, naturally austere, adopted the rigidity of the Montanists. He fell first through pride, having retained, according to S aint Jerome Montanistes Heterodox movement based on new prophecies and rigorous asceticism. , a keen resentment of some insults he imagined he had received fr saint Jérôme Father of the Church and biographical source for Amand. om the clergy of Rome. Blinded by his passion, he separated himself from the Church, without thinking of the maxims he had so well established to refute all heresies; but his fall took nothing away from the merit of his writings, especially those in which the accuracy and solidity of judgment prevail, and which he had previously composed for the defense of the truth. One must reason about him as one would about a skillful man whose mind has gone astray; the misfortune that befell him would not render useless what he had done previously for the advancement of the sciences.

Tertullian is the oldest of the ecclesiastical authors to have written in Latin. Saint Vincent of Lérins, who is far from approving of his deviations, says of him: "He was among the Latins what Origen was among the Greeks, that is to say, the foremost man of his century... Every word seems a sentence, and almost every sentence a new victory. Nevertheless, with all these advantages, he did not persevere in the ancient law of the universal Church. His errors, as the blessed Hilary observes, mean that his writings do not have the authority they would have had otherwise..." Saint Jerome, to whom the authority of Tertullian had been objected, replied in his book against Helvidius that he was not of the Church, *Ecclesiae hominem non esse*. He speaks, however, sometimes advantageously of his knowledge.

Lactantius says that Tertullian's style is hard, harsh, uneven, and obscure; but he admires a profound sense in his writings. Saint Cyprian found hidden tr easures in th saint Cyprien Bishop of Africa who opposed Stephen on the question of baptism. e midst of the thorns with which his language is bristling: he did not let a day pass without reading something of his; and when he sent for his works, he was accustomed to say: "Give me my master." Reliz has ingeniously compared the eloquence of Tertullian to ebony, which draws its beauty and its value from its black color.

The fall of this great man must be all the more astonishing, as he testified, in his Apologetic, to having an extreme fear of excommunication, which he calls an anticipation of the judgment to come. He was thereafter proud, attached to his own sense, and he mocked the censures of the Church. However beautiful his genius may have been, he seems devoid of the first principles when he wants to support his errors; he carries enthusiasm to the point of ridicule, as when, based on the authority of the reveries of Priscilla and Maximilla, he argues seriously about the figure and color of a human soul. Having since abandoned the Montanists, he became the father of a new sect. Those who composed it took the name of Tertullianists. They had a church in Cart Carthage Metropolitan city of Africa, episcopal see of Eugenius. hage until the time of Saint Augustine, when they renounced their errors. Tertullian died at a very advanced age, around the year 243.

The works he wrote after his fall are:

1. The book on the Soul. He claims therein to prove that the soul has a human figure, etc.

2. The book on the Flesh of Jesus Christ. It is shown therein that the Savior took on human flesh in reality, and not only in appearance.

3. The book on the Resurrection of the Flesh. Tertullian proves therein the great mystery that is its subject.

4. The five books against Marcion. This heresiarch admitted two principles or two gods, one good and the other evil. According to him, the second was worshiped by the Jews and was the author of their law; but Christ had been sent by the good principle to destroy his works. Tertullian proves, against Marcion, the unity of God, as well as the holiness of the Old and New Testaments.

5. The book against Praxeas. The trinity of the divine persons is very well proven therein; one even finds the word trinity; but he makes a supposed crime of Praxeas, who, having come from the East to Rome, had infor med Pope Vi pape Victor Pope of African origin who reigned at the end of the 2nd century. ctor of the errors and hypocrisy of Montanus; he reproaches him for having banished the Paraclete (Montanus), and crucified the Father: *Paracletum fugavit, Patrem crucifixit*. This came from the fact that Praxeas, under the beautiful title of confessor, was spreading the heresy of the Patripassians, confusing the three divine persons and claiming that the Father had become man in the Son and had been crucified for us.

6. The Apology of the philosopher's mantle, which he preferred to wear over the toga, for convenience, and as an emblem of a more austere life. It appears that this work was only a play of wit.

7. The book to Scapula, proconsul of Africa. This proconsul is exhorted therein to put an end to the persecution. "A Christian," Tertullian tells him, "is no man's enemy; much less is he the enemy of the emperor."

8. The book on Monogamy. The author maintains therein, against the Catholics, whom he calls *Psychics*, that second marriages are not permitted: which was one of the articles of his heresy. One of the reasons he brought forward was that the duty of a widow is to pray continually for the soul of her deceased husband.

9. The book on Fasting, the object of which is to justify the extraordinary fasts prescribed by the Montanists. Tertullian observes that the Catholics kept certain obligatory fasts, such as the one that precedes the feast of Easter, and which has since been called *Lent*; he adds that one did not break it each day until the evening; he further observes that those of Wednesday and Friday, known under the name of *stations*, were not a precept. Some added *xerophagy* to it, that is to say, they ate only dry things; others fed only on bread and water. The Montanists, in their fasts, ate only at night and reduced themselves to xerophagy.

10. The book on Chastity, written against the Catholics who granted association to penitents who had been guilty of adultery or fornication. The Montanists maintained that the Church does not have the power to forgive the sins of impurity, any more than murder and idolatry. Tertullian repeats twice, in this book, that the image of the Good Shepherd carrying the lost sheep on his shoulders was represented on the chalices. He expresses himself thus on the occasion of a decree made by the bishop of Rome, and which he mocked: "I learn that they have made a decree, and even an absolute decree. The first of the priests, or the bishop of bishops, says: I remit the sins of adultery and fornication to those who have done penance." He calls the Pope elsewhere apostolic bishop and the blessed Pope.

11. The book on the Crown, composed in 235, to justify the action of a Christian soldier who had refused to crown himself with flowers like the others, in the distribution of largesse that was given to the soldiers. Tertullian says therein that the garlands that were worn on these occasions passed for being consecrated to some false divinity. "It is," he adds, "only on the authority of tradition that we practice several things; such are the ceremonies used in Baptism, the oblations that we make every year for the dead and at the feasts of the Martyrs, the custom we have of praying standing on Sunday and from Easter until Pentecost. It is according to the same authority that we form the sign of the cross on our foreheads at every action, in all our movements, in going out of our houses and entering them, in dressing and bathing, when we sit down to table or to bed, when we sit down, etc."

12. The book on Flight, written around the same time. Tertullian claims therein to prove, against the Catholics, that it is a crime to flee in times of persecution.

The best edition we have of the works of Tertullian is that of Rigault, which appeared in Paris in 1634 and 1641, to which must be added a volume of notes and commentaries by various authors, printed in the same city in 1635, in-folio. Rigault's critical and grammatical notes are esteemed, but little regard is paid to those concerning theology: he speaks therein in a manner not very respectful of certain customs of the Church.

No less esteemed is the old edition by the learned theologian Jacques Pamelius, Paris, 1584, in-folio. We also owe to Jean-Salomon Semler an edition of the works of Tertullian in six volumes in-8°, Halae Magdeburgicae, 1769-1776; that of Migne, in his Patrologiae cursus completus, Paris, 1844, is complete and good. The most recent edition is that of François Œhler, Leipzig, at Weigel, 1853, in 3 vols.

The main works of Tertullian have been printed separately several times, particularly his Apologetic, his book of Prescriptions, etc. They have also been translated into French.

The best translation is that of the Abbé de Gourcy; a new edition, carefully revised by M. Breghat du Lut, was issued in Lyon in 1822, in an in-8° volume. The Abbé Allard published, in 1827, the Apologetic, with very interesting dissertations. The Abbé de Genuode translated the works of Tertullian into French, Paris, three volumes in-8°. Father Vivien, a Recollect, did a great work on Tertullian, forming a series of instructions and sermon materials, extracted from the works of the famous writer. This work, which appeared under the title Tertullianus prædicona in 1667, has been reprinted several times in Paris, Cologne, and Padua. A new edition, in six volumes in-4°, is being published in Avignon, under the care of M. F. Seguin.

See Cave; Tillemont; Caillier; and Godescard. — Cf. Habbé, Rev. trim. de Tubingue, 1688; Tertullien, apologiste; Monnier, Patrologie, Barich., 1843; Boehringer, l'Église de Jésus-Christ et ses témoins, or l'Histoire de l'Église sous forme de Biographies, Barich, 1843; Hesselberg, Illustrine de Tertullien tirée de ses ouvrages, Dorpat, 1848; Réaudor, l'Apologétique, esprit de Tertullien et introduction à ses ouvrages. 2nd ed. Berlin, 1843; the Abbé Froppel, Cours d'éloquence sacrée; Tertullien, 2 vols. in-8°, Paris, 1864.