The ecclesiastical history of the second and third centuries ...

Preface

TO THE SECOND EDITION.

Soon after the first edition of this work issued from the Press, I received a copy of a German work on the writings of Tertullian, published at Berlin in 1825, by Dr. August Neander, under the title of " Antignosticus Geist des Tertullians, &c." As it is probable that few other copies have yet reached England, a short account of its object and contents may not be unacceptable to the reader.

The learned author states in his Preface, that he is engaged in writing an Ecclesiastical History of the first three centuries, a portion of which will be occupied by an enquiry into the different forms under which the Christian Doctrine developed itself; in other words, into the different doctrinal and practical systems which arose during that period. The authors of those systems he divides into two classes,

IV the Idealists and the Realists; the Idealists he again divides into the Ultra, from whom the Gnostics took their rise, and the Moderate, who formed the Alexandrian School. Of the Realists, he conceives Tertullian to be the proper representative. His object, therefore, is, by an analysis of Tertullian's writings, to present his readers with an accurate view of the Realist system. He had done the same with reference to the Gnostic system, in a work which I have not seen.

In pursuing this object, he classes the writings of Tertullian under three heads.

I. Those, which were occasioned by the relation in which the Christians of Tertullian's day stood to the heathen; which were either composed in defence of Christianity and in confutation of heathenism, or referred to the sufferings and conduct of Christians in time of persecution, and to their intercourse with the heathen.

II. Those, which related to the Christian Life, and to the Discipline of the Church.

III. Tertullian's Dogmatical and Polemical works.

I. Under the first head he mentions, as composed before Tertullian's secession from- the Church,

The Tract ad Martyres.

— *de Spectaculis.

de Idololatria.

The two Books ad Nationes.

2 The Apology.

The Tract de Testimonio Animas ;

1 I have classed the Tracts de Spectaculis and de Idololatria, among the works probably composed by Tertullian after he became a Montanist; nor do Dr. Neander's arguments appear to me of sufficient weight to establish a different conclusion. He supposes these Tracts to have been occasioned by the public festivities which took place after the defeat of Niger and Albinus (pp. 14, 82.); and contends, that Tertullian, if he had been then a Montanist, would, instead of resorting exclusively to arguments drawn from Scripture, have also appealed to the authority of the New Prophecy (p. 26). But the references to passing events are of too general a character to warrant us in deciding positively upon the time when the Treatises were written: and Dr. Neander himself admits (p. 112), that in the Tract de Spectaculis Tertullian uses stronger language respecting the incompatibility of the military life with the profession of Christianity, than in the Tract de Corona, which was certainly composed after he became a Montanist. This single fact, in my opinion, outweighs all the arguments on the other side.

2 Dr. Neander supposes the two Books ad Nationes to have been anterior to the Apology, respecting the date of which he agrees with Mosheim (pp. 58. 76 note). He infers also (p. 79) from the answer to the charge of unprofitableness brought against the Christians by their enemies, that Tertullian could not have imbibed the ascetic spirit of Montanism, when he wrote the Apology. But the

validity

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as composed after Tertullian became a Montanist,

5 The Tract de Corona.

de Fuga in Persecutions

Scorpiace.

The Tract ad Scapulam.

II. Under the second head, Dr. Neander classes

The Tract de 4 Patientia.

— _ — de 5 Oratione.

de Baptismo.

de Pcenitentia.

The two Books ad Uxorem.

The two Books de Cultu Fceminarum.

among the works composed by Tertullian before he became a Montanist.

validity of this inference may be questioned; as it is certain that Tertullian sometimes varied his language with his object.

3 The largess alluded to in the Tract de Corona was, according to Dr. Neander, that given to the military on account of the victories of Severus over the Parthians (p. 114.) If this supposition is correct, we must assign the year 204? as the probable date of the Tract.

4 Dr. Neander remarks, that a comparison of the modes in which Tertullian applies the parables of the Lost Sheep, and of the Prodigal Son, in the Tract de Patientia, c. 12* and in that de Pudicitia, c. 9« will prove the former to have been written before his secession from the Church (p. 168).

5 Dr. Neander considers the additional chapters of the Tract de Oratione genuine,

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The Tract de Exhortatione Castitatis.

— de Monogamia.

— — - de Pudicitia.

_ de Jejuniis.

_ _ de 6 Virginibus velandis.

___ de 7 Pallio;

among those written, after he recognised the prophecies of Montanus.

III. Of the works which fall under the third head, Dr. Neander thinks, that one only was written before Tertullian became a Montanist — The Tract de Prascriptione Hasreticorum. The rest were written by him when a Montanist.

The five Books against Marcion.

The Tract adversus Valentinianos.

6 From the following passage in the second chapter of this Tract, (Sed eas ego Ecclesias proposal quas et ipsi Apostoli vel Apostolici viri condiderunt, et puto ante quosdam. Habent igitur et illse eandem consuetudinis auctoritatem, tempora et antecessors opponunt magis quam posters istae,) and from other incidental expressions, Dr. Neander infers, that the custom, against which it was directed, prevailed in the Church of Rome.

7 With respect to this Tract, Dr. Neander interprets the expression, Praesentis imperii triplex virtus, Deo tot Augustis in unum favente, of Severus, Caracalla, and Geta, and supposes the Tract to have been composed about the year 208. He conjectures also, that Tertullian was induced, after the death of his wife, to adopt the ascetic mode of life, and in consequence, to wear the Pallium, the peculiar dress of the d<TKtjrai (p. 310.)

vm

The Tract de Carne Christi.

— de Resurrectione Carnis.

— ad versus Hermogenem.

de Anima.

8 adversus Praxeam.

9 adversus Judasos.

Dr. Neander gives a more or less detailed

8 Dr.* Neander thinks with Blondel (p. 487-) that the Bishop of Rome mentioned in the first chapter of the Tract against Praxeas, was Eleutherus : Allix was disposed rather to fix upon Victor.

9 On this Tract Dr. Neander has written a short dissertation, the object of which is to prove that the ninth and following chapters are spurious. In our remarks upon Sender's Theory respecting Tertullian's works, we stated that he grounded an argument on the fact, that a considerable portion of the third Book against Marcion is repeated in the Tract against the Jews. Dr. Neander draws a different inference from this fact. He observes, that many of the passages thus repeated, however suitable to the controversy between Tertullian and Marcion, are wholly out of their place in a controversy with a Jew. He concludes, therefore, that Tertullian, having proceeded as far as the quotation from Isaiah in the beginning of the ninth chapter of the Tract against the Jews, from some unknown cause left the work unfinished; and that the remainder of the Tract was afterwards added by some person, who thought that he could not do better than complete it, by annexing what Tertullian had said on the same passage of Isaiah in the third Book against Marcion, with such slight variations as the difference of circumstances required. The instances alleged by Dr. Neander, in proof of this position, are undoubtedly very remarkable; but, if the concluding chapters of the Tract are spurious, no ground seems to be left for asserting that the genuine portion was posterior to the third Book against Marcion; and none consequently for asserting that it was written by a Montanist.

IX analysis of each Tract; and occasionally introduces (most frequently in considering the works included under the last head) the sentiments of other Ecclesiastical writers on the points under discussion- — a proceeding foreign from the plan which I had proposed to myself. He is always learned and ingenious; but not altogether free from that love of hypothesis, for which the German writers are remarkable.

There is an Appendix to the work, containing two Dissertations ; one on the last part of the Tract adversus Judaeos ; the other on Tertullian's doctrine respecting the Lord's Supper, which Dr. Neander supposes to be something intermediate between that of Justin and Irenseus, whom he asserts to have maintained (he does not allege any passages in proof of the assertion) the doctrine of Consubstantiation — and the doctrine of Origen, who did not allow that any divine influence was united to the outward signs as such, but thought that the object of sense was the symbol of the object of the understanding, only to the worthy receiver; though, in addition to that symbolical relation, he conceived a sanctifying influence to be united with the whole rite, in the case of those who are capa-

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ble of receiving that influence. Dr. Neander thinks, that to eat the flesh and drink the blood of Christ, meant, in Tertullian's view of the subject, to appropriate to ourselves the divine \dyos who appeared in the nature of man, and to enter into a living union with him through faith. He thinks also, that in the words, Caro corpore et sanguine Christi vescitur, ut et anima de Deo saginetur, Tertullian intended to say that, while the body, in a supernatural manner, comes into contact with the body of Christ, the soul receives into itself the divine life of Christ. Dr. Neander justly remarks, that on other occasions Tertullian speaks, as if the bread and wine were merely representative signs of the body and blood of Christ. It may be doubted, therefore, whether in arguing upon the above expressions, he has made sufficient allowance for the peculiarities of Tertullian's style. If, however, he is correct, Tertullian must be classed with those who maintain a real presence of Christ's body in the Eucharist, but in a spiritual, not in a gross corporeal sense. Dr. Neander appears himself to consider the bread and wine as mere symbols.

In the body of Dr. Neander's work, are also two Disquisitions ; one on a passage in the

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third chapter of the Tract de Corona, where Tertullian speaks of various customs observed in the Church on the authority of Tradition; the other, on an obscure passage in the fourteenth chapter of the Tract de Jejuniis, from which Dr. Neander infers, that the practice of fasting on a Saturday already existed in the Western Church.

If the reader will compare Dr. Neander's classification of Tertullian's writings with that which I have ventured to suggest, he will find that the difference between us is not great ; and with respect to some of the Tracts on which we differ, the learned author expresses himself with great diffidence. He was too well aware of the dubious character of the proofs on which his conclusions necessarily rest, to adopt a more decided language. I was myself restrained by similar considerations, from hazarding any positive decision of many of the controverted points, connected with Tertullian's life and writings. It would have been no difficult task to bring forward the different passages produced by preceding writers upon those points; to add others of equally, or more, doubtful application to the subject in debate; and after the parade of a formal discussion, to pronounce between the contending

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parties. Such a proceeding would have been very imposing, and have carried with it an appearance of great learning and profundity ; but it would at last have been only solemn trifling. When the facts are not merely scanty, 10 but susceptible of different interpretations, it seems to follow as a necessary consequence, that the mind must remain in a state of suspense: and an author ought at least to escape censure for avowing doubts which he really feels. Diffidence may imply a defect both in the moral and intellectual character; but it is surely less offensive in itself, and less likely to be injurious in its consequences, than that presumptuous rashness, which ventures to deliver peremptory decisions, where there

10 Yoy instance, Dr. Neander asserts that Tertullian had once been a Heathen, and produces, in support of the assertion, the first sentence in the Tract de Pcenitentia, (p. 3.) Pcenitentiam, hoc genus hominum, quod et ipsi retro fuimus, &c. He afterwards (p. 5.) alludes to the passages in the Tracts de Exhortatione Castitatis, c. 7- and de Monogamia, c. 12. (Nonne et Laici Sacerdotis sumus? and Sed quum extollimur et inflamur adversus Clerum, tunc unum omnes sumus, &c.) which have been alleged, in order to disprove the fact of Tertullian's admission into the Priesthood; but thinks that they do not disprove it. In both cases, Tertullian speaks in the first person and in the plural number; yet in the former, we are to suppose that he spoke in his own, in the latter, in an assumed character. Surely there is something very arbitrary in these decisions-

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are scarcely materials even for forming an opinion.

I was naturally anxious to ascertain the opinion of Dr. Neander, respecting the instances of the exercise of miraculous powers mentioned by Tertullian, and the accounts of visions which occur in his writings. The learned author accounts for n the story of the female who came back from the theatre under the influence of a daemoniacal possession, by supposing that, being conscience-stricken, she returned the answer recorded by Tertullian, under the persuasion that she was possessed by an evil spirit who made use of her organs of speech. The story of the man, who was chastised in a vision, because his servants had suspended garlands on his door in his absence, may, Dr. Neander thinks, be accounted for 12 on psychological principles. The view which

II De Spectaculis, c. 26. (p. 31 note.)

12 De Idololatria, c. 15. (p. 54.) I do not perfectly comprehend the meaning of this observation. It is very easy to conceive, that a man of a superstitious temper might have been so affected on finding that his servants had complied with what he deemed an idolatrous practice, as to dream that he was severely chastised for their misconduct. But Tertullian's words convey the idea that the chastisement was real. Scio fratrem per visionem eadem nocte castigatum graviter quod januam ejus, subito annuntiatis gaudiis publicis, servi coronassent. Are we to suppose, that the impression, made on the mind by the dream, affected the body, and

produced

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he takes of the subject of visions is, that the fermentation at first produced by Christianity in the nature of man was accompanied by many extraordinary phenomena, not likely to occur in a similar manner at all times. New powers were imparted to human nature ; and those which had been before concealed were brought into action. Moreover, the necessities of the infant Church called for many unusual interpositions of Providence. Great caution would of course be requisite, in forming a judgement respecting those phenomena, since it would be easy to confound that which was natural with that which was divine; and into this error the turn of Tertullian's mind would render him peculiarly liable to fall, by disposing him to regard all such appearances as divine revelations. In a subsequent part of his work, Dr. Neander mentions the 1S story of the female to whom the soul was exhibited in a corporeal shape — as an instance of Tertullian's readiness to consider visions as communications from heaven. Although Dr. Neander has not expressed himself decidedly, I infer from the general tenor of his observations, that he objects altogether to the notion, that the

produced the same feeling of soreness as if the beating had been real ?

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exercise of miraculous powers was intended to be confined to any particular persons, or to any particular age. 14 He supposes Tertullian to have asserted, that the possession of the extraordinary gifts of the Spirit was the peculiar characteristic of an Apostle; and regards this assertion as a proof of Montanism. He speaks also of the impropriety of confining the charismata to the Apostolic age. To what I have before said on this disputed subject I wili now add, that we usually infer what will be the future course of the divine government from considering what it has been; and thus Christians living towards the end of the second century — who had either themselves conversed, or had heard the accounts of others who had conversed, with men who had witnessed the exercise of miraculous powers — could not be justly charged with credulity, for expecting the continuance of the same powers in the Church. Centuries have since elapsed, during which no miraculous narrative deserving of credit can be produced. Our case, therefore, is widely different. They who contend that, be-

14 The passage on which Dr. Neander builds this inference, is in the Tract de Exhortatione, c. 3. Proprie enim Apostoli Spiritum Sanctum habent in operibus prophetiae, et efficacia virtutum, documentisque linguarum ; non ex parte, quod caeteri. p. 242.

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cause the first teachers of the Gospel were endowed with miraculous powers in order to prove their divine commission, it is not unreasonable to suppose, that similar powers would be imparted to those, who in subsequent ages went forth to convert heathen nations, may fairly be called upon to produce an instance, subsequent to the times of the immediate successors of the Apostles, in which such powers have been actually conferred.

Dr. Neander's notions respecting the authority ascribed by the early Christians to Tradition seem to coincide with my own. He says, " these two fountains, of the knowledge of the doctrine of faith— the collection of the Apostolic writings and oral Tradition— sent forth streams, flowing by the side of each other through all communities which agreed in the essentials of Christianity; and especially through the communities which were of Apostolic foundation. But as the stream of Tradition necessarily became more turbid, in proportion as the distance from the Apostolic times increased, the writings of the Apostles were designed by Providence to be an unadulterated source of divine doctrine for every age. Though on some occasions the Christians of those days might appeal solely to the autho-

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rity of Tradition, they uniformly maintained, that the doctrine of Christianity, in all its parts, might be deduced from Holy Writ." (p. 312.)

The spirit, in which Dr. Neander's remarks on Tertullian are conceived, is widely different from that in which it has been fashionable of late years to think and speak of the Fathers. M. Barbeyrac, whose views were directed to the systematic developement of the principles of Ethics, looking only at Tertullian's defects, regarded him as an author who was incapable either of thinking naturally, or preserving a just medium ; who delivered himself up to the guidance of his African imagination, which magnified and confounded all the objects presented to it, and did not allow him to consider any one with attention ; who in short, had disfigured the morality of the Gospel by his extravagancies, and thereby inflicted a serious injury on Christianity itself. Dr. Neander, on the contrary, 15 to whose

15 I have, in the fourth chapter of the present work, examined certain passages of Tertullian's writings, from which it has been inferred, that he did not recognise the distinction between the Clergy and Laity. Dr. Neander accounts (p. 204.) for the apparent inconsistency in his language, by supposing that he stood on what may be termed the boundary mark of two periods ; the period of original simple Christianity, and the period of the establishment of a system of Church-

h authority.

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mind the image of the Christian community, as it existed under the immediate superintendance of the Apostles, appears to be continually present, discovers in Tertullian the working of that spirit which animated the early authority. During the former period, there was a perfect equality among Christians ; no distinction of orders ; all were Priests. The separation of the Clergy from the Laity, and the gradation of ranks among the former, were subsequently introduced by injudicious attempts to transfer the institutions of the Mosaic to the Christian dispensation. This view of the subject frequently occurs in Dr. Neander's work : but I must confess my inability to reconcile it either with the statements contained in the Acts of the Apostles and in the Epistles, or with the natural course of things. If the Church of Christ on earth was in fact what it is in theory, the distinction between the Clergy and Laity would doubtless be unnecessary. But where are we to look for the period of original simple Christianity, of which Dr. Neander speaks? Even the Apostles found themselves under the necessity of appointing particular orders of men for the accomplishment of particular objects; and of making new regulations in order to correct the abuses which from time to time sprang up. The distinction, therefore, of the Clergy from the Laity, and of Orders among the Clergy, arose out of the necessities of what Dr. Neander elsewhere (p. 341.) calls, that frail compound of spiritual and sensual — human nature ; not out of any designed imitation of the Mosaic institutions. After it had once been established, we might naturally expect to find the language of the Old Testament respecting the Jewish Priesthood applied to the Christian: at first only in the way of analogy, but subsequently perhaps to promote the interested views of ambitious men. Dr. Neander has pointed out a remarkable instance of the application of the phraseology of the Old Testament to the celebration of the Eucharist, in the Tract de Oratione, c 14, (p. 184 note.)

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converts; and regarding him as a man whose whole soul was absorbed in his desire to promote the practical influence of the Gospel, is little disposed to speak with harshness of errors, which arose from the overflowings of Christian zeal. Looking rather to the internal feeling, than to the terms in which it is expressed, he discerns matter for commendation in passages, in which others have found nothing but extravagance and absurdity. The concluding passage of the Tract de Spectaculis, which called forth Gibbon's animadversions, appears 16 to Dr. Neander to contain a beautiful specimen of lively faith and Christian confidence ; though he wishes that the vehemence of Tertullian's zeal had been tempered by a larger infusion of Christian love. He ventures even to defend the celebrated declaration, 17 Certum est, quia impossibile, which has contributed more than any other circumstance, to bring Tertullian's writings into discredit; and says with great truth, that how strangely soever it may sound when separated from the context, yet when taken in connexion with what precedes, it is only an exaggerated mode of stating, that a Christian readily admits, on the authority of Revelation, that which men, who rely solely on

17 De Came Christi, c. 4. p. 394,

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the conclusions of their own reason, pronounce impossible. There can be no doubt that Dr. Neander has entered more deeply into Tertullian's character, and has, in consequence, been enabled to form a juster estimate of his merits and defects, than the Philosophical Jurist or the Sceptical Historian. Yet there are, perhaps, occasions, in which Dr. Neander himself has interpreted TertuLlian's expressions too strictly ; and, 18 though aware of the difficulty of referring the opinions of a man, on whom the feeling of the moment had so much influence, to general principles, he has not always been able to resist the temptation to generalize ; and has in consequence extracted from TertuLlian's words a train of thought of which he himself was probably never conscious,

I will now proceed to mention the principal additions and alterations which have been made in this second edition.

In Chapter I. note 171. the reader will find a passage disproving Sender's assertion, that Eusebius has never mentioned Miltiades as a writer against the Heretics. The passage is in the Eccl. Hist. L v. c. 28.

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In Chapter III. p. 176. I had given, an erroneous account of the exordium of the Tract de Testimonio Animas, having substituted in the place of the argument there urged by Tertullian, that which he uses in the passage in the Apology, to which I had referred in the note. The error is now corrected.

In Chapter V. note 211. (note 209. first Edition) the reader will find an attempt to reconcile the apparent inconsistencies in Tertullian's language, respecting the state of the soul during the interval between its separation from the body and the general resurrection.

In Chapter VI. p. 457. (p. 453. first Edition,) I have inserted a note containing a reference to the custom, which existed in Tertullian's time, of reserving a portion of the consecrated bread, and eating it at home before every other food. Dr. Neander thinks that this custom gave rise to the practice of administering the communion only in one kind. He observes also, that the practice of daily communion appears from the writings of Tertullian, to have then prevailed, at least in the African Church. See de Idololatria, c. 7-

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There are some minor alterations, which it is unnecessary to specify; and at the end of the Volume will be found a list of Addenda, some of which have been suggested to me by the perusal of Dr, Neander's work. Notwithstanding all the care which I have been able to bestow, the learned reader will doubtless discover additional errors and omissions. One mistake has, however, been imputed to me, of which I have not been guilty. I have never mentioned, incidentally or otherwise, that Stephen, Bishop of Rome, was contemporary with Tertullian.

In the Introduction to the present work, I have stated, that the object which I proposed to myself in my Lectures on the writings of Tertullian was, to employ them, as far as they could be employed, in filling up Mosheim's outline of Ecclesiastical History. After this explicit declaration, it may appear almost unnecessary to add, that I never intended to compose an Ecclesiastical History of the second and third centuries. My labours were directed to an humbler object — to assist in collecting materials for a future historian of the Church. My persuasion has always been, that a good Ecclesiastical History of that, or of any other period will never be composed, until the works of each writer, who flourished during the period, have been examined; and the information which they supply, collected and arranged under different heads. I did not mean to propose Mosheim's arrangement as the best which could be devised; I followed it, because his history is that which is in most general use among theological students in this country. I deem it also most essential to the successful execution of such a plan, that the testimony of each author should be kept as distinct as possible. If I may form a judgement from Dr. Neander's Preface, his view of the subject nearly coincides with my own. He there states, that he has published a volume on the Gnostic system, which mxist necessarily include an examination of the work of Irenseus ; a friend, at his request, is employed on the writings of Cyprian : in the volume, of which I have now given a short account, we have the spirit of Tertullian, the representative of the Realists ; there remain, therefore, for consideration, only the Moderate Idealists of the Alexandrian school, whose opinions will be found in the writings of Clemens and Origen. Having thus prepared the way, by analysing the works of the five principal authors of the second and third centuries, the learned author will proceed to the completion

XXIV of his Ecclesiastical History of that period. With the design of facilitating the composition of a similar History, I had, in the fulfilment of the duties of my office, before I lectured on the writings of Tertullian, examined the writings of the Fathers who preceded him ; whether I shall, at any future period, be able to lay before the Public the result of the examination, must depend upon the time which I can spare from other avocations.

Table Of Contents

Page NTRODUCTION ■ 1

CHAP. I. On Tertullian and his Writings

Jerome's account of Tertullian 5

Whether Tertullian ever was a Presbyter ? 8

Whether a Presbyter at Rome or at Carthage ? 9

Whether originally a Gentile ? 11

His adoption of Montanism 12

Account of Montanus from Eusebius ib.

* from Epiphanius 17

of the peculiar opinions of Montanus 19

of his pretensions. The variation in Mosheim's

language on this subject 22

His Discourses probably committed to writing 30

The notion that the Apostles did not publicly teach the

Doctrine of the Gospel in its full perfection 32

This notion supported by the authority of Clemens Alex-

andrinus < 33

Causes of Tertullian's secession from the Church 36

Importance of his Writings ib.

Unsuccessful attempts to arrange them in chronological

order .^ 39

Date of the Tract de Pallio ib,

' of the first Book against Marcion 42

of the Tract de Monogamia, and the two Books

ad Nationes ib.

Difficulty of ascertaining what works were, and what

were not, written before Tertullian's secession from

the Church 43

The Tract de Pcenitentia 45

XXVI CONTENTS.

Page

The Tract de Oratione 4-6

■ — de Baptismo 47

The two Tracts ad Uxorem 48

The Tract ad Martyres ib.

— de Patientia 49

adversus Judaeos 50

• • de Praescriptione Haereticorum ib.

• adversus Hermogenem 51

The Apology 52

The two Books ad Nationes 54

The Tract de Testimonio Animae 55