RELIGIOUS COMMUNICATIONS. TERTULLIAN ON PRESCRIPTIONS AGAINST HERETICS. C. 1. The present times demand this warning, that we should not be surprised either, that there are heresies; for they were predicted, or, that they subvert the faith of some, for they exist for the purpose; that faith should be tried, and thereby proved. Thoughtlessly therefore, and without ground, have many been offended at the prevalence of heresy. How much should they be offended* if there were none? When it has been appointed, that a thing shall be, as there is a cause for which it exists, so it obtains a power through which it does, and cannot but exist. C. 2. That fever should exist among other destructive and torturing modes of death, appointed to call mortals from this life, excites no surprise; for it does exist;-nor that it calls men away, because for this end it is. Just so, if we dread that heresies, which have been brought forth to enfeeble and destroy faith, have this destructive power, we should previously fear their existence, which, while they exist have this power, and exist in the exercise of it. We know fever to be an evil both from its cause and its power; therefore we abhor, rather than wonder at it: and, as we are not able to extirpate it, we exert ourselves to the utmost in precautions against it. But heresies, which bring in eternal death and the burnings of a greater fire, are wondered at by some, because of this power, when men should, while able, flee from those heresies, lest they should have this power. And heresies will not prevail, if men do not wonder that they prevail so much. For either by thus wondering, they administer cause of stumbling and offence to others, or because they themselves stumble, they wonder at the heresy, as if its power arose from some intrinsic truth, It might indeed, be matter of surprise, that evil should have its own peculiar strength, if it were not that heresies are strong with those only, who are not strong in the faith. In the contests of pugilists and gladiators, not unfrequently a man is conquered; that same victor, matched afterwards with a powerful antagonist, is beaten-even so with heresies: from the feebleness of others arises their strength, which is nought, if matched against a strong faith. C. 3. They who are weak in the faith, not unusually make shipwreck of their faith, because they see some taken captive by • "Offended." This is the same word with that in Mat. c. xi. v. 6, and applied in the same signification. The disciples in Tertullian's time appear to have been shaken in their faith, by the general spread of heresy. heresy. Why," say they, "has he or she the most faithful, the most prudent and experienced in the Church, gone over to that party?" Who, that says this does not in the very question reply to himself that they whom heresies could change, are not to be counted among the prudent, faithful, or experienced. And is it wonderful, that a person who may heretofore have successfully resisted should fail? Saul, at one time excellent above all, was afterwards overthrown by jealousy: David, a man after God's own heart, in after time was guilty of adultery and murder: Solomon, who had been gifted by the Lord with all grace and wisdom, was led into idolatry by women. For the Son of God alone was it reserved, to persevere to the end without sin. What then, if a a bishop, a deacon, a widow, a virgin, a teacher-nay, if even a martyr shall have lapsed from the rule of faith, shall heresies therefore seem to acquire any truth? Are we to try the faith by the characters of those who profess it, or the characters by the faith? There is no one wise but the believer; none great but the Christian; no one a Christian but him, "who shall endure to the end."* You as man, know each person by the outward appearance; your opinions are formed on what you see; you see as your eyes enable you. But the eyes of God are on high: for 66 man," ," saith the Prophet, "looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart."+ Therefore also, "the Lord knoweth those that are his," and, "he rooteth up every plant, which he hath not planted," and he sheweth to us, that the first shall be last," and "his fan is in his hand to cleanse his threshing floor."¶"Let the chaff of a light faith fly away, as it listeth with any blast of temptation: the cornheap will be stored up, therefore, the more pure in the garner of the Lord. Did not some of the disciples become offended, and turn away from the Lord himself? The rest, however, did not therefore think, that they too should cease to follow his steps. They knew He was the Word of Life, and that He came from God, and they persevered to the end in following Him, even though he had meekly offered to them also, if they wished, liberty to depart. It is of no importance, that some, as Phygellus, and Hermogenes, and Philetus, and Hymenæus, should forsake an Apostle: the betrayer of Christ himself had been numbered with the Apostles. We are astonished, if the Churches of Christ be deserted by some, when this very circumstance, which we suffer in common with Christ, proves us to be Christians. "They went out from us," it is written, "but they were not us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us."** C. 4. Let us rather bear in mind the Lord's prophetic declarations, and the apostolic epistles, which told us that there would be heresies, and pointed out that they should be shunned. The • Mat. 10, 22 + I Sam. 16, 7. | Mat. 19, 30. 2, Tim. 2, 19. ¶ Mat, 3, 12. § Mat. 15, 13. ** John 2, 19. Lord teaches, that many ravening wolves in sheep's clothing would come. What is that sheep's clothing, but the superficial covering of the Christian name Who the ravening wolves, but those crafty spirits, which lie in wait within to harass the flock of Christ? Who the false Prophets, but the preachers of a lie? Who false Apostles, but the corrupters of the Gospel? Who Antichrists occasionally and ever, but the rebels against Christ? There are heresies at this time harassing the Church, not less by perverted doctrine, than Antichrist will pursue it with fierce persecution-with this difference, that persecution makes martyrs, heresies, apostates only: "for there must also be heresies among you, that they which are approved, may be made manifest"*as well those, who in the midst of persecution have stood fast, as those, who have not been drawn aside by seductions to heresy. For the Apostle Paul does not command us to consider those who may have fallen into heresy, as "the approved ;"+ as they falsely explain it, grounding their interpretation on his having said elsewhere, "prove all things; hold fast that which is good."+ But such an interpretation would imply, that a man who had inquired imperfectly, could not erroneously make an evil choice. : C. 5.-Besides, if St. Paul reproves dissensions and schisms, which doubtless are sinful, and immediately subjoins heresies, in doing so, he surely professes to think heresies as sinful as-nay, more so than the others since he says, he believed what he heard respecting their dissensions and schisms, because he knew, that "there must be heresies also." By looking onward to the greater sin he shews, that he believed in the probability of their having among them the lighter sins. He takes occasion thence to warn them, that they must not suffer themselves to be shaken by the strongest temptations, which, he said, would tend to manifest those, who were worthy of approval, namely, those whom heresies could not degrade. Finally, if the scope of the whole passage be to maintain unity in the Church and to prevent schisms, and that heresies tear us from that unity, not less than schisms and dissensions-doubtless then, he deems heresies equally reprehensible with schisms, and, as a consequence, he does not consider them as "the approved," who may have turned aside to heresy: especially as he strongly charges the Corinthians not to suffer themselves to be turned aside of such, and tells them "to speak the same thing, and to be of the same mind." This heresies do not permit.|| 1 Cor. xi. 19. "The approved" --this term seems applied by Tertullian, both to those who had been tried by fierce persecutions, and those who had been tempted by artful seductions. || The Latin text which follows, seems incurably corrupt :-Certe non ut ideo de malis crediderit, quia haereses bonae essent. The French translator has not rendered it, and his example has been followed here. C. 6. It is unnecessary to dwell longer on this point, if he who speaks thus be the same Paul, who elsewhere classes heresies among the sins of the flesh,* and who tells Titus,+ that "a man who is a heretic, should be rejected after the first admonition, because he is subverted and sinneth, being condemned of himself." In almost every epistle, when inculcating the necessity of fleeing corrupt doctrines, he rebukes heresies, the source of these corruptions in doctrine. Heresy is named from a Greek word, which means choice, or election, because men chuse for themselves the doctrines which they invent or adopt. The Apostle therefore says, that the heretic is condemned of himself, because he has chosen for himself that wherein he is condemned. But we are not permitted to introduce any thing of our own mere pleasure, nor to chuse what any may at his own pleasure introduce. We have in this the authoritative example of the Apostles, who did not of their own pleasure chuse what they should deliver to us, but faithfully declared to the nations the doctrine they had received from Christ; therefore, even though an angel from Heaven should preach another, "he should be pronounced accursed." Even then the Holy Spirit had foreseen, that a virgin named Philumene would be possessed by an angel of seduction, transforming himself into an angel of light, who, by his wonders and impostures should induce Apelles to introduce a new heresy. C. 7.-These are the doctrines of men and of devils, sprung through itching ears from the spirit of worldly wisdom, which the Lord calling folly, chose the foolish things of the world to confound philosophy itself; for philosophy is the material of worldly wisdom, precipitately assuming to explain the Divine nature and arrangements. In fine, heresies themselves have had their origin in philosophy: thence the æons and those incompatible forms, and the trinity of man set forth by Valentinus, who had been a follower of Plato's doctrine. Thence Marcion's better God, and his system of quietism: he came from the Stoics. The opinion of the soul's mortality came from the Epicureans, and that which denies the resurrection of the body is taken from the whole philosophic school. The equality of matter with the Deity is the doctrine of Zeno; and Heraclitus first broached the notion of a god of fire. The same subjects are discussed by philosophers and heretics; the same entanglements of reasoning arise, as whence is Gal. v. 20. + Remark the false quotation from Titus: in c. 16, the same passage is agaiu misquoted, and an argument founded on it, which of course must fall. Tertullian is by no means to be trusted, either in his reasonings or his quotations. He seems on all occasions more anxious to express himself rhetorically, than justly.Note the definition of heresy in this chapter, and consider to which Church it will most fitly apply-to that which professes to take the Bible only for its guide, or to that which adds to the written word all the absurd superfluities of human tradition. Tit. iii. 10, 11. § Gal. i. 8. any man evil, and why? Whence man, and how ? and one of Valentinus's latest notions-whence is God? If you believe him, from Reflection and Abortion.* He follows Aristotle, the inventor of the dialectic art, which is so skilful in building up and throwing down, wily, forced in sentiment, harsh in conjectures, mechanical in reasoning, troublesome even to itself by its contentious spirit, handling every subject, yet not discussing one. Hence those fables and endless genealogies, and unprofitable questions, that eat as doth a canker. From these the Apostle wishing to restrain us, testifies against philosophy by name, that we should guard ourselves against it. He writes thus to the Colossians: "beware, lest spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men," in opposition to the wisdom of the Holy Spirit. He had been at Athens, and from conferences there had learned to know that human wisdom which affects to be the truth, and is but its corrupter; he knew it subdivided into its own numerous heresies by variety of sects, all opposed to each other. What common feeling then can there be between Athens and Jerusalem the Academy and the Church? Heretics and Christians? Our instruction is from the porch of Solomon which had given forth, that the Lord is to be sought in simplicity of heart. Let them take heed, who have produced a Stoic, Platonic, and a dialectic Christianity. We need no curious searchings since Jesus Christ was given, nor any researches since the Gospel. When we believe, we desire nothing beyond belief. We even believe that there is nothing more for us to believe. C. 8.-I come now to that point, by which our people pretend to justify their entering on those curious enquiries, and which heretics press on them to infuse curiosity into their minds. It is written, say they, "Seek and ye shall find." Let us recollect when our Lord used these words-it was I think, in the very outset of his teaching, when men yet doubted whether he were the Christ, and when Peter had not yet declared him the Son of God; when even the Baptist had entertained some doubts concerning him. "Seek and ye shall find” was fitly said then, when he was • De enthymesi et ectromate.-At c. 49, a sketch of the Valentinian heresy is given, which will, in a measure, give an explanation of this nonsense. Valentinus supposes thirty Aeons (modes of existence represented by him, not as accidents but as persons). The first of these are depth and silence; from these proceeded seed, mind, and truth; from these burst forth word and life; of whom again man was created and the Church!!!! + Mat. vii. 7. The Cum etiam Johannes de illo certus esse desisset.-Rigault reads thus, "cum etiam Johannes; de illo certus, esse desisset :" and De Grouchy in his translation follows him-" Lorsque Jean, qui en etoit assure, venoit de mourir." The reading followed by our translation is given by Semler, and is preferable to that adopted by Rigault, and followed by the French translation, for the following reasons. Sermon on the Mount, from which the words "Seek and ye shall find" are taken, was delivered early in the ministry of our Lord. Some time after that he chose his twelve disciples, gave them their charge, and sent them forth. After that important event, and when the works of Christ had begun to be much spoken of, John, then |