Shining in His nativeglory, as He is the power of God, and the Spirit of God, and theLogos, and the Wisdom, and the Reason, and the Son of God. Tertullien n’a pas seulement voulu montrer que les chrétiens ne doivent pas être poursuivis pour des crimes qu’ils ne commettent pas (apologie et thèse juridique) ; il a voulu faire voir aussi que le christianisme est la vérité (oeritas nostra, XLVI, 2), et c’est sur la religion des chrétiens qu’il veut maintenant ajouter quelques éclaircissements dans cette troisième partie. I have likewise laid before you our wholestate, and the ground of our faith, namely, the antiquity of thedivine Scriptures most credibly attested, together with the testimonyand confession of the very devils themselves; he therefore that willtake upon him to refute me ought to disprove these facts in thesame method and simplicity as I have proposed them, and not tofold himself in quirks of logic or the disguise of eloquence. In like manner we find these sages at varianceabout the world itself, whether it was made or unmade, and whetherit would dissolve or last for ever. A CONTINUATION OF THE UNLIMITED LOVE OF CHRISTIANS. When Herod and his father Tertullian's Apology for the Christians. CHRISTIANS ABOVE THAT OF ALL OTHER PEOPLE. iii. I HAVE now, in my opinion, given sufficient proofs of the false andthe true divinity; having not only disputed and demonstrated thispoint from arguments drawn from reason, but also from the veryconfessions of those you acknowledge for gods; so that nothingmore seems necessary to be reinforced upon that head. And so again for Janus,O Father Janus ! Certainly it cannotenter into any one's head to imagine that the Romans grew to thisbulk of greatness by the influence of religion, who (as I havesuggested) one way or other always mounted to their greatness bytreading upon religion ; for even those whose kingdoms are melteddown, as it were, into one mass of Roman empire, those, I say,when they lost these kingdoms were no more without religion thanthey who got them. Tully in his Offices, lib. Accordingly, philo- sophers affect truth only in appearance, and this affectation putsthem upon corrupting her, for the glorious vanity of a name; butChristians are heartily and violently set upon pure truth, andperform her commands sincerely, as men who have nothing to carefor here, but in order to their salvation hereafter; and thereforeChristians, both in respect of conscience and discipline, notwith- standing your comparison, are very different persons. And December being a cold season, our author jeeringly tells them thathe did not much like bathing so early, and that it was time enough for washing, Tertullian's But we Christians look upon ourselves as one body, informed asit were by one soul; and being thus incorporated by love, we cannever dispute what we are to bestow upon our own members.Accordingly among us all things are in common,1 excepting wives ;in this alone we reject communion, and this is the only thing youenjoy in common ; for you not only make no conscience in violat- ing the wife of your friend, but with amazing patience and gratitudelend him your own. Or ifangels and demons act the same with your gods, pray where is thedifference between them and Him you look upon as the Sovereignand supremest of powers ? But we Christians, we alone arethe people who are not tolerated to enjoy a separate religion properto ourselves; we offend the Romans, and are not to be lookedupon as Romans, because we do not worship the God of theRomans; however, we have this advantage, that God is the Godof all, whose we are all, whether we will or no; but there is auniversal toleration among you to pay divine honours to any butthe true God, as if this was not emphatically the God of all, whosecreatures we all are. For we bestow more in the streets than youwith all your religion do in your temples. Verae Religionis Homines etiam solemnia eorum, conscientia potius quamlascivia celebrant. Thus Virgil—, Thus St. Cyprian, de Idol. You may say this is done by magicor some such sophistry, if your eyes and ears will give you leave tosay it; but what can be objected against that which is exposed inits pure naturals, against mere naked truth ? Not to mention Lactantius, who speaks to the same purpose, de Just. This I take to be a just character, Socrates excepted, of all the heathenphilosophers; they were traders for fame, and enriched their heads only to filltheir pockets ; they never loved truth well enough to suffer for her, nor wouldplead her cause before the Areopagus or Senate, at the hazard of their lives ; theirnotions were inactive, and lay floating only on their fancies, nor were the peoplenor themselves the better men for their philosophy; Socrates' prison spoiled all.How unlike to this was the carriage of the apostles and their genuine followers !How did they engage in the defence of truth ! Carnis cap. Incensis erepta adytis, Mensaeq. a0posthqi/zein and such Graecisms are muchaffected by this writer. Hence that of Silius—. with what loads of laurel did they signalize their gates on. Apology for the Christians. But if it be as you say, that they be the gods you worship whodo you all this mischief, and for our sakes too, why do you con- tinue such ungrateful and unjust gods in worship, who are somuch obliged to vindicate and assist you to the utmost of theiralmightiness against the Christians? H. Eccl. [Hebrew] signifies both a bull and a wall, and we have this inscription,—ENQADE Dei, lib. But these are blessings I cannot persuade myself to ask of any,but Him who I know can give them, and that is my God, and myGod only, who has them in His disposal; and I am one to whomHe has obliged Himself by promise to grant what I ask, if 7 ask asI should do; for I am His servant, and serve Him only, and for. 2 pleasure, a pleasure they usurp without a title, feed the Christiansufferers with just and substantial comforts, who choose to be con- demned rather than to fall from their affiance in God, and theexpectations of the other world; for would these people act conse- quently who thus hate us, they ought rather to grieve than rejoiceat our torments, because these torments put us in possession of our ii.—"And now ye know whatwithholdeth, that he might be revealed in his time," etc. 1 Thus, forsooth, you give the counsel bywhat means we are to abuse you; but well we know from whencethe suggestions come; who it is that is behind the scene andprompts all this; and how he works sometimes by persuasive wiles,and sometimes by dint of cruelty, and all to throw us off from ourconstancy. been a man, you might have remembered something of it. on a departed soul; and therefore as the soul of Lazarus was carried by the 1 Empedocles offered his wholeself to the flames of Aetna near Catana; O vigour of soul! Signif. No one system of philosophy then could be collected fromtheir writings (granting all necessary truths to lie scattered amongst them) for astanding authoritative rule in matters of controversy, for such a collection can beof no more authority than the collector, and must want a sanction more thanhuman ; for all men have a natural right to reason for themselves, till Goddetermines it by a rule divine : the want of such rule therefore was a greatdesideratum in the Gentile world ; and this was one of the great wants providedfor by Christ's coming into the world, who is emphatically said to have broughtlife and immortality to light through the gospel. off Lucania from Italy, and banished it into an island, which goesnow by the name of Sicily. Greek word ko&lpoj; truly signifies, the primitive Christians understood a place 13, p. 1023), or else such as were deproprio Ingenio, of their own head, of their own composing ; for it was usual atthis time for any persons to compose divine songs in honour of Christ, and singthem in the public assemblies, till tile Council of Laodicea ordered that no songscomposed by private persons should be recited in the church, Can. However, if your templewardens have reason to complain against Christians, the public, Iam sure, has not, but on the contrary very great reason to thank usfor the customs we pay with the same conscience as we abstainfrom stealing. to makebonfires, to bring out tables and feasts in the streets, and meta- morphose the whole city into a tavern ;2 to make the conduits runwine, and see the mob suck up dirt and liquor together, and run. Fathers, but highly derogatory to the all-sufficient merits of our crucified Master,— En effet, il est impossible qu’ils aient pu le faire sans reproche de leur raison. 101, that was not inscribed with a scene of Caesar's fresh and freshdistributing the doles to the people, which are usual at their firstcoming to the throne ? Nil praeter Nubes, et Caeli Numen adorant. not to give Cybele notice before the emperor was dead ;in good troth, Christians must make a little merry with such a goddess. Whence, if not from the booksof our sacred mysteries ? 1 Syriae Astartes. Caesar's birthday! cap. But this also (says our author in the words following) was the habit of the stews ;and lib. I will grant youthere is a difference in the modes of worship between a worshipperof God and a worshipper of Jove. 124         Tertullian's Apology for the Christians. 131, their hypothesis, they took it and turned it and bent it to a com- pliance with their own curiosity; not considering these writings tobe sacred and unalterable, nor understanding their sense, whichwas then under a cloud to those carnal minds, as it is at this dayto the very Jews, to whom they were appropriated. lion ! 107. which we know is owing to superstition and idolatry, and never arepresent at any of your diversions. After all, had the Roman gods been the dispensers of king- doms, the ancient Jews had never risen to such an ascendant as toreign in defiance of all the common deities all the world over; towhich god of the Jews you yourself have offered sacrifices, and towhose temple you have presented gifts ; and which nation for a longtime you honoured with your alliance ; - and which, let me tell you,you had never reigned over had they not finally filled up themeasure of their sins with their sin against Jesus Christ. This very objection we find almostcontinually in the mouth of Celsus the Epicurean ; for, says he, "the building ofthe Tower of Babel and the confusion of tongues were patched up out of thefable of the Aloidae in Homer's Odyssey ; the story of the flood, from Deucalion ;Paradise, from Alcinous's gardens; the burning of Sodom and Gomorrah, fromthe story of Phaeton; the folly of which objection Origen answerably demon- strates by showing the far greater antiquity of those relations among the Jews,than of these or any other fables among the Greeks; and therefore the corruptionof the tradition must be in them, and not in the Jews." I mention not those who seem tohave contracted for praise at the price of cutting their own throats,or despatching themselves by some sweeter method; for lo! These Preductores are much the same with Lenones, according to that ofHorace—. THAT THE EMPERORS MAINTAIN THE GODS RATHER THAN THE GODS THE EMPERORS. THAT THE CAUSES OF PUBLIC EVILS ARE MOST MALICIOUSLY If he be a man, it is theinterest of a man to give place to God; let him content himselfwith the name of emperor, for this is the most majestic name uponearth, and it is the gift of God. [Hebrew], vir Terrae,a husbandman, as Vir Sanguinis, Vir Pecoris, a bloody man, a shepherd,2 Sam. Reprinted in a second edition 1716/1717. 82          with his legions, who in the opinion of the Fathers stood always ready to seize iii., speaks of Domitian, Mox imperium adeptus,Jovi Custodi templum ingens, seq, ; in sinu Dei sacravit. ; pudica? Aesculapio tamen gallinaceum prosecari in fine judebat. Free shipping for many products! especially because the divine justice will have souls suffer in THAT KINGDOMS ARE ONLY AT HIS DISPOSE WHO IS THE TRUE I find also that Diogenes could not lie con- tentedly in his tub without his mistress Phryne ; and I hear of oneSpeusippus of Plato's school, slain in the very act of adultery : buta Christian is a man only to his own wife. This Paradise (says our author) is 132         Tertullian's Apology for the Christians. The disposal of kingdoms therefore must be lodged else- where, and not in the kings themselves; because they are kingsbefore they have the good luck to be gods, or the disposers ofkingdoms. CONCERNING THE RESURRECTION OF THE BODY. kai\ qu~sai kai\ diaswzesqai. But with what forehead can men entitle their greatness toreligion, when their greatness stands upon the ruins of religion? and what human power is able to reach the conscience, and bring down, Tertullian's Apology for the Christians. Why will he not be persuaded to think that the Being whohas done him the good without any thanks for his blessings, is thesame Being that does him the evil for his ingratitude, since everyperson is so far guilty as he is unthankful ? THAT THE GENTILES ARE SET AGAINST CHRISTIANS BY THE INSTIGATION OF EVIL SPIRITS. THAT THE ROMAN GRANDEUR IS NOT OWING TO THE ROMAN RELIGION. sed more communi, etc. And in the. Butwe are no ways concerned with what befalls us here, because in thefirst place our great concern is to get out of the world as fast as wecan; and because in the next place what misfortunes do fall, weknow that they are your provocations which have pulled themdown; and when they do fall upon us, as without a miracle theymust, considering how we are blended together in this world, werejoice and are exceeding glad to find the miseries foretold verifiedin ourselves; and this sensible fulfilling of divine prophecies givesnew life to our faith, and wing to our hope. In the preliminary discourse to this Apology, Ihave shown at large from this and the foregoing chapters that it was not forwant either of strength or courage that the primitive Christians sat still andsuffered ; but purely the reverence they bore to the character of God in theemperor, tied their hands and secured their passions, and perfectly got thebetter of self-preservation. And solikewise where the Oriental languages were ambiguous or equivocal, by omittingthe obvious sense and following the obscure, they spun out strange stories. Kyk na milions woorde en frases in alle tale. cap. And it is notorious of late years whatattempts have been made to reform religion by philosophy, instead of makingphilosophy bend to revelation. It was amighty objection with the heathens, that Christianity was a novel upstartreligion, formed out of the corruption of the heathen mythology; but thisTertullian argues to be as impossible as for the shadow to be before the sub- stance, or an imitation before the reality. But between these two there is an isthmus or middleterm of time,1 and when this period is over, and the beauty of this. THAT THE WISEST OF THE EMPERORS HAVE BEEN PROTECTORS OF THE CHRISTIANS. 11—Nos vero non attollimus tantum, sed etiam expandi-mus, et Dominica Passione modulamur. Hoc agile, boni Praesides, extorquete animam Deo supplicantem pro Impera-tore. therefore you may be said to be nothing before you were in being, Tertullian's Apology for the Christians. 23, p. 411. And all the lucid interval theyhave for this devilish enjoyment is but until the day of judgment." CONCERNING THE SEPTUAGINT, OR THE WRITINGS OF THE PROPHETS But if Augustus would never assumethe title of lord, he would much less have thought it Caesar's due, 1 Ohthe just condemnation of Christians ! Let me ask then a few questions. 21, that Christ bysuffering for us left us His example how to follow His steps, which was followedby a glorious cloud of witnesses, yet in these last days, what a brood hathsprung up 'of men who are lovers of their own selves, traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God, having a form of godliness,but denying the power thereof, who creep into houses, and lead captive sillywomen laden with sins !' But this, sayyou, reflects equally upon the God of Christians, for He makes nodifference between them and heathens. very first page of Arnobius adv. When we come to thepublic service of God, we come in as formidable a body as if wewere to storm heaven by force of prayer, and such a force is a mostgrateful violence to God. UNJUST. Productos que has visto recientemente y recomendaciones destacadas, Selecciona el departamento que quieras buscar. Hic currus fuit, hoc Regnum Dea Gentibus esse,Si qua Puta sinant, jam tum tenditq. ; manifestatur veritas nostra,quod usu jam et de commercio innotuit, non utiq. Fencing is that which is here meant, and because freely bestowed,called Munus, and the bestowers of them Munerarii. FOR THE EMPERORS. Themob, I say, who acted with the furies of a Bacchanal spare noteven a dead Christian, but tear him from the quiet of a tomb, thesacred refuge of death, and mangle the body, hideously deformedalready, and rotting to pieces ; and in this rueful condition dragit about the streets. But the principals and abettors ofthis wicked conspiracy against Severus which are daily detected,and picked up as the gleanings after a vintage of rebellion.3 Blessme ! "Antiochus, king of Syria, arrived to the extravagant blasphemy of taking uponhim this title of God. rw Igitabo kizwi cyane kurusha ibindi byose Tertullien yanditse, cyitwa Apology, kikaba kibonwa ko ari kimwe mu bitabo bikomeye birwanirira Ubukristo bwo ku izina. 87. pulls down cities, under whom mankind once sojourned withoutany cities at all. Cels.lib. iv. mhde\ xreian a0sxoli/aj. Nay, if mortification is the Christianpleasure, where is the harm to you ? There is a most bitter .sarcasm implied in these words, Hoc agite, that is," be intent upon your sacrifice, and wrack out the soul of a Christian while it ispraying to God for the life of the emperor; " wherein our author manifestlyalludes to the custom just now mentioned from Plutarch, that while the priestwas sacrificing, the crier or praeco went behind with these words, Hoc age, mindwhat you are about; for thus Plutarch tells us in Coriolano, 2, p. 275) "the Christians doubtless bestowed uponthe bodies of the dead, because they looked upon death as the entrance into abetter life, and laid up the body as the canditate and expectant of a joyful andhappy resurrection. Inténtalo de nuevo. But had kingdoms been at Jove's disposal, Jove surely hadnever suffered his own Crete to have come under the Roman rod ;unmindful of the Idean cave and the never-to-be-forgotten noise theCorybantes made to drown his infant cries, and of the agreeablesweets of his fragrant nurse the Goat Amaithsea. lib. Let Cybele see to it,whether she transplanted her affections to Rome for the sake of herbeloved countrymen the Trojans, screened from the Grecian armsI warrant by her divine protection; let her say whether she wentover to the Romans upon this view, as foreseeing them the peoplethat would revenge her upon her enemies, and one day triumphover Greece, as Greece had done over Troy; and to prove thatshe did go over to the Romans upon this prospect, she hasgiven a most glorious instance of her foresight in our age, for M.Aurelius being taken off at Sirmium the seventeenth day of March,1her chief priest and eunuch on the twenty-fourth day of the samemonth, having lanced his arms, and let out his impure blood uponthe altar, offered up his usual vows for the life of the emperor, whowas dead some days before. Evan. 3 And now for thephrase itself; we pray Sine Monitore, without a prompter or monitor, becausede Pectore, from the heart, that is extempore, as Mr. Clarkson and the anti-formulists expound it. Sed et juramus, sicut non per Genios Caesarum, ita per Salutem corum, etc.Here we have the lawfulness of an oath expressly asserted by our Tertullian,though now gainsaid by some new-fashioned Christians (if the Quakers maybe called Christians), and an oath too by the life of the emperors ; and a verysacred oath too it is, says our author, when so sacred a person is sworn by.They would not swear by their genii indeed, because they looked upon that asswearing by the devil and his angels; and thus we find that Joseph swore by thelife of Pharaoh. after all the animals in which all the departed souls from thebeginning have taken up their lodgings. O leaden-heeled couriers ! Letthe pasquils fixed upon the statue of Tiberius speak, and the Circustoo, that academy where beasts are sent to learn the art of killingmen with a better grace. But our author tells them that the flesh and blood of Christianswas like other folks, that they understood natural rights and liberties, had thesame aversion to suffering, the same passion for preservation and pleasure thatthe heathens had ; and whereas they alone were the people who seemed to haveforgot humanity, by their enduring the most exquisite torments not only withpatience, but with joy and thanksgiving, yet this was far from the effect of anystoical apathy, but purely the strength of their faith, which overcame the reluct- ance of nature, the sure and certain hope of the resurrection to eternal life, whichenabled them to despise the life present, and that light affliction which is but fora moment, and which worketh for them a far more exceeding and eternal weightof glory. Philo-sophus Gloriae Animal, et popularis aurae vile mancipium, says Jerome adJulianum. Thus it was that Numa Pompilius worked uponhis subjects, and procured an implicit veneration to all his institutions, by pre- tending an acquaintance with the goddess Aegeria. I Sam.xxxi. For fear, I say, thatthere should be any omission or blunder in these divine addresses, these severalforms of invocation were not only read out of the ritual by one priest, but therewas another priest also appointed, as a public monitor, to oversee and set themright in their repetitions. 37—"And it came to pass in those days,that she (Tabitha) was sick and died; whom when they had washed, theylaid her in an upper chamber.". Edit., intelligebat Cicero falsa esse, etc. L'Apologétique: Apologie du christianisme écrite en l'an 197 après J.-C. (French Edition) eBook: Tertullien, Waltzing, Jean-Pierre: Amazon.es: Tienda Kindle p. 275—"If therefore the worship of God among us continue undefiled, evenin the confession of all; if the sacraments be administered as before; if thepersons who officiate be ministers of the gospel, then certainly such as separatefrom our public meetings do forsake the assemblies of the saints, and so breakthe unity of the spirit and the bond of peace." Are not your wild beasts fatted with heathens ? ON the contrary, faction is a name which belongs to those only whoconspire in the hatred of the good and virtuous, and remonstratefull cry for innocent blood, sheltering their malice under this vainpretence, that they are of opinion, forsooth, that the Christians arethe occasion of all the mischief in the world.