Page 120from drinks this faith, which she seals with water, clothes with the Holy Ghost, feeds with the eucharist, or Lord's Supper, and confirms by martyrdom; and receives no one contrary to this institution." Thus far, Tertullian. To this we say, "It is indeed true, that he here speaks against the errors of Valentinus, Marcion, and the like; but since this occasions him to say, that all the churches which he mentions, especially the one at Rome, in which the apostolic doctrine was still sounded at that time, sealed the faith, which he opposes to said errors, with water, and that they received no one contrary to this institution; any one can clearly see, that all the above named churches administered baptism at that time to adults, who could drink that faith from the evangelical and apostolical writings; and not this only, but could also partake of it by the use of the eucharist, and confirm it by martyrdom, which are things that children cannot do." Ergo. TERTULLIAN'S VIEWS CONCERNING DIFFERENT OTHER MATTERS, ACCORDING TO THE ACCOUNT OF P. J. TWISCK "Tertullian," says Twisck,"exhorts Christian women, in a book written to his wife, not to enter into marriage relations with the heathen, saying that it is impossible for them to live long in peace and friendship. He says: 'What must the heathen husband think, when he sees, or hears it said that his wife kisses on the cheek the first Christian whom she happens to meet?"', "Again, In a book on patience, when speaking of the apostates and of withdrawing from them, he says that patience governs all manner of salutary doctrines, and remarks: 'What wonder then, that it also serve to repentance to those who are wont to come to the help of the apostate, whether it be man or wife, when separated one from another, nevertheless by such things as are lawful, to be led to maintain their widow or widowerhood. It is patience that waits for repentance, hopes for it and exhorts to it those who would yet at some time attain to salvation. How great the benefit it confers upon both-the one it preserves from adultery, the other it reforms.'* Again he says: 'Do you think that it is hard for a Christian to suffer? He would rather die himself, than to kill others; and if you smite a Christian, he glories in it.' 1, "Again, 'As the religion of others does not concern us, and neither profits nor harms us; therefore, it does not become any one religion to force * The foregoing quotation from Tertullian is ambiguous in the Holland language and appears to have been so also in the original. Dr. Karl Ad. Heinrich Kellner, Prof. of Theol. at Heidelsheim, in his German translation of the"Complete Works of Tertullian" renders this passage as follows, which he says he holds as the correct rendering, "What wonder then that it (patience) also unites itself with repentance and is, aside from separation in the marriage relation, the usual means of relief for the apostate-this, however, only for the reason that we, whether it be for the man, or whether it be for the wife, in widowhood may hope for constancy. It is patience that waits for salvation with those who in their own time would seek repentance, that longs for it and prays for it. How.g,lta benefit it works for bothl The one it preserves from adulhe other it purifies.'-The Publishers. itself upon another, since it must be accepted voluntarily, and not by coercion, for what is required is the offering of a willing mind."' (This agrees with Ex. 25, 35 and 36. Chr. Leonh., lib. 1. Seb. Fir. in the Arke fol. 174. Stand der Religie, lib. 4. Grond. Bew. letter B. Menn. Sym. Doop. C., fol. 8. Th. Imbroek, fol. 28.)., "Again, Tertullian (in his fourth book against Marcion) quoting the words of Christ: This is my body, that is, a figure of my body, says: 'It would not have been a figure, had His body not been real; for a phantasm, or mere illusion, cannot have a figure or shadow?' With this he means to prove that Christ had a real body; and what he here calls a figure, he, in the fifth book, calls a sacrament, with the express words: 'The bread and the cup.' Still more clearly he says in the first book: 'Neither did he despise or reject the bread, by which he represented or typified his body.'", "He says: 'These words of Christ: This is my body, we must understand as though Christ had said: This is the sign and figure of My body. I pass over Dionysius Alexandrinus, and Paulinus, who both treat in the same manner of the above sacrament."' Tertul. Apolog., cap. 39. Euseb. lib. 6 and 9. Daniel Saut., lib. 1, cap. 6., "Again, Tertullian says: 'We must not seek the faith from the persons, but prove the persons by the faith."' De Praescript, lib. 4. P. J. Twisck, Chron. 2d book, page 53, eol. 1, 2. NOTE.-Tertullian taught at this time, "We have the apostles for authors, who established nothing according to their own inclination, but faithfully taught the nations that which they had received from God." Lib. 1, PrTscript. He writes further that"all churches are apostolic churches, though they may have been founded long after the time of the apostles, if they have but kinship with the doctrine." Lib. 1. PrTsc. See Samuel heltius, in the Geslacht-register der Roomscher Successie, second edition, 1649 pages 115, 116. Tertullian says among other things, "The emperors would have believed in Christ, if the world had not prevented them; for they could not become Christians, because they had to serve the world, and carry on war." See, Grondelijke Verklaringe Danielis ende Johannis, printed at Harlem, 1635, on Tertullian. Vicecomes, in his first book on baptism, chap. 1, notes the following testimony from Tertullian (lib. 1, cap. 4.), "There is no difference between those whom John baptized in Jordan and those Peter baptized in the Tiber." With this he intends to prove that in the first days of Christianity there were neither baptismal fonts nor churches. J. M., Baptism. Hist., page 276. Again says Tertullian, "Thus, when we go into the water of baptism, we justly confess our sins and the Christian faith." Vicecom., lib. 4, cap. 7, and J. M., Baptism. Hist., page 277.
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