books de Ecstasi, to which he added a seventh

against 'Apollonius.

He is reported to have

This

the Spirit, which enabled him to foretel future events. circumstance was urged by his opponents as an argument against the truth of his pretensions to inspiration, and Miltiades, of whom Tertullian speaks with respect, wrote a Treatise to shew that a prophet ought not to speak in ecstasy, Tepi τοῦ μὴ δεῖν προφήτην ἐν ἐκστάσει λαλεῖν. Eusebius, Eccl. Hist. L. v. c. 17. Tertullian wrote his Books de Ecstasi in defence of Montanus, and a passage in the fourth book against Marcion, c. 22. will put the reader in possession of his notions on the subject of prophetic inspiration. He is speaking of the Transfiguration, when, according to St. Luke, St. Peter knew not what he said: on which Tertullian observes, Quomodo nesciens ? utrumne simplici errore, an ratione quam defendimus in causa Nova Prophetiæ, gratiæ ecstasin, id est, amentiam convenire? In Spiritu enim homo constitutus, præsertim quum gloriam Dei conspicit vel quum per ipsum Deus loquitur, necesse est excidat sensu, obumbratus scilicet virtute divinâ, de quo inter nos et Psychicos (the name given by Tertullian to the Orthodox) quæstio est. Comp. adv.

Marc. L. i. c. 21. sub fine. L. v. c. 8. sub fine. adv. Praxeam c. 15. In like manner Tertullian supposes that in the deep sleep or ecstasy (ekoтaσ in the Septuagint) into which Adam was thrown, when his rib was taken from him to form Eve, he was enabled to predict the perpetual union of Christ and the Church. Nam etsi Adam statim prophetavit magnum illud Sacramentum in Christum et Ecclesiam (the reference is to Ephesians, v. 31.) "Hoc nunc os ex ossibus meis et caro ex carne meâ. Propter hoc relinquet homo patrem et matrem, et adglutinabit se uxori suæ et erunt duo in carnem unam," accidentiam Spiritûs passus est; cecidit enim ecstasis super illum, Sancti Spiritûs vis, operatrix Prophetiæ. De Animâ, c. 11. Tertullian is very fond of this notion respecting the deep sleep or trance into which Adam was thrown; we find it again De Virgin. Vel. c. 5. De Animâ, c. 21, 45. De Monogamiâ, c. 4. De Jejuniis, c. 3.

5

Apollonius is mentioned as an opponent of Montanus by Eusebius, Eccl. Hist. L. v. c. 18.

lived to a very advanced age, and to have composed many other works which are not extant."

parts

parts of this Doubts have

The correctness of some account has been questioned. been entertained whether Tertullian was a presbyter. It is certain that he was married, for among his works are two Treatises addressed to his wife. How then were the Roman Catholics to dispose of a fact, which appeared to militate strongly against their favorite doctrine of the celibacy of the clergy? The easiest mode was to deny that he ever became a presbyter, and in support of this opinion two passages, in which he appears to speak of himself as a layman, have been quoted from works supposed to have been written when he was far advanced in life. On these passages 'Allix remarks, that the course of Tertullian's argument in some measure compelled him to

6 Vani erimus si putaverimus, quod Sacerdotibus non liceat, Laicis licere. Nonne et Laici Sacerdotes sumus? Scriptum est, regnum quoque nos et Sacerdotes Deo et Patri suo fecit. De Exhort. Castit. c. 7. Again, Sed quum extollimur et inflamur adversus Clerum, tunc unum omnes sumus, tunc omnes Sacerdotes, quia Sacerdotes nos Deo et Patri fecit. Quum ad peræquationem disciplinæ Sacerdotalis provocamur, deponimus infulas, et impares sumus. De Monogamiâ, c. 12.

7

Dissertatio de Tertulliani Vitâ et Scriptis, c. 2.

speak in the first person; and he opposes to them one from the Treatise de Animâ, in which our author states that he remained in the Church, or place of religious assembly, after the people were dismissed, for the purpose of recording and investigating the accounts given by a Christian female, to whom visions were vouchsafed, of what she saw in her spiritual ecstasies, an office which, in the opinion of Allix, would not have been assigned him, had he not been a presbyter. It must, however, be confessed, that this passage is by no means decisive of the controversy; and we must be content to receive the fact of Tertullian's admission to the priesthood, as the majority of Roman Catholic divines have received it, upon the authority of Jerome. We shall hereafter have occasion to notice the different conjectures proposed by them, in order to deprive their Protestant opponents of the argument which the example of Tertullian supplies in favor of a married priesthood.

Another question has been raised respecting the place where Tertullian officiated as a presbyter; whether at Carthage, or at Rome. That he at one time resided at Carthage may be inferred from Jerome's account, and 8 c. 9.

his own writings.

10

9

is rendered certain by several passages in Allix supposes that the notion of his having been a presbyter of the Roman church owed its rise to Jerome's statement, that the envy and abuse of the Roman clergy impelled him to espouse the party of Montanus. Optatus and the "author of the work de Hæresibus, which Sirmond edited under the title of Prædestinatus, expressly call him a Carthaginian presbyter. presbyter. Semler, however, in a Dissertation inserted in his edition of Tertullian's works, (c. 2,) contends that he was a presbyter of the Roman church. We know, he argues, that Tertullian visited Rome; for 12 he speaks of the pro fusion of pearls and precious stones which he saw there. 13 Eusebius tells us that he was accurately acquainted with the Roman laws, and on other accounts a distinguished person at

9 De Pallio, c. 1. Apology, c. 9. Scorpiace, c. 6. De Res. Carnis, c. 42.

12 De cultu fœminarum, L. i. c. 7. Gemmarum quoque nobilitatem vidimus Romæ, &c.

13 Eccl. Hist. L. ii. c. 2. It should, however, be observed that Valesius, following Rufinus, understood the words τῶν μάλιστα ἐπὶ Ρώμης λαμπρών to mean, that Tertullian had obtained distinction among Latin Writers.

Rome. He

14

He displays moreover a knowledge

of the proceedings of the Roman church with respect to Marcion and Valentinus, who were once members of it, which could scarcely have been obtained by one who had not himself been numbered among its presbyters. The question is of little importance, nor do the arguments on either side appear to be of so convincing a nature as to warrant a peremptory decision upon it. Semler admits that, after Tertullian seceded from the church, he left Rome and returned to Carthage.

Jerome does not inform us whether Tertullian was born of Christian parents, or was converted to Christianity. 15 There are passages in his writings which seem to imply that he had been a Gentile: yet he may perhaps mean to describe, not his own condition, but that of Gentiles in general before their conversion. Allix and the majority of commentators understand them literally, as well as some other

14 De Præscriptione Hæreticorum, c. 30.

15

16

Pœnitentiam hoc genus hominum, quod et ipsi retro fuimus, cæci, sine Domini lumine, naturâ tenus norunt. De Pœnitentiâ, c. 1. Nobis autem et via nationum patet, in quâ et inventi sumus. De Fugâ in Persec. c. 6. Et nationes, quod sumus nos. Adv. Marc. L. iii. c. 21. Hæc et nos risimus aliquando; De vestris fuimus. Apology, c. 18.

16 De cultu fœm. L. ii. c. 1. De Res. Carnis, c. 59. De Pœnitentiâ,