CHAP. VII.

CONCERNING THE HERESIES AND DIVISIONS WHICH TROUBLED THE CHURCH.

WE E now come to the last, and unhappily not the least extensive, of the five branches into which Mosheim divides the Internal History of the Church-the Heresies by which its repose was troubled during the second century. But before I proceed to consider his enumeration of Christian sects, I must briefly call the reader's attention to Tertullian's Tract against the Jews. Mosheim, in 'his chapter on the Doctrine of the Church, has observed "that Justin Martyr and Tertullian embarked in a controversy with the Jews, which it was not possible for them to manage with the highest success and dexterity, as they were very little acquainted with the language, the history, and the learning of the Hebrews, and wrote with more levity and inaccuracy than such a subject would justify." That Tertullian was

1 Century II. Part ii. c. 3. Sect. 7.

unacquainted with the language of the Hebrews may be allowed; but thoroughly conversant as he was with the Septuagint Version of the Old Testament, his knowledge of their history could be little inferior to that of the Hebrews themselves. Whether, however, he was well or ill qualified to manage the controversy with them, it must be at once interesting and instructive to enquire in what manner the controversy was actually conducted by the early Christians.

3

Our author begins his Tract adversus Judæos with disputing the claim set up by the Jews to be considered exclusively as the people of God. In support of this claim, they alleged in the first place, that they were the descendants of the younger brother Jacob, of whom it was predicted that he should rule over the elder Esau-in the second, that the Law was given to them by Moses. Tertullian contends on the contrary that the Christians, inasmuch as they were posterior in time to the Jews, were in fact the descendants of the younger brother: and with respect to the Law he observes that mankind never were without

2 We have observed that Tertullian sometimes speaks as if he was acquainted with Hebrew. Chap. I. note 145. 3 cc. 1, 2. See Genesis xxv. 23.

a law. God gave Adam a law, 'in which were contained all the precepts of the decalogue. Moreover, the written law of Moses was nothing more than a repetition of the natural unwritten law; by obeying which the patriarchs gained the favour of God, although they neither kept the Jewish sabbath nor practised the Jewish rite of circumcision.

5

Hence, proceeds Tertullian, it is evident that circumcision does not confer, as the Jews pretend, an exclusive title to the favour of God. Abraham himself pleased God, before he was circumcised. Carnal circumcision was designed as a mark, by which the Jews might be distinguished from other nations in all ages-but particularly in these latter days, when the heavy judgements predicted by the prophets are fallen upon them. We may also collect with certainty, from the prophetic writings, that carnal circumcision was not intended to be of perpetual observance. Jeremiah speaks of a spiritual circumcision, as well as

Tertullian points out the manner in which our first parents violated each of the commandments of the decalogue by eating the forbidden fruit, c. 2. See Chapter V. p. 330.

Tertullian supposes the prediction in Isaiah i. 7. to have referred to the edict of Adrian, by which the Jews were prevented from setting foot in Jerusalem.

7 c. iv. ver. 3.

of a new covenant, which God was to give to his people.

8

In like manner the observance of the sabbath was not designed to be perpetual. The Jews indeed say that God sanctified the seventh day from the creation of the world, because on that day he rested from his work. But the sanctification spoken of applies to an eternal, not a temporal sabbath. For what evidence can be produced that either Adam, or Abel, or Enoch, or Noah, or Abraham, kept the sabbath? It is evident, therefore, that the circumcision, the sabbath, and the sacrifices appointed under the Mosaic dispensation were intended to subsist only until a new lawgiver should arise, who was to introduce a spiritual circumcision, a spiritual sabbath, and spiritual sacrifices.

Having thus shewn that the Mosaic dispensation was not designed to be perpetual, but preparatory to another system, 10 Tertullian says that the great point to be ascertained is, whether the exalted personage, pointed out by the prophets as the giver of a new law-as enjoining a spiritual sabbath and spiritual sacrifices-as the eternal ruler of an eternal king

dom-had yet appeared on earth. "Now it is certain that Jesus, whom we affirm to be the promised lawgiver, has promulgated a new law: and that the predictions respecting the Messiah have been accomplished in him. Compare, for instance," the prophecies of the Old Testament, which describe the wide extent of the Messiah's kingdom, with the actual diffusion of Christianity at the present moment. Nations, which the Roman arms have never yet subdued, have submitted themselves to the dominion of Jesus and received the Gospel."

12

"But," "2 proceeds our author, "there is in the prophet Daniel an express prediction of the time when the Messiah was to appear." The numerical errors which have crept into Tertullian's text, joined to his gross ignorance of chronology, render it impossible to unravel the difficulties in which his calculation of the Seventy Weeks is involved. But the principles of the calculation are, that the commencement of the Seventy Weeks is to be dated from the first year of Darius, in which

11 The prophecy particularly selected by Tertullian, is from Isaiah xlv. 1. But between his version of the passage and that given in our English Bibles, there are important differences in our translation it seems to apply exclusively to Cyrus.

12 c. 8.