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Ethical
[8420] [We pass from the polemical class of our author’s writings to those of a practical and ethical character. This treatise on Penitence is the product of our author’s best days, and may be dated a.d. 192.]
Chapter I.—Of Heathen Repentance.
[8421] “Offensa sententiæ pejoris;” or possibly, “the miscarriage of some,” etc.
[8422] Thesaurus.
[8423] Sæculo. [Erasmus doubted the genuineness of this treatise, partly because of the comparative purity of its style. See Kaye, p. 42.]
Chapter II.—True Repentance a Thing Divine, Originated by God, and Subject to His Laws.
[8424] Sæculi dote. With which he had been endowed. Comp. Gen. i. 28; Ps. viii. 4-8.
[8425] i.e., man.
[8426] Orbi.
[8427] Componeret.
[8428] Comp. Matt. iii. 1-2; Mark i. 4; Luke iii. 4-6.
[8429] i.e., man’s salvation.
[8430] See the latter part of c. i.
[8431] Viderit.
[8432] Or, “defending.”
[8433] [Without reference to Luther’s theory of justification, we must all adopt this as the test of “a standing or falling church,” viz. “How does it deal with sin and the sinner.”]
[8435] Or, “briefly to lay down the rule.”
[8436] i.e., in the judgment-day. Compare the phrase “that day and that hour” in Scripture.
[8437] Mediocritas.
[8438] Prævaricatorem: comp. ad Ux.b. ii. c. ii. ad init.
[8439] Matt. v. 27, 28; comp. de Idol. ii.
[8440] Comp. Ezek. xviii. 30, 32.
[8441] The substance of this is found in Ezek. xxxiii. 11.
[8442] Compare 1 Tim. i. 16.
[8443] Comp. c. xii. sub fin. [Ut naufragus alicuius tabulæ fidem; this expression soon passed into Theological technology, and as “the plank after shipwreck” is universally known.]
[8445] Dan. ii. 35; Matt. iii. 12.
[8446] Ps. ii. 9; Rev. ii. 27.
[8447] Penes.
[8448] Ps. i. 3; Jer. xvii. 8. Compare Luke xxiii. 31.
[8449] Jer. xvii. 8; Matt. iii. 10.
[8452] Obsequii.
[8453] Or, “paramount.”
[8454] See ref. 1 on the preceding page. The phrase is “as I live” in the English version.
[8455] “Asseveratione:” apparently a play on the word, as compared with “perseverare,” which follows.
[8456] Or, “enjoyment.”
Chapter V.—Sin Never to Be Returned to After Repentance.
[8457] [The formidable doctrine of 1 John iii. 9; v. 18, etc. must excuse our author for his severe adherence to this principle of purifying the heart from habitual sin. But, the church refused to press it against St. Matt. xviii. 22. In our own self-indulgent day, we are more prone, I fear, to presumption than to over strictness. The Roman casuists make attrition suffice, and so turn absolution into a mere sponge, and an encouragement to perpetual sinning and formal confession.]
[8458] i.e., favour.
[8459] Which is solemnly done in baptism.
[8460] Adglutinaris.
[8461] Acts xiv. 15-17: “licet” here may ="lawful,” “permissible,” “excusable.”
[8462] “Timent,” not “metuunt.” “Metus” is the word Tertullian has been using above for religious, reverential fear.
[8463] Timor.
[8465] i.e., by baptism.
[8466] Adulantur.
[8467] “Commeatus,” a military word ="furlough,” hence “holiday-time.”
[8468] i.e., repurchase.
[8469] Adulter; see de Idol. c. i.
[8470] i.e., in baptism.
[8473] Symbolum mortis indulget. Comp. Rom. vi. 3-4, 8; Col. ii. 12, 20.
[8475] i.e., in baptism.
[8476] See John 13.10; Matt. 23.26.
[8477] Metus integer.
[8478] Metus.
[8479] Or, “disappoints,” i.e., the hasty recipient himself.
Chapter VII.—Of Repentance, in the Case of Such as Have Lapsed After Baptism.
[8480] i.e., before baptism.
[8481] [Elucidation I. See infra, this chapter, sub fine.]
[8482] [When our author wrote to the Martyrs, (see cap. 1.) he was less disposed to such remorseless discipline: and perhaps we have here an element of his subsequent system, one which led him to accept the discipline of Montanism. On this general subject, we shall find enough when we come to Cyprian and Novatian.]
[8483] Timor.
[8484] “Mortis opera,” or “deadly works:” cf. de Idol. c. iv. (mid.), “perdition of blood,” and the note there.
[8486] Or, “has permitted somewhat still to stand open.”
[8487] [See cap. vii. supra.]
[8488] To accept the satisfaction.
Chapter VIII.—Examples from Scripture to Prove the Lord’s Willingness to Pardon.
[8489] Evolve: perhaps simply ="read.”
[8490] Rev. ii. 7, 11, 17, 29; iii. 6, 13, 21.
[8496] Jer. viii. 4 (in LXX.) appears to be the passage meant. The Eng. Ver. is very different.
[8497] Hos. vi. 6; Matt. ix. 13. The words in Hosea in the LXX. are, διότι ἕλεος θέλω ἤ θυσίαν (al. καὶ οὐ θυσίαν).
[8500] Or, “suffered.”
[8503] Cf. Matt. 23.9; Eph. 3.14, in the Greek.
[8504] Publicly enrolled as such in baptism; for Tertullian here is speaking solely of the “second repentance.”
[8505] See Luke xv. 29-32.
[8506] Utter confession.
[8507] For the meaning of “satisfaction,” see Hooker Eccl. Pol. vi. 5, where several references to the present treatise occur. [Elucidation II.]
[8508] Sordibus.
[8509] Cf. Psa. 22.1; 38.8; Heb. 5.7.
[8510] Tertullian changes here to the second person, unless Oehler’s “tuum” be a misprint for “suum.”
[8511] “Suæ,” which looks as if the “tuum” above should be “suum.” [St. James v. 16.]
[8512] [Elucidation III.]
[8513] Prodactæ.
[8514] Per. But “per,” according to Oehler, is used by Tertullian as ="propter” —on your account, for your sake.
[8515] Metus.
[8517] In uno et altero.
[8518] See Matt. xviii. 20.
[8519] i.e. as being His body.
[8520] Or, “the Son.” Comp. John xi. 41, 42.
[8521] Or, “by the grace.”
Chapter XI.—Further Strictures on the Same Subject.
[8522] Quod securium virgarumque petitio sustinet.
[8523] “Quæ,” neut. pl.
[8524] Isa. v. 18 (comp. the LXX.).
Chapter XII.—Final Considerations to Induce to Exomologesis.
[8525] Gehennam. Comp. ad Ux.ii. c. vi. ad fin.
[8526] Fumariola, i.e. the craters of volcanoes.
[8527] Superbissimi: perhaps a play on the word, which is connected with “super” and “superus,” as “haughty” with “high.”
[8528] For Tertullian’s distinction between “the Lord’s baptism” and “John’s” see de Bapt. x.
[8529] Or “celandine,” which is perhaps only another form of “chelidonia” (“Chelidonia major,” Linn.).
[8530] Dan. iv. 25 sqq. See de Pa. xiii.
[8531] Proelium.
[8533] “Ministerium,” the abstract for the concrete: so “servitia” = slaves.
[8534] See c. iv. [Tabula was the word in cap. iv. but here it becomes planca, and planca post naufragium is the theological formula, ever since, among Western theologians.]
[8535] See de Bapt. xii. sub init.
[8536] Lit. “of all brands.” Comp. c. vi.: “Does the soldier…make satisfaction for his brands.”
[8537] Cf. Gen. 3.24; Luke 23.43; 2 Cor. 12.4; Rev. 2.7. [Elucidation IV.]
[8538] Le Confesseur, par L’Abbé * * * p. 15, Brussels 1866.
[8539] Theol. Dogmat. Orthodoxe, pp. 529–541, etc.
[8540] Couc. Trident. Sess. xiv. cap. 8.
[8541] The Great Euchologion, p. 220, Venice, 1851.
Chapter I.—Introduction. Origin of the Treatise.
[8542] i.e. Christian (Oehler).
[8543] Rationibus.
[8544] This curious allusion it is impossible, perhaps, to render in our language. The word ΙΧΘΥΣ (ikhthus) in Greek means “a fish;” and it was used as a name for our Lord Jesus, because the initials of the words ᾽Ιησοῦς Χριστὸς Θεοῦ Υἰὸς Σωτήρ (i.e. Jesus Christ the Son of God, the Savior), make up that word. Oehler with these remarks, gives abundant references on that point. [Dr. Allix suspects Montanism here, but see Kaye, p. 43, and Lardner, Credib. II. p. 335. We may date it circa a.d. 193.]
[8545] As being a woman. See 1 Tim. ii. 11, 12.
Chapter II.—The Very Simplicity of God’s Means of Working, a Stumbling-Block to the Carnal Mind.
[8546] Consecutio æternitatis.
[8547] Admirationem.
[8548] i.e. that the simple be vain, and the grand impossible.
[8549] 1 Cor. i. 27, not quite exactly quoted.
[8550] Luke xviii. 27, again inexact.
[8551] Compare the Jews’ question, Matt. xxi. 23.
[8552] Its authority.
[8553] Impolita.
[8554] Incomposita.
[8555] Ferebatur.
[8556] Gen. i. 1, 2, and comp. the LXX.
[8557] Liquor.
[8559] Animas.
[8560] Animare.
[8561] Rebus.
[8562] Intinctorum.
[8563] Redundat.
[8564] Alveo.
[8566] Medicatis.
[8567] See c. vi. ad init., and c. v. ad fin.
Chapter V.—Use Made of Water by the Heathen. Type of the Angel at the Pool of Bethsaida.
[8568] Bethesda, Eng. Ver.
[8569] i.e., as Oehler rightly explains, “lacking the Holy Spirit’s presence and virtue.”
[8570] Or, “purify.”
[8571] [Diabolus Dei Simius.]
[8572] Gestationem.
[8573] Euripi.
[8574] Rapere.
[8575] Necaverunt.
[8576] “Nympholeptos,” restored by Oehler, = νυμφολήπτους.
[8577] So Tertullian reads, and some copies, but not the best, of the New Testament in the place referred to, John v. 1-9. [And note Tertullian’s textual testimony as to this Scripture.]
[8578] Compare 1 Cor. xv. 46.
[8580] Qui: i.e. probably “angeli qui.”
[8581] Vitia.
[8582] Or, “health”—salutem.
[8583] Conservant populos.
Chapter VI.—The Angel the Forerunner of the Holy Spirit. Meaning Contained in the Baptismal Formula.
[8584] Compare c. viii., where Tertullian appears to regard the Holy Spirit as given after the baptized had come out of the waters and received the “unction.”
[8586] Arbiter. [Eccles. 5.6; Acts 12.15.]
[8587] Isa. xl. 3; Matt. iii. 3.
[8588] Deut. xix. 15; Matt. xviii. 16; 2 Cor. xiii. 1.
[8589] Sponsores.
[8590] Sponsio.
[8591] Compare de Orat. c. ii. sub fin.
[8592] Compare the de Orat. quoted above, and de Patien. xxi.; and see Matt. xviii. 20.
[8593] Lavacro.
[8594] See Ex. xxix. 7; Lev. viii. 12; Ps. cxxxiii. 2.
[8595] i.e. “Anointed.” Aaron, or at least the priest, is actually so called in the LXX., in Lev. iv. 5, 16, ὁ ἱερεὺς ὁ Χριστός: as in the Hebrew it is the word whence Messiah is derived which is used.
[8596] Civitate.
[8597] Acts iv. 27. “In this city” (ἐν τῇ πόλει ταύτῃ) is omitted in the English version; and the name ᾽Ιησοῦν, “Jesus,” is omitted by Tertullian. Compare Acts 10.38; Lev. 4.18; Isa. 61.1 in the LXX.
Chapter VIII.—Of the Imposition of Hands. Types of the Deluge and the Dove.
[8598] [See Bunsen, Hippol. Vol. III. Sec. xiii. p. 22.]
[8599] Concorporationem.
[8600] The reference is to certain hydraulic organs, which the editors tell us are described by Vitruvius, ix. 9 and x. 13, and Pliny, H. N. vii. 37.
[8601] i.e. Man. There may be an allusion to Eph. ii. 10, “We are His worksmanship,” and to Ps. cl. 4.
[8602] Compare 1 Tim. ii. 8.
[8603] i.e. Ephraim.
[8604] In Christum.
[8605] See c. iv. p. 668.
[8606] Matt. iii. 16; Luke iii. 22.
[8607] Ipso. The ancients held this.
[8608] Matt. x. 16. Tertullian has rendered ἀκέραιοι (unmixed) by “simplices,” i.e. without fold.
[8609] Argumento.
[8610] Pacem.
[8611] Paci.
[8612] Dispositione.
[8613] See de Orat. iv. ad init.
[8614] Lavacro.
[8615] Compare de Idol. xxiv. ad fin.
[8616] [2 Pet. i. 9; Heb. x. 26-27, 29. These awful texts are too little felt by modern Christians. They are too often explained away.]
Chapter IX.—Types of the Red Sea, and the Water from the Rock.
[8617] Patrocinia—“pleas in defence.”
[8618] “Libere expeditus,” set free, and that without any conditions, such as Pharaoh had from time to time tried to impose. See Ex. viii. 25, 28; x. 10-11, 24.
[8619] “Extinxit,” as it does fire.
[8621] Sæculo.
[8622] See Ex. xv. 24, 25.
[8623] “The Tree of Life,” “the True Vine,” etc.
[8627] Agape. See de Orat. c. 28, ad fin.
[8628] Dilectionis. See de Patien. c. xii.
[8634] Matt. xxvii. 24. Comp. de Orat. c. xiii.
[8635] John xix. 34. See c. xviii. sub fin.
[8636] Religionem.
[8637] Matt. xxi. 25; Mark xi. 30; Luke xx. 4.
[8638] Constanter.
[8639] Potestate.
[8640] See John i. 33.
[8641] It is difficult to see how this statement is to be reconciled with Acts v. 31. [i.e. under the universal illumination,John i. 9.]
[8642] Matt. iii. 7-12; xxi. 23, 31, 32.
[8643] Mark ii. 8; 1 Thess. iv. 8; 2 Cor. i. 21-22; v. 5.
[8646] Matt. iii. 11-12; John i. 6-36.
[8647] Matt. xi. 2-6; Luke vii. 18-23. [He repeats this view.]
[8649] Agebatur.
[8652] John iii. 30, 31, briefly quoted.
[8653] Matt. iii. 11, not quite exactly given.
Chapter XI.—Answer to the Objection that “The Lord Did Not Baptize.”
[8655] For instances of this, compare Matt. 8.5; Luke 7.3,7; Mark 10.35; Matt. 20.20.
[8656] Cf. 1 Pet. i. 11, ad fin.
[8657] Lavacri.
Chapter XII.—Of the Necessity of Baptism to Salvation.
[8658] John iii. 5, not fully given.
[8659] See Gal. iii. 27.
[8660] See Eph. iv. 5.
[8661] “Volenti,” which Oehler notes as a suggestion of Fr. Junius, is adopted here in preference to Oehler’s “nolenti.”
[8663] Exerta. Comp. c. xviii. sub init.; ad Ux. ii. c. i. sub fin.
[8664] Matt. xi. 11, ἐγήγερται omitted.
[8665] Matt. viii. 24; xiv. 28-29. [Our author seems to allow that sprinkling is baptism, but not Christian baptism: a very curious passage. Compare the foot-washing, John xiii. 8.]
[8666] Sæculo.
[8667] Sæculum.
[8668] Illoti.
[8669] Lavacrum. [John xiii. 9, 10, as above.]
[8670] i.e. of being the first to be chosen.
[8671] Luke xviii. 42; Mark x. 52.
[8672] “Remittentur” is Oehler’s reading; “remittuntur” others read; but the Greek is in perfect tense. See Mark ii. 5.
[8673] i.e. faith, or perhaps the “compendious grace of baptism.”
[8676] Luke ix. 59, 60; but it is not said there that the man did it.
[8678] i.e. probably the Cainites. See c. ii.
[8679] i.e. the sacrament, or obligation of faith. See beginning of chapter.
[8680] Matt. xxviii. 19: “all” omitted.
[8681] John ii. 5: “shall not” for “cannot;” “kingdom of the heavens”—an expression only occurring in Matthew—for “kingdom of God.”
[8682] i.e. from the time when the Lord gave the “law.”
[8683] i.e. not till after the “law” had been made.
[8684] See Acts ix. 1-31.
Chapter XIV.—Of Paul’s Assertion, that He Had Not Been Sent to Baptize.
[8687] 1 Cor. i. 11-12; iii. 3-4.
[8688] Matt. v. 9; referred to in de Patien. c. ii.
Chapter XV.—Unity of Baptism. Remarks on Heretical And Jewish Baptism.
[8689] Oehler refers us to c. xii. above, “He who hath once bathed.”
[8690] i.e. the Epistle to the Ephesians especially.
[8691] Eph. iv. 4, 5, 6, but very inexactly quoted.
[8692] i.e. us Christians; of “Catholics,” as Oehler explains it.
[8693] i.e. touching the “one baptism.”
[8694] Ademptio communicationis. [See Bunsen, Hippol. III. p. 114, Canon 46.]
[8695] Comp. Eccles. i. 15.
[8696] Lavacrum.
[8697] Compare de Orat. c. xiv.
[8698] In John 13.10; Eph. 4.5.
Chapter XVI.—Of the Second Baptism—With Blood.
[8699] Lavacrum. [See Aquinas, Quæst. lxvi. 11.]
[8700] Luke xii. 50, not given in full.
[8702] Matt. xx. 16; Rev. xvii. 14.
[8703] John xix. 34. See c. ix. ad fin.
[8704] See John vi. 53, etc.
[8705] Lavacrum. [The three baptisms: fluminis, flaminis, sanguinis.]
Chapter XVII.—Of the Power of Conferring Baptism.
[8706] Materiolam.
[8707] Summus sacerdos. Compare de Orat. xxviii., “nos…veri sacerdotes,” etc.: and de Ex. Cast. c. vii., “nonne et laici sacerdotes sumus?”
[8708] Census.
[8709] Disciplina.
[8710] i.e. the powers of administering baptism and “sowing the word.” [i.e. “The Keys.” Scorpiace, p. 643.]
[8711] Dicatum.
[8712] 1 Cor. x. 23, where μοι in the received text seems interpolated.
[8713] Or, as Oehler explains it, of your power of baptizing, etc.
[8714] Quintilla. See c. i.
[8715] Evenerit. Perhaps Tertullian means literally—though that sense of the word is very rare—“shall issue out of her,” alluding to his “pariet” above.
[8716] See c. i. ad fin.
[8717] The allusion is to a spurious work entitled Acta Pauli et Theclæ. [Of which afterwards. But see Jones, on the Canon, II. p. 353, and Lardner, Credibility, II. p. 305.]
[8718] Decessisse.
[8719] Mulieri.
[8720] Fœminæ.
Chapter XVIII.—Of the Persons to Whom, and the Time When, Baptism is to Be Administered.
[8722] Luke vi. 30. [See note 4, p. 676.]
[8724] 1 Tim. v. 22; μηδενὶ omitted, ταχέως rendered by “facile,” and μηδἔ by “ne.”
[8725] “Exertam,” as in c. xii.: “probatio exerta,” “a conspicuous proof.”
[8726] Comp. Acts viii. 26-40.
[8727] Acts 8.28,30,32,33; Isa. 53.7-8, especially in LXX. The quotation, as given in Acts, agrees nearly verbatim with the Cod. Alex. there.
[8728] Tertullian seems to have confused the “Judas” with whom Saul stayed (Acts ix. 11) with the “Simon” with whom St. Peter stayed (Acts ix. 43); and it was Ananias, not Judas, to whom he was pointed out as “an appointed vessel,” and by whom he was baptized. [So above, he seems to have confounded Philip, the deacon, with Philip the apostle.]
[8729] See note 24, [where Luke vi. 30 is shown to be abused].
[8730] Tertullian has already allowed (in c. xvi) that baptism is not indispensably necessary to salvation.
[8731] Matt. xix. 14; Mark x. 14; Luke xviii. 16.
[8732] Or, “whither they are coming.”
[8733] i.e. in baptism.
[8734] Sæcularibus.
[8735] See beginning of chapter, [where Luke vi. 30, is shown to be abused].
[8736] Virginibus; but he is speaking about men as well as women. Comp. de Orat. c. xxii. [I need not point out the bearings of the above chapter, nor do I desire to interpose any comments. The Editor’s interpolations, where purely gratuitous, I have even stricken out, though I agree with them. See that work of genius, the Liberty of Prophesying, by Jer. Taylor, sect. xviii. and its candid admissions.]
Chapter XIX.—Of the Times Most Suitable for Baptism.
[8737] Mark xiv. 13; Luke xxii. 10, “a small earthen pitcher of water.”
[8738] [He means the whole fifty days from the Paschal Feast till Pentecost, including the latter. Bunsen Hippol. III. 18.]
[8739] Lavacris.
[8740] Frequentata, i.e. by His frequent appearance. See Acts i. 3, δι᾽ ἡμερῶν τεσσαράκοντα ὀπτανόμενος αὐτοῖς.
[8741] Comp. Acts 1.10; Luke 9.30: in each place St. Luke says, ἄνδρες δύο: as also in Luke 24.4 of his Gospel.
[8742] Acts i. 10, 11; but it is οὐρανόν throughout in the Greek.
[8743] Jer. xxxi. 8, xxxviii. 8 in LXX., where ἐν ἑορτῇ φασέκ is found, which is not in the English version.
Chapter XX.—Of Preparation For, and Conduct After, the Reception of Baptism.
[8744] Matt. iii. 6. [See the collection of Dr. Bunsen for the whole primitive discipline to which Tertullian has reference, Hippol. Vol. III. pp. 5–23, and 29.]
[8745] Perhaps Tertullian is referring to Prov. xxviii. 13. If we confess now, we shall be forgiven, and not put to shame at the judgment day.
[8746] See de Orat. c. xxiii. ad fin., and the note there.
[8748] What passage is referred to is doubtful. The editors point us to Luke xxii. 28, 29; but the reference is unsatisfactory.
[8749] Lavacrum.
[8750] Lavacro. Compare the beginning of the chapter.
[8751] Viz. by their murmuring for bread (see Ex. xvi. 3, 7); and again—nearly forty years after—in another place. See Num. xxi. 5.
[8752] Aquam: just as St. Paul says the Israelites had been “baptized” (or “baptized themselves”) “into Moses in the cloud and in the sea.” 1 Cor. x. 2.
[8754] Lavacro.
[8755] In prayer: comp. de Orat. c. xiv.
[8756] i.e. the Church: comp. de Orat. c. 2.
[8758] Matt. vii. 7; Luke xi. 9; αἰτεῖτε, καὶ δοθήσεται, ὑμῖν in both places.
[8759] [The translator, though so learned and helpful, too often encumbers the text with superfluous interpolations. As many of these, while making the reading difficult, add nothing to the sense yet destroy the terse, crabbed force of the original, I have occasionally restored the spirit of a sentence, by removing them.]
Chapter I.—General Introduction.
[8760] [After the discipline of Repentance and of Baptism the Laws of Christian Living come into view. Hence this is the logical place for this treatise. See the Prolegomena of Muratori and learned annotations, in Routh, Opuscula I. p. 173, et sqq. We may date it circa a.d. 192. For much of the Primitive Discipline, concerning Prayer, see Bunsen, Hippol. III. pp. 88–91, etc.]
[8761] Oehler’s punctuation is followed here. The sentence is difficult, and has perplexed editors and commentators considerably.
[8762] Matt. ix. 16-17; Mark ii. 21-22; Luke v. 36-37.
[8763] Routh suggests, “fortase quâ sensit,” referring to the Adv. Praxeam, c. 5.
[8764] Sermone.
[8765] This is Oehler’s punctuation. The edition of Pamelius reads: “So the prayer composed by Christ was composed of three parts: of the speech, by which it is enunciated; of the spirit, by which alone it prevails; of the reason, by which it is taught.” Rigaltius and subsequent editors read, “of the reason, by which it is conceived;” but this last clause is lacking in the mss., and Oehler’s reading appears, as he says, to “have healed the words.” [Oehler’s punctuation must stand; but, the preceding sentence justifies the interpolation of Rigaltius and heals more effectually.]
[8772] “i.e., together with the Son and the Holy Spirit” (Oehler); “His Son and His church” (Dodgson).
Chapter III.—The Second Clause.
[8777] i.e., “any other god.”
[8779] Isa. vi. 3; Rev. iv. 8.
[8783] Mr. Dodgson renders, “next to this clause;” but the “forma” referred to seems, by what Tertullian proceeds to add, to be what he had said above, “not that it becomes us to wish God well,” etc.
[8784] We learn from this and other places, that the comparative adverb was wanting in some ancient formulæ of the Lord’s Prayer. [See Routh, Opuscula I. p. 178.]
[8785] See note 3.
[8787] For this use of the word “provoke,” see Heb. x. 24, Eng. ver.
[8788] [Something we might think other than good.]
[8791] Or, “world,” sæculo.
[8792] Or, “world,” sæculi. See Matt. xxiv. 3, especially in the Greek. By “praying for some protraction in the age,” Tertullian appears to refer to some who used to pray that the end might be deferred (Rigalt.).
[8793] altari.
[8795] So Dodgson aptly renders “dirigitur a.”
[8796] [See Ad Nationes, p. 128, supra.]
[8797] This is a slight mistake of Tertullian. The words referred to, “Seek ye first,” etc., do not occur till the end of the chapter in which the prayer is found, so that his pluperfect is out of place. [He must have been aware of this: he only gives logical order to the thought which existed in the divine mind. See note 10, p. 682.]
[8803] Tertullian seems to refer to Matt. xv. 26; Mark vii. 27.
[8804] Matt. vii. 9; Luke xi. 11.
[8806] Matt. 6.34; Luke 12.29 seem to be referred to; but the same remark applies as in note 10 on the preceding page.
Chapter VII.—The Sixth Clause.
[8808] In the former petition, “Give us this day our daily bread.”
[8809] Such as “daily bread.”
[8810] That is, if we are just to be fed and fattened by them in body, as a bull which is destined for sacrifice is, and then, like him, slain—handed over to death?
[8811] Ex. xviii. 23, 32; xxxiii. 11.
Chapter VIII.—The Seventh or Final Clause.
[8816] See James i. 13.
[8817] Implied in the one hypothesis—ignorance.
[8818] Implied in the other—wishing to overthrow faith.
[8819] i.e. no children even. The reference is apparently to Matt. 10.37; Luke 14.26, with which may be compared Deut. 13.6-10; 33.9. If Oehler’s reading, which I have followed, be correct, the precept, which is not verbally given till ages after Abraham, is made to have a retrospective force on him.
[8820] See Matt. iv. 10; Luke iv. 8.
[8821] Luke xxii. 40; Matt. xxvi. 41; Mark xiv. 31.
[8822] Routh refers us to De Bapt. c. 20, where Tertullian refers to the same event. [Note also his reference to De Fuga, cap. ii.]
[8823] Here comes in the Codex Ambrosianus, with the title, “Here begins a treatise of Tertullian of divers necessary things;” and from it are taken the headings of the remaining chapters. (See Oehler and Routh.)
Chapter X.—We May Superadd Prayers of Our Own to the Lord’s Prayer.
[8824] See Matt. vi. 8.
[8825] Matt. vii. 7; Luke xi. 9.
Chapter XI.—When Praying the Father, You are Not to Be Angry with a Brother.
[8826] Oehler divides these two chapters as above. The generally adopted division unites this sentence to the preceding chapter, and begins the new chapter with, “The memory of His precepts;” and perhaps this is the preferable division.
[8827] altare. [Heb. xiii. 10.]
[8829] Perhaps there may be an allusion to Phil. iv. 6, 7.
[8830] See chap. vii. above, and compare Matt. vi. 14, 15.
[8831] “Ab initio” probably refers to the book of Genesis, the initium, or beginning of Scripture, to which he is about to refer. But see likewise Eph. 4.31; Matt. 5.21-22; Gen. 4.6-77
[8832] Gen. xlv. 24: so the LXX.
[8833] See Acts ix. 2; xix. 9, 23, in the Greek.
[8834] See Matt. v. 17.
[8836] Matt. v. 21-22; 1 Pet. iii. 9, etc.
Chapter XII.—We Must Be Free Likewise from All Mental Perturbation.
[8839] John xvii. 14; Rom. xiv. 17.
Chapter XIII.—Of Washing the Hands.
[8842] Or, “sorceries.”
[8843] See Matt. xv. 10-11, 17-20; xxiii. 25-26.
[8844] By Pilate. See Matt. xxvii. 24. [N. B. quoad Ritualia.]
[8845] i.e. in baptism.
[8846] See Matt. xxiii. 31; Luke xi. 48.
[8847] I do not know Tertullian’s authority for this statement. Certainly Solomon did raise his hands (1 Kings viii. 54), and David apparently his (see Ps. cxliii. 6; xxviii. 2; lxii. 4, etc.). Compare, too,Ex. xvii. 11, 12. But probably he is speaking only of the Israel of his own day. [Evidently.]
[8849] i.e. from the expansion of the hands on the cross.
[8850] Or, “give praise.”
Chapter XV.—Of Putting Off Cloaks.
[8851] i.e. the hand-washing.
[8852] Or, “reasonable service.” See Rom. xii. 1.
[8853] Or, “Gentile practices.”
[8854] See 1 Cor. xi. 3-16.
[8856] Dan. iii. 21, etc.
Chapter XVI.—Of Sitting After Prayer.
[8857] i.e. that they have seen it done; for children imitate anything and everything (Oehler).
[8858] [Vol. II. p. 18 (Vision V.), this Series. Also, Ib. p. 57, note 2. See Routh’s quotation from Cotelerius, p. 180, in Volume before noted.]
[8859] Routh and Oehler (after Rigaltius) refer us to Tob. xii. 12. They also, with Dodgson, refer to Luke i. 11. Perhaps there may be a reference to Rev. viii. 3, 4.
Chapter XVII.—Of Elevated Hands.
[8861] Herod. i. 47.
[8862] Which is forbidden,Matt. vi. 5, 6.
Chapter XVIII.—Of the Kiss of Peace.
[8863] Such as fasting.
[8864] See Rom. xvi. 16; 1 Cor. xvi. 20; 2 Cor. xiii. 12; 1 Thess. v. 26; 1 Pet. v. 14. [The sexes apart.]
[8866] i.e. “Good Friday,” as it is now generally called.
[8867] The word Statio seems to have been used in more than one sense in the ancient Church. A passage in the Shepherd of Hermas, referred to above (B. iii. Sim. 5), appears to make it ="fast.”
[8868] “Ara,” not “altare.”
[8869] For receiving at home apparently, when your station is over.
[8870] See 2 Tim. ii. 1, etc. [See Hermas, Vol. I., p. 33.]
[8871] See 1 Cor. xi. 1-16; 1 Tim. ii. 9-10.
Chapter XXII.—Answer to the Foregoing Arguments.
[8874] As to the distinction between “women” and “virgins.”
[8875] Gen. ii. 23. In the LXX. and in the Eng. ver. there is but the one word “woman.”
[8876] These words are regarded by Dr. Routh as spurious, and not without reason. Mr. Dodgson likewise omits them, and refers to de Virg. Vel. cc. 4 and 5.
[8877] In de Virg. Vel. 5, Tertullian speaks even more strongly: “And so you have the name, I say not now common, but proper to a virgin; a name which from the beginning a virgin received.”
[8878] 1 Cor. vii. 34 et seq.
[8879] γυνή.
[8880] Mr. Dodgson appears to think that there is some transposition here; and at first sight it may appear so. But when we look more closely, perhaps there is no need to make any difficulty: the stress is rather on the words “by interpretation,” which, of course, is a different thing from “usage;” and by interpretation γυνή appears to come nearer to “femina” than to “mulier.”
[8881] θηλεῖα.
[8882] Or, “unveiled.”
[8885] For a similar use of the word “virgin,” see Rev. xiv. 4.
[8887] See Gen. vi. 2 in the LXX., with the v. l. ed. Tisch. 1860; and compare Tertullian, de Idol. c. 9, and the note there. Mr. Dodgson refers, too, to de Virg. Vel. c. 7, where this curious subject is more fully entered into.
[8888] i.e. according to their definition, whom Tertullian is refuting.
[8890] i.e. If married women had been meant, either word, “uxores” or “feminæ,” could have been used indifferently.
[8893] i.e. long hair.
[8894] i.e. veiling.
[8895] i.e. “exempts.”
[8896] i.e. from her creation.
[8897] Of the “universal veiling of women.”
[8898] i.e. as above, the Sermon on the Mount.
[8899] i.e. mere infancy.
[8902] Routh refers us to de Virg. Vel. c. 11.
[8903] i.e. the redundance of her hair.
[8904] i.e. by a veil.
[8905] i.e. says Oehler, “lest we postpone the eternal favour of God, which we hope for, to the temporal veneration of men; a risk which those virgins seemed likely to run who, when devoted to God, used to go veiled in public, but bareheaded in the church.”
[8906] i.e. in church.
[8907] i.e. in public; see note 27, supra.
[8909] i.e. as Muratori, quoted by Oehler, says, your “pious” (?) fraud in pretending to be married when you are a virgin; because “devoted” virgins used to dress and wear veils like married women, as being regarded as “wedded to Christ.”
[8910] i.e. each president of a church, or bishop.
[8911] i.e. “are known to be such through the chastity of their manner and life” (Oehler).
[8912] “By appearing in public as married women, while in heart they are virgins” (Oehler).
[8913] Does Tertullian refer to 2 Cor. x. 13? or does “modulus” mean, as Oehler thinks, “my rule?” [It seems to me a very plain reference to the text before mentioned, and to the Apostolic Canon of not exceeding one’s Mission.]
[8916] i.e. abstaining from kneeling: kneeling being more “a posture of solicitude” and of humility; standing, of “exultation.”
[8917] i.e. at fasts and Stations. [Sabbath = Saturday, supra.]
[8918] For the meaning of “satisfaction” as used by the Fathers, see Hooker, Eccl. Pol. vi. 5.
[8919] Eph. vi. 18; 1 Thess. v. 17; 1 Tim. ii. 8.
Chapter XXIV.—Of Place for Prayer.
[8920] Matt. vi. 5, 6, which forbids praying in public.
[8921] Paul and Silas (Acts xvi. 25).
[8922] I have followed Muratori’s reading here.
[8923] Mr. Dodgson renders “celebrated the Eucharist;” but that rendering appears very doubtful. See Acts xxvii. 35.
Chapter XXV.—Of Time for Prayer.
[8924] Mr. Dodgson supposes this word to mean “outward, as contrasted with the inward, ‘praying always.’” Oehler interprets, “ex vita communi.” But perhaps what Tertullian says lower down in the chapter, “albeit they stand simply without any precept enjoining their observance,” may give us the true clue to his meaning; so that “extrinsecus” would ="extrinsic to any direct injunction of our Lord or His apostles.”
[8925] Acts ii. 1-4, 14, 15.
[8926] Communitatis omnis (Oehler). Mr. Dodgson renders, “of every sort of common thing.” Perhaps, as Routh suggests, we should read “omnium.”
[8927] Vasculo. But in Acts it is, σκεῦός τι ὡς ὀθόνην μεγάλην [Small is here comparatively used, with reference to Universality of which it was the symbol.]
[8929] Acts iii. 1: but the man is not said to have been “paralytic,” but “lame from his mother’s womb.”
[8930] Dan. 6.10; Psa. 55.17 (in the LXX. it is liv. 18).
Chapter XXVI.—Of the Parting of Brethren.
[8931] I have ventured to turn the first part of the sentence into a question. What “scripture” this may be, no one knows. [It seems to me a clear reference to Matt. xxv. 38, amplified by the Matt. 25.45, in a way not unusual with our author.] Perhaps, in addition to the passages in Gen. 18; Heb. 13.2, to which the editors naturally refer, Tertullian may allude to such passages as Mark. ix. 37; Matt. xxv. 40, 45. [Christo in pauperibus.]
[8932] I have followed Routh’s conjecture, “feceris” for “fecerit,” which Oehler does not even notice.
Chapter XXVII.—Of Subjoining a Psalm.
[8934] Perhaps “the great Hallelujah,” i.e. the last five psalms.
[8935] [The author seems to have in mind (Hos. xiv. 2) “the calves of our lips.”]
Chapter XXVIII.—Of the Spiritual Victim, Which Prayer is.
[8937] Isa. i. 11. See the LXX.
[8939] Sacerdotes; comp. de Ex. Cast. c. 7.
[8940] 1 Cor. xiv. 15; Eph. vi. 18.
[8941] Or, “provided.”
[8942] “Agape,” perhaps “the love-feast.”
[8943] Or, “procession.”
[8944] Altare.
Chapter XXIX.—Of the Power of Prayer.
[8945] Routh would read, “What will God deny?”
[8948] 1 Kings xviii.; James v. 17-18.
[8949] i.e. “the angel who preserved in the furnace the three youths besprinkled, as it were, with dewy shower” (Muratori quoted by Oehler). [Apocrypha, The Song, etc., verses 26, 27.]
[8951] i.e. in brief, its miraculous operations, as they are called, are suspended in these ways.
[8952] Or, “inflict.”
[8953] See Apolog. c. 5 (Oehler).
[8955] [A reference to Jacob’s wrestling. Also, probably, to Matt. xi. 12.]
[8956] Or, “her armour defensive and offensive.”
[8957] 1 Cor. xv. 52; 1 Thess. iv. 16.
[8958] Or, “pens and dens.”
[8959] As if in prayer.
[8960] This beautiful passage should be supplemented by a similar one from St. Bernard: “Nonne et aviculas levat, non onerat pennarum numerositas ipsa? Tolle eas, et reliquum corpus pondere suo fertur ad ima. Sic disciplinam Christi, sic suave jugum, sic onus leve, quo deponimus, eo deprimimur ipsi: quia portat potius quam portatur.” Epistola, ccclxxxv. Bernardi Opp. Tom. i. p. 691. Ed. (Mabillon.) Gaume, Paris, 1839. Bearing the cross uplifts the Christian.]
[8961] Written in his early ministry, and strict orthodoxy. [It may be dated circa a.d. 197, as external evidence will shew.]
[8962] Eph. iv. 30. [Some differences had risen between these holy sufferers, as to the personal merits of offenders who had appealed to them for their interest in restoring them to communion.
[8963] [He favours this resource as sanctioned by custom, and gently persuades them, by agreeing as to its propriety, to bestow peace upon others. But, the foresight of those who objected was afterwards justified, for in Cyprian’s day this practice led to greater evils, and he was obliged to discourage it (ep. xi.) in an epistle to confessors.]
[8964] [Who ministered to their fellow-Christians in prison, for the testimony of Jesus. What follows is a sad picture of social life among heathens.]
[8968] [He is said to have perished circa a.d. 170.]
[8969] [After the defeat and suicide of Albinus, at Lyons, many persons, some of Senatorial rank, were cruelly put to death.]
[8970] Cap. lv. He calls her fortissima martyr, and she is one of only two or three contemporary sufferers whom he mentioned by name.
[8971] [In the De Anima, cap. lv. as see above.]
[8972] [Yet see the sermons of St. Augustine (if indeed his) on the Passion of these Saints. Sermon 281 and 282, opp. Tom. v. pp. 1284–5.]
[8973] Hist. of Christianity, vol. i. ch. viii.
[8974] [Both Perpetua and Felicitas were evidently Montanistic in character and impressions, but, the fact that they have never been reputed other than Catholic, goes far to explain Tertullian’s position for years after he had withdrawn from communion with the vacillating Victor.]
[8975] Joel ii. 28, 29. [The quotation here is a note of Montanistic prepossessions in the writer.]
[8976] [Routh notes this as undoubted evidence of a Montanistic author. Reliquiæ, Vol. I. p. 455.]
[8977] [St. Augustine takes pains to remind us that these Acta are not canonical. De Anima, cap. 2, opp. Tom. x. p. 481.]
[8978] “Refrigeravit,” Græce ἀνέπαυσεν, scil. “requiem dedit.”
[8979] i.e. the grace of martyrdom.
[8980] Sibi vacabant.
[8981] Commeatus.
[8982] “Sustineo,” Græce ὑπομένω, scil. “exspecto.”
[8983] This was an ordinary mode of picturing our Lord in the oratories and on the sacred vessels of those days. [This passage will recall the allegory of Hermas, with which the martyr was doubtless familiar.]
[8984] “Catasta,” a raised platform on which the martyrs were placed either for trial or torture.
[8985] [St. August. opp. iv. 541.]
[8986] [The story in2 Maccab. xii. 40-45, is there narrated as a thought suggested to the soldiers under Judas, and not discouraged by him, though it concerned men guilty of idolatry and dying in mortal sin, by the vengeance of God. It may have occurred to early Christians that their heathen kindred might, therefore, not be beyond the visitations of the Divine compassion. But, obviously, even were it not an Apocryphal text, it can have no bearing whatever on the case of Christians. The doctrine of Purgatory is that nobody dying in mortal sin can have the benefit of its discipline, or any share in the prayers and oblations of the Faithful, whatever.]
[8987] “Oromate.” [This vision, it must be observed, has nothing to do with prayers for the Christian dead, for this brother of Perpetua was a heathen child whom she supposed to be in the Inferi. It illustrates the anxieties Christians felt for those of their kindred who had not died in the Lord; even for children of seven years of age. Could the gulf be bridged and they received into Abraham’s bosom? This dream of Perpetua comforted her with a trust that so it should be. Of course this story has been used fraudulently, to help a system of which these times knew nothing. Cyprian says expressly: “Apud Inferos confessio, non est, nec exomologesis illic fieri potest.” Epistola lii. p. 98. Opp. Paris, 1574. In the Edinburgh series (translation) this epistle is numbered 51, and elsewhere 54.]
[8988] [There is not the slightest reason to suppose that this child had been baptized: the father a heathen and Perpetua herself a recent catechumen. Elucidation.]
[8989] “Diadema,” or rather “diastema.” [Borrowed from Luke xvi. 26. But that gulf could not be passed according to the evangelist.]
[8990] “Nervo.”
[8991] Optio.
[8992] [St. Aug. Opp. Tom. v. p. 1284.]
[8993] It seems uncertain what may be the meaning of this word. It is variously supposed to signify little round ornaments either of cloth or metal attached to the soldier’s dress, or the small bells on the priestly robe. Some also read the word galliculæ, small sandals.
[8994] [Concerning these visions, see Augustine, De Anima, cap. xviii. el seq.]
[8995] “Afa” is the Greek word ἁφή, a grip; hence used of the yellow sand sprinkled over wrestlers, to enable them to grasp one another.
[8996] [Psa. 44.5; 60.12; 91.13; 108.13.]
[8997] This was the way by which the victims spared by the popular clemency escaped from the amphitheatre.
[8998] “Cadebant;” but “ardebant”—“were burning”—seems a more probable reading. [The imitations of the Shepherd of Hermas, in this memoir hardly need pointing out.]
[8999] Agios.
[9000] A presbyter, that is, whose office was to teach, as distinct from other presbyters. See Cyprian, Epistles, vol. i. Ep. xxiii. p. 68. note i. transl. [One of those referred to by St. James iii. 1, and by St. Paul, 1 Tim. v. 17.]
[9001] More probably, “rest and refresh yourselves.” [“Go and enjoy,” or, “play,” or “take pleasure,” in the section preceding.]
[9002] [To be regarded like the Shepherd of Hermas, merely as visions, or allegorical romances.]
[9003] “The gaolers,” so called from the “cataracta,” or prison-gate, which they guarded.
[9004] [A gentle banter, like that of St. Lawrence on the gridiron.]
[9005] A row of men drawn up to scourge them as they passed along, a punishment probably similar to what is called “running the gauntlet.”
[9007] Ita revocatæ discinguntur. Dean Milmam prefers reading this, “Thus recalled, they are clad in loose robes.”
[9008] [Routh, Reliq. Vol. I. p. 360.]
[9009] A cry in mockery of what was known as the effect of Christian baptism.
[9010] [Routh, Reliquiæ, Vol. I. p. 358.]
[9011] Republished, Oxford, 1838.
[9012] See Opp. Tom. xi. p. 657. Ed. Migne.
[9013] [Written possibly as late as a.d. 202; and is credited by Neander and Kaye, with Catholic Orthodoxy.]
Chapter I.—Of Patience Generally; And Tertullian’s Own Unworthiness to Treat of It.
[9014] “Nullius boni;” compare Rom. vii. 18.
[9015] [Elucidation I.]
[9016] i.e. who are strangers to it.
[9017] Or, “striving after.”
[9018] Or, “heathendom”—sæculi.
[9019] Sæculo.
Chapter II.—God Himself an Example of Patience.
[9020] i.e. us Christians.
[9021] i.e. cynical = κυνικός = doglike. But Tertullian appears to use “caninæ” purposely, and I have therefore retained it rather than substitute (as Mr. Dodgson does) “cynical.”
[9022] i.e. the affectation is modelled by insensibility.
[9023] See Ps. lxxiv. 23 in A.V. It is Ps. lxxiii. in the LXX.
[9024] Because they see no visible proof of it.
[9025] Sæculo.
Chapter III.—Jesus Christ in His Incarnation and Work a More Imitable Example Thereof.
[9026] So Mr. Dodgson; and La Cerda, as quoted by Oehler. See Ps. cxxxi. 1 in LXX., where it is Ps. cxxx.
[9028] I have followed Oehler’s reading of this very difficult and much disputed passage. For the expression, “having been trained,” etc., compare Heb. v. 8.
[9030] Or, “yet had there been need of contumelies likewise for the undergoing of death?”
[9031] “Obsequium,” distinguished by Döderlein from “obedientia,” as a more voluntary and spontaneous thing, founded less on authority than respect and love.
[9032] Obsequii.
[9033] “Pollicetur,” not “promittit.”
[9034] Obedientiam.
[9035] “Subnixis.” Perhaps this may be the meaning, as in Virg. Æn. iv. 217. But Oehler notices “subnexis” as a conjecture of Jos. Scaliger, which is very plausible, and would mean nearly the same. Mr. Dodgson renders “supported by their slavery;” and Oehler makes “subnixis” ="præditis,” “instructis.” [Elucidation II.]
[9036] Obsequii.
[9037] Pecudibus,” i.e. tame domestic cattle.
[9038] “Bestiis,” irrational creatures, as opposed to “homines,” here apparently wild beasts.
[9039] Obsequii. For the sentiment, compare Isa. i. 3.
[9040] Obsequii.
[9041] See above, “the creatures…acknowledge their masters.”
[9042] Obsequio.
[9043] Obsequio.
[9044] “Oblectatur” Oehler reads with the mss. The editors, as he says, have emended “Obluctatur,” which Mr. Dodgson reads.
[9045] See the previous chapter.
[9046] See the previous chapter.
[9047] See chap. i.
[9048] [All our author’s instances of this principle of the Præscriptio are noteworthy, as interpreting its use in the Advs. Hæreses.]
Chapter V.—As God is the Author of Patience So the Devil is of Impatience.
[9049] “Procedere:” so Oehler, who, however, notices an ingenious conjecture of Jos. Scaliger—“procudere,” the hammering out, or forging.
[9050] Tertullian may perhaps wish to imply, in prayer. See Matt. vi. 7.
[9051] Facere. But Fulv. Ursinus (as Oehler tells us) has suggested a neat emendation—“favere,” favours.
[9052] See Ps. viii. 4-6.
[9053] Compare the expression in de Idol. iv., “perdition of blood” ="bloody perdition,” and the note there. So here “angel of perdition” may ="lost angel.”
[9054] Mulier. See de Orat. c. xxii.
[9055] 1 Cor. 7.3; 1 Pet. 3.7.
[9056] Impetu.
[9057] Colonus. Gen. ii. 15.
[9058] Sapere. See de Idol. c. i. sub fin.
[9059] Homo.
[9060] Matrix. Mr. Dodgson renders womb, which is admissible; but the other passages quoted by Oehler, where Tertullian uses this word, seem to suit better with the rendering given in the text.
[9061] Compare a similar expression in de Idol. ii. ad init.
[9062] Which Tertullian has just shown to be the result of impatience.
[9063] i.e. murder.
[9064] i.e. unable to restrain.
[9065] i.e. want of power or patience to contemn gain.
[9066] “Ordinatur;” but “orditur” has been very plausibly conjectured.
[9067] Mr. Dodgson refers to ad Uxor. i. 5, q. v. sub fin.
[9068] Or, “unduteous of duteousness.”
[9069] i.e. impatient.
[9070] I have departed slightly here from Oehler’s punctuation.
[9071] Ex. xxxii. 1; Acts vii. 39-40.
[9072] i.e. the water which followed them, after being given forth by the smitten rock. See 1 Cor. x. 4.
[9073] See Num. xx. 1-6. But Tertullian has apparently confused this with Ex. xv. 22, which seems to be the only place where “a three-days’ thirst” is mentioned.
[9074] Free, i.e. from the bondage of impatience and of sin.
Chapter VI.—Patience Both Antecedent and Subsequent to Faith.
[9075] See Gen. xv. 6; Rom. iv. 3, 9, 22; Gal. iii. 6; James ii. 23.
[9076] i.e. the trial was necessary not to prove his faith to God, who knows all whom He accounts righteous, but “typically” to us.
[9078] John i. 17; Rom. vi. 14-15.
[9079] Matt. vi. 38, and the references there given.
[9080] Composuit.
[9081] See Matt. v. 22; and Wordsworth in loco, who thinks it probable that the meaning is “apostate.”
[9082] Ps. cxl. 3; Rom. iii. 13; James iii. 8.
Chapter VII.—The Causes of Impatience, and Their Correspondent Precepts.
[9084] Sæculo.
[9085] Subjacet.
[9086] This appears to be the sense of this very difficult passage as Oehler reads it; and of Fr. Junius’ interpretation of it, which Oehler approves.
[9087] 1 Tim. vi. 10. See de Idol. xi. ad init.
[9088] De proximo. See above, c. v. Deo de proximo amicus, “a most intimate friend to God.”
[9089] Sæculum.
[9091] Matt. v. 40; Luke vi. 29.
[9093] “Alluding to Christ’s words in Matt. x. 39:39” (Rigalt. quoted by Oehler).
Chapter VIII.—Of Patience Under Personal Violence and Malediction.
[9094] Sæculo.
[9095] Delibatione.
[9096] i.e. money and the like. Compare Matt. vi. 25; Luke xii. 23.
[9098] Improbitas.
[9099] Constrictus. I have rendered after Oehler: but may not the meaning be “clenched,” like the hand which deals the blow?
[9100] As Oehler says “the blow” is said to “receive” that which, strictly, the dealer of it receives.
[9101] Improbum.
[9102] Matt. v. 11-12; Luke vi. 22-23.
[9103] Deut. xxi. 23; Gal. iii. 13. Tertullian’s quotations here are somewhat loose. He renders words which are distinct in the Greek by the same in his Latin.
[9104] Communicari—κοινοῦσθαι. See Mark vii. 15, “made common,” i.e. profane, unclean. Compare Acts x. 14, 15 in the Greek.
[9105] Reatum. See de Idol. i. ad init., “the highest impeachment of the age.”
[9106] Matt. xii. 36. Tertullian has rendered ἀργόν by “vani et supervacui.”
[9107] Dispungetur: a word which, in the active, means technically “to balance accounts,” hence “to discharge,” etc.
Chapter IX.—Of Patience Under Bereavement.
[9108] 1 Thess. iv. 13, not very strictly rendered.
[9109] Desiderandus.
[9110] Phil. i. 23, again loosely rendered: e.g. ἀναλῦσαι ="to weigh anchor,” is rendered by Tertullian “recipi.”
[9111] See Gal. v. 26; Phil. ii. 3.
[9112] Nunquam non.
[9113] i.e. perhaps superior in degree of malice.
[9114] i.e. of the world and its erroneous philosophies.
[9116] Fastidientes, i.e. our loathing or abhorrence of sin. Perhaps the reference may be to Rom. xii. 9.
[9118] Isa. lxiv. 8; 2 Cor. iv. 7.
[9119] Servulis.
[9120] Præsumpsissent.
[9121] Deut. xxxii. 35; Ps. xciv. 1; Rom. xii. 19; Heb. x. 30.
[9122] Matt. vii. 1; Luke vi. 37.
[9123] i.e. the penalty which the law will inflict.
Chapter XI.—Further Reasons for Practising Patience. Its Connection with the Beatitudes.
[9124] Docet. But a plausible conjecture, “decet,” “it becomes us,” has been made.
[9125] Prov. iii. 11-12; Heb. xii. 5-6; Rev. iii. 19.
[9130] Matt. v. 11, 12, inexactly quoted.
[9131] Exultationis impatientiæ.
[9132] i.e. peace.
[9133] Impatientiæ natus: lit. “born for impatience.” Comp. de Pæniten. 12, ad fin. “nec ulli rei nisi pænitentiæ natus.”
[9134] Oehler reads “sed,” but the “vel” adopted in the text is a conjecture of Latinius, which Oehler mentions.
[9135] Septuagies septies. The reference is to Matt. xviii. 21, 22. Compare de Orat. vii. ad fin. and the note there.
[9139] Eph. iv. 26. Compare de Orat. xi.
[9140] Gubernet.
[9141] What the cause is is disputed. Opinions are divided as to whether Tertullian means by it “marriage with a heathen” (which as Mr. Dodgson reminds us, Tertullian—de Uxor. ii. 3—calls “adultery”), or the case in which our Lord allowed divorce. See Matt. xix. 9.
[9142] i.e. patience.
[9144] Peccatricem, i.e. the ewe.
[9146] Dilectio = ἀγάπη. See Trench, New Testament Syn., s. v. ἀγάπη; and with the rest of this chapter compare carefully, in the Greek, 1 Cor. xiii. [Neander points out the different view our author takes of the same parable, in the de Pudicit. cap. 9, Vol. IV. this series.]
[9147] Protervum = Greek περπερεύεται.
[9148] Proterit = Greek ἀσχημονεῖ.
[9149] Excidet = Greek ἐκλείπει, suffers eclipse.
Chapter XIII.—Of Bodily Patience.
[9151] “Invecta,” generally = "movables", household furniture.
[9152] Or, mortification, “adflictatio.”
[9153] i.e. fleshly mortification is a “victim,” etc.
[9154] Or, “mourning.” Comp. de Pæn. c. 9.
[9155] [The “water vs. wine” movement is not a discovery of our own times. “Drink a little wine,” said St. Paul medicinally; but (as a great and good divine once remarked) “we must not lay stress on the noun, but the adjective; let it be very little.”]
[9156] Christi dei.
[9157] Dan. iv. 33-37. Comp. de Pæn. c. 12. [I have removed an ambiguity by slightly touching the text here.]
[9158] 1 Tim. v. 3, 9, 10; 1 Cor. vii. 39-40.
[9161] Ad. It seems to mean flesh has strength given it, by patience, to meet the hardships of the flight. Compare the πρὸς πλησμονὴν τῆς σαρκὸς, of St. Paul in Col. ii. 23. [Kaye compares this with the De Fuga, as proof of the author’s freedom from Montanism, when this was written.]
[9162] Præveniat: “prevent” us, before we have time to flee.
[9163] Solo.
[9164] [Elucidation III.]
[9165] i.e. martyrdom.
[9166] Comp. Luke xii. 50.
[9168] “Adversus,” like the “ad” above, note 21, p. 713.
[9171] “Feretrum”—for carrying trophies in a triumph, the bodies of the dead, and their effigies, etc.
[9173] i.e. with rage and disappointment.
[9175] Operarius.
[9176] See 2 Tim. iv. 8. There is no authority for this statement of Tertullian’s in Scripture. [It is his inference rather.]
Chapter XV.—General Summary of the Virtues and Effects of Patience.
[9177] Si. This is Oehler’s reading, who takes “si” to be ="an.” But perhaps “sis” (="si vis”), which is Fr. Junius’ correction, is better: “Come, now, let us, if you please, give a general sketch of her mien and habit.”
[9178] Pura; perhaps “smooth.”
[9179] Compare with this singular feature, Isa. xxxvii. 22.
[9180] i.e., as Rigaltius (referred to by Oehler), explains, after the two visions of angels who appeared to him and said, “Arise and eat.” See 1 Kings xix. 4-13. [It was the fourth, but our author having mentioned two, inadvertently calls it the third, referring to the “still small voice,” in which Elijah saw His manifestation.]
[9181] One is finite, the other infinite.
[9182] Obsequii.
[9183] And thus getting a place in their wills.
[9184] i.e. professional “diners out.” Comp. Phil. iii. 19.
[9185] See—A Plain Commentary on the Four Gospels, intended chiefly for Devotional Reading. Oxford, 1854. Also (Vol. I. p. 28) Philadelphia, 1855.
[9186] Œuvres, Tom. vi. pp. 133–5. Ed. Paris, 1824.
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