genius, education, and rank-men of refined sense and superior abilities-every way qualified to judge of it, and whose conversion gave a lustre to the triumphs of the Gospel. But look, I beseech you, what their reception of the Gospel led them to! It was not merely to a change of religious opinions-it was attended with a total change of conduct—a thorough reformation of manners—an entire renunciation of the world as their portion. Amidst an infinity of temptations they became pious, just, charitable, chaste, temperate, meek, humble, heavenly-minded, after having been the reverse of all this. The change indeed was such, in a thousand instances, as to astonish their Pagan neighbours, who were led to look upon it as something supernatural. And then, to crown the whole, see what it exposed them to a state of unspeakable suffering in their persons, their reputation, and property, and in innumerable instances the loss of life itself. Not only were the Christians excluded from all public offices and honours, but whenever a persecution arose-and during the second and third centuries the intervals of tranquillity were short-they were insulted and abused by the rabble, who, viewing them as Atheists, often took the law into their own hands and executed upon them summary vengeance. By the heathen magistrates they were subjected to heavy fines and imprisonment—their goods were confiscated-they were proscribed, banished, condemned to work in the mines, exposed to the wild beasts in the theatres for the diversion of the people, tortured, crucified, placed in hot chairs, impaled, burnt alive! In a word, they were made to undergo all the torments which cruelty and barbarity inflamed by rage could invent-torments the bare mention of which excites horror in the human mind. But the blood of the martyrs was the seed of the church. The Christian church frequently resembled the bush which Moses beheld in the neighbourhood of Mount Horeb, which was in one entire flame, yet the bush was not consumed. Like the palm-tree, the greater the pressure upon it, the higher it rose. How shall we account for these things? The cause is of God and not of man.

LECTURE XII.

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Some account of the Life and Writings of Tertullian-His Treatise on the Resurrection-Apology for the Christians-His minor pieces-Eulogy of Vincentius Lirinensis on Tertullian's learning — Martyrdom of Perpetua and Felicitas, &c.A. D. 200.

My design, in the present Lecture, is to submit to you some account of the state of the Christian profession in the times of Tertullian, viz. about the year 200, which is the period assigned him by the writers on Ecclesiastical History. I shall begin with a brief sketch of his biography, and then proceed to some account of his writings, among which his " Apology for the Christians" holds a distinguished place. He was a man of exemplary piety, and of the most decided attachment to the cause and kingdom of Christ; and, as hath been remarked by the present bishop of Lincoln, in a late publication, "whether we consider the testimony borne to the genuineness and integrity of the books of the New Testament, or the information relating to the doctrine, discipline, and rites of the primitive church, Tertullian's writings form a most important link in that chain of tradition which connects the apostolic age with our own."*

TERTULLIAN, whose Latin name was Quintus Septimius Florens Tertullianus, was born at Carthage, the capital city of Africa, about the middle of the second century. His father was a military officer under the proconsul of Africa, a post of no great consideration; yet he appears to have conferred upon his

* Ecclesiastical History of the second and third centuries, p. 39, 2nd edition.

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son the advantages of a liberal education, and it is probable he did it with the view of his following the legal profession, though there is no satisfactory evidence of his ever having gone to the bar, or practised as a professional lawyer. He has, however, given proof in his various publications of an intimate acquaintance with the Roman laws, and of his having read the Greek and Roman poets, historians, orators, philosophers, and other heathen writers. The Latin was, of course, his mother tongue; nevertheless, his skill in Greek was so considerable that he wrote several books in that language. Whether his father made, any profession of Christianity, and trained up his son in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, is uncertain; but the contrary seems the more probable inference to deduce from his father's rank and station as a soldier. We have no particular account of the time or circumstances of Tertullian's conversion; neither have we of the principal occurrences of his life. Dr. Allix places his birth about the year 150; others, at 160 ;—his conversion to Christianity about 185-his marriage about 186 -his appointment to the elder's office, in the church of Carthage, about 192-his adoption of the opinions of Montanus about 199-and his death about 220; but the exactness of any of these dates cannot be depended upon.

access.

The number and value of his publications entitle him to be regarded as the most considerable of the Latin fathers now remaining, and from them may be collected more information concerning the actual state of Christianity, at the end of the second century, than from any other source to which we have He is described to us as a man of a lively fancy and extensive knowledge; but of a severe temper. According to Lactantius, who was a very competent judge, his style of composition is “rugged, unpolished, and very obscure; " yet Dr. Cave observes, that "it is lofty and masculine, carrying a kind of majestic eloquence along with it, which gives a pleasant relish to the judicious and inquisitive reader." He wrote a great number of books, some of which are lost, but several are still extant, and among them is his masterly "Apology for the Christians," as well as other performances which are edifying and instructive. Though he was constitutionally vehement and positive, there appear in his writings frequent indications of real

ON THE WRITINGS OF TERTULLIAN.

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unaffected humility and modesty-virtues in which the primitive Christians were generally eminent.*

We are told that there existed no controversy in the Christian church, on the all-important doctrine of Justification, in the times of Tertullian. That which occupied so large a portion of the attention and labour of the apostle Paul, viz. the dispute respecting the necessity of observing the rite of circumcision, and the Mosaic ritual, in order to Justification, the great thing contended for by the Judaizers, appears to have died away immediately after the expulsion of the Jews by Adrian, as mentioned in a former Lecture. Tertullian very properly speaks of the death of Christ as involving in it the whole weight and benefit of the Christian name, and as constituting the foundation of man's salvation. And, to show how it came to be possessed of this wonderful efficacy, he says, "we are redeemed by the blood of God;" and, in another place, " by the blood of the Lord, the Lamb:" meaning, doubtless, "the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world." He asserts that such is the efficacy of the blood of Christ, that "it not only cleanses men from sin, and brings them out of darkness into light, but preserves them also in a state of purity, if they continue to walk in the light;" in which he seems to have his eye upon that remarkable testimony of the apostle John, "If we walk in the light, as God is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin," 1 John i. 7. "Who, but the Son of God," says he, "can by his own death deliver others from death. He indeed delivered the thief at the very moment of his passion; for he came for this very end, that being himself free from sin, and perfectly holy, he might die for sinners."

* «Tertullian is a very difficult author, and this chiefly because of his studious brevity of expression, harsh constructions, and use of words in uncommon meanings. Though he is frequently declamatory, yet the ruggedness of his temper and severity of his disposition appear constantly in his writings. His impetuosity, continually hurrying him from point to point, makes him very obscure, and prevents all possibility of ornament in his style. He contains more miscellaneous information, and this arrayed in more energetic language, than most, or perhaps any of the Fathers. His words are diamonds, and diamonds too of the first water, which have no more polish than is sufficient to show their excellent quality, and how capable they were of receiving additional splendour from the caustic intellect of their excellent author." Dr. Adam Clarke's Succession of Sacred Literature, vol. i. 8vo.

In Tertullian's time the church was greatly troubled by heretics, who denied the reality of Christ's human nature, or, at least, that he partook of the same flesh and blood with his brethren whom he came to redeem. They were apprehensive that, if they admitted the reality of Christ's flesh, or human nature, they must also admit his resurrection in the flesh, and consequently the resurrection of the human body after death. Some of them, as Marcion, denied the reality both of Christ's birth and of his flesh: others, as Apelles, denied the former, but admitted the latter; contending that, as the angels are recorded in Scripture to have assumed a human form, without being born after the laws of ordinary generation, so might Christ, who, according to them, received his body from the stars. Others, again, assigned to Christ the angelic nature or substance. Valentinus assigned him a spiritual flesh; because it proceeded not from the seed of man; and Alexander, the Valentinian, seems to have denied its reality, on the ground that, if it were flesh, it must also be sinful flesh whereas one object of Christ's mission was to abolish sinful flesh.

Against these whimsical speculations, some of which are very absurd and others very trifling, Tertullian wrote several treatises, and with superior ability. In opposition to these various heretical notions, he shows that Jesus Christ was born, lived, suffered, died, and was buried in the flesh: whence it follows that he also rose again in the flesh; for "the same substance," says he, "which fell by the stroke of death, and lay in the sepulchre, was also raised. In that substance Christ now sits at the right hand of the Father, being man though God— the last Adam, though the first or primary Word-flesh and blood, though of a purer kind than those of man; and according to the declaration of the angels, at the time of his ascension, he will descend at the great and final day, in form and substance the same as he ascended, since he must be recognized by those who pierced him. He who is called the Mediator between God and man is entrusted with a deposit from each party. As he left with us the earnest of the Spirit, so he took from us the earnest of the flesh, and carried it with him into heaven, to assure us that both the flesh and the spirit will then be re-united, or collected into one sum."