TERTULLIAN
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TERTULLIAN
be really those of ihe Paraclete, and he eharacteristi-
callj' exaggerated their import. We find him hence-
forth lapsing into rigorism, and condemning abso-
lutely second marriage and forgiveness of certain sins,
and insisting on new fasts. His teaching had alwaj-s
been excessive in its severitj'; now he positively revels
in harshness. Harnack and d'Ales look upon "De
Virginibus velandis" as the first work of this time,
though it has been placed later by iVIonceaux and
others on account of its irritated tone. We learn that
Carthage was divided by a dispute whether virgins
should be veiled; TertuUian and the pro-ISlontanist
party stood for the affirmative. The book had been
preceded by a Greek wTiting on the same subject.
TertuUian declares that the Rule of Faith is un-
changeable, but iliscipline is progressive. He quotes
a dream in favour of the veil. The date may be
about 206. Shortly afterwards TertuUian published
his largest extant work, five books against Marcion.
A first draft had been written much earlier; a second
recension had been published, when yet unfinished,
without the wi'iter's consent; the first book of the
final edition was finished in the fifteenth year of Se-
verus, 207. The last book may be a few years later.
This controversy is most important for our knowledge
of Marcion's doctrine. The refutation of it out of his
own New Testament, which consisted of St. Luke's
Gospel and St. Paul's Epistles, enables us to recon-
stitute much of the heretic's Scripture text. The re-
sult may be seen in Zahn's, "Geschichte des N. T.
Kanons", II, 455-524. A work against the Valen-
t inians followed. It is mainly based on the first book
of St. Irena;us.
In 209 the httle book "De pallio" appeared. Ter- tuUian had excited remark by adopting the Greek pal- lium, the recognized dress of philosojihere, and he de- fends his conduct in a witty pamphlet. A long book, "De anima", gives TertuUian's psychology-. He well describes the unity of the soul; he teaches that it is spiritual, but immateriality in the fullest sense he ad- mits for nothing that exists, — even God is corpus. Two works are against the docetisni of the Gnostics, "De came Christi" and "De resurrectione carnis". Here he emphasizes the reality of Christ's Body and His virgin-birth, and teaches a corporal resurrection. But he seems to deny the virginity of Marj', the Mother of Christ, in pariu, though he affirms it ante parlutn. He addressed to a convert who was a wid- ower an exhortation to avoid second marriage, which is equivalent to fornication. This work, " De exhorta- tionecastitatis",impliesthat the writer is not yet sepa- rated from the Church. The same excessive rigour appears in the "De corona", in which TertuUian de- fends a soldier who had refused to wear a chaplet on his head when he received the donative granted to the army on the accession of CaracaUa and Geta in 211. The man had been degraded and imprisoned. Many Christians thought his action extravagant, and re- fused to regard him as a martyr. TertuUian not only declares that to wear the crown would have been idol- atry, but argues that no Christian can be a soldier without compromising his faith. Next in order is the "Scorpiace", or antidote to the bite of the Scorpion, directed against the teaching of the Valentinians that God cannot approve of martyrdom, since He does not want man's death; they even permitted the ex-ternal act of idolatry. TertuUian shows that God desires the courage of the martjTs and their victory over temptation; he proves from Scripture the duty of suffering death for the Faith and the great promises attached to this heroism. To the year 212 belongs the open lett er ' ' .\d scapulam ' ' , addressed t o t he pro- consul of Africa who was renewing the persecution, which had ce;ised since 203. He is solemnly warned of the retribution which overtakes persecutors.
The formal secession of TertuUian from the Chiirch of Carthage seems to have taken place either in 211 or
at the end of 212 at latest; The earlier d.ate is fixed
by Harnack on account of the close connexion be-
tween the "De corona" of 211 with the "De fuga",
which must, he thinlvs, have immediately followed the
"De corona". It is certain that "De fuga in perse-
cutione" was written after the secession. It con-
demns flight in time of persecution, for God's provi-
dence ha.s intended the suffering. This intolerable
doctrine had not been held by TertuUian in his Cath-
olic days. He now terms the Catholics "Psj-chici",
as opposed to the "spiritual" Montanists. The
cause of hLs schism is not mentioned. It is unlikely
that he left the Church by his own act. Rather it
would seem that when the Montanist prophecies were
finally .lisai)]iro\-ed at Rome, the Church of Carthage
exconiniiuiicated at least the more violent among
their adherents. After "De fuga" come "De mono-
gamia" (in which the wickedness of second marriage
is yet more severely censured) and " De jejunio ", a de-
fence of the Montanist fasts. A dogmatic work, " Ad-
versus Praxean", is of great importance. Praxeas
had prevented, according to TertuUian, the recogni-
tion of the Montanist prophecy by the pope; Tcrtul-
Uan attacks him as a Monarchian, and develops his
own doctrine of the Holy Trinity (see Monarchians
and Pkaxeas). The last remaining work of the pas-
sionate schismatic is apparently "De pudicitia", if it
is a protest, as is generally held, against a Decree of
Pope Callistus, in which the pardon of adulterers and
fornicators, after due penance done, was published
at the intercession of the martyrs. Monceaux, how-
ever, still supports the view which was once com-
moner than it now is, that the Decree in question was
issued by a bishop of Carthage. In any case Ter-
tuUian's attribution of it to a would-be episcopus
episcoporum and pontifex maximus merely attests its
peremptory character. The identificatioii of this De-
cree with the far wider relaxation of discipline with
which Hippolytus reproaches Callistus is uncertain.
The argument of TertuUian must be considered in some detail, since his witness to the ancient system of penance is of first-rate importance. As a Catholic, he addressed "De pxnitentia" to catechumens as an exhortation to repentance previous to baptism. Be- sides that sacrament he mentions, with an expression of unwillingness, a "last hope", a second plank of sal- vation, after which there is no other. This is the se- vere remedy of exomologesis, confession, involving a long penance in sackcloth and ashes for the remission of post-baptismal sin. In the "De pudicitia" the Montanist now declared that there is no forgiveness for the gravest sins, precisely those for which exomo- logesis is necessaiy. It is said by some modern critics, such as Funk and Turmel among Catholics, that TertuUian did not really change his view on this point between the writing of the two treatises. It is pointed out that in "De pa>nitentia" there is no men- ti<m of the restoration of the penitent to communion; he is to do penance, but with no hope of i)ardon in this life; no sacrament is adminislered, and the satisfac- tion is lifelong. This view is imiiossible. TertuUian declares in "De pud." that he h;is changed his mind and exiiects to be taunted for his inconsistency. He implies that he used to hold such a relaxation, as the one he is attacking, to be lawful. At any rate in the "De pa-n." he parallels baptism with exomologesis, and supposes t hat the latter has the same effect as the former, obviously the forgiveness of sin in this life. Commimion is never mentioned, since catechumens are addressed; but if exomologesis did not eventually re.store all Christian privileges, there could be no rea- son for fe^xring that the mention of it should act as an encouragement to sin, for a lifelong penance would hardly be a rea.ssuring prosiiect. Xo length is men- tioned, evidently because the duration depended on the nature of the sin and the judgment of the bishop; had death been the term, tliis would have been
