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Untitled Article
ternal testimony , it is scarcely possible to draw a well-defined line of separation between the works which were and those which were not composed before his secession from the church . " After a careful examination of every remaining treatise , the Right Reverend Author arranges them under the following classes : 1 , Works probably written while he was yet a
member of the church ; 2 , Works written after he became a Montanist ; 3 , Works written probably after he became a Montanist ; and , 4 , Works respecting which nothing certain can be pronounced . It is observable , that the 2 d and 3 d classes comprehend the majority of his works . Greater precision , we apprehend , cannot be obtained ; and this classification will be found sufficiently accurate for every purpose of the student of ecclesiastical history .
The remainder of the first chapter is occupied by a brief but satisfactory refutation of the fanciful theory of Semler , who maintained that the works of Tertullian ( and those also of Justin Martyr and Irenaeus ) are spurious , the produce of the joint labours of a set of men who entered into a combination to falsify history and corrupt the Scriptures , principally with a view of throwing discredit upon certain persons , Marcion , Valentinus and others , whom they thought fit to brand with the title of Heretics ; a theory which * as the Bishop observes , rests upon surmises , and opens a door to universal incredulity .
In the second chapter , the author proceeds , m conformity with Mosheim ' s arrangement , to collect from the works of Tertullian such passages as serve to illustrate the external history of the church during the period in which he flourished . Tertullian bears explicit and ample testimony to the wide diffu-1
sion of Christianity . " The triumphs of the gospel , in his day , were not , ' he asserts , " confined within the limits of the Roman Empire ; Christ was then reigning over peoples whom the Roman arms had not subdued . " The first diffusion of the gospel was undoubtedly accomplished by the aid of supernatural powers conferred upon the apostles and those employed under their directions , but its continued success is not to be attributed to the same
means . Mosheim indeed says , ( EccL Hist . Vol . I . pp . 153 and 245 , ) that with the exception of the miraculous gift of tongues , the extraordinary powers with which the rising church had been endowed were in several places continued during the second and third centuries . And this assertion may seem to be sanctioned by the testimony of Tertullian ; but the Right Reverend Professor , with the judgment and candour which he usually displays , is not disposed to admit the validity of his testimony . " The only specific instance , " he observes , ( p . 102 , ) " which Tertullian mentions of
the exercise of miraculous powers , relates to the exorcism of demons . " This , as Dr . Douglas has remarked , is the favourite standing miracle of the Fathers before the fourth century , and the only one which he could find ( after having turned over their writings carefully and with a view to this point ) that they challenge their adversaries to come and see them perform , admitting at the same time that Jews and even Gentiles successfully practised exorcism . The Professor , therefore , is justified in concluding , that " if miraculous powers still subsisted in the church , the writings of Tertullian would have supplied some less equivocal instances of their exercise . "
The controversy concerning the continuance of miraculous powers in the church , which so strongly excited the public attention about the middle of the last century , is now almost forgotten , and the names of Chapman , BerriroimvJw&soix , Church , Fell , and others , who either opposed or defended Middleton , are rapidly fading , as connected with this controversy , from the
Untitled Article
268 Review . ' —Dr . Kayes Tertullian .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), April 2, 1827, page 268, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1795/page/36/
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