On this page
-
Text (1)
-
Untitled Article
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
-
-
Transcript
-
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
Untitled Article
number 6 f martyrs strictly so called ; lor though it may havfc been greater than Dodwell was willing to allow , it is certain that his opinion approaches much nearer to the truth than that of his opponents . We shall , however , form a very inadequate idea of the sufferings endured by the primitive Christians , if we restrict them to the punishments inflicted by the magistrate , or to the outrages committed b y a blind and infuriate populace . Many who escaped the sword and the wild beasts , were destined to encounter trials of
the severest kind , though their sufferings attracted not the public attention . When we consider the species of authority exercised b y heads of families in those days , and the hatred by which many were actuated against Christianity , we may frame to ourselves some notion of the condition of a wife , a child , or a slave , who ventured to profess a belief in its doctrines . This alone was deemed a sufficient cause for repudiating a wife , or disinheriting a son ; and Tertullian mentions by name a Governor of Cappadocia , who avenged the
conversion of his wife by persecuting all the Christians of the province . So heinous indeed was the offence that it cancelled all obligations . He who committed it became at once an outcast from society , and was considered to have forfeited his claim to the good offices of his nearest kinsman ; nor were instances wanting , if Tertullian's expressions are to be literally understood , in which a brother informed against a brother , and even a parent against a child . "—Pp . 137—140 .
Again , " Those more refined and ingenious torments which Gibbon supposes to have existed only in the inventions of the monks of succeeding ages , were if we may belieye Tertullian , actually resorted to in his day . He states also that attempts were frequently made to overcome the chastity of the female martyrs , and that instead of being exposed to the wild beasts , they were consigned to the keepers of the public stews , to become the victims either of seduction or of brutal violence . " —P . 157 .
We cannot wonder , though we may regret , that in such circumstances undue honour was paid to the martyr on the one hand—and on the other , too great severity was manifested towards those who could not endure persecution . The doctrine of the efficacy of martyrdom , to wash away every stain of sin , and to procure for the soul , on its separation from the body , an immediate admission to the perfect happiness of heaven , was adapted to encourage an imprudent , if not a sinful sacrifice of life , and to cherish superstition and fanaticism ; and in the discredit attached to shrinking from suffering and danger , was laid the foundation of those internal divisions which during a long period agitated and degraded the church .
The third chapter treats of the State of Letters and Philosophy ; the subject with which Mosheim begins the Internal History of the church . In this part of his account of the second century , his observations relate principally to the New Platonism in Egypt , introduced by Ammonius Saccas ; and in bis account of the third century , they almost entirely refer to Plotinus , the most celebrated of the disciples of Ammonius . On these subjects the writings of Tertullian afford no information ; from them , therefore , the learned
Professor can derive no assistance in filling up Mosheim ' s outline . He rightly judged , however , that an examination of Tertullian ' s own philosophical or metaphysical notions would supply some curious and not uninteresting information . These notions appear in various passages of his writings ; but particularl y in two treatises ; the one entitled , " De Testimonio Animse , " the other , " De Anima . " The design of the former is to prove that the soul bears a natural testimony , universally and uniformly , to the existence and perfections , of God , and to a future life and judgment . This is a favourite
Untitled Article
272 R * view . —Dr . Kaye > i Tertutiian .
-
-
Citation
-
Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), April 2, 1827, page 272, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1795/page/40/
-