If you wish to learn still more of the views of Tertullian concerning baptism as instituted by Christ, read _lib. de Præscript, adversus Hæreticos, cap. 36_, cited by _H. Montanus, in Nietigh., page 23_, and by _J. du Bois_ (although he misinterprets this passage), _Contra Montanum, page 44_, where Tertullian writes thus: “Well, then, ye who would inquire more fully into the matter of your salvation, take a view of the apostolic churches, in which the chairs of the apostles are still occupied by their successors, and where their own authentic epistles are still read, sounding their voices, and calling up their very forms. If Achaia is near you, there is Corinth; are you not far from Macedonia, there is Philippi, and there Thessalonica; can you come into Asia, there is Ephesus; but are you near Italy, there is Rome. Let us see, what she (namely the church there) has said, what she has taught, and in what she has agreed with the African churches. She recognizes one God, the Creator of all things, and Christ Jesus from the virgin Mary, the Son of God the Creator, and the resurrection of the flesh; she unites the law and the prophets with the evangelical and apostolical writings, and therefrom drinks this faith, which she seals with water, clothes with the Holy Ghost, feeds with the eucharist, or Lord’s Supper, and confirms by martyrdom; and receives no one contrary to this institution.” Thus far, _Tertullian_.
To this we say: “It is indeed true, that he here speaks against the errors of Valentinus, Marcion, and the like; but since this occasions him to say, that all the churches which he mentions, especially the one at Rome, in which the apostolic doctrine was still sounded at that time, sealed the faith, which he opposes to said errors, with water, and that they received no one contrary to this institution; any one can clearly see, that all the above named churches administered baptism at that time to adults, who could drink that faith from the evangelical and apostolical writings; and not this only, but could also partake of it by the use of the eucharist, and confirm it by martyrdom, which are things that children cannot do.” _Ergo._
TERTULLIAN’S VIEWS CONCERNING DIFFERENT OTHER MATTERS, ACCORDING TO THE ACCOUNT OF P. J. TWISCK.
“Tertullian,” says Twisck, “exhorts Christian women, in a book written to his wife, not to enter into marriage relations with the heathen, saying that it is impossible for them to live long in peace and friendship. He says: ‘What must the heathen husband think, when he sees, or hears it said that his wife kisses on the cheek the first Christian whom she happens to meet?’”
“Again, In a book on patience, when speaking of the apostates and of withdrawing from them, he says that patience governs all manner of salutary doctrines, and remarks: ‘What wonder then, that it also serves to repentance to those who are wont to come to the help of the apostate, whether it be man or wife, when separated one from another, nevertheless by such things as are lawful, to be led to maintain their widow or widowerhood. It is patience that waits for repentance, hopes for it and exhorts to it those who would yet at some time attain to salvation. How great the benefit it confers upon both--the one it preserves from adultery, the other it reforms.’[96] Again he says: ‘Do you think that it is hard for a Christian to suffer? He would rather die himself, than to kill others; and if you smite a Christian, he glories in it.’”
[96] The foregoing quotation from Tertullian is ambiguous in the Holland language and appears to have been so also in the original. Dr. Karl Ad. Heinrich Kellner, Prof, of Theol. at Heidelsheim, in his German translation of the “Complete Works of Tertullian” renders this passage as follows, which he says he holds as the correct rendering: “What wonder then that it (patience) also unites itself with repentance and is, aside from separation in the marriage relation, the usual means of relief for the apostate--this, however, only for the reason that we, whether it be for the man, or whether it be for the wife, in widowhood may hope for constancy. It is patience that waits for salvation with those who in their own time would seek repentance, that longs for it and prays for it. How great a benefit it works for both! The one it preserves from adultery, the other it purifies.”--_The Publishers._