Ante-Nicene Fathers • VOLUME 3
Tertullian — Latin Christianity
SECTION 121
Chapter VI.
Chapter VI. Believe, then, your own books, and as to our Scriptures so much the more believe writings which are divine, but in the witness of the soul itself give like confidence to Nature. Choose the one of these you observe to be the most faithful friend of truth. If your own writings are distrusted, neither God nor Nature li…
790 wordsSECTION 122Chapter I.--It is Not to the Philosophers that We Resort for Information About the Soul But to God. [1490]
Chapter I.--It is Not to the Philosophers that We Resort for Information About the Soul But to God. [1490] Having discussed with Hermogenes the single point of the origin of the soul, so far as his assumption led me, that the soul consisted rather in an adaptation [1491] of matter than of the inspiration [1492] of God, I now tu…
1,211 wordsSECTION 123Chapter II.--The Christian Has Sure and Simple Knowledge Concerning the Subject Before Us.
Chapter II.--The Christian Has Sure and Simple Knowledge Concerning the Subject Before Us. Of course we shall not deny that philosophers have sometimes thought the same things as ourselves. The testimony of truth is the issue thereof. It sometimes happens even in a storm, when the boundaries of sky and sea are lost in confusion…
1,212 wordsSECTION 124Chapter III.--The Soul's Origin Defined Out of the Simple Words of Scripture.
Chapter III.--The Soul's Origin Defined Out of the Simple Words of Scripture. Would to God that no "heresies had been ever necessary, in order that they which are approved may be made manifest!" [1507] We should then be never required to try our strength in contests about the soul with philosophers, those patriarchs of heretics…
799 wordsSECTION 125Chapter V.--Probable View of the Stoics, that the Soul Has a Corporeal Nature.
Chapter V.--Probable View of the Stoics, that the Soul Has a Corporeal Nature. Suppose one summons a Eubulus to his assistance, and a Critolaus, and a Zenocrates, and on this occasion Plato's friend Aristotle. They may very possibly hold themselves ready for stripping the soul of its corporeity, unless they happen to see other …
1,912 wordsSECTION 126Chapter VII.--The Soul's Corporeality Demonstrated Out of the Gospels.
Chapter VII.--The Soul's Corporeality Demonstrated Out of the Gospels. So far as the philosophers are concerned, we have said enough. As for our own teachers, indeed, our reference to them is ex abundanti--a surplusage of authority: in the Gospel itself they will be found to have the clearest evidence for the corporeal nature o…
988 wordsSECTION 127Chapter IX.--Particulars of the Alleged Communication to a Montanist Sister.
Chapter IX.--Particulars of the Alleged Communication to a Montanist Sister. When we aver that the soul has a body of a quality and kind peculiar to itself, in this special condition of it we shall be already supplied with a decision respecting all the other accidents of its corporeity; how that they belong to it, because we ha…
1,237 wordsSECTION 128Chapter X.--The Simple Nature of the Soul is Asserted with Plato. The Identity of Spirit and Soul.
Chapter X.--The Simple Nature of the Soul is Asserted with Plato. The Identity of Spirit and Soul. It is essential to a firm faith to declare with Plato [1552] that the soul is simple; in other words uniform and uncompounded; simply that is to say in respect of its substance. Never mind men's artificial views and theories, and …
1,347 wordsSECTION 129Chapter XI.--Spirit--A Term Expressive of an Operation of the Soul, Not of Its Nature. To Be Carefully Distinguished from the Spirit of God.
Chapter XI.--Spirit--A Term Expressive of an Operation of the Soul, Not of Its Nature. To Be Carefully Distinguished from the Spirit of God. But the nature of my present inquiry obliges me to call the soul spirit or breath, because to breathe is ascribed to another substance. We, however, claim this (operation) for the soul, wh…
902 wordsSECTION 130Chapter XII.--Difference Between the Mind and the Soul, and the Relation Between Them.
Chapter XII.--Difference Between the Mind and the Soul, and the Relation Between Them. In like manner the mind also, or animus, which the Greeks designate NOUS, is taken by us in no other sense than as indicating that faculty or apparatus [1571] which is inherent and implanted in the soul, and naturally proper to it, whereby it…
730 wordsSECTION 131Chapter XIII.--The Soul's Supremacy.
Chapter XIII.--The Soul's Supremacy. It next remains to examine where lies the supremacy; in other words, which of the two is superior to the other, so that with which the supremacy clearly lies shall be the essentially superior substance; [1578] whilst that over which this essentially superior substance shall have authority sh…
962 wordsSECTION 132Chapter XV.--The Soul's Vitality and Intelligence. Its Character and Seat in Man.
Chapter XV.--The Soul's Vitality and Intelligence. Its Character and Seat in Man. In the first place, (we must determine) whether there be in the soul some supreme principle of vitality and intelligence [1583] which they call "the ruling power of the soul"--to hegemonikon for if this be not admitted, the whole condition of the …
814 wordsSECTION 133Chapter XVI.--The Soul's Parts. Elements of the Rational Soul.
Chapter XVI.--The Soul's Parts. Elements of the Rational Soul. That position of Plato's is also quite in keeping with the faith, in which he divides the soul into two parts--the rational and the irrational. To this definition we take no exception, except that we would not ascribe this twofold distinction to the nature (of the s…
772 wordsSECTION 134Chapter XVII.--The Fidelity of the Senses, Impugned by Plato, Vindicated by Christ Himself.
Chapter XVII.--The Fidelity of the Senses, Impugned by Plato, Vindicated by Christ Himself. Then, again, when we encounter the question (as to the veracity of those five senses which we learn with our alphabet; since from this source even there arises some support for our heretics. They are the faculties of seeing, and hearing,…
1,809 wordsSECTION 135Chapter XVIII.--Plato Suggested Certain Errors to the Gnostics. Functions of the Soul.
Chapter XVIII.--Plato Suggested Certain Errors to the Gnostics. Functions of the Soul. I turn now to the department of our intellectual faculties, such as Plato has handed it over to the heretics, distinct from our bodily functions, having obtained the knowledge of them before death. [1620] He asks in the Phædo, What, then, (do…
1,899 wordsSECTION 136Chapter XIX.--The Intellect Coeval with the Soul in the Human Being. An Example from Aristotle Converted into Evidence Favourable to These Views.
Chapter XIX.--The Intellect Coeval with the Soul in the Human Being. An Example from Aristotle Converted into Evidence Favourable to These Views. Nor must we fail to notice those writers who deprive the soul of the intellect even for a short period of time. They do this in order to prepare the way of introducing the intellect--…
1,149 wordsSECTION 137Chapter XX.--The Soul, as to Its Nature Uniform, But Its Faculties Variously Developed. Varieties Only Accidental.
Chapter XX.--The Soul, as to Its Nature Uniform, But Its Faculties Variously Developed. Varieties Only Accidental. And here, therefore, we draw our conclusion, that all the natural properties of the soul are inherent in it as parts of its substance; and that they grow and develope along with it, from the very moment of its own …
746 wordsSECTION 138Chapter XXI.--As Free-Will Actuates an Individual So May His Character Change.
Chapter XXI.--As Free-Will Actuates an Individual So May His Character Change. Now, if the soul possessed this uniform and simple nature from the beginning in Adam, previous to so many mental dispositions (being developed out of it), it is not rendered multiform by such various development, nor by the triple [1652] form predica…
861 wordsSECTION 139Chapter XXII.--Recapitulation. Definition of the Soul.
Chapter XXII.--Recapitulation. Definition of the Soul. Hermogenes has already heard from us what are the other natural faculties of the soul, as well as their vindication and proof; whence it may be seen that the soul is rather the offspring of God than of matter. The names of these faculties shall here be simply repeated, that…
893 wordsSECTION 140Chapter XXIV.--Plato's Inconsistency. He Supposes the Soul Self-Existent, Yet Capable of Forgetting What Passed in a Previous State.
Chapter XXIV.--Plato's Inconsistency. He Supposes the Soul Self-Existent, Yet Capable of Forgetting What Passed in a Previous State. In the first place, I cannot allow that the soul is capable of a failure of memory; because he has conceded to it so large an amount of divine quality as to put it on a par with God. He makes it u…
1,515 wordsSECTION 141Chapter XXV.--Tertullian Refutes, Physiologically, the Notion that the Soul is Introduced After Birth.
Chapter XXV.--Tertullian Refutes, Physiologically, the Notion that the Soul is Introduced After Birth. I shall now return to the cause of this digression, in order that I may explain how all souls are derived from one, when and where and in what manner they are produced. Now, touching this subject, it matters not whether the qu…
1,607 wordsSECTION 142Chapter XXVI.--Scripture Alone Offers Clear Knowledge on the Questions We Have Been Controverting.
Chapter XXVI.--Scripture Alone Offers Clear Knowledge on the Questions We Have Been Controverting. Now there is no end to the uncertainty and irregularity of human opinion, until we come to the limits which God has prescribed. I shall at last retire within our own lines and firmly hold my ground there, for the purpose of provin…
1,644 wordsSECTION 143Chapter XXVIII.--The Pythagorean Doctrine of Transmigration Sketched and Censured.
Chapter XXVIII.--The Pythagorean Doctrine of Transmigration Sketched and Censured. What, then, by this time means that ancient saying, mentioned by Plato, [1703] concerning the reciprocal migration of souls; how they remove hence and go thither, and then return hither and pass through life, and then again depart from this life,…
935 wordsSECTION 144Chapter XXIX.--The Pythagorean Doctrine Refuted by Its Own First Principle, that Living Men are Formed from the Dead.
Chapter XXIX.--The Pythagorean Doctrine Refuted by Its Own First Principle, that Living Men are Formed from the Dead. It is indeed, manifest that dead men are formed from living ones; but it does not follow from that, that living men are formed from dead ones. For from the beginning the living came first in the order of things,…
1,162 wordsSECTION 145Chapter XXXI.--Further Exposure of Transmigration, Its Inextricable Embarrassment.
Chapter XXXI.--Further Exposure of Transmigration, Its Inextricable Embarrassment. Again, if this recovery of life from the dead take place at all, individuals must of course resume their own individuality. Therefore the souls which animated each several body must needs have returned separately to their several bodies. Now, whe…
2,262 wordsSECTION 146Chapter XXXIII.--The Judicial Retribution of These Migrations Refuted with Raillery.
[1718] Hujus. [1719] Alias. [1720] This is the force of the objective nouns, which are all put in the plural form. [1721] Ps. xlix. 20. Chapter XXXIII.--The Judicial Retribution of These Migrations Refuted with Raillery. Forasmuch as this doctrine is vindicated even on the principle of judicial retribution, on the pretence …
1,460 wordsSECTION 147Chapter XXXIV.--These Vagaries Stimulated Some Profane Corruptions of Christianity. The Profanity of Simon Magus Condemned.
Chapter XXXIV.--These Vagaries Stimulated Some Profane Corruptions of Christianity. The Profanity of Simon Magus Condemned. No tenet, indeed, under cover of any heresy has as yet burst upon us, embodying any such extravagant fiction as that the souls of human beings pass into the bodies of wild beasts; but yet we have deemed it…
1,826 wordsSECTION 148Chapter XXXVI.--The Main Points of Our Author's Subject. On the Sexes of the Human Race.
Chapter XXXVI.--The Main Points of Our Author's Subject. On the Sexes of the Human Race. For the discussion of these questions we abandoned, if I remember rightly, ground to which we must now return. We had established the position that the soul is seminally placed in man, and by human agency, and that its seed from the very be…
1,345 wordsSECTION 149Chapter XXXVIII.--On the Growth of the Soul. Its Maturity Coincident with the Maturity of the Flesh in Man.
Chapter XXXVIII.--On the Growth of the Soul. Its Maturity Coincident with the Maturity of the Flesh in Man. Now we have already [1747] laid down the principle, that all the natural properties of the soul which relate to sense and intelligence are inherent in its very substance, and spring from its native constitution, but that …
799 wordsSECTION 150Chapter XXXIX.--The Evil Spirit Has Marred the Purity of the Soul from the Very Birth.
Chapter XXXIX.--The Evil Spirit Has Marred the Purity of the Soul from the Very Birth. All these endowments of the soul which are bestowed on it at birth are still obscured and depraved by the malignant being who, in the beginning, regarded them with envious eye, so that they are never seen in their spontaneous action, nor are …
986 wordsSECTION 151Chapter XLI.--Notwithstanding the Depravity of Man's Soul by Original Sin, There is Yet Left a Basis Whereon Divine Grace Can Work for Its Recovery by Spiritual Regeneration.
Chapter XLI.--Notwithstanding the Depravity of Man's Soul by Original Sin, There is Yet Left a Basis Whereon Divine Grace Can Work for Its Recovery by Spiritual Regeneration. There is, then, besides the evil which supervenes on the soul from the intervention of the evil spirit, an antecedent, and in a certain sense natural, evi…
788 wordsSECTION 152Chapter XLIII.--Sleep a Natural Function as Shown by Other Considerations, and by the Testimony of Scripture.
Chapter XLIII.--Sleep a Natural Function as Shown by Other Considerations, and by the Testimony of Scripture. Let us therefore first discuss the question of sleep, and afterwards in what way the soul encounters [1761] death. Now sleep is certainly not a supernatural thing, as some philosophers will have it be, when they suppose…
1,415 wordsSECTION 153Chapter XLIV.--The Story of Hermotimus, and the Sleeplessness of the Emperor Nero. No Separation of the Soul from the Body Until Death.
Chapter XLIV.--The Story of Hermotimus, and the Sleeplessness of the Emperor Nero. No Separation of the Soul from the Body Until Death. With regard to the case of Hermotimus, they say that he used to be deprived of his soul in his sleep, as if it wandered away from his body like a person on a holiday trip. His wife betrayed the…
1,025 wordsSECTION 154Chapter XLVI.--Diversity of Dreams and Visions. Epicurus Thought Lightly of Them, Though Generally Most Highly Valued. Instances of Dreams.
Chapter XLVI.--Diversity of Dreams and Visions. Epicurus Thought Lightly of Them, Though Generally Most Highly Valued. Instances of Dreams. We now find ourselves constrained to express an opinion about the character of the dreams by which the soul is excited. And when shall we arrive at the subject of death? And on such a quest…
1,352 wordsSECTION 155Chapter XLVII.--Dreams Variously Classified. Some are God-Sent, as the Dreams of Nebuchadnezzar; Others Simply Products of Nature.
Chapter XLVII.--Dreams Variously Classified. Some are God-Sent, as the Dreams of Nebuchadnezzar; Others Simply Products of Nature. We declare, then, that dreams are inflicted on us mainly by demons, although they sometimes turn out true and favourable to us. When, however, with the deliberate aim after evil, of which we have ju…
980 wordsSECTION 156Chapter XLIX.--No Soul Naturally Exempt from Dreams.
Chapter XLIX.--No Soul Naturally Exempt from Dreams. As for those persons who suppose that infants do not dream, on the ground that all the functions of the soul throughout life are accomplished according to the capacity of age, they ought to observe attentively their tremors, and nods, and bright smiles as they sleep, and from…
1,111 wordsSECTION 157Chapter LI.--Death Entirely Separates the Soul from the Body.
Chapter LI.--Death Entirely Separates the Soul from the Body. But the operation of death is plain and obvious: it is the separation of body and soul. Some, however, in reference to the soul's immortality, on which they have so feeble a hold through not being taught of God, maintain it with such beggarly arguments, that they wou…
880 wordsSECTION 158Chapter LII.--All Kinds of Death a Violence to Nature, Arising from Sin.--Sin an Intrusion Upon Nature as God Created It.
Chapter LII.--All Kinds of Death a Violence to Nature, Arising from Sin.--Sin an Intrusion Upon Nature as God Created It. Such, then, is the work of death--the separation of the soul from the body. Putting out of the question fates and fortuitous circumstances, it has been, according to men's views, distinguished in a twofold f…
1,489 wordsSECTION 159Chapter LIV.--Whither Does the Soul Retire When It Quits the Body? Opinions of Philosophers All More or Less Absurd. The Hades of Plato.
Chapter LIV.--Whither Does the Soul Retire When It Quits the Body? Opinions of Philosophers All More or Less Absurd. The Hades of Plato. To the question, therefore, whither the soul is withdrawn, we now give an answer. Almost all the philosophers, who hold the soul's immortality, notwithstanding their special views on the subje…
2,337 wordsSECTION 160Chapter LVII.--Magic and Sorcery Only Apparent in Their Effects. God Alone Can Raise the Dead.
[1813] Ab inferis. [1814] Iliad, xxiii. 72, etc. [1815] Enormitate. [1816] We have treated this particle as a conjunction but it may only be an intensive particle introducing an explanatory clause: "even those which were pure," etc. [a better rendering.] Chapter LVII.--Magic and Sorcery Only Apparent in Their Effects. God Al…
1,553 wordsSource & rights
Historical text source: Christian Classics Ethereal Library. The downloaded text itself records Public Domain.