- 1
Luke ix. 28–36.
- 2
Scilicet, in ironical allusion to a Marcionite opinion.
- 3
Luke ix. 35.
- 4
Quoscunque.
- 5
In sordibus aliquibus.
- 6
Sic.
- 7
To belong to another god.
- 8
Secundum perversitatem.
- 9
Prædicatores.
- 10
Informator, Moses, as having organized the nation.
- 11
Reformator, Elias, the great prophet.
- 12
It was a primitive opinion in the Church that Elijah was to come, with Enoch, at the end of the world. See De Anima, chap. xxxv. and l.; also Irenæus, De Hæres. v. 5. [Vol. I. 530.]
- 13
Luke ix. 33.
- 14
This Tertullian seems to have done in his treatise De Ecstasi, which is mentioned by St. Jerome—see his Catalogus Scriptt. Eccles. (in Tertulliano); and by Nicephorus, Hist. Eccles. iv. 22, 34. On this subject of ecstasy, Tertullian has some observations in De Anima, chap. xxi. and xlv. (Rigalt. and Oehler.)
- 15
[Elucidation VII.]
- 16
Amentiam.
- 17
Excidat sensu.
- 18
He calls those the carnally-minded (“psychicos”) who thought that ecstatic raptures and revelations had ceased in the church. The term arises from a perverse application of 1 Cor. ii. 14: ψυχικὸς δὲ ἄνθρωπος οὐ δέχεται τὰ τοῦ Πνεύματος τοῦ Θεοῦ. In opposition to the wild fanaticism of Montanus, into which Tertullian strangely fell, the Catholics believed that the true prophets, who were filled with the Spirit of God, discharged their prophetic functions with a quiet and tranquil mind. See the anonymous author, Contra Cataphrygas, in Eusebius, Hist. Eccl. v. 17; Epiphanius, Hæres. 48. See also Routh, Rell. Sacræ, i. p. 100; and Bp. Kaye, On the Writings of Tertullian, edit. 3, pp. 27–36. (Munter’s Primord. Eccles. Afric. p. 138, quoted by Oehler.)
- 19
Amentiam.
- 20
Ceterum.
- 21
According to the hypothesis.
- 22
Totum ordinem, in the three periods represented by Moses, and Elijah, and Christ.
- 23
Compare Deut. xix. 15 with Luke ix. 28.
- 24
Consignari.
- 25
In eo suggestu.
- 26
Conscriptum fuerat.
- 27
Marcion’s god.
- 28
Compare above, book i. chap. 15, and book iv. chap. 7.
- 29
Precario. This word is used in book v. chap. xii. to describe the transitoriness of the Creator’s paradise and world.
- 30
Nec nunc.
- 31
Ps. ii. 7.
- 32
Isa. l. 10, according to the Septuagint.
- 33
Ejus est exhibentis.
- 34
Non præmisisti. Oehler suggests promisisti, “have given us no promise.”
- 35
Censum: Some read sensum, “sense.”
- 36
Deut. xviii. 15.
- 37
Anima: life.
- 38
Deut. xviii. 19.
- 39
Isa. l. 10.
- 40
Tertullian, by introducing this statement with an “inquit,” seems to make a quotation of it; but it is only a comment on the actual quotations. Tertullian’s invariable object in this argument is to match some event or word pertaining to the Christ of the New Testament with some declaration of the Old Testament. In this instance the approving words of God upon the mount are in Heb. i. 5 applied to the Son, while in Ps. ii. 7 the Son applies them to Himself. Compare the Adversus Praxean, chap. xix. (Fr. Junius and Oehler). It is, however, more likely that Tertullian really means to quote Isa. xliv. 26, “that confirmeth the word of His servant,” which Tertullian reads, “Sistens verba filii sui,” the Septuagint being, Καὶ ἰστῶν ῥῆμα παιδὸς αὐτοῦ.
- 41
In Christo. In with an ablative is often used by our author for in with an accusative.
- 42
Or perhaps “by the Creator.”
- 43
Isa. lxiii. 9, according to the Septuagint; only he reads faciet for aorist ἔσωσεν.
- 44
A Marcionite position.
- 45
Habitum.
- 46
Interdum.
- 47
Hab. iii. 2, according to the Septuagint. St. Augustine similarly applied this passage, De Civit. Dei, ii. 32.
- 48
Zech. iv. 3, 14.
- 49
Commemoremur: be reminded, or call to mind.
- 50
Cognoscenter: γνωστῶς, “so as to know Thee.”
- 51
See Ex. xxxiii. 13–23.
- 52
Posterioribus temporibus. [The awful ribaldry of Voltaire upon this glorious revelation is based upon the Vulgate reading of Exod. xxxiii. 23, needlessly transferred to our Version, but corrected by the late Revisers.]
- 53
Num. xii. 6–8.
- 54
Noluit.
- 55
It is difficult to see what this inquit means.
- 56
Nedum.
