445 Ps. cxi. 10; Prov. i. 7.
446 Attonita, as if in fear that it might go wrong (Rigalt.).
447 In contrast to the opposite fault of the heresies exposed above.
448 Deliberata, where the character was well weighed previous to admission to the eucharist.
449 Apparitio, the duty and office of an apparitor, or attendant on men of higher rank, whether in church or state.
450 2 Cor. v. 10.
453 It seems to us, that this is the force of the strong irony, indicated by the "credo," which pervades this otherwise unintelligible passage. Dodgson's version seems untenable: "Let them (the heretics) acknowledge that the fault is with themselves rather than with those who prepared us so long beforehand."
454 Christ and His apostles, as before, in continuation of the strong irony.
455 This must be the force of a sentence which is steeped in irony: "Scilicet cum vos non crederetis." We are indebted to Oehler for restoring the sentence thus.
461 This sense comes from the "repellendas" and the "a collatione Scripturarum."
462 Specialiter. He did this, indeed, in his treatises against Marcion, Hermogenes, the Valentinians, Praxeas, and others. [These are to follow in this Series. Kaye (p. 47) justly considered this sentence as proving the De Praescript, a preface to all his treatises against particular heresies.]
464 It must be remembered that an appeal to Scripture lies behind Tertullian's Praescription: only he will not discuss Holy Scripture with heretics.
1 [The name of Bishop Jacobson was often introduced in our first volume, in notes to the Apostolic Fathers. He has recently "fallen asleep," after a life of exemplary labour "with good report of all men and of the Truth itself." His learning and piety were adorned by a profound humility, which gave a primitive cast to his character. At the Lambeth Conference, having the honour to sit at his side, I observed his extreme modesty. He rarely rose to speak, though he sometimes honoured me with words in a whisper, which the whole assembly would have rejoiced to hear. Like his great predecessor, Pearson, in many respects, the mere filings and clippings of his thoughts were gold-dust.]
2 [Dr. Holmes is described, in the Edinburgh Edition, as "Domestic Chaplain to the Rt. Hon. the Countess of Rothes." He was B.A. (Oxon.) in 1840, and took orders that year. Was Head-Master of Plymouth Grammer School at one time, and among his very valuable and learned works should be mentioned, as very useful to the reader of this series, his Translation of Bull's Defensio Fidei Nicaenae (two vols. 8vo. Oxford, 1851), and of the same great author's Judicium Ecclesiae Catholicae, 8vo. Oxford, 1855.]
3 [This preface and the frequent annotations of our author relieve the American editor, save very sparingly, from adding notes of his own.]
4 Two works are worth mentioning in connection with this topic for their succinct and handy form, as well as satisfactory treatment of their argument : Mr. Perowne's Norrisian prize essay, entitled The Essential Coherence of the Old and New Testaments (1858), and Sir William Page Wood's recent work, The Continuity of Scripture, as declared by the Testimony of our Lord, and of the evengelists and apostles.
5 Bishop Kaye says of Tertullian (page 62): "He is indeed the harshest and most obscure of writers, and the least capable of being accurately represented in a translation;" and he quotes the learned Ruhnken's sentence of our author: "Latinitatis certè pessimum auctorem esse aio et confirmo." This is surely much too sweeping. To the careful student Tertullian's style commends itself, by and by, as suited exactly to his subject--as the terse and vigorous expression of terse and vigorous thought. Bishop Butler has been often censured for an awkward stytle; whereas it is a fairer criticism to say, that the arguments of the Analogy and the Sermons of Human Nature have been delivered in the language best suited to their character. This adaptation of style to matter is probably in all great authors a real characteristic of genius. A more just and favourable view is taken of Tertullian's Latin by Niebuhr, Hist. Rom. (Schmitz), vol. v. p. 271, and his Lectures on Ancient Hist. (Schmitz), vol. ii. p. 54.