" Similarly, Irenaeus wrote that the Christian " will not be commanded to leave idle one day of rest, who is constantly keeping sabbath ", and Tertullian argued " that we still more ought to observe a sabbath from all servile work always, and not only every seventh-day, but through all time ".

In support of his allegation, Bernard quotes Tertullian as writing against Praxeas: " The simple, indeed ( I will not call them unwise or unlearned ), who always constitute the majority of believers, are startled at the dispensation ( of the Three in One ), on the very ground that their very Rule of Faith withdraws them from the world's plurality of gods to the one only true God ; not understanding that, although He is the one only God, He must yet be believed in with His own economy.

Tertullian believed Atlantis was once real and wrote that in the Atlantic Ocean once existed "( the isle ) that was equal in size to Libya or Asia " referring to Plato's geographical description of Atlantis.

Tertullian ( c. a. d. 160 – 225 ) wrote that when it was discovered that a church elder had composed a pseudonymous work, The Acts of Paul ( which included a purported Pauline letter, 3 Corinthians ), the offending elder “ was removed from his office ” ( On Baptism 17 ).

This view influences later Ambrose of Milan and Tertullian, who wrote about the virgin birth of the Mother of God.

Tertullian ( c. 160 – c. 225 ), who wrote in Latin, also understood (" I will ascend above the tops of the clouds ; I will make myself like the Most High ") as spoken by the Devil, but " Lucifer " is not among the numerous names and phrases he used to describe the Devil.

In about 200 AD, Tertullian wrote ( Against Marcion IV.

Tertullian has been accused of going to an unhealthy extreme in his counsels of asceticism ; for example, about ejaculatory orgasms he wrote:

Tertullian wrote in his book On Patience 5: 15 " Having been made pregnant by the seed of the devil ... she brought forth a son.

In the early days of his conversion he wrote an Epistola ad Donatum de gratia Dei and the Testimoniorum Libri III that adhere closely to the models of Tertullian, who influenced his style and thinking.

* In On the Resurrection of the Flesh, Tertullian wrote that the Holy Spirit through the New Prophecy cleared up the ambiguities of scripture.

Tertullian ( AD 155 – 222 ) wrote in Adversus Judaeos that Britain had already received and accepted the Gospel in his lifetime, writing of:

Despite the fact that the early Christian theologian Tertullian wrote that Jesus was a eunuch, there is no corroboration in any other early source.

According to the Liber Pontificalis, it was first used in the first half of the fourth century, although Tertullian wrote an essay no later than 220 AD titled De Pallio ( On the Pallium ).

By the second and third centuries, such Church Fathers as Clement of Alexandria, Origen, and Tertullian wrote of the practice of Morning and Evening Prayer, and of the prayers at terce, sext, and none.

Tertullian wrote:

By the second and third centuries, such Church Fathers as Clement of Alexandria, Origen, and Tertullian wrote of formalised, regular services: the practice of Morning and Evening Prayer, and prayers at the third hour of the day ( terce ), the sixth hour of the day ( sext ), and the ninth hour of the day ( none ).

For example, Irenaeus, wrote of second century believers with the gift of prophecy, while Tertullian, writing of the church meetings of the Montanists ( to whom he belonged ), described in detail the practice of prophecy in the second century church.

The 2nd-century Church Father Tertullian wrote that " the blood of martyrs is the seed of the Church ," implying that the martyrs ' willing sacrifice of their lives leads to the conversion of others.

The Church Father Tertullian wrote, " And wherefore does this conclusion of the gospel affirm that these things were written unless it is that you might believe, it says, that Jesus Christ is the son of God?

Tertullian wrote about Marcion gnostics in his work Against Marcion indicating that there they believed in baptism of the dead.

Tertullian wrote a tract against them which has not survived.

So many Catholic Christian apologists wrote treatises against Marcion after his death, in addition to the noted work of Tertullian, that it has been possible to reconstruct almost the whole of Marcion's Gospel of the Lord from their quotations.

By the second and third centuries, such Church Fathers as Clement of Alexandria, Origen, and Tertullian wrote of the practice of Morning and Evening Prayer, and of the prayers at terce, sext, and none.

In his Scorpiace of 208 CE, Tertullian wrote, " No delay or inquest will meet Christians on the threshold … For though you think that heaven is still shut up, remember that the Lord left the keys of it to Peter here, and through him to the Church, which keys everyone will carry with him, if he has been questioned and made confession faith.

The rule of faith, however, seems to be also applied by Tertullian to some distinct formula of doctrine, and he gives a succinct statement of the Christian faith under this term ( De praescriptione, xiii ).

), and consequently, the laws to which Tertullian took exception were those under which the Christians of the 1st and 2nd centuries had been convicted.

Unlike previous apologists of Christianity, whose appeals for tolerance were made in the name of reason and humanity, Tertullian, influenced by his legal training, spoke as a jurist convinced of the injustice of the laws under which the Christians were persecuted.

Respecting the ceremonies of this festival nothing is known, except that the people used to build huts of branches and foliage ( umbrae, according to Festus, under " Umbrae "), in which they probably feasted, drank, and amused themselves ( Horace Carmina iii. 28. 1, & c .; Tertullian De Spectaculis (" On Celebrations ") 6 ).

The Martyrs trial and execution took place in Carthage under the Pro-consul Vigellius Saturninus, whom Tertullian declares to have been the first persecutor of Christians in Africa.

The Catholic Encyclopedia " New Advent " writes: It is true that it is easy to suppose Tertullian and Hippolytus to have misrepresented the opinions of their opponents, but it cannot be proved that Cleomenes was not a follower of the heretical Noetus, and that Sabellius did not issue from his school ; further, it is not obvious that Tertullian would attack Callistus under a nickname.

Among students of Tertullian, the library is of interest as it contained a number of unique copies of Tertullian's works, the so-called corpus Corbiense and included some of his unorthodox Montanist treatises, as well as two works by Novatian issued pseudepigraphically under Tertullian's name.

# Tertullian was a defender of the necessity of apostolicity.

James Johnson argued that A Modest Proposal was largely influenced and inspired by Tertullian ’ s Apology: a satirical attack against early Roman persecution of Christianity.

Johnson notes Swift ’ s obvious affinity for Tertullian and the bold stylistic and structural similarities between the works A Modest Proposal and Apology.

" Stylistically, Swift and Tertullian share the same command of sarcasm and language.

Baker notes the uncanny way that both authors imply an ironic " justification by ownership " over the subject of sacrificing children — Tertullian while attacking pagan parents, and Swift while attacking the English mistreatment of the Irish poor.

The author of the appendix to Tertullian De Praescr.

It is evident from these particulars that Abrasax was the name of the first of the 365 Archons, and accordingly stood below Sophia and Dynamis and their progenitors ; but his position is not expressly stated, so that the writer of the supplement to Tertullian had some excuse for confusing him with " the Supreme God.

* Tertullian. org: The Western Text of the Acts of the Apostles ( 1923 ) J. M. WILSON, D. D.

Writing a little later, Tertullian makes the same main point but adds expressly that recently founded churches ( such as his own in Carthage ) could be considered apostolic if they had " derived the tradition of faith and the seeds of doctrine " from an apostolic church.

At the end of the 2nd century, it is accepted at Antioch by Theophilus ( died c. 183 ), and in Africa by Tertullian ( c. 160 – 220 ).

Tertullian named him as the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews, but this and other attributions are conjecture.

Tertullian and other Western writers regard Barnabas as the author of the Letter to the Hebrews.

This may have been the Roman tradition — which Tertullian usually follows — and in Rome the epistle may have had its first readers.

Treatment of eschatology continued in the West in the teachings of Tertullian ( c. 160 – 225 ), and was given fuller reflection and speculation soon after by Origen ( c. 185 – 254 ).

Online at Tertullian.

Revised and edited for Tertullian by Roger Pearse, 2003.

Online at Tertullian.

Tertullian, 2005.

Online at Tertullian.