Lord, and styled 56 Fideles.

The importance, which Tertullian attached to this previous probation of the candidates for baptism, appears from the fact that he founds upon the neglect of it one of his charges against the Heretics. 57 66 Among them," he says, "no distinction is made between the Catechumen and the faithful or confirmed Christian: the Catechumen is pronounced fit for baptism before he is instructed; all come in indiscriminately; all hear, all pray together."

The teachers, who undertook to prepare the Catechumens for reception at the baptismal font, appear to have pursued the course pointed out by the Baptist, and by our blessed Lord. 58 They began by insisting on the necessity of repentance and amendment of life. Unfortunately the effect of their exhortations upon the minds of their hearers was fre

56 Sometimes, however, the word Fideles included also the Catechumens. Thus in the Tract de Coronâ, c. 2. Neminem dico Fidelium coronam capite nosse alias, extra tempus tentationis ejusmodi. Omnes ita observant a Catechumenis usque ad Confessores et Martyres, vel Negatores.

57 Inprimis quis Catechumenus, quis Fidelis, incertum est : pariter adeunt, pariter audiunt, pariter orant. And again, Ante sunt perfecti Catechumeni quam edocti. script. Hæretic. c. 41.

De Præ

58 See the first five chapters of the Tract de Pœnitentiâ.

quently counteracted by 59 a fatal perversion of the doctrine of the Church respecting the efficacy of baptism. In every age the object of a large portion of those who call themselves Christians has been, to secure the benefits without fulfilling the conditions of the Christian covenant—to obtain the rewards of righteousness without sacrificing their present gratifications. When, therefore, the proselyte was told, that baptism conferred upon him who received it the remission of all his former sins, he persuaded himself that he might with safety defer the work of repentance; and passed the time allotted for his probation, not in mortifying his lusts and acquiring a purity of heart and affections suitable to his Christian profession; but in a more unrestrained enjoyment of those worldly and sensual pleasures, in which he knew that, after baptism, he could not indulge, without forfeiting his hopes of eternal happiness. So general had this licentious practice become, that Tertullian devotes a considerable portion of the

59 Tertullian in the following sentence explains the prevalent opinion, at the same time that he points out the qualifications necessary to render baptism efficacious. Neque ego renuo divinum beneficium, id est, abolitionem delictorum, inituris aquam omnimodo salvum esse; sed ut eo pervenire contingat elaborandum est. Quis enim tibi, tam infidæ pœnitentiæ viro, asperginem unam cujuslibet aquæ commodabit? De Pœnitentiâ, c. 6.

60 Tract de Poenitentiâ to the exposure of its folly and wickedness; and the 61 historian of the Roman empire might there have found better arguments, than those which he has extracted from Chrysostom, against the delay of baptism; though our author's attention was not immediately directed to that subject.

While the teacher was endeavouring to impress upon the Catechumen the necessity of repentance and amendment of life, he would at the same time gradually unfold the great truths which constitute the objects of a Christian faith; suiting his instructions to the comprehension and previous acquirements of the proselyte, and proceeding from the simpler to the more sublime and mysterious doctrines of the Gospel. Of some the communication was postponed until the convert had been baptised, and numbered among the members of the Church. But after that rite was conferred, there was no further reserve; and the whole counsel of God was declared alike to

60 See particularly c. 6. where Tertullian argues that baptism, in order to be effectual to the pardon of sin, presupposes a renunciation of all sinful habits on the part of him who is to receive it. Men are admitted to baptism because they have already repented and reformed their lives; not in order that they may afterwards repent and reform. Non ideo abluimur ut delinquere desinamus.

61 Chap. xx. note 68.

all the faithful. 62 In our account of Montanus, we stated that part of that knowledge, yvos, which, according to Clemens Alexandrinus, had been communicated by the Apostles to a select few, and through them handed down to his own time by oral tradition, consisted of mystical interpretations of Scripture. We find occasionally in 65 Tertullian's works expressions implying that he also admitted the existence of interpretations, the knowledge of which was confined to those whom he terms the more worthy. But he condemns, in the most pointed manner, the notion, that the Apostles had kept back any of the truths revealed to them, and had not imparted them alike to all Christians. applies to it the name of madness, and considers it as a pure invention of the Gnostics; devised for the purpose of throwing an air

62 Chapter I. p. 34.

64 He

63 Thus in the Tract de Pallio, where he is speaking of the expulsion of our first parents from Paradise, and of the fig-leaves of which they made aprons; he adds, sed arcana ista, nec omnium nôsse, c. 3. and in the Tract de Idololatriâ, speaking of the brazen serpent set up by Moses in the wilderness; he says, Sive quæ alia figuræ istius expositio dignioribus revelata est, c. 5.

64 Sed ut diximus, eadem dementia est, quum confitentur quidem nihil Apostolos ignorâsse, nec diversa inter se prædicâsse; non tamen omnia volunt illos omnibus revelâsse: quædam enim palam et universis, quædam secreto et paucis demandâsse. De Præscriptione Hæretic. c. 25. See also C. 26.

of mysterious grandeur around their monstrous fictions, and supported by the grossest misrepresentations of Scripture. Having already delivered our opinion respecting the mischiev ous consequences which have arisen to the Church, from the countenance lent by the writings of Clemens Alexandrinus to the notion of a Disciplina Arcani-we shall now only express our regret that Protestant divines, in their eagerness to establish a favourite point, should sometimes have been induced to resort to it.

In 65 the passage already cited from the Apology, Tertullian states one purpose of the Christian assemblies to have been the maintenance of dicipline by pronouncing censures, according to the circumstances of the offence, against those who had erred either in practice or in doctrine. 66 We have seen that the proselyte, before he was admitted to the baptismal font, was subjected to a strict probation. 67 In baptism he received the remission of all his former transgressions, and

65 See p. 223. The sentence was pronounced by the President. Quomodo ut auferatur de medio illorum ? Non utique ut extra Ecclesiam detur; hoc enim non a Deo postularetur quod erat in Præsidentis officio. De Pudicitiâ,

c. 14.

66

p. 245.

67 See the Tract de Pœnitentiâ, cc. 7, 9.