This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1907 Excerpt: ...and we should have a poor case if we could not answer him. This, however, is a matter of labour and learning, and Tertullian wanted to confound the heretics by a simple argument. He therefore fell back on the legal conception of prcescriptio. If A's title to an estate was disputed, he might enter a demurrer that ...
Read More
This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1907 Excerpt: ...and we should have a poor case if we could not answer him. This, however, is a matter of labour and learning, and Tertullian wanted to confound the heretics by a simple argument. He therefore fell back on the legal conception of prcescriptio. If A's title to an estate was disputed, he might enter a demurrer that (whatever plaintiffs case might be) as a matter of fact he had held the land for so many years. If that were proved, judgment would have to be given for the defendant. The revelation is an estate consisting of writings, promises, etc. given by Christ to the Church; and the Church was in possession before the heretics arose. They are therefore summarily barred out; and if they attempt to reason on Scripture, they must be told that Scripture is the property of the Church, so that they cannot be allowed to meddle with it. The case is now clear, so that we may set aside over-curious questions, which in fact lead to nothing but heresies and futile debates. It must be allowed that this is not Tertullian's usual argument. Elsewhere he meets the heretics fairly on the ground of Scripture, and when he became a Montanist he had to defend avowed novelties against tradition. But the argument of the de Prcescriptionibus was the mainstay of the Latin Church till quite lately. Plausible as it is, the unsoundness is evident. It takes for granted the disputed fact, that the Church of the time teaches exactly what the apostles originally delivered as the revelation of Christ. This is a question of history, so that when the advocates of tradition found that history is against them, as they notably did at the Reformation, they were obliged to bar the appeal to history by making further assumptions. Accordingly, Tertullian's argument has often been enforced by infallibi...
Read Less
Add this copy of The Knowledge of God and Its Historical Development to cart. $6.62, good condition, Sold by Neil Shillington rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Hobe Sound, FL, UNITED STATES, published 1907 by T & T Clark.
