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    broken chain of tradition from the apostolic age , were of very recent origin , and utterly unknown to the early fathers . Such was the view of this important question taken b y our Reformers . In this , as in other instances , they wisely adopted a middle course : they neither bowed submissively to the authority of tradition , nor yet rejected it altogether . We in the present day must tread in their footsteps ana imitate their moderation , if we intend to combat our Roman Catholic adversaries with success . We must be careful

    that , in our anxiety to avoid one extreme , we run not into the other by adopting the extravagant language of those who , not content with ascribing a paramount authority to the Written Word on all points pertaining to eternal salvation , talk as if the Bible—and that too the Bible in our English translation—were , independently of all external aids and evidence , sufficient to prove its own genuineness and inspiration , and to be its own interpreter . " These anticipations will , most probably , be realized , and the defenders of Protestantism , who will have to contend with no weak or unskilful

    adversaries , will do well to take the Professor ' s advice . His observations must be allowed to be judicious ; even to his concluding remark we give an assent , although it is probable we might differ from him , on a mutual explanation , as to the nature and extent of the external aids which are necessaiy to the right interpretation of the Bible . The well-known but much-disputed terms authenticce liter < b 9 applied by

    Tertullian to the Apostolic Epistles , are considered by our author as meaning no more than " epistles possessing authority . " The interpretation of Berriman , to whom he refers , and of Griesbach , of whose laboured criticism he makes no mention , though he appears to have had it in his mind , who suppose the terms to denote " the genuine unadulterated epistles , "— " genuina et a nullo haeretico depravata exemplaria , " is , we apprehend , most correct .

    That the two Testaments were not at variance , which is one point in the seventh Article , and the only point noticed by our author , was certainly maintained by Tertullian . The learned Professor , we think , might have bestowed a few remarks upon the sentiments of Tertullian respecting the particular topics included in this article , especially that concerning the promise of a future life to the Jews . The eighth Article is entitled , " Of the Three Creeds . " The Professor acknowledges that the Apostles' Creed in its present form was not known to

    Tertullian as a summary of faith ; but from a comparison of different passages scattered through his writings , he infers " that the various clauses of which it is composed were generally received as articles of faith by orthodox Christians . " They are , indeed , found to agree very nearly with the " regula fidei , " as exhibited both by Tertullian and Irenaeus . There is ,

    however , cause for doubt as to the clauses relating to " the holy Catholic Church , " and " the communion of saints . " Something like the former may be found in the writings of Tei tullian ; but they contain no traces of the latter , at least as it is explained by Pearson . How far the doctrines of the Nicene and Athanasian Creeds were known in the second century is considered in the last chapter of this work .

    On the subjects of the ninth and several following Articles , relating chiefly to the doctrines of original sin , free-will , grace , justification and predestination , the writings of Tertullian are either silent , or they are chargeable with inconsistencies and contradictions , or they are at variance , certainly not in clear and manifest accordance , with the true exposition of these articles . The learned and ingenious Prelate has endeavoured , indeed , to vindicate the orthodoxy of the Presbyter of Carthage , but , as it appears to us , by no means successfully . He allows that Tertullian did not admit the

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    356 Review . —Dr . Kaye * s Tertullian .

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), May 2, 1827, page 356, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1796/page/44/