Tertullian’s exposition of Christianity.  That we may clearly appreciate the modifications now impressed on Christianity—­modifications which eventually brought it in conflict with science—­we must have, as a means of comparison, a statement of what it was in its purer days.  Such, fortunately, we find in the “Apology or Defense of the Christians against the Accusations of the Gentiles,” written by Tertullian, at Rome, during the persecution of Severus.  He addressed it, not to the emperor, but to the magistrates who sat in judgment on the accused.  It is a solemn and most earnest expostulation, setting forth all that could be said in explanation of the subject, a representation of the belief and cause of the Christians made in the imperial city in the face of the whole world, not a querulous or passionate ecclesiastical appeal, but a grave historical document.  It has ever been looked upon as one of the ablest of the early Christian works.  Its date is about A.D. 200.

With no inconsiderable skill Tertullian opens his argument.  He tells the magistrates that Christianity is a stranger upon earth, and that she expects to meet with enemies in a country which is not her own.  She only asks that she may not be condemned unheard, and that Roman magistrates will permit her to defend herself; that the laws of the empire will gather lustre, if judgment be passed upon her after she has been tried but not if she is sentenced without a hearing of her cause; that it is unjust to hate a thing of which we are ignorant, even though it may be a thing worthy of hate; that the laws of Rome deal with actions, not with mere names; but that, notwithstanding this, persons have been punished because they were called Christians, and that without any accusation of crime.

He then advances to an exposition of the origin, the nature, and the effects of Christianity, stating that it is founded on the Hebrew Scriptures, which are the most venerable of all books.  He says to the magistrates:  “The books of Moses, in which God has inclosed, as in a treasure, all the religion of the Jews, and consequently all the Christian religion, reach far beyond the oldest you have, even beyond all your public monuments, the establishment of your state, the foundation of many great cities—­all that is most advanced by you in all ages of history, and memory of times; the invention of letters, which are the interpreters of sciences and the guardians of all excellent things.  I think I may say more—­beyond your gods, your temples, your oracles and sacrifices.  The author of those books lived a thousand years before the siege of Troy, and more than fifteen hundred before Homer.”  Time is the ally of truth, and wise men believe nothing but what is certain, and what has been verified by time.  The principal authority of these Scriptures is derived from their venerable antiquity.  The most learned of the Ptolemies, who was surnamed Philadelphus, an accomplished prince, by the advice of Demetrius Phalareus, obtained a copy of these holy books.  It may be found at this day in his library.  The divinity of these Scriptures is proved by this, that all that is done in our days may be found predicted in them; they contain all that has since passed in the view of men.