The Scriptures make known two comings of the Son of God; the first in humility, the second at the day of judgment, in power.  The Jews might have known all this from the prophets, but their sins have so blinded them that they did not recognize him at his first coming, and are still vainly expecting him.  They believed that all the miracles wrought by him were the work of magic.  The doctors of the law and the chief priests were envious of him; they denounced him to Pilate.  He was crucified, died, was buried, and after three days rose again.  For forty days he remained among his disciples.  Then he was environed in a cloud, and rose up to heaven—­a truth far more certain than any human testimonies touching the ascension of Romulus or of any other Roman prince mounting up to the same place.

Tertullian then describes the origin and nature of devils, who, under Satan, their prince, produce diseases, irregularities of the air, plagues, and the blighting of the blossoms of the earth, who seduce men to offer sacrifices, that they may have the blood of the victims, which is their food.  They are as nimble as the birds, and hence know every thing that is passing upon earth; they live in the air, and hence can spy what is going on in heaven; for this reason they can impose on men reigned prophecies, and deliver oracles.  Thus they announced in Rome that a victory would be obtained over King Perseus, when in truth they knew that the battle was already won.  They falsely cure diseases; for, taking possession of the body of a man, they produce in him a distemper, and then ordaining some remedy to he used, they cease to afflict him, and men think that a cure has taken place.

Though Christians deny that the emperor is a god, they nevertheless pray for his prosperity, because the general dissolution that threatens the universe, the conflagration of the world, is retarded so long as the glorious majesty of the triumphant Roman Empire shall last.  They desire not to be present at the subversion of all Nature.  They acknowledge only one republic, but it is the whole world; they constitute one body, worship one God, and all look forward to eternal happiness.  Not only do they pray for the emperor and the magistrates, but also for peace.  They read the Scriptures to nourish their faith, lift up their hope, and strengthen the confidence they have in God.  They assemble to exhort one another; they remove sinners from their societies; they have bishops who preside over them, approved by the suffrages of those whom they are to conduct.  At the end of each month every one contributes if he will, but no one is constrained to give; the money gathered in this manner is the pledge of piety; it is not consumed in eating and drinking, but in feeding the poor, and burying them, in comforting children that are destitute of parents and goods, in helping old men who have spent the best of their days in the service of the faithful, in assisting those who have