Tertullian Quotes
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Christ, in disarming Peter, disarmed every soldier.
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I revere the fullness of His Scripture, in which He manifests to me both the Creator and creation. In the gospel moreover, I discover a Minister and Witness of the Creator, even His Word.
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I owe no duty to the forum, the election ground or the senate; I am ... no barking pleader, no judge, no soldier, no king; I have withdrawn from the populace. My only business is with myself. I have no care save not to care. The better life you would more enjoy in seclusion than in publicity. But you will decry me as indolent. ... None is born for another, being destined to die for himself.
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The Law found more than it lost when Christ said, ‘Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven’ (Matthew 5:44-45). This most important commandment summarizes in a word the universal discipline of patience, since it does not allow us to do evil even to people who deserve it.
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Discipline is an index to doctrine.
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It is to believed because it is absurd.
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I believe because it is absurd.
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For it is really better for us not to know a thing, because God has not revealed it to us, than to know it according to man’s wisdom, because he has been bold enough to assume it.
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The blood of Christians is seed.
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Where our joy is, there should our work be.
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How shall I admire, how laugh, how rejoice, how exult, when I behold so many proud monarchs groaning in the lowest abyss of darkness; so many magistrates liquefying in fiercer flames than they ever kindled against the Christians; so many sages philosophers blushing in red-hot fires with their deluded pupils; so many tragedians more tuneful in the expression of their own sufferings; so many dancers tripping more nimbly from anguish then ever before from applause.
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What has Athens to do with Jerusalem.
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Those who fled will fight another time.
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In our case, murder being once for all forbidden, we may not destroy even the foetus in the womb, while as yet the human being derives blood from other parts of the body for its sustenance. To hinder a birth is merely a speedier mankilling; nor does it matter whether you take away a life that is born, or destroy one that is coming to the birth. That is a man which is going to be one; you have the fruit already in the seed.
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Now then, you dogs, whom the apostle puts outside and who yelp at the God of truth, let us come to your various questions.
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Can we not live without pleasure, who cannot but with pleasure die?
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But now inquiry is being made concerning these issues. First, can any believer enlist in the military? Second, can any soldier, even those of the rank and file or lesser grades who neither engage in pagan sacrifices nor capital punishment, be admitted into the church? No on both counts.
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Truth engenders hatred of truth. As soon as it appears, it is the enemy.
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What is nobler than to tread under foot the gods of the nations, to exorcise evil spirits, to perform cures, to seek divine revelations, and to live to God? These are the pleasures - these are the spectacles - that befit Christian men.
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And when will there be an end of marrying? I suppose, when there is an end of living.
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You cannot parcel out freedom in pieces because freedom is all or nothing.
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Men remain in ignorance as long as they hate, and they hate unjustly as long as they remain in ignorance.
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The Word, then, the Christ, is the cause both of our ancient beginning, for lie was in God, and of our well-being. And now this same Word has appeared as man. He alone is both God and man, and the source of all our good things.
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When we are going to enter the water ... in the presence of the congregation and under the hand of the president, we solemnly profess that we disown the devil, his pomp, and his angels. After this we are immersed three times, making a somewhat larger pledge than the Lord appointed in the Gospel. Then we are taken up a reference to the Roman tradition of recognizing a newborn baby as a member of the family. We first taste a mixture of milk and honey and from that day we refrain from the daily bath for a whole week.