Tertullian, answered from the texts and cited to the page.
They do, and the plea is entered before a single verse is weighed. Before anyone is admitted to the use of the Scriptures, it must be seen to whom the possession of them belongs, so that no man is let in who has no title to the privilege.1 The heretics put the Scriptures forward, and by that very insolence they sway some; but in the encounter itself they weary the strong, catch the weak, and send the waverers off with a doubt.2
So I oppose to them this step above all others: I do not admit them to any discussion of the Scriptures. The question is the one a court puts to a man found cutting timber on another's land. Who are you? When and whence did you come? You are none of mine; what have you to do with what is mine? By what right, Marcion, do you hew my wood? By whose leave, Valentinus, do you divert the streams of my fountain?
By what power, Apelles, do you shift my landmarks? The estate is mine. I held it before you did, and I hold the title-deeds from the original owners themselves.3 I am the heir of the apostles. They drew up their will and testament with care, committed it to trustees and bound them by oath, and I keep it so. As for you, they always held you disinherited and rejected you as strangers and enemies.3
And why are you strangers to them, if not from the difference of the teaching which each of you has advanced of his own will against the apostles? Mark where the argument rests. A heretic cannot be a Christian, since what he pursues he took up by his own choice, and from that choice he incurs the very name of heretic. Not being a Christian, he has acquired no right to Christian Scriptures.3
This I prove without the Scriptures at all, by the rule the Church has handed down: from the apostles, from Christ, from God.3 Then there is the matter of what is gained by arguing with them. They do not use Scripture; they abuse it. Some books they refuse; the ones they accept they warp by additions and subtractions, and even the ones they leave whole they pervert by contrived interpretations.
Truth is opposed as much by corrupting the sense as by corrupting the text.4 Be as skilled in the Scriptures as you like, you will make no progress where everything you affirm is denied and everything you deny is affirmed. You will lose your breath and gain only vexation from their blasphemy.4 And the weak man for whose sake you went into the debate sees you have got nowhere, sees the other side standing level with you in denial and defence, and goes away confirmed in his uncertainty, not knowing which side to call heretical.5
They too can throw it back at us, that the adulterations and false expositions are ours.5 The apostle gives the same ruling. He forbids us to enter on questions, or to lend our ears to novelties, and he tells us to have done with a heretic after the first and second admonition, not after discussion.6 He set admonition as the purpose of dealing with him, and that once, because he is not a Christian to be corrected again and again.
A man is to be corrected for the very reason that he is not to be disputed with. A quarrel over the Scriptures, besides, does nothing but upset the stomach or the brain.6 So the appeal must not be made to the Scriptures at all. The only question to settle first is this: with whom lies the faith to which the Scriptures belong? From whom, through whom, when, and to whom was handed down the rule by which men become Christians?5
For wherever the true Christian rule and faith are found, there will be the true Scriptures, their true expositions, and all the Christian traditions.5
The Scriptures are the Church's property. They were given to the churches the apostles founded, which hold them in unbroken succession and hold with them the rule of faith, the short summary of what was handed down.78 A heretic who opens the Scriptures is handling what is not his; before any verse is weighed the question of title must be settled, as in any court.9 Interpretation does not begin from a blank page; it begins from the rule, and the rule is older than every heresy.1011
it ought to be clearly seen to whom belongs the possession of the Scriptures, that none may be admitted to the use thereof who has no title at all to the privilege.The Prescription Against Heretics
They put forward the Scriptures, and by this insolence of theirs they at once influence some. In the encounter itself, however, they weary the strong, they catch the weak, and dismiss waverers with a doubt.The Prescription Against Heretics
Marcion, by what right do you hew my wood? By whose permission, Valentinus, are you diverting the streams of my fountain? By what power, Apelles, are you removing my landmarks? This is my property.The Prescription Against Heretics
Truth is just as much opposed by an adulteration of its meaning as it is by a corruption of its text.The Prescription Against Heretics
With whom lies that very faith to which the Scriptures belong. From what and through whom, and when, and to whom, has been handed down that rule, by which men become Christians?The Prescription Against Heretics
our faith owes deference to the apostle, who forbids us to enter on 'questions,' or to lend our ears to new-fangled statements, or to consort with a heretic 'after the first and second admonition,' not, (be it observed,) after discussion.The Prescription Against Heretics
"For wherever it shall be manifest that the true Christian rule and faith shall be, there will likewise be the true Scriptures and expositions thereof, and all the Christian traditions. Chapter XX.-Christ First Delivered the Faith. The Apostles Spread It; They Founded Churches as the Depositories Thereof. That Faith, Therefore, is Apostolic, Which Descended from the Apostles, Through Apostolic Churches.The Prescription Against Heretics
We hold communion with the apostolic churches because our doctrine is in no respect different from theirs. This is our witness of truth. Chapter XXII.-Attempt to Invalidate This Rule of Faith Rebutted. The Apostles Safe Transmitters of the Truth. Sufficiently Taught at First, and Faithful in the Transmission.The Prescription Against Heretics
If in these lie their resources, before they can use them, it ought to be clearly seen to whom belongs the possession of the Scriptures, that none may be admitted to the use thereof who has no title at all to the privilege. Chapter XVI.-Apostolic Sanction to This Exclusion of Heretics from the Use of the Scriptures, Heretics, According to the Apostle, are Not to Be Disputed With, But to Be Admonished.The Prescription Against Heretics
Though most skilled in the Scriptures, you will make no progress, when everything which you maintain is denied on the other side, and whatever you deny is (by them) maintained. As for yourself, indeed, you will lose nothing but your breath, and gain nothing but vexation from their blasphemy. Chapter XVIII.-Great Evil Ensues to the Weak in Faith, from Any Discussion Out of the Scriptures.The Prescription Against Heretics
In the same way heresies, too, come from our plant, although not of our kind; (they come) from the grain of truth, but, owing to their falsehood, they have only wild leaves to show. Chapter XXXVII.-Heretics Not Being Christians, But Rather Perverters of Christ's Teaching, May Not Claim the Christian Scriptures. These are a Deposit, Committed to and Carefully Kept by the Church.The Prescription Against Heretics
The source of the Western doctrine of tradition and apostolic succession, and the position most often turned against its author, who later appealed to the Paraclete over the bishops.