Chapter 3
TERTULLIAN
enjoined? But 'Whatever is not forbidden is, without question, allowed.' Rather do I say: 'Whatever is not specifically permitted is forbidden.'
Chapter 3 (1) Now, how long shall we saw away along the same line on this question, when we have a long-standing practice, which by anticipation has all but settled the question? Even though no scriptural passage prescribes it, it is strengthened by custom which certainly arose from tradition. How can anything become normal practice if it has not first been handed down to us? But, you tell me: 'You must always have a written source if you are going to plead the force of tradition.'
(2) Let us look into the matter, then, whether or not a tradition without a written source should be accepted. The answer will certainly be 'No' if we cannot adduce examples of other observances which are without written source in Scrip ture, and rest solely on the the basis of tradition and yet have come to have the force of custom. To begin, for instance, with baptism: When we are about to enter the water, and, as a matter of fact, even a short while before, we declare in the presence of the congregation before the bishop that we renounce the Devil, his pomps, and his angels.1 (3) After that, we are immersed in the water three times,2 making a 1 Cf. Spectacles 4.1.
2 Immersion was the most ancient form usually employed in conferring baptism. The candidate was immersed thrice in the name of the Trinity. In the case of the sick and dying, however, the sacrament was conferred by pouring or aspersion. Pouring gradually prevailed in the Western Church.
THE CHAPLET
somewhat fuller pledge than the Lord has prescribed in the Gospel.3 After this, having stepped forth from the font, we are given a taste of a mixture of milk and honey4 5 and from that day, for a whole week, we forego our daily bath. We also receive the sacrament of the Eucharist which the Lord entrusted to all at the hour for supper,0 at our early morning meetings, and then from the hand of none but the bishops.
Further, we make offerings for the dead on their anniversary to celebrate their birthday [of eternal life].6
(4) We consider fasting, or kneeling during service, on Sundays to be unlawful, and we enjoy the same privilege from Easter until Pentecost. We also are upset if any of our bread or wine falls to the earth [at the Lord's Supper].
Lastly, we make the sign of the cross on our foreheads at every turn, at our going in or coming out of the house, while dressing, while putting on our shoes, when we are taking a bath, before and after meals, when we light the lamps, when we go to bed or sit down, and in all the ordinary actions of daily life.
3 Tertullian probably means that the answers of the candidate to the interrogations on his faith -go somewhat beyond the baptismal formula given by Christ to His disciples in Matt. 28.19.
4 Cf. 1 Cor. 3.2; 1 Peter 2.2; Heb. 5.12-14. The custom of giving to the newly baptized a mixture of milk and honey survived in Africa,
Egypt, and Italy until the fifth century.
5 Cf. 1 Cor. 11.23-25; Matt. 26.27; Mark 14.23.
6 The offering for the dead is the Eucharistic sacrifice. The early Christians looked upon death as a birth and upon the day of death as the birthday for heaven. The day of St. Polycarp's martyrdom, for instance, is called his 'birthday' (The Martyrdom of Polycarp 18.3).
Cf. A. C. Rush, Death and Burial in Christian Antiquity (Washing ton, D.C. 1941) 72-87.