PREFACE.

Church discouraged their optional use, but that she objected to their being imposed of necessity c. ibid. ch. 13: "You answer that these things are to be done by choice, not by command.". The picture which he himself gives of the penitence publicly imposed d. de Pœnit. ch. 9, 11., and the nature of the offenses which were visited by excommunication, certainly imply no relaxation of discipline; nor does it appear clearly that the Montanists followed out their own principles so as to exclude all guilty of mortal sin from reconciliation with the Church. The only cases which he presses are sins of the flesh e. de Pudic. ch. 19, 21. He declares them unpardonable as being "sins unto death" (1 John 5:16). "You have no choice left, but either to deny that adultery and fornication are mortal sins, or to confess that they are unforgivable, for which it is not even permitted to pray." He does not, however, specify other mortal sins.. Again, how few, comparatively, were the cases of second marriages at all times; and the widowed state, which the Montanists would enforce, was already held in honor by the Church. Yet this slight increase in fasting, the prohibition of second marriages, the extension of an already strict discipline, and the denial of the right to flee in persecution were the only outward temptations to forsake the Church. On the other hand, they for whom he forsook it had early the reputation of "making a gain of godliness," systematically levying money on their followers under the guise of Oblations—and that even from the poor, the orphans, and the widows—along with other acts of luxury, pomp, avarice, and dissipation f. Apollonius, who wrote about A.D. 211 (in Eusebius, Hist. Eccl. 5.18), says: "But who is this upstart teacher [Montanus]? His deeds and teaching show one... It was he who appointed people to levy money, who under the name of offerings devised the new way of getting bribes, who supplies salaries to those that preach his doctrine, so that by gluttony the teaching of that doctrine may gain support." He continues: "If they maintain that their prophets have not received presents, let them acknowledge this: that if convicted of having received them, they are no prophets; and then we will bring proofs innumerable that they have received them. And since all the fruits of a prophet must needs be put to the test, tell me, does a prophet dye his hair? Does a prophet blacken his eyebrows? Is a prophet fond of dress? Does a prophet play with tables and dice? Does a prophet lend on usury? Let them confess whether these things are lawful or not; and that they have taken place with them I will prove." And of the prophetesses Priscilla and Maximilla: "We show then that these very first prophetesses, from the time that they were filled with the Spirit, left their husbands... Think you not that all Scripture forbids a prophet to receive gifts or money? When then I see that a prophetess has received both gold and silver and costly apparel, how shall I do else than reject her?". Tertullian himself also joined them