PREFACE.

of God, but denied the God to Whom they belonged; he presupposed that, until they were taught, Christians had not known Whose Christ it was Whose Name they bores. But in this way, he seems to have habituated himself to regard Apostolic tradition as identical with the “rule of faith” or the Creed, so that whatever did not contradict this might, even if held by the whole Church, be contradicted or corrected. This he lays down after the summary of the Apostles' Creed, which he gives as a Montanistt: “This law of faith remaining, all other matters of faith and conduct admit of the novelty of correction, the grace of God namely working and advancing unto the end. For what kind of thing would it be if, whereas the devil ever works and daily adds to the inventions of iniquity, the work of God should either have ceased or failed to advance!” And againu, he represents the Montanists as aggrieved because they were blamed for new doctrines which did not touch on these points: “These raise disputes against the Paraclete; for this are the new prophecies rejected—not because Montanus and Priscilla and Maximilla preach another God, or annul Christ Jesus, or overthrow any rule of faith or hope, but because they teach us to fast oftener than to marry.” And elsewherex, he distinctly lays down that no change in discipline can be heretical, except it flow from heresy in doctrine: “They reproach the discipline of single-marriage as a heresy. Nor are they reduced to deny the Paraclete so much on any ground, as that they think He is the Framer of a new discipline, and that most burdensome to them”—and then

s. On Prescription against Heretics, ch. 29.
t. On the Veiling of Virgins, ch. 1. See more below in Notice on "Prescription against Heretics," p. 434.
u. On Fasting, ch. 1. Add ch. 11: “Undoubtedly heresy and false prophecy will among us, who are all ministers [antistites] of One God, the Creator, and of His Christ, be judged such by differing as to the Godhead, and therefore I maintain this position unconcerned, leaving them to choose their own point of attack. You say, carnal one, ‘it is the spirit of the devil.’ How then does it command duties to our God, to be offered to none but our God? Either maintain that the devil takes part with our God, or let Satan be accounted the Paraclete.”
x. On Monogamy, ch. 2. See further p. 434 and the introduction, where he distinguishes: 1) Catholics, 2) Montanists, 3) heretics. “The heretics take away, the Carnal heap up marriages.—But among us, whom the recognizing of spiritual gifts rightly causes to be termed ‘spiritual.’”