12mo. XXXIV,423,6,(1 blank) p. Marbled calf 17.5 cm (Ref: Ebert 22582, cf. Brunet 5,730) (Details: Latin text and French translation. Back gilt, a gilt corn sheaf in 2 'compartments', and a red morocco shield. Endpapers & edges marbled. Woodcut ornament on the title. Excellent paper) (Condition: Small old paper label on the head of spine. Front joint starting to split) (Note: Not much is known about the beginning of christianity in the Roman province Africa. The first fact is the death in Carthago, the capital of Africa, of some Christian martyrs from the city of Scilli in 180 AD. With the work of Q. Septimius Florens Tertullianus the church in Africa enters the full light of history. He was born in Carthago ca. 160, studied law and rhetoric in Rome, and became, after the return to his native city, a prominent and vigorous defender of the new faith. Tertullian is considered to be the founder of Western theology. His earliest work, called Apologeticum according to the oldest manuscripts, or Apologeticus according to Hieronymus (Ep. 70), is 'einer der bedeutendsten und glänzendsten Werke Tertullians.' (Bardenhewer 2,399) It was written ca. 197, and in it we find a clear picture of the organisation and the method of working of the Christian community in Carthago, with their bishops, priests, deacons, and lectores, baptized believers, and catechumeni, new members not yet baptized. The persecution of christians inspired Tertullian to write the Apologeticum, in which he examined the foundation in Roman law of the persecutions. In this text, addressed to the magistrates of the province of Africa, Tertullian attacks also the pagan cults, and makes it clear that Christians are loyal citizens of Rome. He argues that the persecution of Christians has no legal foundation, and that laws which are iniquitous for christians should be abolished. First he refutes the allegations of immoral hidden rites (occulta facinora), for instance infanticide, Thyestian meals, or incest; he defends the christians against the accusation of neglect of the traditional worship and of sacrifices and prayers to the state gods on behalf of the Emperor on the ground that there is only one God, and that false gods deserve no worship. Of singular beauty and effect is Tertullian's description of parish life of the christians in chapter 39. Christians are not bad citizens, their strict moral code makes them refrain from the things which the law forbids. In the last chapters he rejects the idea that christianity is a kind of philosophy. The christian creed is a divine revelation, and superior to human philosophy. § Besides the Latin text and French translation of the Apologeticum, this volume of 1780 contains also a text and translation of Tertullian's De praescriptionibus adversus Haereticos. We quote Rose about this treatise: 'Heresy was always an especial bugbear of Tertullian, and he set out fairly early (about 200) to define it. Like a true lawyer, he laid down a praescriptio, otherwise known as an exceptio, an objection to be raised which, if sustained, would save the controversialist the trouble of any further inquiry into the merits of his opponent's case. Can the propounder of the new doctrine trace it back to the Apostles? If so, it is Catholic teaching; if not, it is heresy, and there the matter ends. Hence the title of his work, de praescriptione haereticorum. (H.J. Rose, A Handbook of Latin literature, London, 1967, p. 474). The Frenchman De Gourcy, 1709-1805, was a successful defender of christianity in an age of enlightenment and growing atheism and deism. The two masterpieces of Tertullian, 'le plus mâle peut-être & le plus vigoureux, dont l'antiquité sainte puisse se glorifier' (Préface p. III) were translated by him under the auspices of the Catholic Church. Like Tertullian, who wanted to immunize christians against heresy, De Gourcy tried to immunize against protestantism and atheism. He was 'un des ecclésiastiques que l'assemblée du clergé de France employa pour écrire contre les nouveaux philosophes, à l'époque où ils inondaient l'Europe de leurs livres antireligieux. (...) Le caractère des ouvrages de l'abbé de Gourcy est la méthode et la netteté des idées. Son style est simple et sa critique judicieuse, ses raisonnements sont solides et ses connaissances étendues.' He published also on Descartes (1765), the laws of Lycurgus (1768), Rousseau (1772), and Suite des anciens apologistes de la religion chrétienne, traduits et analysés (1785). (Biographie Universelle (Michaud) Ancienne et Moderne. Nouvelle édition, Tome 17, Paris, n.d., 246/47) His translation of Tertullian found several reprints) (Collation: a12, b6 (minus leaf b6); A - S12 (Leaf S11 verso and S12 blank)) (Photographs on request)