1Rather than appeal to pagan literature, which its readers do not trust, Tertullian calls the simple, untaught human soul itself as a witness to Christian truth.
2Common sayings such as “If God wills” and “God will judge between us” show that the soul naturally knows one good God who judges, even while it worships idols.
3People's curses, calling others “demon” and naming Satan, show that the soul knows the demons and the devil, the author of the fall.
4The soul's habits of pitying, cursing, or blessing the dead, fearing death, and seeking posthumous fame show that it knows it survives death and faces judgment, and even hints at resurrection.
5The soul's testimony is natural and therefore divine, older than literature; and if it was learned from books at all, it came from the Scriptures, which are older than pagan writings.
6The soul's testimony is the same in every nation, so every soul will stand at the judgment both as witness to the truth and as defendant for rejecting it.
authentic · Undisputed work of Tertullian, transmitted under his name.
Older English translation
Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 3 (1885) (public domain, at CCEL; for comparison: our translation is made from the original first and checked against it afterwards)
Date
ca. 197–198 (approximate) · Written soon after the Apology (197), whose chapter 17 it develops.
Written at
Carthage, Africa Proconsularis (North Africa) (probable)
Language
Latin
Genre
apology
Reference system
chapter (as divided in CSEL); the section numbers of modern editions are not yet divided
SBL abbreviation
Test.
Clavis
CPL 4 (unverified)
Text from
August Reifferscheid and Georg Wissowa, eds., Quinti Septimi Florentis Tertulliani Opera, Pars 1, CSEL 20 (Prague: Tempsky; Vienna: Tempsky; Leipzig: Freytag, 1890), 134–143 (Printed edition in the public domain; digital text CC BY-SA 4.0)
Critical editions
Tertulliani Opera, Pars 1: Opera catholica; Adversus Marcionem, CCSL 1 (Turnhout: Brepols, 1954) (cited, not reproduced)