The Passion of the Holy Martyrs Perpetua and Felicitas.

Preface.1    [Both Perpetua and Felicitas were evidently Montanistic in character and impressions, but, the fact that they have never been reputed other than Catholic, goes far to explain Tertullian’s position for years after he had withdrawn from communion with the vacillating Victor.]

If ancient illustrations of faith which both testify to God’s grace and tend to man’s edification are collected in writing, so that by the perusal of them, as if by the reproduction of the facts, as well God may be honoured, as man may be strengthened; why should not new instances be also collected, that shall be equally suitable for both purposes,—if only on the ground that these modern examples will one day become ancient and available for posterity, although in their present time they are esteemed of less authority, by reason of the presumed veneration for antiquity? But let men look to it, if they judge the power of the Holy Spirit to be one, according to the times and seasons; since some things of later date must be esteemed of more account as being nearer to the very last times, in accordance with the exuberance of grace manifested to the final periods determined for the world. For “in the last days, saith the Lord, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh; and their sons and their daughters shall prophesy. And upon my servants and my handmaidens will I pour out of my Spirit; and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams.”2    Joel ii. 28, 29. [The quotation here is a note of Montanistic prepossessions in the writer.] And thus we—who both acknowledge and reverence, even as we do the prophecies, modern visions as equally promised to us, and consider the other powers of the Holy Spirit as an agency of the Church for which also He was sent, administering all gifts in all, even as the Lord distributed to every one3    [Routh notes this as undoubted evidence of a Montanistic author.  Reliquiæ, Vol. I. p. 455.] as well needfully collect them in writing, as commemorate them in reading to God’s glory; that so no weakness or despondency of faith may suppose that the divine grace abode only among the ancients, whether in respect of the condescension that raised up martyrs, or that gave revelations; since God always carries into effect what He has promised, for a testimony to unbelievers, to believers for a benefit.  And we therefore, what we have heard and handled, declare also to you, brethren and little children, that as well you who were concerned in these matters may be reminded of them again to the glory of the Lord, as that you who know them by report may have communion with the blessed martyrs, and through them with the Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be glory and honour, for ever and ever.4    [St. Augustine takes pains to remind us that these Acta are not canonical. De Anima, cap. 2, opp. Tom. x. p. 481.] Amen.

PRAEFATIO.

0013C Si vetera fidei exempla, et Dei gratiam testificantia 0014C et aedificationem hominis operantia, propterea in litteris 0015A sunt digesta, ut lectione eorum, quasi repensitatione rerum, et Deus honoretur et homo confortetur; cur non et nova documenta aeque utrique causae convenientia et digerantur? vel quia et haec vetera futura quandoque sunt et necessaria posteris, si in praesenti suo tempore minori deputantur auctoritati propter praesumptam venerationem antiquitatis. Sed viderint qui unam virtutem Spiritus unius sancti, pro aetatibus judicent temporum, quum majora reputanda sint novitiora quaeque ut novissimiora, secundum exuberationem gratiae in ultima saeculi spatia decreta. In novissimis enim diebus, dicit Dominus, effundam de Spiritu meo super omnem carnem; et prophetabunt filii filiaeque eorum. Et super servos et ancillas meas de meo Spiritu effundam: et juvenes visiones 0015B videbunt, et senes somnia somniabunt (Joel, II, 18, 19; Act., II, 17, 18) Itaque et nos qui sicut prophetias, ita et visiones novas pariter repromissas et agnoscimus et honoramus, ceterasque virtutes Spiritus sancti ad instrumentum Ecclesiae deputamus, cui et missus est idem omnia donativa administrans in omnibus, prout unicuique distribuit Dominus, 0016A necessario et digerimus, et ad gloriam Dei lectione celebramus; ut ne qua aut imbecillitas aut desperatio fidei apud veteres tantum aestimet gratiam divinitatis conversatam, sive martyrum, sive in revelationum dignatione: cum semper Deus operetur quae repromisit, non credentibus in testimonium, credentibus in beneficium. Et nos itaque, quod audivimus et contrectavimus annuntiamus et vobis, fratres et filioli, ut et vos qui interfuistis, rememoremini gloriae Domini, et, qui nunc cognoscitis per auditum, communionem habeatis cum sanctis martyribus, et per illos cum Domino Jesu Christo, cui est claritas et honor in saecula saeculorum. Amen.