The Prescription Against Heretics. ¹

Of the various forms of the title of this treatise, de Praescriptione Haereticorum, de Praescriptionibus Haereticorum, de Praescriptionibus adversus Haereticos, the first is adopted by Oehler after the oldest authorities, such as the Liber Argobardinus and the Codex Paterniacensis (or Seletstadiensis), and the Editio Princeps of Rhenanus. The term praescriptio is a legal one, meaning a demurrer, or formal objection. The genitive haereticorum is used in an objective sense, as if adversus haereticos. Tertullian himself, in de Carne Christi, ii. says, "Sed plenius ejusmodi praescriptionibus adversus omnes haereses alibi jam usi sumus." The title therefore means, "On the Church's Prescriptive Rule against Heresies of all kinds." [Elucidation I.] ↩