In words immediately following, at the beginning of Chapter 4,
Tertullian says: "If for these and other such rules you insist upon
having positive Scriptural injunction, you will find none. Tradition
will be held forth to you as the originator of them, custom as their
strengthener, and faith as their observer."

According to this confession, all the ceremonial observances here
set forth are without Scriptural authority. When we read in the
New Testament concerning the simple act of baptizing believers, and
compare it with the customs and practises that had grown up in the
Ante-Nicene church, we do not wonder that evangelical faith was soon
afterwards almost entirely lost in ritualistic forms; that, like the
Pharisees of old, men made the faith of God of none effect by their
traditions.

[Sidenote: False doctrines and heresies]

Another evidence of the decline of evangelical faith is found in
the presence of many false doctrines among the leaders of so-called
orthodox Christianity in that period of which I now write. Paul not
only taught that at a later time some should "depart from the faith,
giving heed to seducing spirits and devils" (1 Tim. 4:1), but he
referred to some who had already "erred concerning the faith" (1 Tim.
6:21), and named two persons, 'who, concerning the truth, had erred,
saying that the resurrection was past already, and overthrew the faith
of some' (2 Tim. 2:18). After the death of the apostles, error made
deeper inroads, and its baneful influence cast a shadow over the
church, which rapidly deepened into the darkness of spiritual night.