III. 24.:
IV. 22, Prax. 30; Firmil. ep. 75. 7; alii). (2) Similarly, the divine
afflatus was, from the first, constantly designated as the "Paraclete"
(Orac. no. 5; Tertull. passim; Hippol. passim; Didymus etc.). (3) Even
in the third century the Montanist congregations of the Empire must
still have doubted whether the Apostles had possessed this Paraclete or
not, or at least whether this had been the case in the full sense.
Tertullian identifies the Spirit and the Paraclete and declares that the
Apostles possessed the latter in full measure--in fact as a Catholic he
could not do otherwise. Nevertheless he calls Montanus etc. "prophetae
proprii" of the Spirit (pudic. 12; see Acta Perpet. 21). On the contrary
we find in Philos. VIII. 19: [Greek: huper de apostolous kai pan
charisma tauta ta gunaia doxazouin, hos tolman pleion ti Christou en
toutois legein tinas auton gegoneai]. Pseudo-Tertullian says: "in
apostolis quidem dicunt spiritum sanctum fuisse, paracletum non fuisse,
et paracletum plura in Montano dixisse quam Christum in evangelio
protulisse." In Didymus, l.c., we read: [Greek: tou apostolou grapsantos
k.t.l., ekeinoi legousin ton Montanon eleluthenai kai eschekenai to
teleion to tou parakleton, tout' estin to tou agion pneumatos]. (4)
Lastly, the Montanists asserted that the prediction contained in John
XIV. ff. had been fulfilled in the new prophecy, and that from the
beginning, as is denoted by the very expression "Paraclete."

What sort of mission they ascribed to themselves is seen from the last
quoted passage, for the promises contained in it must be regarded as the
enthusiastic carrying out of Montanus' programme. If we read attentively
John XIV. 16-21, 23, 26: XV. 20-26: XVI. 7-15, 25 as well as XVII. and
X.; if we compare the oracles of the prophets still preserved to us; if
we consider the attempt of Montanus to gather the scattered Christians
and really form them into a flock, and also his claim to be the bearer
of the greatest and last revelations that lead to all truth; and,
finally, if we call to mind that in those Johannine discourses Christ
designated the coming of the Paraclete as his own coming in the
Paraclete and spoke of an immanence and unity of Father, Son, and
Paraclete, which one finds re-echoed in Montanus' Oracle No. V., we
cannot avoid concluding that the latter's undertaking is based on the
impression made on excited and impatient prophets by the promises
contained in the Gospel of