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Direct Answer Tertullian portrays “truth” as not dependent on earthly courts for her home, honor, or reward, yet he insists rulers still have a duty to hear facts before condemning. Christians, then, should persist in respectful witness—seeking a fair hearing and speaking truth—without acting as if God’s cause rises or falls with earthly power.

Support from Transcript:

• He tells rulers they are “afraid to openly inquire into… the real truth,” and Christians are often not “permitted to defend ourselves.”
• He says, “Truth has no appeals… She knows that she is but a sojourner on the earth… her… hope… recompense… honors are above.”
• Yet “there is one thing that truth anxiously desires… that is not to be condemned unknown.”
• He argues justice requires “public inquiry with the carefulness which becomes justice” and calls it wrong to “condemn anybody undefended and unheard.”
• He still sends truth by “the secret pathway of this silent book,” implying patient, orderly testimony even when denied a platform.