Chapter 11

to this very hour. But, when I suffer, I shall be a freed-man of Jesus Christ, and shall rise free in Him. Now I am learning in my bonds to put away every desire.

"5. From Syria even to Rome I fight with wild beasts; by land and sea, by night and by day, being bound amidst ten leopards, even a company of soldiers, who only become worse when they are kindly treated. Howbeit through their wrong-doings I am become more completely a disciple, yet am I not hereby justified. May I have joy of the beasts that have been prepared for me; and I pray that I may find them prompt; nay, I will entice them that they may devour me promptly, not as they have done to some, refusing to touch them through fear. Yea, though of themselves they should not be willing while I am ready, I myself will force them to it. Bear with me, I know what is expedient for me. Now am I beginning to be a disciple. May nought of things visible and things invisible envy me, that I may attain unto Jesus Christ. Come fire and cross, and grapplings with wild beasts, cuttings and manglings, wrenching of bones, hacking of limbs, crushings of my whole body, come cruel tortures of the devil to assail me, only be it mine to attain to Jesus Christ.

"6. The farthest bounds of the universe shall profit me nothing, neither the kingdoms of this world. It is good for me to die for Jesus Christ, rather than to reign over the farthest bounds of the earth. I seek Him who died on our behalf, I desire Him who rose again for our sake. My birth-pangs are at hand. Pardon me, brethren, do not hinder me from living. Do not wish to keep me in a state of death, while I desire to belong to God; do not give me over to the world, neither allure me with material things. Suffer me to obtain pure light; when I have gone thither, then shall I be a man. Permit me to be an imitator of the passion of my God. If any man has Him within himself, let him consider what I desire, and let him have sympathy with me, as knowing how I am straitened.

"7. The prince of this world would fain seize me, and corrupt my disposition towards God. Let not any of you, therefore, that are near abet him. Rather be ye on my side, that is, on God's side. Do not speak of Jesus Christ and set your desires on the world. Let not envy dwell among you. Even though I myself, when I am with you, should beseech you, obey me not, but rather give credit to those things which I now write. My earthly passion has been crucified, and there is no fire of material longing in me; but there is within me a water that lives and speaks, saying to me inwardly, 'Come to the Father.' I have no delight in the food of corruption, or in the delights of this life. I desire the bread of God, which is the flesh of Christ, who was of the seed of David; and for a draught I desire His blood, which is love incorruptible.

"8. I desire no longer to live after the manner of men; and this shall be, if ye desire it. Be ye willing, then, that ye also may be desired. In a brief letter I beseech you, do ye give credit to me. Jesus Christ will reveal these things to you, so that ye shall know that I speak the truth--Jesus Christ the unerring mouth by which the Father has spoken truly. Pray for me that I may attain the object of my desire. I write not unto you after the flesh, but after the mind of God. If I shall suffer, it was your desire; but if I am rejected, ye have hated me.

"9. Remember in your prayers the Church which is in Syria, which has God for its shepherd in my stead. Jesus Christ alone shall be its bishop, He and your love; but for myself, I am ashamed to be called one of them; for neither am I worthy, being the very last of them and an untimely birth; but I have found mercy that I should be some one, if so I shall attain unto God. My spirit salutes you, and the love of the Churches which received me in the name of Jesus Christ, not as a mere wayfarer; for even those Churches which did not lie on my route after the flesh, went before me from city to city.

"10. Now I write these things to you from Smyrna, by the hand of the Ephesians, who are worthy of all felicitation. And Crocus also, a name very dear to me, is with me, with many others besides.

"11. As touching those who went before me from Syria to Rome, to the glory of God, I believe that ye have received instructions; whom also apprize that I am near, for they all are worthy of God and of you, and it becomes you to refresh them in all things. These things I write to you on the 9th before the Kalends of September. Fare-ye-well unto the end in the patient waiting for Jesus Christ."

This letter is a strange mixture of silly babblement, mysticism, and fanaticism; but throughout it wants the true ring of an honest correspondence. Why does the writer describe himself as the _Bishop of Syria_, and why does he never once mention _Antioch_ from beginning to end? When an apostle was imprisoned, his brethren prayed for his release (Acts xii. 5); but this Ignatius forbade the Christians at Rome to make any attempt to save him from martyrdom. Paul taught that he might give his body to be burned, and yet after all be a reprobate (1 Cor. xiii. 3); but this Ignatius indicates that all would be well with him, if he had the good fortune to be eaten by the lions. His letter is pervaded, not by the enlightened and cheerful piety of the New Testament, but by the gloomy and repulsive spirit of Montanism. Bishop Lightfoot tells us that it had "a wider popularity than the other letters of Ignatius" (vol. ii, § i. p. 186). It was accommodated to the taste of an age of deteriorated Christianity. Polycarp would have sternly condemned its extravagance. But, in the early part of the third century, the tone of public sentiment in the Christian Church was greatly changed, and the writings of Tertullian contributed much to give encouragement to such productions as the Ignatian Epistles. Tertullian, however, in his numerous writings, never once names Ignatius. It would appear that he had never heard of these letters.

[ENDNOTES]

[2:1] Carwithen, _Hist. Ch. of England_, i. 554, 2nd ed.

[2:2] _Instit._ I. c. xiii. § 29. "There is," says Calvin, "nothing more abominable than that trash which is in circulation under the name of Ignatius."

[3:1] _The Apostolic Fathers_, Part II., S. Ignatius, S. Polycarp. Revised texts, with Introductions, Notes, Dissertations, and Translations. By J. B. Lightfoot, D.D., D.C.L., LL.D., Bishop of Durham. London 1885.

[4:1] _Expositor_ for Dec. 1885, p. 401. London, Hodder & Stoughton.

[6:1] Vol. i. p. 316.

[6:2] Pref. I. vii.

[6:3] Vol. i. p. 107.

[7:1] Monk's _Life of Bentley_, ii. p. 44, ed. 1833. Monk adds, that the affair was "the talk of the Long Vacation"--a clear proof that the truth of the statement was indisputable.

[7:2] See my _Old Catholic Church_, p. 398, Edinburgh 1871; and Appendix No. 1 to this Reply.

[7:3] Vol. i. p. 321, note.

[8:1] Vol. i. p. 316.

[8:2] Vol. i. p. 321.

[8:3] Vol. i. p. 320.

[9:1] See _Expositor_ for Dec. 1885, p. 403.

[9:2] Vol. ii. sec. i. p. 436.

[10:1] Vol. i. p.345.

[11:1] Vol. i. p. 331.

[11:2] See Lightfoot, vol. i. p. 131.

[12:1] See _Expositor_ for Dec. 1885, p. 404.

[13:1] Page v.

[15:1] Preface, p. vi.

[16:1] _Contra Haer._ iii. 3. 4.

[16:2] Vol. ii. sec. i. p. 446.

[16:3] _Ibid._

[17:1] Vol. i. p. 380. He says elsewhere "almost simultaneously," vol. i. p. 382.

[17:2] § 4, 5, 6. It is worthy of remark that Eusebius notices the letter of Polycarp, not along with the Ignatian Epistles, but in connection with the beginning of the reign of Marcus Aurelius. See Eusebius, Book IV. chap. xiv.

[18:1] The words "for kings" of this part of the letter are extant only in a Latin version. The passage in the Latin stands thus: "Orate etiam, pro regibus et potestatibus et principibus."

[18:2] As the great monarch of Assyria surveyed the potentates under his dominion, he was tempted to exclaim vaingloriously, "Are not my princes all of them kings?" Isa. x. 8, Revised Version. The emperor of Rome might have uttered the same proud boast.

[18:3] Vol. i. p. 576.

[18:4] _Ibid._ In support of this view Dr. Lightfoot appeals to 1 Tim ii. 2, where the apostle says that "supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks," as circumstances required, should be made "for kings and all that are in authority." Paul is here giving general directions suited to all time; but Polycarp is addressing himself to the Philippians, and furnishing them with instructions adapted to their existing condition.

[19:1] Vol. i. p. 407

[21:1] § 13. This part of the letter is only extant in the Latin version. Its words are: "De ipso Ignatio, et _de his qui cum eo sunt_, quod certius agnoveritis, significate." Dr. Lightfoot admits that "it was made from an older form of the Greek" than any of the existing Greek MSS., vol. ii. § ii. p. 201. He vainly tries to prove that the words "qui cum eo sunt" must be a mistranslation. They do not suit his theory. They imply that Ignatius and his party were still living when the letter was written.

[21:3] See Dr. Lightfoot, vol. i. p. 23, and Zahn, _Ignatius von Antiochien_, pp. 28 and 401.

[21:4] This road was several hundred miles in length.

[22:2] Vol. ii. sec. ii. p. 921, note.

[23:1] "Si quis vadit ad Syriam, deferat literas meas, quas fecero ad vos." This is the reading of the old Latin version, which, as Dr. Lightfoot tells us, "is sometimes useful for correcting the text of the extant Greek MSS." Vol. ii. sec. ii. p. 901. Even some of the Greek MSS. read, not [Greek: par humon] but [Greek: par haemon]. This reading is found in some copies of Eusebius and in Nicephorus, and is followed by Rufinus. See Jacobson, _Pat. Apost._ ii. 488, note.

[24:1] The apostles and elders assembled at Jerusalem directed their letters to the brethren "in _Antioch_, and Syria, and Cilicia," Acts xv. 23; but, according to Dr. Lightfoot and his supporters, Ignatius ignores his own city, though one of the greatest in the empire, and remembers only the province to which it belonged!

[25:1] Epistle to Polycarp, § 7.

[26:1] The words may be literally translated, "If any one is going to Syria, he might convey to you my letters which I shall have finished," that is, which I have ready. Friendly letters were then generally much longer than in our day, as the opportunities of transmitting them were few; and much longer time was occupied in their preparation.

[27:1] [Greek: Psuria]--see the _Iliad_ and _Odyssey_, by J. B. Friedreich, p. 64. Erlangen 1856. It is mentioned by Homer in the _Odyssey_, lib. iii. 171. See also Dunbar's _Greek Lexicon_, art. [Greek: Psuria].

[27:2] Mr. Gladstone has remarked that "the [Greek: Suriae naesos], or Syros, has the same bearing in respect to Delos as [Greek: Psuriae] in respect to Chios."--_Studies on Homer_, vol. iii. 333, note.

[28:1] See Homer, _Odyssey_, xv. 402. See the note in the _Odyssey_, by F. H. Rothe, pp. 233-34. Leipsic 1834. In the Latin version of Strabo we have these words: "Videtur sub-Syriae nomine mentionem facere Homerus his quidem verbis:--

'Ortygiam supra Syria est quaedam insula.'"

Strabo, _Rer. Geog._ lib. x. p. 711. Oxford 1807. The passage in Homer is thus rendered by Chapman:--

"There is an isle above Ortygia, If thou hast heard, they call it Syria."

The present inhabitants of this island call themselves [Greek: Surianoi] or Syrians. See Smith's _Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography_, art. "Syros."

[28:2] Bingham's _Origines Ecclesiasticae_, iii. 196. London 1840.

[28:3] Smith's _Assyrian Discoveries_, p. 22. London 1875.

[29:1] Smith, p. 21.

[29:2] Dr. Lightfoot imagines that he has discovered a wonderful confirmation of his views in the word "likewise" which here occurs (vol. i. p. 574). It is not easy to see the force of his argument; but, with the explanations given in the text, the word has peculiar significance. It implies that whilst the messenger was to carry the letters from Smyrna to Syria, he was _also_, or likewise, to bring back Smyrna the letters sent to Syria from Philippi.

[30:1] Ignatius to the Smyrnaeans, § 11.

[30:2] Zahn speaks of the mission to Antioch as "senseless, even considering the time of the year."--_Ignatius von Antiochien_, p. 287.

[34:1] I was myself so much impressed at one time by Dr. Lightfoot's reasoning in the _Contemporary Review_ (May 1875), that I actually adopted his reckoning as to the date of Polycarp's death in a late edition of my _Ancient Church_; but, on more mature consideration, I have found it to be quite untenable.

[34:2] Vol. i. p. 629.

[34:3] Vol. i. pp. 629, 630.

[35:1] Vol. i. p. 630.

[37:1] Lightfoot, vol. i. p. 632.

[37:2] _Ibid._

[37:3] Vol. i. p. 148.

[37:4] _Vita Malchi_, Opera iv. pp. 90, 91. Paris 1706.

[38:1] Döllinger's _Hippolytus and Callistus_, by Plummer, pp. 79, 80. Edinburgh 1876.

[38:2] Vol. i. p. 633.

[39:1] Dr. Lightfoot is not supported in his chronology by his favourite Zahn, who places the date of the martyrdom of Polycarp after the death of Peregrinus, in A.D. 165.--_Ignatius von Antiochien_, p. 517.

[40:1] Vol. i. p. 451.

[40:2] Vol. i. p. 635.

[41:1] Vol. i. p. 640.

[41:2] Vol. i. pp. 639, 640.

[42:1] Vol. i. 610.

[42:2] _Ibid._ Even the manuscript authorities of this postscript differ as to the name. According to some, the prenomen was _Statius_; according to others, _Stratius_; according to another, _Tatius_; whilst in another the name is omitted altogether. See Lightfoot, vol. i. p. 656, note; vol. ii. sec. ii. p. 984; see also Jacobson, ii. p. 593.

[43:1] It is probable that the postscript was written many years after the event; and, under these circumstances, the writer may have mistaken the name of the proconsul at the time. Eusebius seems to have known nothing of this postscript, and it is now impossible to tell when it was added.

[43:2] Ummidius Quadratus, in A.D. 167, was associated with the Emperor Lucius Verus in the consulship; and it would appear that about A.D. 169--on the ground of exceptional ability and influence--he was appointed to the proconsulship of Asia.

[43:3] Vol. i. pp. 460, 463. In another case we find the proconsul _Sergius_ Paulus styled incorrectly _Servillius_ Paullus, vol. i. p. 494. See also i. p. 508.

[44:1] It is stated in this same postscript, that "Philip of Tralles was high priest," or Asiarch, at the time of the martyrdom of Polycarp. From this fact Dr. Lightfoot has endeavoured to derive support for his chronology. His argument is, however, quite inconclusive. The dignity of Asiarch could be enjoyed only by the very rich, as none others could sustain the expense of it; and the same individual might hold it for years together, as well as again and again. The Philip of whom Dr. Lightfoot speaks, had a son of the same name, who may also have been high priest or Asiarch. See Lightfoot, vol. i. pp. 612, 613, 615, 616.

[44:2] Euseb. iv.

[45:1] Vol. i. p. 443.

[45:2] Vol. i. p. 343.

[45:3] Vol. i. pp. 443-44.

[46:1] Vol. i. p. 510.

[46:2] § 2.

[46:3] See Neander, i. p. 147. Edinburgh 1847.

[46:4] Neander, i. p. 146.

[47:1] Antoninus Pius became emperor in A.D. 138.--Lightfoot, i. p. 703. Hadrian died on the 10th of July of that year.--_Ibid._

[47:2] Book iv. 10.

[47:3] Book iv. 11. Dr. Lightfoot states that Eusebius had lists of Roman and Alexandrian bishops, "giving the lengths of their respective terms of office," vol. ii. sec. i. p. 451. It is said that Hippolytus was the first who ever made a chronological list of the Bishops of Rome.--Döllinger's _Hippolytus and Callistus_, p. 337.

[50:1] § 8, 9.

[50:2] Vol. i. p. 703.

[50:3] Vol. i. p. 650.

[51:1] Vol. i. p. 273.

[53:1] _Contra Haer._ lib. v. c. 28. §4.

[54:1] Dr. Lightfoot seems to have been in a condition of strange forgetfulness when he asks, "Why does not Irenaeus quote Polycarp's Epistle?"--vol. i. p. 328. The simple answer is that he mentions the Epistle, and quotes Polycarp by name as a witness against the heretics. _Contra Haer._ book iii. c. 3. § 4.

[55:1] Eusebius, v. c. i. The writer here mentions a number of individuals by name, who were at this time "led into the amphitheatre to the wild beasts."

[55:2] Professor Harnack says: "If we do not retain the Epistle of Polycarp, then we must allow that _the external evidence on behalf of the Ignatian Epistles is exceedingly weak, and hence is highly favourable to the suspicion that they are spurious."--Expositor_ for Jan. 1886, p. 11. We have seen, however, that the Epistle of Polycarp furnishes no evidence in their favour. See Chap. II.

[56:1] Vol. i. p. 578.

[57:1] Vol. i. p. 579.

[57:2] Vol. i. p. 580.

[57:3] Vol. i. p. 39.

[57:4] Vol. i. p. 583.

[57:5] To the Trallians, § 10.

[58:1] To the Romans, § 5.

[58:2] To the Trallians, § 4.

[58:3] To the Smyrnaeans, § 4.

[58:4] To the Romans, § 4.

[58:5] Letter of the Smyrnaeans relating to the death of Polycarp, § 4.

[58:6] To the Smyrnaeans, § 9.

[58:7] Polycarp to the Philippians, Section § 1, 5, 10.

[58:8] § 4, 6.

[59:1] To the Philad. § 3. To the Smyrnaeans, § 9. To Polycarp, § 6.

[59:2] _The Ancient Church_, Period II. sec. ii. chap. ii., iii.

[59:3] _Epistle to the Philippians_, pp. 181-269.

[60:1] Vol. i. p. 377.

[60:2] 1 Tim. i. 3, iii. 5.

[61:1] Acts xx. 28, 31.

[61:2] 1 Tim. iv. 14.

[62:1] _Comment. in Titum_.

[62:2] Gal. ii. 9.

[63:1] _Philippians._ Essay, pp. 216, 218.

[63:2] Dr. Lightfoot, as we have seen, here completely mistakes the date of the Epistle of Polycarp.

[63:3] _Philippians_, p. 226.

[63:4] _Ibid._ p. 227.

[63:5] _Ibid._ p. 226.

[64:1] See my _Ancient Church_, 4th edition, pp. 470-71. New York 1883.

[64:2] Vol. i. p. 377.

[64:3] It is quite clear that the bishops of whom Irenaeus speaks were not a distinct order from presbyters. Thus he says, "It is incumbent to obey the _presbyters_ who are in the Church, those who possess the succession from the apostles, and who together with the _succession of the episcopate_ have received the certain gift of truth." ... "It behoves us ... to adhere to those who ... hold the doctrine of the apostles, and who, together with _the order of the presbytery_, display sound speech and blameless conduct."--_Contra Haer._ lib. iv. c. 26, § 2, 4.

[65:1] _Irenicum_, part ii. chap. 7.

[65:2] _Contra Haer._ iii. 3, 4.

[65:3] "It is," says he, "at all events _not likely_," vol. i. p. 425.

[66:1] 1 Tim. i. 18.

[66:2] If he was eighty-six years of age at the time of his martyrdom in A.D. 169, he was born A.D. 83.

[67:1] Even Eusebius has given some countenance to this practice. See his _Evangelical Preparation_, xii. c. 31.

[68:1] Döllinger's _Hippolytus and Callistus_, p. 113.

[69:1] § 9. See this letter in Appendix II.

[70:1] Vol. i. p. 383. It is worthy of note that, in this Epistle to the Romans, Antioch is not named. Ignatius speaks of himself as "the bishop from Syria," § 2. He thus seeks to identify himself with the Ignatius mentioned in the Epistle of Polycarp, who speaks of sending letters to Syria.

[71:1] Vol. ii. sec. i. p. 186.

[72:1] Lightfoot, vol. ii. sec. i. pp. 435, 445.

[72:2] Vol. i. p. 46.

[73:1] Euseb. v. c. 24.

[74:1] Eph. § 6; Magn. § 6.

[74:2] Rom. § 4.

[74:3] Eph. § 12; Rom. § 4; Trallians, § 3.

[74:4] Eph. § 9.

[75:1] Polycarp, § 6.

[75:2] Smyrnaeans, § 5; Philad. § 6.

[75:3] _Philosophumena_, Book IX.

[75:4] Eph. § 1.

[75:5] Rom. § 6.

[76:1] Vol. i. p. 329.

[76:2] Philippians, p. 236.

[77:1] Cyprian could not sympathize with this Ignatius in his passion for martyrdom. The Bishop of Carthage incurred some odium by retiring to a place of safety in a time of persecution.

[77:2] Philippians, Essay 237.