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diff --git a/8908-8.txt b/8908-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..1f2dbc2 --- /dev/null +++ b/8908-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2899 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Ignatian Epistles Entirely Spurious, by +William Dool Killen + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Ignatian Epistles Entirely Spurious + +Author: William Dool Killen + + +Release Date: September, 2005 [EBook #8908] +[This file was first posted on August 23, 2003] +Last Updated: May 8, 2013 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE IGNATIAN EPISTLES *** + + + + +Produced by Freethought Archives + + + + + + + +THE IGNATIAN EPISTLES ENTIRELY SPURIOUS. + +A Reply to The Right Rev. Dr. Lightfoot, Bishop of Durham. + +By W. D. Killen, D.D. Professor of Ecclesiastical History, and Principal +of the Presbyterian Theological Faculty, Ireland. + + + "As the account of the martyrdom of Ignatius may be justly + suspected, so, too, the letters which presuppose the correctness + of this suspicious legend do not wear at all a stamp of a distinct + individuality of character, and of a man of these times addressing + his last words to the Churches." + --AUGUSTUS NEANDER. + + +EDINBURGH + + +1886. + + + + +PREFACE. + + +This little volume is respectfully submitted to the candid consideration +of all who take an interest in theological inquiries, under the +impression that it will throw some additional light on a subject which +has long created much discussion. It has been called forth by the +appearance of a treatise entitled, "_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." In this voluminous production the Right Reverend +Author has maintained, not only that all the seven letters attributed by +Eusebius to Ignatius are genuine, but also that "no Christian writings +of the second century, and very few writings of antiquity, whether +Christian or pagan, are so well authenticated." These positions, +advocated with the utmost confidence by the learned prelate, are sure to +be received with implicit confidence by a wide circle of readers; and I +have felt impelled here openly to protest against them, inasmuch as I +am satisfied that they cannot be accepted without overturning all the +legitimate landmarks of historical criticism. I freely acknowledge +the eminent services which Dr. Lightfoot has rendered to the Christian +Church by his labours as a Commentator on Scripture, and it is +therefore all the more important that the serious errors of a writer so +distinguished should not be permitted to pass unchallenged. All who love +the faith once delivered to the saints, may be expected to regard +with deference the letters of a martyr who lived on the borders of the +apostolic age; but these Ignatian Epistles betray indications of a very +different original, for they reveal a spirit of which no enlightened +Christian can approve, and promulgate principles which would sanction +the boldest assumptions of ecclesiastical despotism. In a work published +by me many years ago, I have pointed out the marks of their imposture; +and I have since seen no cause to change my views. Regarding all these +letters as forgeries from beginning to end, I have endeavoured, in the +following pages, to expose the fallacy of the arguments by which Dr. +Lightfoot has attempted their vindication. + +ASSEMBLY COLLEGE, BELFAST, + +July 1886. + + + + +CONTENTS. + + +CHAPTER I. + +PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS. + +The critical spirit stimulated by the Reformation--The Ignatian Epistles +as regarded by Calvin, Ussher, Vossius, Daillé, Pearson, Wake, and +Cureton--Dr. Lightfoot as a scholar and a commentator--The valuable +information supplied in his recent work--His estimate of the parties who +have pronounced judgment on the question of the Ignatian Epistles--His +verdict unfair--His introduction of Lucian as a witness in his +favour--The story of Peregrinus--Dr. Lightfoot's cardinal mistake in his +treatment of this question. + + +CHAPTER II. + +THE TESTIMONY OF POLYCARP TO THE IGNATIAN EPISTLES EXAMINED. + +Dr. Lightfoot makes a most unguarded statement as to the Ignatian +Epistles--The letter of Polycarp better authenticated--The date assigned +for the martyrdom of Ignatius--The date of Polycarp's Epistle--Written +in the reign of Marcus Aurelius--Not written in the reign of Trajan--The +Epistle of Polycarp has no reference to Ignatius of Antioch--It refers +to another Ignatius of another age and country--It was written at a +time of persecution--The postscript to the letter of Polycarp quite +misunderstood--What is meant by letters being carried to Syria--Psyria +and Syria, two islands in the Aegaean Sea--The errors of transcribers of +the postscript--The true meaning of the postscript--What has led to +the mistake as to the claims of the Ignatian Epistles--The continued +popularity of these Epistles among High Churchmen. + + +CHAPTER III. + +THE DATE OF THE MARTYRDOM OF POLYCARP. + +Dr. Lightfoot's strange reasoning on this subject--The testimony of +Eusebius, Jerome, and others--Eusebius and Jerome highly competent +witnesses--Dr. Döllinger's estimate of Jerome--The basis on which +Dr. Lightfoot rests the whole weight of his chronological +argument--Aristides and his _Sacred Discourses_--Statius Quadratus, the +consuls and proconsuls--Ummidius Quadratus--Polycarp martyred in the +reign of Marcus Aurelius--His visit to Rome in the time of Anicetus--Put +to death when there was only one emperor--Age of Polycarp at the time of +his martyrdom--The importance of the chronological argument. + + +CHAPTER IV. + +THE TESTIMONY OF IRENAEUS AND THE GENESIS OF PRELACY. + +The testimony of Irenaeus quite misunderstood--Refers to the dying +words of one of the martyrs of Lyons--The internal evidence against the +genuineness of the Ignatian Epistles--The contrast between the Epistle +of Polycarp and the Ignatian Epistles as exhibited by Dr. Lightfoot +himself--Additional points of contrast--Dr. Lightfoot quite mistaken +as to the origin of Prelacy--It did not originate in the East, or Asia +Minor, but in Rome--The argument from the cases of Timothy and Titus +untenable--Jerome's account of the origin of Prelacy--James not the +first bishop of Jerusalem--In the early part of the second century +the Churches of Rome, Corinth, and Smyrna were Presbyterian--Irenaeus +conceals the origin of Prelacy--Coins the doctrine of the apostolical +succession--The succession cannot be determined even in Rome--Testimony +of Stillingfleet--In what sense Polycarp may have been constituted a +bishop by the apostles. + + +CHAPTER V. + +THE FORGERY OF THE IGNATIAN EPISTLES. + +We have no positive historical information as to the origin of the +Ignatian Epistles--First saw the light in the early part of the third +century--Such forgeries then common--What was then thought by many as to +pious frauds--Callistus of Rome probably concerned in the fabrication of +the Ignatian Epistles--His remarkable history--The Epistle to the +Romans first forged--It embodies the credentials of the rest--Montanism +stimulated the desire for martyrdom--The prevalence of this mania early +in the third century--The Ignatian Epistles present it in its most +outrageous form--The Epistle to the Romans must have been very popular +at Rome--Doubtful whether Ignatius was martyred at Rome--The Ignatian +Epistles intended to advance the claims of Prelacy--Well fitted to do +so at the time of their appearance--The account of Callistus given +by Hippolytus--The Ignatian letters point to Callistus as their +author--Cannot have been written in the beginning of the second +century--Their doctrine that of the Papacy. + + +APPENDIX + +I.--Letter of Dr. Cureton. + +II.--The Ignatian Epistle to the Romans. + + +ENDNOTES + + + + + +THE IGNATIAN EPISTLES ENTIRELY SPURIOUS. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS. + + +The question of the genuineness of the Epistles attributed to Ignatius +of Antioch has continued to awaken interest ever since the period of the +Reformation. That great religious revolution gave an immense impetus +to the critical spirit; and when brought under the light of its +examination, not a few documents, the claims of which had long passed +unchallenged, were summarily pronounced spurious. Eusebius, writing in +the fourth century, names only seven letters as attributed to Ignatius; +but long before the days of Luther, more than double that number were in +circulation. Many of these were speedily condemned by the critics of the +sixteenth century. Even the seven recognised by Eusebius were regarded +with grave suspicion; and Calvin--who then stood at the head of +Protestant theologians--did not hesitate to denounce the whole of them +as forgeries. The work, long employed as a text-book in Cambridge and +Oxford, was the _Institutes_ of the Reformer of Geneva; [Endnote 2:1] +and as his views on this subject are there proclaimed very emphatically, +[2:2] we may presume that the entire body of the Ignatian literature +was at that time viewed with distrust by the leaders of thought in +the English universities. But when the doctrine of the Divine Right +of Episcopacy began to be promulgated, the seven letters rose in the +estimation of the advocates of the hierarchy; and an extreme desire was +manifested to establish their pretensions. So great was the importance +attached to their evidence, that in 1644--in the very midst of the +din and confusion of the civil war between Charles I. and his +Parliament--the pious and erudite Archbishop Ussher presented the +literary world with a new edition of these memorials. Two years later +the renowned Isaac Vossius produced a kindred publication. Some time +afterwards, Daillé, a learned French Protestant minister, attacked them +with great ability; and proved, to the satisfaction of many readers, +that they are utterly unworthy of credit. Pearson, subsequently Bishop +of Chester, now entered the arena, and in a work of much talent and +research--the fruit of six years' labour--attempted to restore their +reputation. This vindication was not permitted to pass without an +answer; but, meanwhile, the dark prospects of the Reformed faith +in England and the Continent directed attention to matters of more +absorbing interest, and the controversy was discontinued. From time to +time, however, these Epistles were kept before the eyes of the public by +Archbishop Wake and other editors; and more recently the appearance of a +Syriac copy of three of them--printed under the supervision of the late +Rev. Dr. Cureton--reopened the discussion. Dr. Cureton maintained +that his three Epistles are the only genuine remains of the pastor +of Antioch. In a still later publication, [3:1] Bishop Lightfoot +controverts the views of Dr. Cureton, and makes a vigorous effort to +uphold the credit of the seven letters quoted by Eusebius and supported +by Pearson. Dr. Lightfoot has already acquired a high and deserved +reputation as a scholar and a commentator, and the present work +furnishes abundant evidence of his linguistic attainments and his +perseverance; but it is somewhat doubtful whether it will add to +his fame as a critic and a theologian. In these three portly octavo +volumes--extending to upwards of 1800 pages of closely printed +matter--he tries to convince his readers that a number of the silliest +productions to be found among the records of antiquity, are the remains +of an apostolic Father. He tells us, in his preface, that the subject +has been before him "for nearly thirty years;" and that, during this +period, it has "engaged his attention off and on in the intervals of +other literary pursuits and official duties." Many, we apprehend, will +feel that the result is not equal to such a vast expenditure of time +and labour; and will concur with friends who, as he informs us, have +complained to him that he has thus "allowed himself to be diverted from +the more congenial task of commenting on S. Paul's Epistles." There is +not, we presume, an evangelical minister in Christendom who would not +protest against the folly exhibited in these Ignatian letters; and yet +it appears that the good Bishop of Durham has spent a large portion of +his life in an attempt to accomplish their vindication. + +To Dr. Lightfoot may be justly awarded the praise of having here made +the reading public acquainted with the various manuscripts and versions +of these Ignatian letters, as well as with the arguments which may be +urged in their favour; and he has thus rendered good service to the +cause of historical criticism. Professor Harnack, in a late number of +the _Expositor_ [4:1], states no more than the truth when he affirms +that "this work is the most learned and careful Patristic Monograph +which has appeared in the nineteenth century." To any one who wishes to +study the Ignatian controversy, it supplies a large amount of valuable +evidence, not otherwise easily accessible. Some, indeed, may think that, +without any detriment to ecclesiastical literature, some of the matter +which has helped to swell the dimensions of these volumes might have +been omitted. Everything in any way associated with the name of Ignatius +seems to have a wonderful fascination for the learned prelate. Not +content with publishing and commending what he considers the genuine +productions of the apostolic Father, he here edits and annotates letters +which have long since been discredited by scholars of all classes, and +which he himself confesses to be apocryphal. The _Acts of Martyrdom of +Ignatius_--which he also acknowledges to be a mere bundle of fables--he +treats with the same tender regard. Nor is this all. He gives these +acts, or large portions of them, in Latin and Greek, as well as +in Coptic and Syriac; and annotates them in addition. He supplies, +likewise, English translations. It may be argued, that the publication +of such a mass of legendary rubbish is necessary to enable the student +to form a correct judgment on the merits of the subject in debate; but +surely the question might be settled without the aid of some of these +auxiliaries. + +Dr. Lightfoot has long been known as one of the most candid and +painstaking of scriptural commentators; but it must always be remembered +that he is an Episcopalian, and the ruler of an English diocese. He +would be something almost more than human, were he to hold up the scales +of testimony with strict impartiality when weighing the claims of his +own order. It strikes us that, in the work before us, his prejudices and +predilections reveal their influence more conspicuously than in any of +his other publications. He can see support for his views in words and +phrases where an ordinary observer can discover nothing of the kind; +and he can close his eyes against evidence which others may deem very +satisfactory. Even when appraising the writers who have taken part in +this controversy, he has presented a very one-sided estimate. He +speaks of those who reject the claims of these Epistles as forming +"a considerable list of _second and third rate_ names;" [6:1] and he +mentions Ussher and Bentley among those who espouse his sentiments. +According to our author, there cannot be a "shadow of doubt" that the +seven Vossian Epistles "represent the genuine Ignatius." [6:2] "No +Christian writings of the second century," says he, "and very few +writings of antiquity, whether Christian or pagan, are so well +authenticated." [6:3] He surely cannot imagine that Ussher would have +endorsed such statements; for he knows well that the Primate of Armagh +condemned the Epistle to Polycarp as a forgery. He has still less reason +to claim Bentley as on his side. On authority which Bishop Monk, the +biographer of Bentley, deemed well worthy of acceptance, it is stated +that in 1718, "on occasion of a Divinity Act," the Master of Trinity +College, Cambridge, "made a speech _condemning_ the Epistles of S. +Ignatius." His address created a "great ferment" in the university. +[7:1] It is further reported that Bentley "refused to hear the +Respondent who attempted to reply." We might have expected such a +deliverance from the prince of British critics; for, with the intuition +of genius, he saw the absurdity of recognising these productions as +proceeding from a Christian minister who had been carefully instructed +by the apostles. Bentley's refusal to hear the Respondent who attempted +to reply to him, was exactly in keeping with his well-known dictatorial +temper. Does Dr. Lightfoot bring forward any evidence to contradict this +piece of collegiate history? None whatever. He merely treats us to a few +of his own _conjectures_, which simply prove his anxiety to depreciate +its significance. And yet he ventures to parade the name of Bentley +among those of the scholars who contend for the genuineness of these +letters! He deals after the same fashion with the celebrated Porson. +In a letter to the author of this review [7:2], Dr. Cureton states that +Porson "rejected" these letters "in the form in which they were +put forth by Ussher and Vossius;" and declares that this piece of +information was conveyed to himself by no less competent an authority +than Bishop Kaye. Dr. Lightfoot meets this evidence by saying that "the +_obiter dictum_ even of a Porson," in the circumstances in which it was +given, might be "of little value." [7:3] It was given, however, exactly +in the circumstances in which the speaker was best prepared to deliver a +sound verdict, for it was pronounced after the great critic had read the +_Vindiciae_ of Pearson. + +It would be hopeless to attempt to settle a disputed question of +criticism by enumerating authorities on different sides, as, after all, +the value of these authorities would be variously discounted. We +must seek to arrive at truth, not by quoting names, but by weighing +arguments. Not a few, however, whose opinion may be entitled to some +respect, will not be prepared to agree with Bishop Lightfoot when he +affirms that those who reject these Ignatian letters are, with few +exceptions, only to be found in the "list of second and third rate +names" in literature. [8:1] We have seen that Bentley and Porson +disagree with him--and he can point to no more eminent critics in the +whole range of modern scholarship. If Daillé must be placed in the +second rank, surely Pearson may well be relegated to the same position; +for there is most respectable proof that his _Vindiciae_, in reply to +the treatise of the French divine, was pronounced by Porson to be +a "very unsatisfactory" performance. [8:2] "The most elaborate +and ingenious portion of the work" is, as Bishop Lightfoot himself +confesses, "the least satisfactory." [8:3] Dr. Lightfoot, we believe, +will hardly pretend to say that Vossius, Bull, and Waterland stand +higher in the literary world than Salmasius, John Milton, and Augustus +Neander; and he will greatly astonish those who are acquainted with the +history and writings of one of the fathers of the Reformation, if he +will contend that John Calvin must be placed only in the second or third +class of Protestant theologians. In the presence of the great doctor of +Geneva, Hammond, Grotius, Zahn, and others whom Dr. Lightfoot has named +as his supporters, may well hide their diminished heads. + +In the work before us the Bishop of Durham has pretty closely followed +Pearson, quoting his explanations and repeating his arguments. Some +of these are sufficiently nebulous. Professor Harnack--who has already +reviewed his pages in the _Expositor_, and who, to a great extent, +adheres to the views which they propound--admits, notwithstanding, that +he has "overstrained" his case, and has adduced as witnesses writers of +the second and third centuries of whom it is impossible to prove that +they knew anything of the letters attributed to Ignatius. [9:1] As a +specimen of the depositions which Dr. Lightfoot has pressed into his +service, we may refer to the case of Lucian. That author wrote about +sixty years after the alleged date of the martyrdom of Ignatius, and his +Lordship imagines that in one of his works he can trace allusions to the +pastor of Antioch under the fictitious name of Peregrinus. "Writing," +says he "soon after A.D. 165," Lucian "caricatures the progress of +Ignatius through Asia Minor in his death of Peregrinus." [9:2] This +Peregrinus was certainly an odd character. Early in life he had murdered +his own father, and for this he was obliged to make his escape from his +country. Wandering about from place to place, he identified himself with +the Christians, gained their confidence, and became, as is alleged, a +distinguished member of their community. His zeal in their cause +soon exposed him to persecution, and he was thrown into prison. His +incarceration added greatly to his fame. His co-religionists, including +women and children, were seen from morning to night lingering about the +place of his confinement; he was abundantly supplied with food; and +the large sums of money, given to him as presents, provided him with +an ample revenue. After his release he forfeited the favour of his +Christian friends, and became a Cynic philosopher; but he could not +be at peace. He at length resolved to immortalize himself by voluntary +martyrdom. Meanwhile he despatched letters to many famous cities, +containing laws and ordinances; and appointed certain of his +companions--under the name of death-messengers--to scatter abroad these +missives. Finally, at the close of the Olympian games he erected a +funeral pile; and when it was all ablaze, he threw himself into it, and +perished in the flames. "There is very strong reason for believing" says +Dr. Lightfoot, "that Lucian has drawn his picture, at least in part, +from the known circumstances of Ignatius' history." [10:1] The bishop +returns again and again to the parallelism between Ignatius and +Peregrinus, and appears to think it furnishes an argument of singular +potency in favour of the disputed Epistles. "Second only," says he, +to certain other vouchers, which he produces, "stands this testimony." +[11:1] From such a sample the judicious reader may form some idea of the +conclusiveness of the bishop's reasoning. Peregrinus begins life as a +parricide, and dies like a madman; and yet we are asked to believe that +Lucian has thus sketched the history of an apostolic Father! When Lucian +wrote, Ignatius had been dead about sixty years; but the pagan satirist +sought to amuse the public by sketching the career of an individual whom +he had himself heard and seen, [11:2] and who must have been well known +to many of his readers. About the middle of the second century the +Church was sorely troubled by false teachers, especially of the Gnostic +type; and it may have been that some adventurer, of popular gifts and +professing great zeal in the Christian cause, contrived to gather around +him a number of deluded followers, who, for a time, adhered to him with +wonderful enthusiasm. It may be that it is this charlatan to whom Lucian +points, and whose history he perhaps exaggerates. But there is nothing +in the life of Peregrinus which can fairly be recognised even as a +caricature of the career of one of the most distinguished of the early +Christian martyrs. Were we to maintain that the pagan satirist was +referring to the Apostle John, we might be able to show almost as many +points of resemblance. The beloved disciple travelled about through +various countries; acquired a high reputation among the Christians; was +imprisoned in the Isle of Patmos; wrote letters to the seven Churches of +Asia; and was visited in his place of exile by angels or messengers, who +probably did not repair to him empty-handed. John died only a few years +before Ignatius, and was connected with the same quarter of the globe. +We have, however, never yet heard that Lucian was suspected of alluding +to the author of the Apocalypse. If Bishop Lightfoot thinks that he can +convince sensible men of the genuineness of the Ignatian Epistles by +bringing forward such witnesses as Lucian and his hero Peregrinus, we +believe he is very much mistaken. The argument is not original, for +it is pressed with great confidence by his predecessor Pearson, and +by others more recently. But its weakness is transparent. Professor +Harnack, whilst admitting the weight of much of the evidence adduced in +these volumes, scornfully refuses to acknowledge its relevancy. "Above +all," says he, "Lucian should be struck out. I confess I cannot imagine +how writers go on citing Lucian as a witness for the Epistles." [12:1] +There is, however, an old adage, "Any port in a storm:" and before the +close of this discussion it may perhaps be found that Lucian is as good +a harbour of refuge as can be furnished for the credit of the Ignatian +Epistles in the whole of the second century. + +It is obvious that, even according to his own account of the history of +his present work, Dr. Lightfoot has not entered on its preparation under +circumstances likely to result in a safe and unprejudiced verdict. "_I +never once doubted_," says he in the preface, [13:1] "that we possessed +in one form or another the genuine letters of Ignatius." This is, +however, the very first point to be proved; and the bishop has been +labouring throughout to make good a foregone conclusion. No wonder +that the result should be unsatisfactory. If he has built on a false +foundation, nothing else could be expected. There is not, we are +satisfied, a particle of solid evidence to show that Ignatius of Antioch +left behind him any writings whatever. This may be deemed a very bold +statement, but it is deliberately advanced. I hope, in a subsequent +chapter, to demonstrate that it is not made without due consideration. + + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +THE TESTIMONY OF POLYCARP TO THE IGNATIAN EPISTLES EXAMINED. + + +The Bishop of Durham affirms, in a passage already quoted, that "no +Christian writings of the second century, and very few writings of +antiquity, whether Christian or pagan, are so _well authenticated_" as +the Epistles attributed to Ignatius. This assuredly is an astounding +announcement, made deliberately by a distinguished author, whose +attention, for nearly thirty years, has been directed to the subject. +The letter of Polycarp to the Philippians is a writing of the second +century, and it is by far the most important witness in support of the +Ignatian letters; but we must infer, from the words just quoted, that +it is not "so well authenticated" as they are. It is difficult to +understand by what process of logic his Lordship has arrived at this +conclusion. In an ordinary court of law, the witness who deposes to +character is expected to stand on at least as high a moral platform in +public estimation as the individual in whose favour he bears testimony; +but if the letter of Polycarp is not "so well authenticated" as these +Ignatian letters, how can it be brought forward to establish their +reputation? Nor is this the only perplexing circumstance connected with +this discussion. There was a time when, according to his own statement +in the present work, Dr. Lightfoot "accepted the Curetonian letters +as representing the genuine Ignatius;" [15:1] and, of course, when he +regarded as forgeries the four others which he now acknowledges. In +the volumes before us, as if to make compensation for the unfavourable +opinion which he once cherished, he advances the whole seven of the +larger edition to a position of especial honour. The letter of Polycarp, +the works of Justin Martyr, the treatise of Irenaeus _Against Heresies_, +and other writings of the second century, have long sustained an honest +character; but now they must all take rank below the Ignatian Epistles. +According to the Bishop of Durham, they are not "so well authenticated." + +In his eagerness to exalt the credit of these Ignatian letters, Dr. +Lightfoot, in his present publication, has obviously expressed himself +most incautiously. In point of fact, the letter of Polycarp, as a +genuine production of the second century, occupies an incomparably +higher position than the Ignatian Epistles. The internal evidence in +its favour is most satisfactory. It is exactly such a piece of +correspondence as we might expect from a pious and sensible Christian +minister, well acquainted with the Scriptures, and living on the +confines of the apostolic age. It has, besides, all the external +confirmation we could desire. Irenaeus, who was personally well known to +the author, and who has left behind him the treatise _Against Heresies_ +already mentioned, speaks therein of this letter in terms of high +approval. "There is," says he, "a very sufficient Epistle of Polycarp +written to the Philippians, from which those who desire it, and who care +for their own salvation, can learn both the character of his faith +and the message of the truth." [16:1] Could such a voucher as this be +produced for the Epistles ascribed to Ignatius, and were the external +evidence equally satisfactory, it would be absurd to doubt their +genuineness. But whilst the internal evidence testifies against them, +they are not noticed by any writer for considerably more than a century +after they are said to have appeared. + +The date commonly assigned for the martyrdom of Ignatius, and +consequently for the writing of the letters ascribed to him, is +the ninth year of Trajan, corresponding to A.D. 107. This date, Dr. +Lightfoot tells us, is "the one fixed element in the common tradition." +[16:2] It is to be found in the _Chronicon Paschale_, and in the +Antiochene and the Roman "Acts," as well as elsewhere. [16:3] This +same date is assigned by the advocates of the Ignatian Epistles for the +writing of Polycarp's letter. "Only a few months at the outside," says +Dr. Lightfoot, "probably only a few weeks, after these Ignatian Epistles +purport to have been written, the Bishop of Smyrna himself addresses a +letter to the Philippians." [17:1] In due course it will be shown that +Polycarp was at this time only about four-and-twenty years of age; and +any intelligent reader who pursues his Epistle can judge for himself +whether it can be reasonably accepted as the production of so very +youthful an author. It appears that it was dictated in answer to a +communication from the Church at Philippi, in which he was requested +to interpose his influence with a view to the settlement of some grave +scandals which disturbed that ancient Christian community. Is it likely +that a minister of so little experience would have been invited to +undertake such a service? The communication is rather such an outpouring +of friendly counsel as befitted an aged patriarch. In a fatherly style +he here addresses himself to wives and widows, to young men and maidens, +to parents and children, to deacons and presbyters. [17:2] + +There are other indications in this letter that it cannot have been +written at the date ascribed to it by the advocates of the Ignatian +Epistles. It contains an admonition to "pray for _kings_ (or _the_ +kings), _authorities_, and _princes_." [18:1] We are not at liberty to +assume that these three names are precisely synonymous. By kings, +or _the_ kings, we may apparently understand the imperial rulers; by +authorities, consuls, proconsuls, praetors, and other magistrates; and +by princes, those petty sovereigns and others of royal rank to be found +here and there throughout the Roman dominions. [18:2] Dr. Lightfoot, +indeed, argues that the translation adopted by some--"_the_ kings"--is +inadmissible, as, according to his ideas, "we have very good ground +for believing that the definite article had no place in the original." +[18:3] He has, however, assigned no adequate reason why the article may +not be prefixed. His contention, that the expression "pray for kings" +has not "anything more than a general reference," [18:4] cannot be +well maintained. In a case such as this, we must be, to a great extent, +guided in our interpretation by the context; and if so, we may fairly +admit the article, for immediately afterwards Polycarp exhorts the +Philippians to pray for their persecutors and their enemies,--an +admonition which obviously has something more than "a general +reference." Such an advice would be inappropriate when persecution was +asleep, and when no enemy was giving disturbance. But, at the date +when Ignatius is alleged to have been martyred, Polycarp could not have +exhorted the Philippians to pray for "the kings," as there was then only +_one_ sovereign ruling over the empire. + +That this letter of Polycarp to the Philippians was written at a time +when persecution was rife, is apparent from its tenor throughout. If we +except the case of Ignatius of Antioch--many of the tales relating +to which Dr. Lightfoot himself rejects as fabulous [19:1]--we have no +evidence that in A.D. 107 the Christians were treated with severity. +The Roman world was then under the mild government of Trajan, and the +troubles which afflicted the disciples in Bithynia, under Pliny, had not +yet commenced. The emperor, so far as we have trustworthy information, +had hitherto in no way interfered with the infant Church. But in A.D. +161 two sovereigns were in power, and a reign of terror was inaugurated. +We can therefore well understand why Polycarp, after exhorting his +correspondents to pray for "the kings," immediately follows up this +advice by urging them to pray for their persecutors and their enemies. +If by "kings" we here understand emperors, as distinguished from +"princes" or inferior potentates, it must be obvious that Polycarp here +refers to the two reigning sovereigns. It so happened that, when two +kings began to reign, persecution at once commenced; and the language of +the Epistle exactly befits such a crisis. + +The whole strain of this letter points, not to the reign of Trajan, +but to that of Marcus Aurelius. Polycarp exhorts the Philippians "to +practise all endurance" (§ 9) in the service of Christ. "If," says he, +"we should suffer for His name's sake, let us glorify Him" (§ 8). +He speaks of men "encircled in saintly bonds;" (§ 1) and praises the +Philippians for the courage which they had manifested in sympathizing +with these confessors. He reminds them how, "with their own eyes," they +had seen their sufferings (§ 9). All these statements suggest times of +tribulation. A careful examination of this letter may convince us that +it contains no reference to the Epistles attributed to Ignatius of +Antioch. Of the seven letters mentioned by Eusebius, four are said to +have been written from _Smyrna_ and three from _Troas_. But the letters +of which Polycarp speaks were written from neither of these places, but +from _Philippi_. In the letters attributed to Ignatius of Antioch, the +martyr describes himself as a solitary sufferer, hurried along by ten +rough soldiers from city to city on his way to Rome; in the letter +of Polycarp to the Philippians, Ignatius is only one among a crowd +of victims, of whose ultimate destination the writer was ignorant. A +considerable time after the party had left Philippi, Polycarp begs the +brethren there to tell him what had become of them. "Concerning Ignatius +himself, and those _who are with him_, if," says he, "ye have any +sure tidings, certify us." [21:1] In the Ignatian Epistle addressed to +Polycarp, he is directed to "write to the Churches," to "call together +a godly council," and "to elect" a messenger to be sent to Syria (§7). +Polycarp, in his letter to the Philippians, takes no notice of these +instructions. He had obviously never heard of them. It is indeed plain +that the letter of the Philippians to Polycarp had only a partial +reference to the case of Ignatius and his companions. It was largely +occupied with other matters; and to these Polycarp addresses himself in +his reply. + +The simple solution of all these difficulties is to be found in the fact +that the Ignatius mentioned by Polycarp was a totally different person +from the pastor of Antioch. He lived in another age and in another +country. Ignatius or Egnatius--for the name is thus variously +written--was not a very rare designation; [21:3] and in the +neighbourhood of Philippi it seems to have been common. The famous +_Egnatian_ road, [21:4] which passed through the place, probably derived +its title originally from some distinguished member of the family. +We learn from the letter of Polycarp that _his_ Ignatius was a man of +Philippi. Addressing his brethren there, he says, "I exhort you all, +therefore, to be obedient unto the word of righteousness, and to +practise all endurance, which also ye saw with your own eyes in the +blessed Ignatius, and Zosimus, and Rufus, and IN OTHERS ALSO AMONG +YOURSELVES" (Sec. 9). These words surely mean that the individuals +here named were men of Philippi. It is admitted that two of them, +viz. Zosimus and Rufus, answered to this description; and in the Latin +Martyrologies, as Dr. Lightfoot himself acknowledges, [22:2] they are +said to have been natives of the town. It will require the introduction +of some novel canon of criticism to enable us to avoid the conclusion +that Ignatius, their companion, is not to be classed in the same +category. + +It is well known that when Marcus Aurelius became emperor he inaugurated +a new system of persecution. Instead of at once consigning to death +those who boldly made a profession of Christianity, as had heretofore +been customary in times of trial, he employed various expedients to +extort from them a recantation. He threw them into confinement, bound +them with chains, kept them in lingering suspense, and subjected them +to sufferings of different kinds, in the hope of overcoming their +constancy. It would seem that Ignatius, Zosimus, Rufus, and their +companions were dealt with after this fashion. They were made prisoners, +put in bonds, plied with torture under the eyes of the Philippians, and +taken away from the city, they knew not whither. It may be that they +were removed to Thessalonica, the residence of the Roman governor, +that they might be immured in a dungeon, to await there the Imperial +pleasure. It is pretty clear that they did not expect instant execution. +When Polycarp wrote, he speaks of them as still living; and he is +anxious to know what may yet betide them. + +Let us now call attention to another passage in this letter of Polycarp +to the Philippians. Towards its close the following sentence appears +somewhat in the form of a postscript. "Ye wrote to me, both ye +yourselves and Ignatius, asking that if any one should go to Syria, he +_might_ carry thither the letters _from you_." We have here the reading, +and translation adopted by Dr. Lightfoot; but it so happens that there +is another reading perhaps, on the whole, quite as well supported by +the authority of versions and manuscripts. It may be thus rendered: "Ye +wrote to me, both ye yourselves and Ignatius, suggesting that if any one +is going to Syria, he might carry thither _my letters to you_." [23:1] +The sentence, as interpreted by the advocates of the Ignatian Epistles, +wears a strange and suspicious aspect. If Ignatius and the Philippians +wished their letters to be carried to _Antioch_, why did they not say +so? Syria was an extensive province,--much larger than all Ireland,--and +many a traveller might have been going there who would have found it +quite impracticable to deliver letters in its metropolis. When there was +no penny postage, and when letters of friendship were often carried by +private hands, if an individual residing in the north or south of +the Emerald Isle had requested a correspondent in Bristol to send his +letters by "any one" going over to Ireland, it would not have been +extraordinary if the Englishman had received the message with amazement. +Could "any one" passing over to Ireland be expected to deliver letters +in Cork or Londonderry? There were many places of note in Syria far +distant from Antioch; and it was preposterous to propose that "any one" +travelling to that province should carry letters to its capital city. No +one can pretend to say that the whole, or even any considerable part of +Syria, was under the ecclesiastical supervision of Ignatius; for, long +after this period, the jurisdiction of a bishop did not extend beyond +the walls of the town in which he dwelt. If Ignatius meant to have his +letters taken to _Antioch_, why vaguely say that they were to be carried +to Syria? [24:1] Why not distinctly name the place of their destination? +It had long been the scene of his pastoral labours; and it might have +been expected that its very designation would have been repeated by him +with peculiar interest. No good reason can be given why he should speak +of Syria, and not of Antioch, as the place to which his letters were to +be transmitted. Nor is this the only perplexing circumstance associated +with the request mentioned in the postscript to this letter. If the +Philippians, or Ignatius, had sent letters to Polycarp addressed to the +Church of Antioch, was it necessary for them to say to him that they +should be forwarded? Would not his own common sense have directed him +what to do? He was not surely such a dotard that he required to be told +how to dispose of these Epistles. + +If we are to be guided by the statements in the Ignatian Epistles, we +must infer that the letters to be sent to Antioch were to be forwarded +with the utmost expedition. A council was to be called forthwith, and by +it a messenger "fit to bear the name of God's courier" [25:1] was to be +chosen to carry them to the Syrian metropolis. There are no such signs +of haste or urgency indicated in the postscript to Polycarp's Epistle. +The letters of which he speaks could afford to wait until some one +happened to be travelling to Syria; and then, it is suggested, he +_might_ take them along with him. If we adopt the reading to be found in +the Latin version, and which, from internal evidence, we may judge to +be a true rendering of the original, we are, according to the +interpretation which must be given to it by the advocates of the +Ignatian Epistles, involved in hopeless bewilderment. If by Syria we +understand the eastern province, what possibly can be the meaning of the +words addressed by Polycarp to the Philippians, "If any one is going +to Syria, he might _carry thither my letters to you_"? [26:1] Any one +passing from Smyrna to Philippi turns his face to the north-west, but +a traveller from Smyrna to Syria proceeds south-east, or in the exactly +opposite direction. How could Polycarp hope to keep up a correspondence +with his brethren of Philippi, if he sent his letters to the distant +East by any one who might be going there? + +It is pretty evident that the Latin version has preserved the true +original of this postscript, and that the current reading, adopted by +Dr. Lightfoot and others, must be traced to the misapprehensions of +transcribers. Puzzled by the statement that letters from Polycarp to +the Philippians were to be sent to Syria, they have tried to correct the +text by changing [Greek: par haemon] into [Greek: par humon]--implying +that the letters were to be transmitted, not from Polycarp to the +Philippians, but from the Philippians to Antioch. A very simple +explanation may, however, remove this whole difficulty. If by Syria +we understand, not the great eastern province so called, but a little +island of similar name in the Aegaean Sea, the real bearing of the +request is at once apparent. Psyria [27:1]--in the course of time +contracted into Psyra--lies a few miles west of Chios, [27:2] and is +almost directly on the way between Smyrna and Neapolis, the port-town +of Philippi. A letter from Smyrna left there would be carried a +considerable distance on its journey to Philippi. Some friendly hand +might convey it from thence to its destination. Psyria and Syria are +words so akin in sound that a transcriber of Polycarp's letter, copying +from dictation, might readily mistake the one for the other; and thus +an error creeping into an early manuscript may have led to all this +perplexity. Letters in those days could commonly be sent only by special +messengers, or friends traveling abroad; and the Philippians had made +a suggestion to Polycarp as to the best mode of keeping up their +correspondence. They had probably some co-religionists in Psyria; and +a letter sent there to one or other of them, could, at the earliest +opportunity, be forwarded. But another explanation, perhaps quite as +worthy of acceptance, may solve this mystery. Syria was the ancient name +of another island in the Aegaean Sea, and one of the Cyclades. Though +it is not so much as Psyria in the direct course between Smyrna and +Philippi, it is a place of greater celebrity and of more commercial +importance. Like Psyria, in the course of ages its name has been +contracted, and it is now known as Syra. Between it and Smyrna there has +been much intercourse from time immemorial. It has been famous since +the days of Homer, [28:1] and it was anciently the seat of a bishop, +[28:2]--an evidence that it must soon have had a Christian population. +It is at the present day the centre of an active trade; and a late +distinguished traveller has told us how, not many years ago, in an +afternoon, he and his party "left Syra, and next morning anchored +in front of the town of Smyrna." [28:3] Syria is not, as has been +intimated, in the direct route to Philippi; but the shortest way is not +always either the best or the most convenient. At present this place is +the principal port of the Greek archipelago; [29:1] and probably, in the +days of Polycarp, vessels were continually leaving its harbour for towns +on the opposite coasts of the Aegaean. A Christian merchant resident +in Syria would thus have facilities for sending letters left with him +either to Smyrna or Philippi. Ignatius or his friends may have heard of +an offer from such a quarter to take charge of their correspondence, +and may have accordingly made the suggestion noticed at the close of +Polycarp's letter. As the island of Syria was well known to them all, +the Smyrnaeans could not have misunderstood the intimation. + +This explanation throws light on another part of this postscript which +has long been embarrassing to many readers. After adverting to the +request of Ignatius and the Philippians relative to the conveyance of +the letters, Polycarp adds, "which request I will attend to if I get a +fit opportunity, either personally, or by one whom I shall depute to +act likewise on your behalf." [29:2] According to the current +interpretation, Polycarp here suggests the probability of a personal +visit to the eastern capital, if he could find no one else to undertake +the service. The occasion evidently called for no such piece of +self-sacrifice on the part of this apostolic Father. The Church of +Antioch, after the removal of its pastor Ignatius, was, we are assured, +delivered from farther trouble, and was now at peace. [30:1] The +presence of the minister of Smyrna there was utterly unnecessary; [30:2] +the place was very far distant; and why then should he be called on to +undertake a wearisome and expensive journey to Antioch and back again? +Polycarp admits that his visit was not essential, and that a messenger +might do all that was required quite as well. But if by Syria we +understand one of the Sporades or Cyclades, we are furnished with a +ready solution of this enigma. The little island of Psyria was distant +from Smyrna only a few hours' sail; and as it was perhaps the residence +of some of his co-religionists, Polycarp might soon require to repair +to it in the discharge of his ecclesiastical duties. He could then take +along with him, so far, the letters intended for Philippi. Or if by +Syria we here understand the little island anciently so called, near +the centre of the Cyclades, the explanation is equally satisfactory. The +letter of Polycarp was written, not as Dr. Lightfoot contends, in A.D. +107 but, as we have seen, about A.D. 161, when, as the whole strain of +the Epistle indicates, he was far advanced in life. There is reason to +believe that about this very juncture he was contemplating a journey to +Rome, that he might have a personal conference with its chief pastor, +Anicetus. His appearance in the seat of Empire on that occasion created +a great sensation, and seems to have produced very important results. +If he now went there, any one who looks at the map may see that he must +pass Syria on the way. He could thus take the opportunity of leaving +there any letters for Philippi of which he might be the bearer. At a +subsequent stage of our discussion, this visit of Polycarp to Rome must +again occupy our attention. + +The facts brought under the notice of the reader in this chapter may +help him to understand how it has happened that so many have been +befooled by the claims of these Ignatian Epistles. A mistake as to +two of the names mentioned in the letter of Polycarp, created, as will +subsequently appear, by the crafty contrivance of a manufacturer +of spurious documents, has led to a vast amount of blundering and +misapprehension. Ignatius, a man of Philippi, has been supposed to be +Ignatius, the pastor of Antioch; and Syria, the eastern province of the +Roman Empire, has been confounded with Psyria or Syria--either of these +names representing an island in the Aegean Sea not far from Smyrna. +Ignatius, the confessor of Philippi, when in bonds wrote, as we find, +a number of letters which were deemed worthy of preservation, but which +have long since perished; and some time afterwards an adroit forger, +with a view to the advancement of a favourite ecclesiastical system, +concocted a series of letters which he fathered upon Ignatius of +Antioch. In an uncritical age the cheat succeeded; the letters were +quite to the taste of many readers; and ever since they have been the +delight of High Churchmen. Popes and Protestant prelates alike have +perused them with devout enthusiasm; and no wonder that Archbishop Laud, +Bishop Jeremy Taylor, Bishop Hall, and Archbishop Wake, have quoted +Ignatius with applause. The letters ascribed to him are the title-deeds +of their order. Even the worthy Bishop of Durham, who has never +permitted himself to doubt that we possess in some form the letters of +the pastor of Antioch, has been the victim of his own credulity; and has +been striving "off and on" for "nearly thirty years" to establish the +credit of Epistles which teach, in the most barefaced language the +gospel of sacerdotal pretension and passive obedience. + + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +THE DATE OF THE MARTYRDOM OF POLYCARP. + + +To many it may appear that there can be no connection between the date +of the martyrdom of Polycarp and the claims of the Ignatian Epistles. +All conversant with the history of this controversy must, however, +be aware that the question of chronology has entered largely into +the discussion. If we defer to the authority of the earliest and best +witnesses to whom we can appeal for guidance, it is impossible to remove +the cloud of suspicion which at once settles down on these letters. +Their advocates are aware of the chronological objection, and they have +accordingly expended immense pains in trying to prove that Eusebius, +Jerome, and other writers of the highest repute have been mistaken. In +his recent work, the Bishop of Durham has exhausted the resources of his +ability and erudition in attempting to demonstrate that the only parties +from whom we can fairly expect anything like evidence have all been +misinformed. He has secured a verdict in his favour from a number of +reviewers, who have apparently at once given way before the formidable +array of learned lore brought together in these volumes; [34:1] but, +withal, the intelligent reader who cautiously peruses and ponders the +elaborate chapter in which he deals with this question, will feel rather +mystified than enlightened by his argumentation. It may therefore be +proper to state the testimony of the ancient Christian writers, and to +describe the line of reasoning pursued by Dr. Lightfoot. + +"The main source of opinion," says the bishop, "respecting the year of +Polycarp's death, among ancient and modern writers alike, has been the +_Chronicon_ of Eusebius ... After the seventh year of M. Aurelius, +he appends the notice, 'A persecution overtaking the Church, Polycarp +underwent martyrdom.' ... Eusebius is here assumed to date Polycarp's +martyrdom in the seventh year of M. Aurelius, _i.e._ A.D. 167." +[34:2] Dr. Lightfoot then proceeds to observe that "this inference is +unwarrantable," inasmuch as "the notice is not placed opposite to, but +_after this year_." He adds that it "is associated with the persecutions +in Vienne and Lyons, which we know to have happened A.D. 177." [34:3] +So far the statement of the bishop is unobjectionable, and, according +to his own showing, we might conclude that Polycarp suffered some time +after the seventh year of M. Aurelius. But this plain logical deduction +would be totally ruinous to the system of chronology which he advocates; +and he is obliged to resort to a most outlandish assumption that he may +get over the difficulty. He contends that Eusebius did not know at what +precise period these martyrdoms occurred. "We can," says the bishop, +"only infer with safety that Eusebius _supposed_ Polycarp's martyrdom to +have happened _during the reign_ of M. Aurelius." "As a matter of fact, +the Gallican persecutions took place some ten years later [than A.D. +167], and therefore, so far as this notice goes, the martyrdom of +Polycarp might have taken place _as many years earlier_." [35:1] + +These extracts may give the reader some idea of the manner in which +Dr. Lightfoot proceeds to build up his chronological edifice. Eusebius +places the martyrdom of Polycarp and the martyrdoms of Vienne and +Lyons after the seventh year of M. Aurelius; and therefore, argues Dr. +Lightfoot, he did not know when they occurred! Because the martyrdoms +of Vienne and Lyons took place ten years after A.D. 167, therefore the +martyrdom at Smyrna may, for anything that the father of ecclesiastical +history could tell, have been consummated in A.D. 157! Dr. Lightfoot +himself supplies proof that such an inference is inadmissible; for he +acknowledges that, according to Eusebius, the pastor of Smyrna finished +his career in the reign of M. Aurelius. But, in A.D. 157, M. Aurelius +was not emperor. Such are the contradictions to which this writer +commits himself in attempting to change the times and the seasons. + +It is quite clear that Eusebius laboured under no such uncertainty, as +Dr. Lightfoot would fondly persuade himself, relative to the date of +the martyrdom of Polycarp. He directs attention to the subject in his +_History_ as well as in his _Chronicon_, and in both his testimony is to +the same effect. In both it is alleged that Polycarp was martyred in the +reign of Marcus Aurelius. It must be remembered, too, that Eusebius was +born only about a century after the event; that from his youth he had +devoted himself to ecclesiastical studies; that he enjoyed the privilege +of access to the best theological libraries in existence in his day; +that, from his position in the Church as bishop of the metropolis of +Palestine, and as the confidential counselor of the Emperor Constantine, +he had opportunities of coming into personal contact with persons of +distinction from all countries, who must have been well acquainted with +the traditions of their respective Churches; and that he was a man of +rare prudence, intelligence, and discernment. He was certainly not a +philosophical historian, and in his great work he has omitted to notice +many things of much moment; but it must be conceded that, generally +speaking, he is an accurate recorder of facts; and, in the case before +us, he was under no temptation whatever to make a misleading statement. +We must also recollect that his testimony is corroborated by Jerome, who +lived in the same century; who, at least in two places in his writings, +reports the martyrdom; and who affirms that it occurred in the seventh +year of M. Aurelius. [37:1] Dr. Lightfoot, indeed, asserts that Jerome +"derived his knowledge from Eusebius," [37:2] and that, "though well +versed in works of Biblical exegesis, ... he was otherwise _extremely +ignorant_ of early Christian literature." [37:3] We have here unhappily +another of those rash utterances in which the Bishop of Durham indulges +throughout these volumes; for assuredly it is the very extravagance +of folly to tax Jerome with "extreme ignorance of early Christian +literature." Those who are acquainted with his writings will decline to +subscribe any such depreciatory certificate. He was undoubtedly bigoted +and narrow-minded, but he had a most capacious memory; he had travelled +in various countries; he had gathered a prodigious stock of information; +he was the best Christian scholar of his generation; he has preserved +for us the knowledge of not a few important facts which Eusebius has +not registered; and he at one time contemplated undertaking himself the +composition of an ecclesiastical history. [37:4] We cannot, therefore, +regard him as the mere copyist of the Bishop of Caesarea. "Every one +acquainted with the literature of the primitive Church," says Dr. +Döllinger, "knows that it is precisely in Jerome that we find _a more +exact knowledge of the more ancient teachers_ of the Church, and that +we are indebted to him for more information about their teaching and +writings, than to any other of the Latin Fathers." [38:1] Dr. Döllinger +is a Church historian whom even the Bishop of Durham cannot afford to +ignore,--as, in his own field of study, he has, perhaps, no peer in +existence,--and yet he here states explicitly, not certainly that Jerome +was extremely ignorant of early Christian literature, but that, in this +very department, he was specially well informed. The learned monk of +Bethlehem must have felt a deep interest in Polycarp as an apostolic +Father: he was quite capable of testing the worth of the evidence +relative to the time of the martyrdom; and his endorsement of the +statement of Eusebius must be accepted as a testimony entitled to very +grave consideration. Some succeeding writers assign even a later period +to the death of Polycarp. It is a weighty fact that no Christian author +for the first eight centuries of our era places it before the reign +of M. Aurelius. The first writer who attaches to it an earlier date +is Georgius Hamartolus, who flourished about the middle of the ninth +century. Dr. Lightfoot confesses that what he says cannot be received as +based on "any historical tradition or critical investigation." [38:2] It +is, in fact, utterly worthless. + +The manner in which Dr. Lightfoot tries to meet the array of evidence +opposed to him is somewhat extraordinary. He does not attempt to +show that it is improbable in itself, or that there are any rebutting +depositions. He leaves it in its undiminished strength; but he raises +such a cloud of learned dust around it, that the reader may well lose +his head, and be unable, for a time, to see the old chronological +landmarks. [39:1] He rests his case chiefly on a statement to be found +in a postscript, of admittedly doubtful authority, appended to the +letter of the Smyrnaeans relative to the martyrdom of Polycarp. He +argues as if the authority for this statement were unimpeachable; and, +evidently regarding it as the very key of the position, he endeavours, +by means of it, to upset the chronology of Eusebius, Jerome, the +_Chronicon Paschale_, and other witnesses. As the reader peruses his +chapter on "The Date of the Martyrdom," he cannot but feel that the +evidence presented to him is bewildering, indecisive, and obscure; +and it may occur to him that the author is very like an individual who +proposes to determine the value of two or three unknown quantities from +one simple algebraic equation. His principal witness, Aristides, were he +now living and brought up in presence of a jury, would find himself +in rather an odd predicament. He is expected to settle the date of the +death of Polycarp, and yet he knows nothing either of the pastor of +Smyrna or of his tragic end. It does not appear that he had ever heard +of the worthy apostolic Father. Aristides was a rhetorician who has left +behind him certain orations, entitled _Sacred Discourses_, written in +praise of the god Aesculapius. It might be thought that such a writer +is but poorly qualified to decide a disputed question of chronology. Our +readers may have heard of Papias,--one of the early Fathers, noted +for the imbecility of his intellect. Aristides, it seems, was quite as +liable to imposition. "The credulity of a Papias," says Dr. Lightfoot, +"is more than matched by the credulity of an Aristides." [40:1] Such +is the bishop's leading witness. Aristides was an invalid and a +hypochondriac; and, in the discourses he has left behind him, he +describes the course of a long illness, with an account of his pains, +aches, purgations, dreams, and visions--interspersed, from time to time, +with what Dr. Lightfoot estimates as "valuable chronological notices!" +[40:2] + +The reader may be at a loss to understand how it happens that this +eccentric character has been brought forward as a witness to the date +of the martyrdom of Polycarp. He has been introduced under the following +circumstances. In the postscript to the Smyrnaean letter--an appendage +of very doubtful authority--we are told that the martyrdom occurred +when Statius Quadratus was proconsul of Asia. From certain incidental +allusions made by Aristides in his discourses, the bishop labours hard +to prove that this Statius Quadratus was proconsul of Asia somewhere +about A.D. 155. The evidence is not very clear or well authenticated; +and we have reason to fear that very little reliance can be placed on +the declarations of this afflicted rhetorician. His sickness is said +to have lasted seventeen years; and it is possible that, meanwhile, his +memory as to dates may have been somewhat impaired. Dr. Lightfoot cannot +exactly tell when his sickness commenced or when it terminated. But +he has ascertained that this Quadratus was consul in A.D. 142; and, by +weighing probabilities as to the length of the interval which may have +elapsed before he became proconsul, he has arrived at the conclusion +that it might have amounted to twelve or thirteen years. Nothing, +however, can be more unsatisfactory than the process by which he has +reached this result. According to the usual routine, an individual +advanced to the consulate became, in a number of years afterwards, a +proconsul; and yet, as everything depended on the will of the emperor, +it was impossible to tell how long he might have to wait for the +appointment. He might obtain it in five years, or perhaps sooner, if "an +exceptionally able man;" [41:1] or he might be kept in expectancy for +eighteen or nineteen years. The proconsulship commonly terminated in a +year; but an individual might be retained in the office for five or six +years. [41:2] He might become consul a second time, and then possibly +he might again be made proconsul. Dr. Lightfoot, as we have seen, has +proved that Statius Quadratus was consul in A.D. 142; and then, by the +aid of the dreamer Aristides, he has tried to show that he probably +became proconsul of Asia about A.D. 154 or A.D. 155. His calculations +are obviously mere guesswork. Even admitting their correctness, it would +by no means follow that Polycarp was then consigned to martyrdom. The +postscript of the Smyrnaean letter is, as we have seen, justly suspected +as no part of the original document. Dr. Lightfoot himself tells us, +that it is "_generally_ treated as a later addition to the letter, and +as coming from a different hand;" [42:1] and, whilst disposed to uphold +its claims as of high authority, he admits that, when tested as to +"external evidence," the supplementary paragraphs, of which this is one, +"do not stand on the same ground" [42:2] as the rest of the Epistle. And +yet his whole chronology rests on the supposition that the name of the +proconsul is correctly given in this probably apocryphal addition to the +Smyrnaean letter. Were we even to grant that this postscript belonged +originally to the document, it would supply no conclusive evidence that +Polycarp was martyred in A.D. 155. It is far more probable that the +writer has been slightly inaccurate as to the exact designation of the +proconsul of Asia about the time of the martyrdom. [43:1] He was called +Quadratus--not perhaps _Statius_, but possibly _Ummidius Quadratus_. +[43:2] There is nothing more common among ourselves than to make such +a mistake as to a name. How often may we find John put for James, or +Robert for Andrew? Quadratus was a patrician name, well known all +over the empire; and if Statius Quadratus had, not long before, +been proconsul of Asia, it is quite possible that the writer of this +postscript may have taken it for granted that the proconsul about the +time of Polycarp's death was the same individual. The author, whoever +he may have been, was probably not very well acquainted with these +Roman dignitaries, and may thus have readily fallen into the error. Dr. +Lightfoot has himself recorded a case in which a similar mistake has +been made--not in an ordinary communication such its this, but in an +Imperial ordinance. In a Rescript of the Emperor Hadrian, _Licinius_ +Granianus, the proconsul, is styled _Serenus_ Granianus. [43:3] If such +a blunder could be perpetrated in an official State document, need +we wonder if the penman of the postscript of the Smyrnaean letter has +written Statius Quadratus for Ummidius Quadratus? And yet, if we admit +this very likely oversight, the whole chronological edifice which the +Bishop of Durham has been at such vast pains to construct, vanishes +like the dreams and visions of his leading witness, the hypochondriac +Aristides. [44:1] + +Archbishop Ussher and others, who have carefully investigated the +subject, have placed in A.D. 169 the martyrdom of Polycarp. The +following reasons may be assigned why this date is decidedly preferable +to that contended for by Dr. Lightfoot. + +1. All the surrounding circumstances point to the reign of Marcus +Aurelius as the date of the martyrdom. Eusebius has preserved an edict, +said to have been issued by Antoninus Pius, in which he announces +that he had written to the governors of provinces "not to trouble the +Christians at all, unless they appeared to make attempts against the +Roman government." [44:2] Doubts--it may be, well founded--have been +entertained as to the genuineness of this ordinance; but it has been +pretty generally acknowledged that it fairly indicates the policy of +Antoninus Pius. "Though certainly spurious," says Dr. Lightfoot, "it +represents the conception of him entertained by Christians in the +generations next succeeding his own." [45:1] In his reign, the disciples +of our Lord, according to the declarations of their own apologists, were +treated with special indulgence. Melito, for example, who wrote not +long after the middle of the second century, bears this testimony. +Capitolinus, an author who flourished about the close of the third +century, reports that Antoninus Pius lived "without bloodshed, either +of citizen or foe," during his reign of twenty-two years. [45:2] Dr. +Lightfoot strives again and again to evade the force of this evidence, +and absurdly quotes the sufferings of Polycarp and his companions as +furnishing a contradiction; but he thus only takes for granted what he +has elsewhere failed to prove. He admits, at the same time, that this +case stands alone. "_The only recorded martyrdoms_," says he, "in +Proconsular Asia during his reign [that of Antoninus Pius] are those of +Polycarp and his companions." [45:3] It must, however, be obvious +that he cannot establish even this exception. We have seen that the +chronology supported by the Bishop of Durham is at variance with the +express statements of all the early Christian writers; and certain facts +mentioned in the letter of the Smyrnaeans concur to demonstrate its +inaccuracy. The description there given of the sufferings endured by +those of whom it speaks, supplies abundant evidence that the martyrdoms +must have happened in the time of Marcus Aurelius. Dr. Lightfoot himself +attests that "persecutions extended throughout this reign;" that they +were "fierce and deliberate;" and that they were "_aggravated by cruel +tortures_." [46:1] Such precisely were the barbarities reported in this +Epistle. It states that the martyrs "were so torn by lashes that the +mechanism of their flesh was visible, even as far as the inward veins +and arteries;" that, notwithstanding, they were enabled to "endure the +fire;" and that those who were finally "condemned to the wild beasts" +meanwhile "suffered fearful punishments, _being made to lie on sharp +shells, and buffeted with other forms of manifold tortures._" [46:2] +These words attest that, before the Christians were put to death, +various expedients were employed to extort from them a recantation. Such +was the mode of treatment recommended by Marcus Aurelius. In an edict +issued against those who professed the gospel by this emperor, we have +the following directions: "Let them be arrested, and unless they offer +to the gods, _let them be punished with divers tortures._" [46:3] +"Various means," says Neander, "were employed to constrain them to a +renunciation of their faith; and only in the last extremity, when +they could not be forced to submit, was the punishment of death to be +inflicted." [46:4] This, undoubtedly, was the inauguration of a new +system of persecution. In former times, the Christians who refused +to apostatize were summarily consigned to execution. Now, they were +horribly tormented in various ways, with a view to compel them to +abandon their religion. This new policy is characteristic of the +reign of Marcus Aurelius. Nothing akin to it, sanctioned by Imperial +authority, can be found in the time of any preceding emperor. Its +employment now in the case of Polycarp and his companions fixes the date +of the martyrdom to this reign. + +2. We have distinct proof that the visit of Polycarp to Rome took place +_after_ the date assigned by Bishop Lightfoot to his martyrdom! Eusebius +tells us that, in the _first_ year of the reign of Antoninus Pius, +[47:1] Telesphorus of Rome died, and was succeeded in his charge by +Hyginus. [47:2] He subsequently informs us that Hyginus dying "_after +the fourth year of his office,_" was succeeded by Pius; and he then adds +that Pius dying at Rome, "in the _fifteenth_ year of his episcopate," +was succeeded by Anicetus. [47:3] It was in the time of this chief +pastor that Polycarp paid his visit to the Imperial city. It is apparent +from the foregoing statements that Anicetus could not have entered +on his office until at least nineteen, or perhaps twenty years, after +Antoninus Pius became emperor, that is, until A.D. 157, or possibly +until A.D. 158. This, however, is two or three years after the date +assigned by Dr. Lightfoot for the martyrdom. Surely the Bishop of Durham +would not have us to believe that Polycarp reappeared in Rome two or +three years after he expired on the funeral pile; and yet it is only by +some such desperate supposition that he can make his chronology square +with the history of the apostolic Father. + +It is not at all probable that Polycarp arrived in Rome immediately +after the appointment of Anicetus as chief pastor. The account of his +visit, as given by Irenaeus, rather suggests that a considerable time +must meanwhile have elapsed before he made his appearance there. It +would seem that he had been disturbed by reports which had reached him +relative to innovations with which Anicetus was identified; and that, +apprehending mischief to the whole Christian community from anything +going amiss in a Church of such importance, he was prompted, at his +advanced age, to undertake so formidable a journey, in the hope that, by +the weight of his personal influence with his brethren in the Imperial +city, he might be able to arrest the movement. It is not necessary now +to inquire more particularly what led the venerable Asiatic presbyter at +this period to travel all the way from Smyrna to the seat of empire. +It is enough for us to know, as regards the question before us, that +it took place sometime during the pastorate of Anicetus; that Polycarp +effected much good by his dealings with errorists when in Rome; and that +its chief Christian minister, by his tact and discretion, succeeded in +quieting the fears of the aged stranger. That the visit occurred long +after the date assigned by Dr. Lightfoot for his martyrdom, may now be +evident; and in a former chapter proof has been adduced to show that it +must be dated, not, as the Bishop of Durham argues, about A.D. 154, but +in A.D. 161. Neither is there any evidence whatever that Polycarp was +put to death immediately after his return to Smyrna. This supposition is +absolutely necessary to give even an appearance of plausibility to the +bishop's chronology; but he has not been able to furnish so much as a +solitary reason for its adoption. + +3. We have good grounds for believing that the martyrdom of Polycarp +occurred not earlier than A.D. 169. This date fulfils better than +any other the conditions enumerated in the letter of the Smyrnaeans. +Archbishop Ussher has been at pains to show that the month and day +there mentioned precisely correspond to and verify this reckoning. It is +unnecessary here to repeat his calculations; but it is right to notice +another item spoken of in the Smyrnaean Epistle, supplying an additional +confirmatory proof which the Bishop of Durham cannot well ignore. When +Polycarp was pressed to apostatize by the officials who had him in +custody, they pleaded with him as if anxious to save his life--"Why, +what harm is there in saying _Caesar is Lord_, and offering incense?" +and they urged him to "_swear by the genius of Caesar_" [50:1] These +words suggest that, at the time of this transaction, the Roman world had +only one emperor. In January A.D. 169, L. Verus died. After recording +this event in his _Imperial Fasti_, Dr. Lightfoot adds, "M. Aurelius is +now _sole emperor_." [50:2] When he is contending for A.D. 155 as the +date of the martyrdom, he lays much stress on the fact that "throughout +this Smyrnaean letter _the singular_ is used of the emperor." +"Polycarp," he says, "is urged to declare 'Caesar is Lord;' he is +bidden, and he refuses to swear by the 'genius of Caesar.'" "It is," +he adds, "at least a matter of surprise that these forms should +be persistently used, if the event had happened _during a divided +sovereignty_." [50:3] The bishop cannot, at this stage of the +discussion, decently refuse to recognise the potency of his own +argument. + +The three reasons just enumerated show conclusively that A.D. 155, for +which the Bishop of Durham contends so strenuously, cannot be accepted +as the date of the martyrdom. For some years after this, Anicetus was +not placed at the head of the Church of the Imperial city; and he must +have been for a considerable time in that position, when Polycarp paid +his visit to Rome. We have seen that the aged pastor of Smyrna suffered +in the reign of Marcus Aurelius; and that A.D. 169 is the earliest +period to which we can refer the martyrdom, inasmuch as that was the +first year in which Marcus Aurelius was sole emperor. All the reliable +chronological indications point to this as the more correct reckoning. + +It has now, we believe, been demonstrated by a series of solid and +concurring testimonies, that Archbishop Ussher made no mistake when +he fixed on A.D. 169 as the proper date of Polycarp's martyrdom. The +bearing of this conclusion on the question of the Ignatian Epistles must +at once be apparent. Polycarp was eighty-six years of age at the time +of his death; and it follows that in A.D. 107,--or sixty-two years +before,--when the Ignatian letters are alleged to have been dictated, he +was only four-and-twenty. The absurdity of believing that at such an +age he wrote the Epistle to the Philippians, or that another apostolic +Father would then have addressed him in the style employed in the +Ignatian correspondence, must be plain to every reader of ordinary +intelligence. No wonder that the advocates of the genuineness of +these Epistles have called into requisition such an enormous amount of +ingenuity and erudition to pervert the chronology. Pearson, as we have +seen, spent six years in this service; and the learned Bishop of Durham +has been engaged "off and on" for nearly thirty in the same labour. At +the close of his long task he seems to have persuaded himself that he +has been quite successful; and speaking of the theory of Dr. Cureton, +he adopts a tone of triumph, and exclaims: "I venture to hope that the +discussion which follows will extinguish the last sparks of its waning +life." [51:1] It remains for the candid reader to ponder the statements +submitted to him in this chapter, and to determine how many sparks of +life now remain in the bishop's chronology. + + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +THE TESTIMONY OF IRENAEUS, AND THE GENESIS OF PRELACY. + + +1. _The Testimony of Irenaeus._ + +The only two vouchers of the second century produced in support of +the claims of the Epistles attributed to Ignatius, are the letter of +Polycarp to the Philippians and a sentence from the treatise of Irenaeus +_Against Heresies_. The evidence from Polycarp's Epistle has been +discussed in a preceding chapter. When examined, it has completely +broken down, as it is based on an entire misconception of the meaning +of the writer. The words of Irenaeus can be adduced with still less +plausibility to uphold the credit of these letters. The following is +the passage in which they are supposed to be authenticated: "_One of our +people said_, when condemned to the beasts on account of his testimony +towards God--'As I am the wheat of God, I am also ground by the teeth of +beasts, that I may be found the pure bread of God.'" [53:1] It is worse +than a mere begging of the question to assert that Irenaeus here gives +us a quotation from one of the letters of Ignatius. In the extensive +treatise from which the words are an extract, he never once mentions +the name of the pastor of Antioch. Had he been aware of the existence +of these Epistles, he would undoubtedly have availed himself of their +assistance when contending against the heretics--as they would have +furnished him with many passages exactly suited for their refutation. +The words of a man taught by the apostles, occupying one of the highest +positions in the Christian Church, and finishing his career by a +glorious martyrdom in the very beginning of the second century, would +have been by far the weightiest evidence he could have produced, next +to the teaching of inspiration. But though he brings forward Clemens +Romanus, Papias, Justin Martyr, Polycarp, [54:1] and others to confront +the errorists, he ignores a witness whose antiquity and weight of +character would have imparted peculiar significance to his testimony. To +say that though he never names him elsewhere, he points to him in this +place as "one of our people," is to make a very bold and improbable +statement. Even the Apostle Paul himself would not have ventured to +describe the evangelist John in this way. He would have alluded to +him more respectfully. Neither would the pastor of a comparatively +uninfluential church in the south of Gaul have expressed himself after +this fashion when speaking of a minister who had been one of the most +famous of the spiritual heroes of the Church. Not many years before, a +terrific persecution had raged in his own city of Lyons; many had been +put in prison, and some had been thrown to wild beasts; [55:1] and it is +obviously to one of these anonymous sufferers that Irenaeus here directs +attention. The "one of our people" is not certainly an apostolic Father; +but some citizen of Lyons, moving in a different sphere, whose name the +author does not deem it necessary to enrol in the record of history. +Neither is it to a _written_ correspondence, but to the _dying words_ +of the unknown martyr, to which he adverts when we read,--"One of our +people _said_, As I am the wheat of God, I am also ground by the teeth +of beasts, that I may be found the pure bread of God." + +The two witnesses of the second century who are supposed to uphold the +claims of the Ignatian Epistles have now been examined, and it must be +apparent that their testimony amounts to nothing. Thus far, then, there +is no external evidence whatever in favour of these letters. The result +of this investigation warrants the suspicion that they are forgeries. +[55:2] The internal evidence abundantly confirms this impression. Any +one who carefully peruses them, and then reads over the Epistle of +Clemens Romanus, the Teaching of the Apostles, the writings of Justin +Martyr, and the Epistle of Polycarp, may see that the works just named +are the productions of quite another period. The Ignatian letters +describe a state of things which they totally ignore. Dr. Lightfoot +himself has been at pains to point out the wonderful difference between +the Ignatian correspondence and the Epistle of Polycarp. "In +whatever way," says he, "we test the documents, the contrast is very +striking,--more striking, indeed, than we should have expected to +find between two Christian writers who lived at the same time and were +personally acquainted with each other." [56:1] He then proceeds to +mention some of the points of contrast. Whilst the so-called Ignatius +lays stress on Episcopacy "as the key-stone of the ecclesiastical +order," Polycarp, in his Epistle, from first to last makes "no mention +of the Episcopate," and "the bishop is entirely ignored." In regard to +doctrinal statement the same contrariety is apparent. Ignatius speaks of +"the blood of God" and "the passion of my God," whilst no such language +is used by Polycarp. Again, in the letter of the pastor of Smyrna, there +is "an entire absence of that sacramental language which confronts us +again and again in the most startling forms in Ignatius." [57:1] +"Though the seven Ignatian letters are many times longer than Polycarp's +Epistle, the quotations in the latter are incomparably more numerous as +well as more precise than in the former." In the Ignatian letters, of +"quotations from the New Testament, strictly speaking, there is none." +[57:2] "Of all the Fathers of the Church, early or later, no one is more +incisive or more persistent in advocating the claims of the threefold +ministry to allegiance than Ignatius." [57:3] Polycarp, on the +other hand, has written a letter "which has proved a stronghold of +Presbyterianism." [57:4] And yet Dr. Lightfoot would have us to believe +that these various letters were written by two ministers living at +the same time, taught by the same instructors, holding the closest +intercourse with each other, professing the same doctrines, and adhering +to the same ecclesiastical arrangements! + +The features of distinction between the teaching of the Ignatian +letters and the teaching of Polycarp, which have been pointed out by Dr. +Lightfoot himself, are sufficiently striking; but his Lordship has not +exhibited nearly the full amount of the contrast. Ignatius is described +as offering himself voluntarily that he may suffer as a martyr, and +as telling those to whom he writes that his supreme desire is to be +devoured by the lions at Rome. "I desire," says he, "to fight with wild +beasts." [57:5] "May I have joy of the beasts that have been prepared +for me ... I will entice them that they may devour me promptly." [58:1] +"Though I desire to suffer, yet I know not whether I am worthy." [58:2] +"I delivered myself over to death." [58:3] "I bid all men know that +of my own free will I die for God." [58:4] The Church, instructed by +Polycarp, condemns this insane ambition for martyrdom. "We praise not +those," say the Smyrnaeans, "who deliver themselves up, _since the +gospel does not so teach us_." [58:5] In these letters Ignatius speaks +as a vain babbler, drunken with fanaticism; Polycarp, in his Epistle, +expresses himself like an humble-minded Presbyterian minister in his +sober senses. Ignatius is made to address Polycarp as if he were a +full-blown prelate, and tells the people under his care, "He that +honoureth the bishop is honoured of God; he that doth aught against +the knowledge of the bishop, rendereth service to the devil" [58:6] +Polycarp, on the other hand, describes himself as one of the elders, and +exhorts the Philippians to "submit to the presbyters and deacons," and +to be "all subject one to another." [58:7] When their Church had got +into a state of confusion, and when they applied to him for advice, +he recommended them "to walk in the commandment of the Lord," and +admonished their "presbyters to be compassionate and merciful towards +all men," [58:8]--never hinting that the appointment of a bishop would +help to keep them in order; whereas, when Ignatius addresses various +Churches,--that of the Smyrnaeans included,--he assumes a tone of High +Churchmanship which Archbishop Laud himself would have been afraid, +and perhaps ashamed, to emulate. "As many as are of God and of Jesus +Christ," says he, "they are with the bishop." "It is good to recognise +God and the bishop!" "Give ye heed to the bishop, that God may also give +heed to you." [59:1] + +The internal evidence furnished by the Ignatian Epistles seals their +condemnation. I do not intend, however, at present to pursue this +subject. In a work published by me six and twenty years ago, [59:2] +I have called attention to various circumstances which betray the +imposture; and neither Dr. Lightfoot, Zahn, nor any one else, so far as +I am aware, has ever yet ventured to deal with my arguments. I might now +add new evidences of their fabrication, but I deem this unnecessary. I +cannot, however, pass from this department of the question in debate, +without protesting against the view presented by the Bishop of Durham of +the origin of Prelacy. "It is shown," says he, referring to his _Essay +on the Christian Ministry_, [59:3] "that though the New Testament +itself contains as yet no direct and indisputable notices of a localized +episcopate in the Gentile Churches, as distinguished from the moveable +episcopate exercised by Timothy in Ephesus and by Titus in Crete, yet +there is satisfactory evidence of its development in the later years +of the apostolic age, ... and that, in the early years of the second +century, the episcopate was widely spread and had taken firm root, more +especially in Asia Minor and in Syria. If the evidence on which its +extension in the regions east of the Aegaean at this epoch be resisted, +_I am at a loss to understand what single fact relating to the history +of the Christian Church during the first half of the second century can +be regarded as established_." [60:1] + +In this statement, as well as in not a few others already submitted +to the reader, Dr. Lightfoot has expressed himself with an amount of +confidence which may well excite astonishment. It would not be difficult +to show that his speculations as to the development of Episcopacy +in Asia Minor and Syria in the early years of the second century, as +presented in the Essay to which he refers, are the merest moonshine. +On what grounds can he maintain that Timothy exercised what he calls a +"moveable episcopate" in Ephesus? Paul besought him to abide there for a +time that he might withstand errorists, and he gave him instructions as +to how he was to behave himself in the house of God; [60:2] but it did +not therefore follow that he was either a bishop or an archbishop. He +was an able man, sound in the faith, wise and energetic; and, as he +was thus a host in himself, Paul expected that meanwhile he would be +eminently useful in helping the less gifted ministers who were in the +place to repress error and keep the Church in order. That Paul intended +to establish neither a moveable nor an immoveable episcopate in Ephesus, +is obvious from his own testimony; for when he addresses its elders,--as +he believed for the last time,--he ignored their submission to +any ecclesiastical superior, and committed the Church to their own +supervision. [61:1] And if he left Titus in Crete to take charge of the +organization of the Church there, he certainly did not intend that the +evangelist was to act alone. In those days there was no occasion for the +services of a diocesan bishop, inasmuch as the Christian community +was governed by the common council of the elders, and ordination was +performed "with the laying on of the hands of the Presbytery." [61:2] +Titus was a master builder, and Paul believed that, proceeding in +concert with the ministers in Crete, he would render effectual aid in +carrying forward the erection of the ecclesiastical edifice. And what +proof has Dr. Lightfoot produced to show that "the episcopate was widely +spread in Asia Minor and in Syria" in "the early years of the second +century"? If the Ignatian Epistles be discredited, he has none at all. +But there is very decisive evidence to the contrary. The Teaching of the +Apostles, the Shepherd of Hermas, and the Epistle of Polycarp prove +the very reverse. And yet Dr. Lightfoot is at a loss to understand what +single fact relating to the history of the Christian Church during the +first half of the second century can be regarded as established, if we +reject his baseless assertion! + + +2. _The Genesis of Prelacy._ + +Jerome gives us the true explanation of the origin of the episcopate, +when he tells us that it was set up with a view to prevent divisions in +the Church. [62:1] These divisions were created chiefly by the Gnostics, +who swarmed in some of the great cities of the empire towards the middle +of the second century. About that time the president of the Presbytery +was in a few places armed with additional authority, in the hope that +he would thus be the better able to repress schism. The new system was +inaugurated in Rome, and its Church has ever since maintained the proud +boast that it is the centre of ecclesiastical unity. From the Imperial +city Episcopacy gradually radiated over all Christendom. The position +assumed by Dr. Lightfoot--that it commenced in Jerusalem--is without any +solid foundation. To support it, he is obliged to adopt the fable that +James was the first bishop of the mother Church. The New Testament +ignores this story, and tells us explicitly that James was only one of +the "pillars," or ruling spirits, among the Christians of the Jewish +capital. [62:2] The very same kind of argumentation employed to +establish the prelacy of James, may be used, with far greater +plausibility, to demonstrate the primacy of Peter. Dr. Lightfoot himself +acknowledges that, about the close of the first century, we cannot find +a trace of the episcopate in either of the two great Christian Churches +of Rome and Corinth. [63:1] "At the close of the first century," says +he, "Clement writes to Corinth, as at the beginning of the second +century Polycarp writes to Philippi. As in the latter Epistle, so in the +former, there is no allusion to the episcopal office." [63:2] He might +have said that, even after the middle of the second century, it did not +exist either in Smyrna or Philippi. He admits also, that "as late as the +close of the second century, the bishop of Alexandria was regarded as +distinct, and yet not as distinct from the Presbytery." [63:3] "The +first bishop of Alexandria," says he, "of whom any distinct incident is +recorded on trustworthy authority, was a contemporary of Origen," [63:4] +who flourished in the third century. Dr. Lightfoot tells us in the +same place, that "at Alexandria the bishop was nominated and apparently +ordained by the twelve presbyters out of their own number." [63:5] +Instead of asserting, as has been done, that no single fact relating to +the history of the Christian Church during the first half of the second +century can be regarded as established, if we deny that the episcopate +was widely spread in the early years of the second century in Asia Minor +and elsewhere, it may be fearlessly affirmed that, at the date here +mentioned, there is not a particle of proof that it was established +ANYWHERE. + +Irenaeus could have given an account of the genesis of Episcopacy, for +he lived throughout the period of its original development; but he +has taken care not to lift the veil which covers its mysterious +commencement. He could have told what prompted Polycarp to undertake a +journey to Rome when burthened with the weight of years; but he has +left us to our own surmises. It is, however, significant that the +presbyterian system was kept up in Smyrna long after the death of its +aged martyr. [64:1] Dr. Lightfoot has well observed that "Irenaeus +was probably the most learned Christian of his time;" [64:2] and it is +pretty clear that he contributed much to promote the acceptance of the +episcopal theory. When arguing with the heretics, he coined the doctrine +of the apostolical succession, and maintained that the true faith was +propagated to his own age through an unbroken line of bishops from the +days of the apostles. To make out his case, he was necessitated to speak +of the presidents of the presbyteries as bishops, [64:3] and to ignore +the change which had meanwhile taken place in the ecclesiastical +Constitution. Subsequent writers followed in his wake, and thus it +is that the beginnings of Episcopacy have been enveloped in so much +obscurity. Even in Rome, the seat of the most prominent Church in +Christendom, it is impossible to settle the order in which its early +presiding pastors were arranged. "Come we to Rome," says Stillingfleet, +"and here the succession is as muddy as the Tiber itself; for here +Tertullian, Rufinus, and several others, place Clement next to Peter. +Irenaeus and Eusebius set Anacletus before him; Epiphanius and Optatus, +both Anacletus and Cletus; Augustinus and Damasus, with others, make +Anacletus, Cletus, and Linus all to precede him. What way shall we find +to extricate ourselves out of this labyrinth?" [65:1] The different +lists preserved attest that there was no such continuous and homogeneous +line of bishops as the doctrine of the apostolical succession implies. +When Irenaeus speaks of Polycarp as having "received his appointment in +Asia from apostles as bishop in the Church of Smyrna," [65:2] he makes +a statement which, literally understood, even Dr. Lightfoot hesitates to +endorse. [65:3] The Apostle John may have seen Polycarp in his +boyhood, and may have predicted his future eminence as a Christian +minister,--just as Timothy was pointed out by prophecy [66:1] as +destined to be a champion of the faith. When Episcopacy was introduced, +its abettors tried to manufacture a little literary capital out of some +such incident; but the allegation that Polycarp was ordained to the +episcopal office by the apostles, is a fable that does not require +refutation. Almost all of them were dead before he was born. [66:2] + + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +THE FORGERY OF THE IGNATIAN EPISTLES. + + +If, as there is every reason to believe, the Ignatian Epistles are +forgeries from beginning to end, various questions arise as to the +time of their appearance, and the circumstances which prompted their +fabrication. Their origin, like that of many other writings of the same +description, cannot be satisfactorily explored; and we must in vain +attempt a solution of all the objections which may be urged against +almost any hypothesis framed to elucidate their history. It is, however, +pretty clear that, in their original form, they first saw the light in +the early part of the third century. About that time there was evidently +something like a mania for the composition of such works,--as various +spurious writings, attributed to Clemens Romanus and others, abundantly +testify. Their authors do not seem to have been aware of the impropriety +of committing these pious frauds, and may even have imagined that they +were thus doing God service. [67:1] Several circumstances suggest that +Callistus--who became Bishop of Rome about A.D. 219--may, before his +advancement to the episcopal chair, have had a hand in the preparation +of these Ignatian Epistles. His history is remarkable. He was originally +a slave, and in early life he is reported to have been the child of +misfortune. He had at one time the care of a bank, in the management +of which he did not prosper. He was at length banished to Sardinia, to +labour there as a convict in the mines; and when released from servitude +in that unhealthy island, he was brought under the notice of Victor, the +Roman bishop. To his bounty he was, about this time, indebted for +his support. [68:1] On the death of Victor, Callistus became a prime +favourite with Zephyrinus, the succeeding bishop. By him he was put in +charge of the cemetery of the Christians connected with the Catacombs; +and he soon attained the most influential position among the Roman +clergy. So great was his popularity, that, on the demise of his patron, +he was himself unanimously chosen to the episcopal office in the chief +city of the empire. Callistus was no ordinary man. He was a kind of +original in his way. He possessed a considerable amount of literary +culture. He took a prominent part in the current theological +controversies,--and yet, if we are to believe Hippolytus, he could +accommodate himself to the views of different schools of doctrine. He +had great versatility of talent, restless activity, deep cunning, and +much force of character. Hippolytus tells us that he was sadly given to +intrigue, and so slippery in his movements that it was no easy matter +to entangle him in a dilemma. It may have occurred to him that, in the +peculiar position of the Church, the concoction of a series of letters, +written in the name of an apostolic Father, and vigorously asserting the +claims of the bishops, would help much to strengthen the hands of the +hierarchy. He might thus manage at the same time quietly to commend +certain favourite views of doctrine, and aid the pretensions of the +Roman chief pastor. But the business must be kept a profound secret; +and the letters must, if possible, be so framed as not at once to awaken +suspicion. If we carefully examine them, we shall find that they were +well fitted to escape detection at the time when they were written. + +The internal evidence warrants the conclusion that the Epistle to the +Romans was the first produced. It came forth alone; and, if it crept +into circulation originally in the Imperial city, it was not likely to +provoke there any hostile criticism. It is occupied chiefly with giving +expression to the personal feelings of the supposed writer in +the prospect of martyrdom. It scarcely touches on the question of +ecclesiastical regimen; and it closes by soliciting the prayers of the +Roman brethren for "the Church which is in Syria." [69:1] "If," says +Dr. Lightfoot, "Ignatius had not incidentally mentioned himself as +the Bishop 'of' or 'from Syria,' the letter to the Romans would have +contained no indication of the existence of the episcopal office" [70:1] +Whilst observing this studied silence on the subject which above all +others occupied his thoughts, the writer was craftily preparing the way +for the more ready reception of the letters which were to follow. The +Epistle to the Romans tacitly embodies their credentials. It slyly takes +advantage of the connection of the name of Ignatius with Syria in the +letter of Polycarp to the Philippians; assumes that Syria is the eastern +province; and represents Ignatius as a bishop from that part of the +empire on his way to die at Rome. It does not venture to say that +the Western capital had then a bishop of its own,--for the Epistle +of Clemens, which was probably in many hands, and which ignored the +episcopal office there--might thus have suggested doubts as to its +genuineness; but it tells the sensational story of the journey of +Ignatius in chains, from east to west, in the custody of what are called +"ten leopards." This tale at the time was likely to be exceedingly +popular. Ever since the rise of Montanism--which made its appearance +about the time of the death of Polycarp--there had been an increasing +tendency all over the Church to exaggerate the merits of martyrdom. This +tendency reached its fullest development in the early part of the third +century. The letter of Ignatius to the Romans exhibits it in the height +of its folly. Ignatius proclaims his most earnest desire to be torn +to pieces by the lions, and entreats the Romans not to interfere and +deprive him of a privilege which he coveted so ardently. The words +reported by Irenaeus as uttered by one of the martyrs of Lyons are +adroitly appropriated by the pseudo-Ignatius as if spoken by himself; +and, in an uncritical age, when the subject-matter of the communication +was otherwise so much to the taste of the reader, the quotation helped +to establish the credit of the Ignatian correspondence. Another portion +of the letter was sure to be extremely acceptable to the Church +of Rome--for here the writer is most lavish in his complimentary +acknowledgements. That Church is described as "having the presidency in +the country of the region of the Romans, being worthy of God, worthy +of honour, worthy of felicitation, worthy of praise, worthy of success, +worthy in purity, and having the presidency of love, filled with the +grace of God, without wavering, and filtered clear from every foreign +stain." + +"The Epistle to the Romans," says Dr. Lightfoot, "had a wider popularity +than the other letters of Ignatius, both early and late. It appears to +have been circulated apart from them, sometimes alone." [71:1] It was +put forth as a feeler, to discover how the public would be disposed +to entertain such a correspondence; and, in case of its favourable +reception, it was intended to open the way for additional Epistles. +It was cleverly contrived. It employed the Epistle of Polycarp to the +Philippians as a kind of voucher for its authenticity, inasmuch as it +is there stated that Ignatius had written a number of letters; and it +contained little or nothing which any one in that age would have been +disposed to controvert. The Christians of Rome had long enjoyed the +reputation of a community ennobled by the blood of martyrs, and they +would be quite willing to believe that Ignatius had contributed to +their celebrity by dying for the faith within their borders. It is +very doubtful whether he really finished his career there: some ancient +authorities attest that he suffered at Antioch; [72:1] and the fact +that, in the fourth century, his grave was pointed out in that locality, +apparently supports their testimony. [72:2] The account of his hurried +removal as a prisoner from Antioch to Rome, in the custody of ten fierce +soldiers--whilst he was permitted, as he passed along, to hold something +like a levee of his co-religionists at every stage of his journey--wears +very much the appearance of an ill-constructed fiction. But the +disciples at Rome about this period were willing to be credulous in such +matters; and thus it was that this tale of martyrdom was permitted +to pass unchallenged. In due time the author of the letters, as +they appeared one after another, accomplished the design of their +composition. The question of the constitution of the Church had recently +awakened much attention; and the threat of Victor to excommunicate the +Christians of Asia Minor, because they ventured to differ from him as +to the mode of celebrating the Paschal festival, had, no doubt, led to +discussions relative to the claims of episcopal authority which, at Rome +especially, were felt to be very inconvenient and uncomfortable. No one +could well maintain that it had a scriptural warrant. The few who +were acquainted with its history were aware that it was only a human +arrangement of comparatively recent introduction; and yet a bishop +who threatened with excommunication such as refused to submit to his +mandates, could scarcely be expected to make such a confession. +Irenaeus had sanctioned its establishment; but, when Victor became so +overbearing, he took the alarm, and told him plainly that those who +presided over the Church of Rome before him were nothing but presbyters. +[73:1] This was rather an awkward disclosure; and it was felt by the +friends of the new order that some voucher was required to help it in +its hour of need, and to fortify its pretensions. The letters of an +apostolic Father strongly asserting its claims could not fail to give it +encouragement. We can thus understand how at this crisis these Epistles +were forthcoming. They were admirably calculated to quiet the public +mind. They were comparatively short, so that they could be easily read; +and they were quite to the point, for they taught that we are to +"regard the bishop as the Lord Himself," and that "he presides after the +likeness of God." [74:1] Who after all this could doubt the claims of +Episcopacy? Should not the words of an apostolic Father put an end to +all farther questionings? + +Hippolytus, who was his contemporary, has given us much information in +relation to Callistus. He writes, indeed, in an unfriendly spirit; but +he speaks, notwithstanding, as an honest man; and we cannot well reject +his statements as destitute of foundation. His account of the general +facts in the career of this Roman bishop obviously rest on a substratum +of truth. As we read these Ignatian letters, it may occur to us that +the real author sometimes betrays his identity. Callistus had been +originally a slave, and he here represents Ignatius as saying of +himself, "I am a slave." [74:2] Callistus had been a convict, and more +than once this Ignatius declares, "I am a convict." [74:3] May he not +thus intend to remind his co-religionists at Rome that an illustrious +bishop and martyr had once been a slave and a convict like himself? +Callistus, when labouring in the mines of Sardinia, must have been +well acquainted with ropes and hoists; and here Ignatius describes the +Ephesians as "hoisted up to the heights through the engine of Jesus +Christ," having faith as their "windlass," and as "using for a rope the +Holy Spirit." [74:4] Callistus had at one time been in charge of a bank; +and Ignatius, in one of these Epistles, is made to say, "Let your works +be your _deposits_, that you may receive your _assets_ due to you." +[75:1] Callistus also had charge of the Christian cemetery in the Roman +Catacombs; and Ignatius here expresses himself as one familiar with +graves and funerals. He speaks of a heretic as "being himself a bearer +of a corpse," and of those inclined to Judaism "as tombstones and graves +of the dead." [75:2] It is rather singular that, in these few short +letters, we find so many expressions which point to Callistus as the +writer. There are, however, other matters which warrant equally strong +suspicions. Hippolytus tells us that Callistus was a Patripassian. "The +Father," said he, "having taken human nature, deified it by uniting it +to Himself, ... and so he said that the Father had suffered with the +Son." [75:3] Hence Ignatius, in these Epistles, startles us by such +expressions as "the blood of God," [75:4] and "the passion of my God." +[75:5] Callistus is accused by Hippolytus as a trimmer prepared, as +occasion served, to conciliate different parties in the Church by +appearing to adopt their views. Sometimes he sided with Hippolytus, +and sometimes with those opposed to him; hence it is that the theology +taught in these letters is of a very equivocal character. Dr. Lightfoot +has seized upon this fact as a reason that they are never quoted by +Irenaeus. "The language approaching dangerously near to heresy +might," says he, "have led him to avoid directly quoting the doctrinal +teaching." [76:1] A much better reason was that he had never heard +of these letters; and yet their theology is exactly such a piebald +production as might have been expected from Callistus. + +It is not easy to understand how Dr. Lightfoot has brought himself to +believe that these Ignatian Epistles were written in the beginning +of the second century. "_Throughout the whole range of Christian +literature_," says he, "no more uncompromising advocacy of the +episcopate can be found than appears in these writings ... It is when +asserting the claims of the episcopal office to obedience and respect +that the language is _strained to the utmost_. The bishops established +_in the farthest part of the world_ are in the counsels of Jesus +Christ." [76:2] It is simply incredible that such a state of things +could have existed six or seven years after the death of the Apostle +John. All the extant writings for sixty years after the alleged date +of the martyrdom of Ignatius demonstrate the utter falsehood of these +letters. It is certain that they employ a terminology, and develop +Church principles unknown before the beginning of the third century, and +which were not current even then. The forger, whoever he may have been, +has displayed no little art and address in their fabrication. From all +that we know of Callistus, he was quite equal to the task. Like the +false Decretals, these letters exerted much influence on the subsequent +history of the Church. Cyprian, though he never mentions them, [77:1] +speedily caught their spirit. His assertion of episcopal authority +is quite in the same style. Origen visited Rome shortly after they +appeared; he is the first writer who recognises them; and it is worthy +of note that, of the three quotations from them found in his works, +two are from the Epistle to the Romans. It is quite within the range +of possibility that evidence may yet be forthcoming to prove that they +emanated from one of the early popes. They are worthy of such an origin. +They recommend that blind and slavish submission to ecclesiastical +dictation which the so-called successors of Peter have ever since +inculcated. "It need hardly be remarked," says Dr. Lightfoot, "how +subversive of the true spirit of Christianity, in the negation +of individual freedom and the consequent suppression of direct +responsibility to God in Christ, is the _crushing despotism_ with which" +the language of these letters, "if taken literally, would invest the +episcopal office." [77:2] And yet, having devoted nearly thirty +years off and on to the study of these Epistles, the Bishop of Durham +maintains that we have here the genuine writings of an apostolic Father +who was instructed by the inspired founders of the Christian Church!! + +In this Review no notice is taken of the various forms of these +Epistles. If they are all forgeries, it is not worth while to spend time +in discussing the merits of the several editions. + + + + + +APPENDICES. + + + + +I. + +LETTER OF THE LATE DR. CURETON. + + +Immediately after the appearance of the second edition of _The Ancient +Church_, a copy of it was sent to the late Rev. W. Cureton, D.D., Canon +of Westminster--the well-known author of various publications +relating to the Ignatian Epistles. It was considered only due to that +distinguished scholar to call his attention to a work in which he was +so prominently noticed, and in which various arguments were adduced +to prove that all the letters he had edited are utterly spurious. In a +short time that gentleman acknowledged the presentation of the volume in +a most kind and courteous communication, which will be read with special +interest by all who have studied the Ignatian controversy. I give the +letter entire--just as it reached me. It was published several years +ago, appended to my _Old Catholic Church_. + + +DEANS YARD, WESTMINSTER, _Sept._ 24, 1861. + +DEAR SIR,--I beg to thank you very much for your kindness in sending +me a valuable contribution to Ecclesiastical History in your book, _The +Ancient Church_, which I found here upon my return to London two or +three days ago. How much would it contribute to the promotion of charity +and the advancement of the truth were all who combated the opinions and +views of another to give him the means of seeing what was written fairly +and openly, and not to endeavour to overthrow his arguments without his +knowledge. This will indeed ever be the case when truth is sought for +itself, and no personal feelings enter into the matter. + +I have read your chapters on Ignatius, and you will perhaps hardly +expect that I should subscribe to your views. It is now about twenty +years since I first undertook this inquiry, and constantly have I +been endeavouring to add some new light ever since. I once answered an +opponent in my present brother canon, Dr. Wordsworth, but since that +time I have never replied to any adverse views--but have only looked +to see if I could find anything either to show that I was wrong or to +strengthen my convictions that I was right. And I have found the +wisdom of this, and have had the satisfaction of knowing that my ablest +opponents, after having had more time to inquire and to make greater +research, have of their own accord conformed to my views and written in +their support. + +I attach no very great importance to the Epistles of Ignatius. I shall +not draw from them any dogma. I only look upon them as evidence of the +time to certain facts, which indeed were amply established even without +such evidence. I think that in such cases, we must look chiefly to the +historical testimony of facts; and you will forgive me for saying that +I think your arguments are based upon presumptive evidence, negative +evidence, and the evidence of appropriateness--all of which, however +valuable, must tumble to the ground before one single fact. You notice +that Archbishop Ussher doubted the Epistle to Polycarp. But why? simply +because its style (not having been altered by the forger) was different +from the rest. But you know he says there was more _historical_ evidence +in its favour than for any of the rest. It thus becomes an argument in +support of the Syriac text instead of against it. Can you explain how +it happens that the Syriac text, found in the very language of Ignatius +himself, and transcribed many hundreds of years before the Ignatian +controversy was thought of, now it is discovered, should contain only +the _three Epistles_ of the existence of which there is any historical +evidence before the time of Eusebius, and that, although it may contain +some things which you do not approve, still has rejected all the +passages which the critics of the Ignatian controversy protested +against? You go too far to say that Bentley rejected the Ignatian +Epistles--he only rejected them in the form in which they were put forth +by Ussher and Vossius, and not in the form of the Syriac. So did Porson, +as Bishop Kaye informed me--but he never denied that Ignatius had +written letters--indeed, the very forgeries were a proof of true +patterns which were falsified. + +A great many of the ablest scholars in Europe, who had refused to accept +the Greek letters, are convinced of the genuineness of the Syriac. But +time will open. Believe me, yours faithfully, + +WILLIAM CURETON. + + + +THE REV. DR. KILLEN. + +Some time after this letter was written, ecclesiastical literature +sustained a severe loss in the death of its amiable and accomplished +author. Though Dr. Cureton here expressed himself with due caution, his +language is certainly not calculated to reassure the advocates of the +Ignatian Epistles. One of their most learned editors in recent times--so +far from speaking in a tone of confidence respecting them--here admits +that he attached to them "no very great importance." Though he had spent +twenty years chiefly in their illustration, he acknowledges that he was +constantly endeavouring "to add some new light" for his guidance. +To him, therefore, the subject must have been still involved in much +mystery. + +It is noteworthy that, in the preceding letter, he has not been able +to point out a solitary error in the statement of the claims of these +Epistles as presented in _The Ancient Church_. He alleges, indeed, that +the arguments employed are "based upon presumptive evidence, negative +evidence, and the evidence of appropriateness;" he confesses that +these proofs are "valuable;" but, though he contends that they must all +"tumble to the around before one single fact," he has failed to produce +the one single fact required for their overthrow. + +Dr. Cureton had obviously not been previously aware that Dr. Bentley, +the highest authority among British critics, had rejected the Ignatian +Epistles. Had he been cognisant of that fact when he wrote the _Corpus +Ignatianum_, he would have candidly announced it to his readers. The +manner in which he here attempts to dispose of it is certainly not very +satisfactory. He pleads that, though Bentley condemned as spurious the +letters edited by Ussher and Vossius, he would not have pronounced the +same decision on the Syriac version recently discovered. Why not? This +Syriac version is an edition of _the same Epistles_ in an abbreviated +form. If Bentley denounced _the whole_ as a forgery, it seems to follow, +by logical inference, that he would have pronounced the same verdict on +the half or the third part. Dr. Cureton is mistaken when he affirms in +the preceding communication that his Syriac version has rejected "all +the passages" against which "the critics of the Ignatian controversy" +had protested. The very contrary has been demonstrated in _The Ancient +Church_. A large number of the sentences which had provoked the most +unsparing criticism are retained in the Curetonian edition. It is +right to add that Archbishop Ussher more than "doubted" the Epistle to +Polycarp. He discarded it altogether. Without hesitation he set it aside +as spurious. Whilst he disliked its style, he felt that it wanted other +marks of genuineness. When writing _The Ancient Church_--now nearly +thirty years ago--I was disposed to think that the Ignatian Epistles had +been manufactured at Antioch; but more mature consideration has led me +to adopt the conclusion that they were concocted at Rome. They bear a +strong resemblance to several other spurious works which appeared +there; and the servile submission to episcopal authority which they so +strenuously inculcate was first most offensively challenged by the chief +pastor of the great Western bishopric. These Epistles tended much to +promote the progress of ecclesiastical despotism. + +Any one who studies the two chapters on the Ignatian Epistles in _The +Ancient Church_, must see that what is there urged against them is +something more than "presumptive evidence, negative evidence, and the +evidence of appropriateness." It is shown that their anachronisms, +historical blundering, and false doctrine clearly convict them of +forgery. + + + + +II. + +It has been deemed right to subjoin here a copy of the Ignatian Epistle +to the Romans, as some readers may not have it at hand for consultation. +Various translations of this Epistle have been published. The following +adheres pretty closely to that given by the Bishop of Durham:-- + +"Ignatius, who is also Theophorus, to her that has obtained mercy +through the might of the Most High Father, and of Jesus Christ His only +Son, to the Church which is beloved and enlightened through the will +of Him who willeth all things that are according to the love of Jesus +Christ our God, to her that has the presidency in the country of the +region of the Romans; being worthy of God, worthy of honour, worthy of +felicitation, worthy of praise, worthy of success, worthy in purity, and +having the presidency of love, walking in the law of Christ, and bearing +the Father's name, which I also salute in the name of Jesus Christ, the +Son of the Father, to those that are united both according to the flesh +and spirit to every one of His commandments, being filled inseparably +with the grace of God, and filtered clear from every foreign stain; +abundance of happiness unblameably in Jesus Christ our God. + +"1. Through prayer to God I have obtained the privilege of seeing your +most worthy faces, and have even been granted more than I requested, for +I hope as a prisoner in Jesus Christ to salute you, if indeed it be the +will of God that I be thought worthy of attaining unto the end. For the +beginning has been well ordered, if so be I shall attain unto the goal, +that I may receive my inheritance without hindrance. For I am afraid of +your love, lest it should be to me an injury; for it is easy for you to +accomplish what you please, but it is difficult for me to attain to God, +if ye spare me. + +"2. For I would not have you to be men-pleasers, but to please God, as +ye do please Him. For neither shall I ever have such an opportunity of +attaining to God, nor can ye, if ye be silent, ever be entitled to the +honour of a better work. For if ye are silent concerning me, I shall +become God's; but if ye love my body, I shall have my course again to +run. Pray, then, do not seek to confer any greater favour upon me than +that I be poured out a libation to God, while there is still an altar +ready; that being gathered together in love ye may sing praise to the +Father through Jesus Christ, that God has deemed me, the bishop of +Syria, worthy to be sent for from the east to the west. It is good to +set from the world to God, that I may rise again to Him. + +"3. Ye have never envied any one. Ye have taught others, and my desire +is that those lessons shall hold good, which as teachers ye enjoin. Only +request in my behalf both inward and outward strength, so that I may +not only say it, but also desire it; that I may not only be called a +Christian, but really be found one. For if I shall be found so, then +can I also be called one, and be faithful then, when I shall no longer +appear to the world. Nothing visible is good: for our God, Jesus Christ, +now that He is with the Father, is all the more revealed. The work is +not of persuasiveness, but of greatness, whensoever it is hated by the +world. + +"4. I write to all the Churches, and I bid all men know that of my own +free will I die for God, unless ye should hinder me. I exhort you not to +show an unseasonable good-will towards me. Suffer me to become food for +the wild beasts, that through them I shall attain to God. I am the wheat +of God, and I am ground by the teeth of wild beasts that I may be found +the pure bread of Christ. Rather entice the wild beasts that they may +become my sepulchre, and may leave no part of my body behind, so that I +may not, when I am fallen asleep, be burdensome to any one. Then shall I +be truly a disciple of Jesus Christ, when the world shall not so much as +see my body. Supplicate the Lord for me, that through these instruments +I may be found a sacrifice to God. I do not enjoin you as Peter and Paul +did. They were apostles, I am a convict; they were free, I am a slave +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. + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Ignatian Epistles Entirely Spurious, by +William Dool Killen + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE IGNATIAN EPISTLES *** + +***** This file should be named 8908-8.txt or 8908-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/8/9/0/8908/ + +Produced by Freethought Archives <freethought@despammed.com> + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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