*

second century; that he presented himself as a Christian before Trajan's tribunal on the occasion of that emperor's expedition against Armenia and the Parthians; † that he was condemned to suffer death at Rome; that he journeyed to that city and wrote letters to the Churches on the way; and that on his arrival he was consigned to the wild beasts in the Coliseum. These are the prominent facts in the life of Ignatius. But of his personal characteristics, accepting provisionally the genuineness of his seven epistles, a more full exhibit can be made. As from the footprints on the shore Cuvier or Agassiz determined the species and size of the animal, so from the epistles of Ignatius may be learned his character by means of the impressions which he stamped upon them.

The most prominent characteristic of the author of these letters is courage. Fear is unknown to him. He is bold to apparent rashness. He is eager for a martyr's crown. "I am,"

he writes, "the wheat of God, and let me be ground by the teeth of the wild beasts, that I may be found the pure bread of Christ." "Entice the wild beasts," he begs his friends, "that + they may become my tomb." "May I enjoy the wild beasts." "I am eager to die." Courage, bravery, fearlessness, is the conspicuous element in the character of Ignatius.

The examination of the cause of his courage reveals a second fundamental characteristic-his love of Christ. His affection for the incarnate Lord is burning and impulsive. It is as intense, to compare human things with divine, as the emotion of Abelard toward Heloise, or as self-sacrificing as the love of David for Absalom. Rejoicing in his sentence of death, he sings, "I thank thee, O Lord, that thou hast vouchsafed to honor me with a perfect love toward thee, and hast made to be bound with iron chains like thy apostle Paul." "Let," he

* Traditions differ concerning the episcopal succession. He was probably either the first or second successor of Peter.

It is uncertain whether this expedition occurred in 106-107 or in 114-115. Coins and documents represent that Trajan did not come to Antioch on his Parthian expedition till 114 or 115. The text of the "Martyrium " upon this point is doubtful. It is either "ninth or "nineteenth." The supposition of Tillemont, of two expeditions, is untenable.

The translations are taken from the "Ante-Nicene Christian Library," edited by Rev. Alexander Roberts, D.D., and James Donaldson, LL.D. Vol. i. Edinburgh : T. & T. Clark. 1867.

exclaims, in the divine aspiration of his soul, "let fire and the cross, let the crowds of wild beasts, . . . let all the shatterings of the whole body, let all the torments of the devil, come upon me; only let me attain Jesus Christ." Why, he asks, does he surrender himself to death, to fire, to the sword, to wild beasts? Because he who is near to the sword is near to God, and he who is among the wild beasts is in company with God, provided only he be so in the name of Jesus Christ. Ignatius is, as Novalis says of Spinoza, "God-intoxicated;" but, unlike the great pantheist, his spirit is aflame with love for the personal, living, dying, and ever-living Christ. In the strength of the incarnate God he is strong. Of his faith in the God-man is born his Pauline courage.

Flowing from his courage and Christian faith is a third element in the author's character-enthusiasm. His beliefs, his thoughts, glow with the white heat of the intensest emotions. They are not cold intellections; they flash with the furnace-fire of the feelings. The strongest metaphors quiver with the agitation which he throws into them. "It is better for me to die in behalf of Jesus Christ than to reign over all the ends of the earth," he confesses. "Suffer me to obtain pure light," he begs. Permit me to be an imitator of the passion of my God," he commands. His enthusiasm impels to Trajan's tribunal; it hurries him across the seas to his martyrdom.

But through the warp and woof of this courage, Godward love, and enthusiasm, runs a thread of spiritual pride. In the whirl of his emotions, in the sportings of his imagination, in the extravagance of his exclamations, is discernible a hauteur neither Christ-like nor Pauline. The excesses of his wild metaphors are very unlike the calm assurance of "I have fought a good fight. I have finished my course. I have kept the faith." Their intensity breathes not only a sublime faith in the incarnate God, but also a consciousness of nobler experiences than those to which Roman or Ephesian Christian has attained. "I have," he writes, "great knowledge in God," and lest he perish through boasting a constant restraint curbs his words. His Epistle to Polycarp is colored with emotions which hardly deserve a milder term than spiritual conceit. He addresses the disciple of St. John not as an equal, but as a pupil. He implores him to give himself to prayer without ceasing. He

beseeches him to stand firm as an anvil when it is beaten. He exhorts him to be wise and to flee the arts of the devil. He commands him to be watchful and possess a sleepless spirit. A consciousness of his superiority to his brother bishop and other Christians flows through his letters. The heir of a salvation toward which he so rapidly journeys, he forgets that others are pressing toward the mark for the prize of the same high calling.

Allied with his pride in his Christian virtues is his respect for the authority and institutions of the Church. On his pages first appears the term the "Catholic Church "—KAÐоλɩKÌ ÈKKλŋoía, (Smyrnius, chap. viii.) His pen is the first and the ablest of the early Fathers to advocate the most comprehensive unity of its organization and purity of its doctrine. To the bishop respect should be paid, he argues, as to Christ, since the one whom the master sends to be over his household should be respected as the master himself. With a similar sacredness he invests the presbyter. The presbyter is made the disciple of the bishop, as John and Peter were of Christ. In his pages not only have "the glorious company of the apostles" and "the goodly fellowship of the prophets " been endowed with divine rights, but also the holy Church throughout all the world has become the vicegerent of the King of kings.

The sixth and last element in the character of the author of the Ignatian letters which we shall examine is his tenderness toward others, or his courtesy. Occasionally this tenderness is manifested in a propensity to flatter. He tells the members of the Magnesian Church that they are "full of God," and that his Christian experience is not worthy to be compared with that of any of their number.

This courtesy of disposition is also exhibited in his treatment of those whom he deems heretics. Though pleading with earnestness for the unity of the Church, the shafts of his arguments directed against schismatics are poisoned with neither bitterness nor hate. A kindly charity breathes in his words. "Evil offshoots will produce death-bearing fruits," are the harshest terms which he discovers for the errors of the Docetæ. His severest denunciation of heretics is the plain statement that they are of this world, and shall not inherit the kingdom of God. But at the same time he urges prayer for their re

pentance. His opponents in Christian doctrine and Church organization he treats with a civility which indicates the courtesy of his nature. This courtesy, however, is more frequently manifested in care and anxiety for the welfare of his fellowChristians. He is a most diligent pastor. He constantly warns his flock of the wolves who would carry captive the sheep of the divine Shepherd.

II. EPISTLES.

No less than fifteen epistles are extant bearing the name of Ignatius. Two are addressed to the apostle John, and one each to the Virgin Mary, to Mary of Cassobolis, to the Tarsians, to the Antiochians, to Hero, (a deacon of the Church at Antioch,) and to the Philippians; also to the Ephesians, the Magnesians, the Trallians, the Romans, the Philadelphians, the Smyrnæans, and to Polycarp, a single letter each is inscribed. These epistles are represented by several MSS. written in several languages. (1) Two Greek MSS. contain all the letters with the exception of the two to John and the one to the Virgin. MSS. in Latin corresponding to the text of the Greek are also extant. (2) A Greek MS. ascribed to the eleventh century contains at least nine epistles:* the epistle to the Smyrnæans, to Polycarp, to the Ephesians, to the Magnesians, to the Philadelphians, to the Trallians, Mary of Cassobolis to Ignatius, Ignatius to Mary of Cassobolis, and a part of the epistle to the Tarsians. To this MS. also corresponds a Latin version which is supposed to belong to the fourteenth century. An Armenian version, said to be as early as the fifth century, contains thirteen epistles. (3) Three MSS. in Syriac contain the epistle to Polycarp, to the Ephesians, and to the Romans. The discovery of these MSS. forms an era in the discussion of the Ignatian literature. In the years 1838, 1839, and 1842, Archdeacon Tattam, of England, visited the monastery of St. Mary Deipara, in the desert of Nisria, in Egypt. From that monastery he obtained a large number of ancient Syriac MSS. They were deposited in the British Museum, and, on an examination by the distinguished Oriental scholar, the late Dr. William

It is mutilated at the end, and, therefore, the exact number originally contained in it cannot be ascertained.

See "Quarterly Review" for 1851, "Ignatian Epistles," for excellent summaries, pp. 73 seq.

Cureton, were found to contain the three epistles just named. The principal question discussed since the discovery of these Syriac MSS. respecting this literature is, Does the Greek or the Syriac version more exactly represent the original Ignatius ? It is, of course, granted that the MSS. now existing were not themselves written by the martyr. Dr. Cureton even considers that the Syriac MS. of the epistle to Polycarp belongs to the middle of the sixth century.

Before entering upon the consideration of the genuineness of these different versions we believe we cannot be of greater aid to the reader than by placing before him the translation of the Epistle to the Romans as found in the Syriac. This epistle fairly represents the author's style and method of thought, and conveys an accurate idea of the discussion as conducted in the other letters.

EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS.

Ignatius, who is [also called] Theophorus, to the Church which has received grace through the greatness of the Father Most High; to her who presideth in the place of the region of the Romans, who is worthy of God, and worthy of life, and happiness, and praise, and remembrance, and is worthy of prosperity, and presideth in love, and is perfected in the law of Christ unblamable [wishes] abundance of peace.

I. From of old have I prayed to God that I might be counted worthy to behold your faces which are worthy of God; now, therefore, being bound in Jesus Christ, I hope to meet you and salute you, if it be the will [of God] that I should be accounted worthy to the end. For the beginning is well arranged, if I be counted worthy to attain unto the end, that I may receive my portion without hinderance, through suffering. For I am in fear of your love, lest it should injure me. As to you, indeed, it is easy for you to do whatsoever ye wish; but as for me, it is difficult for me to be accounted worthy of God, if indeed ye spare me not.

II. For there is no other time such as this that I should be accounted worthy of God; neither will ye, if ye be silent, [ever] be found in a better work than this. If ye let me alone, I shall be the word of God; but if ye love my flesh, again am I [only] to myself a voice. Ye cannot give me any thing more precious than this, that I should be sacrificed to God while the altar is ready; that ye may be in one concord in love, and may praise God the Father through Jesus Christ our Lord, because he has deemed a bishop worthy to be God's, having called him from the East to the West. It is good that I should set from the world in God, that I may rise in him to life.

III. Ye have never envied any man. Ye have taught others.