" says he, "_through your prayers_ that I shall
be devoured by the beasts in Rome." [425:1] ... "I beg of you, be not
with me in the love that is not in its season. Leave me, that I may be
for the beasts, that by means of them I may be worthy of God.... With
provoking _provoke ye the beasts_ that they may be a grave for me, and
may leave nothing of my body, that not even when I am fallen asleep may
I be a burden upon any man.... I rejoice in the beasts which are
prepared for me, and _I pray that they may be quickly found for me_, and
I will provoke them that they may quickly devour me." [425:2] Every man
jealous for the honour of primitive Christianity should be slow to
believe that an apostolic preacher addressed such outrageous folly to
apostolic Churches.

When reviewing the external evidence in support of these Epistles, we
have had occasion to shew that they were probably fabricated in the
former part of the third century. The internal evidence corroborates the
same conclusion. Ecclesiastical history attests that during the fifty
years preceding the death of Cyprian, [425:3] the principles here put
forward were fast gaining the ascendency. As early as the days of
Tertullian, ritualism was rapidly supplanting the freedom of evangelical
worship; baptism was beginning to be viewed as an "armour" of marvellous
potency; [425:4] the tradition that the great Church of the West had
been founded by Peter and Paul was now extensively propagated; and there
was an increasing disposition throughout the Empire to recognise the
precedence of "her who sitteth at the head in the place of the country
of the Romans." It is apparent from the writings of Cyprian that in some
quarters the "church system" was already matured. The language ascribed
to Ignatius--"Be careful for unanimity, than _which there is nothing
more_ excellent" [426:1]--then expressed a prevailing sentiment. To
maintain unity was considered a higher duty than to uphold truth, and to
be subject to the bishop was deemed one of the greatest of evangelical
virtues. Celibacy was then confounded with chastity, and mysticism was
extensively occupying the place of scriptural knowledge and intelligent
conviction. And the admiration of martyrdom which presents itself in
such a startling form in these Epistles was one of the characteristics
of the period. Paul taught that a man may give his body to be burned and
yet want the spirit of the gospel; [426:2] but Origen does not scru