EARLIER EDITIONS.
|
'We have disposed of his alternative | 'We have disposed of his
that the quotation being by "the | alternative that the quotation,
Presbyters" was more ancient even | being by "the Presbyters," was
than Papias, by showing that it | more ancient even than Papias,
_may be referred to Irenaeus himself | by showing that it _must be
quoting probably from | attributed to Irenaeus himself_,
contemporaries_, and that there is | and that there is no ground for
no ground for attributing it to the | attributing it to the Presbyters
Presbyters at all.' [58:1] | at all.'

Surely this writer might have paused before indulging so freely in
charges of 'discreet reserve,' of 'disingenuousness,' of 'wilful and
deliberate evasion,' and the like.

III. THE IGNATIAN EPISTLES.

[FEBRUARY, 1875.]

The letters bearing the name of Ignatius [59:1], with which we are
immediately concerned, profess to have been written by the saint as he
was passing through Asia Minor on his way to martyrdom. If their
representations be true, he was condemned at Antioch, and sent to Rome
to stiffer death in the amphitheatre by exposure to the wild beasts. The
exact year of the martyrdom is uncertain, but the limits of possibility
are not very wide. The earlier date assigned is about A.D. 107, and the
later about A.D. 116. These letters, with a single exception, are
written to different Churches of Asia Minor (including one addressed
more especially to Polycarp, Bishop of Smyrna). The exceptional letter
is sent to the Roman Church, apprising the Christians of the metropolis
that his arrival among them may soon be expected, declaring his
eagerness for martyrdom, and intreating them not to interpose and rescue
him from his fate. His language supposes that there were at this time
members of the Roman Church sufficiently influential to obtain either a
pardon or a commutation of his sentence. The letters to the Asiatic
Churches have a more general reference. They contain exhortations,
friendly greetings, warnings against internal divisions and against
heretical doctrines. With some of these Churches he had been brought in
personal contact; with others he was acquainted only through their
delegates.

Of the three forms in which the Ignatian letters have been handed down
to us, one may be dismissed from our consideration at once. The Long
Recension, preserv