re contain references to nearly all the writers whom I
have named as belonging to this last category, and even to the very
passages in which they express the opposite opinion? To throw some light
on this point, I will analyse the author's general statement of the
course of opinion on this subject given in an earlier passage. He writes
as follows:--

'These three Syriac Epistles have been subjected to the severest
scrutiny, and many of the ablest critics have pronounced them to be
the only authentic Epistles of Ignatius, whilst others, who do not
admit that even these are genuine letters emanating from Ignatius,
still prefer them to the version of seven Greek Epistles, and
consider them the most ancient form of the letters which we possess
(^1). As early as the sixteenth century however, the strongest
doubts were expressed regarding the authenticity of any of the
Epistles ascribed to Ignatius. The Magdeburg Centuriators first
attacked them, and Calvin declared [p. 260] them to be spurious
(^1), an opinion fully shared by Chemnitz, Dallaeus, and others,
and similar doubts, more or less definite, were expressed
throughout the seventeenth century (^2), and onward to
comparatively recent times (^3), although the means of forming a
judgment were not then so complete as now. That the Epistles were
interpolated there was no doubt. Fuller examination and more
comprehensive knowledge of the subject have confirmed earlier
doubts, and a large mass of critics recognise that the authenticity
of none of these Epistles can be established, and that they can
only be considered later and spurious compositions (^4).'

The first note (^1) on p. 259 is as follows:--

'Bunsen, _Ignatius v. Ant. u. s. Zeit_, 1847; _Die drei aecht. u. d.
vier unaecht. Br. des Ignat._, 1847; Bleek, _Einl. N.T._, p. 145;
Boehringer, _K.G. in Biograph._, 2 Aufl., p. 16; Cureton, _The
Ancient Syriac Version of Eps. of St Ignatius, etc._, 1845;
_Vindiciae Ignat._, 1846, _Corpus Ignatianum_, 1849; Ewald, _Gesch.
d. V. Isr._, vii. p. 313; Lipsius, _Aechtheit d. Syr. Recens. d.
Ign. Br._ in _Illgen's Zeitschr. f. hist. Theol._, 1856, H. i.,
1857, _Abhandl. d. deutsche-morgenl. Gesellschaft._ i. 5, 1859, p.
7; Milman, _Hist. of Chr._, ii. p. 102; Ritschl, _Entst. altk.
Kirche_, p. 403, anm.; Weiss, _Reuter's Repertorium_