nscriptions furnish. Ignatius, writing to the
Ephesians from Smyrna in the early years of the second century, borrows
an image from the sacred pageant of some heathen deity, where the
statues, sacred vessels, and other treasures, of the temple are borne in
solemn procession. He tells his Christian readers that they all are
marching in festive pomp along the Via Sacra--the way of love--which
leads to God; they all are bearers of treasures committed to them,--for
they carry their God, their Christ, their shrine, their sacred things,
in their heart [302:1]. The image was not new. It is found in Stoic
writers. It underlies the surname Theophorus, the 'God-bearer,' which
Ignatius himself adopted. But he had in his company several Ephesian
delegates when he wrote; and the newly-discovered inscriptions inform us
that the practice which supplies the metaphor had received a fresh
impulse at Ephesus shortly before this letter was written. The most
important inscriptions in Mr Wood's collection relate to a gift of
numerous valuable statues, images, and other treasures to the temple of
Artemis, by one C. Vibius Salutaris, with an endowment for their
custody. In one of these (dated A.D. 104) it is ordained that the
treasures so given shall be carried in solemn procession from the temple
to the theatre and back 'at every meeting of the assembly, and at the
gymnastic contests, and on any other days that may be directed by the
Council and the People.' Orders are given respecting the persons forming
the procession, as well as respecting its route. It must pass through
the length of the city, entering by the Magnesian Gate and leaving by
the Coressian [302:2].

[FOOTNOTES]

[1:1] _Supernatural Religion; An Inquiry into the Reality of Divine
Revelation._ Two Vols. Second Edition, 1874. [Subsequent editions are as
follows, Third and Fourth Editions (1874), Fifth and Sixth Editions
(1875), Third Volume (1877), Complete Edition, in Three Vols. (1879).]

[3:1] Iren. v. 36. 1, 2.

[4:1] _S.R._ II. p. 328 sq.

[4:2] _Canon_ p. 63, note 2.

[4:3] The Greek is [Greek: Einai de ten diastolen tauten tes oikeseos
... kai dia touto _eirekenai ton Kurion_ en tois tou patros mou monas
einai pollas k.t.l.]

[4:4] [Tacitly corrected in ed. 4 (II. p. 328) where the sentence runs:
'But ... there is this distinction etc.' See below, p. 56.]

[5:1] [The author's defence is dealt with, pp. 53 sq, 126 sq.]

[5:2] [The question is discussed b