g to the reader a true and just sense of
the exact weight and proportion of the different parts of the
evidence. He has avoided such phrases as 'absurd,' 'impossible,'
'preposterous,' that his opponent has dealt in so freely, but he
has weighed and balanced the evidence piece by piece; he has
carefully guarded his language so as never to let the positiveness
of his conclusion exceed what the premises will warrant; he has
dealt with the subject judicially and with a full consciousness of
the responsibility of his position [Endnote 77:1].

We cannot therefore, I think, do better than adopt Dr. Lightfoot's
conclusion as the basis of our investigation, and treat the
Curetonian (i.e. the three short Syriac) letters as (probably)
'the work of the genuine Ignatius, while the Vossian letters
(i.e. the shorter Greek recension of seven Epistles) are accepted
as valid testimony at all events for the middle of the second
century--the question of the genuineness of the letters being
waived.'

The Curetonian Epistles will then be dated either in 107 or in 115
A.D., the two alternative years assigned to the martyrdom of
Ignatius. In the Epistle to Polycarp which is given in this
version there is a parallel to Matt. x. 16, 'Be ye therefore wise
as serpents and harmless as doves.' The two passages may be
compared thus:--

_Ign. ad Pol._ ii.

[Greek: Psronimos ginou hos ophis en apasin kai akeaios osei
perisetera.]

_Matt._ x. 16.

[Greek: Ginesthe oun psronimoi hos oi opheis kai akeaioi hos ai
peristerai.]

We should naturally place this quotation in the second column of
our classified arrangement, as presenting a slight variation. At
the same time we should have little hesitation in referring it to
the passage in our Canonical Gospel. All the marked expressions
are identical, especially the precise and selected words [Greek:
phronimos] and [Greek: akeraios]. It is however possible that
Ignatius may be quoting, not directly from our Gospel, but from
one of the original documents (such as Ewald's hypothetical
'Spruch-sammlung') out of which our Gospel was composed--though it
is somewhat remarkable that this particular sentence is wanting in
the parallel passage in St. Luke (cf. Luke x. 3). This may be so
or not; we have no means of judging. But it should at any rate be
remembered that this original document, supposing it to have had a
substantive existence, most probably contained repeated references
to miracles. T