the above title in the latter part of the fifth century.
How much older some of them may be cannot be determined with certainty.

II. THE EPISTLES OF IGNATIUS.

6. _Ignatius_ was bishop of the church at Antioch, and suffered
martyrdom at Rome by exposure to wild beasts A.D. 107, or according to
some accounts, A.D. 116. Of the _fifteen_ epistles ascribed to him, it
is agreed among biblical scholars that _eight_ are spurious and of later
origin. The remaining seven are generally regarded as genuine, but the
text of these, as of all the rest, is in a very unsatisfactory
condition. There are two Greek recensions, a longer and a shorter, the
latter containing approximately the true text, though not without the
suspicion of interpolations. There is a Syriac version containing but
three of Ignatius' epistles, and these in a much reduced form (which
some are inclined to regard as the only genuine epistles); also an
Armenian version containing thirteen epistles. See further Schaff, Hist.
Chris. Church, vol. 1, pp. 469-471. As the question now stands, we may
with good reason receive as genuine the seven mentioned by Eusebius
(Hist. Eccl. 3. 36) and Jerome (De Viris illust. 16). They were all
written on his last journey to Rome; four from Smyrna, where Polycarp
was the bishop, to the Ephesians, Magnesians, Trallians, and Romans;
three after his departure from Smyrna, to the churches of Philadelphia
and Smyrna, and to Polycarp bishop of Smyrna. The native vigor and
energy of Ignatius, as also the depth and sincerity of his piety, shine
forth conspicuously in these letters; but they differ from the epistle
of Clement in the manifestation of an intense ecclesiastical spirit, by
which, indeed, they are marked as belonging to a later era of the
church. If we except the epistle to the Romans, they all abound in
exhortations to render implicit obedience to their spiritual rulers as
to Christ himself. To these precepts he adds exhortations to maintain
unity, and to avoid false doctrines, specifying particularly Judaizing
teachers and such as deny our Lord's proper humanity.

We cannot read his letter to the Romans, among whom he expected shortly
to lay down his life for Christ's sake, without deep interest. But it is
marred by the manifestation of an undue desire to obtain the crown of
martyrdom, which leads him to protest against any interposition of the
Roman brethren in his behalf. "I beseech you," says he, "show no
unseasonable g