DISS. I. The objections removed. to another.' To this moral ground of dislike I add critical objections. The style is unnatural, and unsuitable to his circumstances. A martyr on his way to the scene of torture would have written with simpler diction. He would not have used the grandiloquent and hyperbolical phraseology you ascribe to him. His compound epithets are interminable. Moreover, I deny the system of Church government for which you make him a voucher, to have existed in his time: Ignatius would have known that the constitution of the Church was not Episcopal but Presbyterian in his day. Again, your testimonies are unsatisfactory and insufficient: and even if you could prove the genuineness and authenticity of any portion of these writings to have been allowed by the Fathers, I attach but little value to that argument. The Fathers were plain, inartificial, simple men; having neither sufficient caution to suspect, nor sufficient sagacity to discover imposition '. Such is an outline of the argument by which the 1 A recent anti-episcopalian writer dates the Ignatian Epistles no older than the fourth or fifth century; and makes a general appeal to "learned men" as his authorities for this opinion. But he is contradicted by Salmasius and Blondel, the two most learned of the writers on that side, who both unite in placing the Epistles in question two or three centuries earlier. Blondel dates them at the end of the second century; and Salmasius at least fifty years before. Epistolæ illæ natæ et suppositæ videntur, circa initium. aut medium seculi secundi, quo tempore primus singularis Episcopatus supra Presbyteratum introductus est. Vide Walo. Messalin. p. 253. CHAP. II. assailant of the Ignatian Epistles would overthrow DISS. I. their authority. Let us now try the force of these objections. The introductory assertion that the writings of any author must stand or fall together, and that, when partial forgery has been proved, there is no necessity for laborious inquiry how far it has proceeded; would be fatal to all history, as well as to all literature. Spurious compositions have been attributed to the most approved historians, theologians, philosophers, and poets, both in ancient and modern times. Sacred and profane writers have equally been liable to this objection. Among the latter every scholar is familiar with doubtful or confessedly forged writings ascribed to Hippocrates, Aristotle, Plato, Cicero, Tacitus, and Quinctilian'. In like manner spurious documents have been imputed to Apostles and Evangelists. St. Paul, in particular, warns the Thessalonians to this effect. "Be not soon shaken in mind" says he, "by letter as from us;" and concludes with alluding to the discrimination that was expedient in ascertaining the identity of his letters: "The salutation of me Paul with mine own hand, which is the token in every Epistle. So I write." These are his concluding words. 1 Among these it is curious to notice, that two-thirds of Hippocrates are disallowed by the learned: and that a work (De Oratoribus) ascribed by some to Tacitus, by others to Quinctilian, gives sufficient reason, on the principle we are now condemning, for the rejection of all the works of both those admirable authors. DISS. I. This Apostle, therefore, was far from sanctioning CHAP. II. the idea, that the writings ascribed to any author were to be accepted or rejected, without deliberate and judicious scrutiny'. The seven shorter epis tius alone genuine. Respecting the works of Ignatius, the case is this. There are eight Epistles, three in Latin and five in Greek ascribed to him, which were unknown to the ancients, and are undoubtedly spurious. Of the remaining seven Epistles, two editions are extles of Igna- tant; one comprising what are called the longer, the other, the shorter Epistles. The longer are so denominated from their containing interpolations and paraphrases of the shorter, evidently introduced in later times by some opponent of the Trinity, in support of the Arian heresy. The eight spurious Epistles, are, by the best critics, ascribed to the same hand as the interpolations; and were forged for the same heretical purpose'. It is remarkable, in proof of this Arian tendency, that these interpolated writings have been received as the true Epistles by Arian writers of recent times (and by Whiston in particular), while the 1 Among inspired writers to whom spurious Gospels have been attributed, we may enumerate St. Peter, St. Thomas, St. Matthias, St. Bartholomew, and St. Philip. There is a Gospel mentioned by St. Jerome, as having been attributed to the twelve Apostles. So also were the Apostolic canons and constitutions. In short the whole authority of Apostolic Scripture, would, if this most absurd mode of reasoning were admitted, be set aside. * See Dupin Biblioth. des auteurs ecclesiastiques art. Ignatius, and Cotell's dissert. ad. fen. tom. ii. shorter and more orthodox edition has been rejected by them as containing doctrines, which, in their judgment, could not, in the age of Ignatius, have prevailed in the Church. The inordinate display of courage, and the ambition of martyrdom expressed in the Epistles which we contend for, and alleged as incompatible with the moral character of Ignatius, are unimportant in this question. Granting the language to be as boastful as is pretended, it might, nevertheless, be very genuine. Such language, all historians are agreed, was in perfect accordance with the spirit of the times, when the crown of martyrdom was aspired to with an eagerness which modern apathy may well disbelieve 1. 1 Vide Pearsoni Vind. Ignat. cap. 9.- As many persons, from the zeal with which they have been accustomed to hear the Ignatian Epistles reprobated, may imagine there is something in them morally shocking, it may be useful to state a few out of numerous authorities distinguished for learning, talents, and piety, who have received and admired these much calumniated writings. Not to mention estimable Roman Catholic divines, we may refer the most scrupulous inquirer to Vossius, Casaubon, and Le Clerc, among foreigners; and to our own Pearson, Usher, and Hammond: we are tempted to add a reference, with which some of our readers may be surprised, and others gratified, namely, John Owen, whom Dr. South, in his peculiar language, stigmatizes as the "great Coryphæus of rebellion:" John Owen was, however, respectable for his piety as well as erudition, and though a zealous anti-episcopalian, is thus quoted by Pearson. "In earum (scil. epistolarum) aliquibus suavem et gratiosum-ut nostrates loquuntur, fidei delectionis sanctitates, et zeli Dei spiritum spirantem et operantem agnoscit (Owenus scil.)"-Vide Pearson's Vind. Ignat. cap. 5. DISS. I. CHAP. II. DISS. I. CHAP. II. With respect to criticism on inflation of style, it is enough to say, that there is nothing very highflown in these writings: and if there was, an oriental style would not be inconsistent with the thoughts and habits of an Asiatic author. The Bishop of Antioch might very naturally express himself in Antiochian Greek. It would even be surprising if he did otherwise. Instead of an objection, this is an internal proof of authenticity. To affirm that the Church polity described in the Epistles of Ignatius could not have existence in his time, is to beg the question. It is to take for granted the very thing to be proved. Bishop Pearson shows, and we shall ourselves hereafter demonstrate in the progress of our present argument drawn from antiquity, that the language of other writers, both in that and the succeeding age, is conformable to the doctrines and principles of this martyr, as expressed in these writings. Even on the supposition, that the high Church sentiments ascribed to him were somewhat higher than those of many others among the Fathers would, in no respect, be contrary to the common course of things. Some Churchman in every age may very well be allowed to be a higher Churchman than his neighbours; more zealous on the subject of order and ecclesiastical discipline than the greater number of his brethren, who nevertheless entertain, upon the whole, the same sentiments with himself1. this 1 Many phrases which have been objected to in Ignatius, refer to circumstances not likely now to be generally understood. Thus |