a most perfect and comprehensive Knowledg of the Faith as it is in Jesus 4. HAD they been some ordinary and obscure Writers even of the Apostolical Times Men of no Note no Authority in the Church tho' still whilst we had a good Account of their Integrity the very Advantage of the Age wherein they lived would have rendered their Discourses justly Venerable to us yet should we not perhaps have been obliged to pay such a Deference to their Writings as not to make Allowance for some little Defects or Mistakes that might have happen'd to them But now having to do with Men not only instructed in common by the Apostles with the other Christians of those days but particularly bred up and instituted by them Having here the Writings of Men who had attained to such a perfect Knowledg in the Mystery of Godliness and were judg'd to have been so well grounded and setled in it as to deserve to be raised up by the Apostles themselves to the Government of such eminent Churches as those over which these Holy Men were Over-Seers It is plain that we cannot with any reason doubt of what they deliver to us as the Gospel of Christ but ought to receive it if not with equal Veneration yet but with a little less Respect than we do the Sacred Writings of those who were their Masters and Instructers 5. YET farther Thirdly The following Authors were not only such Eminent Men and bred up under such mighty Advantages and so well instructed in the Knowledg of the Gospel as I have now observed but they were moreover Persons of a Consummated Piety adorn'd with all those Christian Virtues they so affectionately recommend to us But especially they were zealous Watchmen over their Churches careful to instruct them in the true Faith and Doctrine of Christ and no less careful to preserve them against the Contagion of those Heresies which even in their days began to corrupt the Purity of it Hence we read with what Earnestness that Blessed Martyr Ignatius first and then his Fellow-Disciple St. Polycarp set themselves against those who would insinuate some Other Doctrines into the Minds of their People than what the Apostles had deliver'd unto them What wise Directions they gave them for the Discovery of such false Teachers and how earnestly they exhorted them by keeping firm to their respective Bishops and Presbyters and to the Apostolical Doctrine delivered by them to prevent their gaining any Advantage against them 6. WITH what Assurance do they deliver the Doctrine which they had received How confidently do they declare it to be the true Doctrine of Christ And exhort the Churches to whom they write not to give any heed to such as would insinuate any Other Doctrine into their Minds And how did they themselves shew them by their own Examples how they should avoid such Persons Insomuch that Irenaeus tells us that if St. Polycarp at any time chanced to hear any One deliver any Other Doctrine than what he had been taught he did not only not give any Countenance to such an One but was wont to stop his Ears at him and cry out with Astonishment and Grief Good God! To what Times hast thou reserved me that I should endure this Nay he would not tarry in the same place with such a Person but would leave the House if he knew that any Hereticks were in it 7. BUT of the Care which these Holy Men had to keep close in every the least Circumstance to the Doctrine and Practice of the Apostles we cannot I think desire a fairer Instance to convince us than what Eusebius has recorded of the same Blessed Martyr How that hearing of the Difference between the Eastern and Western Churches about the Time of keeping Easter he thought it worthy his Pains at an extreme old Age to take a Journey as far as Rome for the composing of it And notwithstanding all that Anicetus who was then Bishop of that Church could say to move him from his Practice yet having this Ground for it that St. John was wont to keep Easter as he did the good Man held close to it and would not hear of changing a Custom which that blessed Apostle had deliver'd to him 8. AND when such was the Care which these Holy Writers had of holding fast even to the least particular of what they received from the Apostles that they would not comply with the rest of the Church in such an indifferent matter only because by so doing they should depart from the Practice of One of them Surely we may with Confidence depend upon the Doctrine which they deliver as most pure and genuine What our Saviour taught his Apostles and his Apostles them And what Irenaeus once said of his Master Polycarp we may with equal Truth and Assurance apply to all the rest of those Fathers whose Treatises I have here put together That they taught evermore what they had received from the Apostles which also they deliver'd to the Church and which only is the true Doctrine of Christ. 9. TO this general Piety of their Lives and Care for the Truth and Purity of their Religion let me add Fourthly their Courage and Constancy in the maintaining of it How great this was I have already shewn in the particular Accounts which I have given of the several Fathers whose Writings are here subjoyn'd It shall suffice in this place to observe that the most of them after having spent their Lives in a careful administration of the great Charges to which they were called were at last made perfect by Martyrdom and underwent the most exquisite Cruelties with a Courage and Constancy worthy both of the Religion they profess'd and of the eminent Characters which they had obtained in the Church 10. NOW tho' this do's not immediately argue the Purity of their Doctrine yet being added to what I have before observed will give us a new Ground to rely upon the Truth of what they deliver For since we cannot reasonably doubt but that such Persons as these must needs have known what the Doctrine of the Apostles was and have been perfectly instructed in that Religion which they were esteem'd able and worthy to preach to others We have in this a clear Demonstration of their Integrity both in their Teaching and Writing of it and must conclude That they who liv'd such excellent Lives and took so much Pains in the Ministry of the Gospel that stuck with such Firmness to it notwithstanding all the Endeavours of their Enemies to the contrary and chose rather to undergo the most bitter Deaths than they would in any wise depart from it have doubtless dealt most uprightly in this matter and deliver'd nothing to us but what they took for the true Doctrine of Christ and what therefore we may conclude undoubtedly was so 11. SUCH good reason then have we upon all these Accounts to look upon the Writings of these Holy Men as containing the pure and uncorrupted Doctrine of
the VIII th General Council by the Party of that Ignatius who was then set up in Opposition to Photius and from thence derived both to Anastasius among the Latines and to Metaphrastes among the Greeks 7. TO pass then from this fabulous Account of this Title let us come to the consideration of the true Import of it Now for that as we cannot have any better so neither need we desire any other Account than what this Holy Man himself gave the Emperour of that Name When being asked by him Who was Theophorus He replied He who has Christ in his Breast And in this sense was this Name commonly used among the Ancients as has been shewn in a multitude of Examples by Bishop Pearson in his Elaborate Vindication of Ignatius's Epistles I shall offer only one of them that of St. Cyrill who Anathematizes those who should call our Saviour Christ Theophorus Lest says he he should thereby be understood to have been no other than one of the Saints 8. IT remains then that Ignatius was called Theophorus upon no other Account than as any other Divine or Excellent Person might have been so called namely upon the Account of his admirable Piety Because his Soul was full of the Love of God and sanctified with an extraordinary Portion of the Divine Grace as both his Life shewed and the earnest desire he had to be dissolved and to be with Christ and his Joy when he saw himself approaching towards it and to mention no more his Constancy in his last and most terrible Conflict with the Wild Beasts will not suffer us to doubt 9. BUT tho' the Story then of our Saviour's taking St. Ignatius into his Arms be of no Credit yet thus much St. Chrysostome tells us that he was intimately acquainted with the Holy Apostles and instructed by them in the full Knowledg of all the Mysteries of the Gospel What was the Country that gave Birth to this Blessed Saint or who his Parents we cannot tell Indeed as to the former of these his Country a late Author has endeavoured from a Passage in Abulfaragius set out by our Incomparable Dr. Pocock to fix it at Nora in Sardinia a place which still retains its anicent Name with very little Variation This is certain that growing eminent both in the Knowledg of the Doctrine of Christ and in a Life exactly framed according to the strictest Rules of it He was upon the Death of Evodius chosen by the Apostles that were still living to be Bishop of Antioch the Metropolis of Syria and whatever Anastasius pretends received Imposition of Hands from them 10. HOW he behaved himself in this great Station tho' we have no particular Account left to us yet may we easily conclude from that short hint that is given us of it in the Relation of his Martyrdom Where we are told that he was a Man in all things like unto the Apostles that as a good Governour by the Helm of Prayer and Fasting by the Constancy of his Doctrine and Spiritual Labour he opposed himself to the Floods of the Adversary That he was like a Divine Lamp illuminating the Hearts of the Faithful by his Exposition of the Holy Scriptures and lastly that to preserve his Church he doubted not freely and of his own accord to expose himself to the most bitter Death This is in general the Character of his Behaviour in his Church of Antioch and a greater than which can hardly be given to any Man Nor indeed can we doubt but that he who as Eusebius tells us and as his Epistles still remaining abundantly testifie was so careful of all the other Churches to confirm them in a sound Faith and in a constant Adherence to their Holy Religion was certainly much more vigilant to promote the Interests of Piety within his own Diocese which was bless'd with his Government above Forty Years 11. HENCE we may observe what a tender concern he expresses in all his Epistles for his Church at Antioch With what Affection he recommends it to the Prayers of those to whom he wrote And especially to the Care of his dear Friend and Fellow-Disciple St. Polycarp And when he heard at Troas of the ceasing of the Persecution there how did he rejoyce at it And require all the neighbouring Churches to rejoyce with him and to send their Messengers and Letters thither to congratulate with them upon that account 12. SUCH was his Affection towards his own Church and his Care of all the Others round about him And by which he became in such an extraordinary Favour with them that they thought nothing could be sufficient to express their Respect towards him And therefore we are told that when he was carried from Antioch to Rome in order to his Suffering there all the Churches every where sent Messengers on the way to attend him and to communicate to his Wants And what is yet more they were generally their Bishops themselves that came to meet him and thought it a singular Happiness to receive some Spiritual Exhortations from him And when he was Dead they paid such an Honour to his Memory as to account the few Bones that were left of him by the Wild Beasts more precious than the richest Jewels Insomuch that we are told they were several Ages after taken up from the place where they were first deposited as not Honourable enough for them to lie in and that being brought within the City where he once was Bishop there was instituted a Yearly Festival in Memory of him 13. AS for what concerns the Circumstances of his Death they are so particularly recounted in the Relation I have here subjoyn'd of it that there need nothing further to be added to what is there deliver'd of this matter Yet one Remark I cannot but make on that particular of his Story which has puzzled so many Learned Men to account for but may easily be resolved and I believe most truly too into the over-ruling Hand of the Divine Providence And that is of the sending of this Holy Man from Antioch as far as Rome to suffer For whatever the Design of the Emperour may have been in it Whether he intended to increase his Sufferings by a Journey so wearisom and attended with so many bitter Circumstances as that must needs have been to a Person very probably at that time Fourscore Years of Age Or whether he hoped by this means to have overcome his Constancy and have drawn him away from his Faith Or lastly Whether as Metaphrastes tells us upon his consulting with Those of the Senate who were with him he was advised not to let him suffer at Antioch least thereby he should raise his Esteem the more among the People there and render him the more dear and desirable to them We cannot but doubt that God hereby designed to present to all the Nations through which he was to pass a glorious Instance of the Power of his Religion that could enable this Blessed Martyr with so
founded by St. Paul and as it was the Seat of the Beloved Disciple St. John who continued there to the very time of Trajan above 100 Years after Christ. Hence Tertullian directing those who were desirous to know what the true Faith of Christ was to enquire among the Chiefest Churches in every part what had been deliver'd to them and was the Faith received and taught amongst them bids them if they were in Italy go to Rome if in Achaja to Corinth if in Macedonia to Philippi if in Asia to Ephesus Insomuch that as Evagrius tells us the Bishop of Ephesus had a Patriarchal Power within the Diocese of Asia till the Time of the Fourth General Council And long after that Theodorus Bishop of this See subscribing to the Acts of the Sixth General Council calls himself Bishop of Ephesus the Metroplis of the Province of Asia And even in the Times of which we are now discoursing St. John writing to the Seven Churches of Asia of which Laodicea was One places Ephesus at the head of them as that which had the Precedence of all the rest in those Parts 15. SEEING then such was the Prerogative which the Church of Ephesus had from the beginning over all the other Churches of the Asian Diocese and that St. Paul himself had first planted Christianity there And seeing it appears from the Command which he gave to the Colossians Chap. iv 16 to cause the Epistle which he had written to them to be read in the Church of the Laodiceans that he was wont to order the Epistles which he wrote to One Church to be sent to and be read in the Others that we renear unto it Seeing lastly we are told both by Tertullian and Epiphanius that the Epistle to the Ephesians was anciently called by some the Epistle to the Laodiceans I think it may not be improbable but that by the Epistle from Laodicea he may have meant the Epistle which he wrote to the Ephesians at the same time and by the same Person that he wrote to the Colossians and which being from them communicated to the Laodiceans might be ordered by St. Paul to be sent on to the Colossians who were a Neighbour Church to Laodicea and afterwards subject to it as their Metropolitane 16. BUT whatever becomes of this Conjecture Whether by the Epistle from Laodicea we are to understand some Epistle written from that place and that either by St. Paul to some other Church or Person or by the Laodiceans to him Or whether we are to understand by it some Epistle that was to be communicated from thence to the Colossians which seems to me the more probable and particularly that which he wrote by Tychicus to the Ephesians at the same time that he wrote by him to the Colossians Certain it is that the Epistle now extant under that Title is none of St. Paul's nor do's his Expression in that place to the Colossians before mentioned any more prove there was ever any such than that Other in 1 Cor. v. 9 proves a Third Epistle to the Corinthians which some also have pretended as Sixtus Sinensis and Others observe 17. IT would be endless to insist upon all the other Spurious Pieces of the like kind that have been attributed to this great Apostle It is sufficient to observe that neither Eusebius nor St. Jerome knew any thing more of his Writing than what we have in those Epistles that are still extant in our Bibles under his Name except it were the Epistle to the Hebrews and which tho' doubted of by some in the Primitive Church is yet ascribed to him by Eusebius who expresly accounts XIV of his Epistles and speaks of that to the Hebrews as his tho' he adds that being not received by the Church of Rome it was by some suspected whether it were indeed the true Epistle of St. Paul 18. BUT much greater is the Authority of those Supposititious Pieces which the same Eusebius tells us were even in those days attributed to that other great Apostle St. Peter viz. The Acts the Gosple the Preaching and the Revelations of St. Peter Nevertheless seeing he at the same time declares that they were never look'd upon as Catholick but rather as set out by some Hereticks of those Times as many other Pieces of the like kind were under the venerable Name of that Apostle the better to gain thereby Credit to their Doctrine How ancient soever they may otherwise be yet they will not fall within the compass of the present Collection Nor indeed is there any thing of them remaining to us except the Names and perhaps a few Fragments scatter'd up and down in the Quotations that have been made by Ecclesiastical Writers out of them 19. TO these let me add in the third place the Discourses attributed to St. Matthew the first Writer of the New Testament Two Books there are still remaining under his Name A Liturgy pretended to have been composed be him and a Discourse concerning the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin But both rejected by Learned Men as the Works of some Impostor many Ages after the Death of that Holy Apostle 20. AND the same must be said of the Liturgies ascribed in like manner to St. Peter St. Mark St. James and Others and of the Falsity of which all the Learned World seems now to be universally agreed Which makes it the more to be admir'd that such Great Men as Cardinal Bona and Leo Allatius were should be so far prejudiced in their Favour as to think at least the Liturgy of St. James to have been truly composed by that Apostle and only corrupted and interpolated by some other hand in the following Ages 21. NOR may we judg any otherwise of the Gospels set out under the Names of several of the Apostles and Others who were contemporary with them And of which however some were very ancient yet is it generally agreed among the most judicious of all sides that they were not only not written by those whose Names they carry but were for the most part set out by suspected Persons and for ill Ends after their Deaths 22. AS for the Writings of the whole Colledge of Apostles Two Pieces there are besides the Synodical Letter spoken of by St. Luke Acts xv 23 which not only go under their Names but have been by some ascribed to them as the Authors of them And those are first the Creed and secondly the Canons of the Apostles 23. FOR the former of these the Apostles Creed it has been thought by many that it was so called not only as being a Summary of the Apostles Doctrine but because it was really composed by them And that either in their first Assembly after our LORD's Resurrection Acts i. or else immediately before their Dispersion upon the breaking out of Herod's Persecution Acts xii which Baronius and others esteem the more probable It is not my intention to enter on any particular Examination of this Matter which has been so
Authority But then as Du Pin well observes it is certain that the Ancients knew nothing of it nor are the Acts we now have quoted by any before the time of Etherius before-mentioned And yet how they could have escaped the Search of the Primitive Fathers had they been extant in their days it is hard to imagin 34. BUT much less is the Credit that ought to be given to the pretended Works of Dionysius the Areopagite Which as Alexander confesses two very great Criticks of his own Communion to have deny'd to have been written by that Holy Man so has a third very lately given such Reasons to shew that the Writings now extant under his Name could not have been composed by him as ought to satisfie every considering Man of their Imposture For not to say any thing of what occurs every where in those Discourses utterly disagreeable to the State of the Church in the time that that Dionysius lived Can it be imagin'd that had such considerable Books as these been written by him none of the Ancients of the first IV Centuries should have heard any thing of them Or shall we say that they did know of them as well as the Fathers that lived after and yet made no mention of them tho' they had so often occasion to have done it as Eusebius and St. Jerome not to name any Others had 35. IN short one of the first times that we hear of them is in the Dispute between the Severians and Catholicks about the Year D. XXX.II When the Former produced them in favour of their Errours and the Latter rejected them as Books utterly unknown to all Antiquity and therefore not worthy to be received by them 36. IT is therefore much to be wondered that after so many Arguments as have been brought to prove how little Right these Treatises have to such a Primitive Antiquity nevertheless not only Natalis Alexander but a Man of much better Judgment I mean Emanuel Schelstrat the late Learned Keeper of the Vatican Library should still undertake the Defence of them When they were written or by what Author is very uncertain But as Bishop Pearson supposes them to have been first set forth about the latter end of Eusebius's Life so Dr. Cave conjectures that the Elder Apollinarius may very probably have been the Author of them Others there are who place them yet later and suspect Pope Gregory the Great to have had a hand in the Forgery And indeed the Arguments which our very Learned Mr. Dodwell brings to prove that they were originally written by one of the Roman Church are not without their just Weight But whatever becomes of this thus much is certain that these Books were not written before the middle of the IV th Century and therefore are without the Compass of the present Undertaking 37. AND now having taken such a View as was necessary for the present Design of all those other Pieces which have been obtruded upon the World for Apostolical Writings besides what is either here collected or has been before publish'd in the Sacred Books of the New Testament I suppose I may with good Grounds conclude that the little I have now put together is all that can with any Certainty be depended upon of the most Primitive Fathers And therefore that from these next to the Holy Scriptures we must be content to draw the best Account we can of the Doctrine and Discipline of the Church for the first Hundred Years after the Death of Christ. CHAP. X. Of the Authority of the following Treatises and the Deference that ought to be paid to them upon the account of it This is shewn from the following Considerations 1st That the Authors of them were Contemporary with the Apostles and instructed by them 2dly They were Men of an eminent Character in the Church and therefore to be sure such as could not be ignorant of what was taught in it 3dly They were very careful to preserve the Doctrine of Christ in its Purity and to oppose such as went about to corrupt it 4thly They were Men not only of a perfect Piety but of great Courage and Constancy and therefore such as cannot be suspected to have had any Design to prevaricate in this Matter 5thly They were endued with a large Portion of the Holy Spirit and as such could hardly err in what they deliver'd as the Gospel of Christ. And 6thly Their Writings were approved by the Church in those days which could not be mistaken in its Approbation of them BUT Secondly and to proceed yet farther The following Collection pretends to a just Esteem not only upon the account of its Perfection as it is an Entire Collection of what remains to us of the Apostolical Fathers but yet much more from the Respect that is due to the Authors themselves whose Writings are here put together 2. IF First we consider them as the Contemporaries of the Holy Apostles Some of them bred up under our Saviour Christ himself and the rest instructed by those Great Men whom he commissioned to go forth and preach to all the World and endued with an extraordinary Assistance of his Blessed Spirit for the doing of it We cannot doubt but that what they deliver to us must be without Controversie the pure Doctrine of the Gospel What Christ and his Apostles taught and what they had themselves received from their own Mouths This is the least Deference we can pay to them to look upon them as faithful Deliverers of the Doctrine and Practice of the Church in those most early Times When Heresies were not as yet so openly broke out in it Nor the true Faith so dangerously corrupted with the Mixture of those erroneous Opinions which afterwards more fatally infected the Minds of Men and divided the Church into so many Parties and Factions So that here then we may read with Security and let me add with Respect too And not doubt but what these Holy Men deliver to us is as certainly the true Doctrine of Christ as if we had received it like them from our Saviour and his Apostles 3. BUT Secondly The Authors of the following Pieces had not only the Advantage of living in the Apostolical Times and of hearing the Holy Apostles and conversing with them but they were of a very Eminent Character in the Church too Men raised up to the highest pitch of Honour and Authority in some of the most famous Churches of the World Chosen by the Apostles to preside in their own proper Sees at Rome at Antioch at Smyrna One of them set apart by the express Command of the Holy Ghost to be the Companion of the Great St. Paul in his Work of the Ministry and the rest for the most part commended for their rare Endowments in the inspired Writings of the Holy Scriptures delivered to us And therefore we may be sure that such Men as these must needs have been very carefully instructed in the Mystery of the Gospel and have had
ye do ye may do it according to the Will of God V. MY Brethren the Love I have towards you makes me the more large and having a great Joy in you I endeavour to secure you against Danger Or rather not I but Jesus Christ in whom being Bound I the more fear as being yet only on the way to Suffering But your Prayer to God shall make me Perfect that I may attain to that Portion which by God's Mercy is allotted to me Fleeing to the Gospel as to the Flesh of Christ and to the Apostles as to the Great Presbytery of the Church Let us also love the Prophets for as much as they also have by their Doctrine led us to the Gospel and to Hope in Christ and to expect Him In whom also Believing they were saved in the Unity of Jesus Christ being Holy Men Worthy to be loved and had in Wonder who have received Testimony from Jesus Christ and are reckon'd in the Gospel of our Common Hope VI. BUT if any one shall preach the Jewish Law unto you hearken not unto Him For it is better to receive the Doctrine of Christ from one that has been Circumcised than Judaism from One that has not But if either the One or Other do not speak concerning Christ Jesus they seem to me to be but as Monuments and Sepulchres of the Dead upon which are written only the Names of Men. Flee therefore the wicked Arts and Snares of the Prince of this World lest at any time being Oppressed by his Cunning ye grow cold in your Charity But come All-together into the same Place with an undivided Heart And I Bless my God that I have a good Conscience towards you and that no One among you has whereof to boast either Openly or Privately that I have been Burthensome to Him in much or little And I beseech All among whom I have conversed that they make not use of that for a Testimony of it VII FOR although some would have deceived me according to the Flesh yet the Spirit being from God is not deceived For it knows both whence it comes and whither it goes and reproves the Secrets of the Heart I cried whilst I was among you I spake with a loud Voice Attend to the Bishop and to the Presbytery and to the Deacons Now some supposed that I spake this as foreseeing the Division that should come among you But He is my Witness for whose sake I am in Bonds that I knew nothing from any Man But the Spirit spake saying on this wise Do nothing without the Bishop Keep your Bodies as the Temples of God Love Unity Flee Divisions Be the Followers of Christ as he was of his Father VIII I THEREFORE did as became me as a Man composed to Unity For where there is Division and Wrath God dwelleth not But the Lord forgives all that Repent if they Return to the Unity of God and to the Council of the Bishop For I trust in the Grace of Jesus Christ that he will free you from every Bond. Nevertheless I exhort you that you do nothing out of Strife but according to the Instruction of Christ. Because I have heard of some who say Unless I find it written in some other antient Monuments I will not believe the Gospel And when I answer'd them It is Written They replied That it does not appear But to me Jesus Christ is instead of all the Antient Monuments in the World Together with those undefiled Monuments His Cross and Death and Resurrection and the Faith which is by Him By which I desire through your Prayers to be Justified IX THE Priests indeed are Good But much better is the High Priest to whom the Holy of Holies has been committed and who alone has been intrusted with the Secrets of God He is the Door of the Father by which Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the Prophets enter in as well as the Apostles and the Church And all these things tend to the Unity which is of God Howbeit the Gospel has somewhat in it far above all other Dispensations Namely the Appearance of our Saviour the Lord Jesus Christ his Passion and Resurrection For the Beloved Prophets refer'd to Him But the Gospel is the Perfection of Incorruption All therefore together are Good if ye believe with Charity X. NOW as concerning the Church of Antioch which is in Syria seeing I am told that through your Prayers and the Bowels which ye have towards it in Jesus Christ it is in Peace it will become you as the Church of God to ordain some Deacon to go to them thither as the Embassador of God that He may rejoyce with Them when they meet together and Glorifie Gods Name Blessed be that Man in Jesus Christ who shall be found worthy of such a Ministry and ye your selves also shall be Glorified Now if ye be willing it is not Impossible for you to do this for the sake of God as also the other Neighbouring Churches have sent them some Bishops some Priests and Deacons XI AS concerning Philo the Deacon of Cilicia a most worthy Man He still Ministers unto me in the Word of God together with Rheus of Agathopolis a singular good Person who has follow'd me even from Syria not regarding his Life These also bear witness unto you And I my self give Thanks to God for you that ye received them as the Lord shall receive you But for those that dishonour'd them may they be forgiven through the Grace of Jesus Christ. The Charity of the Brethren that are at Troas salutes you From whence also I now write by Burrhus who was sent together with me by those of Ephesus and Smyrna for respect sake May Our Lord Jesus Christ Honour them in whom they Hope both in Flesh and Soul and Spirit in Faith in Love in Unity Farewel in Christ Jesus our Common Hope THE EPISTLE OF St. IGNATIVS TO THE Smyrneans THE CONTENTS The Salutation Chap. I. HE declares the Joy he had to hear of their Firmness in the Gospel The Substance of which as to what concerns the Person of Christ he briefly repeats to Them II. And this against such as pretended that Christ suffer'd only in Shew and not Really Against these III. He assures them that he knew Christ was a True Man even after his Resurrection And did give manifest Proofs to his Disciples of his Being such IV. He Exhorts them therefore to have nothing to do with those Hereticks whom he here Opposes Nor believe that He would Suffer so so much for the Faith of Christ unless he were very sure of the Truth of it V. He shews them farther the Danger of the Doctrine before mentioned And how they who held it did in Effect Deny Christ. VI. How Dangerous this is And how different those who maintain this Doctrine are in All other respects from the Church of Christ VII That it will
an Anvil when it is beaten upon It is the Part of a brave Combatant indeed to be Wounded and yet Overcome And especially we ought to endure all things for Gods sake that he may bear with us Be every day Better than other Consider the Times and expect him Who is above all Time Eternal Invisible though for our sakes made Visible Impalpible and impassible yet for us subjected to Sufferings enduring all manner of ways for our Salvation IV. LET not the Widows be neglected Be thou after God their Guardian Let nothing be done but with thy Knowledge and Consent Neither do thou any thing but according to the Will of God as also thou dost with all Constancy Let your Assemblies be more frequent Inquire into all by Name Overlook not the Men and Maid Servants Neither let them be Puffed up but rather let them be more Subject to the Glory of God that they may obtain from him a better Liberty Let them not desire to be set free from their present Service that they be not Slaves to their own Lusts. V. FLEE Evil Arts Or rather make not any mention of them Say to my Sisters that they love the Lord and be satisfied with their own Husbands both in the Flesh and Spirit In like manner Exhort my Brethren in the Name of Jesus Christ that they Love their Wives even as the LORD the Church If any Man can remain in a Virgin State to the Honour of Christ let him remain without Boasting But if he Boast he is undone And if he thinks that he knows more than the Bishop he is ruined But it becomes all such as are Marryed whether Men or Women to come together with the Consent of the Bishop that so their Marriage may be according to Godliness and not in Lust. Let all things be done to the Honour of God VI. HEARKEN unto the Bishop that God also may hearken unto you My Soul be Security for them that Submit to their Bishop with their Presbyters and Deacons And may my Portion be together with theirs in God Labour with one another Contend together run together suffer together sleep together and rise together as the Stewards and Assessors and Ministers of God Please him under whom ye War and from whom ye receive your Wages Let none of you be found a Deserter But let your Baptism remain as your Arms your Faith as your Helmet your Charity as your Spear your Patience as your whole Armour Let your Works be your Charge that so you may receive a suitable Reward Be long-suffering therefore towards each other in Meekness as God is towards you Let me have Joy of you in all things VII NOW forasmuch as the Church of Antioch in Syria is as I am told in Peace through your Prayers I also have been the more comforted in their Security if so be that by suffering I shall attain unto God that through your Prayer I may be found a faithful Disciple It will be very fit O most worthy Polycarp to call a Select Council and chuse some One whom ye particularly Love and who is patient of Labour that he may be the Messenger of God And that going unto Syria he may Glorifie your incessant Love to the Praise of God A Christian has not the Power of Himself but must be always at leisure for God's Service Now this work is both Gods and yours when ye shall have perfected it For I trust in your favour that ye are ready to do all the good Work that is fitting for you in the LORD Knowing therefore your earnest Affection to the Truth I have exhorted you by this short Epistle VIII BUT forasmuch as I have not been able to Write to all the Churches because I must suddainly Sail from Troas to Neapolis for so is the Command of those to whose pleasure I am subject Do you write to the Churches that are near you as being instructed in the Will of God that they also may do in like manner Let those that are able send Messengers and let the rest send their Letters by those who shall be sent by you That you may be Glorified to all Eternity of which you are worthy I salute all by Name particularly the Wife of Epitropus with all her House and Children I salute Attalus my Well-beloved I salute him who shall be sent by you into Syria Let my Grace be ever with him and with Polycarp who sends him I wish you all Happiness in our God Jesus Christ in whom continue in the Unity and Protection of God I salute Alcé my well-beloved Farewell in the LORD To POLYCARP THE MARTYRDOM'S OF St. IGNATIUS St. POLYCARP Written by Those who were present at their SUFFERING A RELATION OF THE Martyrdom OF St. IGNATIVS I. IT was but a little while after TRAJANS advancement to the Roman Empire that IGNATIUS the Disciple of St. JOHN the Apostle and Evangelist a Man in all things like unto the Apostles govern'd the Church of Antioch Who being scarcely able to mitigate the Storms of many Persecutions before under Domitian as a good Governour by the Helm of Prayer and Fasting by the constancy of his Doctrine and Spiritual Labour opposed himself to the Flouds of the Adversary fearing lest he should happen to overthrow any of those who either wanted Courage or were not so strong in the Faith as was necessary at such a time II. WHEREFORE the Persecution being at present somewhat abated he rejoiced greatly at the firmness of his Church Yet doubted within himself that he had not attain'd to a true love of Christ nor was come up to the Pitch of a Perfect Disciple For he thought that the Confession which is made by Martyrdom would bring him to a yet more close and intimate Union with the LORD Wherefore continuing a few years longer with the Church and after the manner of a Divine Lamp illuminating the Hearts of the faithful by the Exposition of the Holy Scriptures He attain'd to what he had so long and earnestly desired III. FOR Trajan after the Ninth year of his Empire being lifted up with his Victory over the Scythians and Dacians and many other Nations and thinking that the Church of the Christians worshipping the true God were yet wanting in an entire Obedience to him unless he compelled them after the manner of all other People to embrace the Service of Devils He obliged all such as were the Servants of the true God with the Threats of Persecution either to Sacrifice to the Heathen Deities or to Die Wherefore our Brave Souldier of Christ being in fear for the Church of Antioch was voluntarily brought before TRAJAN who was at that time there on his Way to Armenia and the Parthians against whom he was hastning IV. BEING come into the presence of the Emperor TRAJAN the Emperor ask'd him saying What a