seven, translated by Archbishop Wake, are, in the main, genuine. They were written, if by Ignatius, while he was conducted, partly by sea, and partly by land, on a tardy journey of two thousand milesh, from Antioch to Rome, for the execution of the sentence of martyrdom. He is said to have been bishop of the church in the former city, for about forty years, and to have been personally acquainted, in his younger days, with some of the Apostles. His writings, however, are not always worthy of his advantages: they contain some puerile conceits', betray a fondness for the eastern fables concerning the angelic world', and are filled with earnest injunctions of the most unreserved submission of reason, faith and practice, to the clergy; whose authority is often likened, expressly, to that of God and Jesus Christ.

We cannot ascertain the author's views concerning the final extent of salvation; and the following is all that seems to refer to a future state of punishment : "Those that corrupt families by adultery, shall not

:

*Even of these there are two very different copies the larger which is generally supposed to be much interpolated; and the shorter, which is followed by Wake, and almost universally preferred. Mosheim, however, (Comment. on the Affairs of the Christians, &c.) seems to doubt whether the larger be not the genuine, if indeed either be so.

h His route, real or fabulous, is traced from Antioch to Smyrna, Troas, over the Egean, into Macedonia and through Epirus, across the Adriatic and Tyrrhene Seas, to the mouth of the Tiber, and thence to Rome. The date of his journey, and of course of his Epistles and Martyrdom, is placed at A.D. 107, by Du Pin, Tillemont, Cave and Lardner; but at A.D. 116, by Pearson, Loyd, Pagi, Le Clerc and Fabricius. If the Relation of the Martyrdom of Ignatius, which professes to be written by eye-witnesses, be genuine, this disputed date is fixed at A.D. 116. See § 3. Wake's Translation. i. Ignat. Epist. to the Ephesians, § 9. Wake's trans. j. Ditto. § 19. and Epist. to the Trallians, § 5.

"inherit the kingdom of God. If therefore they who "have done this according to the flesh have suffered death, "how much more shall he die, who by his wicked doc"trine corrupts the faith of God, for which Christ was "crucified? He that is thus defiled, shall depart into "unquenchable fire, and so also shall he that heark

66

ens to him." In another place he says, in rather an incoherent paragraph, "Seeing, then, all things have "an end, there are these two indifferently set before us, "Life and Death; and every one shall depart unto his proper place." In the same unconnected manner, he says again, “For what remains, it is very reasonable that we “should return unto a sound mind, whilst there is yet "time to return unto God"." Some of these passages may, indeed, have no allusion to a future state. It must, however, be remarked here, that the author evidently believed that certain heretics, and perhaps the wicked in general, will not be raised from the dead, but exist hereafter as mere incorporeal spirits".

The Relation of the Martyrdom of Ignatius, written by christian eye-witnesses of his trial and sufferings, contains nothing to our purpose; and we therefore proceed to

A. D. 108, or 117.

V. The Epistle of Polycarp; a piece which evinces a more regular and intelligent mind, than most of the ecclesiastical writings of that age. Its connexion is tolerably well maintained, and its style is simple, though it never rises into

Epist. to the Ephes. § 26.

m. Epist. to the Smyrneans, §9.

Epist. to the Magnesians, § 5. n. Ditto. §2 and 7. compared

with Epist. to the Trall. § 9. and Epist. to the Romans, § 2.

elegance. The author is guilty of one exception to his general moderation, when he exhorts his brethren to be "subject to the elders and deacons as unto God and "Christ".""

They who receive this epistle as Polycarp's ", generally suppose it written soon after the martyrdom of Ignatius, to which it alludes. Polycarp was bishop of the church at Smyrna, from about the year 100, till after the middle of the second century. He is said to have been the disciple of St. John; and he was certainly regarded, after the death of that Apostle, as the most eminent of the christians of Asia".

The following is all that his Epistle contains in relation to the particular subject of this history: "To whom "[Christ] all things are made subject, both that are in "heaven and that are in earth; whom every living creature shall worship; who shall come to be the judge of the quick and dead; whose blood God shall "require of them that believe not in him." Alluding, without doubt, to some of the Gnostic heretics, "Whosoever does not confess that Jesus "Christ is come in the flesh, he is Antichrist. "whoever does not confess his suffering upon the cross, "is from the Devil. And whosoever perverts the ora"cles of the Lord to his own lusts, and says that there

he says,

And

o. Polycarp's Epist. §5. Wake's transl. P. M. Daille and Blondel reject it, and Mosheim says it "has merely a questionable claim to credit." But Lardner, on the contrary, asserts that "there is scarce any doubt or question among learned men, about the genuineness of this Epistle of Polycarp." 4. By some he is considered the angel of the Church in Smyrna, addressed in Rev. ii. 8. This, however, is doubtful, as it is probable that he was not ordained till after the Revelation was written. r. Polycarp's Epist. § 2.

"shall be neither any resurrection, nor judgment, he is "the first-born of Satans." There may also be a question whether the author does not intimate that the future resurrection depends on faith and obedience in this lifet.

VI. To these dates succeeds a period of several years, from which no christian writings have descended to us, except a few passages that happen to have been quoted, by later writers, from Papias, Quadratus and Agrippa Castor; of which, however, we shall take no notice, as they throw no light upon our subject. But it is important to remark that Papias and Aristides (a writer of whom nothing whatever remains) contributed, undesignedly, to corrupt the simplicity of christianity. The former, who was bishop at Hierapolis, near

A. D. 116.

Laodicea, is said to have devoted himself to collecting traditions of the Apostolic doctrine and sayings; but being very credulous and of a weak mind, he received, with little discrimination, whatever was related to him. Having thus formed a collection of idle tales and foolish notions, he published them to the world as the authoritative instructions of Christ and his Apostles. Such was the genius of the times, that his work appears to have been well received; and it certainly met with considerable credit among the succeeding fathers,

s. Ditto. $7. t. Ditto. § 2 and 5. If Clemens Romanus and Polycarp, as well as Ignatius, really held a partial resurrection, that of the saints exclusively, the circumstance would seem to prove that the notion of the Jews, or rather of the Pharisees, on this point, had spread pretty extensively in the church,-from Asia Minor to Romeat this early period. That such was the notion of the Pharisees, about the end of the first century, see Josephus, &c.

who adopted some of its fictions". But whatever were the injurious effects of these pretended traditions, the cause of truth afterwards sustained a much greater detriment from the gradual incorporation of the Grecian philosophy. Aristides was probably the first professed philosopher from the Grecian schools, who A. D. 124, took an active part in support of christianity.

-126

But he appears, unhappily, to have arrayed it in the robe of the Academy; for Jerome informs us that the Apology, which he presented to the emperor Adrian in behalf of the persecuted christians, was full of philosophic notions, which were afterwards adopted by Justin Martyr. The Grecian philosophy was nearly as incompatible with christianity, as was the Oriental; but the corruptions it introduced, flourished in the church, after a few years, as in a congenial soil; and in less than a century, gave a new appearance to the general mass of doctrine considered orthodox.

A. D. 131.

VII. The Epistle of Barnabas is the next, in order; unless, as has been hitherto conjectured, it belong to the first century. It was composed by some Jewish christian, of

u Du Pin's Bibliotheca Patrum, Article, Papias. Papias is said to have flourished about A.D. 116. v. Du Pin's Biblioth. Pat. Art. Quadratus and Aristides. The Apology of Aristides is supposed to have been written about A.D. 124, or 126. w It has been thought, by most of the learned, that the Epistle of Barnabas was written in the first century; and, by many, that it was the work of that Barnabas who was the companion and fellow-traveller of St. Paul. The latter opinion, Mosheim treats as scarcely worthy of a refutation; and though it has had some eminent advocates, it is now generally discarded. That the former opinion is also incorrect, I cannot but think sufficiently manifest from the Epistle itself. The author, speaking of the temple of Jerusalem, says, "Again, he [Christ] speaketh after "this manner: Behold, they that destroy this temple, even they shall again "build it up. And so it came to pass; for through their wars, it is