behalf of the Churches, that a stop might be put to the persecution, and that mutual love might continue among the brethren, he was led with all haste into the amphitheatre. Then, being immediately thrown in, according to the command of Cæsar given some time ago, the public spectacles being just about to close (for it was then a solemn day, as they deemed it, being that which is called the thirteenth in the Roman tongue, on which the people were wont to assemble in more than ordinary numbers), he was thus cast to the wild beasts close beside the temple, that so by them the desire of the holy martyr Ignatius should be fulfilled, according to that which is written, 'The desire of the righteous is acceptable,' to the effect that he might not be troublesome to any of the brethren by the gathering of his remains, even as he had in his epistle expressed a wish beforehand that so his end might be. For only the harder portions of his holy remains were left, which were conveyed to Antioch and wrapped in linen, as an inestimable treasure left to the holy Church by the grace which was in the martyr.

"Now these things took place on the thirteenth day before the kalends of January,—that is, on the twentieth of December; Sura and Senecio being then the consuls of the Romans for the second time. Having ourselves been eye-witnesses of these things, and having spent the whole night in tears within the house, and having entreated the Lord, with bended knees and much prayer, that He would give us weak men full assurance respecting the things which were

done, it came to pass, on our falling into a brief slumber, that some of us saw the blessed Ignatius suddenly standing by us and embracing us, while others beheld him again praying for us, and others still saw him dropping with sweat, as if he had just come from his great labour, and standing by the Lord. When, therefore, we had with great joy witnessed these things, and had compared our several visions together, we sang praise to God, the Giver of all good things, and expressed our sense of the happiness of the holy martyr; and now we have made known to you both the day and the time [when these things happened], that, assembling ourselves together according to the time of his martyrdom, we may have fellowship with the champion and noble martyr of CHRIST, who trod under foot the devil, and perfected the course which, out of love to CHRIST, he had desired, in CHRIST JESUS our Lord; by whom, and with whom, be glory and power to the Father, with the Holy Spirit, for evermore. Amen."

In such honour was Ignatius held at Antioch, that even now, when the Christians there are divided by a schism, the head of the Monophysite, or schismatical branch of them, always takes, on his appointment, the revered name of Ignatius.*

* The date of the martyrdom has been regarded as uncertain. Most Christian histories place it as early as 107, but Trajan's visit to Antioch took place in 115, so that this is more probably the time of it. It is also said that the earthquake of Antioch immediately followed the condemnation; but it is far more probable that the "ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes" would be sacrificed to appease the terrified people, who thought the gods offended by the desertion of their altars.

CHAPTER IX.

THE STORY OF THE EPISTLES.

"His chamber all was hang'd about with rolls,

And old records from auncient times derived;
Some made in books, some in long parchment scrolls
That were worm-eaten all and full of canker holes."
SPENSER, The Faëry Queene.

BEFORE passing further in our history, it may be well to dwell on the many doubts and difficulties that have hung round the seven beautiful Letters that we have quoted.

Each of the greater lights among the holy men of the Primitive Church seems either to have written with his own hand, or caused his young deacons and scribes to write from his dictation, letters to the Christians of the other cities commended to his notice; these were transcribed by Christian copyists, and handed about either privately or openly, according to the danger of the times. Sometimes the Christians were required to give up their books. Then they would hide the more sacred, and allow those of lesser value to be seized; and in many cases large numbers of manuscripts were entirely lost. Those which stood in the

highest esteem were copied and re-copied, and at length, when monasteries began to be founded, were placed in their libraries; but this was not till more than three centuries later, and in the meantime many books had been lost, and many more again perished in the desolation of the break-up of the Roman empire, or by the carelessness of the monks who had the custody of them. Thus there are numerous authors who are only known through fragments quoted by others, or even merely by name.

Ignatius, it will be observed, speaks of an intention to write further letters, which was probably prevented by the suddenness with which his long-delayed martyrdom came at last. Such a sentence was, however, almost an invitation to the forgeries that were scarcely considered as deceits, until a comparatively recent period. It seems to have been thought that so long as the contents of a book were good or beautiful, it did not matter who wrote it, or whether it represented the original thoughts of the author. Moreover, when every work was transcribed by hand, it was entirely at the mercy of the scribe, who might be either stupid, careless, or conceited; and while in the former cases he made errors, in the latter he would put in what he thought the author ought to have said, either by way of ornament or explanation. Sometimes, also, a great name was appended to writings entirely spurious, especially when there was reason to think that any analogous composition had once existed and had been lost.

The Jews, who alone had possessed writings that it