IV.  Ignatius, as it is testified by ancient Christian writers, became bishop of Antioch about thirty-seven years after Christ’s ascension; and, therefore, from his time, and place, and station, it is probable that he had known and conversed with many of the apostles.  Epistles of Ignatius are referred to by Polycarp, his contemporary.  Passages found in the epistles now extant under his name are quoted by Irenaeus, A.D. 178; by Origen, A.D. 230; and the occasion of writing the epistles is given at large by Eusebius and Jerome.  What are called the smaller epistles of Ignatius are generally deemed to be those which were read by Irenaeus, Origen, and Eusebius (Lardner, Cred. vol. i. p. 147.).

In these epistles are various undoubted allusions to the Gospels of Saint Matthew and Saint John; yet so far of the same form with those in the preceding articles, that, like them, they are not accompanied with marks of quotation.

Of these allusions the following are clear specimens: 

Matt.*:  “Christ was baptized of John, that all righteousness might be fulfilled by him.”  “Be ye wise as serpents in all things, and harmless as a dove.”

John+:  “Yet the Spirit is not deceived, being from God:  for it knows whence it comes and whither it goes.”  “He (Christ) is the door of the Father, by which enter in Abraham and Isaac, and Jacob, and the apostles, and the church.”

_________

* Chap. iii. 15.  “For thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness.”  Chap. x. 16.  “Be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.”

+ Chap. iii. 8.  “The wind bloweth where it listeth and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth; so is everyone that is born of the Spirit.”  Chap. x. 9.  “I am the door; by me if any man enter in he shall be saved.” _________

As to the manner of quotation, this is observable;—­Ignatius, in one place, speaks of St. Paul in terms of high respect, and quotes his Epistle to the Ephesians by name; yet, in several other places, he borrows words and sentiments from the same epistle without mentioning it; which shows that this was his general manner of using and applying writings then extant, and then of high authority.

V. Polycarp (Lardner, Cred. vol. i. 192.) had been taught by the apostles; had conversed with many who had seen Christ; was also by the apostles appointed bishop of Smyrna.  This testimony concerning Polycarp is given by Irenaeus, who in his youth had seen him:—­“I can tell the place,” saith Irenaeus, “in which the blessed Polycarp sat and taught, and his going out and coming in, and the manner of his life, and the form of his person, and the discourses he made to the people, and how he related his conversation with John, and others who had seen the Lord, and how he related their sayings, and what he had heard concerning the Lord, both concerning his miracles and his doctrine, as he had received them from the eyewitnesses of the word of life:  all which Polycarp related agreeable to the Scriptures.”