Romans; three after his departure from Smyrna, to the churches of Philadelphia and Smyrna, and to Polycarp bishop of Smyrna.  The native vigor and energy of Ignatius, as also the depth and sincerity of his piety, shine forth conspicuously in these letters; but they differ from the epistle of Clement in the manifestation of an intense ecclesiastical spirit, by which, indeed, they are marked as belonging to a later era of the church.  If we except the epistle to the Romans, they all abound in exhortations to render implicit obedience to their spiritual rulers as to Christ himself.  To these precepts he adds exhortations to maintain unity, and to avoid false doctrines, specifying particularly Judaizing teachers and such as deny our Lord’s proper humanity.

We cannot read his letter to the Romans, among whom he expected shortly to lay down his life for Christ’s sake, without deep interest.  But it is marred by the manifestation of an undue desire to obtain the crown of martyrdom, which leads him to protest against any interposition of the Roman brethren in his behalf.  “I beseech you,” says he, “show no unseasonable good-will towards me.  Suffer me to be the food of wild beasts, by means of which I may attain to God.  I am the wheat of God, and am ground by the teeth of wild beasts, that I may be found the pure bread of God.”  Chap. 4.  His letter to Polycarp, a fellow bishop, abounds in precepts for the right discharge of his duties.  It is interesting as showing Ignatius’ idea, on the one side, of the office with its high responsibilities, and, on the other, of the duties which the churches owe to those who are set over them in the Lord.

7.  There are some spurious epistles ascribed to Ignatius which it is sufficient simply to name.  These are:  A letter to one Maria a proselyte of Cilicia in answer to her request that certain young men might be sent to her people as their spiritual guides; epistles to the church of Tarsus, of Antioch, and of Philippi—­theological dissertations mostly made up of texts of Scripture; a letter to Hero a deacon, containing precepts for the right discharge of his office, and abounding, like those just named, in quotations from Scripture:  two pretended letters of Ignatius to the apostle John; one to the Virgin Mary, with her reply.

Finally, there are some fragments of Ignatius’ writings preserved to us in the quotations of the ancients, which it is not necessary to notice.

III.  THE EPISTLE OF POLYCARP.

8. Polycarp was a disciple of the apostle John, and presided over the church in Smyrna.  He suffered martyrdom about the year 166.  Of his writings only one short epistle remains, addressed by him to the Philippians soon after the martyrdom of Ignatius, who passed through Smyrna on his way to Rome.  This we gather from the letter itself; for in this he assumes that Ignatius has already suffered (chap. 9), and yet he has not heard the particulars concerning