old, and sour; and be changed into the new leaven, which is Jesus Christ. Be ye salted in him, lest any of you should be corrupted, for by your savour ye shall be judged. It is absurd to name Christ Jesus, and to be still a Jew. For Christianity embraced not the Jewish religion, but the Jewish the Christian: that so every tongue that believed might be gathered together unto God.

11. These things, my beloved, (I write unto you), not that I know of any among you who are thus disposed, but, as one less than yourselves, I would warn you, not to fall into the snares of vain glory, but to be fully instructed in the birth, and sufferings, and resurrection (of Christ), which was accomplished in the time of the government of Pontius Pilate; all which was truly and surely performed by Jesus Christ, our hope, from which God forbid that any of of you you should ever be turned aside.

12. May I have joy of you in all things, if I shall be worthy of it. For although I am bound, I am not worthy to be compared to one of you who are at liberty. I know that ye are not puffed up. For ye have Jesus Christ in your hearts. And the rather when I commend you, I know that ye are ashamed, as it is written, The just man condemneth himself. P

13. Give diligence, therefore, to be established in the doctrines of our Lord and the Apostles, that

℗ Prov. xviii. 17. Septuagint.

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so whatsoever ye do, ye may prosper both in body and spirit: in faith and charity, in the Son and in the Father, and in the Spirit, in the Beginning and in the End; together with your most worthy Bishop, and the well-woven spiritual crown of your Presbytery, and your godly Deacons. Be subject to your Bishop, and to one another, as Jesus Christ to the Father, according to the flesh; and the Apostles to Christ and to the Father, and to the Spirit; that so there may be (among you) an union both in body and spirit.'

14. Knowing you to be full of God, I have the more briefly exhorted you. Remember me in your prayers, that I may attain unto God; as also the Church which is in Syria, whence I am not worthy to be called. For I stand in need of your joint prayers in God, and of your charity, that the Church, which is in Syria, may be thought worthy to be nourished by your church.

15. The Ephesians from Smyrna, whence also I write, salute you; being present here to the glory of God, in like manner as ye are, who have in all things refreshed me, together with Polycarp, the Bishop of the Smyrneans. The rest of the Churches, in the honour of Jesus Christ, salute you. Fare ye well in the concord of God, possessing his inseparable Spirit, which is Jesus Christ.

• êporicOnvai, to be bedewed. Compare Hos. xiv. 5.

THE

EPISTLE OF IGNATIUS

TO THE

TRALLIANS.

IGNATIUS, who is also called Theophorus, to the holy Church which is at Tralles in Asia, beloved of God the Father of Jesus Christ, elect and worthy of God, having peace through the flesh, and blood, and passion of Jesus Christ, our hope, in the resurrection unto him; whom also I salute in its fulness, (continuing) in the Apostolic character, wishing it all joy and happiness.

a

1. I HAVE heard of your blameless and constant disposition through patience, which not only appears in your outward conversation, but is naturally rooted and grounded in you; even as Polybius your bishop hath declared unto me; who came to me at Smyrna, by the will of God and Jesus Christ, and so rejoiced with me in my bonds for Jesus Christ, that I saw your whole assembly in him. Having therefore received by him the

Eusebius mentions this Polybius, in his account of this Epistle. H. E. iii. 36.

testimony of your good will towards me for God's sake, I seemed to find you, as I knew ye were, the followers of God.

2. For inasmuch as ye are subject to your Bishop as to Jesus Christ, ye appear to me to live not after the manner of men, but according to Jesus Christ, who died for us, in order that, believing in his death, ye may escape death. It is therefore necessary that ye do nothing without your Bishop, even as ye are wont: and that ye be also subject to the Presbytery as to the Apostles of Jesus Christ, our hope, in whom if we walk, we shall be found (in him). The Deacons also, as being the (ministers) of the mysteries of Jesus Christ, must by all means please all. For they are not the ministers of meat and drink, but of the Church of God. Wherefore they must avoid all offences, as (they would avoid) fire.

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3. In like manner, let all reverence the Deacons as Jesus Christ, and the Bishop as the Father; and the Presbyters as the council of God, and the assembly of the Apostles. Without these there is no Church. Concerning all which I am persuaded that ye think after the very same manner. For I have received, and even now have with me, the pattern of your love in your Bishop: whose very look is much instruction, and his mildness, power: whom I am persuaded that even the ungodly rever

ence. But because I have a love towards you, I will not write any more sharply unto you about this matter, although I very well might; I have even taken so much upon myself, who am but a condemned (captive), as to command you as if I were an apostle.

I

love to suffer,

4. I know many things in God; but I refrain myself, lest I should perish in my boasting. For now I ought the more to fear, and not hearken to those that would puff me up. For they, who (so) speak to me, chasten me. but I know not if I be worthy. though to others it doth not appear, yet to myself is (on that account) the more violent. I have, therefore, need of moderation, by which the Prince of this world is destroyed.

And this desire,

5. Am I not able to write to you of heavenly things? But I fear lest I should harm you who are babes in Christ: excuse me (this care): lest, not being able to receive them, ye should be choked

• ὃν λογίζομαι καὶ τοὺς ἀθέους ἐντρέπεσθαι. ἀγαπῶντας ὡς οὐ φείδομαι ἑαυτὸν πότερον, δυνάμενος γράφειν ὑπὲρ τούτου εἰς τοῦτο ᾠήθην, ἵνα ὢν κατάκριτος ὡς ἀπόστολος ὑμῖν διατάσσωμαι. This passage is evidently corrupted, and was so, before the old Latin Version was made, which is here only a verbal translation of the separate Greek words. Salmasius, Pearson, and Smith all endeavour to explain the passage, without success. The translation in the text is that of Archbishop Wake. It is founded upon the reading suggested by the corresponding passage in the interpolated Epistle: ̓Αγαπῶν ὑμᾶς φείδομαι συντονώτερον ἐπιστεῖλαι κ. τ. λ.

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