CHAPTER I.

Ignatins.

APPEARANCE BEFORE TRAJAN; HIS LETTERS; HIS CHARITY AND HUMILITY; HIS MARTYRDOM.

T was in the year 107 that Ignatius, bishop of Antioch, was martyred for the faith of Jesus. On the death of Euodias, about the year 70, he had been appointed in his room by the apostles, who were then alive. He governed the church during this long period. Nor was it a small indication of the continued grace of God to that city to have been blessed so long with such a luminary. We have only a short account given of his ministry, and that in the "Acts of Ignatius," a piece of martyrology first published by archbishop Usher, from two old manuscripts, n 1647, and carrying in it stronger marks of credibility than is usual with such compositions. These were compiled by those who went with him from Antioch, and were eye-witnesses of his sufferings.

Here he is said to be "a man in all things like to the apostles: as a good governor, by the helm of prayer and fasting, by the constancy of his doctrine and spiritual labor, he opposed himself to the floods of the adversary: he was like a Divine lamp, illuminating the hearts of the faithful by his exposition of the Holy Scriptures; and lastly, to preserve his church, he scrupled not freely to expose himself to a bitter death.

Ambition and the lust of power were not stronger features in the character of Cæsar than the desire of martyrdom was in that of Ignatius. Divine providence, however, preserved him for the benefit of the church during the persecution of Domitian, and reserved him to the time of Trajan.

This prince being come to Antioch about the tenth year of

his reign, in the year 107, in his way to the Parthian war, Ignatius, fearing for the christians, and hoping to avert the storm by offering himself to suffer in their stead, came voluntarily into the presence of Trajan.

We give the conference as it stands in the Acts, a monument of false glory shrouding itself under superstition and ignorance on the one hand, and of true glory supported by the faith and hope of Jesus on the other.

Being come into the emperor's presence, he was thus addressed: "What an impious wretch art thou, both to transgress our commands and to inveigle other souls into the same folly, to their ruin?"

Ignatius answered, "Theophorus ought not to be called so; for wicked spirits are departed from the servants of God. But if you call me impious because of my hostility, I own the charge in that respect. For I dissolve all their snares, sustained inwardly by Christ, the Heavenly King."

Pray, who is Theophorus? said Trajan. "He who has Christ in his breast," was the reply. "And thinkest thou not that gods reside in us also, who fight for us against our enemies?" "You mistake in calling the demons of the nations by the name of gods. For there is only one God, who made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is; and one Jesus Christ, his only begotten son, whose kingdom be my portion."

"His kingdom, do you say, who was crucified under Pilate?" "His who crucified my sin with its author, and has put all the fraud and malice of Satan under their feet, who carry him in their heart." "Dost thou then carry him who was crucified within thee?" "I do; for it is written, "I will dwell in them, and walk in them." Then Trajan pronounced this sentence against him: "Since Ignatius confesses that he carries within himself that was crucified, we command that he be carried bound by soldiers to great Rome, there to be thrown to the beasts, for the entertainment of the people."

Ignatius was puzzled to conceive what could induce Trajan to order his being sent so long a journey for execution.