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establish the believers, to settle the wavering, to force from the pagan idolater an unwilling assent to the superior blessedness of that religion which could yield support under the most afflicting tortures, and thus to convert the wondering infidel to the faith of Christ.

Ignatius left Antioch in the custody of ten soldiers, and proceeded on foot to Seleucia, where he took ship, and arrived, after a tedious voyage, at Smyrna. During a short stay in this place, he had an interview of the most affectionate and consolatory nature with his fellow-disciple Polycarp, who was Bishop of the city; the two friends mutually supporting each other under the present trying circumstances, and rejoicing in the progress which, by their means, Christianity was making in the world. From a passage in one of his Epistles, (Rom. §. 5.) it is easily inferred, that this indulgence was procured for him at the suit of his companions, who proffered money to his guards for that purpose; for the brutality with which it was their usual practice to treat him, is altogether inconsistent with the gratuitous offer of such a favour. They were induced, no doubt, by similar considerations, to admit into his presence the Bishops and Clergy of most of the neighbouring districts, who came to meet him at different stages of his journey, and to accommodate him with the means of writing valedictory epistles to several of the Churches in Asia Minor. From Smyrna he wrote to the Ephesians, the Magnesians, the Trallians, and also to Rome; and from Troas, to the church of Smyrna, which he had lately visited, and to that of Philadelphia. The Epistle to the Smyrnæans was accompanied with a private letter to their Bishop, Polycarp, reminding him of his episcopal duties, and exhorting him to be faithful in the discharge of them.

At Troas, Ignatius received the gratifying intelligence, that the persecution at Antioch had considerably abated since his departure ; a rescript having been issued by the Emperor, to the effect that the Christians should not be sought after, and only punished upon conviction. From Troas he sailed to Neapolis; from thence proceeded to Philippi; and, passing through Macedonia and Epirus, he came to Puteoli. He would fain have walked from Puteoli, in the footsteps of St. Paul, through the Appii Forum, and Three Taverns, to Rome; but a brisk wind springing up, his request was not complied with, and a day and night brought them to Ostia; whence he was hurried, with increased expedition, to the place of execution. The Roman Christians met him at the gates of the city, and some of them were disposed to exert themselves in his behalf; but Ignatius refused their affectionate zeal, and entreated them to place no impediment in the way between him and his Lord. He was accordingly led before the Prætor; and one of their great festivals was fixed for his execution; upon which, before a vast concourse of spectators, he was torn to pieces by wild beasts in the amphitheatre. A few bones were all that remained of the holy martyr, which were conveyed to Antioch, and carefully deposited, wrapped in a napkin, in a cemetery near the city. In an after age, as the pious memory for the early saints degenerated into a superstitious and idolatrous veneration of their relics, these bones were disinterred by the Emperor Theodosius, and placed in a votive temple erected for their reception.

The date of the martyrdom of Ignatius,-and therefore of his Epistles, which were written during his journey from Antioch to Rome, is reckoned, by Basnage, among the obscurities of chronology; and the learned are greatly at issue in their opinions respecting it. The "Acts of his Martyrdom" say expressly that he was condemned by Trajan in person, who came to Antioch in the ninth year of his reign, which corresponds with the year 106. It appears, however, from Dion Cassius, (LXVIII. 781.) that the Emperor was at Antioch in the year 116, when the city was visited by a tremendous earthquake, during which he scarcely escaped from the ruin of the house in which he resided. Now there is no record of the arrival of Trajan at Antioch before the year 112; and therefore, Pearson, Grabe, and others, would substitute the nineteenth year, for the ninth, in the "Acts," fixing the martyrdom to the year 116, when Trajan is known to have been in that city. But it so happens, that these "Acts," in a subsequent passage, (§ 6.) state that Ignatius suffered under the consulate of Sura and Senecius, which corresponds with the year 107; and is also that which Eusebius, in his Chronicon, assigns to the same event. In this date Jerome also agrees. Against the testimony of these writers, that of Malala, a writer of the sixth century, can have little weight; and the evidence greatly preponderates in favour of the earlier date. To get rid of the difficulty arising from the circumstance that Trajan was not at Antioch in this year, Lardner questions the genuineness of the "Acts," observing, that Eusebius does not attribute the condemnation of Ignatius to the Emperor in person. But the chronology of the Parthian war is involved in considerable doubt; and, as preparations were certainly making for a war in that quarter as early as the year in question, Trajan may possibly have been in Antioch, for a short time, during that year, and returned to Rome upon the cessation of hostilities. He may, therefore, have passed sentence upon the bishop, as stated in the "Acts;" according to which, the day on which he suffered was the 20th of December, A. D. 107, in about the eightieth year of his age. We must defer the consideration of his Writings to our next Number.

THEOLOGICAL STUDIES.

No IX. BISHOP PORTEUS'S LIST.

The following Books, among others, were recommended to Candidates for Orders, by Bishop Porteus. A pen was drawn through the works now placed between brackets, and those printed in Italics were substituted, or added in manuscript.

FOR DEACON's

The New Testament in the Original,

with Whitby's Commentary. Such Books of the Old Testament, as the time will admit, in the Original, or the Septuagint, with (Wells's

orders.

Paraphrase) the Comment of Patrick,
Lowth, &c.

Secker's Lectures and Charges.
Grotius de Veritate Religionis Chris-
tianæ.

That is, in Greek numerals, 10' instead of e'. It will readily be granted that the

might easily have been displaced.

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No. X. ARCHDEACON WRANGHAM'S LIST.

"Si me conjectura non fallit, totius Reformationis pars integerrima est in Anglia, ubi cum studio Veritatis viget studium Antiquitatis."-Isaaci Casaub. Epist. ad Salmas.

Candidates for Deacons' Orders should be thoroughly versed in the Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles in the Greek Testament; and, for those of Priests, in the Epistles in addition. If they can construe them into correct Latin, so much the better.

Both classes ought, likewise, to have a complete knowledge of the Old and New Testament narratives, the principal evidences of Christianity, and its fortunes, from the death of its Divine Founder, to its establishment under Constantine the Great; as likewise of the leading doctrines of the Church of England, its reformation from Popery, and the chief tenets of the various English Dissenters; in many of which particulars, Bishop Tomline's "Elements of Christian Theology" will be found of important service. Dr. Doddridge's "Family Expositor" is, also, a work which can scarcely be commended too much, or consulted too frequently.

To this should, farther, be added a perfect acquaintance with Grotius "De Veritate Religionis Christianæ," and the power of translating with facility any of the Thirty-nine Articles from English into Latin, and vice versa.

To occupy the Clergy after their ordination, three Lists of Books are subjoined, adapted (as it is, after much consideration, concluded) to their successive stages of theological proficiency. Many a welldisposed young divine, it may be feared, for want of some such humble guide as is supplied by the first (not pressing too heavily upon either the intellect or the purse), has gradually felt his purposes of virtuous industry give way, and afforded a melancholy illustration of the sentence of the Roman historian, Invisa primò desidia postremò amatur. If he render himself master of the first, it can hardly be doubted, that he will seize every opportunity of going on to the second at least. The latter part of the third will be, in every sense, of more arduous acquisition.

Bishopthorpe, 1820.

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Sylloge Confessionum sub tempus re

formandæ Ecclesiæ.

Pearson on the Creed.
Bulli Opera.

Potter on Church Government.
Campbell on the Gospels.
Macknight on the Epistles.

Butler's Analogy of Natural and Re-
vealed Religion.

Magee on Atonement and Sacrifice.
Beveridge's Thesaurus Theologicus.
Trapp on the Gospels.

Barrow's Select Sermons.

Beausobre and L'Enfant's Introduction

to the New Testament.

Jortin on the Truth of the Christian
Religion.

Nott's Bampton Lectures.
Watson's Theological Tracts.
The Clergyman's Assistant.

III.

1. LXXII. Virorum Versio.
Trommii Concordantiæ Græcæ.
Biel Thesaurus Philologicus.
Suiceri Thesaurus Ecclesiasticus.
Wetstein Prolegomena in N. T.
Cave Ecclesiastica Historia Literaria.
Jones on the Canon of the N. T.
Leland's View of the Deistical Writers.
Van Mildert's Sermons on Infidelity.
Bennet's Abridgment of the London
Cases.

Warburton's Divine Legation of Moses.
2.-Walton's Biblia Polyglotta.
Castelli Lexicon.

Parkhurst's Hebrew Lexicon.
Spencer De Legibus Hebræorum.
Kennicott Dissertatio Generalis.
Hodius De Bibliorum Textibus Origi-
nalibus.

Bythner's Lyra Prophetica.

Glassii Philologia Sacra, by Dathe.
Fabricii Lux Salutaris Evangelii.
Lightfoot's Works.

Lowth De Sacrâ Poësi Hebræorum.
Michaelis' Introduction to the N. T.

No. XI.-BISHOP BURGESS'S LIST.

A List of Books to be read or abridged by the Candidates in their preparatory Studies.

1.-Mason on Self-knowledge.
Dewar on Personal & Family Religion.
Wilks's Essay on the Signs of Conver-
sion and Unconversion in Ministers
of the Church.

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Bishop Bull's Companion for Candi

dates for Holy Orders.

Bishop Burnet's Pastoral Care.
Bishop Taylor's Advice to the Clergy.
William Law's Advice to the Clergy.

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Baxter's Reformed Pastor.

2.-The Bible.

Bishop Gray's Key to the Old Test.
Percy's Key to the New Testament.
Collier's Sacred Interpreter.

Bishop Tomline's Elements of Chris-
tian Theology.
Butler's Analogy.

Grotius de veritate Religionis Chris-
tianæ.

Paley's Evidences, and Hora Paulinæ.
Burton's Testimonies of the Three
First Centuries.

Bull's Judicium Ecclesiæ Catholicæ.
Pearson on the Creed.

Gibson's Pastoral Letters.

Granville Sharp's Tract on the Greek
Article.

Dr. Wordsworth's Six Letters to Gran-
ville Sharp.

Bishop Middleton's Treatise on the
Greek Article.

Mosheim's Ecclesiastical History.
Milner's Hist. of the Church of Christ.

3.-Wheatly on the Common Prayer.
Burnet on the Articles.
Bishop Bull's Letter to Nelson on the
Errors of the Church of Rome.

Sir H. Lind's Via Tuta and Via Devia.
Jewell's Apologia Ecclesiæ Anglicanæ.
Stillingfleet's Origines Britannica.
Collier's Ecclesiastical History of Great
Britain.

Grant's Summary of the History of
the English Church, and of the
Sects which have separated from it.
Stillingfleet's Unreasonableness of Dis-

sent.

Nichols's Defence of the Church of
England.

4.-Herbert's Priest to the Temple.
Faulkner's Remarks on reading the
Church Service.

Howlett's Instructions on reading the
Liturgy.

Stonehouse's Every Man's Assistant,
and the Sick Man's Friend.
The Clergyman's Instructor.
Napleton's Tracts.

A Manual for a Parish Priest.
Parochial Minister's Assistant.

Grey's Ecclesiastical Law.
Burn's Ecclesiastical Law.
Clergyman's Assistant.
Hodgson's Instructions.

VISITATION SERMONS.

Ir is, we believe, customary to select for the preachers of Visitation Sermons, the last new incumbents in the Archdeaconry or Diocese. These are, of course, on an average, the young and inexperienced in ministerial duties. Is it then, we would ask, well that to such should be entrusted the office of preaching to the assembled clergy? The system serves certainly well enough for introducing the new comer to his clerical neighbours; it gives them a convenient opportunity of judging what sort of a person, or, at least, what sort of a preacher and divine he is likely to prove. This, however, seems to be a minor consideration, compared with the just uses of the pulpit, and the benefit which might, on such occasions, be derived from it to the assembled congregation. We should rejoice to see those appointed to this office, whose age and experience qualify them to exhort with somewhat of weight and authority, to whose acknowledged piety the younger clergy might look up with respect-whose advice they might adopt with confidence, and to whose preaching all might listen, with the conviction that they must learn and improve. In this suggestion, we are, we believe, already sanctioned, by the practice of more than one Diocese, and we are sure that we have the authority of Job, in the well-known passage, (xxxii. 7.) “ Days should speak, and multitude of years should teach wisdom.'

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