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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A42622	The genuine epistles of the apostolical fathers, S. Barnabas, S. Ignatius, S. Clement, S. Polycarp, the Shepherd of Hermas, and the matyrdoms of St. Ignatius and St. Polycarp, written by those who were present at their sufferings : being, together with the Holy Scriptures of the New Testament, a compleat collection of the most primitive antiquity for about CL years after Christ / translated and publish'd, with a large preliminary discourse relating to the several treaties here put together by W. Wake ...; Apostolic Fathers (Early Christian Collection) English.	Wake, William, 1657-1737.	1693 (1693)	Wing G523A; ESTC R10042	282,773	752

the Greeks for pretending that neither Juno nor Minerva nor Jupiter were what those imagin'd who built Temples and Altars to them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nay so far went this last Author in his Allegories as to turn all the Trojan and Graecian Hero's into mere Fictions And to make Hector and Achilles and Agamemnon and even Helena her self nothing less than what one would think they were and what the common People ignorantly imagin'd them to be 33. AND for the Influence which this had upon the Ancient Fathers who from Philosophers became Christians the Writings both of Justin Martyr and Clemens Alexandrinus sufficiently shew And if we may believe Porphery an Enemy in the Case of Origen he tells us in the same place in which he complains of him For turning those things that were clearly deliver'd by Moses into Mystical Significations not only that he did this in Imitation of the Graecians but that it was his frequent Conversation with Numenius and Cronius Moderatus Nichomachus and Others among the Pythagoreans and with Chaeremon and Cornutus among the Stoics that he had learnt his Allegorical way of Expounding the Holy Scriptures and applied that to his Religion which they were wont to do to their Superstition 34. FROM all which it appears that this way of Writing in Matters of Religion was in those days generally used not only among the Jews but among the Wiser and more Philosophical of the Gentiles too And from both came to be almost universally practised among the Primitive Christians Which being so we ought to be far from censuring of St. Barnabas for his mystical Application of what God prescribed to the Jews in the Old Testament to the Spiritual Accomplishment of it in the New Much less should we ever the more call in question either the Truth or Credit of his Epistle upon this account 35. HAVING said thus much either in Vindication of the Allegorical Expositions of this Epistle or at least by way of Apology for them I shall add but little more concerning the Epistle it self I have before observed as to the Time of its Writing that it was somewhat after the Destruction of Jerusalem and as we may conjecture from the Subject of it for Title at present it has none nor do's it appear that ever it had any was address'd to the Jews to draw them off from the Letter of the Law to a Spiritual Understanding of it and by that means dispose them to embrace the Gospel Whether he had besides this a farther Design in it as Dr. Hammond supposes to confute the Errours of the Gnostick Hereticks and to prevent the Jewish Converts from falling into them it is not certain but may from the chief Points insisted upon by him be probably enough supposed If any one shall think it strange that disputing against the Jews for the Truth of the Gospel he should not have urged any of those Passages relating to the Messiah which seem to us the most apposite to such a purpose Such as the Oracle of Jacob concerning the Time that Shiloh was to come the LXX Weeks of Daniel the Prophecies of Haggai and Malachi of his coming while the Second Temple stood and which was now destroyed when he wrote this Epistle and the like Monsieur le Moyne will give him a ready Answer viz. that these Passages relate chiefly to the Time of Christ's appearing and that this was no Controversie in those days the Jews not only confessing it but being ready at every turn through this Persuasion to set up some or other for their Messiah to their Shame and Confusion It was therefore then but little necessary to use those Arguments against them which now appear to be the most proper and convincing since the State of the Question is alter'd and the Jews either deny that their Messiah is come or that it was necessary for him to have come about that time that our Saviour Christ appeared in the Flesh. 36. BUT tho' the chief Design of this Epistle was to convince the Jews of the Truth of our Religion yet are there not wanting in the latter part of it many excellent Rules to render it still very useful to the Pious Reader Indeed some have doubted whether this did originally belong to this Epistle or whether it has not since been added to it But seeing we find this part quoted by the Fathers as belonging to St. Barnabas no less than the other and that the Measure assign'd to it in the ancient Stichometries can hardly be well accounted for without it I do not see but that we ought to conclude that our Author did divide his Epistle into the two Parts in which we now have it and that this latter aswell as the former was written by him 37. AS for the Translation which I have here given of it I have made it up out of what remains of the Original Greek and of the Old Latin Version and of each of which tho' a Part be lost yet it has so fallen out that between them we not only have the whole Epistle but that too free of those Interpolations which Vossius tells us some had endeavour'd to make in this as well as in Ignatius's Epistles In both I have endeavour'd to attain to the Sense of my Author and to make him as plain and easie as I was able If in any thing I shall have chanced to mistake him I have only this to say for my self that he must be better acquainted with the Road than I pretend to be who will undertake to travel so long a Journey in the dark and never to miss his way CHAP. VIII Of the Shepherd of St. Hermas and of the Second Epistle of St. Clement to the Corinthians That the Hermas mention'd by St. Paul Rom. xvi 14 was the Author of that Book which is here subjoyn'd under his Name There is little remaining of his Life more than what is taken out of his own Book Of his Death Uncertain whether he died a Martyr The Ancient Fathers divided in their Opinions of this Book Nor are our later Criticks less That there are many useful things in it Of the Second Epistle of St. Clement That it is not of equal Reputation with the Former By some deny'd to be St. Clements It is most probable that it was written by St. Clement and has many excellent things and worthy of that Holy Man in it These two Pieces now the first time translated into our own Language 1. THERE is not a greater Difference between the Learned Men of the present Times concerning the Epistle of St. Barnabas than there was among the Ancient Fathers heretofore concerning the Authority of that Book which next follows under the Name of Hermas Who this Hermas was what he did and what he suffer'd for the Faiths sake is in great measure unknown to us That there was one of that Name at Rome when St. Paul wrote his Epistle to the Church there his Remembrance of him Rom.

Authority But then as Du Pin well observes it is certain that the Ancients knew nothing of it nor are the Acts we now have quoted by any before the time of Etherius before-mentioned And yet how they could have escaped the Search of the Primitive Fathers had they been extant in their days it is hard to imagin 34. BUT much less is the Credit that ought to be given to the pretended Works of Dionysius the Areopagite Which as Alexander confesses two very great Criticks of his own Communion to have deny'd to have been written by that Holy Man so has a third very lately given such Reasons to shew that the Writings now extant under his Name could not have been composed by him as ought to satisfie every considering Man of their Imposture For not to say any thing of what occurs every where in those Discourses utterly disagreeable to the State of the Church in the time that that Dionysius lived Can it be imagin'd that had such considerable Books as these been written by him none of the Ancients of the first IV Centuries should have heard any thing of them Or shall we say that they did know of them as well as the Fathers that lived after and yet made no mention of them tho' they had so often occasion to have done it as Eusebius and St. Jerome not to name any Others had 35. IN short one of the first times that we hear of them is in the Dispute between the Severians and Catholicks about the Year D. XXX.II When the Former produced them in favour of their Errours and the Latter rejected them as Books utterly unknown to all Antiquity and therefore not worthy to be received by them 36. IT is therefore much to be wondered that after so many Arguments as have been brought to prove how little Right these Treatises have to such a Primitive Antiquity nevertheless not only Natalis Alexander but a Man of much better Judgment I mean Emanuel Schelstrat the late Learned Keeper of the Vatican Library should still undertake the Defence of them When they were written or by what Author is very uncertain But as Bishop Pearson supposes them to have been first set forth about the latter end of Eusebius's Life so Dr. Cave conjectures that the Elder Apollinarius may very probably have been the Author of them Others there are who place them yet later and suspect Pope Gregory the Great to have had a hand in the Forgery And indeed the Arguments which our very Learned Mr. Dodwell brings to prove that they were originally written by one of the Roman Church are not without their just Weight But whatever becomes of this thus much is certain that these Books were not written before the middle of the IV th Century and therefore are without the Compass of the present Undertaking 37. AND now having taken such a View as was necessary for the present Design of all those other Pieces which have been obtruded upon the World for Apostolical Writings besides what is either here collected or has been before publish'd in the Sacred Books of the New Testament I suppose I may with good Grounds conclude that the little I have now put together is all that can with any Certainty be depended upon of the most Primitive Fathers And therefore that from these next to the Holy Scriptures we must be content to draw the best Account we can of the Doctrine and Discipline of the Church for the first Hundred Years after the Death of Christ. CHAP. X. Of the Authority of the following Treatises and the Deference that ought to be paid to them upon the account of it This is shewn from the following Considerations 1st That the Authors of them were Contemporary with the Apostles and instructed by them 2dly They were Men of an eminent Character in the Church and therefore to be sure such as could not be ignorant of what was taught in it 3dly They were very careful to preserve the Doctrine of Christ in its Purity and to oppose such as went about to corrupt it 4thly They were Men not only of a perfect Piety but of great Courage and Constancy and therefore such as cannot be suspected to have had any Design to prevaricate in this Matter 5thly They were endued with a large Portion of the Holy Spirit and as such could hardly err in what they deliver'd as the Gospel of Christ. And 6thly Their Writings were approved by the Church in those days which could not be mistaken in its Approbation of them BUT Secondly and to proceed yet farther The following Collection pretends to a just Esteem not only upon the account of its Perfection as it is an Entire Collection of what remains to us of the Apostolical Fathers but yet much more from the Respect that is due to the Authors themselves whose Writings are here put together 2. IF First we consider them as the Contemporaries of the Holy Apostles Some of them bred up under our Saviour Christ himself and the rest instructed by those Great Men whom he commissioned to go forth and preach to all the World and endued with an extraordinary Assistance of his Blessed Spirit for the doing of it We cannot doubt but that what they deliver to us must be without Controversie the pure Doctrine of the Gospel What Christ and his Apostles taught and what they had themselves received from their own Mouths This is the least Deference we can pay to them to look upon them as faithful Deliverers of the Doctrine and Practice of the Church in those most early Times When Heresies were not as yet so openly broke out in it Nor the true Faith so dangerously corrupted with the Mixture of those erroneous Opinions which afterwards more fatally infected the Minds of Men and divided the Church into so many Parties and Factions So that here then we may read with Security and let me add with Respect too And not doubt but what these Holy Men deliver to us is as certainly the true Doctrine of Christ as if we had received it like them from our Saviour and his Apostles 3. BUT Secondly The Authors of the following Pieces had not only the Advantage of living in the Apostolical Times and of hearing the Holy Apostles and conversing with them but they were of a very Eminent Character in the Church too Men raised up to the highest pitch of Honour and Authority in some of the most famous Churches of the World Chosen by the Apostles to preside in their own proper Sees at Rome at Antioch at Smyrna One of them set apart by the express Command of the Holy Ghost to be the Companion of the Great St. Paul in his Work of the Ministry and the rest for the most part commended for their rare Endowments in the inspired Writings of the Holy Scriptures delivered to us And therefore we may be sure that such Men as these must needs have been very carefully instructed in the Mystery of the Gospel and have had

of what a mighty Concern it is to us in the business of our Salvation And for the Other Sacrament Here we are taught that the Elements of Bread and Wine are the same as to their Substance after Consecration that they were before and are only in a Spiritual Sense the Flesh and Blood of our Saviour Christ. 12. AND Lastly For that great comprehensive Point of our Religion the Foundation of our Faith the Holy Scriptures Here we may see what Opinion these Holy Men had of the Divine Inspiration of them what Deferences they paid to them and how they looked upon them to contain the true Words of the Holy Ghost 13. SUCH is the Doctrine of Faith that is here delivered to us If from thence we pass 2 dly to what concerns the Publick Order and Government of the Church in the first Establishment of it Here we may see by what Persons it was directed and how exactly our own Church do's in this particular resemble the Primitive perhaps beyond any other at this day in the World in the Apostolical Orders of Bishops Priests and Deacons 14. HOW necessarily they esteem'd it their Duty to keep up a strict Communion with these Governours and how little they thought the very Name of a Church could belong to those who separated from them we are here likewise taught And how light soever some may make of the Business of Schism now yet it is plain these Holy Men had a very different Apprehension of it and hardly thought that such could be saved as continued in it 15. AND the same or rather much worse was their Opinion of Hereticks and Apostates To the latter of which as they seem even to have deny'd Repentance so 't is manifest that without it they thought the Others must perish And in the mean time they declare that we ought not to have any Communication with them Only we must pray for them that they may be converted which yet they supposed would be very hard 16. AS for those who continued in the Doctrine and Communion of the Church here we may see how zealous they were in attending all the publick Offices of it How constantly they assembled together for the Worship of God notwithstanding all the Malice and Fury of their Enemies against them upon the Account of it Here we may see how from the beginning they had their set Times and Places of Worship And how they look'd upon such Offertories both as more acceptable unto God and more prevalent with him than any Private Addresses that they could make to him 17. IN these Assemblies they not only put up their Prayers to God but received also the Holy Sacrament of the Lords Supper And in that part of their Service none officiated but either the Bishop himself or he who was appointed or allow'd by him 18. FOR this purpose they had in every such place of their Assembling One Table or Altar at which they perform'd this Service And they communicated after the same manner that our Saviour Christ had set them the Example of one common Loaf which was broken and distributed to them not of little separate and unbroken Wafers as some now do 19. NOR was this yet all In these Assemblies the Holy Scriptures were read to them and as I have before shewn some of the very Treatises I have here subjoyn'd together with them And the Bishop besides himself instructed the People and expounded the Doctrine of Christ to them 20. BY the Bishop were the Christians blessed and joyn'd together in the Holy State of Matrimony And indeed without him was nothing done of all that pertain'd unto Religion 21. IN those Times the Clergy were marry'd as well as Laity nor do we find it esteem'd the least Scandal for them so to be 22. HERE we may see what the ancient manner of Fasting was and what was thought requisite to render such Exercises acceptable to God and profitable to our own Souls 23. IN short Here we may perceive what their Opinion was of Repentance for Sins and how hardly they thought of those who were still Repenting and yet still continuing to sin on notwithstanding their frequent Repentance But especially here we are told that we must finish our Repentance before we die for that there is no place for Repentance after 24. AND tho' they prescribe Confession as one Act of Repentance and necessary to be perform'd in order to our Forgiveness yet we find them advising it to be done to God only and intimate to us that that alone was sufficient 25. BUT the Care of their Bishops in those first times was not confin'd within the narrow Bounds of their own Churches but extended to All the Faithful wheresoever they were And they were still ready to look to those who were at the greatest distance from them whenever they thought their Advice or Authority might be either useful to them or for the Honour and Benefit of their Religion 26. FROM this and from the general Piety and Excellence of their Lives joyn'd to the Greatness of their Character in the Church came that mighty Respect that was shewn to the Bishops in those days And which how great it was the following Treatises abundantly shew 27. BUT much greater was their Veneration for those who not only Govern'd well and adorn'd their Holy Profession by an Exemplary Life but confirm'd the Truth of it with their Blood They were indeed of Opinion that no Man ought causelesly to expose himself unto Suffering But if God called a Man to it they doubted not but that our Saviour Christ would both support him in his Conflicts and most gloriously reward him for the enduring of them Hence was it their Opinion that Martyrdom blotted out all Sins That they who suffer'd for the Faith should have a Degree of Glory peculiar to themselves above all Other Saints in God's Kingdom And when God shew'd such regard for them they concluded that they could never almost do enough to testifie their Respect to them 28. TO this we must ascribe the Care they took to gather up their Remains the Honour which they gave to them and the Solemnities with which they deposited them into the Earth Hence came their Custom which we here find of writing down the particulars of their Conflicts and sending them abroad to the Churches round about Hence their Anniversary Meetings at their Tombs and Monuments Where they recited the Acts of their Martyrdoms and sometimes made express Discourses in Praise of their Martyrs and to exhort One Another to the like Constancy 29. BUT not to insist any longer on these Particulars There is yet a 3 d. sort of Matters contain'd in these Discourses and those of no less Use to us than either of the foregoing and that is the Practical Rules of Life that are here deliver'd to us 30. HERE we may see what Care we are to take not only not to Sin our selves but as far as in us lies not to let any that

of them from the Quotations of the Ancient Fathers of the first Five Centuries out of them Now this was a most unquestionable Demonstration of their having been changed from what they were in those first Ages in which those Fathers lived And accordingly proved to be so when the old Latin Version of Bishop Vsher first and then the Florentine Greek Edition of the Learned Isaac Vossius came to be compared with those Editions that had before been extant of them But neither does this Exception appear against the present Epistle which agrees with what is quoted both by Eusebius and Others out of it and thereby clearly shews our present Copy to be sincere and un-corrupted 19. SEEING then there is nothing but a mere Conjecture for the Depravation of this Epistle and such just Reason to conclude that there is no good Foundation for it to be sure none that may compare with the Arguments we have against it I think we may conclude that for any thing yet appears to the contrary we not only have the Genuine Epistle of St. Polycarp but that Epistle free from any designed Corruptions or Depravations of it 20. NOR is there any more that I do not say there is much less Weight in the other Supposal of Monsieur Daillé continued and abetted by his Learned Defender Monsieur Larroque tho' without any more weight of Reason than what had been before fully answer'd by our most Learned and judicious Bishop Pearson Namely That this Epistle originally ended at the Doxology which we meet with Chapter the XII th and that what follows concerning the Epistles of St. Ignatius has been added to it by some latter hand But now what proof do they offer of this What Authority have they to support such a Supposition This they pretend not to All they have to say is that the Doxology which we find there seems to imply that the Epistle originally went no farther And that in what follows there is a flat Contradiction to what went before the Close of the Epistle speaking of Ignatius as if he were still alive whom the true Popolycarp had before set forth to the Philippians as having suffer'd and been gone to the place that was prepared for him 21. AS for what concerns the latter of these Suggestions I have already fully shewn how vain and groundless it is Nor can we reasonably suppose that any one who designed to serve a turn by corrupting such an Epistle as this would have been either so negligent as not once to read over the Piece he was about to make so considerable an Addition to or having read it would have been so foolish as to have without any need subjoyn'd a Request to the Philippians directly contrary to what the true Polycarp had told them before and which by consequence would be sure to discover the Fraud and frustrate the Design of it 22. SO little appearance of Reason is there in this Suggestion which yet these Learned Men insist upon as their main Argument against the latter part of this Epistle As for the other Objection which they bring against it viz. that St. Polycarp must have concluded at the XII th Chapter because of the Vow which he there makes for these to whom he wrote I reply first That this is at the best but a very uncertain Guess seeing it is notorious to all that have ever read the Epistles either of the Apostles or those that followed after that nothing is more common than to meet with such kind of Conclusions not only in the end but in the beginning and middle in short in all the parts of their Epistles To look no farther than the Epistle with which we have begun this Collection of St. Clement to the Corinthians How many of these sort of Stops may we find in the Progress of it I am sure there are not less than seven or eight of them But I suppose he would be thought very ridiculous who should therefore reject all that follow'd the first of these as none of St. Clement's but pieced on to the end of his Epistle by some other hand merely because the Doxology seem'd to imply his having concluded there 23. BUT to lay aside Conjectures and proceed to that which will put a final end to this Difficulty I observe 2 dly That this Passage which these Men deny to be St. Polycarps and suppose to have been added to it by some latter hand is expresly quoted by Eusebius in his Ecclesiastical History as a part of this Epistle If therefore it be the Addition of some other hand 't is evident it was made to it before Eusebius's time that is to say within two Hundred Years after the time of St. Polycarp's writing of it and whether this be probable we will now more particulary enquire 24. FOR the better clearing of which I must observe that this Epistle of St. Polycarp like that of St. Clement foregoing was for several Hundreds of Years wont to be publickly read in the Churches of Asia So St. Jerome expresly assures us or as his Interpreter Sophronius renders him in the Synod or Convention of Asia By which a Learned Man supposes we are to understand some common Meetings of the Christians in those Parts answerable to the like Assemblies of the Gentiles there And that in these this Epistle was wont to be read to them 25. HENCE Irenaeus speaks of it as an Epistle that was in every Bodies hand and obvious to be read by any for the Benefit of their Faith and Manners Which being so it can hardly be supposed but that so inquisitive a Searcher into Antiquity as Eusebius was must needs have been very well acquainted with it and doubtless have had a true and genuine Copy of it Seeing then he produces this Passage as a part of that Epistle which was generally received as Authentick in his Days and that the Epistle its self being spread into all Hands and publickly read in the Eastern Churches immediately after the Death of its great Author could not have been corrupted or alter'd but the Cheat must needs have been discover'd of which yet we have not the least intimation in all Antiquity I think it cannot be doubted but that this as well as the rest of that Epistle was written by St. Polycarp himself and not added to his Epistle by some latter Hand as is suggested not only without all ground but against such plain and un-answerable Evidence to the contrary 26. HAVING said thus much in Vindication of this Epistle and to clear it from those Prejudices that have of late been raised against it it remains only for me to observe that though the following Translation was truly made from the Greek and Latin Copies of it set out by Bishop Vsher first and since reprinted by Cotelerius in his Collection of the Apostolical Fathers yet is not this the first time that this Epistle has appear'd in our Language For our most diligent and Learned Country-man

much Constancy to despise all the Violence of his Enemies and to be impatient after those Tryals which they hoped should have affrighted him into a base and degenerous Complyance with their Desires 14. THIS was indeed a Triumph worthy of the Christian Religion Nor was it any small Advantage to the Churches at such a critical Time to have their Zeal awaken'd and their Courage confirm'd both by the Example and Exhortations of this great Man from Antioch even to Rome it self And we are accordingly told with what mighty Comfort and Satisfaction they received his Instructions and as the Authors of his Acts express it Rejoyced to partake in his Spiritual Gift 15. NAY but if we may believe Metaphrastes as to the Effect which the Sufferings of this Holy Man had upon the Mind of the Emperour the Church received yet greater Benefit by his Death For Trajan says he hearing of what had been done to Ignatius and how undauntedly he had undergone the Sentence that was pronounced against him and being inform'd that the Christians were a sort of Men that did nothing contrary to the Laws nor were guilty of any Impieties but worshipped Christ as the Son of God and exercised all Temperance both in Meat and Drink nor medled with any thing that was forbidden He began to repent of what he had done and commanded that the Christians should indeed be searched out but that being discover'd they should not be put to Death Only they should not be admitted into any Offices nor be suffer'd to meddle with any Publick Employs Thus was not only the Life of Ignatius of great Use to the Church but his very Death the means of procuring much Good to it And what Metaphrastes here tells us we find in effect deliver'd by another Author of his Acts not yet set forth and from whom he seems to have taken his Story only with the Addition of some farther Circumstances of his own to make it the more complete 16. BUT tho' I should be far from envying any thing that might make for the Honour of this Blessed Martyr yet are there many Circumstances in the Story which Metaphrastes has here put together that make me justly call in question the Truth of it For first it is evident beyond all doubt that the Persecution was abated at Antioch before Ignatius suffer'd nay before he was yet gone out of the Lesser Asia Insomuch that in his three last Epistles which he wrote from Troas to the Philadelphians the Smyrnaeans and to Polycarp himself he particularly takes notice of the Peace of the Church of Antioch and exhorts them to send Congratulatory Messages thither upon the account of it 17. NOR was this Suspension of the Persecution granted upon Ignatius's account but upon the Remonstances which his own Officers made to him both of the Numbers of those that died for the Christian Faith and of the Innocency of their Lives and lastly of the Readiness with which they not only suffer'd when taken but voluntarily came and presented themselves before them Two of these Epistles relating to this very Persecution we have still remaining the One written by Tiberianus President of Palaestina Prima the Other of Pliny the Younger Pro-Praetor of Bythinia And the Answer of Trajan to the latter of which we find to have been in the same Words that Jo. Malela tells us he replied to the Other viz. That the Christians should not be sought after but if they were brought before them and convicted should be punish'd unless they abjured 18. AND the same is the Account which not only Eusebius from Tertullian gives us of the Emperour's Order as to this matter but which Suidas after Both has left us of it Which makes it the more strange to find such a different Relation both in Bishop Ushers Manuscript Author and in Metaphrastes's Acts of Ignatius before mentioned It is true that notwithstanding these Rescripts of the Emperour the Persecution still continued nor was it so soon over in other Places as it was at Antioch This is plain not only from the History of this time left us by Eusebius but may in general be concluded from the Prayer which this Holy Saint made at his Martyrdom Where say our Acts He intreated the Son of God in behalf of the Churches that he would put a stop to the Persecution and restore Peace and Quiet to them But these were only Local Persecutions as Eusebius calls them and proceeded rather from the Fury of the People and the Perverseness of some particular Governours than from the Design or Command of the Emperour 19. AS for the Time of Ignatius's Suffering we are only told in his Acts that it was when Syria and Synecius were Consuls nor are Learned Men yet agreed in what Year to fix it Eusebius in his Chronicle places it in the Year of Christ CX Marianus Scotus CXII Bishop Usher yet sooner in the Year CVII And lastly to name no more our most exact Bishop Lloyd follow'd therein by the late Critick upon Baronius Antonius Pagi yet later than any to wit in the Year that the great Earthquake fell out at Antioch and from which Trajan himself hardly escaped Which as Jo. Malela accounts it and is follow'd therein by Bishop Usher in his Computation was in the Year CXVI 20. AND this may suffice to have been observed concerning the most eminent Passages that occur in the Acts of the Martyrdom of St. Ignatius I shall need say nothing of the Authority of the Relation its self which as it is written with all Sincerity and void of those Additions which latter Writers have made to these kind of Histories so we are told in the Close of it that it was compiled by Those who went with him from Antioch and were the Eye-Witnesses of his Encounters This Account was first publish'd from two very ancient Manuscripts by our most Reverend Arch-Bishop Usher in the Appendix to his Edition of Ignatius Ao 1647. and is now I suppose the first time translated into our own Language I cannot tell whether it be worth the observing that in the Collection made by the late Learned Cotelerius of the Writings of the Apostolical Fathers there is instead of these Genuine Acts inserted the Account which Metaphrastes put together of his Sufferings several Ages after It would perhaps have made a more agreeable History to the Vulgar Reader had I translated that Relation rather than this which is much shorter and wants many notable Passages that are to be found in that Other But as I should then have departed from my Design of setting out nothing but what I thought to be of an Apostolical Antiquity so to those who love the naked Truth these plain Acts will be much more satisfactory than a Relation filled up with the uncertain and too often fabulous Circumstances of latter Ages CHAP. VI. Of the Martyrdom of St. Polycarp and of the Epistle written by the Church of Smyrna concerning it That there were heretofore several