Philippi Mercy unto you and Peace from God Almighty and from the Lord Jesus Christ our Saviour be multiplied I congratulate you highly in our Lord Jesus Christ in that ye have embraced those Patterns of true love and accompanied as became you those who were involved in holy Bands which are the Diadems of those who are truly the elected of God and of our Lord and because the root of your faith which was preached to you continues firm even from the beginning until now and brings forth fruit unto our Lord Jesus Christ who suffred for our sins even to the death whom God raised up having loosed the bands of death in whom having not seen him ye believe and believing rejoyce with joy unspeakable and full of glory Into which joy many desire to enter knowing that through grace ye are saved not by works but by the will of God through Jesus Christ Wherefore having your Loyns girt about serve God with fear and truth forsaking empty vain babble and the errour of many believing in him who raised up our Lord Jesus Christ from the dead and hath given to him glory and a throne at his right hand To whom all earthly and heavenly things are subject and every thing that hath breath pays service who shall come to judge the quick and dead and whose bloud God will strictly require at the hands of those who do not believe in him But he who raised him from the dead will raise up us also if we do his will and walk in his Commandements and love the things which he loved Abstaining from all unrighteousness incontinence covetousness detraction fals-witness-bearing not rendering evil for evil reproach for reproach railing for railing cursing for cursing but remembring what the Lord said teaching in this wise Judge not that ye be not judged forgive and it shall be forgiven you be merciful that ye may obtain mercy in what measure ye mete it shall be measured to you again it is also said Blessed are the poor in spirit and they who are persecuted for righteousness sake for theirs is the Kingdom of God These things Brethren I write unto you concerning Righteousness not imposing any commands upon you as from my self but because ye have moved me so to do For neither I nor any other like unto me can attain to the wisdom of blessed and glorious PAUL who being amongst you and conversing face to face with men then living taught you exactly and firmly the word of Truth who also being absent wrote Epistles unto you by which if ye give heed unto them ye may be built up in the faith which was delivered unto you which Faith is the mother of you all being followed by Hope and led on by Love which directs you to God and Christ and our Neighbour For if any man is possessed of these he hath fulfilled the command of Righteousness He who is possessed of Love is free from all sin but Covetousness is the root of all evil Knowing therefore that we brought nothing into the world and that we shall carry nothing out Let us arm our selves with the armour of Righteousness and teach our selves in the first place to walk in the Commandements of the Lord. And let us in the next place teach the Women that they walk according to that rule of faith which was delivered unto them and in love and holiness and that they love entirely their own husbands with all sincerity and all others equally with all continency and that they instruct their children in the discipline and fear of God And let us teach the Widows to be sober and wise according to the faith of the Lord and to make intercession for all without intermission keeping themselves from all detraction accusation fals-witness-bearing covetousness and all evil knowing that they are as the Altars of God who observes the faults of every one of us for nothing is hid from him neither of our reasonings understandings nor secrets of our hearts and because we know that God cannot be mocked we ought to walk worthy of his command and of glory Likewise let the Deacons be unblameable in the presence of his righteousness for they are the ministers of God in Christ and not of men Let them not be accusers nor double-tongued nor covetous but continent in all things compassionate careful walking according to the truth of the Lord who was made the minister of all from whom if we please him in this world we shall receive a future reward for he hath ingaged for us to raise us from the dead and if we have our conversation worthy of him we shall also reign with him as we believe In like manner let the Young men be unblameable in all things chiefly let them study chastity and restrain themselves as with a bridle from all that is evil For it is a good thing to be elevated in our desires above all the desireable things of this world because all concupiscence of the world warreth against the Spirit and neither fornicators nor effeminate persons nor abusers of themselves with mankind shall inherit the Kingdom of God nor they who do absurd things Therefore it is necessary that ye abstain from all such things being subject to the Presbyters and Deacons as to God and Christ And let the Virgins walk with a blameless and chaste Conscience Let the Presbyters be of tender bowels compassionate towards all converters of those who are in errour visiters of all that are sick careful of the Widow the Orphans and the indigent always providing that which is good in the sight of God and men not given to wrath no respecters of persons not unjust in judgement keeping themselves far from all covetousness not hastily believing any thing against any man not rash in passing judgement against any knowing that all of us are the debters of sin and as we pray the Lord would forgive us we ought also to forgive for we are continually in the sight of the Lord God and must all stand before the Tribunal of Christ and every one of us give an account for himself Therefore let us serve him with fear and all reverence as he hath given in Commandement and as the Apostles have evangelized to us and the Prophets who preached before-hand the coming of our Lord. Be zealous of that which is good and keep your selves from scandals avoiding the company of false brethren who carry the Name of the Lord in hypocrisie onely to seduce vain men into errour For every one who doth not confess that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is Antichrist and he who doth not confess the Martyrdom of the Cross is of the devil and he who shall pervert the Oracles of the Lord to serve his own private lusts and shall say that there is no Resurrection nor judgement is the first-born of Satan Therefore let us decline the folly of many and their false doctrines and give heed to that word which was delivered to us from the
Love failing in no good gift most becoming God and fruitful in holiness which is at Smyrna in Asia be very much joy in the immaculate Spirit by the Word of God I Glorifie the God Jesus Christ who hath filled you with Wisdom For I understand that ye are perfected in an immoveable faith and are as persons fastened with nails to the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ both in flesh and in spirit and well-grounded in love by the bloud of Christ having a full assurance in our Lord who was truly of the stock of David according to the flesh the Son of God according to the will and power of God truly born of a Virgin baptized by John that he might fulfil all righteousness and who truly suffered for us in the flesh under Pontius Pilate and Herod the Tetrarch From the fruit of whom we are even from his divinely blessed Passion that he might by his Resurrection lift up an ensign to all ages to the Saints and to all who do believe in him whether they be Jews or Gentiles in one body of his Church For he suffered all these things for us that we might be saved And he truly suffered as also he truly raised up himself neither did he suffer onely in appearance as some infidels affirm who themselves are onely in appearance and according to their wisdom shall it happen unto them being incorporeal and daemoniacks For I my self saw him in the flesh after his Resurrection and do believe that he is risen And when he came to those who were with Peter he said unto them Take hold of me handle me and see me for I am not an incorporeal spirit And straightway they touched him and believed in him being convinced by his flesh and by his spirit And hereupon they contemned death for they found themselves to be above it And after his Resurrection he eat and drank with them as one in the flesh though he was in spirit united to the Father Touching these things Beloved I admonish you however I know ye are already of this perswasion I do it to preserve you from beasts in the shape of men whom it is necessarie for you not to entertain but to avoid as much as possible Onely pray for them if happily they may repent which is a thing very difficult But Jesus Christ who is our true life hath the power of this But if these things were done by our Lord onely seemingly then am I also seemingly in bonds And why have I yielded up my self to be put to death why to the fire to the sword to the beasts but because to be nigh to the sword is to be nigh to God and to be inclosed with beasts is to be compassed about with God Only in the Name of Jesus Christ do I endure all things that I may suffer with him who is himself made a perfect man and now strengtheneth me Whom some ignorant men denie but they are rather denied by him being more the Preachers of death than of truth whom neither the Prophets have perswaded nor the Law of Moses nor yet the Gospel hitherto nor those suffrings of ours which are according to man For they are of the same mind concerning us But what would it advantage me should any man speak in my praise and yet blaspheme my Lord denying him to have taken flesh upon him For he who confesseth not this hath perfectly denied him and puts him to death But I am unwilling to write down their infidel names neither may I make any particular remembrance of them until they shall happily repent into a belief of the Passion which is our Resurrection Let no man be deceived For if things in heaven and the glory of Angels and Rulers visible and invisible believe not in the bloud of Christ it will be even unto them condemnation He who receiveth it may receive it Let place puff up no man for Faith and Charity is All and nothing is to be preferred before them But observe those who are otherwise opinioned of the grace of Jesus Christ which came unto us how contrary they are to the judgement of God They have no regard at all of Charity they neither care for the Widow nor Orphan nor any afflicted person be he bond or free hungry or thirstie They absent themselves from the Eucharist and Prayer because they will not confess the Eucharist to be the flesh of our Saviour Jesus Christ which suffered for our sins and which the Father by his goodness raised from death to life Therefore contradicting this gift of God and disputing about it they die but it would be better for them to Love it that they may rise again It is very convenient that ye abstain from such persons and that ye have no converse with them neither privately nor publikely But that ye give heed unto the Prophets and chiefly to the Gospel wherein the Passion is made manifest unto us and the Resurrection is completed But avoid Divisions as the beginning of evils And be all of you observant of the Bishop as Jesus Christ was observant of the Father and observe the Presbyterie as the Apostles and Reverence the Deacons as the command of God Let no man presume to do any thing belonging to the Church without the Bishop And let that Eucharist onely be accounted firm which is either performed by the Bishop himself or by his Licence Where the Bishop shall appear there let the multitude be for where Jesus Christ is there is the Catholique Church It is neither lawful to baptize nor to keep the Love-feast without the Bishop but whatever he shall approve of that is well-pleasing to God that so every thing which is done may be firm and established Furthermore it is a blessed thing to grow sober and whilst we have opportunity to return to God by repentance It is a becoming thing to know God and the Bishop He who honoureth the Bishop is honoured of God but he who doth any thing without the Bishops approbation performs a service to the Devil Therefore let all things abound among you in grace for ye are worthy Ye have every way refreshed me and Jesus Christ will refresh you Ye have loved me both when I was absent and present God will requite you and if ye patiently endure all things for his sake ye shall enjoy him Ye did well in that ye gave an honourable reception to Philon Rheus and Agathopus as the Ministers of God-Christ who have accompanied me for the Word of God They also give thanks unto the Lord for you because ye have every way refreshed them Nothing which ye have done to them shall be lost as to you I could offer up this my spirit upon the service of your Souls and upon the same account carry about these my bonds which ye have neither despised nor been ashamed of neither will Jesus Christ the perfect faith be ashamed of you Your Prayer reached as far as to the Church which is in Antioch
if any man take notice that the Bishop holds his peace let him fear and reverence him so much the more for we ought to receive him whom the Master of the Family hath sent to govern his House as we should receive the Master himself who sent him Therefore it is evident that we ought to respect the Bishop as the Lord himself But Onesimus doth himself very much commend your good Order which is according to God for ye all live according to truth and there is no heresie amongst you neither do ye hear any but Jesus Christ speaking according to truth Some indeed by an evil deceit have accustomed themselves to carry about his Name but they do things unworthy of God and these ye ought to shun as beasts For they are like mad dogs biting unawares whom ye ought to avoid and have a special eye upon being persons very hard to be cured There is one Physitian fleshly and spiritual begotten and unbegotten God made in the flesh and the true life in death both of Mary and of God first passible and then impassible Let no man seduce you as ye are not yet seduced being wholly of God For so long as there is no contention amongst you which may be hurtful to you ye live according to God I am made as an Off-scouring for you and as a Purgatorie expiation for you Ephesians famous to ages Carnal men cannot do spiritual things nor spiritual men do the things which are carnal neither can Faith do the things of Infidelitie nor Infidelitie the things of Faith But those very things which ye do as carnal men are spiritual so long as ye do all things according to Jesus Christ I have known some passing from those parts who held an evil doctrine but ye would not suffer them to sow their seeds amongst you but stopped your ears against them that ye might receive none of the doctrine sowed by them For ye are Stones of the Father's Temple prepared for the building of God the Father carried up on high by the Engine of Jesus Christ which is his Cross by the Cord of the holy Spirit But Faith is your Guide and Charity your Way which leads unto God Ye are all therefore Fellow-travellers carrying about with you God and the Temple Christ and Sanctitie being in all things beautified according to the commands of Jesus Christ in whom I am exceedingly rejoyced being vouchsafed so great a dignitie as to converse with you in writing and to joy together with you who live according to the other life and love nothing but onely God Pray also without ceasing for other men for there is hope of their repentance that they also may attain God Admonish them and let them be wrought upon by your works to become your Disciples Oppose your meekness to their anger and whilst they boast of great things do ye mind the things of humility Pray for them who speak evil of you keeping your selves firm in the faith against their errour Be mild how morose soever they are neither be hasty to requite them according to their own examples Let us be found their Brethren by our mild carriage towards them and endeavour to be the followers of the Lord. Though some among you may be injured defrauded despised yet let no one amongst you be found an Herb of the devil Keep your selves in all Puritie and Temperance both in flesh and spirit through Jesus Christ The last times are come Therefore let us reverence and fear the long-sufferance of God that it be not our condemnation For either let us fear the wrath to come or love the present grace One of the two is onely to be found in Jesus Christ that we may live indeed Nothing can become us without this for this I bear about my bonds which are as spiritual Pearls through which by your Prayers I may rise again And let me always be partaker of your Prayers that I may be found in the lot of those Ephesian Christians who were ever of the same mind with the Apostles through the power of Jesus Christ I know who I am and to whom I write I am a condemned person but ye have obtained mercy I am under danger but ye are established Ye are the Passover of those who are killed for God being the Fellow-ministers of sanctified Paul who was martyred worthily blessed under whose feet I would be found that I may enjoy God who in a whole Epistle makes mention of you in Jesus Christ. Make hast therefore to meet together more frequently to the Eucharist of God and to glorie For when ye often come together into one place the powers of Satan are rendred frustrate and his enmitie is destroyed through your Unity of Faith Nothing is better than peace by which all hostilitie of heavenly and earthly powers is made void None of these things are conceal'd from you if ye hold perfectly that Faith and Love in Jesus Christ which are the beginning and end of life For Faith is the beginning Love is the end these two united are of God and all other things tending to Honestie do wait upon these No man who hath covenanted into the faith committeth sin nor doth he hate another who is possess'd of Charitie The tree is known by its fruit and they who have solemnly engaged to be Christians shall be seen by the works they do For it is not now the work of an Engagement but it is through the power of Faith if a man be found to the end It is better to be silent and to be than to speak and not to be It is a good thing to teach if a man do as well as teach There is therefore one teacher who spake and it was done and the things also which he did in silence are worthy of the Father He who is truly possess'd of the word of Jesus can hear also his silence that he may be perfect that he may do according to what he speaks and be known according to those things wherein he is silent Nothing is hid from the Lord but our very secrets are nigh unto him Therefore let us do all things as having him dwelling in us that we may be his Temples and he may be our God in us for whatever is shall be made manifest to us and therefore do we justly love him Erre not my brethren They who are destroyers of houses shall not inherit the Kingdom of God Therefore if they are dead who act such things according to the flesh how much more is it death for any man by an evil doctrine to corrupt the faith of God for which Jesus Christ was crucified Such a one being defiled shall go into the unquenchable fire and so shall he who hears him For this cause the Lord received the unction upon his head that he might breathe into his Church incorruption Be not annoynted with the doctrine of the prince of this world which hath an ill odour neither let him lead you captive from the
one is returned to him Be not deceived by strange opinions nor old fables which are unprofitable For if we still live according to the Law and Judaism we confess that Grace is not received For the most divine Prophets lived according to Jesus Christ and therefore they were persecuted being inspired by his Grace that they might work a perswasion in those who were not perswaded that there is one God who manifested himself by Jesus Christ his Son who is his eternal Word not coming forth from Silence who in all things pleased him that sent him Therefore if they who were conversant in the works of old time came to the Newness of Hope not Sabbatizing any longer but living according to the Dominical life of that day whereon our life did rise again through him and through his death whom some deny through which mysterie we have received both to Believe and also to endure with Patience that we may be found the Disciples of Jesus Christ our onely Master how shall we be able to live without him whom the Prophets being his Disciples looked for in Spirit as their Master and because they justly expected him he when he was come raised them from the dead Therefore let not us be insensible of his Goodness for if he should retribute to us according to what we do we should cease to be Therefore being made his Disciples let us learn to live like Christians For he who is called by any other name than this is not of God Therefore put away from you the evil leaven which is old and corrupt and be ye changed into the New Leaven which is Jesus Christ Be ye seasoned in him that none of you be corrupted for ye shall be disproved by your savour It is an absurd thing to profess Jesus Christ and yet to Judaize for Christianism hath not believed into Judaism but Judaism into Christianism that every tongue believing might be gathered unto God But these things my Beloved not because I have known any of you to be such but because though I am lesser then you I would have you to be preserved that ye may not fall into the snares of a vain opinion but may have a full assurance in the Nativity Passion and Resurrection effected in that season when Pontius Pilate was governour all truly and firmly accomplished by Jesus Christ our hope from which hope may none of you be perverted I would every way enjoy you if I may be worthy for though I am in bonds yet am I not to be compared to one of you who are at libertie I know ye are not puffed up for ye have Jesus Christ among you And I know the more I praise you it doth but shame you so much the more as it is written The just man is an accuser of himself Make it your endeavour to be confirmed in the determinations of the Lord and the Apostles that whatever ye do may be prosperous both in flesh and spirit Faith and Love in the Son and in the Father and in the Spirit in the beginning and the end together with your most venerable Bishop and your Presbyterie which is as a spiritual Crown decently platted and the Deacons who are according to God Be subject to the Bishop and one to another as Jesus Christ to the Father according to the flesh and the Apostles to Christ and to the Father and the Spirit that there may be unitie both carnal and spiritual Knowing that ye are full of God I have exhorted you but in few words Remember me in your Prayers that I may obtain God and that Church which is in Syria from whence I am not worthy to be called For I very much want your Prayer united in God and your Love that the Church which is in Syria may be accounted worthy to be watered by your Church The Ephesians from Smyrna salute you whence also I write unto you being present to the glorie of God as also ye are who have refreshed me in all things together with Polycarp the Bishop of the Smyrneans The other Churches also salute you in the honour of Jesus Christ Be strong in the concord of God being possessed with a discerning Spirit which is Jesus Christ To the Magnesians To the Philadelphians Ignatius who is also Theophorus to the Church of God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ which is in Philadelphia of Asia which hath obtained mercy is settled in the concord of God rejoycing in the Passion of our Lord indiscernably and fully assured of his Resurrection in all mercy which I salute in the bloud of Jesus Christ for she is my eternal and permanent joy chiefly if they continue united with the Bishop and the Presbyters with him and the Deacons manifested to be according to the Sentence of Jesus Christ whom he hath firmly established according to his own will by his holy Spirit WHich Bishop I have known to have obtained the Ministerie for the common good not by himself nor by men nor out of vain-glorie but by the love of God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ whose mild temper I have been amazed at for by his silence he can do more than they who speak vain things For ye are as harmoniously agreeing in commands as the harp and the strings Therefore my Soul blesseth that sentence of his which is according to God knowing that it is vertuous and perfect and that he cannot be moved nor provoked to anger being in all the meekness of the Living God Being therefore the children of light and truth flie division evil doctrines Where the Pastour is do ye as sheep follow him for many wolves who seem worthy of credit do by an evil delectation lead captive persons running to God but through your unitie they shall have no place Depart from evil herbs which Jesus Christ doth not cultivate for they are not the Plantation of the Father Not that I have found any Division amongst you but a Resining us from the Dreggs So many as are of God and of Jesus Christ are with the Bishop and so many Penitents as come over into the Unitie of the Church shall be of God that they may live according to Jesus Christ My brethren be not deceived If any man follows him who is the maker of Schism he is no inheritour of the Kingdom of God If any man walks about in a strange opinion he is not conformable to the Passion Let it be your endeavour therefore to use one Eucharist for there is One flesh of our Lord Jesus Christ and one Cup for the Unitie of his bloud One Altar as One Bishop with the Presbyterie and Deacons my fellow servants that whatever ye do ye may do according to God My brethren I am very much poured out in Love towards you and exceedingly rejoycing strengthen you yet not I but Jesus Christ for whom I am in bonds and therefore am the more affraid because I am not yet taken out of the world But your Prayer
to God will perfect me that I may obtain that Lot to which I was chosen flying to the Gospel as to the flesh of Jesus and to the Apostles as to the Presbyterie of the Church We love also the Prophets because they preached the Gospel and did hope in him and expect him in whom also believing they were saved in the Unitie of Jesus Christ being holy men worthy to be beloved and most worthy of admiration born witness of by Jesus Christ being his Martyrs and numbred up together in the Gospel of the common hope But if any man preach Judaism to you hear him not For it is better to hear Christianism from one circumcised than Judaism from one uncircumcised But if both of them speak not of Jesus Christ they are to me as Pillars and Monuments of dead men whereon the names of men onely are written Flie therefore evil arts and the frauds of the prince of this world lest being troubled with his opinion ye be weakned in charitie Be all of you made up into one with an undivided heart I thank my God that I have a good Conscience as concerning you and that no man hath wherof to glory either privately or publikely that I have been burdensom to any either in little or much And I beseech all to whom I have spoken that they possess not this as a Testimonie And although some would seduce me according to the flesh yet my spirit which is from God is not seduced He knows whence it comes and whither it goes and is a reproover of secrets I have cried in the midst of you I have spoken it with a loftie voice Attend unto the Bishop and the Presbyterie and the Deacons And though some have suspected me to have spoken these things as foreknowing the Division of some yet he is my witness for whom I am a Prisoner that I have not been taught it by man but the Spirit preached it saying these things Do nothing without the Bishop Keep your flesh as the Temple of God Love Vnitie Flie divisions Be ye followers of Jesus Christ as he himself is of the Father Therefore I did what was proper for me as a man perfected unto Unitie But where there is division and wrath God dwelleth not Therefore the Lord pardons all Penitents if they shall return by Repentance to the Vnitie of God and the Council of the Bishop I believe the Grace of Jesus Christ who will loose every bond from you And I exhort you to do nothing with contention but according to the Discipline of Christ For I have heard some speaking in this wise That if I find it not amongst the Antients I do not believe the Gospel And when I replied to them That it is written They answered me It lies before us But Jesus Christ is to me Antiquitie and the Records not to be touched are his Cross and his Death and his Resurrection and the Faith which is by him in which things I would be justified through your Prayers Honourable are the Priests but more honourable the High-priest to whom are committed the Holies of Holies and with whom alone are deposited the hidden things of God He is the Door of the Father by whom Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and the Prophets and Apostles and Church of God have entered All these things are for the Unitie of God But the Gospel hath something in it chiefly valueable and that is The Presence of our Lord Jesus Christ his Passion and Resurrection For the beloved Prophets preached of him but the Gospel is the Perfection of incorruption All things together are excellent if ye believe in Love But seeing that through your Prayers according to the bowels which ye have in Christ Jesus the Church which is at Antioch of Syria as is told to me is at peace it becomes you as the Church of God to ordain a Minister to go thither as an Embassadour upon the Embasie of God to joy together with them that they are made one and to glorifie his Name Blessed in Jesus Christ shall that man be who shall be accounted worthy of such a Ministery and ye your selves shall be glorified This is not impossible for the Name of God if ye have but a will to it as some neighbour Churches also have sent Bishops others Presbyters and Deacons As for Philo the Deacon of Cilicia he is a man that hath given a good Testimonie and now ministers to me in the Word of God together with Rheus Agathopus a choyce man who accompanies me from Syria having renounced this life these also bear testimonie to you and I give thanks to God for you because ye have received them as the Lord you But they who have dishonoured them may obtain Redemption by the Grace of Jesus Christ The Love of the Brethren who are at Troas saluteth you whence also I write unto you by Burrus who was sent along with me from the Ephesians and the Smyrneans for the Word of honour The Lord Jesus Christ will honour them in whom they hope in flesh soul faith love and unanimitie Farewel in Christ Jesus our common Hope Ignatius to the Philadelphians To the Trallians Ignatius who is also Theophorus to the holy Church beloved of God the Father of Jesus Christ which is in Trallis of Asia elect and divine having obtained peace in the flesh and bloud by the Passion of Jesus Christ our hope and the Resurrection grounded upon him which I salute in fulness in an Apostolical Style wishing much joy I Have known you to have a blameless understanding not to be severed in Patience and that not by use but by nature as Polybius your Bishop hath manifested to me who by the will of God and of Jesus Christ was at Smyrna and did so congratulate me a Prisoner for Jesus Christ that I did view over your whole multitude in him Therefore receiving from him that good disposition of mind which is according to God I gloried finding you as I had known you the followers of God For in regard ye are subject to the Bishop as to Jesus Christ ye appear to me not to live as men but to live according to Jesus Christ who died for us that believing in his death ye may escape death Therefore it is necessary as ye do to do nothing without the Bishop but that ye be subject to the Presbyterie as to the Apostles of Jesus Christ our Hope in whom we should be found having our conversation It behooves the Deacons also being the Mysterie of Jesus Christ to please all men every manner of way For they are not the Ministers of meats and drinks but Ministers of the Church of God Therefore it is necessary for them to avoid accusations as fire Let all in like manner reverence the Deacons as Jesus Christ and the Bishop being the Son of the Father and the Presbyters as the Council of God and companie of the Apostles Without these a Church is not called Of whom I am perswaded
together awake together as the Stewards Assessors and Ministers of God Do things pleasing to him whom ye fight for and whose souldiers ye are from whom ye expect your salarie Let none among you be found a desertor of his Colours Let your Baptism arm you Faith be your helmet Love your spear Patience your whole armour and your Works your gage that ye may receive a reward worthy of you Therefore bear patiently in meekness one with another as God bears with you Let me enjoy you always But in that the Church which is in Antioch of Syria is at peace through your Prayers as it is manifested to me I was therefore the more cheerful and intent upon the things of God without distraction that by any means I may through sufferings enjoy God and be found your Disciple at the Resurrection O Polycarp most blessed of God it becomes thee to gather together a Council most becoming God and to appoint some worthy person whom ye esteem highly in love whom ye look upon as a diligent man fit to be called a Messenger of God and that this honour be bestowed upon him To go into Syria there to spread abroad your forward Charitie to the glory of Christ A Christian hath no power over himself but is to attend the things of God When ye shall have dispatched this business tho work shall be ascribed to God and to you For I believe that through Grace ye are prepared for so good a work pleasing to God and knowing how compendiously ye are capable of truth I have exhorted you in few Letters But because I cannot write unto all the Churches in regard I am suddenly to sail from Troas to Neapolis as I am commanded thou shalt write to those other Churches who art possessed with the mind of God that they do the same thing That they who are able may send footposts others Epistles by thy Messengers that ye may all be glorified by an eternal work as thou art worthy I salute all by name and the wife of Epitropus with her whole house and her childrens I salute my beloved Attalus I salute him who shall be accounted worthy to go into Syria I pray that the grace which is in our God Jesus Christ may be always with him In whom do ye continue permanent in the Unitie and Visitation of God I salute Alke a name desireable to me Farewel in the Lord. To Polycarp To the Ephesians Ignatius who is also Theophorus to the Church blessed in the greatness of God the Father with all fulness praedetermined before ages to be ever permanent unto glory immutable united elect by real sufferings through the will of the Father and Jesus Christ our God To the Church worthy of all blessedness which is in Ephesus of Asia be very much joy in Jesus Christ and in immaculate grace APproving of thy name in God highly beloved which ye have possessed by a just title according to the faith and love which is in Christ Jesus our Saviour I exhort you to continue followers of God and that being re-inlivened by the bloud of God ye perfect that work which is so suitable to you For ye heard that I was a prisoner from Syria for the common Name and Hope and that I hoped through your Prayers that I should be inabled to fight with beasts at Rome that so I might become through Martyrdom a Disciple of him Who offered up himself to God for us an oblation and sacrifice I have compendiously apprehended your very numerous multitude in the name of God by Onesimus your Bishop in the flesh whose charitie is beyond expression whom I beseech you to love according to Jesus Christ and all of you to be like unto him Blessed be he who hath bestowed so worthy a Bishop upon you so worthy of him And I pray that my fellow servant Burrus who is your Deacon every way blessed according to God may continue to the honour of you and the Bishop Crocus also who is worthy of God and of you whom I have received as the Exemplar of your Charity hath refreshed me in all things as the Father of Jesus Christ will also give refreshing unto him and to Onesimus and Burrus and Euplus and Fronton in whom I have viewed you all in love I would enjoy you always if I might be worthy of it Therefore it becomes you every way to glorifie Jesus Christ who glorifies you that being perfected and knit up in one and the same subjection and being of one mind and one judgement ye may all speak the same thing and being subject to the Bishop and the Presbytery may be sanctified in all things I do not give commands to you as if I my self was a person considerable for though I am a Prisoner for his Name yet am I not perfected in Christ Jesus For now I begin to be a Disciple and speak to you as my fellow teachers For it is meet that I should be admonished by you in faith instruction patience and long sufferance But in regard my charity towards you would not suffer me to be silent I have therefore taken the first hold of this opportunity to exhort you to concur in the judgement of God As Jesus Christ himself who is our incomparable life did follow the judgement of his Father and the Bishops designed to the ends of the earth follow the judgement of Jesus Christ Therefore it is a comely thing for you to concur in the judgement of the Bishop as also ye do for your Presbytery most worthy of praise and of God is so adapted to the Bishop as strings are fitted to the harp in so much that Jesus Christ is celebrated through your Unanimity and Agreement in love Ye are all made up man by man into one Chorus and keeping the Melodie of God which is Vnitie ye shall with one voyce glorifie the Father by Jesus Christ that he may also hear you and acknowledge you by what you do to be the members of his Son So that it is profitable for you to continue in immaculate Unitie that ye may always be partakers of God If I in so short a time have gained so great a conformableness in manners with your Bishop which is spiritual and not after the manner of men how can I estimate of your happiness who are continually united to him as the Church to Jesus Christ and Jesus Christ to the Father that all things may be consonant in unity Let no man be deceived If any man is not within the Altar he is deprived of the bread of God For if the Prayer of one or two is so effectual how much more effectual is the Prayer of the Bishop and all the Church He therefore that will not come into one place or joyn with the Congregation is a proud man and hath separated himself and it is written That God resisteth the proud Therefore let us endeavour to be in subjection to the Bishop that so we may be God's Subjects And
life which is set before you Why are we not all wise having received the knowledge of God that is Jesus Christ Why are we foolishly destroyed being ignorant of that Grace which the Lord hath truly sent amongst us My spirit is the Off-scouring of the Cross which is a scandal to unbelievers but to us Salvation and Life eternal Where is the wise where is the disputer where is the boasting of wise men so called For our God Jesus Christ was conceived by Mary according to the Oeconomie of God of the seed of David by the holy Ghost who was born and baptized that he might through sufferings cleanse the water And the Virginity of Mary the Child born of her and the Death of the Lord were hid from the prince of this world being three crying Mysteries yet wrought up by God in silence How came he then to be manifested to ages A Star in Heaven appeared which out-shined all the other stars and the light of it was ineffable and the Noveltie of it did contain a strangeness in it All the other stars together with the Sun and Moon were a Chorus to this Star which did carry in it a brightness and splendour above them all The world was troubled about it to find out how this New-Star should appear amongst the other stars so unlike unto them hereupon all Magick was dissolved and every bond of wickedness dis-appeared ignorance was taken away the old kingdom was destroyed when God appeared as man for the renewing of Life eternal But that which was perfect with God took a beginning and thereupon all things worked together to bring about the destruction of death If Jesus Christ through your Prayers shall make me worthy and it be his will in a second little Book which I am about to write unto you I will lay open unto you how I began my Oeconomie in the New man Jesus Christ both in his Faith Love Passion and Resurrection and I shall the rather do this if the Lord shall reveal it unto me Because all of you man by man through the grace of his Name concur together in Jesus Christ of the stock of David according to the flesh the son of man and the Son of God and ye are all obedient to the Bishop and to the Presbyterie with an undivided mind breaking one bread which is the Medicine of Immortalitie an Antidote against death preserving to Life eternal in Jesus Christ I could give my life for you and for him whom ye have sent to Smyrna for the honour of God whence also I write unto you giving thanks unto the Lord loving both Polycarp and you Remember me as Jesus Christ also remembers you Pray for the Church which is in Syria whence I am led away a Prisoner unto Rome being the last of the faithful there if I may be accounted worthy to be found to the honour of God Farewel in God the Father and in Jesus Christ our common hope To the Ephesians To the Magnesians Ignatius who is also Theophorus to the Church blessed in the Grace of God the Father through Jesus Christ our Saviour which is at Magnesia neer to Maeander which I salute in him and wish it very much joy in God the Father and in Jesus Christ. KNowing your most excellent Order of Love which is according to God I joyfully made it my choice to speak unto you in the faith of Jesus Christ For being accounted worthly of the Name most becoming God in these bonds wherein I carry it about I celebrate the Churches praying that they may be united in the flesh and spirit of Jesus Christ who is our endless life by Faith and Love before which nothing is preferred but chiefly of Jesus and the Father through whom having patiently endured every injury from the prince of this world and escaping them we shall enjoy God For I was accounted worthy to see you by Damas your Divine Bishop and the worthy Presbyters Bassus and Apollonius and Sotion the Deacon my Fellow-servant whom I would enjoy because he is subject to the Bishop as to the Grace of God and to the Presbyterie as to the Law of Jesus Christ And it becomes you not to make any use to your selves of the age of the Bishop but to give him all Reverence according to the power of God the Father as I have known holy Presbyters not presuming upon that juvenile order which appears but as wise men in God concurring with him yet not with him but with the Father of Jesus Christ the Bishop of all Therefore for his honour who wills it it is meet we perform obedience without hypocrisie For a man doth not deceive this Bishop whom we see but puts a fallacie upon him who is invisible This is not spoken in reference to the flesh but to God who knoweth secrets Therefore it is meet not onely to be called Christians but to be so For some indeed there are who own the Bishop in name but do all things without him Such men appear to me to be men of no good Conscience because they hold meetings not established by commandment All works have some end two are propounded Death and Life and every man shall go to his proper place As there are two sorts of Coyn one of God another of the world and each Coyn hath its proper stamp set upon it Infidels have the stamp of this world Believers in love have the stamp of God the Father by Jesus Christ whose life cannot be in us unless we can through him voluntarily die into his Passion But seeing I have in the persons prescribed taken a view of your whole multitude in Faith and Love I admonish you to do all things in the unanimity of God your Bishop being President over you in the place of God and the Presbyters in place of the Council of the Apostles and the Deacons most pleasant to me having the Diaconie of Jesus Christ committed to them who was with the Father before ages and in the end appeared Having therefore all received manners like unto God reverence one another and let no man defraud his neighbour according to the flesh but love one another always in Jesus Christ Let nothing be amongst you which may possibly divide you but be united to the Bishop and to those who are Presidents over you according to the Type and Doctrine of incorruption Therefore as the Lord being united to him did nothing without the Father neither by himself nor by the Apostles so neither do ye act any thing without the Bishop and the Presbyters Neither attempt any thing upon your own account however reasonable it may appear unto you When ye come together into one place let there be One Prayer One Supplication one mind one hope in Love and in immaculate joy There is one Jesus Christ than whom nothing is better Therefore all concur together as into the Temple of God as to one Altar to one Jesus Christ who came from one Father and being
that ye are so informed For I have received the Exemplar of your love and have it by me in your Bishop whose behaviour is a great Disciplination and his meekness power whom I think that very Atheists do reverence being satisfied that I spare not my self Formerly though I might have matter to write I thought not fit for this cause lest being a condemned person I might seem to command you as an Apostle I am wise in God as to many things yet do I measure my self that I may not be destroyed by boasting For now it behooves me to be very much affraid and not to give heed to those who would puff me up For when such speak unto me they scourge me Truly I love to suffer but know not whether I am worthy For my zeal appears not to many but I have the greater war within I have need therefore of meekness that by it the prince of this world may be defeated Cannot I write unto you of things celestial but I am affraid lest I should give you some offence being yet but babes Therefore pardon me for I would not perplexe you with those things which ye are not able to bear For it is not for a slightie matter that I am a Prisoner being acquainted with things celestial and the Angelical Orders and their governing Constitutions things visible and invisible and besides this I am now a Disciple For many things are wanting to you that we may not fall short of God Therefore I exhort you not I but the love of Jesus Christ to use only the Christian nutriment and to abstain from that strange herb which is heresie For the times are such that persons worthy of credit seemingly do fold in heresie with Jesus Christ like those who administer deadly poison and temper it with a drink made of honey and sowre wine which the ignorant receives with pleasure and so dies by an evil delectation Therefore preserve your selves from such and so it shall be if ye are not puffed up being inseparable from God Jesus Christ and the Bishop and the Orders of the Apostles He who is within the Altar is pure that is he who does any thing without the Bishop Presbyterie and Deacons is of an impure Conscience Not that I have known any such thing among you but foreseeing the subtilties of the devil I take care of you before hand being my beloved Do ye therefore re-assuming your mild disposition build up your selves anew in the faith which is the flesh of the Lord in love which is the bloud of Jesus Christ Let none among you have any quarrel against his Neighbour Give no offences to the Gentiles that the Multitude which is in God be not blasphemed by a few foolish men For Wo to him through whose foolishness my Name is blasphemed amongst some Therefore be deaf to him who speaks to you without Jesus Christ who was of the stock of David and of Mary who was truly born eat and drank was truly persecuted under Pontius Pilate was truly crucified dead things in heaven on earth and under the earth beholding him And was truly raised again from the dead his Father raising him up according to his likeness as his Father will raise up us also if we believe in him through Jesus Christ without whom we have no true life But if as some Atheists that is Infidels sâ—y He suffered only in appearance as they themselves are only in appearance why am I in bonds and why do I pray that I may fight with beasts therefore do I not die without reward and am I not a lyar against the Lord Fly therefore evil plants which bring forth deadly fruit which if a man taste of he dies presently For these are not the Plantation of the Father if they were they would appear branches of the Cross and their fruit would be incorruptible Through which Cross by his Passion he Advocates for you being his Members The Head therefore cannot be born without the Members God having promised the Vnion of them who is himself I salute you from Smyrna together with the Churches of God which are present with me who have every way refreshed me both in flesh and spirit My bonds which I carry about for Jesus Christ do admonish you that I desire to enjoy God Continue in your Vnanimitie and in Prayer one for another For it becomes you all one by one exceedingly and the Presbyters to comfort up the Bishop for the honour of the Father of Jesus Christ and of the Apostles I beseech you in love to hear me that writing unto you I may not be a witness within you Pray also for me out of that Charitie which is in you for I need the mercy of God that I may be accounted worthy of the Lot which I labour to enjoy and may not be found Reprobate The love of the Smyrneans and Ephesians saluteth you Remember in your prayers the Church which is in Syria whence I am not worthy to be called being the last of them Farewel in Jesus Christ being subject to the Bishop as to the Commandement and likewise to the Presbyterie And love one another man by man with an undivided heart My Spirit shall be an expiation for you not onely now but when I shall enjoy God For as yet I am in danger but the Father who is faithful will fulfil my Petition and yours in Jesus Christ in whom may ye be found unblameable To the Trallians To the Romans Ignatius who is also Theophorus to the Church which hath obtained Mercy through the Magnificence of the most high Father and Jesus Christ his onely begotten Son sanctified and enlightned by him who willeth all things which are according to the love of Jesus Christ our God which is President over the Churches about in the Region of the Romans as over a Quire being divine comely most blessed worthy of praise in a becoming order eminently chaste and set up for a President of Charitie having the Law of Christ and bearing the Name of the Father which I also salute in the Name of Jesus Christ the Son of the Father according to the flesh and spirit united in every command of his filled with all the Grace of God without any difference and purged from every strange tincture wishing very much joy in our Lord Jesus Christ our God immaculately HAving beseeched God I happened to see your divine faces as I much desired to receive you And being in bonds for Jesus Christ I hope to salute you if it be his will that I may be accounted worthy to continue to the end For the beginning is well ordered if thereby I may obtain Grace so as to obtain my Lot unto the end without impediment For I fear your charitie lest it prove injurious to me For to you it is easie to do what ye will but to me it is a difficult thing to enjoy God unless ye are the more sparing to me I would not have you to please men
but to please God as ye do please him I shall never have such an opportunity to enjoy God neither shall ye be intituled to a better work if ye can but be silent For if ye be silent and let me alone I shall be of God but if ye love my flesh I shall be but a voice and to run again Ye cannot do better than to let me be sacrificed unto God in regard the Altar is already prepared That ye being made up a chorus in love may sing to the Father in Jesus Christ because God hath accounted the Bishop of Syria worthy to be found and to be sent from the East unto the West to set and go down gloriously from the world unto God that I may rise again in him Ye have never bewitched me in any thing ye have instructed others and I would that those things may be firm which ye as teachers have commanded Onely pray for me to be inabled inwardly and outwardly that I may not onely say it but will it and not only be called a Christian but be found so For if I shall be found so I may also be so called and then be a Believer when I appear not to the world Nothing is good which is onely in appearance For our God Jesus Christ being in the Father appeareth the more A Christian is not a work of persuasion but of greatness especially when he shall be hated of the world I write to all the Churches and lay my commands upon them all that I may willingly die for God if ye shall not hinder me I intreat you that ye would not be unseasonably kind unto me Suffer me to be the meat of beasts that by them I may enjoy God I am the wheat of God and shall be ground by the teeth of beasts that I may be found the pure bread of God Allure those beasts the rather to become my sepulchre and to leave no reliques of my body that when I am fallen asleep I may not be burdensom to any Then shall I be the true Disciple of Jesus Christ when the world shall not see my body Pray to the Lord for me that by these instruments I may be found a sacrifice to God I do not give you commands as Peter and Paul they were Apostles but I am a condemned person they were free but I am a servant even until now yet if I suffer I shall be made the Freeman of Jesus Christ and shall rise again free and being now a Prisoner I learn to desire nothing From Syria even to Rome do I fight with beasts both by Land and by Sea by night and by day being bound to ten Leopards which are my military guard which are the worse for being kindly treated But by their injurious dealings I am the more made a Disciple yet am I not therefore justified I would enjoy the beasts which are prepared for me and I pray that they may be found sharply set nay I would entise them greedily to devour me and not fearfully to decline the touching of me as they have avoided some But if they shun me and will not I shall provoke them Pardon me I know what is convenient for me Now I begin to be a Disciple in that I have a zeal to nothing visible or invisible but that I may gain Jesus Christ Let the fire the cross the violence of beasts scattering of bones concision or chewing of members grinding of the whole body buffetings of the devil come upon me so that I may but enjoy Jesus Christ The ends of the world will profit me nothing nor the kingdoms of this age It is good for me to die for Jesus Christ rather then to rule over the ends of the earth I seek him who died for us I will him who rose again for us He is the Gain set before me Pardon me brethren do not hinder me to live do not separate me by the world who am willing to be of God nor seduce me by that which is material Suffer me to receive the pure light when I approach to that I shall be a man of God Suffer me to imitate the Passion of my God If any man hath him within him he may understand what I will and sympathize with me knowing what things have taken possession of me The prince of this world would spoil me and corrupt my judgement which is according to God Therefore let none of you being present contribute any assistance to him but rather be for me that is for God Do not speak Jesus Christ and covet the world Let no fascination be amongst you Neither do I exhort you being present to believe me rather believe the things which I write unto you for I write unto you being alive yet withal willing to die My Love is crucified and the fire which is in me desires no water But there is one living and speaking in me who saith to me inwardly Come to the Father I take no pleasure in the meat of corruption nor in the pleasures of this life I will the bread of God which is the flesh of Jesus Christ of the seed of David and the drink which I will is his bloud which is incorruptible love I would live no longer according to men and this shall be if ye will Will it therefore that ye also may be accepted I intreat you by a few writings believe me but Jesus Christ shall manifest these things to you that I speak truth That is no lying mouth by which the Father hath truly spoken Pray for me that I may obtain For I have not written unto you according to the flesh but according to the mind of God If I suffer ye have loved me but if I prove Reprobate ye have hated me Remember in your Prayers the Church in Syria which in my stead hath God for its Pastour Jesus Christ himself shall watch over it and your Love But I am ashamed to be named from them for I am not worthy being the last of them and an abortive But I may through mercy be something if I obtain God My Spirit saluteth you and the love of the Churches which have received me for the Name of Jesus Christ not as one passing by them for they did not meet me onely on the way according to the flesh but conducted me to the Citie These things I write unto you from Smyrna by the Ephesians worthy to be most blessed Crocus also is with me a Name desireable together with many others who came from Syria to Rome to the glorie of God I believe they are known to you to whom ye may make manifest the things approaching me For they are all worthy of God and of you and it becomes you to refresh them in all things I have written unto you these things upon the day before the ninth of the Calends of September Be strengthened to the end in the Patience of Jesus Christ FINIS The Life of Saint BARNABAS the Apostle SAint Barnabas was a man of
this Copy confessed Se gratulatum seculo nostro quod illud ipsum exemplar quo ante 1300 annos usus erat Eusebius novam ipsi propediem affulsuram lucem sponderet That he congratulated our age because that very Copy which Eusebius used 1300 years ago did promise now to bestow new light upon the present age This is the Copy which I have attempted the Translation of out of the Original Greek into our Vulgar English and that for the use and benefit of the Vulgar and common people that they may be able to discern the true state of the Christian Church its Regimen Doctrine and Discipline in those very times which were I am sure neerest to the times of the Apostles for Ignatius lived with and was Disciple to one of them But before I set down my Translation I shall give you the account of Master Isaac Vossius himself touching the Edition by him published and according to which I have made my Translation as it here follows translated out of Latine so exactly as I could Most courteous Reader SO it happens as thou and I may have very often observed that all things which are either formed by nature or framed by art are of such a condition that the most perfect in their kind do still appear the more beautiful and artificial as men imploy their study and indeavours in the contemplation of them Some such thing hath happened to me touching Ignatius in whose Epistles when ever I gave them a second reading I still observed something not observed before from which they challenged my further approbation So often I say as I reassumed them into my hands so often did something appear in them by which I could make discovery of the genuine writer of them One while that elegant Simplicity which was most suitable to the age wherein he lived another while the verity and harmonie of words and things so every way corresponding besides this the zeal and fervencie of the Martyr which as in other of his Epistles so in that to the Romans is most conspicuous All these are a sufficient evidence unto me for the owning and finding out of the true Author Which raiseth the greater admiration in me that there should be any persons who do not onely deny these to be the very Epistles of Ignatius but also doubt not to affirm that he wrote none at all Neither do they use any other argument to perswade us to think that Ignatius wrote no Epistles but onely this because say they no ancient Author before Eusebius makes mention of them For they confidently affirm that those sayings of Ignatius which are extant in Irenaeus and Origen were not taken from the Epistles of Ignatius but from his own mouth Certainly those very learned men took little notice of that place in Origen which is to be seen in his sixth Homily upon Luke By chance saith he I found in an Epistle of a certain Martyr I mean Ignatius the second Bishop of Antioch after Peter who in his persecution fought with beasts at Rome it elegantly written thus That the Virginity of Mary was a secret kept from the Prince of this World But we shall now make our approach to more ancient times that so the Antiquity and Verity of this our Ignatius may be the more apparent and the errour of those men also be the more conspicuous who are otherwise perswaded of him The first therefore who made mention of these Epistles of Ignatius is Polycarp the Martyr in his Epistle to the Philippians whose words are these We have sent unto you those Epistles of Ignatius which he sent unto us and so many other Epistles of his as we had by us according to your desires which are all annexed to this Epistle out of which Epistles ye may reap very much benefit for they contain in them Faith and Patience and whatever is convenient to build us up in the Lord. Now it cannot be doubted by any man but that Polycarp had the Epistles of Ignatius to whom amongst his seven Ignatius did in particular entitle one which Polycarp himself gives testimony of when he saith Ye have written unto me and also Ignatius Now Polycarp was about 60 years survivor to Ignatius So that I propound this question What appearance of truth can there possibly be that so long as Polycarp was alive these true Epistles of Ignatius should be suppressed and others suborned in the place of them Did Polycarp destroy the first that there should be a necessity to devise others in their stead I think no man will render himself so ridiculous as to make an attempt to prove any such thing Now I proceed If Polycarp had these Epistles certainly Irenaeus his Scholar who cited them had the same and Origen received them from Irenaeus whose Citation out of them we mentioned a little before And I am of opinion that no man can imagine that the Epistles of Ignatius cited by Eusebius were any other Epistles then those which Origen made use of Athanasius Jerom Chrisostâ—m Theodoret Antiochus Damascen Photius and innumerable others who all of them made use of the testimony of Ignatius did follow that Copie which Eusebius had So that Ignatius was never accounted of by any as Apocryphal and yet all the Books of the New Testament had not the luck to escape so but some were questioned as to their Original and authority Seeing therefore we have such a continued succession of eminent men who have given their approbation touching these Epistles I do not see by what argument they can possibly defend their opinion who are otherwise perswaded of them It is confessed his Epistles have been corrupted and abused and been read over with their corruptions and interpolations to these present times yet there have not been wanting men of piercing judgements who have discovered truth to be in those very interpolate Epistles Andrew Rivet an eminent man makes this out sufficiently However I now publish those Epistles which are genuine and in all respects agreeing with the testimony of the Antients so that they who will deny these must deny also that this Martyr ever wrote any Epistles But let them enjoy their own opinion for my part I am assured that they will meet with very few of the same and none that can be of it with reason But Courteous Reader thou art indebted to the Medicaean Library that thou hast these writings of Ignatius pure and not counterfeit and thou art indebted to the most Serene Prince Ferdinand the second the great Duke of Etruria through whose incomparable Love to Learning and Study I gained an opportunity of having the use of that famous Librarie and so of finding out this incomparable treasure of Ignatius which we now exhibit and publish to the world The Epistles of Saint Ignatius To the Smyrneans Ignatius who is also Theophorus to the Church of God the Father and of the beloved Jesus Christ which hath obtained mercy in all Grace replete with Faith and