apostolicfathers0201clem - Carmel Apologetics

SPURIOUS AND INTERPOLATED EPISTLES. 241
tion. Among the champions of episcopacy in this melde the most
notable was Jeremy Taylor, then a young man, whose elaborate work
Of the Sacred Order and Offices of Episcopacy Works vii.
( p. 3 sq, ed.
Heber, 1822) appeared in 1642, and who quotes the Ignatian letters
freely (vii. pp. 37, 47, 52, 72, 89, 102, 103, etc) as authoritative,
though in one passage (vii. p. 155 sq) he confines himself to the seven
quotes the Long Recension without any
expression of misgiving {Life and Works
III. pp. 428, 354). (2) On Aug. 27, 1628,
Dr Prideaux refers to Ussher's intention
of 'printing Ignatius' at Oxford (xv. p.
419), and on March 15, 1629, Ussher
himself writes to Dr Ward, 'I have written
a large censure of the Epistles of
Ignatius, which I forward to publish before
I have received the transcript of the
Latin Ignatius which you have in Caius
College' (XV. p. 482). This 'censure'
was never published. Probably
it set
forth Ussher's theory, founded on the quotations
in English writers but not yet confirmed
by the authority of any MS. He
seems to have been desirous of giving it
to the world at once, because it would
be the more telling
if confirmed afterwards
(as he anticipated) by manuscript
authority. Doubtless its substance was
incorporated afterwards in his published
work. (3) From the letter last quoted
it
appears that he had already taken
steps to procure a transcript of the Caius
MS (see above, p. 82). On May 25, 1630
Dr Ward writes to Ussher that he was
'
in good hope that this had been the same
with an old printed translation which he
had; but comparing them together he
found them differ much' (xv. p. 504).
He had applied first to Dr Whalley and
then to Mr Foster (see above p. 82) to
make a transcript, but had not succeeded.
He promises however to see to it 'at the
return of our students ', i.e. after the end of
the Long Vacation. On July 28, 1631,
the transcript is actually in the hands of
Ussher's agent (xv. p. 542), and on Aug. 9,
1632 , Ussher speaks of it with approbation
(xv. p. 559) ;
see above, p. 82 note.
IGN. L
(4) On March 10, 1637, Ussher, after
mentioning some characteristics of the
Caius MS as contrasted with the common
texts, adds ' I intend before long to publish
Ignatius myself (xvi. p. 34). (5)
In the years 1639, 1640, he is
making
enquiries about Oriental translations (xvi.
pp. 58, 64). (6) On Sept. 30, 1640, he
writes that 'the printer is following him
hard' with the sheets of Polycarp and
Ignatius (xv. p. 64). (7) On May 31,
1644, he sends a presentation copy to
Saumaise (xvi. p. 72). There does not
appear to be in the extant correspondence
any notice of the other Latin. MS, Montacuiiatius
(see above p. 83) ;
from which
it
may be inferred that this latter did not
come into his hands till a comparatively
late date. Possibly he first learnt of its
existence from Mountague's notice of it
in his Origines Ecdesiasticae published
A.D. 1640 (see above. I.e.), which would
naturally attract his attention as in the
passage quoted it differs from the vulgar
Latin Version. The long delay in Ussher's
publication of his Ignatian work is probably
due partly to the political and
ecclesiastical troubles of the times, partly
to his being engaged on other important
literary work, notably his Britannicarum
Ecclesiaiiim Antiquitates which appeared
Aug. 10, 1639. He seems to have set to
work on his Ignatius in earnest as soon
as this last-mentioned book M'as off his
hands. I do not know the date of the
letter to Dr Twiss ' Of the Sabbath ',
in
which he mentions the Caius MS, as being
free from the interpolations of the vulgar
text in Alagn. 9 and as agreeing elsewhere
with the quotations in the ancient
fathers (xii. p. 584 sq).
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