apostolicfathers0201clem - Carmel Apologetics

36o EPISTLES OF S. IGNATIUS.
covetousness, and simony.... I
hope to God that He will send others more
worthy after me, who will expose the wickedness of antichrist.... Written
on the festival of S. John the Baptist, in a dungeon and in fetters, in the
recollection that John was likewise beheaded in a dungeon and in fetters
for the sake of God's truth' (Wratislaw's Johii Hus p. 370 sq).
Or this again :
'Oh, if ye were to see this Council, which calls itself the "most holy"
Council and asserts that it cannot err, ye would espy abomination exceeding
great, of which I have heard commonly from the Swabians that Constance
or 'Kostnice', their city, will not within thirty years be rid of the sins which
this Council has committed in their city and
; I
say furthermore that all men
have been offended through this Council, and some have spit, because they
saw abominable things.... Written on the Wednesday after S. John the
Baptist, in prison and in fetters, in expectation of death' (ib. pp. 371 sq,
with much more to the same effect.
Is John Hus then a myth, or the
Council of Constance a fiction
Yet this is not a solitary case. There is
hardly a single prolonged
imprisonment of any notable political or religious personage of which
something similar is not recorded'. The story of Mary Stuart's captivity
is incredible from beginning to end, if tested by the principles of
historical criticism which are applied to the record of Ignatius. The
same may be said also of the imprisonment of John Bunyan".
For what does the literary work of Ignatius amount to During
a journey, occupying many months, he succeeded at two of his haltingplaces,
Smyrna and Troas, in writing seven letters in all. They were
in most instances certainly, in all probably, dictated. They bear all
the marks of having been written under pressure of time and with
inconvenient surroundings. They are mostly expressed in short sen-
to
p. sq
'
were made
.See for instance Bradford's letters in
fines in the town of Bedford.
1
was passed in 1670- Attempts
Foxe's Martyrs wi, p. 196 sq.
levy
There was a riot there. The local officers
His refused to assist in quelling it. The shops
" Froude's Bunyan 80
'
gaoler, not certainly without the sanction were shut. Bedford was occupied by
of the sheriff, let him go where he pleased ;
soldiers. Yet at this very time, Bunyan
once even so far as London Friends, was again allowed to go abroad through
in the first place, had free access to him, general connivance. He spent his nights
and strangers were drawn to him by reputation;
with his family. He even preached now
while the gaol was considered and then in the woods.' Offor's Works
a private place, and he was allowed to of yohn Bunyan (1862) I. p. xc 'His
preach there, at least occasionally, to his Majesty continued to keep him a prisoner
fellow-prisoners This was not all. A preaching more than six months after
fresh and more severe Conventicle Act he had licensed him to preach ! !