apostolicfathers0201clem - Carmel Apologetics

4o6 EPISTLES OF S. IGNATIUS.
that when asked on his death-bed how his thoughts were occupied, he
replied that he was ' meditating the number and nature of angels, and
their blessed obedience and order, without which peace could not be in
heaven— and oh that it
might be so on earth". Why should that be
thought incredible at any time in an Ignatius, which was true of a
Hooker in the solemnity of his dying hours
Another ground of objection is the extravagant humility and selfdepreciation,
which the writer assumes. He declines to place himself
on the same level as the Apostles {Rom. 4, Trail. 3).
He will not set
himself up as a teacher of others {Ephes. 3).
He does not regard himself
even as a disciple {Ephes. i, Trail. 5, Rom-. 5) ;
he is still only a
probationer. His discipleship will only then be complete, when his life
is crowned with martyrdom {Rom. 4, Polyc. 7 see 11. ; p. 31).
Nor is this
all.
Again and again he speaks of himself as the last of the Antiochene
Christians, as ashamed to be called one of them, as not worthy to
have a place among them {Ephes. 21, Magn. 14, Trail. 13,
Rom. 9,
Smyrn. 11).
This language may surprise us. It
may appear to savour of fanaticism
or of unreality. It may be thought to fall short of the true saintly
temper. These however are points which we need not discuss. The
only question, which we have here to ask, is whether such language was
more hkely to have been used by a false impersonator of Ignatius than
And we are constrained to answer in the negative.
by Ignatius himself
What forger, desirous of exalting Ignatius in the eyes of his readers,
would go out of his way to make him vihfy himself There is also one
point worthy of notice in connexion with this subject. The only church
to which he does not use this language of is self-depreciation the Philadelphian.
It is also the only church in which he had encountered
opposition. Not only had he been assailed himself (§§ 7, 8) ;
but his
opponents had carried their hostility so far as to treat his followers,
Philo and Agathopus, with contumely (§ 11). Writing to the Philadelphians
therefore, he could not compromise his position by any words of
self-humiliation. The case is somewhat analogous to S. Paul's attitude
towards the Galatians, as distinguished from his language addressed to
churches in which his authority was undisputed. But what forger would
have possessed the insight, or have exercised the self-restraint, which
this exceptional treatment in the Philadelphian letter supposes.
Moreover this humility is explained, at least in part, by language
which Ignatius uses of himself on one occasion {Rom. 9).
Like S. Paul
1
Walton's Life of Hooker (Hooker's PVorks i. p. 85, ed. Keble).