apostolicfathers0201clem - Carmel Apologetics

38 EPISTLES OF S. IGNATIUS.
dom has had so potent
an mfluence on the Church as his. The two
chief Apostles, S. Peter and S. Paul, (there is good reason to believe),
died a martyr's death ;
but of the circumstances we know nothing
beyond an uncertain tradition. Their martyrdom was only a small and
comparatively insignificant incident in their career. It was by their
lives, rather than by their deaths, that they edified the Church of God.
But Ignatius was before all things the Martyr. Everything — conspired to
concentrate men's thoughts on his martyrdom the sudden flash of
—
light following upon the comparative obscurity of his previous life the
—
long journey across two continents from the far East to the far West
the visits to many churches and the visits from many
— others the collection
of letters in which his own burning words are enshrined— the
final scene of all in the largest,
most central, and most famous arena of
the world. Hence his Epistle to the Romans — his paean prophetic of
the coming victory— became a sort of martyr's manual. In all the
earliest
authentic records of martyrdom — in the letter of the Church of
Smyrna on the death of Polycarp, in the contemporary account of the
persecutions at Vienne and Lyons, and in the Acts of Perpetua and
Felicitas at Carthage — alike its influence is seen. The earliest direct
quotation from Ignatius (Iren. v. 28. 4) is the passage
in which he
describes himself as the wheat-flour ground fine for the sacrificial offering
{RoJii. 4). I'he diction and imagery of martyrology follow henceforth in
the tracks of Ignatius. It is quite possible indeed that he himself in
many points merely adopted language already famihar when he wrote.
All we can say is,
that among extant writings many thoughts and expressions,
current in later martyrologies, occur here for the first time.
It is a cheap wisdom which at the study table or over the pulpit desk
declaims against the extravagance of the feelings and language of Ignatius,
as the vision of martyrdom rose up before him. After all it is only
by an enthusiasm which men call extravagance that the greatest moral
and spiritual triumphs have been won. This was the victory which overcame
the world— the faith of Ignatius and of men like-minded with him.
The sentiment in Ignatius is thoroughly earnest, thoroughly genuine. It
does not, as in lower natures, minister to spiritual pride. No humility
could be more real than his. He felt only as a brave man must feel who
is leading a forlorn hope. He believed that for himself death was life
and life was death. He was
Assured the trial fiery fierce but fleet
Would from his little
heap of ashes lend
Wings to the conflagration of the world,
Which Christ awaits ere He makes all things new.