'the identification of the Judaists and Gnostics in the
Ingnatian Epistles is quite inadmissible. Ignatius combats
the Doketists in the Epistle to the Ephesians, the
Trallians, and the Smyrnaeans, while in the Epistles to the
Magnesians and Philadelphians he warns against the
Ebionistic danger. In the last-named Epistle he warns
against other tendencies which threatened the unity of the
Church.'
In fact, it is this Epistle to the Philadelphians which, in his opinion,
has led scholars astray. No one he thinks would have misunderstood 'the
fact--that the Judaists in the Epistle to the Magnesians were certainly
not Doketists, and the Doketists described in the Epistles to the
Ephesians, Trallians, and Smyrnaeans were not Judaists--had the Epistles
of Ignatius come to us without the Epistle to the Philadelphians.' It
would be beyond the province of this Review to enter into an
examination of the arguments adduced on each side; it would also be an
injustice to the disputants to infer that each selects or presses what
tells most of his view, but certainly a calm and dispassionate
inspection of these arguments will lead most men to think Uhlhorn,
Lipsius, and Lightfoot more correct in their unanimous verdict, that but
one heresy is attacked in the Ignatian letters, than Hilgenfeld and
Harnack in their preference of two distinct heresies--Ebionism and
Docetism. This latter conclusion can only be reached by treating the
Letters of Ignatius as Hilgenfeld has treated St. Paul's Epistles to the
Colossians; the former is attained by critical methods defining the
Judaism and Gnosticism observable to be but web and woof of one and the
same fabric.
The very early date, and the consequent genuineness of these Epistles
are thus the legitimate conclusion from the study of the internal as
well as external evidences. That date is placed by the Bishop of Durham
between A. D. 100-118 in the time of Trajan. Wieseler had placed the
date of the martyrdom (upon which depends the date of the letters) as
early as A. D. 107, Harnack as late as A. D. 138; and the latter still
prefers to place them and the Epistle of Polycarp after the year A. D.
130. The earlier date reached by the Bishop of Durham is to him 'a mere
possibility which is highly improbable, because it is not supported by
any word in the Epistle, and because it rests only upon a late and very
problematic witness (Eusebius).' Dr. Harnack's present view is, in all
essentials, the same as that which he previously held. He has had the
advantage--which he courteously acknowledges--of examining Bishop
Lightfoot's 'painstaking consideration' of his views held in 1878; but
nevertheless he considers that the Bishop's method of considering the
whole question is 'not the proper' one--that his 'admittedly profound
learning has contributed little or nothing to the main question,' and
that 'he has not rightly comprehended the problem.'[85] Yet the ordinary
reader, who examines Dr. Harnack's re-statement of some of his views,
will feel that to ask the Bishop of Durham to re-examine them will be
but to ask him to slay afresh the slain. Dr. Harnack still clings, for
example, to his view, that Polycarp is attacking the Docetism of
Marcion; a view which, if sound, would convince the writer of an
anachronism; because in pretending to write between A. D. 100 and 118 he
has introduced a heresiarch not then notorious. But his view has been
shown by Bishop Lightfoot to be fallacious; and all that Dr. Harnack can
now answer is to repeat his preference for his own interpretation of
two passages adduced in the argument.
From the amenities of this battlefield of friendly criticism we turn for
a few concluding remarks to the second and shorter life--that of
Polycarp--which these monumental volumes discuss.
In point of method and treatment, the consideration of the history and
writings of this saint of the early Church follows the same lines, as
those followed in the case of St. Ignatius. First, the biography proper.
Next, one of those collections of passages and documents which render
these volumes so remarkable. In seventy pages the student will find a
_corpus_ of original extracts embellished with notes explanatory and
critical--Such as Imperial acts and ordinances relating to or affecting
Christianity; Acts and notices of martyrdoms. Passages from heathen
writers, containing notices of the Christians; Passages from Christian
writers illustrating the points at issue--most helpful to him in
apprehending not only the history of the persecutions, but also the
relations between the Church and the Empire, in the reigns of Hadrian
(A. D. 117-38), Antoninus Pius (A. D. 138-61), and Marcus Aurelius (A.
D. 161-80). Then come in successive order the examination of the MSS and
Versions, a collection of quotations and references, the consideration
of the genuineness of the 'Epistle of Polycarp' and of the 'Letter to
the Smyrnaeans,' closed by a discussion upon the date of the Martyrdom.