Epistles of
Ignatius are referred to by Polycarp, his contemporary. Passages found
in the epistles now extant under his name are quoted by Irenaeus, A.D.
178; by Origen, A.D. 230; and the occasion of writing the epistles is
given at large by Eusebius and Jerome. What are called the smaller
epistles of Ignatius are generally deemed to be those which were read by
Irenaeus, Origen, and Eusebius (Lardner, Cred. vol. i. p. 147.).
In these epistles are various undoubted allusions to the Gospels of
Saint Matthew and Saint John; yet so far of the same form with those in
the preceding articles, that, like them, they are not accompanied with
marks of quotation.
Of these allusions the following are clear specimens:
Matt.*: "Christ was baptized of John, that all righteousness might be
fulfilled by him." "Be ye wise as serpents in all things, and harmless
as a dove."
John+: "Yet the Spirit is not deceived, being from God: for it knows
whence it comes and whither it goes." "He (Christ) is the door of the
Father, by which enter in Abraham and Isaac, and Jacob, and the
apostles, and the church.
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