is employed in this epistle with regard to every one who holds such false doctrines. The development of these heresies, therefore, implies a date for the composition of the Epistle, at earliest, after the middle of the second century, a date which is further confirmed by other circumstances.(1) The writer of such a letter must have held a position in the Church, to which Polycarp could only have attained in the latter part of his life, when he was deputed to Rome for the Paschal discussion, and the Epistle depicts the developed ecclesiastical organization of a later time.(2) The earlier date which has now been adopted for the martyrdom of Polycarp, by limiting the period during which it is possible that he himself could have written any portion of it, only renders the inauthenticity of the Epistle more apparent. Hilgenfeld has pointed out, as another indication of the same date, the injunction "Pray for the kings" (Orate pro regibus), which, in 1 Peter ii. 17, is "Honour the king" [——]—], which, he argues, accords with the period after Antoninus Pius had elevated Marcus Aurelius
to joint sovereignty (a.d. 147), or better still, with that in which Marcus Aurelius appointed Lucius Verus his colleague, a.d. 161, for to rulers outside of the Roman empire there can be no reference. If authentic, however, the Epistle must have been written, at latest, shortly after the martyrdom of Ignatius in a.d. 115, but, as we have seen, there are strong internal characteristics excluding such a supposition. The reference to the martyr-journey of Ignatius and to the epistles falsely ascribed to him, is alone sufficient to betray the spurious nature of the composition, and to class the Epistle with the rest of the pseudo-Ignatian literature.
We shall now examine all the passages in this epistle which are pointed out as indicating any acquaintance with our synoptic Gospels.(1) The first occurs in ch. ii., and we subjoin it in contrast with the nearest parallel passages of the Gospels, but although we break it up into paragraphs, it will, of course, be understood that the quotation is continuous in the Epistle.
[—-Greek—-]
It will be remembered that an almost similar direct quotation of words of Jesus occurs in the so-called Epistle of Clement to the Corinthians, c. xiii., which we have already examined.(1) There, the passage is introduced by the same words, and in the midst of brief phrases which have parallels in our Gospel there occurs in both Epistles the same expression, "Be pitiful that ye may be pitied," which is not found in any of our Gospels. In order to find any parallels for the quotation, upon the hypothesis of a combination of texts, we have to add together portions of the following verses in the following order: Matthew vii. 1, vi. 14 (although, with complete linguistic variations, the sense of Luke vi. 37 is much closer), v. 7, vii. 2, v. 3, v. 10. Such fragmentary compilation is in itself scarcely conceivable in an epistle of this kind, but when in the midst we find a passage foreign to our Gospels, but which occurs in another work in connection with so similar a quotation, it is reasonable to conclude that the whole is derived from tradition or from a Gospel different from ours.(2) In no case can such
a passage be considered material evidence of the existence of any one of our Gospels.
Another expression which is pointed out occurs in ch. vii., "beseeching in our prayers the all-searching God not to lead us into temptation, as the Lord said: The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak."(1) This is compared with the phrase in "the Lord's Prayer" (Matthew vi. 13), or the passage (xxvi. 41): "Watch and pray that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak."(2) The second Gospel, however, equally has the phrase (xiv. 38), and shows how unreasonable it is to limit these historical sayings to a single Gospel. The next passage is of a similar nature (c. vi.): "If, therefore, we pray the Lord that he may forgive us, we ought also ourselves to forgive."(3) The thought but not the language of this passage corresponds with Matthew vi. 12—14, but equally so with Luke xi. 4. Now we must repeat that all such sayings of Jesus were the common property of the early Christians—were no doubt orally current amongst them, and still more certainly were recorded by many of the numerous Gospels then in circulation, as they are by several of our own. In no case is there any written source indicated from which these passages are derived; they are simply quoted as words of Jesus, and being all connected either with the "Sermon on the Mount" or the "Lord's Prayer," the two portions of the teaching of Jesus which were most