plural; but here the Romans shelter themselves behind the authority of Paul, who "charged you in the

Spirit...because even then ye had made parties." On this authority the direct address continues to the end of

the chapter: "it is shameful, dearly beloved, yes, utterly shameful and unworthy of your conduct in Christ,

that it should be reported that the very steadfast and ancient Church of the Corinthians, for the sake of one

or two persons, maketh sedition against its presbyters, etc." But the next sentence resumes the modest form:

"let us therefore root t his out quickly."

An example equally good is found in the letters of Ignatius; and this example is even more instructive than

that of Clement, because Ignatius' letters were addressed to several of the Seven Churches not many years

after the Revelation was written. Here we have letters written by the Bishop of Antioch, the mother Church

of all the Asian Churches, and by him when raised through the near approach of death to a plane higher

than mere humanity. He was already marked out for death--in the estimation of Christians the most

honourable kind of death--as the representative of his Church; and he was on his way to the place of

execution. He was eager to gain the crown of life. He had done with all thought of earth. If there was any one

who could speak authoritatively to the Asian Churches, it was their Syrian mother through this chosen

representative. But there is not, in any of his letters, anything approaching, even in the remotest degree, to

the authoritative tone of John's letters to the Seven Churches, or of Paul's letters, or of Peter's letter to the

Churches of Anatolia.

The Ephesians especially are addressed by Ignatius with profound respect. He ought to "be trained by them

for the contest in faith." He hopes to "be found in the company of the Christians of Ephesus." He is

"devoted to them and their representatives." He apologises for seeming to offer advice to them, who should

be his teachers; but they may be schoolfellows together--a touch which recalls the tone of Clement's letter;

he does not give orders to them, as though he were of some consequence. The tone throughout is that of

one who feels deeply that he is honoured in associating with the Ephesian Church through its envoys.

There is not the same tone of extreme respect in Ignatius' letters to Magnesia, Tralleis, Philadelphia, and

Smyrna, as in his letter to Ephesus. It is apparent that the Syrian bishop regarded Ephesus as occupying a

position of loftier dignity than the other Churches of the Province; and this is an important fact in itself. It

proves that already there was the beginning of a feeling, in some minds at least, that the Church of the

leading city of a Province was of higher dignity than those of the other cities, a feeling which ultimately

grew into the recognition of metropolitan bishoprics and exarchates, and a fully formed and graded

But even to those Churches of less splendid history, his tone is not that of authority. It is true that he

sometimes uses the imperative; but in the more simple language of the Eastern peoples, as in modern Greek

and Turkish (at least in the conversational style), the imperative mood is often used, without any idea of

command, by an inferior to a superior, or by equal to equal; and in such cases it expresses no more than

extreme urgency. In Magn. sect. 3 the tone is one of urgent reasoning, and Lightfoot in his commentary

rightly paraphrases the imperative of the Greek by the phrase "I exhort you." In sect. 6 the imperative is

represented in Lightfoot's translation by "I advise you." In sect. 10 the advice is expressed in the first

person plural (a form which we found to be characteristic of Clement), "let us learn to live," "let us not be

insensible to His goodness." Then follows in sect. 11 an apology for even advising his correspondents,

"not because I have learned that any of you are so minded, but as one inferior to you, I would have you be

on your guard betimes." When in Trall. sect. 3 he is tempted to use the language of reproof, he refrains: "I

did not think myself competent for this, that being a convict I should give orders to you as though I were an

It is needless to multiply examples. The tone of the letters is the same throughout. Ignatius has not the right,

like Paul or Peter or an Apostle, to issue commands to the Asian Churches. He can only advise, and exhort,

and reason--in the most urgent terms, but as an equal to equals, as man to men, or, as he modestly puts it, as

inferior to superiors. He has just the same right and duty that every Christian has of interesting himself in