IDEM, ibid.
And he (Ignatius) also says in his Epistle to the Antiochians: "Whoever believes now in Christ, and does not in His offering (hold Him to be) the Son of God, the Creator of the world, and says that there is another son there, and substitutes him in the place of Him whom the prophets foretold and the disciples preached, he is a palace of the devil." From the Supposititious Epistle to the Antiochians, ch. 3.
ISAAC VOSSIUS'S PREFACE TO THE EPISTLES OF ST. IGNATIUS
Which he first brought to light in Amsterdam, in the year 1646, in quarto, from a manuscript codex of the Medicean Library.
It is a fact, most kind reader, as you and I have often observed, that all things, whether created by nature or fashioned by art, share this condition: the more perfect they are in their own kind, and the longer and more attentively we contemplate them, the more beautiful and artful they appear to the eyes of the beholder. Something similar happened to me with Ignatius, whose Epistles I have never reread without always discovering something new by which they commended themselves to me all the more. As often, I say, as I took them into my hands, some new feature appeared from which I could recognize their genuine author: now that elegant simplicity, so well suited to the age in which he lived; now the consistency and truth of the subject matter and language everywhere; now the zeal and fervor of martyrdom, which shines forth not only elsewhere but especially in the Epistle to the Romans—everything, in short, testified to its author. I am therefore the more amazed that there have been those who not only denied that these epistles were by Ignatius but did not hesitate to assert that he wrote none at all. They attempted to persuade others by no other argument than the claim that none of the ancients before Eusebius mentioned them. For they have argued that the sayings which exist in Irenaeus and Origen were spoken by word of mouth and were not taken from his epistles. Those learned men did not pay attention to that passage of Origen which exists in Homily VI on Luke: "Whence I have elegantly found in the epistle of a certain martyr—I mean Ignatius, bishop of Antioch, the second after Peter—who in the persecution at Rome fought against wild beasts: 'The virginity of Mary was hidden from the prince of this world,' etc." C But let us come to more ancient times, so that the antiquity and truth of our Ignatius, and the error of those who maintain the contrary, may be more apparent. The first, therefore, who mentions them is Polycarp the martyr in his Epistle to the Philippians, whose words are these: "The epistles of Ignatius, which were sent to us by him, and as many others as we had with us, we have sent to you, according to your instructions, which are appended to this letter, from which you will be able to be greatly profited. For they contain faith and patience and all edification, which pertains to our Lord." Now no one can doubt that this Polycarp had the epistles of Ignatius, to whom he even addressed one of those seven, which he himself A testifies to, when he says: "You wrote to me, and you also..."
But Polycarp survived Ignatius for more or less sixty years. I ask you, what likelihood is there that, while Polycarp was living, these true epistles of Ignatius were suppressed and others substituted? Did Polycarp lose them, so that there was a need to invent others? I do not think anyone is so ridiculous as to prove such a thing. Furthermore, I proceed: if Polycarp had them, Irenaeus, his disciple, who cited them, certainly had the same. After Irenaeus comes Origen, whose words we have already seen. But I do not think there is anyone who imagines that the epistles of Ignatius which Origen used were different from those which Eusebius cites. Following Eusebius are Athanasius, Jerome, Chrysostom, Theodoret, the Antiochian, Damascenus, Photius, and countless others, all of whom used the testimony of Ignatius, and in such a way that he was never referred to by anyone as belonging among the apocrypha—which, nevertheless, not even the books of the New Testament were able to escape. Since, therefore, we have here an uninterrupted series of those who approved these epistles, I do not see with what argument those who think otherwise can confirm their opinion. The epistles of Ignatius have been read up to now as they had been corrupted by an interpolator; yet there have not been wanting those who, by the sharpness of their judgment, were able to discern the truth even in them. This, that most excellent man Andreas Rivetus has demonstrated more than sufficiently. I now exhibit them true and genuine, and everywhere in agreement with the testimonies of the ancients; to this they now flee, that they deny that that martyr wrote the epistles. But let them enjoy their opinion; I am certain that there will be few indeed who agree with them, and that there is no one who does so with reason.
As for the fact, benevolent reader, that you can now read these Ignatian writings in their pure and genuine form, you owe this to the Medicean Library; you owe it to the most serene prince Ferdinand II, the Grand Duke of Tuscany, by whose incredible love for learning I have had the privilege to use his renowned library, and through it, that Ignatian treasure which we now offer. I wish indeed that other princes were similarly minded, and that the majority did not place such a price upon them, as if something were detracted from their own wealth if books were more broadly useful to the public than