A Preface to the Reader, be offered up through the holy Spirit by themouths of wild beafls to Jefus Chrift thatbe wrote fundry Epi files to fundry Churches , that were of cheifeft noteand name in the Cour. treys about. The concurrentTeftimony ofthe Ancients in this matter offart , will give as good Affurance as in thiskind wearc capable of ; Éufebiva reckons them up inorder , fo loth Flierome. After them frequent mention is madeofthem by others,& fpecial raying: in them are tran- fcribed: And whereas it is urged by fome,that there is no mention of thofe Epifiles before the 2K%cene Ceuncell,before which time,it is asevident as if itwere written with the beams of the fun,that many falfeand fuppofititious writings had been impofed on and were received by many in the Church , (as the ftoryof Patti and Tecla is mentioned and rejected by Ter - rull; de Baptif Hernia Paftor by others) it is anfwercd that theywere mentioned by lren ems fome goodwhile before,Lib.5.cap.28.faith he. emadmodum quidam de noflria di. it , prop- ter CYvfartyrium in Deem adjudicatuuad bePisa; quoniamfrumentum rum Chrifii & per dotter befliarom moles ut mouldier penis Dei inveniar. Which words o the fubjlance ofthem are found in thefe Epifiles: though fome fay nothing is here intimatedof anyEpiflles or wri tings , but of a fpeech that might paffe among the Chriftians byTradition , fuch as they had many among themfelves,even of our Saviours , fome whereofare mentioned by Grotius on there words of Paul', remember that word of Chrift that iris more bleffed togive then to re- ceive. What probabilitieor ground for convietion there is in theft or the like Obfervations, and Anfwers is lift to the judgement ofall. This is certain that the6rft mentioningof them in Antiquities is to beclearely received,(andthat perhapswith more then the bare wordof him,that recites and approves of the Epiftles of jefus Chrift to elbgaree theKing of the (Edefear) or ofhim that reckons Senecaamong the Ecclefiafticallwriters,upon the account of hie Bpifiles to Paul) or the followingTeftimonies,which areheaped up in abundance by fome who think ( but falfely ) that they have a peculiar intereft enwrapped in the Epiftles,now extant,will beof very fmali weight or value. Formypart I am perfwaded,with that kindof perfwafton wherein in things of no greater moment I am content toacquiefce,that he did-write 7 Epifiles, and that much of what he fo wrote ispreferved in thofe that are nowextant,concerning which the contefts of learned men have drawne deep and run high in thefe latter daim, though little to the advantag e of the molt that have laboured in that caufe,as thail be manifefted in the proceffe of our dif- coutfe. ti victim?). A late learnedDatorin hisdiffertationrabout Epifiopacy,ordifpute forit againfi Sodom- Blondellumau lioto and 'BIornleilrn tells us,that we may take a tali ofhis confidence inaffertingDiffert:z.cap. antrum w":11í § :j, that Salmafiru and 231ondelluamortaliam omniemprimi, thought there Epifiles to be imesWaermm- feigned,or counterfeit. And with more wordsCap.24.r.he wouldmake us believe,that there tales m Mellalinum Epiftles of lgnariee where allwaiesof the fame efteeme with that ofClemens fromRome to the cap254: 3. Corinthians of which he treats at large in his fourthDiffertation) or that of Polycarpu to the Philippianswhich we have in Eufebius he addes in the judgment of Salmafess and Blon- deilus, Soles Ignatius órXoau iejus tarnen Epiffola pari temper cum illisper univer/am ab amni ava patrum troth-arum memoriam reverentid Excipiebantar ; necprim a mortalium quovie in fudicinm vocabantur ( multo minim tot in re certh Cr extra dubium po/ira interplane ea .ga C Kíßdyt,a rejiciebantur) pant Presbyteri Anglicani patribus fuir contumeliam facere capijfent iifque amt fuppetiasferre, ant remgratam facere (quibus illeeebris addurli nefcio) hi duo non ig- nobiles Presbyteran a cauta hyperafpifta infeipfos recepiffent.Of hisTwo learnedAnt one is dead, and theother almoft blind , or probably they wouldhave dealt not much moregent- ly with theDo&or for his Parenthefos (quibes illecebrisaddurli nefcio) thenone of them for- merly did (Salmall: de fubfcribendis & fignandie Teflamentio fenfpecimen Confuta. Animad: Heraldi: Cap: a. Fag: 19Neper guiders) etiam nebnlo in Anglia, Capellanes ut audio Regis, Hammendus nomine,libro Tomedidit depoteftateclavium Salmafo iratue good aliam quamopfe feneentiamprobet ac defendat , band portal majors convtcium, quad ei diceret, invenire, quam f Gramaticum appellaret ) for his tearming him a gremmarian,yet indeed of him, ( fuchwas the hardentertainment he found onall hands) it is by many fuppofed that he was illecebrisad- duflue(and they ftick not toname the bait he wascaught withall ) wrought over in a manner to deftroy the faithof that,which he had before fet up and'eftablfhed. For thething it (elfeaffirmed by the Dorlar,I cannot enough admire withwhat ofcitancyor contempt , he confiders his Readers(ofwhich manner of proceeding this is very far from be- ing the only inflance) thathefhould confidently impofe fuch things upon them. He that hathwritten fo much about Ignstim , and Both fo triumph in his Authority, ought doubtlefs to
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