As I desire to take the author on his own ground whenever it is possible
to do so, I shall, for argument's sake, take the author's account of the
age and authority of these documents. I shall consequently assume with
him that
"None of the epistles [of Ignatius] have any value as evidence for
an earlier period than the end of the second or beginning of the
third century [from about 190 to 210 or so], if indeed they possess
any value at all." [6:1] (Vol. i. p. 274.)
With respect to the short Epistle of Polycarp, I shall be patient of his
assumption that
"Instead of proving the existence of the epistles of Ignatius, with
which it is intimately associated, it is itself discredited in
proportion as they are shown to be inauthentic." (Vol. i. p. 274)
and so he
"assigns it to the latter half of the second century, in so far as
any genuine part of it is concerned." (P. 275)
Similarly, I shall assume that the Pastor of Hermas "may have been
written about the middle of the second century" (p.
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