Page:Ante-Nicene Fathers volume 1.djvu/194

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180
THE EPISTLE OF IGNATIUS.
fully convince the unbelieving that there is one God, who has manifested Himself by Jesus Christ His Son, who is His eternal Word, not proceeding forth from silence,[1] and who in all things pleased Him that sent Him.

grace to fully convince the unbelieving that there is one God, the Almighty, who has manifested Himself by Jesus Christ His Son, who is His Word, not spoken, but essential. For He is not the voice of an articulate utterance, but a substance begotten by divine power, who has in all things pleased Him that sent Him.[2]


Chap. ix.Let us live with Christ.

If, therefore, those who were brought up in the ancient order of things[3] have come to the possession of a new[4] hope, no longer observing the Sabbath, but living in the observance[5] of the Lord's day, on which also our life has sprung up again by Him and by His death—whom some deny, by which mystery we have obtained faith,[6] and therefore endure, that we may be found

If, then, those who were conversant with the ancient Scriptures came to newness of hope, expecting the coming of Christ, as the Lord teaches us when He says, "If ye had believed Moses, ye would have believed me, for he wrote of me;"[7] and again, "Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day, and he saw it, and was glad; for before Abraham was, I am;"[8] how shall we be able to live without Him? The prophets were His servants, and foresaw Him by the Spirit, and waited for Him as their Teacher, and expected Him as their Lord and

  1. Some have argued that the Gnostic Σιγή, silence, is here referred to, and have consequently inferred that this epistle could not have been written by Ignatius.
  2. Some read ὑποστήσαντι, "that gave Him His hypostasis, or substance."
  3. Literally, "in old things."
  4. Or, "newness of."
  5. Or, "according to."
  6. Literally, "we have received to believe."
  7. John v. 46.
  8. John viii. 56, 58.