impress of a distinct individuality, and of a man of that time who
is addressing his last words to the communities. A hierarchical
purpose is not to be mistaken." In an earlier part of the work he
still more emphatically says that, "in the so-called Ignatian
Epistles," he recognises a decided "design" (_Absichtlichkeit_), and
then he continues: "As the tradition regarding the journey of
Ignatius to Rome, there to be cast to the wild beasts, seems to me
for the above-mentioned reasons very suspicious, his Epistles, which
presuppose the truth of this tradition, can no longer inspire me
with faith in their authenticity." [72:1] He goes on to state
additional grounds for disbelief.

_Baumgarten-Crusius_ stated in one place, in regard to the seven
Epistles, that it is no longer possible to ascertain how much of the
extant may have formed part of the original Epistles, and in a note
he excepts only the passages quoted by the Fathers. He seems to
agree with Semler and others that the two Recensions are probably
the result of manipulations of the original, the shorter form being
more in ecclesiastical, the longer in dogmatic, interest. Some years
later he remarked that enquiries into the Epistles, although not yet
concluded, had rather tended towards the earlier view that the
Shorter Recension was more original than the Long, but that even the
shorter may have suffered, if not from manipulations
(_Ueberarbeitungen_), from interpolations. This very cautious
statement, it will be observed, is wholly relative, and does not in
the least modify the previous conclusion that the original material
of the letters cannot be ascertained.

Dr. Lightfoot's objections regarding these seven writers are thoroughly
unfounded, and in most cases glaringly erroneous.