who had seen Christ." He was also intimate with Papias and
Ignatius. The only writing of Polycarp extant is the Epistle to the
Philippians, which follows. It is of great value for questions of
the canon, the origin of the Church, and the Ignatian epistles. Of
the authenticity of Polycarp's epistle Rev. Father W. O'B. Pardow,
S.J., says, "There are long and learned controversies about some of
these [apocryphal] books." Of that in question he says: "Probably
authentic; not inspired." Archbishop Wake was fully convinced of
its genuineness, and his translation has been here used.

Justin, surnamed "the Martyr," was born at Sichen, Samaria, about
A.D. 100. After his conversion to Christianity he wandered about
arguing for the truth of the new faith. He was of a bold,
aggressive nature, and scorned to temporize in things spiritual.
His language and mode of address were borrowed from the Stoics, but
were the "true utterance of his own manly soul. 'You can kill us;
you cannot harm us,'" was his answer when condemned for being a
Christian. The words proceeded from a believer ready and destined
to give his life for the faith.

Truly did the blood of the martyrs prove the seed of the Church.
Polycarp's Epistle to the Philippians, hereto annexed, is taken
from a rare work which contains the uncanonical books of the period
of Christ's infancy and the early days of the Church, entitled _The
Apocryphal Books of the New Testament_. The laity have little
knowledge of it, but it is well known by the clergy.

HOMERSHAM COX

Polycarp, bishop of Smyrna, was undoubtedly a companion of the apostle
John, and received instruction from other apostles. "About this time,"
says Eusebius, referring to the commencement of the second century,
"flourished Polycarp in Asia, an intimate disciple of the apostles, who
received the episcopate of the Church of Smyrna at the hands of
eye-witnesses and servants of the Lord."

The lengthened life of the apostle John, who attained to an extreme old
age, connects the fathers of the second century with the immediate
followers of Christ. Polycarp must have been a contemporary of St. John
for about twenty years.

A letter of Irenaeus, who was a pupil of Polycarp, has been preserved,
which gives a graphic and remarkably interesting account of the familiar
intercourse of Polycarp with the a