e promptings of his human nature, he prayed, in the very crisis of His
agony--"O my Father, _if it be possible, let this cup pass from me_."
[423:2] The Scriptures represent the most exalted saints as shrinking
instinctively from suffering. In the prophecy announcing the violent
death of Peter, it is intimated that even the intrepid apostle of the
circumcision would feel disposed to recoil from the bloody ordeal. "When
thou shalt be old," said our Lord to him, "thou shalt stretch forth thy
hands, and another shall gird thee, and carry thee _whither thou
wouldest not_." [423:3] Paul mentions with thankfulness how, on a
critical occasion, the Lord stood with him, and "_delivered_" him "out
of the mouth of the lion." [423:4] Long after the apostolic age, the
same spirit continued to be cherished, and hence we are told of Polycarp
that, even when bowed down by the weight of years, he felt it right to
retire out of the way of those who sought his destruction. The
disciples, whom he had so long taught, took the same view of Christian
duty; and accordingly, in the Epistle of the Church of Smyrna, which
records his martyrdom, the conduct of those who "present themselves _of
their own accord_ to the trial" is emphatically condemned. [424:1] "We
do not," say the believers of Smyrna, "commend those who offer
themselves to persecution, _seeing the gospel teaches no such thing_."
[424:2] But a man who is supposed to have enjoyed far higher advantages
than Polycarp--a minister who is said to have been contemporary with all
the apostles--a ruler of the Church who is understood to have occupied a
far more prominent and influential position than the pastor of
Smyrna--is exhibited in the legend of his martyrdom as appearing "of his
own free will" [424:3] at the judgment-seat of the Emperor, and as
manifesting the utmost anxiety to be delivered into the mouth of the
lion. In the commencement of the second century the Churches of Rome and
Ephesus doubtless possessed as much spiritual enlightenment as any other
Churches in the world, and it is a libel upon their Christianity to
suppose that they could have listened with any measure of complacency to
the senseless ravings to be found even in the recent edition of the
Ignatian Letters. [424:4] The writer is made to assure the believers in
these great cities that he has an unquenchable desire to be eaten alive,
and he beseeches them to pray that he may enjoy this singular
gratification. "I hope,