and it is not improbably
connected with the outburst of Mariolatry in the eleventh and following
centuries. But with 'the first streak of intellectual dawn this Ignatian
spectre vanished into its kindred darkness.' The forgery was 'consigned
to the limbo of foolish and forgotten things.' This pretender set aside,
St. Ignatius was represented in Western Europe by the epistles of the
'Long' recension. The Latin text was printed in 1498, and the Greek in
1557. At first no doubt was felt about their genuineness. Gradually,
however, unwelcome critics pointed out gross anachronisms and blunders.
Men, with unpleasant habits of comparison, noted that Eusebius, the
Church historian (C. A. D. 310-25), quoted from only seven epistles, and
that the divergence of the 'long' text from that given by early
Christian writers[70] fully warranted the comment of Ussher, that it was
difficult to imagine 'eundem legere se Ignatium qui veterum aetate
legebatur.' Theological and ecclesiastical prejudice lent bitterness to
the rising strife. On the Continent, Reformer and Romanist ranged
themselves in opposite camps: the one quoting with delight passages
which favoured Roman supremacy, or advocated Episcopacy; the other
throwing them over as 'nursery stories' (or 'silly tales,' _naenia_), and
denouncing 'the insufferable impudence of those who equipped themselves
with ghosts like these for the purpose of deceiving' (Calvin). After the
publication of the edition of Vedelius, a Genevan Professor, in 1623,
Anglican writers, such as Whitgift, Hooker, and Andrewes, seem to have
accepted without hesitation the twelve (the seven named by Eusebius and
five others) contained in that edition; but in England as on the
Continent, the absence of so much, which could alone lead men to a right
conclusion, prevented the consideration of the question on its true
merits:--

'Episcopacy was the burning question of the day; and the
sides of the combatants in the Ignatian controversy were
already predetermined for them by their attitude towards
this question. Every allowance should be made for their
following their prepossessions, where the evidence seemed so
evenly balanced. On the one hand, external testimony was so
strongly in favour of the genuineness of certain Ignatian
letters; on the other hand, the only Ignatian letters known
were burdened with difficulties. At the very eve of Ussher's
revelation, a fierce