t of any man but their
husbands. In like manner enjoin my brethren, in the name of Jesus
Christ, to love their wives as Christ loveth his church. If any one
is able to remain in a state of continency, in honor of our Lord's
flesh, let him be constantly humble: if he boasts, or is puffed up,
he is lost. Let all marriages be made by the authority of the
bishop, that they may be made in the Lord, not by the passions of
men. Let all things be done to the honor of God." Then addressing
himself to all the faithful at Smyrna, he writes: "Listen to your
bishop, that God may also hearken to you. With joy I would lay down
my life for those who are subject to the bishop, priests, and
deacons. May my portion be with them in God. Let all things be in
common among you: your labor, your warfare, your sufferings, your
rest, and your watching, as becomes the dispensers, the assessors,
and the servants of God. Please hi, in whose service you fight, and
from whom you receive your salary. Let your baptism be always your
weapons, faith your helmet, charity your spear, and patience your
complete armor. Let your good works the the treasure which you lay
up, that you may receive the fruit which is worthy. Bear with each
other in all meekness, as God bears with you. I pray that I may
always enjoy and rejoice in you. Because the church of Antioch by
our prayers now enjoys peace, I am in mind secure in God; provided
still that by suffering I may go to God, and be found in the
resurrection your servant. You will do well, O Polycarp, most
blessed in God, to hold an assembly, and choose a very dear person
fit for dispatch in a journey, who may be styled the divine
messenger; him honor with a commission to go to Antioch, and there
bear witness of the fervor of your charity. A Christian lives not
for himself alone, but belongs to God." The holy martyr concludes by
desiring St. Polycarp to write for him to the other churches of
Asia, he being at that moment called on board by his guards to sail
from Troas to Naples.
6. St. Iren. b. 3, c. 3. Euseb. b. 5, c. 24. S. Hieron. c. 17.
7. N. 1, and 4.
8. [Greek: To tur hen autois psuxron to ton apathon basanitzon.]
Frigidis ipsis videbatur immanium carnificum ignis. n. 2, p. 1020.
9. Dr. Middleton pretends, that this voice was only heard by some few;
but the acts in Ruinart sa