“You have done perfectly right, my dear Pliny, in the inquiry you have made concerning the Christians. For truly no one general rule can be laid down, which will apply itself to all cases. These people must not be sought after. If they are brought before you and convicted, let them be capitally punished, yet with this restriction, that if any one renounce Christianity, and evidence his sincerity by supplicating our gods, however suspected he may be for the past, he shall obtain pardon for the future, on his repentance. But anonymous libels in no case ought to be attended to; for the precedent would be of the worst sort, and perfectly incongruous to the maxims of my government.” Thus the Diabolos and his pagan Satan “cast them into prison that they might be tempted” to renounce the faith. Their tribulation was great. They had foes without, foes within, who said they were Christians, but lied, and their flesh with all its affections and lusts to contend with. But they were “rich” in faith and good works, and zealous against the Docetae or Gnostics, and the Ebionites, both of which, we have shown, constituted the Nikolaitans, or Vanquishers of the people of God’s flock.
When Ignatius was at Troas, where Paul and his companions abode seven days (Acts 20 : 6,) he wrote to the Smyrneans commending them for their faithfulness, and zealously warning them against the Nikolaitans. In his view the evil of their heresy consisted in a nullification of Jesus as a covering for sin, and of the resurrection. Let the clergy and those deceived by them, hear him, and be instructed. “I glorify Jesus Anointed, our God, who hath given you wisdom. For 1 understand that ye, Smyrneans, are perfect in the immoveable faith of our Lord Jesus Christ; who really was of the seed of David according to the flesh; and born of a virgin really; who really suffered under Pontius Pilate. For those things he suffered for us that we might be saved. And he truly suffered; as also he truly raised up himself; not as some infidels say, that he seemed to suffer. I forewarn you of these beasts (2 Pet. 2 : 12 ; Jude 10) who are in the shape of men; whom you ought not only not to receive (2 Jno. 10,) but if possible not even to meet with. Only you ought to pray for them—if they may be converted (2 Tim. 2 : 25)—which is a difficult case. But Jesus Christ, our true life (Col. 3 : 3) has power to save to the uttermost” (Heb. 7 : 25.) 1 have inserted references in parentheses to show how the scriptures were acting upon the mind of Ignatius while he was writing his epistle. It seems that the “infidels” who pretended to be true Jews or Christians, with the usual artifice of such persons, labored to work themselves into the good graces of Ignatius, who was an influential man among the saints. But he saw through their craftiness, and says—“for what doth it profit me if any man commend me, and yet blaspheme my Lord, denying him to have come in the flesh? They separate from he eucharistia the giving of thanks (that is, "the Lord's Supper) and from prayer, because they confess not the Eucharistia to be (representative of) the body of our Saviour Jesus Anointed, who suffered for our sins. They who contradicted the gift of God (Gal. 1 : 4 ; 2 : 20 ; Eph. 5 : 25 ; 1 Tim. 2:6; Tit. 2 : 14) die in their reasonings.”
Ignatius suffered death in this Trajan persecution of the “ten days.” When he was led to execution, he was attended by a number of the brethren who accompanied him to Rome, and were residents of that city. When about to suffer, he prayed in behalf of the Ecclesias, that
a stop might be put to the persecution, and that their love might be continued one toward another. He was then led into the amphitheatre, and speedily thrown to the wild beasts, who soon devoured him, leaving only a few bones, which the deacons carefully collected and afterwards burned at Antioch.
The concluding remarks of the narrative of the execution of Ignatius are expressed in terms which indicate their writers’ understanding of the Diabolos in the case. They style him “the magnanimous witness of Christ, who trade under foot the Diabolos. ” Now the pagan Roman power cast him into prison, and put him to death; yet he trode it under foot in the sense of not yielding to its temptations, and dying with the assurance of rising again; or, as it is expressed in this letter to the Smyrneans, of “not being hurt of the Second Death.” The contemporaries of Ignatius evidently regarded this power as Sin in imperial mamtestation, and therelore"“TfrgDiaboIos7: