Ignatius must be held to have set an example of unhappy consequence to the church. His ardor for martyrdom, though unquestionably connected with genuine and exalted piety, was altogether unwarranted by apostolic precept or example, and stands in the strongest contrast imaginable with the manner of Paul, when placed in similar circumstances, whose calm, manly, and spirited defence of his life, liberty, and civic immunities, on every occasion, imparts the highest possible argumentative value to his sufferings in the cause of Christianity. Let it be imagined that Ignatius had acquitted himself in the same spirit; had pleaded with Trajan for his life, on the grounds of universal justice, and Roman law; had established his innocence of any crime known to the law; and had then professed distinctly the reasons of his Christian profession; and at the same time calmly declared his determination to die rather than deny his convictions. How precious a document would have been the narrative of such a martyrdom! There can be no doubt that many such martyrdoms actually took place; but they were less to the taste of the church historians of the third and fourth centuries than those that were made conspicuous by an ostentation of eagerness to die. The First Epistle of Peter holds forth the principle and temper of Christian submission under persecution with a dignity, calmness, pathos, good sense, and a perfect freedom from fanatical excitement, which, if no other document of our faith were extant, would fully carry the proof of the truth of Christianity. * * * * *