Chapter 4

1Commends their faith and piety; exhorts them to persevere; 10 desires their prayers for himself and the church at Antioch . MAY I therefore have joy of you in all things, if I shall be worthy of it. For though I am bound, yet I am not worthy to be compared to one of you that are at liberty.
2I know that ye are not puffed up; for ye have Jesus Christ in your hearts.
3And especially when I commend you, I know that ye are ashamed, as it is written, The just man condemneth himself.
4Study therefore to be confirmed in the doctrine of our Lord, and of his Apostles; that so whatever ye do, ye may prosper both in body and spirit, in faith and charity, in the Son, and in the Father and in the Holy Spirit: in the beginning, and in the end.
5Together with your most worthy bishop, and the well-wrought spiritual crown of your presbytery, and your deacons, which are according to God.
6Be subject to your bishop, and to one another, as Jesus Christ to the Father, according to the flesh: and the Apostles both to Christ, and to the Father, and to the Holy Ghost: that so ye may be united both in body and spirit.
7Knowing you to be full of God, I have the more briefly exhorted you.
8Be mindful of me in your prayers, that I may attain unto God, and of the Church that is in Syria, from which I am not worthy to be called.
9For I stand in need of your joint prayers in God, and of your charity, that the church which is in Syria may be thought worthy to be nourished by your church.
10The Ephesians from Smyrna salute you, from which place I write unto you: (being present here to the glory of God, in like manner as you are,) who have in all things refreshed me, together with Polycarp, the bishop of the Smyrnæans.
11The rest of the churches in the honour of Jesus Christ, salute you.
12Farewell, and be ye strengthened in the concord of God: enjoying his inseparable spirit, which is Jesus Christ. To the Magnesians . Footnotes 172:1 Vid. Interp. Lat. Epist. Interpol. 172:2 In. 172:3 According to. 172:4 Been vouchsafed a name carrying a great deal of divinity in it. 172:5 See Bishop Pearson. Vind. Ign. par. ii. cap. 12, p. 146. 172:6 Sing, commend. 172:7 Undergoing, escaping. 172:8 Worthy of God. 172:9 Whom may I enjoy. 172:10 Apud. Vet. Lat. Interp. Glorificato Deum Patrem D. nostri Jesu Christi. 172:11 Vid. Voss. Annot. in loc. Pearson PrΓ¦f. ad Vind. Ignat. 172:12 Seeming youthful state. 172:13 It is becoming. 172:14 Without any hypocrisy. 172:15 Who willeth it. 173:1 Deludes. 173:2 Vid. Epist. Interp. ad loc. 173:3 Flesh. 173:4 Firmly. 173:5 Together. 173:6 Character set. 173:7 Your whole multitude. 173:8 The concord of God. 173:9 Sweet. 173:10 Was made manifest. Heb. ix. 26. 173:11 Habit of God. 173:12 John x. 30, xiv. 11, 12, xvii. 21, 22. 173:13 Eph. iv. 3, 4, 5, 6. 173:14 Run. 173:15 John xvi. 28. 173:16 Pearson, Vind. Ign. par. 2, cap. 4. 174:1 Heterodox. 174:2 Most divine. 174:3 Fully to satisfy. 174:4 John, i. 1. 174:5 Things. 174:6 Or, living according to. 174:7 Or, which. 174:8 Received. 174:9 Without. 174:10 Matt. xxvii. 52. 174:11 Vid. Annot. Voss. in loc. should he have imitated our works, Gr. 174:12 More than. 174:13 Convicted, overthrown. 174:14 Believe. 174:15 Have yourselves so. 174:16 Lesser than you. 174:17 Hooks. 174:18 Firmly. 175:1 In yourselves. 175:2 Prov. xviii. 17 Sept. 175:3 Worthily complicated. 175:4 There may be a union both fleshly and spiritual. 175:5 Eph. iii. 4. 175:6 Find, enjoy. 175:7 Whence. 175:8 Bedewed. Vid. Epist. Inter. in loc. 175:9 Which came to Smyrna upon my account. 175:10 αΌœΟΟΟ‰ΟƒΞΈΞ΅. 175:11 Possessing. Next: The Epistle of Ignatius to the Trallians