“I am able to know heavenly things, and the places of angels, and the station of powers that are visible and invisible.”  Where did he gather all this recondite lore?  Certainly not from the Old or New Testament.  May we not safely pronounce this man to be one who seeks to be wise above what is written, “intruding into those things which he hath not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind?” [422:3] He seems, indeed, to have himself had some suspicion that such was his character, for he says, again, to his brethren of the Western metropolis—­“I know many things in God, but I moderate myself that I may not perish through boasting; for now it is becoming to me that I should fear the more abundantly, and should not look to those that puff me up.”  Let us now hear a specimen of the mysticism of this dotard.  “There was hidden from the Ruler of this world the virginity of Mary, and the birth of our Lord, and the three mysteries of the shout, which were done in the quietness of God by means of the star, and here by the manifestation of the Son magic began to be dissolved.” [423:1] Who can undertake to expound such jargon?  What are we to understand by “the quietness of God?” Who can tell how “the three mysteries of the shout” were “done by means of the star?”

VI.  The unhallowed and insane anxiety for martyrdom which appears throughout these letters is another decisive proof of their fabrication.  He who was, in the highest sense, the Faithful Witness betrayed no fanatic impatience for the horrid tragedy of crucifixion; and, true to the promptings of his human nature, he prayed, in the very crisis of His agony—­“O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me.” [423:2] The Scriptures represent the most exalted saints as shrinking instinctively from suffering.  In the prophecy announcing the violent death of Peter, it is intimated that even the intrepid apostle of the circumcision would feel disposed to recoil from the bloody ordeal.  “When thou shalt be old,” said our Lord to him, “thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldest not.” [423:3] Paul mentions with thankfulness how, on a critical occasion, the Lord stood with him, and “delivered” him “out of the mouth of the lion.” [423:4] Long after the apostolic age, the same spirit continued to be cherished, and hence we are told of Polycarp that, even when bowed down by the weight of years, he felt it right to retire out of the way of those who sought his destruction.  The disciples, whom he had so long taught, took the same view of Christian duty; and accordingly, in the Epistle of the Church of Smyrna, which records his martyrdom, the conduct of those who “present themselves of their own accord to the trial” is emphatically condemned. [424:1] “We do not,” say the believers of Smyrna, “commend those who offer themselves to persecution, seeing the gospel teaches no such thing.” [424:2] But a man who is