Excerpt from The Genuine Epistles of the Apostolical Fathers: St. Clement, St. Ignatius, St. Polycarp, St. Barnabas, the Pastor of Hermas; And an Account of the Martyrdoms of St. Ignatius and St. Polycarp Having said thus much concerning the several pieces themselves here set forth, and the translation of them, I shall not trouble the reader with any long account of my own introductory discourse; in which I have added some things, and corrected others. I hope, as it now stands, it may be of some use to those who have not any better opportunities of being acquainted with these matters; and convince them of the just regard that is due to the discourses which follow it, upon this double account, both that they were (for the most part) truly written by those whose names they bear, and that those writers lived so near the apostolical times, that it cannot be doubted but that they do indeed represent to us the doctrine, government, and discipline of the church. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.