care he was committed, he was courteously allowed to spend a week * with the little Church of which they were members. He now set out on his way to the metropolis; but the intelligence of his arrival had travelled before him, and after crossing the Pomptine marshes, he was, no doubt, delighted to find a number of Christian friends from Rome assembled at Appii Forum to tender to him the assurances of their sympathy and affection. The place was twentyseven miles from the capital; and yet, at a time when travelling was so tedious and so irksome, they had undertaken this lengthened journey to visit the poor, weatherbeaten, and tempest-tossed prisoner. At the Three Taverns, ten miles nearer to the city, he met another party of disciplest anxious to testify their attachment to so distinguished a servant of their Divine Master. These tokens of respect and love made a deep impression upon the susceptible mind of the apostle; and it is accordingly stated that, when he saw the brethren, "he thanked God and took courage." + The important services he had been able to render on the voyage gave him a claim to particular indulgence; and accordingly, when he reached Rome, and when the centurion delivered the prisoners to the Prætorian Prefect, or the commander-in-chief of the Prætorian guards, § "Paul was suffered to dwell by himself with a soldier that kept him." || But though he enjoyed this comparative liberty, he was chained to his military care-taker, so that his position must still have been very far from comfortable. far from comfortable. And yet even thus he continued his ministry with as much ardour as if he had been without restraint, and as if he had been cheered on by the applause of his generation. Three days after his * Acts xxviii. 14. + Acts xxviii. 15. Acts xxviii. 15. § Called in our English version " the captain of the guard." The celebrated Burrus was at this time (A.D. 61) the Prætorian Prefect. Wieseler, p. 393. See also Greswell's "Dissertations,” iv. p. 199. Acts xxviii. 16. arrival in the city he called the chief of the Jews together," and gave them an account of the circumstances of his committal, and of his appeal to the imperial tribunal. They informed him that his case had not been reported to them by their brethren in Judea; and then expressed a desire to hear from him a statement of the claims of Christianity. "And when they had appointed him a day, there came many to him into his lodging; to whom he expounded and testified the kingdom of God, persuading them concerning Jesus, both out of the law of Moses and out of the prophets from morning till evening."+ His appeals produced a favourable impression upon only a part of his audience. "Some believed the things which were spoken, and some believed not."+ Several years prior to this date a Christian Church existed in the Western metropolis, and at this time there were probably several ministers in the city; but the apostle, in all likelihood, now entered upon some field of labour which had not hitherto been occupied. He "dwelt two whole years in his own hired house, and received all that came in unto him-preaching the kingdom of God, and teaching those things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ with all confidence, no man forbidding him."§ All this time Paul's right hand was chained to the left hand of a soldier, who was responsible for the safe keeping of his prisoner. The soldiers relieved each other in this duty. It would appear that Paul's chain might be relaxed at meal-times, and perhaps he was occasionally granted some little additional indulgence; but day and night he and his care-taker must have remained in close proximity, as the life of the soldier was forfeited should his ward escape. We can well conceive that the very appearance of the preacher at this period invited special attention to his ministrations. He was now Acts xxviii. 17. § Acts xxviii. 31. + Acts xxviii. 23. "Paul the aged; "* he had perhaps passed the verge of threescore years; and though his detractors had formerly objected that "his bodily presence was weak,"† all would at this time have, probably, admitted, that his aspect was venerable. His life had been a career of unabated exertion; and now, though worn down by toils, and hardships, and imprisonments, his zeal burned with unquenched ardour. As the soldier who kept him belonged to the Prætorian guards, it has been thought that the apostle spent much of his time in the neighbourhood of their quarters on the Palatine hill, and that as he was now so much conversant with military sights and sounds, we may in this way account for some of the allusions to be found in his epistles written during his present confinement. Thus, he speaks of Archippus and Epaphroditus as his "fellow-soldiers; "§ and he exhorts his brethren to "put on the whole armour of God," including "the breastplate of righteousness, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit." || As the indefatigable old man, with the soldier who had charge of him, passed from house to house inviting attendance on his services, the very appearance of such" yoke-fellows" ¶ must have created some interest; and, when the congregation assembled, who could remain unmoved as the apostle stretched forth his chained hand,** and proceeded to expound his message! He seems himself to have thought that the very position which he occupied, as "the prisoner of the Lord," ++ imparted somewhat to the power of his testimony. Hence we find him saying "I would ye should understand, brethren, that the things which happened unto me have fallen out rather unto * Philem. 9. See Conybeare and Howson, ii. 428. || Eph. vi. 13, 14, 16, 17. +2 Cor. x. 10. Phil. iv. 3. When speaking of a true yoke-fellow," he may here refer to the way in which he was himself unequally yoked. ** See Acts xxvi. 1, 29. ++ Eph. iv. 1. the furtherance of the gospel, so that my bonds in Christ are manifest in all the Prætorium, and in all other places; and many of the brethren in the Lord waxing confident by my bonds are much more bold to speak the word without fear." + During this imprisonment at Rome, Paul dictated a number of his epistles. Of these, the letter to Philemon, a Christian of Colosse, seems to have been first written. The bearer of this communication was Onesimus, who had at one time been a slave in the service of the individual to whom it is addressed; and who, as it appears, after robbing his master, had left the country. The thief made his way to Rome, where he was converted under the ministry of the apostle; and where he had since greatly recommended himself as a zealous and trustworthy disciple. He was now sent back to Colosse with this Epistle to Philemon, in which the writer undertakes to be accountable for the property that had been pilfered, and entreats his correspondent to give a kindly reception to the penitent fugitive. Onesimus, when conveying the letter to his old master, was accompanied by Tychicus, whom the apostle describes as "a beloved brother and a faithful minister and fellow-servant in the Lord "§ who was entrusted with the Epistle to the Colossians. Error, in the form of false philosophy and Judaizing superstition, had been creeping into the Colossian Church, and the apostle in this letter exhorts his brethren to beware of its encroachments. About the same time Paul wrote the Epistle to the Ephesians; and Tychicus was also the bearer of this communication. Unlike most of * Ev öλ Tập πрairwpia-" We never find the word employed for the Imperial house at Rome; and we believe the truer view to be--that it denotes here, not the palace itself, but the quarters of that part of the Imperial guards which was in immediate attendance on the Emperor."—Conybeare and Howson, ii. 428. + Phil. i. 12-14. Il Col. ii. 8, 16, 18, 23. Philem. 18, 19. § Col. iv. 7. the other epistles, it has no salutations at the close; it is addressed, not only "to the saints which are at Ephesus" in particular, but also "to the faithful in Christ Jesus"* in general; and as its very superscription thus bears evidence that it was originally intended to be a circular letter, it is probably "the epistle from Laodicea mentioned in the Epistle to the Colossians.† The first division of it is eminently distinguished by the profound and comprehensive views of the Christian system it exhibits; whilst the latter portion is no less remarkable for the variety, pertinency, and wisdom, of its practical admonitions. The Epistle to the Philippians was likewise written about this period. Paul always took a deep interest in the well-being of his earliest European converts, and here he speaks in most hopeful terms of their spiritual condition.‡ They were less disturbed by divisions and heresies than perhaps any other of the Apostolic Churches. * Eph. i. 1. + Col. iv. 16. Phil. i. 3-7. |