a strong escort, and lodged in the prison at Cæsarea, where the Roman Governor had his residence, that his cause might be legally decided. Felix then represented the Roman Emperor and Senate at Cæsarea; and for two whole years he kept the Apostle in chains, basely hoping to receive a sum of money as the price of an innocent man's liberation. Such was "the Roman virtue" which this infamous official was prepared to practise in the exercise of his high prerogatives!

When Felix was deposed, and Festus succeeded him at Cæsarea, the Apostle saw no immediate prospect of restoration to his labours; availing himself, therefore, of his privilege as a Roman, he appealed to Cæsar, and was immediately sent to Rome, that his cause might be heard and decided in the supreme court of the empire. An account of his voyage to the imperial city, and of his residence there, is given in the last two chapters of the Acts of the Apostles. He failed in the hope of being immediately set at liberty; yet he was treated with comparative lenity; for he dwelt in his own hired house, chained by the hand to the hand of a soldier, who was answerable for his appearance whenever he might be summoned. In this state he remained two years, receiving all that came to him for spiritual instruction, and sometimes preaching from morning till night.

How long the Apostle enjoyed his liberty after his first captivity, what places he visited, and under what circumstances he was again placed in confinement, it is difficult to determine in the absence of direct information; and to detail the various conjectures of critics and chronologers would answer no valuable purpose. Suffice it to say, that his second imprisonment in Rome was far more rigorous than the first. In the Epistles which he wrote during the former incarceration he speaks in the most cheerful and confident terms of his approaching release, and of his visits to the churches. To the Philippians he says, "I know that I shall abide and continue with you all for your furtherance and joy of faith;" (Phil. i. 25;) and to Philemon he says, "Prepare me also a lodging; for I trust that through your prayers I shall be given unto you." (Verse 22.) But during this his second imprisonment his tone is very different. "I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have finished my course." (2 Tim. iv. 6, 7.) All hope of liberty was then cut off; his days were numbered; and he expected soon to behold a termination of his sufferings and labours.

How often the Apostle was questioned before Cæsar's bar, during his second imprisonment, and put upon his defence; what specific charges were preferred against him; who were his accusers; and what persons were present at his trial; are questions which we are unable to answer, the inspired history being silent on these points. It is probable, however, that he was put upon his trial oftener than once; for in the text he speaks of his "FIRST defence," clearly intimating that other defences either had followed, or were expected. His cause was not decided when he wrote, although the issue, considering the nature of the case and the character of his judges, was far from being doubtful.

It is highly probable that the charges which were preferred against the Apostle had a political as well as a religious bearing. The Roman authorities were jealous of all innovations upon their established mythology, and careful to maintain the honour of their accredited gods;

but they were still more jealous of any power that seemed to dispute their secular dominion. David is well known to have been one of the most popular and enterprising of all the Jewish Kings; that Jesus of Nazareth was a direct descendant from him, and that he was risen from the dead, the Apostles all declared as with one voice; and there is reason to believe that this part of their testimony rendered them objects of suspicion with the Roman Governors. If Jesus Christ were the son of David, it might naturally be expected that he would claim to be the heir of David's throne; as Judea was then a province of the Roman empire, the fact which the Apostles everywhere asserted, of his having been raised from the dead, was sufficient to awaken the Roman jealousy; and the Jews, who hated Christianity, were ever ready to avail them, selves of this and of every other pretext for the purpose of bringing the Apostles and the Roman authorities into collision. Perhaps St. Paul alludes to this very subject in this passage: "Remember that Jesus Christ of the Seed of David was raised from the dead according to my Gospel: wherein I suffer trouble, as an evil doer, even unto bonds." (2 Tim. ii. 8, 9.) He appears here to connect his imprisonment with the testimony which he bore to our Lord's descent from David, and resurrection from the dead. It is therefore probable that he was now artfully accused, as he had formerly been, of opposing the prerogatives and decrees of Cæsar, by "saying that there is another King, one Jesus." (Acts xvii. 7.) Be this as it may, history assures us that, at subsequent periods, an order was twice given that all the members of David's royal house should be put to death; so that no one of them might claim the sovereignty of the Jewish nation in opposition to the usurped dominion of the Romans.* Yet the charges which were preferred against the Apostle doubtless had respect also to the general doctrine which he taught, and which was undeniably subversive of the entire system of Roman idolatry.

II. When St. Paul was put upon his trial, on the occasion which we have just explained, he appeared as a friendless man, forsaken by all the Christians who were then in Rome. "No MAN STOOD WITH ME, but ALL MEN FORSOOK ME: I pray God that it may not be laid to their charge."

That there should have been any ground for this complaint is the more remarkable, because of that strong affection for the Apostle which the Roman Christians manifested a few years before, when he came a prisoner to their city. He was then personally a stranger to them; but they had received an inspired Epistle from him, and they had heard of his extraordinary endowments, fidelity, labours, and success, as an Apostle; and such was their regard for him, that they went to meet him as far as the Appii Forum and the Three Taverns: one of these places being about thirty miles from their city, and the other no less than fifty. When he witnessed this proof of esteem and affection, in men whom he had never previously seen, his grateful spirit was deeply affected; so that "he thanked God, and took courage." (Acts xxviii. 15.) And now, after a comparatively short period, two years of which he had spent among them, preaching the word of life to their instruction and edification; and had otherwise given additional proof of his faithfulness to the cause of Christ; not one of these Roman Christians

* Eusebius, Eccles. Hist., lib. iii., cap. 12, 19,

was found ready either to stand by his side, to speak a word in his behalf, or to present the least token of sympathy with him, when he was arraigned before the highest tribunal in the empire.

It is natural to inquire what might be the reason for this change in their conduct. The Apostle had done nothing to forfeit their confidence and affection; they were far better acquainted with him than they were when they received him with such cordiality at the Appii Forum and the Three Taverns; and the cause of Christ, for which he was imprisoned and tried, had lost nothing of its truth and importWhy, then, did these Christian people serve the great Apostle of the Gentiles, as the disciples served his Lord in the garden, when they all forsook him and fled?

ance.

Two answers may be given to this inquiry. First, the Roman Christians were greatly reduced in number, in consequence of a sanguinary persecution, which was still continued; and, secondly, the character of the reigning Emperor was such as to fill them with terror and dismay. Nero then wore the Roman purple, bore the imposing name of Cæsar, and swayed the sceptre of the civilized world. He was one of those worthless and bloody men whose history inspires us with contempt and horror. When we read the fearful record of their crimes, we can scarcely repress a feeling of satisfaction that there is a hell where such atrocities will meet the punishment which they deserve. Nero was sensual, vain, selfish, and cruel. He was immoderately fond of spectacles and shows, in which he himself often appeared as one of the principal performers; and he wasted the revenues of entire provinces in debauchery and riot, seizing, at the same time, the property of the wealthy citizens and Senators, for the gratification of his vanity and passions. But these were minor defects in his character. His name is chiefly execrated because of the miseries which he inflicted upon mankind, as it were in the wantonness of sport. He directed the philosopher Seneca, and the poets Lucan and Petronius, to be put to death, and even shed the blood of his own wife and of his mother.

But his worst deeds remain yet to be told. During his reign the greater part of the city of Rome was consumed by fire. The conflagration continued for several days, till the people were reduced to the utmost distress; and the general opinion was that Nero himself was the direct cause of the calamity, being actuated by an ungovernable passion for guilty excitement. At length he pretended to sympathize with the suffering citizens, providing for them means of relief, and offering sacrifices to the gods in their behalf. Still, however, he was regarded as the author of all the misery which was everywhere prevalent; and for the purpose of divesting himself of the public odium, he accused the Christians of the conflagration; well knowing that they, although innocent of the crime which was imputed to them, were objects of popular hatred on account of their religion, as our Saviour bad foretold. We can scarcely conceive of greater baseness than that man betrays, who, having himself perpetrated a crime, tries to fasten it on others, and then punishes them for his own misdeeds.

The Roman mind was familiar with scenes of blood; the most admired pastimes of the people being those in which gladiators contended with each other unto death, and hapless men were doomed to fight with wild beasts. Sports of this kind were not only attended by

hardy men, but also by matrons and young ladies, who clapped their hands for joy, and raised the shout of triumph, when they saw a human being vanquished, and pouring out his life-blood upon the sand. Tacitus, the heathen historian, to whom we are indebted for the account of the burning of Rome, and of the persecution of the Christians which thence ensued, states that Nero resolved to make his treatment of that despised people a matter of public sport and amusement. For this purpose he directed several of them to be clad in the skins of wild beasts, and then to be worried alive by dogs. Others he ordered to be crucified, as their Saviour, and to die by lingering tortures. Others, again, he commanded to be gradually burned alive upon their crosses, their clothes being smeared with combustible matter, and then set on fire. The streets of the remaining parts of the city were thus illuminated from night to night; and for the convenience of the people, who wished to survey these horrible spectacles, Nero lent his own gardens for the erection of crosses, and the burning of the Christians upon them, himself presenting every indication of riotous joy, while he drove his chariot through these scenes of agony and terror. At length, as the historian relates, "the cruelty of these proceedings filled every breast with compassion. Humanity relented in favour of the Christians." For "it was evident that they fell a sacrifice, not for the public good, but to glut the rage and cruelty of

There is reason to believe that not more than two years had elapsed from the burning of Rome, and the commencement of these outrages upon the Christians, when St. Paul was arraigned at Cæsar's bar: so that, considering the great number of those who had perished, and these doubtless the most eminent members of the church, with the fact that the survivors had these scenes of carnage in their distinct recollection; we are not surprised to find that they shrunk from the perilous task of avowing their Christianity by accompanying the Apostle to Nero's bar.

The

While we thus account for the conduct of the Roman Christians, we do not pretend to justify it. St. Paul evidently thought that some of them at least ought to have appeared with him, even at the hazard of their lives. For indeed the occasion was not an ordinary one. prisoner in this case was one of the most eminent of all the teachers and advocates of Christianity; the court in which he was arraigned was the highest in the world; and the Judges and spectators who were present, we have reason to believe, were men of the most elevated rank and authority, second only to Cæsar himself. The opportunity for confessing Christ was such a one as had scarcely ever occurred before the Apostle therefore ought not to have been left as a solitary and friendless individual. The Lord Jesus claims an absolute dominion over those who believe in him, and requires them to confess his name even when the confession places their lives in jeopardy. Cowardice and shame in this cause are the certain forfeiture of salvation.

If a man prefer his life to the honour of his Saviour, that Saviour will disown him in the last great day. The absence of the Roman Christians from the court when St. Paul was put upon his defence was an act of unkindness to him, and of unfaithfulness to his

* Tacitus, Annal., lib. xv., cap. 44.

Lord and Master. In the Apostle's estimation, it subjected them to moral blame; and hence his devout reference of the case to the tender mercy of God: "May it not be charged upon them!” *

Yet these timid people did not renounce their Christian profession, nor their connexion with the Apostle. After his trial they visited him in his prison; and when he wrote this second Epistle to Timothy, they sent their Christian salutations to that faithful Evangelist. We are thus made acquainted with some of their names: "Eubulus greeteth thee, and Pudens, and Linus, and Claudia, and all the brethren." (2 Tim. iv. 21.) St. Luke the Evangelist was in Rome when the Apostle wrote; but he may not have been there at the time of the trial. (2 Tim. iv. 11.)

III. While St. Paul was forsaken by all his Roman friends, when he stood at Cæsar's bar, he was sustained and protected by his compassionate and Almighty Saviour. "Notwithstanding THE LORD STOOD WITH ME, AND STRENGTHENED ME; that by me the preaching might be fully known, and that all the Gentiles might hear: and I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion."

By "the Lord" who is here mentioned the Apostle unquestionably means the Son of God, who "died, and rose, and revived, that he might be Lord both of the dead and living;" (Rom. xiv. 9;) and who is declared to be the "Lord of all." (Acts x. 36.) Having finished his redeeming work upon the earth, the heavens have received him; yet is he graciously present in every place, and especially with those who are employed in the advancement of his work. When he instituted the evangelical ministry, as a perpetual ordinance, addressing the men whom he had intrusted with the weighty charge, he said, "Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world." (Matt. xxviii. 20.) "Faithful is He that hath promised;" and it is highly instructive and gratifying to trace in the sacred history the fulfilment of his neverfailing word. Heaven and earth shall pass away; but no promise that his lips have uttered shall ever fall to the ground. "The Lord stood with me."

Two important objects are here specified by the Apostle as having been accomplished by the presence of Christ with which he was favoured when arraigned at Cæsar's tribunal. He was able to bear a faithful testimony to the truth; and at the same time his life was preserved. "The Lord stood with me, and strengthened me; that by me the preaching might be fully known, and that all the Gentiles might hear and I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion."

The mention of "all the Gentiles" intimates that a large concourse of people were present to hear the Apostle's defence. Rome was the resort of strangers, and of persons of distinction, especially of civil and military officers and Ambassadors from the various provinces of the empire; and it is probable that many of these were present, who would carry an account of what they had heard and seen to distant cities, which St. Paul was not allowed to visit, and where the voice of a Christian teacher had never been heard. The Apostle states, that he was so "strengthened" as to be not only able to make the "preaching known," but "FULLY known." It would therefore appear that he availed himself of the opportunity which was then afforded him for

* Μὴ αὐτοῖς λογισθείη.