296 THE SEDENTARY LABOURS, [LECT. have even contended, that he went to "the islands of the sea," and they number both the Gauls and Britons among his disciples. This latter journey seems to have been impossible; for, between his leaving Rome and returning to it again, there was not more than a space of about nine months; and in the course of that time, it is sufficiently evident he made a journey into the east. In his epistle to Titus, he speaks of his determination to winter at Nicopolis, which was a city of Epirus: and in writing to Timothy his last epistle, he says, he had left Trophimus sick at Miletum'. He speaks of having left cap. xi. Isaiah, and v. Amos), say, that St. Paul preached in Spain and we are to consider, that Paul himself had announced that intention; but on the other hand, it is alleged, that those Fathers only wrote in the fourth century, and Eusebius is silent-it is further evident that the ancient Fathers wrote Avois for Rome and Italy, but répμa dúoɛws is another thing. Bishop Pearson explains the expression of Spain; Stillingfleet, of Britain. Bishop Fell sees nothing in it but Rome simply: it is certainly a slight foundation to build the conversion of Britain by Paul upon; but I had rather believe the apostle to have preached in Spain. Bishop Pearson thinks this is not meant of Miletus, near Ephesus (mentioned in Acts xx. 17.), for it does not appear Paul had left Trophimus there at all. (See Acts xxi. 29.) Certainly he did not the first time, but might he not have returned after his liberation? St. Paul's farewell words at Ephesus (Acts xx. 25.) are supposed to forbid this supposition; but I do not see why they need be taken so literally- VI. AND EXTENSIVE JOURNEYINGS OF PAUL. 297 Timothy behind at Ephesus: Titus he had left in Crete. It also appears he had passed by Troas, and had visited Corinth. From these hints we may gather, that St. Paul, after his liberation, sailed first into Asia, taking the island of Crete in his way after going to Miletum and Ephesus, he crossed the Egean Sea into Macedonia, and then went through the peninsula of Greece by Nicopolis: thus visiting, as he had expressed his intention, both the Colossians in Asia, and the Philippians in Macedonia. Consistently with this journey, which seems authorised by the epistles, he could hardly have visited the more remote parts of the west: it is, indeed, just possible he might have gone or returned by Spain; but at all events he returned to Rome, and was made prisoner a second time, under far severer circumstances than before this was about the beginning of the year 65. The Second Epistle to Timothy is, as we have already observed, the last he wrote: in it we see the fortitude of the real Christian displayed, and his joy in the prospect of death. It is, in point of incident, more replete with interest than any other of the epistles, and it is difficult to read it without emotion. The spirit of evil had there was another Miletus in the island of Crete; but then we should have to explain how Timothy was left behind at Ephesus. 298 THE FIRST APOSTACY IN ASIA. [LECT. begun to work even in the Church of Christ. The apostacy in Asia was so extensive, that he declares they were all turned away from his doctrines; and he specifies the names of Phygellus and Hermogenes, of Hymeneus and Philetus, who held some heretical tenets about the resurrection, which appears to have been the first introduction of that subtle disputing, which afterwards exhibited such a loathsome spectacle in the eastern Churches, and ended in battle and murder, and finally put out the candle of truth. Whenever we shall see similar evils arise, and we ever feel disposed thereby to waver in that faith which is of the Gospel, what can we do better than take that comfortable sentence which follows St. Paul's rebuke of those false teachers?" Nevertheless, the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, the Lord knoweth them that are his." We have now to contemplate the great apostle in the last stage of his earthly career, when, after all his exertions and services in the cause of Christ, he was to exhibit to succeeding ages the triumph of faith and hope over the bitterest evils that man can inflict upon his fellow. At his return to Rome he was no longer permitted to remain as a prisoner at large, but was seized like the worst of criminals, and thrown into a dungeon this is implied in his words to Timothy, vi.] PAUL'S SECOND IMPRISONMENT. 299 "I suffer trouble as an evil-doer, even unto bonds." His friends had now become so scarce, and so cautious, that he acknowledges it as an act of great kindness in Onesiphorus, that he sought him out very diligently, and found him. This appears to intimate his close confinement in some obscure place, not easy to be found'; but Onesiphorus was not ashamed of his chain, and oft administered to his comfort. He had to mourn over the apostacy of Demas, who was now no longer with him; and there was such a dispersion of all his former fellow-labourers, that only Luke was then with him. He had been arraigned once before the tribunal of the emperor, upon which a general panic seems to have seized the whole of the Christian community; for although he mentions some Romans of consequence, such as Pudens, who was a senator, and Linus, and Claudia, they all forsook him, and left him to 'Church tradition has been very busy in assigning the lower cell in the Mamertine Prison, for the place of St. Paul's confinement, and a miraculous spring, and the column to which both he and St. Peter were fastened, are exhibited. This prison (an undoubted monument of great antiquity) still exists, near the Arch of Septimius Severus, and the cell, consecrated by tradition, was where the state criminals were thrown, and those prisoners who had graced the Triumphs (see Burgess's Topography and Antiquities, Vol. I. p. 343.); but this was, of all prisons in the world (see Juvenal Sat. iii. v. 314.), the most renowned, and certainly required no diligence to find it out! 300 HIS UNDAUNTED TESTIMONY. answer for himself. [LECT. But, notwithstanding, says ،، The Lord stood with me, that by me the preaching the undaunted Paul, and strengthened me, might be fully known, and that all the Gentiles might hear," from which words we may infer, that he had borne witness to the truth of the Gospel before a large audience, not improbably in the very imperial court. His narrow escape from condemnation to death is expressed in these words, "I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion." He is evidently, however, apprehensive of not being long in this world, and he expresses a strong desire to see Timothy, to be in some measure comforted for the loss of the many companions he enumerates. By alluding to his first hearing, and expressing his apprehensions for the future, it seems pretty clear that he had been ordered to appear a second time at the emperor's tribunal, and that with little hopes of being spared. But what courage can compare with that of the real Christian? Other men can brave death and danger, and rush unthinkingly into the battle, and walk carelessly on the brink of eternity; but, to contemplate with calmness and resignation the prospect of death, and to see death advancing slowly, as the messenger which is to bear the soul before the tribunal of heaven –to endure and to look stedfastly on this, I say, you must be a Christian; and happy is the man |