Guard. How the other prifoners were difpofed of, is not particularly related. But Paul was fuffered to dwell by himself with a foldier that kept him. ver. 16. And as Paul had appealed to the Emperour, I fuppofe, that he was foon brought before him, and that the method of his confinement was ordered by the Emperour himself. Of which I may fay more hereafter, when we come to the fecond epistle to Timothie.

Says (b) Lightfoot: "His accufers, that were come from Judea to lay "in their charge against him (for we can hardly fuppofe otherwife, but "that fome fuch were come) would be urgent to get their bufineffe "dispatched, that they might be returning to their own home again. "And fo would bring him to trial as foon as they cuold. . . . . As he appealed to Nero himself, so Nero himself heard his caufe. Philip. i. 13. " 2 Tim. iv. 16."

So Lightfoot. And it appears to me very strange, that any should think Paul's caufe was not heard at all at Rome, during his two years ftay there. And yet it has been the opinion of feveral learned men, particularly of (c) James Cappell, and (d) Dr. Doddridge, whofe words I have placed below. And Fr. Spanheim speaks to the like purpose. But his fentiments are rejected by his friend (e) Witfius, as no better than trifling. Paul came to Rome in the spring of the year, as all will readily think. Some learned men place his arrival there in (f) Februarie, others (g) in April. Here Paul dwelled two whole years in his own hired house. Therefore he was released from his confinement, in the fpring, two years after.

I fuppofe, Paul to have come to Jerufalem at the Pentecoft of the year 58, to Rome in the spring of the year 61. and to have been released in the former part of the year 63 This period is therefore about the space of five years.

to the time

of his death.

XII. We are now to write the hiftorie of our Apoftle from this time to his death. But in this period we have no affistance from St. Luke, very little from the other books

(b) As before, p. 322.

of

(c) Redit Romam caufam acturus, quod in prima Romae manfione non comparuiffent accufatores. Jac. Capp. Compendiof. in Apoftol. Hiftor. Chronolog. Tab.

(d)" After this Paul continued two whole years at Rome in his own hired "houfe, before he was heard by Cefar, or his deputy, upon his appeal." Upon Ads xxviii. 30. Family-Expofitor, Vol. 3. p. 434.

(e) Celeberrimus Spanhemius nofter ad Hiftoriæ Chriftianæ feculum. i.... hæc habet: Dimiffus nempe fuerat Paulus, ea lege, ut in Afiá coram accufatoribus fuis fifteretur, aut Rome rurfus fe fifteret, quum ante nulli in ipfum Romam miffi a Judais effent. Ea occafione adiit Corinthum.... Sed apparentibus Hierofolyma Judais, Romam redire coa&tus eft, anno, ut videtur, fequente: ubi conjectus in vincula, ibidemque ultima Pauli certamina, &c. ... Quæ quam debili nitantur funda mento, non puto mihi effe oftendendum. Witf. de Vit. Pauli. fe&t. xii. num. xl. (f) Ita Paulus, poftquam per tres menfes Milita hiemaffet, per Syracufas, Rhegium, et Puteolos, Romam venit menfe Febr. Neron. vii. Pearfon. Ann. Paul. p. 18. A. D. lxi.

Ita tandem Paulus, poft tot cafus, poft tot rerum difcrimina, Romam venit, anno vii. Neronis, menfe Februario. Witf. ibid. feat. xii. n. i. See likerife Tillemont. S. Paul. art. 42.

45) Bafnag. ann. 60, num. x.

of the New Testament, nor very much from ancient authors, which can be depended upon, as certain.

Whither Paul went after he had obtained his liberty, is debated. Some think, that (b) he went from Rome to Spain. Others fee not fufficient reason for that fuppofition. Among thefe are (i) Lenfant and Beaufobre, (k) Bafnage, and (1) Cellarius, and (+*) Du Pin.

That Paul went into Spain, has been argued from an expreffion of Clement in his epiftle to the Corinthians, who there fays of Paul" that (m) having taught the whole world righteousneffe, and having come to "the borders of the weft, and having fuffered martyrdom, he went to "the holy place." Which fome have rendered the utmost bounds of the weft, and argue, that (n) hereby is meant Spain. I rather think, that Clement only meant Italie or Rome, where Clement was, and where Paul fuffered. From a note of Le Clerc upon the place we learn, that (0) Bp. Fell fo understood Clement. The word coming alfo leads to this fenfe. If Clement only had thought of Spain, or Britain, or any other places beyond that, in which himself was, he would not have faid nai inov, and having come, but rogivoάuevos, or fore other equivalent word, and having gone to the bounds of the weft. Lenfant and Beaufobre in their general preface to St. Paul's epiftles fay, (p) the bounds of the weft fignify nothing but the west. It is an expreffion, they fay, borrowed from the Scriptures, in which the borders of a countrey denote the countrey itself. In like manner by those words Clement intended Italie. However,

(b) Adveniente Timotheo, ex Italia profectus eft in Hifpaniam, quo itu. rum fe dixerat in epiftolâ ad Romanos. Pearfon. ib. p. 20.

(i) Quelques anciens peres ont dit, que faint Paul ayant été mis en liberté, alla faire le voyage d'Efpagne, dont il avoit formé le deffein cinq ou fix ans auparavant. Rom. xv. 24. Mais outre que fes temoignages font du quatriéme ou du cinquiéme fiecle, il femble que ces peres n'ont parlé de ce voyage, que fur ce qui S. Paul en a dit dans l'epître aux Romains. C'eft au moins tout ce que S. Jerome allègue... Auffi les epîtres, que S. Paul écrivit durant fa captivité, temoignent, qu'il ne penfoit qu'à retourner en Gréce et en Afie, des qu'il feroit delivré. Pouvoit il avoir dans l'efprit un voyage en Efpagne, lorsqu'il mandoit à Philemon, de lui preparer un logement? Laiffant donc une tradition, au moins fort incertaine, &c. Lenf. et Beauf. Pref. generale fur les epiftres de S. Paul. §. liv. p. 33.

(k) Ann. 46. num, xlvi,., L.

(1) Eruditis placet, et admodum eft probabile, Paulum prima captivitate, quam Lucas fcripfit, liberatum in Græciam et Afiam revertiffe, adeoque bis Romæ fuiffe; in Hifpaniam autem penetraffe, credibile non eft. Chr. Cellar. de Itineribus S. Pauli Apoftoli. §. xxviii.

(*) Il arriva à Rome au commencement de l'an 61. Il en fortit au bout de deux ans. Plufieurs ont crû, qu'il avoit alors fait le voïage d'Efpagne. Mais nous avons fait voir ailleurs, que cela eft fort incertain. Il eft plus vrai femblable, qu'il revint dans l'Afie, et dans la Grèce. Du Pin, Diff. Prel. l. a. ch. 2. §. viii,

(m) δικαιοσύνην διδάξας ὅλον τὸν κόσμον, καὶ ἐπὶ τὸ τέρμα τῆς δύσεως ἐλθὼν, και μαρτυρήσας ἐπὶ τῶν ἡγεμόνων. . . κ. λ. Clem, cap. v.

(n) Et certe eam regionem vidit, quam Clemens Romanus ejus itinera commemorans appellat τὸ τέρμα τῆς δύσεως. Pearlon. ibid.

(2) Romæ, hoc eft in Hefperia, five Italia. Fell. () Num, liv. p. 33.

However, another ground of this opinion is what St. Paul himself fays. Rom. xv. 24. Whenfoever I take my journey into Spain, I will come to you. For I trust to fee you in my journey, and to be brought on my way thitherward by you, if firft I be fomewhat filled with your companie. But Paul's measures had been broken by his imprisonment at Jerufalem, and the confequences of it. And it was now at least five years, fince writing the epiftle to the Romans. It is more likely that (g) when Paul left Rome, he went into the East, and Greece. For in his letters, writ near the end of his confinement there, he expreffeth hopes of fo doing. Philip. ii. 23. 24. fpeaking of Timathie, he fays: Him therefore I hope to fend prefently, fo foon as I shall fee how it will go with me. But I truft in the Lord, that I alfo. myfelf fhall come foortly. Compare i. 20... 25.... And he fays to Philemon, an inhabitant of Coloffe. ver. 22. But withall prepare me alf a lodging. For I trust, that through your prayers, 1 fhall be given unto you. And in the epifle to the Hebrews, probably, writ by Paul to the Jews of Judea and Ferufalem, he fays xiii. 18. 19. Pray for us.... And I beseech you the rather to do this, that I may be restored to you the fooner. And lower, ver. 23. Know ye, that our brother Timothie is fet at liberty. With whom if he come fhortly, I will fee you. Moreover, it is not impoffible, but that Paul may have taken care of Spain by fending thither fome of his fellowlabourers, whilft he was prifoner at Rome.

As I fuppofe the epiftle to the Hebrews to have been writ after that to Philemon, I am apt to think, that Paul came from Rome to Jerufalem, as foon, and as directly, as he could. But he made there a fhort stay only. From Judea I think it likely that he went to Ephefus, and there left Timothie: whom about two years before he had fent for to come to him from Ephefus to Rome. From Ephefus Paul might go to Laodicea and Coloffe. And, poffibly, he returned to Rome by Troas, Philippi, and Corinth

Some have hesitated to allow, that Paul ever came again into this countrey, because he fays, Acts xx. 25. And now, behold, I know, that ye all, among whom I have gone preaching the kingdom of God, shall fee my face no more. But Lewis Cappell (r) has well removed that difficulty. I there

fore

(7) Nos tamen præcipue movent petita ex Scripturis argumenta, quibus aperte liquet, Paulum egreffum Romanorum carcere, in Orientem fe contu liffe. Documento fane magno, mutatum effe jubente Deo Pauli confilium, quo in Hifpaniæ tractum ex civitate Romana proficifci ftatuerat,... Illud etiam nobis eft vero proximum, peregrinationem Pauli Hifpanicam ex verbis Pauli fabricatam.... Unde collegerunt, quod decreverat, illud executioni effe mandatum. Quæ tamen non eft apta argumentandi ratio, &c. Bafn. Ann. 46. num. xlix.

(r) Sed refponderi poteft, Paulum non femel ex humana conjectura, atque ex humano fpiritu, confilio, et propofito, multa ejufmodi cogitaffe, putaffe, propofuiffe, ac dixiffe. Quæ tamen poftea, Deo ita difponente, aliter ceci derunt.... Itaque mirum videri non debet, fi cum Spiritus Paulum oppidatim moneret vincula et afflictiones graves manere eum Jerofolymis, fentiretque fe Spiritu ligatum, ut eo nihilominus proficifceretur, nefciens quænam effent illic fibi eventura, defperaverit de reditu fuo ad eos, quos poft fe relinquebat, licet Deo ita difponente... res aliquot poft annis ceciderit aliter, quam ipse tum credebat. Non eft itaque tam validum adverfus nos argumentum illud,

ut

fore have placed below a part of his obfervations. And fays Wall (s) upon the place: "Ey bide, I know, when fpoken of things future, does "not (as it is used by St. Paul) always fignify a certain knowledge, "or a prophetic certainty but often means only thus much: I take it for "granted: I am fully perfuaded: I forefee it highly probable: I have no "other expectation. And the like." See alfo what there follows.

They who think that Paul did come again into this countrey, but nevertheless was not at Ephefus, feem not to attend to St. Paul's expreffions, who does not fay to the elders of Ephefus: I know, that you will fee me no more. But his words are thefe: And now, behold, I know, that ye all, among whom I have gone preaching the kingdom of God, fhall fee my face no more. The apoftle then thought, that he should never more come into thofe parts. Confequently, he might as well come to Ephefus, as to Coloffe: which he probably did, and certainly hoped, and intended to do. See Philem. ver. 22.

Befides Cappellus, and Wall, already alledged, I might refer to others, who hesitate not at all to allow, that Paul came again into this countrey, particularly Le Clerc, and Lenfant and Beaufobre, upon Acts xx. 25. and (t) Pearfon. Not now to mention any more.

I faid juft now, that, probably, Paul went to Jerufalem, as foon as he could, after he was fet at liberty. And fay Lenfant and Beaufobre in their (u) general preface to St. Paul's epiftles: We have feen, that the "apoftle was accustomed to go from time to time to Jerufalem, and to "take the opportunity of folemn feftivals. So long as the temple fub"fifted, the Jewish Chriftians did not neglect the ordinances of the law. "St. Paul himfelf did not neglect them, that he might give no offenfe "to the Jews." I readily affent to what they fay about the apostle's going to Jerufalem, I could almoft think, that Paul was defirous to go thither, to praise God in his temple for the favourable circumftances of his imprisonment at Rome, and for his deliverance from it. Paul's cafe at Rome very much refembled what had happened to him at Corinth. After (c) which, we find, he had a vow, and went from Corinth to Ephefus, and haftened to Jerufalem. Acts xviii. 9... 22. In like manner, I imagine, that now Paul went to Jerufalem, as foon as he could. But he made no long ftay there. It had not been his custom so to do, fince his converfion.

Having been at Jerusalem, I fuppofe, as before said, that he vifited divers churches, which had been planted by him, and then returned to Rome. St. Paul, though a prifoner, had lived very comfortably at Romé. And he there had great fucceffe in his fervices for the gofpel. It feems to me, that he now confidered that city, as the moft proper place for him to refide in the remaining part of his life. It was the most confpicuous

place ut eo fubvertatur fententia noftra de Pauli reditu in Orientem, poft foluta Romana ejus vincula. Lud. Cappel. Hift. Apoft. illuftrat. p. 34.... 36.

(s) Notes upon the N. T. p. 255.

(Paulus venit Miletum, &c. Ann. Paulin. p. 24. A. D. lxvi. (u) P. 34.

(c) A particular account of that journey from Corinth to Jerufalem may be feen in the firft Part of this work. B. i. ch. 9, § vii.

place in all the world, and the place of the greatest resort from all parts. There he hoped to be more ufeful, than in any other place.

But things do not always fall out exactly according to human expecta tions. For, as I fuppofe, the apoftle had not been long returned to Rome, before he was called out to refign his life for the name of Christ.

In the year of Chrift 64. as we learn from (x) Suetonius, and (y) Tacitus, Heathen hiftorians, as well as from others, was a dreadful fire at Rome, which continued fix or feven days. It was thought by many people, that the city had been fet on fire by the Emperour's orders. But foon after the Chriftians were most cruelly treated by him, as if they had been the authors of the conflagration. So fays Tacitus. The fire is faid to have begun on the (z) 19. of July. And the perfecution of the Chriftians began, as is fuppofed by fome, in (a) November following, by others (b) in Auguft. Which to me feems not fo likely.

manner.

It is the opinion of (c) Pagi, and (d) Bafnage, that Peter and Paul fuffered martyrdom in the year of ++ Chrift 65. They argue in this Orofius (e) having given an account of Nero's perfecution of the Christians, and of the death of the two Apoftles in it, adds, that it was followed by a peftilence in the city, and other difafters. And Tacitus (f) fpeaking

(x) Nam quafi offenfus deformitate veterum ædificiorum, et anguftiis flexurifque vicorum, incendit urbem... Per fex dies feptemque noctes eâ clade fævitum eft... Hoc incendium e turri Mæċenetiana profpectans, lætufque flammæ, ut aiebat, pulcritudine, & Illii in illo fuo fcenico habitu decantavit. Sueton. Neron. cap. 38.

(y) Sed non ope humana, non largitionibus Principis, aut Deum placamentis, decedebat infamia, quin juffum incendium crederetur. Ergo abolendo rumori Nero fubdidit reos, et quæfitiffimis pœnis affecit, quos per flagitia invifos, vulgus Chriftianos appellabat.... Igitur primo correpti qui fatebantur deinde indicio eorum multitudo ingens, haud perinde in crimine incendii, quam odio humani generis convicti, &c. Tacit. Ann. 15. cap. 44.

(z) Fuere qui annotarent, xiv. Calendas Sextiles principium incendii hujus ortum, quo et Senones captam urbem inflammaverant. Tacit. Annal, 15. cap. 41.

(a) cujus initium in medium menfem Novembrem A. 64. cadit, Mofbem. de Reb. Chriftian. fee. 1. cap. 34.

(b) Vid. Toinard. ad lib. de Mort. Perfecut. cap. ii.

(c) Vid. Pagi ann. 64, 65, 67.

(d) Inchoatam fuperiore anno perfecutionem currente continuavit Neronis furor, qui Petri Paulique fanguine refperfus eft. Bafn. ann. 65. n. ix.

+ That alfo was the opinion of Du Pin, not now to mention any others. Quoiqu'il en foit, il eft certain, qu'étant revenu à Rome avec faint Pierre, il y eût la tête tranchée dans le temps de la perfecution de Neron, et proba blement la 65 année de Jefus Chrift, comme nous l'avons fait voir en un autre endroit. Du Pin. Diff. Prel. l. 2. ch. 2. § viii.

(e) Nam primus Romæ Chriftianos fuppliciis et mortibus adfecit, ac per omnes provincias pari perfecutione excruciari imperavit: ipfumque nomen exftirpare conatus, beatiffimos Apoftolos, Petrum cruce, Paulum gladio occidit. Mox acervatim miferam civitatem aborta undique clades. Nam fubfequente autumno tanta urbi peftilentia incubuit, ut triginta millia funerum in rationem Libitina venirent, Orof. 1. 7. c. 7.

(f) Tacitus, lib. 16. cap. 13. loquens de iis quæ Nerva et Veftino Coff, gefta, fic narrationem fuam concludit: Tot facinoribus fadum annum etiam

Dii