assist some of the brethren to discharge a vow of Nazarite- | arrived at Rome, where his active exertions in preaching the ship, excited the multitude to kill the apostle, who was with Gospel caused him to be imprisoned a second time. How difficulty rescued from their fury by Lysias, the chief captain long Paul continued in prison at this time, we know not, or tribune of the temple guard. On the following morning, but from the circumstance of his being brought twice before Paul was conducted before the council, when he declared the emperor Nero or his prefect, Dr. Macknight thinks it himself to be a Pharisee. A contest having arisen between probable that he was confined a year or more before he was the Pharisees and Sadducees, members of the sanhedrin, put to death. As the Neronian persecution of the Christians Lysias, being apprehensive for Paul's safety, commanded the raged greatly during this second visit to Rome, Paul, knowsoldiers to rescue him, and directed the council to accuse him ing the time of his departure to be at hand, wrote his second before Felix, the procurator of Cæsarea. (Acts xxii. xxiii.) epistle to Timothy; from which we learn, that, though the Five days after, Ânaniaş, the high-priest, accompanied by apostle's assistants, terrified with the danger, forsook him the elders and by a certain orator named Tertullus, proceeded and fled, yet he was not altogether destitute of consolation; to that city, and accused him to Felix of sedition, heresy, and for the brethren of Rome came to him privately, and minisprofanation of the temple. These charges were denied by tered to him. (2 Tim. iv. 12. 21.) Concerning the precise Saint Paul, who gave an account of his faith; but the gover- manner of Saint Paul's death, we have no certain information, nor, though convinced of his innocence, being unwilling to but, according to primitive tradition, he was beheaded on the displease the Jews, and also hoping that Paul would have 29th of June, A. D. 66, at Aqua Salvia, three miles from Rome, given money to be liberated, ordered the apostle to be kept and interred in the Via Ostensis, at a spot two miles from the in easy confinement, and allowed his friends to visit him. city, where Constantine the Great afterwards erected a church A few days after this transaction, Felix, at the request of his to his memory. "But his noblest monument subsists in his wife Drusilla, sent for Paul, who gave them an account of immortal writings; which, the more they are studied, and his faith in Christ, and reasoned so forcibly concerning right- the better they are understood, the more they will be admired eousness, chastity, and a judgment to come, that the profli- to the latest posterity for the most sublime and beautiful, the gate governor's conscience was alarmed. "Felix trembled, most pathetic and impressive, the most learned and profound and answered, Go thy way for this time; when I have a specimens of Christian piety, oratory, and philosophy." convenient season, I will call for thee." That season, however, never came; and Felix, two years afterwards, when recalled from his government, left Paul in prison in order to gratify the Jews. (Acts xxiv.)

A. D. 60. Felix was succeeded in the government of Judæa by Festus, who sat in judgment on Saint Paul, and having heard the accusations of the Jews against him, and his defence, proposed a new trial at Jerusalem in order to ingratiate himself with the Jews. But this was declined by Paul, who appealed to the emperor. Shortly after this, Agrippa king of Chalcis, and his sister Bernice, having come to Cæsarea to congratulate Festus, the latter communicated Paul's case to him, and brought the apostle forth to plead his cause before Agrippa. Accordingly the apostle vindicated himself in so masterly a manner, as to extort an acknowledgment of his innocence from Agrippa himself (Acts xxv. xxvi.); but, having appealed to the emperor, it became necessary to send him to Rome, where he at length arrived in the spring of the year 61, after a very tempestuous passage, the particulars of which are related in Acts xxvii. and xxviii. 1-16. Here he was permitted to reside in his own hired house, with a soldier to whose custody he was committed. On the third day after his arrival, he sent for the chief of the unbelieving Jews, to whom he explained the cause of his imprisonment, though with little success; and afterwards, during the two years of his confinement (from the spring of A. D. 61, to the early part of 63), he received all that came to his house, preaching the Gospel without any impediment whatever. (Acts xxviii. 17-31.) During this first visit to Rome, Saint Paul wrote his Epistles to the Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, and to Philemon.

VI. As Luke has not continued Saint Paul's history beyond his first imprisonment at Rome, we have no authentic record of his subsequent travels and labours from the spring of A. D. 63, when he was released, to the time of his martyrdom. But, from the intimations contained in the Epistles which he wrote from Rome during his first confinement, some learned men have conjectured that he sailed from Italy to Judæa, accompanied by Timothy and Titus; and, leaving Titus in Crete (Tit. i. 5.), he proceeded thence with Timothy to Judæa, and visited the churches in that country, to which he had lately sent from Italy (perhaps from Rome) the Epistle which is now inscribed to the Hebrews. Having visited the churches in Syria, Cilicia, and Asia Minor, Paul and Timothy continued some time at Colosse; and, leaving Timothy at Ephesus, Paul proceeded to Macedonia, visiting the churches. From this country he wrote his Epistle to Titus, and also his first Epistle to Timothy. Having also visited the churches of Greece, and probably that of Corinth for the second time, Saint Paul passed the winter of 64 at Nicopolis, a city of Epirus; thence he proceeded to Crete, and perhaps to Corinth for the third time;3 and early in 65

With what admirable propriety Saint Paul suited his address to the characters of Felix and Drusilla, see Vol. II. Part II. Chap. II. Sect. II. § 4. and p. 327 infra.

It is not known by what means St. Paul was delivered from prison. Calmet conjectures, with great probability, that the Jews durst not prosecute him before the emperor.

• Such is the supposition of Michaelis, vol. iv. p. 37.

VII. Such were the life and labours of "Paul the Apostle of Jesus Christ," which have justly been considered as an irrefragable proof of the truth of the Christian revelation. How indefatigably he exerted himself to make known the glad tidings of salvation, the preceding brief sketch will sufficiently evince. "One of the most striking traits in the character of this extraordinary man was, his readiness to understand, and his promptness to enter into, the great design of Jesus Christ to give the world a universal religion. His mind, with wonderful facility, threw off the prejudices of his Jewish education, and expanded to the vastness of this enterprise. It is reinarkable, too, that, after he had cast off the yoke of Jewish ceremonies, and abandoned his first religious connections, he manifested no bitterness of spirit towards his former friends. On the contrary, his kindness was unwearied, and his disposition to accommodate his practice to their prejudices, as far as he could do so without sacrifice of principle, was remarkable. Perhaps a higher example of firmness united with liberality, was never exhibited by any mere man. His history shows also a noble instance of intellectual and moral courage. His design was, to spread the gospel throughout the whole world. (Rom. i. 5.) He went to his work in full expectation of success, without any human means but the use of reason and persuasion. His confidence in the power of truth seems to have been unlimited and unwavering." Hence "we see him in the prosecution of his purpose, travelling from country to country, enduring every species of hardship, encountering every extremity of danger, assaulted by the populace, punished by the magistrates, scourged, beaten, stoned, left for dead: expecting, wherever he came, a renewal of the same treatment and the same dangers; yet, when driven from one city, preaching in the next, spending his whole time in the employment, sacrificing to it his pleasures, his ease, his safety; persisting in this course to old age (through more than thirty years); unaltered by the experience of perverseness, ingratitude, prejudice, desertion; unsubdued by anxiety, want, labour, persecutions; unwearied by long confinement, undismayed by the prospect of death."

But this great luminary of the Christian church did not confine his labours to the preaching of the Gospel. He wrote fourteen Epistles, in which the various doctrines and duties of Christianity are explained, and inculcated with peculiar sublimity and force of language; at the same time that they exhibit the character of their great author in a most amiable and endearing point of view. His faith was a practical principle, influencing all the powers and faculties of the soul; his morality was of the purest and most exalted kind. He "derives all duties from the love of God in Christ as

Lardner, Works, 8vo. vol. vi. pp. 234-301.; 4to. vol. iii. pp. 251-234., whose dates have chiefly been followed. Dr. Benson's History of the First Plant

Dr. Hales's Analysis of Chronology, vol. ii. book ii. pp. 1155-1254. Dr.

ing of Christianity, vol. i. pp. 144-290. vol. ii. passim. Pritii, Introd. in
Nov. Test. pp. 246-268. Dr. Macknight's Life of the Apostle Paul, annexed
to the fourth volume (4to.), or the sixth volume (8vo.), of his translation
of the Epistles.
Murray Street Discourses, p. 335. (New York, 1830.)

Paley's Hore Paulinæ, p. 379. See also some valuable remarks on the character of Saint Paul in Dr. Ranken's Institutes of Theology, pp. 391 -395.

their foundation. All the motives to right action, all the arguments for holiness of life, are drawn from this source; all the lines of duty converge to this centre. If Paul censures, he points to this only spring of hope; if he laments, he turns to this only true source of consolation; if he insists that the grace of God hath appeared, he points to its practical object, teaching us to live soberly, righteously, and godly. When he determines to know nothing but his Saviour, and even him under the degrading circumstances of crucifixion, he includes in that knowledge all the religious and moral benefits of which it is susceptible." Integrity, tenderness of heart, disinterestedness, heavenly-mindedness, profound knowledge of human nature, and delicacy in giving advice or reproof, are the leading characteristics of Saint Paul's writings; in which, while he every where maintains the utmost respect for constituted authorities, he urges and unfolds the various social and relative duties in the most engaging and impressive manner.

VIII. "All the writings of Saint Paul bespeak him to have been a man of a most exalted genius, and the strongest abilities. His composition is peculiarly nervous and animated. He possessed a fervid conception, a glowing but chastised fancy, a quick appehension, and an immensely ample and liberal heart. Inheriting from nature distinguished powers, he carried the culture and improvement of them to the most exalted height to which human learning could push them. He was an excellent scholar, an acute reasoner, a great orator, a most instructive and spirited writer. Longinus, a person of the finest taste, and justest discernment in criticism and polite literature, classes the Apostle Paul among the most celebrated' orators of Greece. His speeches in the Acts of the Apostles are worthy the Roman senate. They breathe a most generous fire and fervour, are animated with a divine spirit of liberty and truth, abound with instances of as fine address as any of the most celebrated orations of Demosthenes or Cicero can boast; and his answers, when at the bar, to the questions proposed to him by the court, have a politeness and a greatness, which nothing in antiquity hardly ever equalled." At the same time, this great preacher adapted his discourses to the capacities of his respective audiences, with an astonishing degree of propriety and ability, as is evident from the difference of his reasoning with the Jews at Antioch in Pisidia, with the Gentiles at Lystra, with the polished Athenians, and with Felix the Roman governor, as also from the handsome apology which he makes for himself before king Agrippa.

1. As the Jews had the Old Testament in their hands, and (it is well known) at this time expected a deliverer, from their study of the prophetic writings, Paul takes occasion, in his discourse to them (Acts xiii. 13-12.), to illustrate the divine economy in opening the Gospel gradually, and preparing the Jews, by temporal mercies, for others of a yet more important nature. This afforded him a very handsome and unaffected opportunity of showing his acquaintance with their Scriptures, which they esteemed the highest part of literature, and object of science. His quotations are singularly apposite, and the whole of his discourse (one would think) must have carried conviction to their minds. The result is well known; though a few embraced the despised Gospel of Christ, the majority rejected the benevolent coun

topics of creation and providence. The works of creation are a demonstration of the being of a God, the living God who made heaven and earth and the sea, and all things that are therein. In times past he suffered all nations, all the heathens, to walk in their own ways, without any particular revelation of himself like that which he made to the people of Israel. But yet his general providence afforded ample proofs of his power and goodness: nevertheless he left not himself without witness, in that he did good, and gave us rain from heaven ana fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness. These arguments are as forcible as they are plain and obvions to the meanest capacity; He is the creator and preserver of us and of all things, he is the author and giver of all the good that we enjoy, and he therefore is the only proper and adequate object of our worship. The people were so transported, that with these sayings scarce restrained they them that they had not done sacrifice unto them. But such is the fickleness and uncertainty of the multitude, that him whom they were now for worshipping as a god, soon after, at the instigation of certain Jews, they suffered to be stoned, and drawn out of the city, supposing he had been dead. The apostles, however, had sown some good seed among them; for we read, that within a little time they returned again to Lystra, confirming the souls of the disciples, and exhorting them to continue in the faith.

3. Our apostle's conduct and behaviour among the learned and polite Athenians (Acts xvii. 16-34.) we shall find to be somewhat different from what it was to the rude and illiterate Lycaonians, but both of equal fitness and propriety. He did not open his commission at Athens in the same manner as at Lystra, by working a miracle. There were, doubtless, several cripples at Athens (for it is well known that such cases abound in that climate); but it does not appear that any of them had the good disposition of the cripple at Lystra, or faith to be healed. Besides, the Greeks did not so much require a sign (1 Cor. i. 22.) as seek after wisdom. Accordingly, we find the apostle disputing not only in the synagogue with the Jews and the devout persons (Jewish proselytes), but also in the forum or market-place, daily with them that met with him. Here he encountered certain philosophers of the Epicurean and Stoic sects; some of whom treated him as a babbler, while others regarded him as a setter forth of strange gods, and, consequently, a violator of the laws of Athens, because he preached unto them Jesus and the Resurrection. At length they conducted him to the Areopagus (or Mars-hill), the seat of the highest court of judicature in that city for matters concerning religion, and also the place of greatest resort: and with that curiosity and thirst of news, for which (it is well known) the Athenians were at that time notorious, they requested him to give them an account of his new doctrine. What a glorious scene was here for the manifestation of the truth before such a promiscuous and numerous assembly of citizens and strangers, of philosophers of all sects, and people of all conditions; and with what exquisite skill and contrivance is every part and member of his discourse so framed and accommodated, as to obviate some principal error and prejudice in some party or other of his hearers! Most of the false notions, both of their vulgar and philosophical religion, are here exposed and refuted. If there was nothing else remaining, yet this sufficiently testifies how great a master he was in the learning of the Greeks. 2. With the idolatrous Lycaonians at Lystra (who were Most of the fundamental truths, both of natural and revealed little better than barbarians, like most of the inland nations religion, are here opened and explained; and all within the of Asia Minor), the great apostle of the Gentiles pursued a compass of a very few verses. From an altar with an indifferent course. (Compare Acts xiv. 6-22.). Such persons scription to the unknown God (and that there were altars at are apt to be struck and affected more with signs and won- Athens with such an inscription, we have the attestation of ders than with arguments; he, therefore, at his first preach- several ancient heathen authors), he takes occasion to reing among them, very seasonably and fitly confirmed his prove them for their great plurality of gods, and him whom doctrine, by a signal miracle in healing a man who had been they ignorantly worshipped to declure unto them. It might be a cripple from his birth. And when Paul and his fellow-contrary to the laws of Athens for any one to recommend labourer Barnabas had with difficulty restrained the people and introduce a new or strange god; but he could not well of Lystra from offering sacrifice to them as deities, who be subject to the penalty of the law only for declaring him (agreeably to the fables believed among the ancient heathen), whom they already worshipped without knowing him. The they supposed, had appeared in the likeness of men, their dis- opportunity was fair, and he improves it to the greatest adcourse is admirably adapted to the capacity of their auditors. vantage. He branches out his discourse into several particuThey derive their arguments from no higher source than lars.-That God made the world and all things therein which natural religion, and insist only upon the plain and obvious proposition, though agreeable enough to the general belief 1 Mrs. More's Essay on St. Paul, vol. i. p. 109., to which the reader is and opinion, was yet directly contrary both to the Epicureans, referred for an ample and beautiful account of the character and writings and to the Peripatetics; the former of whom attributed the of that illustrious apostle. On the subject of his "preaching Christ cru- formation of the world to the fortuitous concourse of atoms cified the reader will find some instructive remarks in pp. 44-51. of Mr. without any intervention of the Deity, and the latter mainWilks's able vindication of Missionary exertions, entitled "Christian Mis-tained that the world was not created at all, and that all sions an Enlightened Species of Christian Charity." 8vo. London, 1819.

sel of God towards them.

2 Longinus, p. 268. Pearce, 8vo.

Harwood's Introduction, vol. i. p. 199.

See this character of the Athenians illustrated, in Vol. I. p. 90.

5. The last instance, which we shall notice of this apostle's fine address and politeness, is to be found in his celebrated reply to king Agrippa, who publicly declared to him that he had almost persuaded him to be a Christian. Would to God that not only THOU but also ALL that hear me this day, were both ALMOST, and ALTOGETHER, such as I am-EXCEPT THESE BONDS. (Acts xxvi. 29.) What a prodigious effect must this striking conclusion, and the sight of the irons held up to enforce it, make upon the minds of the audience! To his singular attainments in learning the Roman governor publicly bore an honourable testimony, imagining that the intenseness of his application to his studies, and his profound erudition, had disordered his understanding, and occasioned his supposed insanity.

things had continued as they now are from all eternity.-|with so much address, as not to offend his person,--an exThat seeing he is Lord of heaven and earth, he dwelleth not in ample, the most worthy of our imitation; as it would greatly temples made with hands, neither is worshipped with men's contribute to make the bitter portion of reproof, if not palahands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all l fe table, at least salutary and successful. and breath and all things, which was levelled not so much How artfully, then, does St. Paul insinuate himself into against the philosophers as against the popular religion of the soul of this great sinner, and shake his conscience at the Athens; for the philosophers seldom or never sacrificed, remembrance of his vices!-not by denouncing vengeance unless in compliance with the custom of their country, and against him, for his lust and injustice, but by placing in the even the Epicureans themselves admitted the self-sufficiency strongest point of light the opposite virtues, showing their of the Deity; but the people believed very absurdly that reasonableness in themselves, and their rewards at the day there were local gods, that the Deity, notwithstanding his of judgment. For he reasoned, not of unrighteousness,immensity, might be confined within temples, and notwith- not of incontinence, but of righteousness and chastity;-and standing his all-sufficiency was fed with the fat and fumes by holding forth a beautiful picture of these necessary virof sacrifices, as if he could really stand in need of any sus-tues, he left it to Felix to form the contrast, and to infer the tenance, who giveth to all life and breath and all things.— blackness of his own vices. A masterly stroke! and it effecThat he hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell tually succeeded: for, as the prisoner spake, the judge on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times be- trembled. jore appointed, and the bounds of their habitation: which was not only opposed to the Epicureans, who derived the beginning of the human race from the mere effects of matter and motion, and to the Peripatetics or Aristotelians, who denied mankind to have any beginning at all, having subsisted in eternal successions; but was, moreover, opposed to the general pride and conceit of the people of Athens, who boasted themselves to be Aborigines, to be descended from none other stock or race of men, but to be themselves originals and natives of their own country.-That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us; for in him we live, and move, and have our being which fundamental truth, with the greatest propriety and elegance, he confirms by a quotation from one of their own, poets, Aratus, the Cilician, his own countryman, who lived above three hundred years before, and in whose astronomical poem this hemistich is still extant. As certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring. An evident proof that he knew how to illustrate divinity with the graces of classical learning, and was no stranger to a taste and politeness worthy of an Attic audience. That forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold or silver or stone, graven by art and man's device: which was plainly pointed at the gross idolatry of the lower people, who thought the very idols themselves to be gods, and terminated their worship in them.-That the times of this ignorance God winked at or overlooked; as he said before to the people of Lystra, In former times God suffered all nations to walk in their own ways; but now commandeth all men every where to repent: which doctrine of the necessity of repentance must have been very mortifying to the pride and vanity of the philosophers, and especially of the Stoics, whose wise man was equal if not superior to God himself.-Because he hath appointed a day in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained, whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead: till now they had heard him with silence and attention, because though every period of his discourse glanced at some of his hearers, yet it coincided with the notions of others, and he had not before touched and offend-perfect." ed them altogether; but when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked (the Epicureans, and the men of wit and pleasure), and others said (the Platonists, and the graver sort of his audience), We will hear thee again of this matter, putting it off to a more convenient season. So Paul departed from among them, leaving them as they deserved to themselves. Howbeit certain men clave unto him, and believed (a diminutive expression to signify that he made but very few converts); among whom the principal were Dionysius the Areopagite (who is said to have been afterwards constituted the first bishop of Athens), and a woman of rank named Da

maris.

4. In St. Paul's discourse to Felix (Acts xxiv.), he had for his hearer a Roman governor, who was remarkable for his lust, and injustice;-a man who was very unlikely to bear, much less to reform by, a pointed reproof from his own prisoner. This, then, was a case, which required great art as well as great courage; and accordingly we find our apostle mingled the wisdom of the serpent with the innocence of the dove. He had honesty enough, to rebuke the sins; and yet prudence enough, not to offend the sinner. He had the courage to put even his judge in mind of his crimes; yet 1 Bp. Barrington conjectures that this quotation was taken from the celebrated Hymn of Cleanthes, in which the words spoken by Saint Paul are also to be found. See Mr. Townsend's New Test. arranged in Chronological Order, &c. vol. ii. p. 249.

The writings of Paul show him to have been eminently acquainted with Greek learning and Hebrew literature." He greatly excelled in the profound and accurate knowledge of the Old Testament, which he perpetually cites and explains with great skill and judgment, and pertinently accommodates to the subject which he is discussing. Born at Tarsus, one of the most illustrious seats of the muses in those days, initiated in that city into the learning and philosophy of the Greeks, conversing, in early life, with their most elegant and celebrated writers, whom we find him quoting, and afterwards finishing his course of education at the feet of Gamaliel, the learned Jewish rabbi, he came forth into public and

2 It is universally acknowledged that Paul had read the Greek poets, and has quoted Aratus, Epimenides, and Menander; though it is scarcely sus pected by any one, that he quotes or refers to Eschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides. There is, however (Dr. A. Clarke observes), such a similarity between the following quotations and the apostle's words, that we are almost persuaded that they were present to his comprehensive mind; and if they were, he extends the thought infinitely higher, by language incomparably

inore exalted.

1 Τim. vi. 25. Ο μακάριος και μόνος Δυναστης, ὁ Βασιλεύς των βασιλευοντων,

Kupios Tv XUPISUOVTV. The blessed and only Potentate, the King of
kings, and Lord of lords.
The Supreme Being is also styled the King of kings, and the Blessed, by
Eschylus in his tragedy of the Supplicants:

Αναξ ανάκτων, μακαρών
Μακαρτάτε, και τελέων
Τελειότατον κρατος.

Ver. 520. Ed. Porson.

"O King of kings, most Blessed of the blessed, most Perfect of the 1 Tim. vi. 16. Ο μόνος έχων αθανασίαν, φως οίκων απρόσιτον. Who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can come unto. In the Antigone of Sophocles, there is a sublime address to Jove, of which the following is an extract:

Αγήρως χρόνῳ Δυνασίας
Κατέχεις Ολυμπου
Μαρμαροεσσαν αιγλων.

Ver. 608. Edit. Brunck. "But thou, an ever-during potentate, dost inhabit the refulgent splendour of Olympus!"

"This passage," says Dr. Clarke, "is grand and noble; but how insignificant does it appear, when contrasted with the superior sublimity of the inspired writer! The deity of Sophocles dwells in the dazzling splendour of heaven; but the God of Paul inhabits light, so dazzling and so resplendent, that it is perfectlly unapproachable!"

Once more, in 2 Tim. iv. 7. we read, Τον αγώνα τον καλόν ηγονισμαι, του

pc TTSXxx. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course. There is a passage in the Alcestis of Euripides, in which the very expressions used here by the apostle are found, and spoken on the occasion of a wife laying down her life for her husband, when both his parents had Ουκ ηθέλησας ουδ' ετόλμησας θάνειν

refused to do it.

Του σου προ παιδος" αλλα την δ' ειασατε
υναικ οίνοιαν, ην εγω και μητέρα
Πατερα το γ' ενδίκως αν εγε μην μόνην
Και το καλόν γ' αν τουδ' αγων ηγωνίσω,
Του σου προ παιδος κατύκνων,

Alcest. v. 644.

"Thou wouldest not, neither darest thou to die for thy son; but hast suffered this strange woman to do it, whom I justly esteem to be alone m father and mother: thou wouldest have fought a good fight had'st thou died for thy son."

The xanov aywv, good fight, was used among the Greeks to express a contest of the most honourable kind: and in this sense the apostle uses it. (Dr. A. Clarke, on 1 Tim. vi. 16., and on 2 Tim. iv. 8.)