Prison-Life

u Look in and see Christ’s chosen saint
In triumph wear his Christ-like chain!
Nor fear lest he should swerve or faint, — His life is Christ — his death is gain.’”

Keble.

“Lord Jesus, I am weary in Thy work, but not of Thy work. Let me go and speak for Thee once more,... seal Thy truth, and then die.” — Whitfield’s Life. hen prisoners were brought to Rome, as Paul now was, a long period often elapsed before their cases were finally tried. It not only was necessary that the accusers be present, but time was given them to summon their witnesses; and as these, in the case of the Apostle, would require to be brought from such a distance, it might easily be shown that his trial could not well have been concluded before the end of two years. This is the period mentioned by Luke during which he remained a prisoner in his hired house. The legal documents and papers, which were forwarded by Festus from Cesarea, were probably destroyed at the time of the shipwreck. Add to this, there were always such numbers of cases of the same kind to be heard, that the delay was often very long; the judges had their frequent holidays; prisoners were left for weeks in their chains, when the fagged and wearied lawyers and praetors were down refreshing themselves at the 2b baths and sea-breezes of Baise. Moreover, Paul’s accusers had no object in hastening the trial, as, from the private judgment which Festus had already pronounced, they could have little expectation of success. If they desired anything, therefore, it would be delay, in the hope of being able to work on the feelings or passions of the emperor.

The Apostle’s own imprisonment, as we have said, was not irksome or severe, and, doubtless, “the things which happened to him, had fallen out rather to the furtherance of the gospel.” His house was evidently of considerable size, capable of containing the multitudes which nocked to hear him. The sympathies of many must have been called forth as they saw the old man, his face wrinkled with cares and sorrows, lifting the hand that was chained to a rude soldier, and proclaiming those truths for which he suffered, and of which, “nevertheless, he was not ashamed.” *

But it was not his converts at Home only to whom he was now of service; he was the spiritual father of many churches scattered in different parts of the empire; and the old and faithful friends who came to visit him in his imprisonment, were sent with letters of comfort to all round about. Luke, Timothy, Tychicus, Demas, and Mark, were the bearers, every now and then, to churches and individuals, of messages and epistles. It is pleasing to hear of Mark, whose unfaithfulness led to such unpleasant consequences in separating Paul from Barnabas, again the devoted friend and attendant of his great spiritual father. Many of the Roman converts, too, began to take an active part in proclaiming the gospel.” Many of the

* See Howson and Conybeare, vol. ii. pp. 386, 387.

brethren in the Lord,” he writes to the Philippians, “waxing confident by my bonds, are much more bold to speak the Word without fear.”*

There was another of Paul’s many converts in the capital, whose history possesses peculiar interest, not from his wearing the livery of Caesar’s dependants or courtiers, but from his being one of those apparently hopeless castaways in the lowest scale of life, who arc ever and anon made the monuments and miracles of grace: — I refer to Onesimus. He was a runaway slave from Asia; his master’s name was Philemon, a rich Gentile, a Christian, and member of the church of Colosse. Onesimus had plundered him, and taken refuge at Rome. We can well imagine the debasing companions among whom this man’s lot must have been cast in the lowest streets of the capital. “Profligate and unprincipled as we know even the highest and most educated society to have then been, what must have been its dregs and offal!” t But what cannot grace do? He was brought, we know not how, along with the crowd that went day after day to hear the Great Apostle. He may not unlikely have seen Paul previously, through whose ministry his master Philemon had been converted; at all events, as he listened now to the preaching of the Apostle, he was led to feel his guilt, and to embrace Jesus as his only Saviour. The rude and debased slave became possessor of a liberty he in vain sought by deserting an indulgent master. He saw Paul alone, told him of his behaviour to Philemon, and besought his intercession for pardon. The Apostle seems ardently to have loved this penitent stranger; he saw that he was fitted for

* Phil. i. 14. t Howson.

nobler duties than to return again as a slave to Colosse, and was desirous therefore of retaining him in the service of the gospel at Rome. He would not, however, do his lawful master injustice by keeping him there, without first of all receiving the sanction of the former; he resolved to send Onesimus immediately to Philemon, with a letter and ‘’promissory note” for the sum of money of which he had been robbed by his slave. The letter contained the intimation of his earnest wish, that Onesimus might be allowed to leave his master’s service for the good of the Church at large. The “note” referred to is in the concluding part of the letter (ver. 18), “If he hath wronged thee, or oweth thee ought, put that on my account. 7, Paid, have written it with mine own hand, I will repay it.” The whole epistle itself is a beautiful one, and though well known to all our readers, it may be well for them here to peruse it, before proceeding further. It has been universally admired as a perfect specimen of kindness, courtesy, honourable and delicate feeling, and Christian love. “In it,” says an old writer, “are some of the finest strokes of true rhetoric — it may be called the polite epistle. Such a genteel and admirable address appear in every sentence, that it alone might be sufficient to convince us that Paul was not that weak, visionary, enthusiastic man, which the minute philosophers and little critics among the Deists have sometimes represented him to be.” * We may imagine the mingled feelings with which Onesimus, when he arrived at Colosse, went to the house of his old master. He might well have trembled if he had been going back to any other than a Christian. It is, indeed, a beautiful example of the confidence one

* Benson.

believer may place in the forgiving spirit of another; for “all masters were looked upon, not only by the Roman laws, but by the laws of all nations, as having an unlimited power over slaves; so that, without asking the magistrates’ leave, or any public or formal trial, they might adjudge them to any work or punishment, even to the loss of life itself.”* What effect the Apostle’s letter produced we cannot tell; we may reasonably hope, however, that the good Colossian not only pardoned his penitent slave, but granted him his liberty, and that he returned to Paul, in order to labour with him as (shall we call it 1) the first “city missionary” among the degraded outcasts in Rome. We read, fifty years afterwards, of one Onesimus being bishop of Ephesus. It has been conjectured that the pardoned and liberated slave of Colosse may thus have become the head of the Christian church in the great city of Diana!

But it was not a single letter to a solitary Christian of Asia that found its way, at this time, from Paul’s “hired house.” Learned writers, from different references in these epistles themselves, have inferred that two others, at least, were written by him at this time.t Epaphras, the founder of the church of Colosse, where Philemon was, had come all the way to Rome to see Paul about the lamentable errors which were fast creeping in among his converts. It would appear that some Alexandrian Jew had taken up his abode among the Colossians, and had contrived to draw them sadly away from the simplicity of their first faith. The Apostle, on learning this, thought it right to address them without delay, warning them of their danger,

v Cave’s Lives cf the Apostles. t Neander, p. 318.

entreating them to return to the purity of the true gospel, and not to be led away with “enticing words of philosophy and vain deceit.”

The other letter to which I refer is perhaps the richest and tenderest of all his epistles: it is that which is called in our Bibles the “Epistle to the Ephesians.” There seems strong reason to doubt whether this epistle was written expressly for the church at Ephesus. There are many reasons which we shall not now detail for concluding rather that it was intended for a number or cluster of churches, of which that of Ephesus was one. Tychicus was about to visit this district in Asia Minor; and in consequence of Epaphras having been made prisoner at Rome, along with Paul, he had been entrusted with the epistle to the Colossians. He and Onesimus more than probably travelled together. It would naturally occur to the Apostle that it might be subject of great joy and comfort to the many Christians in these regions, if he were to send by him also a circular letter. It has been supposed that a copy was written out for each church, and that each of these was subscribed in his own handwriting in the usual form, “The salutation of me Paul by my own hand.” *

It is supposed that these last three letters were written by Paul after the first year of his imprisonment, or early the following spring. Tychicus had scarcely left, when the Philippian church sent a trusty messenger to inquire for the welfare of the Apostle, and present him with a gift of money. This, we have

* This supposition, we believe, was first suggested by Archbishop Usher, and has been very generally adopted. See the whole question discussed in Cyclopaedia of Biblical Literature, art. “Epistle to the Ephesians.”

seen, was not the first occasion that devoted people had shown their liberality. It must have been very welcome, doubtless, to the Apostle at this time. He could not conveniently now, as formerly, labour with his hands to minister to his wants. These hands were chained; perhaps we may add, that, though as willing, they were not so able for hard toil as when he held them up before the elders of Ephesus, and told them they were all he had or wished to trust to. Epaphroditus was the Philippian messenger’s name. On reaching Rome, he was seized with a severe illness, probably brought on by the length and fatigues of the journey, or it may be from arriving at the sick and unhealthy season of the year, so well known to this day by those who have visited the “Eternal City.” “He was sick,” Paul wrote immediately afterwards, “nigh unto death but God had mercy on him, and not on him only, but on me also, lest I should have sorrow upon sorrow.”*

The devoted Apostle met daily fresh encouragement in the great capital. Multitudes were added to the Christian Church, and the once despised doctrines were cordially embraced. Strangest of all was it, as we have seen, that the royal palace itself should have become the dwelling-place of believers in Jesus — those who were slaves of the most hideous vice having their spiritual fetters broken, and exulting in the liberty wherewith Christ made them free. We have also supposed as more than likely, that not a few of those rude and barbarous soldiers, to whom Paul was chained, were among the number of his spiritual children. If their hearts were not as hard as the iron mail that

* Phil. ii. 27.

covered them, they could not help being struck with the holy and peaceful calm which reigned in the house and heart of the Jewish prisoner: — what a contrast to the guilt and brutality which, in the praetorian barrack, must have constantly met their eye!

Our Apostle now lost one heathen friend, whose clemency had made imprisonment easy — viz., Burrus. His successor was a vicious, profligate courtier of Nero’s. He does not seem, however, to have subjected Paul to any additional cruelties. The Apostle-prisoner had more to dread from Nero and his wicked wife Poppasa, who, being herself a proselyte to Judaism, would doubtless have it in her power to crush, by a word, the man who was so hated by the house of Israel.

When Epaphroditus had recovered, and was able to return home again to Philippi, Paul entrusted him with a letter to the church there — The Epistle to the Philippians. Had the Apostle consulted his own feelings, he would doubtless have detained this good Philippian in Rome, to cheer his own hours of captivity; but he saw not only that it would be desirable for Epaphroditus to return to his post of duty, but that his shattered frame required a change from the unhealthy damps of a Roman climate. “I have deemed it necessary,” he writes to them, “to send to you Epaphroditus, my brother and companion in labour, and fellow-soldier, but your messenger, and he that ministered to my wants.” * From the whole epistle we obtain a very favourable idea of the character of the Macedonian believers. They had, as yet, escaped the errors that were creeping into other churches; and, with the exception of a few words of reproof, to some

* Phil. ii. 25, 26.

who were not cultivating humility and lowliness of mind as they ought, the epistle is full of joyful commendation, and written in the strain of a father to his affectionate children. When Epaphroditus had returned to Philippi, Tychicus to Colosse, and Mark had probably become the attendant of Peter in Asia Minor, the Apostle’s immediate personal friends were diminished. He had probably still, however, Timothy his “own son,” Luke, and Aristarchus. His own prospects seemed to look brighter — a gleam before the gathering storm! He seems even to hint at what his plans would be when set at liberty. His eyes were turned westwards to the original lands of the old “Galatians,” but before accomplishing such a visit, he appears to intimate a desire, if it were God’s will, of going first to Lesser Asia, and mentions to Philemon his purpose of making his house his home. He would, doubtless, often long for release. He might perhaps think with regret, “What two important years of my life I have spent in this hired house! Might I not have been all this time preaching the gospel, or building up my churches V Nay, in addition to the fruits of his preaching, God had other work for him to do. But for these two years of quiet and seclusion, when his mind and Christian experience were most matured, we should not now have been in the possession of those precious epistles, which have been the treasure, not of one age, but of the Church till the end of time. This is the most likely period to fix the date of that valuable and noble epistle, the Epistle to the Hebrews, which, though considered by some writers not to have been the work of Paul, has by far the greatest amount of evidence in its favour, as proceeding from no hand but his.* As we read it, we may think of its author dictating its sublime words during the last of the quiet hours he passed in “the solitude of a great city.” The period of repose is soon to be over. The crisis is at hand. Is it to issue in a new lease of life and call of duty 1 Is he yet, “as Paul the aged,” to be again summoned to bear the cross? or is he at once to get his crown 1

* See note to Stackhouse, vol. vi. p. 497.