The Epistle to the Colossians was also written by St. Paul whilst he was a prisoner at Rome: probably about the end of the year 62 (a.d.). ColossÉ was a city of Phrygia, where St. Paul had founded a Church; that is, converted a certain number to be believers or Christians, during his First or Second Journey, when he was travelling throughout Asia Minor. The believers of ColossÉ, having heard of the Apostle's imprisonment at Rome, sent one of their ministers, named Epaphras, to see how he was treated; and also to give him an account of how the Church at ColossÉ was going on. After hearing all that Epaphras could tell him, St. Paul wrote an Epistle, which he sent to the Colossians by Tychicus, of whom he speaks as a "beloved brother," that is, a faithful fellow Christian. Tychicus was accompanied to ColossÉ by Onesimus, of whom we shall say more presently. In this Epistle to the Colossians, St. Paul proves, that man's only hope of salvation rests upon the atonement made by Jesus Christ; and he shows, therefore, how wrong the Jews were to insist upon the observance of the Law of Moses, as if that could save them. He also warned the Colossians not to be led away by the errors of the philosophers, or wise men, who taught doctrines not taught by the Gospel. He exhorts them to show their faith in Christ by holiness of life, and the due performance of every duty to their fellow creatures; and entreats them to "continue in prayer, and watch in the same with thanksgiving." St. Paul ends this letter, by telling the Colossians that they will hear everything concerning him from Tychicus and Onesimus, by whom he had sent the Epistle. Onesimus, who is here spoken of, had been the slave of a rich man of ColossÉ, named Philemon, who had been converted to Christianity by St Paul. Onesimus ran away from his master, to whom he belonged, and thus robbed him of his services; and some think he also robbed Philemon of money. Onesimus fled to Rome; and there God inclined this runaway slave to listen to the teaching of St. Paul, and, in consequence, he became a Christian and was baptized: after this, the Apostle kept Onesimus with him for some time, that he might see whether his conduct showed that he was really and truly a Christian. He soon saw that this was There is reason to believe that Onesimus became a preacher of the Gospel: some people think that he was afterwards Bishop of Ephesus, and that he finally suffered martyrdom at Rome: but this is not certain. St. Paul was not the only Apostle who wrote Epistles, though he wrote twice as many as all the other Apostles put together. During this time, when St. Paul was a prisoner in Rome, St. James wrote the Epistle which bears his name. St. James was, we must remember, head or Bishop of the Church at Jerusalem; and from Jerusalem he wrote his Epistle, not to the inhabitants of any particular place, but to the Jewish Christians in general; that is, to those Christians who had been Jews before, wherever they might now be residing. In this Epistle, St. James warns those to whom he wrote, not to be led away to follow any of the bad practices which were but too common in those days; and he also explained to them, that they were mistaken as to the meaning of some of the doctrines taught by St. Paul, who had never preached anything that was not quite according to the Will of God. St. James also gave many precepts for the conduct of Christians, and for the due performance of their various duties—encouraging them to try, by showing that the Lord had promised success to those who do really try. "Resist the devil, and he will flee from you." "Draw nigh to God, and He will draw nigh Some time in the course of the year 62 (a.d.), St. Paul was set completely at liberty, so that he might go wherever he pleased: but he did not immediately quit Rome, but remained there till he had completed two years; "preaching the kingdom of God, and teaching those things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ, with all confidence, no man forbidding him." The Roman Emperor Nero had not made any law to forbid the Christian religion being preached and followed; the Jews did not therefore, dare to persecute St. Paul at Rome; for by his being set at liberty, the Roman Government had shown that they considered him an innocent man, unjustly accused by his fellow countrymen. It seems that one reason why St. Paul now remained in Italy was, that he expected Timothy to join him in Rome, and then set out with him on another voyage. Whilst St. Paul was thus waiting for Timothy, he wrote his Epistle to the Hebrews. The object of this Epistle was to convince the Hebrews or Jews, of the truth of the Gospel; and in it, he pointed out that everything which he had told them of Christ's human and divine nature, of His Atonement and Intercession, agreed perfectly with all that the Scriptures of the Old Testament, the writings of Moses and the Prophets, had said of the Messiah. He showed them that the Gospel was far superior to the Law; for that, in fact, the Law had only been given to prepare the way for the Messiah, and to lead men to believe in Him and to serve Him. The Bible gives us no further account of St. Paul's travels, but we have reason to believe, that after Timothy had joined him at Rome, they went to Spain and Britain, and to other western countries, preaching the Gospel everywhere, and converting great numbers of his hearers. After this voyage to the West, St. Paul appears to have visited Jerusalem again; and then to have gone through Syria and other parts of Asia Minor, and so on even into Macedonia; this we gather from one of his Epistles, This Gessius Florus was one of the worst of men, and the Jews suffered dreadfully under his government, for he pillaged whole provinces; encouraged the banditti, on condition that they gave him part of their plunder; he robbed the sacred treasury, and even tried to excite the Jews to open rebellion, in order that, in the confusion, no complaints of his conduct might be carried to Rome. Awful indeed were the evils which now began to fall upon the unhappy Jews, who had provoked the wrath of God by their rejection of the Messiah. In consequence of the sad state of JudÆa, many of the inhabitants sought refuge in foreign countries; those who remained applied to Cestius Gallus, the governor of Syria, and earnestly begged that he would deliver them from the cruel tyranny of Florus. Gallus, instead of inquiring into Florus's conduct, sent the Jews away, merely telling them their governor should behave better for the future, which, however, he did not do. In the year 65 (a.d.), there was a fire at Rome, which burnt a great many houses, and did much damage in the city; the Emperor Nero himself was greatly suspected of having caused it, in order to have an excuse for persecuting the Christians: he delighted in the sufferings and miseries of others, and would have no pity for the poor creatures who would lose all their property in such a fire. At any rate, Nero chose to accuse the Christians |