Chapter XXXII. ST. PAUL SET AT LIBERTY.

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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 the case; and indeed Onesimus gave a strong proof of the change in his heart and feelings, by wishing to go back to ColossÉ, and give himself up again as a slave to Philemon, in order to make up for the injury he had done him by running away. In doing this, Onesimus ran some risk; for the laws of Phrygia allowed a master to punish a runaway slave very severely, and even put him to death if he pleased: but he felt that it was his duty to go back, and make amends for the wrong he had done; and therefore he went, trusting in God to save him, or to enable him to bear whatever punishment might be inflicted. St. Paul felt a great interest in Onesimus, whom he speaks of as his son, because he had converted him to the new life of a Christian; and therefore he wrote to Philemon, earnestly begging of him not only to pardon Onesimus for any wrong he had done him, but also now to receive him, not as a servant, but as a fellow Christian, "a brother beloved." We are not told in the Scriptures any more on this subject, but there can be no doubt that Philemon did all that St. Paul requested.

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 to you." "God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble." "Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He shall lift you up." These are texts full of encouragement to all Christians, to the end of time. And equally necessary for us now, as for the believers to whom St. James wrote, are, "Be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves." "Speak not evil one of another." "Grudge not one against another"; and all the other warnings and precepts contained in this short, but beautiful Epistle, written by St. James.

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, in which he says, that at Miletum he had been obliged to leave one of his companions, called Trophimus, who was too ill to go on any further, and that at Troas he had left a cloak and some parchments. Parchment is the skin of sheep, prepared in a particular manner, so as to be fit to write upon. Very soon after St. Paul left Jerusalem, to make this Fifth and last Journey, St. James was killed at Jerusalem by the unbelieving Jews. Festus, the Roman governor, died; and before his successor, Albinus, could get to JudÆa, the Jews raised a tumult, and St. James is said to have been thrown down from some part of the temple, and then knocked on the head with a club or heavy stick. Albinus, when he did come, proved himself to be a very bad ruler; for he was so extremely fond of money, that in order to get it, he was not only guilty of great oppression, but he allowed the people to commit all sorts of wickedness without being punished, if they would only give him a sufficient sum of money. He was not governor for long, but was succeeded by Gessius Florus, about a.d. 64.

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 of having set fire to the city, and on this pretence they were now treated with the greatest cruelty; tortured first, and then put to death in many barbarous ways. When this persecution began, it is probable that St. Paul was in the island of Crete; but, on hearing of the sufferings of the Christians at Rome, he immediately went there, to strengthen and encourage the brethren to bear any torture, and even death itself, rather than give up their religion. He comforted them by reminding them of the love of Christ, and by assuring them that His blessing would rest upon them, whether they lived or died. St Paul was not long allowed to carry on this good work, for he was himself imprisoned on account of his religion; and he saw plainly that he should soon be called upon to give up his life for the sake of his divine Master; but this prospect did not disturb him; he was ready and willing to go, and be with Christ.


                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           

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