Life of St. Paul for the Young, XXXIV–XXXV

—

LIFE OF ST. PAUL FOR THE YOUNG. BY GEORGE LUDINGTON WEED,

CHAPTER XXXIV.

ISLAND OF MALTA— ''TOWARD ROME"— IN PRISON.

— The Islanders—Paul bitten by a Viper— Mistaken for a God The Certain Island Ministry of — Healing "Castor and Pollux" — Syracuse — Rhegium — Buried Fires and Buried Cities — Puteoli — Appian Way — Appii Forum — Three Taverns —Approach to the City — Via Sacra— The Forum—Julius and Burrus — Prison Life — Roman Guards — Friends and Helpers — Liberty — Missionary Journeys.

On reaching land, it was found that the island was Melita, now called Malta. It was then uncultivated and covered with for-

ests. It had not the dense population of today. The people were called barbarians, but they were better than many such so-called now. They showed their kindly spirit and welcome to the ship's company by building a fire to relieve the discomfort and suffering from rain and cold. That fire will never be forgotten. It is well remembered by every child who reads or hears the story of Paul's shipwreck. He whose voice bade his companions to be of good cheer on the sea, did what he could to make them so on the land. Ready to do his part, or even more, for the comfort of all, he '

gathered sticks of wood and placed them on the fire. Hidden among them was a torpid viper, which was revived by the heat. Its first act was to fasten itself on his hand, piercing it with its poisonous fangs. The rude islanders were filled with horror. They well knew the usual effects of a viper's sting. They watched

Copyright, 1899, by George W. Jacobs & Co., Philadelphia.

938 IMPROVEMENT ERA.

for the immediate swelling of his arm and other signs of poison throughout his body, which would end in death. They believed him to be guilty of murder or some other great crime, and that the viper was an instrument of punishment even though he had escaped the dangers of the sea. But when he shook it off from his arm into the fire, and they saw it had done him no harm, they

thought, as had the people in Lystra, that he was a god, and that neither sea nor viper could destroy him. We feel sure that he at once denied this and spoke of the true God as he did to the Lystrians who were ready to render him idolatrous worship. Paul did great and many wonders in the name of Him who had protected him from death. Publius was governor of the island. For three days he cared for the shipwrecked strangers. His father was suffering from a terrible disease. Paul visited him, and put his hands upon him, praying to God, who healed him. The wonderful news quickly spread throughout the island. Other sick came to him and were healed. In return for all this the islanders did what they could for the comfort of Paul and his companions during the three months of their stay, and supplied comforts and needs for the continued journey. Again they sailed for Italy. Again the Apostle of Jesus Christ was carried in a ship named after heathen divinities, Castro and Pollux, reminding him of idolatry wherever he went. Landing at Syracuse on the island of Sicily, where the vessel tarried three days, we may suppose Julius allowed Paul to go ashore as he had at Sidon, In the mixed population he would find opportunity to preach the gospel, "to the Jew first and also to the Gentile;" and so founding, as tradition tells us, the first Sicilian church. An unfavorable breeze directed his ship's course to Rhegium, a city whose imagined protectors were the gods after whom the ship was named. Paul sailed on the bay of Naples, then as now noted as one of the most beautiful of earthly scenes. Vesuvius, as quiet as the day was calm, was decked with its vines of green. No one thought of the hidden fires beneath it that would soon destroy the fair but wicked cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum at its base, as those from heaven destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. Little did Paul or the wife of Felix, who had so lately met in Csesa-

LIFE OF ST. PAUL FOR THE YOUNG. 939

rea, think that she and her child would perish together in the awful catastrophe.

As the Castro and Pollux landed at Puteoli, among the idlers and merchants crowding the pier, were Christians, the most cheering sight to Paul, desiring him to tarry seven days. Italian Christians had long looked for a visit from the apostle, but not in chains. The news found a rapid way to Rome, where was formed a plan to give him a joyous welcome even before his eyes beheld the city.

The Appian Way was the great road leading to Rome. Along it Paul walked, an old man, a prisoner led by a chain, shattered by years of labor and suffering, just escaped from shipwreck, not knowing what trials of body and spirit he had yet to endure. No marvel if he who had been strength to others on the sea, was exhausted, weak and despondent on the land. He passed through villages of which only fragments of pavements and tombs remain; and by vine-clad hills and water courses lined with willows. Wearily he crossed the Pontine Marshes. He reached Appii Forum, then known as the meeting-place of vulgar crowds; but now remembered for a meeting of another kind. Hither Christians from Rome, on hearing of his coming, hastened forty miles to greet him. Among them were doubtless some he had known in the far east, little dreaming that they would one day meet him in -circumstances so changed — their loved apostle in bonds. Ten miles further on, at a place called Three Taverns, he met another company waiting to welcome and honor him, ' 'whom, when Paul saw, he thanked God and took courage." With a lighter heart he went the remaining seventeen miles of his journey. At last from a summit he gained an extensive view — of towns and villas on neighboring hills; of gardens and acqueducts; of roads from every direction meeting in a common center — the great city of Rome. From that summit it was only a confused mass of buildings; for he could not distinguish the streets and open squares, nor hovels, from palaces, theatfrs, colonnades, baths and temples. As he approached the city he met the signs of busy life the — varied costumes of many nations, and 'of the different classes of Romans, laborers, beggars and soldiers; wayfarers and horsemen; the gay and rich in palanquins carried by men, and those in car-

—

940 IMPROVEMENT ERA.

riages drawn by horses. Among them all, none cared for the forlorn prisoner. If they noticed him at all, it was with a feeling of

pity or contempt, for a supposed convict on his way to meet his just due of imprisonment or execution.

Paul entered Rome in March, A. D. 61. Passing under the

arch of Porta Capena, he was led by his chain along the Via Sacra,

which was more worthy of the name after his feet, weary and sore, had trodden it. No Roman general who had passed over it in pomp and pride, could compare with him in greatness. The richest trophies of war ever carried over it were poverty itself

compared with the treasures he bore. Beneath his soiled and tattered prison garb was concealed more of royalty than ever wore the purple robe. No victor's car carried him; but though a captive in the eyes of men, he was a glorious conquerer in the sight of God. The Forum was the heart of Rome, the center of its interests. There was the golden milestone where met the roads from all provinces. Paul was probably led from there to the barracks of the Pretorian troops, the pride of the Roman army. The prefect then in command was Afranius Burrus, a noble-minded Roman and humane officer. If Julius delivered Paul to his keeping, it was most fortu-

nate. In so doing he would certainly tell Burrus of the apostle's life while with him, and of his belief in his innocence. But this would not secure his liberty. For two long years Paul waited for the trial that should have been held immediately, and set him free. Paul's prison life in Rome was not such as he had experienced in Csesarea. He was permitted to live in a hired house, but was compelled to have the constant attendance of a guard. This must have been exceedingly annoying to an active spirit like his, prompting him to go about doing good, as his Master did. His voice was not heard in the synagogue, nor street, nor market-place, nor schoolhouse, as it had been in other cities. His hired house was the meeting-place. There was always one whom he could teach the guard at his side. Having a diiferent one eveiy few hours, many had the opportunity of learning Christian truth, and of seeing the Christian spirit in him. His character was a great contrast to that of many with whom they had to do; and his teach-

LIFE OF ST. PAUL FOR THE YOUNG. 941

ings were very different from any they had ever known. Many of them became Christians. In the soldiers' barracks there was a Christian band. Its influence extended even to the royal palace: there were "saints in Csesar's household." But soldiers were not the only listeners to Paul in his home. While Jews were his enemies, probably influencing the emperor against him. Gentiles visited him and welcomed his teachings. They were chiefly of the poor and lower classes, and slave?. He had the companionship of some of his old friends. Timothy and Luke, Aristarchus and others were still his helpers; coming to him for instruction, and then carrying messages to the churches he had established, and bringing report of their condition. Sometimes he had from those churches, bringing Christian visitors greetings and money for his needs. Sometimes they carried back letters of affection and instruction, which are known as the 'Epis- '

tles of the Captivity."

We have little definite knowledge of Paul after his two years' imprisonment. Tradition begins where Luke's history ends in the Book of Acts. It is supposed that he was acquitted of the crimes with which he had been charged, and for which he had long suffered. Being set at liberty, he made other missionary journeys; some claim as far as Spain and even England, though this is very uncertain. From his letters, we know he went to Asia Minor, visiting old churches and perhaps founding new ones. Once more he preached the gospel under the shadow of the temple of the goddess Diana, at Ephesus; and again he looked across the Hellespont to the once heathen Europe, but where now many churches called him their Christian Father.

CHAPTER XXXV.

THE END. The Burning of Rome —Nero and Christians—Arrest of Paul — Mamertine Prison Friends— Letter to Timothy — Paul's Cloak — Parchments —Memorable Words — The Death of Paul—Nero— Summary. In was on the 19th day of July, A. D. 64, that a terrible fire broke out in Rome. It raged six days and seven nights, destroying temples and palaces and homes of every kind of the rich and

942 IMPROVEMENT ERA.

poor, who had to seek shelter even in tombs of the dead. It is

believed that Nero himself set fire to the city. Acting the part of a buffoon, he played upon a musical instrument while the city was burning; careless of the terror he beheld, and deaf to the shrieks of his wretched people. He charged innocent Christians with the burning of Rome. Then followed most bitter persecution. Multitudes of them were tortured to death. Some were disguised in the skins of bears and wolves, and, in the presence of twenty thousand spectators in the Colosseum, mangled to death by famished dogs. Others were nailed to crosses, doomed to a lingering death of agony and shame. Others were covered with pitch — — and set on fire living torches illuminating the garden of Nero who mingled with the mob, dressed as a charioteer, driving heartlessly among his agonized victims. Paul was called the ringleader of the Christians. It is im-

agined that he was charged with exciting them, before he left Rome, to the burning of the city. He was brought back and imprisoned a second time — not in his own hired house, but in a dungeon of the Mamertine prison, still pointed out near the ruins of the Roman Forum. It is the oldest building in Rome. Two cells remain. They are only six and one-half feet in height. There is a circular opening at the top through which prisoners were let down. At last there was a form of trial. Paul made a defense, but it made no impression on the magistrate and jury before whom he was tried. He was sent back to prison. During Paul's second imprisonment, he had very few friends to cheer him. They feared to go near him lest they should be compelled to share his fate. There was one whom he longed to see: it was Timothy, then in Asia. To him he wrote the last of the "Seven Epistles of the Captivity." It was the last letter he ever wrote. It is tender and beautiful. He begs Timothy, "Do thy diligence to come unto me shortly. " If he waited, it might be too late. He said, "Only Luke is with me"— the beloved and ever faithful physician and friend. Then he added, "Take Mark, and bring him with thee"— that same John Mark who had once left him, but to whom he would now show the kindest of feelings. Then there was a request which seems strange as a part of the Bible, but is an interesting hint of Paul's condition: "The

LIFE OF ST. PAUL tOR THE YOUNG. 943

•cloak that I left at Troas with Carpus, bring with thee, but especially the parchments." We think of "the cloak" as his onlyone, a large, rough, sleeveless traveling garment which had done much service; and as one of his only two possessions. In his flight he had been compelled to leave it at Troas. Settled in his prison-home for life he wanted it again. He knew by experience what winter meant in that gloomy, cold cell, with its rocky floor— a great contrast to the palace above him. Sixty-eight years of age, his body no longer had the glow of youth; it was weakened by age and suffering. What memories he had of that cloak. It is very likely he had woven it with his own hands from the black

goats' hair of his own Cilicia; and that it had been his companion in circumstances of joy and sorrow — water-soaked in the Taurus mountain torrents and in the sea of Adria; covered with dust on Asiatic plains and Italian roads; stained with the soil of travel; his shelter when sleeping under the starry, open sky, and infolding his bruised body in the sleepless inner prison in Philippi. Paul wanted not only "the cloak," but even more "the parchments." These were rolls of skin on which portions of the scripture were written— a very small part of the Bible as we have it,

but very precious to him. They had been his companions even more than the cloak. Perhaps he had used them with his father and mother and sister in Tarsus; and studied them in the school of Gamaliel; and in his lodging-places, glancing at them as he paused a few moments in the weaving of goats' hair; and carrying them from house to house explaining them to all who would listen. How he missed them in the long, dark days and the darker evenings in his dungeon! What a joy and encouragement if he could have a portion of Isaiah, or some of the Psalms of David written in afiliction!

It A'las in this letter that Paul summed up his life in the

memorable words: "I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: henceforth there is laid up for

me a crown of righteousness." The last words which we have of Paul are the benediction which closes his letter to Timothy: "The Lord Jesus Christ be with thy spirit. Grace be with you. Amen." At last Paul was taken from his dungeon to the place of trial before magistate and jury. We know but little of it. Tradition

944 IMPBOVEMENl ERA.

helped by imagination gives us a picture of unjust judgment, and sentence of death by beheading. Guarded by centurion and soldiers he was led out of the Rome he had longed to enter as an apostle, which he still was. Passing through the gate now called by his name he was led three miles, followed by a rabble whose morbid curiosity and hatred of Christians made them delight in horrible tragedy. The fatal spot was reached, the command was given to the executioner, the prisoner kneeled, the sword flashed, and the sacred head rolled in the dust. Paul had finished his course. We may think of him as repeating, before the fatal stroke, the words he had heard from Stephen as he witnessed his martyrdom, ''Lord Jesus, receive my spirit." In no mere vision, of which he wrote to Corinthian Christians, but in a glorious reality, he was "caught up into paradise," to meet him who revealed himself near Damascus as the persecuted Jesus of Nazareth. From that hour until his death, the changed persecutor gloried in the title by which he called himself, 'Paul, an Apostle '

of Jesus Christ," So the tyrant emperor of Rome had his pretended revenge, and the apostle entered on his glorious reward. Nero and Paul — history furnishes no other two names so contrasted as these. Living at the same time and in the same city, that contrast appears all the greater. It is hard to picture the unlikeness in their characters; the gross wickedness of the one, and the beautiful goodness of the other. Before Nero was thirty years of age he was guilty of almost every sin against which Paul had preached, without any of the virtues which he exhorted men to practice. He was not only a robber, liar, drunkard and glutton, but most of all a murderer again and again. He poisoned the noble boy who had a right to the throne, whose sister he married, treated her brutally, and ordered her to be slain. He killed his second wife by a kick. He planned to take the life of his mother by loosing the rafters of her bed-chamber, that they might fall upon her. Failing in this, he planned a yacht in which she was to sail, so that it would fall to pieces and she be drowned. This failing, he ordered a servant to end her life with a dagger. We have already noticed his treat-

Llt'E OF ST. PAUL FOR THE YOUNG. 945

ment of Christians. All this was before he was twenty-five years old. Nero is remembered as frivolous, selfish, always seeking his own pleasure, vain, ungrateful, cruel and vicious, ever increasing in wickedness as he grew older, until he became the worst of men. He disgraced the names of emperor, friend, son, husband, Roman, and even of man, in the sura of all his villainies. For him no vice was too mean; no crime too great. His name is but another for dishonor and shame. It became a cursed one in Rome. His reign of terror came to a sudden end. Learning of revolt against his rule at home and rebellion in other provinces, he planned yet other schemes of butchery, poison, fire and destruction by wild beasts. But he soon learned of the bitterness of feeling against him, and that his power was gone. Every officer in whom he had trusted turned against him: his palace was deserted by guards on whom he depended for protection: he was robbed of golden treasure by his attendants: he was terrified by dreams and haunted by the conscience he had vainly tried to stifle. He sought a hiding place. Fleeing barefooted and in disguise he heard the soldiers, who had obeyed his bidding, cursing his name. Learning that the sena^te had determined to punish him with something of the cruelty he had shown to others, he placed to his throat a dagger which was driven by a slave. Such was the tragic end of a life of tragedy. The life of Nero is a dark background for that of Paul, who, having noble traits in youth, had nobler in Christian manhood. He was ambitious, but his early mistaken ambition was at last sanctified. His mistaken zeal in the persecution of Christians he greatly mourned, and became yet more zealous in the Christian cause. Most unlike Nero, the longer he lived, the more he illustrated the royal law of love to God and love to man. In this volume the attempt is made to show something of what manner of man Paul was, and what manner of life he lived. We have seen something of his labors, constant and earnest, as a teacher, a pastor and an apostle; in the synagogue, on the street, from house to house, among all classes of people the rude and — the refined, the ignorant and the learned, Jewish believers in the true God, and Pagan idolators. Meanwhile in poverty he labored with his ov/n hands for his daily bread; and this in weakness and

946 IMPROVEMENT ERA.

weariness, and painfulness; from cold, hunger, thirst and illness. But this was not the full measure of his sufferings of body and mind. Stoned at Lystra; three times beaten with Roman rods at Philippi and elsewhere; five times scourged with Jewish thongs; hunted and haunted by a Greek mob at Ephesus; seized by furious Jews at Corinth and Jerusalem; fleeing from city to city in the darkness; a toiling pilgrim on cold, rugged mountains and hot, dusty plains; crossing swollen rivers and water-courses; ship- wrecked again and yet again; tossed a day and a night on a stormy sea; in prison for years, at Philippi, Jerusalem, Csesarea and Rome; in danger from mountain brigands and other lawless banditti in the

wilderness, and from pitiless magistrates in the city; plotted against by Jews and Pagans; falsely accused of outrageous crimes and called a pestilent fellow; numbered with malefactors and pun- ished as such; his person slandered, his teachings opposed; "in deaths oft," "killed all the day long," despairing of life until at last it ended in an ignominious death— such were some of the trials

which Paul endured. But there were yet others for his unselfish and loving soul. He had a heart full of tender sympathy for others. He was anxious for all the churches he established. Those at Corinth and Galatia were especially a sacred burden to him. He was saddened by professed Christians without the Christian spirit, some of whom were unfriendly to him. He had a keen sense of insult and injustice when treated with contempt and scorn by those whom he sought to bless. ''Without were fightings, within were fears." Nervous and sensitive, no wonder that sometimes he burned with indignation; and that in fear and trembling and tears he was cast down; and at times life itself seemed a burden. But this alone would be a very imperfect view of Paul. He himself would not have us dwell on these things. He tells us he was "not in despair," "not forsaken," "not destroyed." Though his outward man seemed to be perishing from day to day, the inward was renewed with ever-increasing power. His heaviest afflictions were lightness itself compared with his future glory. His inner vision was so much keener than his outward, that he seemed not even to "look at the things which are seen" by mortal eyes. What elements we find combining in the making of his char-

,

^ LIFE OF ST. PAUL FOR THE YOUNG. 947

— acter courage with courtesy; dignity with humility; strong passions with self-control; love for his fellow-men with supreme affection for his God; as the teacher of the greatest minds, and the simplest; as the greatest of preachers, reformers, and missionaries; as the chief inspirer of Christian labor; as the wisest of human writers; greatest of all the saints, though judging himself the least of all. We have caught many views of his figure, always pointing upward to the apostle's God. Protected by him, he confronted mobs of human demons. He boldly yet justly passed judgment on his guilty judges, who might fittingly have changed places with him, as they did in the mind of the Infinite Judge of all. Never quailing before kings, they tremble before him. He was evermore royal because loyal to the King of kings, to whose throne he was bound with a golden chain more closely than to his Roman guard by one of shame. It reached down to his dungeon,

which became the cage of a singing bird. The history of the Church of Christ on earth cannot be written without the name of Paul; nor can that of the world. In many ways while both shall last, it will be kept in everlasting remembrance. Many a Christian home contains its Paul. After two thousand years, cities and towns in countries of which Paul never knew keep his name ever fresh. No sooner did Africa begin to stretch forth her hands unto God than one of its streams was consecrated by his name, as are islands in the Indian and Pacific oceans. Damascus once closed all her gates against him, but now welcomes the traveler through the gate of St. Paul. Antioch and Rome thus cherished his memory. By that name many an humble parish church and grand cathedral are known. Little did Nero

dream of "St. Paul's in Rome." In all these the words of Paul echo every Sabbath for tens of thousands of worshipers. Paul wears the crown which he said was laid up for him, and points to others awaiting those who like him follow the Lord. ' 'He who can part from country and from kin And scorn delights, and tread the thorny way, A heavenly crown through toil and pain to win, — He who * * * * Fights the good fight, and when at last the day Of fiery trials comes, can nobly fall, — Such were a saint, or more, and such the holy Paul." (the end.)