174 PAUL (SAINT) las. The apostle and his friend were publicly scourged and thrust into prison, but honorably released the next day, when the jailer, whom Paul had baptized, represented to the magis- trates that they were Roman citizens. In Thessalonica, where they made many converts among the Hellenists, they met with a strong opposition on the part of the stricter Jews, who followed them to Berea, where also success had attended their efforts. The " brethren," think- ing that Paul's life was endangered, sent him away in the charge of friends, who brought him to Athens. Here he held public disputa- tions with philosophers of the leading schools, and at their invitation gave a public exposition of his doctrine in the areopagus, pronouncing on this occasion the remarkable speech on the nature of Deity, the most striking and im- portant of all the speeches recorded of him. From Athens he went to Corinth, then capital of the Roman province of Achaia, where he enjoyed the hospitality of a Jewish family re- cently banished from Rome under the edict of Claudius forbidding the residence of Jews in that city. He practised here his craft of tent maker, which was also that of his host (Aqui- la), and so relieved him of the burden of his support. He was soon joined by Silas and Timothy, and with their assistance, urged by a vision foretelling success, he ministered for nearly two years to the people of Corinth; and having established a flourishing church, to which two of the epistles in our collection are addressed, he returned to Antioch, touching at Ephesus and visiting Jerusalem by the way. After an interval of rest at Antioch, in the au- tumn, it is supposed, of the year 54, Paul en- tered on the third and last of his missionary journeys. Passing through various provinces of Asia Minor, he arrived at Ephesus, where he remained for three years, laboring with marked success, inducing, among other fruits of his ministry, the magicians to abandon their practice and to burn their books (a pecuni- ary sacrifice of 50,000 drachmas, equivalent to $8,000 or $9,000). A hostile encounter with the silversmiths of that city, who traded in models of the temple of Diana, and whose business was endangered by Paul's preaching, hastened his departure from Ephesus. He pro- ceeded to Macedonia, and thence to Greece ; then returning to Macedonia, he crossed over to Troas, and from there, by way of Assos and the islands of Chios and Samos, he went to Miletus, accompanied by Timothy, Luke, and other disciples. At Miletus he received a dep- utation of the elders of the church at Ephe- sus, whom he had invited to meet him, and to whom he communicated his parting instruc- tions, bidding them a final and affectionate farewell. He then embarked with his com- pany for Rhodes and Tyre on his way to Pales- tine, whither he went, as he says, "bound in the spirit;" his friends in every city where he stopped on the route endeavoring to dissuade him; "the Holy Spirit," in every city, "wit- nessing that bonds and afflictions " awaited him; his own instinct in spite of prophecies and entreaties urging him on. The party ar- rived at Jerusalem at the feast of Pentecost in the year 58 ; they presented themselves before James and the other elders of the church, and Paul reported the many-sided success of a mission embracing a considerable portion of the Roman empire in its wide endeavor. The Christian party at Jerusalem, under the influ- ence of the Jewish capital, and anxious to con- ciliate their countrymen, so far from renoun- cing the law of Moses, were especially scrupu- lous in their observance of it. Aware that Paul had rendered himself obnoxious to Juda- izing Christians by his liberal views in relation to this matter, the elders persuaded him by an act of public conformity to humor their preju- dices and disarm their hostility. At their sug- gestion he united with a party of four who were then discharging a Nazaritic vow, and was seen with them in the temple fulfilling the ritual purification prescribed by Levitical law. But the measure which was to have se- cured him against the zeal of his opponents only served to betray him into their hands. Seen in the temple, he was seized on a charge of plotting against the Mosaic religion, and accused of bringing gentiles into the sacred courts. The Rx>man guard rescued him, and on the discovery of a conspiracy against his life, he was sent to Csesarea to Felix, proconsul of the province of Judea. Felix, though seem- ingly satisfied of his innocence, for the sake of conciliating the Jews detained him a prisoner at Csasarea. After the expiration of two years Felix was succeeded by Festus, and Paul was then offered the opportunity of a trial before the national council at Jerusalem, which he de- clined, aware of the impossibility of obtaining a fair hearing from that tribunal. He appealed by right of his Roman citizenship to the gov- ernment at Rome, and to Rome accordingly he was sent. He arrived there in the spring of 61, after the long and perilous voyage and ship- wreck described in the Acts (xxvii.). While there he was permitted as a special favor to reside in a hired lodging. Here he remained two years, and, though under constant military guard, was allowed free intercourse with his countrymen and others who chose to visit him, and was thus enabled to prosecute his mission- ary labors with success. Members of the im- perial household were among his converts. (Philipp. iv. 22.) Here the history leaves him. The supposition of Baur, Wieseler, and many others is that he never recovered his liberty, but remained a prisoner at Rome until he was put to death, a martyr to his faith ; but there is a widely accepted tradition that he was tried and acquitted, that he left Rome, made oth- er missionary tours, was once more arrested, brought to Rome, tried, condemned, and exe- cuted. It is even asserted that he passed two years in Spain, returning to Rome about 64, and suffering death by decapitation in 65, or
