that country; for Clemens Romanus, who was his contemporary and fellow-labourer, positively affirms that he travelled “to the extremity of the west.” [153:1] Clemens appears to have been himself a native of the great metropolis; [153:2] and as he makes the statement just quoted in a letter written from Rome, it cannot be supposed that, under such circumstances, he would have described Italy as the boundary of the earth.  The Second Epistle to Timothy, which is generally admitted to have been written immediately before Paul’s death, contains several passages which obviously indicate that the author had been very recently at liberty.  Thus, he says-"The cloak [153:3] (or, as some render it, the case) [153:4] that I left at Troas, with Carpus, when thou comest bring with thee, and the books, but especially the parchments.” [153:5] These words suggest that the apostle had lately visited Troas on the coast of Asia Minor.  Again, he remarks—­“Erastus abode at Corinth, but Trophimus have I left at Miletum sick.” [153:6] Any ordinary reader would at once infer from this observation that the writer had just arrived from Miletum. [153:7] The language of the concluding verses of the Acts warrants the impression that Paul’s confinement had ended some time before the book was completed; for had the apostle been still in bondage, it would scarcely have been said that, when a prisoner, he dwelt for two whole years in his own hired house—­thereby implying that the period of his residence, at least in that abode, had terminated.  And if Paul was released at the expiration of these two years, we can well understand why the sacred historian may have deemed it inexpedient to give an account of his liberation.  The subjects of Rome at that time were literally living under a reign of terror; and it would perhaps have been most unwise to have proceeded farther with the narrative.  Paul, as Peter once before, [154:1] may have been miraculously delivered; and prudence may have required the concealment of his subsequent movements.  Or, the history of his release may have been so mixed up with the freaks of the tyrant who then oppressed the Roman world, that its publication might have brought down the imperial vengeance on the head of the evangelist.

We have seen that Paul arrived in Rome as a prisoner in the beginning of A.D. 61; and if at this time his confinement continued only two years, he must have been liberated in the early part of A.D. 63.  Nero had not then commenced his memorable persecution of the Church; for the burning of the city took place in the summer of A.D. 64; and, until that date, the disciples do not appear to have been singled out as the special objects of his cruelty.  It is probable that Paul, after his release, accomplished his intention of visiting the Spanish Peninsula; and, on his return to Italy, he appears to have written the Epistle to the Hebrews. [154:2] The destruction of Jerusalem was at this time approaching; and, as the apostle