ery 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 demonstrates in this letter that the
law was fulfilled in Christ, he thus prepares the Je