ssion in this epistle does not require
this. It is sufficient that the border of Illyria, through which the
Egnatian way led to Rome, had been so far his nearest point to the
capital.

St. Paul certainly implies that Rome was included in his province of
work, and that he owed them a yet unpaid debt[22]. This must surely
mean, according to St. Paul's principle, that no other of the greater
apostles had yet evangelized them or founded the church there[23].
{184} Rome was no other man's foundation. But none the less, the
elements of a church had collected there. The gospel was being
preached there by 'apostles' from among his own circle. And St. Paul,
for this reason, does not contemplate any permanent stay with the
Romans, but regards Rome only as a place where he can rest and refresh
himself, as well as supply deficiencies in the spiritual equipment of
the church there, before he passes further west to the untouched region
of Spain. St. Paul, we see plainly enough, had no power to foresee the
future. But after the long residence at Rome during his first
captivity, which he did not the least anticipate, did he, we ask,
actually get to Spain? There is certainly no good reason to say he did
not, for his movements are, in the main, unknown to us in the last
period of his life; and on the other hand in Clement's letter to the
Corinthians, written within the first century, he is said to have
passed before his martyrdom to 'the limits of the west'--the extreme
west--which is certainly most naturally interpreted of Spain[24].

4. St. Paul speaks of having wrought 'signs and wonders.' The two
words are habitually {185} combined in the New Testament. The word
'wonders' describes the miraculous and astonishing character of the
events, while 'signs' indicates that moral witness and significance
which distinguishes Christian miracles from vulgar portents. We read
of St. Paul working miracles in the Acts. What he says here, and
elsewhere[25], implies that they were frequently worked, and especially
at Corinth, where no such events are recorded in the history. What it
is important for us to recognize is, that St. Paul so plainly and
repeatedly appeals, in the face of those who could bear witness, to the
fact that he himself had power given to him to work miracles, as if it
were indisputable.

5. St. Paul tells us that he had it specially laid upon him by the
apostles of the circumcision that he was to 'remember the po