The life and work of St. Paul

S80 THE LIFE AND WOEK OF ST. PAUL.
the leading Jews would not be likely to hold any intercourse, even if they were
aware of their existence. But is it remembered that Rome at this time was s
city of more than two million inhabitants? Is there any improbability that
among so many myriads, a small and struggling sect might, to outsiders*
remain utterly unknown ? The immense weight of the Epistle to the Romans
furnishes no proof that the Church to which it was addressed was one which
the world would regard as of any importance. The Sandemanians or Glassites
are a Christian body in London, and it is quite conceivable that some eminent
member of their body, like the late Mr. Faraday, might address to them a
letter of deep significance ; would it be any sufficient reason to deny their
existence if it was found that the Archdeacons and Rural Deans of London
had barely so much as heard of their peculiar tenets ?
Since, however, the Romish Jews professed a wish for further information,
St. Paul begged them to fix their own day to hear what he had to set before
them. They came to him in considerable numbers. That only the heads of
their community can have been invited is clear. St. Paul's abode could only
have accommodated an insignificant fraction of the Jewish residents, who at
this time are believed to have amounted to 60,000. It is said that there were
seven synagogues in Rome, 1 and the officers of these synagogues would
probably be as many as Paul could hope to address at once. All day long,
from dawn till evening, he set before them his personal testimony and
his scriptural arguments. That they were not wholly unimpressed, appears
from the length of the discussion ; but while a few were convinced, others
disbelieved. The debate acquired towards its conclusion a somewhat stormy
Paul addressed the dissentients with
emphasis ; and before it broke up
something of his old fiery energy, applying to them the passage of Isaiah
once quoted by our Lord Himself, which said that they should not see nor
hear because they would not, and that their blindness and deafness were a
penal consequence of the grossness of their hearts. And then he sternly
warned them that the salvation of God was now sent to the Gentiles, and that
the Gentiles would listen to its gracious offer. a
Henceforth St. Paul took his own line, opening no further communication
with his obstinate fellow-countrymen. For two whole years he remained in
3
Rome, a fettered prisoner, but living in his own hired lodging, and cheered
by the visits of the fellow-workers who were truest and best beloved. The
quiet and holy Timotheus perhaps acted as his amanuensis, and certainly
* showed him all the tenderness of a son ; the highly-cultivated Luke was his
historiographer and his physician ;
5
Aristarchus attended him so closely as to
earn the designation of his " fellow-prisoner; "* Tychicus brought him news
from T
Ephesus ; Epaphroditus warmed his heart by the contributions which
showed the generous affection of
8
Philippi ;
came to consult him
Epaphras
1
Friedlander, iii. 510.
8 Ver. 29 is not found in H, A, B, E.
1
MiVfopa, not "house," as in the E. V., but "lodging" meritorium conductum,
* Phil. L 1 ; iL 19, teqq. ; Col. i. 1 ; Philem. 1.
CoL iv. 14 ; Philem. 24. Col. iv. 10 ; Philem. 24,
1
Eph. vi. 21 ; CoL iv. 7. Phil. ii. 25 ; iv. 18, ,f 4