The life and work of St. Paul

THE LIBERATION OF ST. PAUL. 741
EXCURSUS XXVL (p. 649).
EVIDENCE AS TO THE LIBERATION OF ST. PAU&I
THE chief passages on the remaining life of St. Paul which have much historic importance
are the following :
I. Clemens Romanus, possihly a personal friend and fellow- worker of St. Paul, if he
be the Clement mentioned in PhiL iv. 3, 1 but certainly a Bishop of Rome, and a writer of
the first century, says that :
"Because of envy, Paul also obtained tho prize of endurance, having seven times
borne chains, having been exiled, and having been stoned. After he had preached the
Gospel both in the East and in the "West, he won the noble renown of his faith, having
taught righteousness to the whole world, and having come to the limit of the "West, and
borne witness 2 before the rulers. Tims he was freed from the world, and went into the
holy place, having shown himself a pre-eminent example of endurance." 3
H. The fragment of the Muratorian Canon (about A.D. 170), though obscure and
corrupt, and only capable of uncertain conjectural emendation and interpretation, yet
seems on the whole to imply the fact of "Paul's setting forth from the city on his way to
Spain."*
III. Eusebius, in the fourth century, says :
"Then, after his defence, there is a tradition that the Apostle again set forth to the
ministry of his preaching, and having a second time entered the same city [Rome], waa
perfected by his martyrdom before him 5
[Nero]."
IV. Chrysostom (died A.D. 407) says :
"After he had been in Rome, he again went into Spain. But whether he thence
returned into those regions [the East] we do not know." 6
V. St. Jerome (died A.D. 420) says that "Paul was dismissed by Nero, that he might
preach Christ's Gospel also in the regions of the West." 1
I take no notice of the inscription supposed to have been found in Spain (Gruter, pp.
238 9), which gratefully records that Nero has purged the province of brigands, and of
the votaries of a new superstition, because even on the assumption that it is genuine it
has no necessary bearing on the question. Nor does any other writer of the least
authority make any important contribution to the question, since it cannot be regarded
as adding one iota of probability to the decision to quote the general assertions of Cyril
of Jerusalem and Theodoret that St. Paul visited Spain ; nor can it be taken as a
counter-evidence that Origen does not mention Spain when he remarks " that he carried
the Gospel from Jerusalem to Illyricum, and was afterwards martyred in Rome in the
1 Wo can only say that this is an ancient and not impossible tradition (see Lightfoot,
Philippians, pp. ICG 109).
2 The word at this period did not necessarily mean "suffered martyrdom," but probably
connoted it.
3 Ata [KCM o] HauAos inrofjLOinjf fipafieiov vjrecrxev, iirrajtif Scoria