Paul's epistles: 'We have seen, that the apostle was accustomed to go from time to time to Jerusalem, and to take 'the opportunity of solemn festivals. So long as the tem'ple subsisted, the Jewish christians did not neglect the ordinances of the law. St. Paul himself did not neglect them, that he might give no offence to the Jews.' I readily assent to what they say about the apostle's going to Jerusalem. I could almost think, that Paul was desirous to go thither, to praise God in his temple for the favourable circumstances of his imprisonment at Rome, and for his deliverance from it. Paul's case at Rome very much resembled what had happened to him at Corinth. After which we find, he had a vow, and went from Corinth to Ephesus, and hastened to Jerusalem, Acts xviii. 9-22. In like manner, I imagine, that now Paul went to Jerusalem, as soon as he could. But he made no long stay there. It had not been his custom so to do, since his conversion.

Having been at Jerusalem, I suppose, as before said, that he visited divers churches, which had been planted by him, and then returned to Rome. St. Paul, though a prisoner, had lived very comfortably at Rome. And he had there had great success in his services for the gospel. It seems to me, that he now considered that city as the most proper place for him to reside in the remaining part of his life. It was the most conspicuous place in all the world, and the place of the greatest resort from all parts. There he hoped to be more useful than in any other place.

But things do not always fall out exactly according to human expectations. For, as I suppose, the apostle had not been long returned to Rome, before he was called out to resign his life for the name of Christ.

a

In the year of Christ 64, as we learn from Suetonius, and b Tacitus, heathen historians, as well as from others, was a dreadful fire at Rome, which continued six or seven days. It was thought by many people, that the city had been set

A particular account of that journey from Corinth to Jerusalem may be seen in the first volume of this work, p. 219–225.

a

Nam, quasi offensus deformitate veterum ædificiorum, et angustiis flexurisque vicorum, incendit urbem.--Per sex dies septemque noctes eâ clade sævitum est.Hoc incendium e turri Mæcenatianâ prospectans, lætusque flammæ, ut aiebat, pulcritudine, 'AXwow Ilii in illo suo scenico habitu decantavit. Sueton. Neron. cap. 38. Sed non ope humanâ, non largitionibus principis, aut Deûm placamentis, decedebant infamia, quin jussum incendium crederetur. Ergo abolendo rumori Nero subdidit reos, et quæsitissimis pœnis affecit, quos, per flagitia invisos, vulgus christianos appellabat.— Igitur primo correpti qui fatebantur, deinde indicio eorum multitudo ingens, haud perinde crimine incendii, quam odio humani generis convicti, &c. Tacit. Ann. 15. cap. 44.

on fire by the emperor's orders. But soon after the chrishim, as if they had been So says Tacitus. The the 19th of July. And

tians were most cruelly treated by the authors of the conflagration. fire is said to have been begun on

the persecution of the christians began, as is supposed by some, in November following, by others in August. Which to me seems not so likely.

It is the opinion of Pagi, and Basnage, that Peter and Paul suffered martyrdom in the year of Christ 65. They argue in this manner. Orosius having given an account of Nero's persecution of the christians, and of the death of the two apostles in it, adds, that it was followed by a pestilence in the city, and other disasters. And Tacitus, k speaking of affairs, when Nerva and Vestinus were consuls, which was the year of Christ 65, mentions a pestilence in the city, violent storms in some parts of Italy, and other calamities. So Pagi. And Basnage argues in the like manner from that passage of Orosius.

m

The last-mentioned learned chronologer likewise observes, that Sulpicius Severus having given an account of the • Fuere qui annotarent, xiv. Calendas Sextiles principium incendii hujus ortum, quo et Senones captam urbem inflammaverant. Tacit. Annal. 15. cap. 41. d - cujus initium in medium mensem Novembrem A. 64, cadit. Moshem. de Reb. Christian. sec. i. cap. 34. e Vid. Toinard. ad lib. de Mort. Persecut. cap. ii. ' Vid. Pagi ann. 64, 65, 67. 8 Inchoatam superiore anno persecutionem currente continuavit Neronis furor, qui Petri Paulique sanguine respersus est. Basn. an. 65. n. ix.

That also was the opinion of Du Pin, not now to mention any others. Quoiqu'il en soit, il est certain, qu' étant revenu à Rome avec saint Pierre, il y eût la tête tranchée dans le temps de la persécution de Néron, et probablement la 65 année de Jésus Christ, comme nous l'avons fait voir en un autre endroit. Du Pin. Diss. Prel. 1. 2. ch. 2. sect. viii.

'Nam primus Romæ christianos suppliciis et mortibus adfecit, ac per omnes provincias pari persecutione excruciari imperavit; ipsumque nomen extirpare conatus, beatissimos apostolos, Petrum cruce, Paulum gladio occidit. Mox acervatim miseram civitatem abortæ undique clades. Nam subsequente autumno tanta urbi pestilentia incubuit, ut triginta millia funerum in rationem Libitinæ venirent. Oros. 1. 7. c. 7. * Tacitus lib. xvi. cap. 13.

loquens de iis quæ Nervâ et Vestino Coss. gesta, sic narrationem suam concludit: Tot facinoribus fœdum annum etiam Dii tempestatibus, et morbis insignivere. Vastata Campania turbine ventorum, qui villas, arbusta, fruges passim disjecit, pertulitque violentiam ad vicina urbi. In quâ omne mortalium genus vis pestilentiæ depopulabatur, nullâ cœli intemperie, quæ occurreret oculis.' Petrus itaque et Paulus eo anno morti traditi, quo urbem pestilentia afflixit. Quare, cum, teste Tacito, anno Christi sexagesimo quinto pestis Romæ grassata fuerit, principum apostolorum martyrium perperam a Baronio ad præsentem annum dilatum. Pagi ann. 67. n. iii.

Jam vero sæva hæc lues in Nervæ et Vestini consulatum incidit. Basn. ann. 65. n. ix. m Interea, abundante jam christianorum multitudine accidit, ut Roma incendio conflagraret, Nerone apud Antium

fire at Rome, and Nero's persecution of the christians, and of the martyrdom of Peter and Paul therein, adds: Whilst 'these things were doing at Rome, the Jews being uneasy 'under the oppressions of their governor Gessius Florus, 'begin to rebel.' Upon which Basnage observes: the " Jewish war began in May, 66. Therefore the martyrdoms of the apostles happened in the year before, that is, 65. To which, perhaps, might be added, that Suetonius having spoken of the fire, the pestilence, and those calamities which are mentioned by Tacitus and Orosius, takes notice, that at the same time Syria was difficultly kept from breaking out into a rebellion: intending, probably, the uneasiness of the Jewish people in 65 and 66.

Basnage observes also, that P Epiphanius placeth the death of Peter and Paul in the twelfth year of Nero: part of which, as he says, fell in the year 65.

If

I am the more inclined to this date, because we do not find in the epistles of the New Testament any notice taken of the persecution of the christians at Rome, or of the devastations in Judea, after the commencement of the war. Peter and Paul had been in any of the provinces, and had survived the terrible persecution at Rome in 64 and 65, we should have had some epistle, or epistles of theirs, concerning it, to the Romans, or to the christians of some other place.

I do not presume to assign positively the year of the martyrdom of these two apostles. I have mentioned the specious and probable arguments of two very eminent chronologers, in favour of the year 65. Nor do I think the apostles survived that year. But I cannot say whether constituto. Sed opinio omnium invidiam incendii in principem retorquebat, credebaturque imperator gloriam innovandæ urbis quæsisse. Neque ullâ re Nero efficiebat, quin ab eo jussum incendium putaretur. Igitur vertit invidiam in christianos, actæque in innoxios crudelissimæ quæstiones.Hoc initio in christianos sæviri coeptum. Post etiamn, datis legibus, religio vetabatur: palamque edictis propositis, christianum esse non licebat. Tum Paulus ac Petrus capitis damnati; quorum uni cervix gladio desecta, Petrus in crucem sublatus est. Sulp. Sev. 1. 2. c. 41.

Dum hæc Romæ geruntur, Judæi, præsidis sui Gessii Flori injurias non ferentes, rebellare cœperunt. ib. cap. 42. " Bellum autem Judaïcum incœpit anni sequentis mense Maio. Proindeque apostolorum martyrium in præsens tempus conferendum. Basn. an. 65. n. ix.

• Accesserunt tantis ex principe malis, probrisque quædam et fortuita: pestilentia unius autumni, quo triginta funerum millia in rationem Libitinæ venerant: clades Britannica,- -ægreque Syria retenta. Sueton. Neron. cap. 39. μετα την τε άγιο Πέτρο και Παυλε τελευτην την επι τῳ δωδεκατῳ ετει Νέρωνος γενομενην. Hær. 27. num. vi. Pars autem anni Neroniani duodecimi ad præsentem spectat, utpote Octobris tertio et decimo incipientis. Basn. an. 65. n. ix.

their martyrdoms happened in the year 64, or 65. Pagi says, that Peter and Paul were taken up and imprisoned in 64, and put to death in the year 65. But I know nothing of the imprisonment of the apostles at this time. There may be in late and fabulous authors large and particular accounts of their imprisonment, just before their martyrdoms. But there is little or no notice taken of it by the most ancient writers. If Peter and Paul were come to Rome before the city was set on fire, and before the persecution of the christians began, (which is not improbable,) they might be taken up, and soon put to death, before the end of the year 64.

• Præterquam quod, cum persecutio adversus christianos anno lxiv. decreta fuerit, ac insequenti continuata, non dubium, quin priori anno Petrus et Paulus in carcerem conjecti sint, ac posteriori necati. Ann. 67. num. iii.

END OF THE FIFTH VOLUME.

JOHN CHILDS AND SON, BUNGAY.

UNIV. OF MICHIGAN,

JUN 24 1912