These facts may be amplified hj probable addi- tions from conjecture and tradition. There are strong reasons for placing the three Epistles at as advanced a date as possible, and not far from one another. The peculiarities of style and diction by which these are distinguished from all liis former epistles, the af- fectionate an.xieties of an old man, and the glances fre- quently thrown back on earlier times and scenes, the disposition to be hortatory rather than speculative, the references to a more complete and settled organization of the Churcli, the signs of a condition tending to moral corruj)tion, and resembling that described in the apocalyptic letters to the Seven Churches — would incline us to adopt the latest date which has been sug- gested for the death of Paul, so as to interpose as much time as possible between the Pastoral Epistles and the former group. Now the earliest authorities for the date of Paul's death are Eusebius and Jerome, who place it, the one {Chronic. Ann. 2083) in the thirteenth, the other (JJdt. Script. Heel. " Paulus") in the four- teenth j'car of Nero. These dates would allow some seven or eight years between the first imprisonment and the second. During these years, according to the gen- eral belief of the early Church, Paul accomplished his old design (Rom. xv, 28) and visited Spain. Ewald, who denies the genuineness of the Pastoral Epistles, and witli it the journeyings in Greece and Asia Minor, believes that Paul was lil)erated and paid this visit to Spain {Geschichte, vi, G21, G31, 632) ; yielding upon this
point to the testimony of tradition. The first writer quoted in support of the journey to Spain is one whose evidence would indeed be irresistible if the language in which it is expressed were less obscure. Clement of Rome, in a hortatory and rather rhetorical passage (£/9. 1 ad Cor. c. 5), refers to Paul as an example of patience, and mentions that he preached tv rt ry dva- roAy Ka'i tv t?j Cvoti, and that before his martj'rdom he went tiri ro ripfxa tijc Svffewr. It is probable, but can hardly be said to be certain, that by this expres- sion, "the goal of the west," Clement was describ- ing Spain, or some country yet more to the west. The next testimony labors under a somewhat similar diffi- culty from the imperfection of the text, but it at least names unambiguously a " profectionem Pauli ab urbe ad Spaniam proficiscentis." This is from Muratori's Fragment on the Canon (Routh, Hel. Sac. iv, 1-12). (See the passage quoted and discussed in "Wieseler, Chron. d. apost. Zeitalt. p. ."JSG, etc., or Alford, iii, 93.) Afterwards Chrysostom saj-s simplj', Mf m to yti'ta^at u''Pw/({/, 7r«/\i)' tig T))v "S-navictv dni'iXbtv (on 2 Tim. iv, 20) ; and Jerome speaks of Paul as set free by Nero, that he might preach the Gospel of Christ "in Occidentis quoque partibus" {Celt. Scrijit. Eccl. " Pau- lus"). Against these assertions nothing is produced, except the absence of allusions to a journey to Spain in passages from some of the fathers where such allu- sions might more or less be expected. Dr. Davidson {Introd. to the New Test, iii, 15, 84) gives a long list of critics who believe in Paul's release from the first im- prisonment. Wieseler (p. 521) mentions some of these, with references, and adds some of the more eminent German critics who believe with him in but one im- prisonment. These include Schrader, Hemsen, Wi- ner, and Baur. The only English name of any weight to be added to this list is that of Dr. Davidson. (See further below.)
We conclude, then, that after a wearing imprison- ment of two years or more at Rome, Paul was set free, and spent some years in various journej'ings eastwards and westwards. Towards the close of this time he pours out the warnings of his less vigorous but still brave and fiiithful spirit in the letters to Timothy and Titus. The first to Timothj' and that to Titus were evidentlj' written at very nearly the same time. Af- ter these were written, he was apprehended again and sent to Rome. As an eminent Christian teacher Paul was now in a far more dangerous position than when he was first brought to Rome. The Christians had been exposed to popular odium by the false charge of being concerned in the great Neronian conflagration of the city, and had been subjected to a most cruel persecution. The apostle appears now to have been treated, not as an honorable state-prisoner, but as a felon (2 Tim. ii, 9). But he was at least allowed to write this second letter to his "dearl}^ beloved son" Timothj' ; and though he expresses a confident expec- tation of his speedy death, he j'et thought it sufficiently probable that it might be dela3'ed for some time, to warrant him in urging Timothy to come to him from Ephesus. Meanwhile, though he felt his isolation, he was not in the least daunted l)y his danger. He was more than ready to die (iv, 6), and had a sustaining experience of not being deserted bj^ his Lord. Once alreadj', in this second imprisonment, he had appeared before the authorities ; and " the Lord then stood bj' him and strengthened him," and gave him a favorable opportunity for the one thing always nearest to his heart, the public declaration of his Gospel.