Ver. 16.-" Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Cl.rist." Couybeare and Howson give very full details of the journey of t.he apostle and his company from Malta to Rome; reaching their destination, the following description of the place of imprisonment is given:- " Here we.s the muliarium aureum, to which the roads of all the provinces converged. All around were the stately buildings, which were raised in the closing years of the republic and by the early emperors. In front was the Capitoline Hill, illustrious long before the invasion of the Gauls. Close on the left, covering that hill whose name is associated in every modern European language with the notion of imperial splendour, were the ~ast ranges of the palace-' the house, of Cresar' (Phil. iv. 22). Here were the household troops quartered in a prmtorium attached to the palace. And here Julius gave up his prisoner to Bum1s, the prmtorian prefect, whose official duty it was to keep in custody all accused persons who were to be tried before the emperor." There we see the great apostle still a prisoner, in bonds for Christ's sake. His bondage was of that kind technically known as a custodia U'bera, but the prisoner was fastened by a chain to a soldier who kept guard over him. For the apostle's references to his imprisonment, sec Phil. i. 7, 13, 17 ; Eph. iii 1; iv. 1 ; vi. 20 ; Col. iv. 18, etc. The constant chang- ing of the guard no doubt brought all the soldiers under his personal influence, and enabled him to witness for Christ in the palace !lnd in other places. L ST. P AUL's LIMITATIONS. 1. A prisoner. 2. A sufferer. So all Christian workers still find themselves set 1II1der limitations of ability, of time, of means, of physical strength . .lt.nd the question constantly recurs-Will we be mastered by our limitations, or will we master them in the power of a sanctified will? No man works for God on earth with an absolute and perfect freedom. The limitations are sent to give quality and character to our service. A man's credit lies, not so much in what he does, as in what he O'l/er- comes in order that he may do. II. THE LIMIT OF ST. PAUL'S LIMITATIONS. They bore relation: 1. Only to body; to restraint of bodily action, and to pa.in of body. 2. Not to mind; since no gyves have ever been framed that can bind this. 3. Not to character; which no sort of earthly persecutions or calamities need affect. 4. Not to will; which can maintain its set pur- poses even when it is rendered helpless to carry them out. 5. Not to life-work; which the ~nest man will surely carry on somehow. The Chrilltian mastery of bodily dis- abilities, infirmities, and limitations, may be illustrated from the Apostl? Pl!-ul, fr~m J. D1myan the prisoner in Bedford jail, or from such sufferers from bodily mfirm1ty as R. Baxter, R. Hall. H. Martyn, F. W. Robertson, etc. There are martyrs who did not die, whose service for Christ has been noble and heroic. Ill ST. PAUL'S TRUE LIBERTY UNDER SEEKING LlllITATIONS. Illustrate and impress that, with all his bonds and sufferings upon him, he could: 1. Still live Chri~t. 2. Still work for Christ. 3. Still write of Christ. 4. Still speak for Christ. 5. Still per- sonally "meeten for the inheritance of the &aints in the light."-R. T.
Ver. 31.-The ki11gdom of God, and things of Jesus. Our histor(cal record of the great apo~tle closes with a picture of him fully and earnestly engaged m the loved work of his life, even under the limitations of captivity, and there is peculiar significance iD 011. x.xvrn. 1-31.] THE AU18 01'' THE APOSTLES. 345