VI.] CHRISTIAN MEETING ON THE VIA APPIA. 281

finally landed at Puteoli: this was a town situated in the celebrated bay of Baiæ, the summer residence of the great and wealthy men of ancient Rome it is, no doubt, familiar to many of you under the name of Pozzuoli, and it still retains many traces of its antiquity. We are here introduced, for the first time, to the Christians of Italy; it is said they found brethren at Puteoli, and were desired by them to remain awhile among them, with which request they complied, and abode seven days.

It is very probable, as the communications between this city and Rome were frequent, and as there were already some persons of consequence at Rome converted to the faith, that the religion of Jesus went out to this part of Italy from the metropolis itself. From them the apostle would. receive intelligence of the state of things in Rome, and it appears the opportunity of his residence at Puteoli was seized in order to announce his approaching arrival; hence when he arrived at the Pontine Marshes, he was met by some of the brethren, who had gone out a distance of fiftyone miles to meet him, at the station called Appii Forum, which still preserves the name: others went as far as the "Tres Tabernæ," now called Le Castella, distant from the city thirty-three miles: such was the anxious desire of those primitive believers to pay their respects to the great apostle of the

282 CHRISTIAN MEETING ON THE VIA APPIA. [LECT.

Gentiles. The Appian Way1 had presented scenes of magnificence, and the conquerors of the world had moved thereon in all the pomp of a triumph; crowds of citizens had issued forth to meet the patriotic Cicero returning from exile2; but never before did it present a scene at once so affecting and sublime as this. When Paul saw the blessed company, in a country wherein he must have felt himself a stranger indeed, going in the condition of an accused criminal to lay his case before the master of the world, he felt all the gratitude and consolation which will ever accompany the conscience void of offence, in similar cases, and which will be drawn out by the accents of sympathy to which accused innocence so tenderly turns itself, "he thanked God, and took courage.

1

The stations on the Via Appia are adjusted with the ancient Itineraries as follows:

See Dissertaz. de A. Nibbez, delle Vie Antiche, p. 130.

2 Compare the Letter of Cicero to Atticus, Lib. iv. Ep. 1.

vi.]

PAUL'S ARRIVAL AT ROME.

283

The centurion who had charge of the prisoners had, by this time, conceived a great respect and even veneration for Paul: he had witnessed his firmness in the dangers of the deep, had seen his miracles at Melita, and now he witnessed the affection which bound together those professors of the new religion. Owing to his report, as it is probable, Paul, upon arriving at the city, was not delivered up with the rest of the prisoners to the public officer; but was suffered to dwell by himself with a single soldier as his guard. It is evident he was left much at liberty to speak and to act'; partly, no doubt, from the respectability of his character; but much more because of the indifference with which a private individual was regarded, teaching among so many others, what the Romans considered as a mere system of philosophy: this will lead us to take a review of Rome at that period as far as it would affect the apostle's preaching. I do not mean in these observations to trouble you with "the endless genealogies and old wives' fables" of the gods of Pagan Rome, nor to involve your attention in the intricacies of that philosophy and vain deceit through which so many were spoiled. What

1 Until persons accused were brought to their trial, they were under the care of the magistrates called "in libera custodia." See Adams' Roman Antiquities, p. 272, edit. of 1792; but compare Acts xxviii. 31.

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STATE OF CHRISTIANITY AT ROME.

LECT.

ever Paul might have to contend with in his hired house among the professors of Heathen doctrines, he was already prepared for, from what he had seen at Athens, and his education gave him an immense advantage in combating those fancies and corruptions of men. The Epicureans, who thought that the true doctrine for them to teach was the best method of enjoying this world, and that this should be worked into a system of refined morality', were the most prominent and influential class of persons then at Rome. The Stoics, who considered every thing regulated by irrevocable fate, and consequently thought all human actions indifferent, formed also another large class; still there is every reason to believe that even out of these men, some were chosen to show forth, to a benighted world, the power and riches of Divine grace.

With regard to the state of Christianity, it is chiefly from St. Paul's own Epistle to the Romans, that we gather our information. Of those who were converted by St. Peter's sermon on the day of Pentecost, some we find were strangers of Rome, both Jews and proselytes, that is, persons who had been Heathens, but were then brought over to the Jewish faith, having submitted to the rite of circumcision: these, as is

1

1 Vide Cicero's Tusculan. Quæstion. lib. v. cap. 33. and compare the second lecture of our first series.

vi.] STATE OF CHRISTIANITY AT ROME. 285

probable, returning to the metropolis, first formed themselves into a society or church; and with that zeal which particularly belonged to the first converts, endeavoured to spread the religion of Christ. This had now been in operation ever since the year 33, that is to say, for upwards of thirty years, there had been Christians in Rome; and they had by this time arrived at so great a degree of distinction, partly from their strict adherence to the faith, and partly because they dwelt in the metropolis of the empire, that their faith was renowned in every part of the Christian world. They were all esteemed by the Romans as Jews, and perhaps this mistake saved them from persecution, until the age of Nero, when their numbers became so augmented, as to attract observation. The greatest number of them lived in the district beyond the Tyber, and there can be little doubt of that being the quarter of Rome, wherein the earliest Christian assemblies were publicly held'. In the time of Domitian,

1 A Heathen writer informs us, that "when the Christians had got possession of a certain public spot in Rome (for the purpose of celebrating their worship), the low victuallers claimed it as belonging to them. The Emperor, Alexander Severus, decided the matter, by ordaining that, in whatever manner God might be worshipped on that spot, it would be better than giving it to the victuallers (Popinarii).—Lampridius in Vit. Alex. Sev. cap. 48. Agreeably to this intimation,