Though Paul was probably arrested at Troas and had been obliged to

abandon his cloak and books there, the Proconsul's residence was at Ephesus,

and he would naturally appear there for the preliminary trial.  It looks as

though Alexander the coppersmith who had antagonized Paul some years earlier

(Acts 19:33) and who seems to have been among those who bore witness against

him at Rome (2 Tim. 4:14), seized the opportunity at Ephesus to wipe out old

scores by accusing the apostle.  By an edict issued by Nero, Christianity had

now become a crime.  The Proconsul at the time was a man of exemplary

character, named Soranus, who himself was put to death for his virtues by

Nero in a.d. 66 (see Tac. Ann. 6:23).  Some even think that he was a convert

to the faith.  Paul was a Roman citizen, and as such could appeal from the

tribunal to a Proconsul.  Soranus may himself have felt rather like Pliny on

a similar occasion in Bithynia, and have remitted the case to the Emperor.

However this may be, Paul eventually stood once more for trial before

the Emperor, and from the expression, `I was delivered out of the mouth of

the lion' (2 Tim. 4:17) it would appear that, upon one of the counts against

him at least, he was absolved.  The jurors in the trial would have been

provided with tablets, one marked A for absolvo, another C for condemno, and

a third N.L. (non liquet) for adjournment.  It was during this period of

remand, while awaiting the issue of the remainder of his trial, that the

apostle wrote this second epistle to Timothy, an epistle written in view of

martyrdom and yet triumphant in view of a finished course.  It was often the

case that a prisoner would be acquitted on some minor count, only to be

condemned upon some other indictment.  It was during this time that the

apostle, the prisoner of Jesus Christ and `such an one as Paul the aged',

suffered from the cold and wanted his cloak.  He longed with an intense

longing for one more look at his son Timothy's face; he wrote his last

instructions for the church on earth, and bequeathed to every member of the

One Body his blessed example.

As we read through this sacred epistle and remember the solemn

atmosphere in which it was conceived and written, may each of us catch

something of its spirit and be numbered among those of whom it can be said

that they `love His appearing' (2 Tim. 4:8).

As every reader will not have easy access to the writings of the

ancients, we append one or two extracts from contemporary Latin writers which

throw light upon the conditions obtaining during Paul's last days.

Tacitus was a celebrated Roman historian, born about a.d. 56.  Maunder

says of him that `no name stands higher for historical reputation'.  The

following extract will give some idea of the outbreak of persecution under

Nero, consequent upon the great fire at Rome.

`To put an end therefore to this report (that he had fired the city) he

(Nero) laid the guilt and inflicted the most cruel punishments upon a

set of people who were held in abhorrence for their crimes, and

vulgarly called Christians.  The founder of that name was Christ, Who

suffered death in the reign of Tiberius, under his Procurator Pontius

Pilate.  This pernicious superstition, thus checked for a while, broke

out again and spread, not only over Judaea where the evil originated,

but through Rome also, whither everything bad upon earth finds its way

and is practised.  Some who confessed adherence were first seized, and

afterwards, by their information, a vast multitude were apprehended,

who were convicted, not so much of the crime of burning Rome, as of

hatred to mankind.  Their sufferings at their execution were aggravated