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Sketches from the Life of Paul
of subjects bowed in obedience to his mandates. The name of Nero
made the world tremble. To incur his displeasure was to lose property,
liberty, and life. His frown was more to be dreaded than the pestilence.
Yet while surrounded by all the outward semblance of earthly pomp
and greatness, adored and reverenced as a God in human form, he
possessed the heart of a demon.
Paul the aged prisoner, without money, without friends, without
counsel, had been brought forth from a loathsome dungeon to be tried
for his life. He had lived a life of poverty, self-denial, and suffering.
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With a sensitive nature that thirsted for love and sympathy, he had
braved misrepresentation, reproach, hatred, and abuse; shrinking with
nervous dread from pain and peril, he had fearlessly endured both. He
had been, like his Master, a homeless wanderer upon the earth; he had
lived and suffered for the truth’s sake, seeking to relieve the burdens of
humanity, and to exemplify in his life the life of Christ. How could the
capricious, passionate, licentious tyrant, who had no conception of the
value of a self-denying, virtuous, noble life, be expected to understand
or appreciate the character and motives of this son of God?
Paul and Nero face to face!—the youthful monarch bearing upon
his sin-stamped countenance the shameful record of the passions that
reigned within; the aged prisoner’s calm and benignant face telling of
a heart at peace with God and man. The results of opposite systems
of training and education stood that day contrasted,—the life of un-
bounded self-indulgence and the life of utter self-sacrifice. Here were
the representatives of two religions,—Christianity and paganism; the
representatives of two theories of life,—the simplicity of self-denying
endurance, ready to give up life itself, if need be, for the good of others,
and the luxury of all-absorbing selfishness, that counts nothing too
valuable to sacrifice for a momentary gratification; the representatives
of two spiritual powers,—the ambassador of Christ and the slave of
Satan. Their relative position showed to what extent the course of
this world was under the rule of the prince of darkness. The wretch
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whose soul was stained with incest and matricide, was robed in purple,
and seated upon the throne, while the purest and noblest of men stood
before the judgment-seat, despised, hated, and fettered.
The vast hall which was the place of trial was thronged by an eager,
restless crowd that surged and pressed to the front to see and hear all
that should take place. Among those gathered there were the high and