The Epic of Paul

by William Cleaver Wilkinson

By secret orders from the emperor
The torture-room was cunningly contrived
To be a sort of whispering gallery,
An ear of Dionysius, to resound
Whatever might be uttered from the rack
Wrung out of victims put to question there—
Words, cries, sighs, groans, or moans of agony—
And carry them to distance where above,
If one should listen, they might all be heard.
Here Nero laid a listening ear that day—
Seneca's prompting, who was present too—
And heard Onesimus and Syrus bear
Their steadfast witness on behalf of Paul,
With adjuration mingled of a Name.
The not yet utterly extinguished spark
Of human in that indurated breast
(Perhaps therewith effect of fear infused—
Divinely—at such adjuration heard)
Responded in a transitory glow
Of something gentle that resembled ruth
Toward those poor sufferers faithful against pain;
Of something that resembled justice too
Toward Paul so stoutly witnessed for by them.
He forthwith bade release the witnesses;
And hearkened to a counsel touching Paul.
For Seneca adventured this to him—
A farewell flicker of his influence,
Ere Tigellinus overbore him quite—:
"Shouldst thou think well it might indeed be well,
To loose this Jewish prisoner from his thrall—
He giving surety under ample bond
To answer with his person at the bar
Of Cæsar upon summons, to be tried
Whenever shall appear accusers sent
Accredited from Jerusalem to Rome."

So out of darkness there sprang up a light
To Paul, and for that present he went free.

Soon at a meeting of thanksgiving held
To celebrate with praises to the Lord
His unexpected riddance out of thrall
Paul to his brethren and his kindred said:
"My life reprieved from threatened death in shame,
I dedicate anew to Christ the Lord.
I go hence, parting from you all with tears
Of joyful love, and thanks for love again
Mine in full measure from so many hearts
That have not here my bonds in Christ despised—
I go hence, in the Spirit bound, to bear
Far as I may abroad in all the world
The glorious gospel of the blesséd God.
Pray for me that I may be sped in peace,
And that before me doors of utterance may
Swing open wide wherever I am led.
The time is short for all of us; for me
Shorter, it may be, than our present joy
Buoys us to hope. Perhaps the Lord will come
And find me waking still—and not asleep—
To welcome Him descending in the air.
Amen! So may it be! Lord Jesus, come!

"And yet, belovéd, though these words I speak,
A more prevailing prescience in my heart
Forewarns me I shall witness with my blood
For Him who suffered unto blood for me.
If so it be, amen! Lord Jesus, yea,
Thy will for me is my will for myself;
I spring to it with joy, or far or near—
Unknown to me—enough that it is Thine!

"So, farewell, ye. Watch and remember, all,
That by the space of two full years in chains
I have not ceased to warn you night and day,
Each one, with tears. And now, behold, I know
That some of you to whom I have fulfilled
This ministry shall see my face no more.
O, brethren, I commend you unto God!
Be perfect, be of brave and hopeful cheer,
Be of one mind, abide in peace, and He,
The God of love and peace, shall with you be.
O, how my heart is large toward you! The love
Of God, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ,
And the communion of the Holy Ghost
Be with you and abound—ever! Amen!"
Therewith Paul kneeled and prayed a breaking prayer;
And they all wept, and he wept with them all,
They falling on his neck and kissing him
In love and sorrow. Each one with himself
'Among them, I?' asked, and so sorrowed most
Of all for that word which he spoke, "I know
That some of you shall see my face no more."

Paul sent his kindred and his lovers—those
Who for his sake had sailed with him to Rome—
Back to find home again in Holy Land,
While he, with Luke for his companion sole,
Should run his rounds of mission through the world.
"But what ye can," he said, "before ye go,
Comfort Onesimus and Syrus, sick
With wounding for Christ's sake and mine; I have
Already bathed Onesimus with tears
Of love, and bidden him in Christ be strong:
Ye will not leave him till his health be whole
At least enough to take the journey back
To our Philemon, bearing thanks from me.

"Those here in Rome that love me I shall trust
To speed both you and him with needful aid—
Even as I trust them not to let me lack.
Onesimus no doubt will find a way
That ye could not, nor I, to carry help
To Syrus in his far more wretched case—
Beset with household craft and cruelty.
Pray ye for him; and lade Onesimus
In seeking Syrus deep with love from me.
Christ will not fail him, if he fail not Christ;
'It is but for a moment, all the pain,'
Charge it upon Onesimus to say,
'But for eternal ages is the joy!'

"Now unto such as can receive it I,
Under this present imminence of woe
Forerunning the return of Christ the Lord,
Give counsel not to marry but abide
In undistracted waiting for the Day.
Yet for our Stephen and Eunicé here,
Already long betrothed and lovers true,
My will is as their will is; let them wed.
Stephen as husband to Eunicé can
In journeying better fend both her and Ruth
Her mother; he as well can fend his own,
Rachel, the only—sister of my heart!"
Paul's voice a little failed him, ending thus;
And all took knowledge how his kindred love
Broke over him, a wave of tenderness!

So Stephen and Eunicé wedded were,
Paul each in turn adjuring solemnly:
"Thou, O Eunicé, wilt as wife be true,
That know I well, to whom thou thus hast wed.
Submit thyself to him in loyal love,
And as in pledged obedience to the Lord—
Less to his will so yielding than to Christ's.
For God ordains it that the husband be
Head to the wife, as to the church is Christ.
But thou, O Stephen, judge what sanction so
Is on the husband laid, to be how pure,
Above self-will and selfishness how high,
How full of ministration and of help,
How ready ever to self-sacrifice
For the wife's sake, how gentle and how kind!
Thou, therefore, Stephen, love thy wife, even so
As the Lord Jesus loved the church, His bride,
And for her gave Himself. Be happy, ye,
Belovéd, in a love so sanctified."
Paul blessed them, and they felt that they were blessed.
When soon from Rome they took their homeward way—
Ruth, Rachel, and the newly-wedded pair—
They wept that they had looked their last on Paul;
Wept with rejoicing that, a little while,
And the Lord coming would make all things glad.

Now Sergius Paulus chose it for his part
To fill Paul's purse, speeding him on his way;
But Krishna was of mind himself to go
With those who would return to Holy Land.
He longed with his own eyes to see the scenes
Amid which Jesus lived His life on earth
And to glean up from the tradition found
Haply there current in the mouths of men
Concerning Him, both what He taught and what
He was: the Indian's thought was he would then,
Full-laden with such treasures of the West,
To his own native East return and there
Dispense them to enrich his countrymen.
Paul bade him prosper in his wish, and go.