On arriving at Puteoli (Pozzuoli) St. Paul received a welcome from the Church already formed there, and at last, in the year 63, the eighth of the reign of Nero, he entered the city of Rome, surrounded by the Christians who had gone out to meet him in his chains. Julius the centurion now gave up his charge to the captain of the emperor's guard, whom we hear of as a just and kind man, who treated St. Paul well, and even permitted him to see his friends, and to teach the Christian faith to such as willed. {127} For two years this imprisonment lasted, during which time, Scripture tells us, he "received all that came in to him, preaching the kingdom of God, and teaching the things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ, with all confidence, without prohibition." Here ceases the narrative of the first missions to the pagan world, given by St. Luke in the Acts of the Apostles. Those first triumphs of the faith were won much as the triumphs of later days --always against unbelief, error, opposition, and calumny; yet won even by an Apostle in chains, as truth must ever conquer, even when apparently vanquished. That two years' captivity in the Roman capital was cheered by the company of St. Luke, Timothy, and John Mark, who was now a faithful servant of Christ; they could go where St. Paul was not permitted, and take counsels and messages of encouragement from him to the different Churches. {128} There was a slave named Onesimus, who was very useful to St. Paul, and who became a Christian through his teaching. He had robbed his master and escaped to Rome, where from curiosity he went to hear the imprisoned Apostle tell of Jesus of Nazareth. His heart was touched, and seeking an opportunity, he opened his conscience to St. Paul, in obedience to whom he went back to his master, bearing a letter written to him by the Apostle. This letter is known to us as the Epistle to Philemon. Tychicus accompanied Onesimus on his way, bearing an epistle to the Church of Colosse, which was the city in which Philemon dwelt. {129} In this beautiful letter St. Paul exhorts his brethren to beware of the philosophers and Jewish teachers, who would withdraw them from Christ. He entreats them to look after heavenly things and to grow in holiness. He also speaks of the duties of husbands and wives, parents and children, advises constant prayer, and concludes with various salutations from the Christians of Rome. Tychicus was also the bearer of the Epistle to the Church at Ephesus, and all these letters are supposed to have been written when St. Paul had been about a year at Rome.