The Apostolical History, Chapter 7 · Section 16
SECT. XVI.
AND now we can trace this great Apoſtle Paul no further by any light the Scripture hath left us. Some learned men indeed hold, that (the two years being ended in which he was detained in Military cuſtody, and taught the Doctrine of Chriſt at Rome) he preached the Goſpel up and down in Italy; and from thence went into Spain and the Weſtern parts. And ſome hold, that he went into Greece and Aſia, where for five or ſix years he confirmed and eſtabliſhed the Churches he had before planted in thoſe Countreys, and then returned to Rome again; where, on the 29 of June, in the 13 year of Nero, he was beheaded. Chryſoſtom in his 26 Hom. on 2 Cor. ſays, The day of his death was more certainly known than that of Alexander the Great. Vid. Ʋſſerii Annales. But others think, that after his writing his ſecond Epiſtle to Timothy (about which time it ſeems he had warning that his departure was at hand, 2 Tim. 4.6, 7, 8.), 'tis impoſſible to find out by any Scripture-light, what became of him; and 'tis no fault to be ignorant of that which God hath not thought fit to have revealed to us. Indeed he mentions in his Epiſtle to the Romans, ch. 15.24, his deſire and intent to go and preach in Spain. But it ſeems he ſaw cauſe to change his reſolution. For it appears that when he wrote his Epiſtle to the Hebrews, he intended very ſhortly (if Timothy came to him from Epheſus) to go for Judea, Heb. 13.23; yea, to go to Philippi [Phil. ch. 2. v. 24.] and to Coloſs [Philem. v. 22.]. Poſſibly the apostacy and wavering he heard of in the Eaſtern Churches, cauſed him to think it more needful to go thither, than to go Weſtward. He expected indeed Timothy to come to him again to Rome; but whether they ever met and travelled together again, or what further became of either of them, we cannot from any thing the Scripture hath left us, certainly determine.