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34. Prisca, Aquila, Andronicus and Junia
Four Fellow Labourers And Relatives Of Paul, Namely, Prisca, Aquila, Andronicus, And Junia, Martyred At Rome, Under Nero, About A.D. 70 The apostle Paul, at the conclusion of his epistle to the church of God at Rome, very lovingly saluting different saints residing there, mentions, among others, two persons who had laid down their own necks for his life; also two others whom he calls his fellow prisoners, doubtless, because they were subject, with him, to like persecution and suffering on account of the name of Christ. All these he mentions by name, and salutes them in apostolic manner. Of the first two he writes thus: "Greet Priscilla and Aquila, my helpers in Christ Jesus, who have for my life laid down their own necks"…
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33. Epaphras, Paul’s Friend
Epaphras, A Fellow Prisoner Of Paul, Slain Under Nero, About A.D. 70 Epaphras was a faithful minister of Jesus Christ for the church at Colosse, which, while in bonds at Rome, he saluted by the hand of Paul, as appears from the epistle Paul wrote from his prison at Rome to the Colossians, in which, among other things, he says: "Epaphras, who is one of you, a servant of Christ, saluteth you, always laboring fervently for you in prayers, that ye may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God. For I bear him record, that he hath a great zeal for you. and them that are in Laodicea, and them in Hierapolis”; (Col. 4:12,13). Concerning his being a prisoner with Paul, or,…
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32. Aristarchus, Paul’s Friend
The Martyrdom Of Some Of Paul’s Friends And Brethren Who Were Imprisoned With Him Shortly After He Was Offered Up; Besides Others Who Were Slain Afterwards. It is related that shortly after the death of the Apostle Paul, his brethren and fellow prisoners, whom he mentions in the epistles which he wrote from his prison, namely, Aristarchus, Epaphras, Aquila, Prisca, Andronicus, Junias, Silas or Silvanus, Onesiphorus, etc., followed in his footsteps in suffering for the name of Christ. Aristarchus, a Traveling Companion of Paul, Slain at Rome, Under Nero, About A.D. 70 Aristarchus, a native of Thessalonica, was, with Gaius, Paul's companion in his journey from Macedonia to Asia; with which Gaius he was apprehended at a certain time, in an uproar at Ephesus, but…
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31. The Apostle Paul
The Apostle Paul Beheaded in Rome on Nero’s Orders, A.D. 69 Paul, the Apostle of Christ, Sorely Persecuted, and Finally Beheaded, at Rome, Under the Emperor Nero, A.D. 69 Saul, afterwards called Paul, was of Jewish descent, a Hebrew of the tribe of Benjamin; but, as to who his father and mother were, we find in Holy Writ no record. Phil. 3:5. As regards the place of his birth, it appears that his parents, either on account of persecution, or of the Roman war, or for some other reason, left their place of residence in the portion of Benjamin, and went to dwell in a Roman, free city in Cilicia, called Tarsus, where Paul was born, who, although he was a Jew, yet, by the…
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30. The Apostle Peter
The Apostle Peter being crucified upside down in Rome on orders of Nero, AD 69 Simon Peter, the Holy Apostles, Crucified with His Head Downward, Under Emperor Nero, A.D. 69 Simon Jona, afterwards called Cephas in Syriac, but Petros or Petrus in Greek, was the brother of Andrew, a native of Bethsaida in Galilee, and a fisherman by occupation. He had his abode at Capernaum, with his wife's mother. His brother Andrew, who was a disciple of John, first brought him to Christ, and shortly afterwards he and his brother were called away from the fishery, to become fishers of men. Matt. 16:17; Mark 3:16: John 1:42; Matt. 4:18; John 1:44; Luke 4:31, 38; John 1:41, 42; Matt. 4:18, 19. He was diligently instructed by…
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29. Nero’s Cruelties Against the Christians
Of the Unheard of Cruelties Nero Practiced in Slaying the Pious Christians Touching the manner in which the Christians were tortured and killed at the time of Nero, A. Mellinus gives the following account from Tacitus and other Roman writers: namely, that four extremely cruel and unnatural kinds of torture were employed against the Christians: Firstly, that they dressed them in the skins of tame and wild beasts, that they might be torn to pieces by dogs or other wild animals. Secondly, that they, according to the example of their Saviour, were fastened alive on crosses, and that in many different ways. Thirdly, that the innocent Christians were burned and smoked by the Romans, with torches and lamps, under the shoulders and on other tender…
