Apostles all Martyrs

From all we read, it was no mere possibility, but astern and terrible reality, which the lord Jesus referred to, when he said to his Apostles:

“I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves” (Matt. x. 16).

Wherever the New Testament refers to the lot of the Apostles, it is to speak of the “wolves” devouring the “sheep”; and as to those whose deaths are not recorded in the Word, tradition supplies the omission.

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Here is the collective testimony: —

• Matthew: Slain with the sword in Ethiopia.
• James (Zebedee): Beheaded at Jerusalem.
• James (the lord’s brother): Thrown from a pinnacle of the Temple, and beaten to death with clubs.
• Philip: Hanged against a pillar at Heliopolis, a city of Phrygia.
• Bartholomew: Flayed alive in Albanopolis, in Armenia.
• Andrew: Crucified at Patrae, in Armenia.
• Thomas: Pierced with a lance at Coromandel, in East India.
• Simon Zelotes: Crucified in Persia.
• Thaddeus: Shot with arrows.
• Peter: Crucified head downwards by Nero
• Matthias: Stoned, and then beheaded.
• Paul: Beheaded at Rome by Nero.
• John: Banished to Patmos.

F. G. J.