at St. Peter was the first
bishop of their church, and that they were his successors. But although
we may reasonably believe that the Apostle was martyred at Rome, there
does not appear to be any good ground for thinking that he had been
settled there as bishop of the city.

All the Apostles, except St. John, are supposed to have been martyred
(or put to death for the sake of the Gospel). St. James the Less, who
was bishop of Jerusalem, was killed by the Jews in an uproar, about the
year 62. Soon after this, the Romans sent their armies into Judea, and,
after a bloody war, they took the city of Jerusalem, destroyed the
Temple, and scattered the Jews all over the earth. Thus the Jews were
punished, as our Lord had foretold, for the great sin of which they had
been guilty in refusing to believe in Him, and in putting Him to death.

Thirty years after Nero's time another cruel emperor, Domitian, raised a
fresh persecution against the Christians (A.D. 95). Among those who
suffered were some of his own near relations; for the Gospel had now
made its way among the great people of the earth, as well as among the
poor, who were the first to listen to it. There is a story that the
emperor was told that some persons of the family of David were living in
the Holy Land, and that he sent for them, because he was afraid lest the
Jews should set them up as princes, and should rebel against his
government. They were two grandchildren of St. Jude, who was one of our
Lord's kinsmen after the flesh, and therefore belonged to the house of
David and the old kings of Judah. But these two were plain countrymen,
who lived quietly and contentedly on their little farm, and were not
likely to lead a rebellion, or to claim earthly kingdoms. And when they
were carried before the emperor, they showed him their hands, which were
rough and horny from working in the fields; and in answer to his
questions about the kingdom of Christ, they said that it was not of this
world, but spiritual and heavenly, and that it would appear at the end
of the world, when the Saviour would come again to judge both the quick
and the dead. So the emperor saw that there was nothing to fear from
them, and he let them go.

It was during Domitian's persecution that St. John was banished to the
island of Patmos, where he saw the visions which are described in his
"Revelation." All the other Apostles had been long dead, and St. John
had lived many years at Ephesus, where he g