Christian heroes and martyrs . thatthe Saviour of mankind had come, and had died upon the crossthat they might be saved. There were now but eleven apostles, for Judas Iscariot, whobetrayed Christ was no longer of them. Therefore Matthias waschosen, so the number of the apostles was twelve again; and soonthey separated to carry on the work of converting all the worldto the religion of Christ. The New Testament does not tell us how long the apostles andevangelists (disciples who wrote the Gospels) lived, nor how theydied; except Stephen, who was chosen to be a deacon by the apos-tles, and who wa
Christian heroes and martyrs . thatthe Saviour of mankind had come, and had died upon the crossthat they might be saved. There were now but eleven apostles, for Judas Iscariot, whobetrayed Christ was no longer of them. Therefore Matthias waschosen, so the number of the apostles was twelve again; and soonthey separated to carry on the work of converting all the worldto the religion of Christ. The New Testament does not tell us how long the apostles andevangelists (disciples who wrote the Gospels) lived, nor how theydied; except Stephen, who was chosen to be a deacon by the apos-tles, and who was stoned to death; and James, the apostle, who wasslain by Herod. But ancient writers and historians, who wrotedown, in the early centuries after Christ, the traditions or accountsthey heard concerning these holy men, tell us that nearly all ofthem died martyrs deaths, after living lives of toil and hardshipwhile preaching the gospel of Christ to the heathen world. The following are the stories which have come down to us. 24 i. ST. STEPHEN IS STONED TO DEATH 26 THE WORLDS CHRISTIAN MARTYRS. i. St. Stephen. St. Stephen, who is called the Proto-Martyr, or first martyr, andwhose history is in the Acts of the Apostles, in the New Testament,was the first Christian man to be put to death for his faith in JesusChrist. He thus followed next his Master in the path that leadsto glory. Owing to the increasing numbers of the disciples, many of whomwere poor people, complaint began to be made that some were neg-lected in the daily alms-giving. Then the apostles said, It is notright that we should cease preaching to serve tables ; so Stephenwas chosen from among the Lords disciples, with six others, to bea deacon. He helped in giving alms to the poor and also preachedto the people. He was so good and holy a man that he was per-mitted to work miracles by healing the sick, and converting unbe-lievers. He preached to the Jews in words so full of power that theycould not answer him nor contradic
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