At my first answer no man stood with me, but all men forsook me. . . . Notwithstanding the Lord stood with me, and strengthened me; that by me the preaching might be fully known, and that all the Gentiles might hear. 2 Timothy 4:16, 17.  {CC 355.1}        When Paul was summoned to appear before the emperor Nero for trial, it was with the near prospect of certain death. . . . Among the Christians at Rome, there was not one who came forward to stand by him in that trying hour. . . . Paul before Nero-- how striking the contrast! . . . The name of Nero made the world tremble. To incur his displeasure was to lose property, liberty, life; and his frown was more to be dreaded than a pestilence.  {CC 355.2}        Without money, without friends, without counsel, the aged prisoner stood before Nero--the countenance of the emperor bearing the shameful record ...