Inasmuch as a number of writers have essayed to draw up a narrative of the established facts in our religion

exactly as these have been handed down to us by the original eyewitnesses who were in the service of the Gospel Message,

and inasmuch as I have gone carefully over them all myself from the very beginning, I have decided, O Theophilus, to write them out in order for your excellency,

to let you know the solid truth of what you have been taught.

The angel replied, "I am Gabriel, I stand before God; I have been sent to speak to you and to tell you this good news.

But you will be silent and unable to speak till the day this happens, because you have not believed what I told you; it will be accomplished, for all that, in due time."

But the angel said to her, "Fear not, Mary, you have found favour with God.

"How can this be?" said Mary to the angel, "I have no husband."

Mary said, "I am here to serve the Lord. Let it be as you have said." Then the angel went away.

What have I done to have the mother of my Lord come to me?

as he promised our fathers, to have mercy on Abraham and his offspring for ever."

but the angel said to them, "Have no fear. This is good news I am bringing you, news of a great joy that is meant for all the People.

To-day you have a saviour born in the town of David, the Lord messiah.

for mine eyes have seen thy saving power

When his parents saw him they were astounded, and his mother said to him, "My son, why have you behaved like this to us? Here have your father and I been looking for you anxiously!"

Now, produce fruits that answer to your repentance, instead of beginning to say to yourselves, 'We have a father in Abraham.' I tell you, God can raise up children for Abraham from these stones!

and the holy Spirit descended in bodily form like a dove upon him; and a voice came from heaven, "Thou art my son, the Beloved, to-day have I become thy father."

So he said to them, "No doubt you will repeat to me this proverb, 'Doctor, cure yourself!' 'Do here in your own country all we have heard you did in Capharnahum.'"

"Ha! Jesus of Nazaret, what business have you with us? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, you are God's holy One!"

as was the case with James and John, the sons of Zebedaeus, who were partners of Simon. Then said Jesus to Simon, "Have no fear; from now your catch will be men."

And all were seized with astonishment; they glorified God and were filled with awe, saying, "We have seen incredible things to-day."

Jesus replied to them, "Healthy people have no need of a doctor, but those who are ill:

I have not come to call just men but sinners to repentance."

But Jesus answered them, "And have you never read what David did when he and his men were hungry?

Woe to you who have your fill to-day! you will be hungry. Woe to you who laugh to-day! you will wail and weep.

No, you must love your enemies and help them, you must lend to them without expecting any return; then you will have a rich reward, you will be sons of the Most High for he is kind even to the ungrateful and the evil.

give, and you will have ample measure given you ??they will pour into your lap measure pressed down, shaken together, and running over; for the measure you deal out to others will be dealt back to yourselves."

When they reached Jesus they asked him earnestly to do this. "He deserves to have this favour from you," they said,

So Jesus went with them. But he was not far from the house when the captain sent some friends to tell him, "Do not trouble yourself, sir, I am not fit to have you under my roof,

For though I am a man under authority myself, I have soldiers under me; I tell one man to go, and he goes, I tell another to come, and he comes, I tell my servant, 'Do this,' and he does it."

When Jesus heard this he marvelled at him, and turning to the crowd that followed he said, "I tell you, I have never met faith like this anywhere even in Israel."

So he replied, "Go and report to John what you have seen and heard; that the blind see, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and to the poor the gospel is preached.

Then Jesus addressed him. "Simon," he said, "I have something to say to you." "Speak, teacher," he said.

Those 'on the rock' are people who on hearing the word welcome it with enthusiasm, but they have no root; they believe for a while and fall away in the hour of trial.

On catching sight of Jesus he shrieked aloud and prayed him with a loud cry, "Jesus, son of God most High, what business have you with me? Do not torture me, I beg of you."

But when Jesus heard it he said to him, "Have no fear, only believe and she shall get well."

He said to them, "Give them some food yourselves." They said, "We have only got five loaves and two fish. Unless ??are we to go and buy food for the whole of this people?"

So when the disciples James and John saw this, they said, "Lord, will you have us bid fire come down from heaven and consume them?"

Jesus said to him, "The foxes have their holes, the wild birds have their nests, but the Son of man has nowhere to lay his head."

Woe to you, Khorazin! woe to you, Bethsaida! Had the miracles performed in you been performed in Tyre and Sidon, they would long ago have been sitting penitent in sackcloth and ashes.

I have indeed given you the power of treading on serpents and scorpions and of trampling down all the power of the Enemy; nothing shall injure you.

For I tell you many prophets and kings have desired to see what you see, but they have not seen it: and to hear what you hear, but they have not heard it."

And he said to them, "Suppose one of you has a friend, and you go to him at midnight and say to him, 'Friend, let me have three loaves;

for a friend of mine travelling has come to my house and I have nothing to set before him.'

But woe to you Pharisees! you tithe mint and rue and every vegetable, but justice and the love of God you disregard; these latter you ought to have practised ??without omitting the former.

Woe to you jurists! you have taken the key that unlocks the door of knowledge; you have not entered yourselves, and you have stopped those who were entering."

I tell you, my friends, have no fear of those who kill the body but after that can do no more;

So he debated, 'What am I to do? I have no room to store my crops.'

And I will say to my soul, "Soul, you have ample stores laid up for many a year; take your ease, eat, drink and be merry."'

But God said to him, 'Foolish man, this very night your soul is wanted; and who will get all you have prepared?'

Look at the crows! they neither sow nor reap, no storehouse or granary have they, and yet God feeds them. How much more are you worth than birds?

Be sure that if the householder had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have allowed his house to be broken into.

whereas he who was ignorant and did what deserves a beating, will receive few lashes. He who has much given him will have much required from him, and he who has much entrusted to him will have all the more demanded of him.

I have come to throw fire on earth. Would it were kindled already!

I have a baptism to undergo. How I am distressed till it is all over!

So he said to the vinedresser, 'Here have I come for three years in search of fruit on this fig tree without finding any; cut it down, why should it take up space?'

Then it may bear fruit next year. If not, you can have it cut down.'"

O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, slaying the prophets and stoning those who have been sent to you! How often I would fain have gathered your children as a fowl gathers her brood under her wings! But you would not have it!

Then you will be blessed; for as they have no means of repaying you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the just."

But they all alike proceeded to decline. The first said to him, 'I have bought a farm and I am obliged to go and look at it. Pray consider me excused.'

The second said, 'I have bought five pair of oxen and I am going to try them. Pray consider me excused.'

Another said, 'I have married a wife; that is why I cannot come.'

and when he gets home he gathers his friends and neighbours: 'Rejoice with me,' he says to them, 'for I have found the sheep I lost.'

And when she finds it she gathers her women-friends and neighbours, saying, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found the shilling I lost.'

But when he came to his senses he said, 'How many hired men of my father have more than enough to eat, and here am I perishing of hunger!

I will be up and off to my father, and I will say to him, "Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you;

The son said to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I don't deserve to be called your son any more.'

but he replied, 'Look at all the years I have been serving you! I have never neglected any of your orders, and yet you have never given me so much as a kid, to let me make merry with my friends.

The father said to him, 'My son, you and I are always together, all I have is yours.

for I have five brothers; let him bear testimony to them, that they may not come to this place of torture as well.'

'They have got Moses and the prophets,' said Abraham, 'they can listen to them.'

it would be well for him to have a millstone hung round his neck and be flung into the sea, rather than prove a hindrance to one of these little ones!

Well, it is the same with you; when you have done all you are bidden, say, 'We are but servants; we have only done our duty.' "

and lifted up their voice, saying, "Jesus, master, have pity on us."

To his disciples he said, "There will come days when you will long and long in vain to have even one day of the Son of man.

For a while he would not, but afterwards he said to himself, 'Though I have no reverence for God and no respect even for man,

still, as this widow is bothering me, I will see justice done to her ??not to have her for ever coming and pestering me.'

But the taxgatherer stood far away and would not lift even his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, 'O God, have mercy on me for my sins!'

He said, "I have observed all these commands from my youth."

When Jesus heard this he said to him, "You lack one thing more; sell all you have, distribute the money among the poor and you will have treasure in heaven; then come and follow me."

So Jesus looked at him and said, "How difficult it is for those who have money to enter the Realm of God!

Peter said, "Well, we have left our homes and followed you!"

So he shouted, "Jesus, Son of David, have pity on me!"

The people in front checked him and told him to be quiet, but he shouted all the more, "Son of David, have pity on me!"

So Zacchaeus stopped and said to the Lord, "I will give the half of all I have, Lord, to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody I will give him back four times as much."

'Capital,' he said, 'you excellent servant! because you have proved trustworthy in a trifle, you are placed over ten towns.'

He replied, 'You rascal of a servant, I will convict you by what you have said yourself. You knew, did you, that I was a hard man, picking up what I never put down, and reaping what I never sowed!

Why then did you not put my money into the bank, so that I could have got it with interest when I came back?'

"It is written," he told them, "my house shall be a house of prayer, but you have made it a den of robbers."

Day after day he taught within the temple. The high priests and scribes tried to have him put to death, and so did the leaders of the people,

"Tell us," they said, "what authority you have for acting in this way? Who was it that gave you this authority?"

Jesus said to them, "No more will I tell you what authority I have for acting as I do."

And when you hear of wars and disturbances, do not be scared; these have to come first, but the end is not at once."

He said to them, "I have longed eagerly to eat this passover with you before I suffer,

It is you who have stood by me through my trials;

but I have prayed that your own faith may not fail. And you in turn must be a strength to your brothers."

Jesus said, "I tell you, Peter, the cock will not crow to-day before you have three times denied that you know me."

Then he said to the high priests and commanders of the temple and elders who had appeared to take him, "Have you sallied out to arrest me like a robber, with swords and cudgels?

So they said, "What more evidence do we need? We have heard it from his own lips."

They proceeded to accuse him, saying, "We have discovered this fellow perverting our nation, forbidding tribute being paid to Caesar, and alleging he is king messiah."