At daybreak the National Council met--both the Chief Priests and the Teachers of the Law--and took Jesus before their High Council.

Meanwhile the Chief Priests and the Teachers of the Law stood by and vehemently accused him.

But they pressed him not to do so. "Stay with us," they said, "for it is getting towards evening, and the sun in already low." So Jesus went in to stay with them.

"This is what I told you," he said, "when I was still with you--that everything that had been written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets, and the Psalms, must be fulfilled."

For the Law was given through Moses, love and truth came through Jesus Christ.

He found Nathanael and said to him: "We have found him of whom Moses wrote in the Law, and of whom the Prophets also wrote--Jesus of Nazareth, Joseph's son!"

Was not it Moses who gave you the Law? Yet not one of you obeys it! Why are you seeking to put me to death?"

When a man receives circumcision on a Sabbath to prevent the Law of Moses from being broken, how can you be angry with me for making a man sound and well on a Sabbath?

As for these people who do not know the Law--they are cursed!"

"Does our Law pass judgment on a man without first giving him a hearing, and finding out what he has been doing?"

Why, in your own Law it is said that the testimony of two persons is trustworthy.

And yet you have not learned to know him; but I know him; and, if I were to say that I do not know him, I should be a liar like you; but I do know him, and I lay his Message to heart.

Just as the Father knows me and I know the Father--and I lay down my life for the sheep.

This is why the Father loves me, because I lay down my life- -to receive it again.

No one took it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to receive it again. This is the command which I received from my Father."

"Are there not," replied Jesus, "these words in your Law--'I said "Ye are gods"'?

Again groaning inwardly, Jesus came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay against the mouth of it.

"We," replied the people, "have learned from the Law that the 'Christ is to remain for ever'; how is it, then, that you say that the Son of Man must be 'lifted up' Who is this 'Son of Man'?"

"Why cannot I follow you now, Master?" asked Peter. "I will lay down my life for you."

"Will you lay down your life for me?" replied Jesus. "In truth I tell you, the cock will not crow till you have disowned me three times.

If you love me, you will lay my commands to heart,

"Whoever loves me," Jesus answered, " will lay my Message to heart; and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our dwelling with him.

He who does not love me will not lay my Message to heart; and the Message to which you are listening is not my own, but that of the Father who sent me.

If you lay my commands to heart, you will remain in my love; just as I have laid the Father's commands to heart and remain in his love.

Remember what I said to you--'A servant is not greater than his master.' If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have laid my Message to heart, they will lay yours to heart also.

And so is fulfilled what is said in their Law--'They hated me without cause.'

And took him first of all to Annas. Annas was the father-in- law of Caiaphas, who was High Priest that year.

"Take him yourselves," said Pilate, "and try him by your own Law." "We have no power to put any one to death," the Jews replied- -

"But we," replied the Jews, "have a Law, under which he deserves death for making himself out to be the Son of God."

The next day, a meeting of the leading men, the Councillors, and the Teachers of the Law was held in Jerusalem.

The consequence was that people would bring out their sick even into the streets, and lay them on mattresses and mats, in the hope that, as Peter came by, at least his shadow might fall on some one of them.

But Gamaliel, a Pharisee, who was a Doctor of the Law and who was held in universal respect, rose in the Council, and directed that the men should be taken out of court for a little while.

And they stirred up the people, as well as the Councillors and the Teachers of the Law, and set upon Stephen, and arrested him, and brought him before the High Council.

There they produced witnesses who gave false evidence. "This man," they said, "is incessantly saying things against this Holy Place and the Law;

You who received the Law as transmitted by angels and yet failed to keep it."

Every one, high and low, paid attention to him. 'This man,' they used to say, 'must be that Power of God which men call "The Great Power."'

After the reading of the Law and the Prophets, the President of the Synagogue sent them this message--"Brothers, if you have any helpful words to address to the people, now is the time to speak."

And that, in union with him, every one who believes in him is absolved from every sin from which under the Law of Moses you could not be absolved.

Some of the Pharisees' party, however, who had become believers in Christ, came forward and declared that they were bound to circumcise converts and to direct them to observe the Law of Moses.

We have, therefore, decided, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, to lay no further burden upon you beyond these necessary conditions--

Charging him with persuading people to worship God in a way forbidden by the Law.

But, since it is a dispute about words, and names, and your own Law, you must see to it yourselves. I do not choose to be a judge in such matters."

And, when they had heard it, they began praising God, and said to Paul: "You see, Brother, that the Jews who have become believers in Christ may be numbered by tens of thousands, and they are all naturally earnest in upholding the Jewish Law.

Join these men, share their purification, and bear their expenses, so that they may shave their heads; and then all will see that there is no truth in what they have been told about you, but that, on the contrary, you yourself rule your life in obedience to the Jewish Law.

"Men of Israel! help! This is the man who teaches every one everywhere against our People, our Law, and this Place; and, what is more, he has actually brought Greeks into the Temple and defiled this sacred place."

"I am a Jew, a native of Tarsus in Cilicia, but I was brought up in this city under the teaching of Gamaliel, and educated in accordance with the strict system of our ancestral Law. I was as zealous in God's service as any of you who are here to-day.

There a man named Ananias, a strict observer of our Law, well spoken of by all the Jewish inhabitants, came to see me.

Whereupon Paul turned to him and said: "God will strike you, you white-washed wall! Are you sitting there to try me in accordance with law, and yet, in defiance of law, order me to be struck?"

So a great uproar ensued, and some of the Teaches of the Law belonging to the Pharisees' party stood up and hotly protested: "We find nothing whatever wrong in this man. Suppose a spirit did speak to him, or an angel--"

When I found that their charges were connected with questions of their own Law, and that there was nothing alleged involving either death or imprisonment.

This, however, I do acknowledge to you, that it is as a believer in the Cause which they call heretical, that I worship the God of my ancestors. At the same time, I believe everything that is in accordance with the Law and that is written in the prophets;

Paul's answer to the charge was--'I have not committed any offence against the Jewish Law, or the Temple, or the Emperor.'

If, however, I am breaking the law and have committed any offence deserving death, I do not ask to escape the penalty; but, if there is nothing in the accusations of these people, no one has the power to give me up to them. I appeal to the Emperor."

However I have received help from God to this very day, and so stand here, and bear my testimony to high and low alike--without adding a word to what the Prophets, as well as Moses, declared should happen--

Putting to sea again, we sailed under the lee of Cyprus, because the wind was against us;

For several days our progress was slow, and it was only with difficulty that we arrived off Cnidus. As the wind was still unfavorable when we came off Cape Salmone, we sailed under the lee of Crete,

Running under the lee of a small island called Cauda, we only just managed to secure the ship's boat,

They then fixed a day with him, and came to the place where he was staying, in even larger numbers, when Paul proceeded to lay the subject before them. He bore his testimony to the Kingdom of God, and tried to convince them about Jesus, by arguments drawn from the Law of Moses and from the Prophets--speaking from morning till evening.

For they had substituted a lie for the truth about God, and had reverenced and worshiped created things more than the Creator, who is to be praised for ever. Amen.

All who, when they sin, are without Law will also perish without Law; while all who, when they sin, are under Law, will be judged as being under Law.

It is not those who hear the words of a Law that are righteous before God, but it is those who obey it that will be pronounced righteous.

When Gentiles, who have no Law, do instinctively what the Law requires, they, though they have no Law, are a Law to themselves;

For they show the demands of the Law written upon their hearts; their consciences corroborating it, while in their thoughts they argue either in self-accusation or, it may be, in self- defense--

But, perhaps, you bear the name of 'Jew,' and are relying upon Law, and boast of belonging to God, and understand his will,

And, having been carefully instructed from the Law, have learned to appreciate the finer moral distinctions.

And a teacher of the childish, because in the Law you possess the outline of all Knowledge and Truth.

Boasting, as you do, of your Law, do you dishonor God by breaking the Law?

Circumcision has its value, if you are obeying the Law. But, if you are a breaker of the Law, your circumcision is no better than uncircumcision.

If, then, an uncircumcised man pays regard to the requirements of the Law, will not he, although not circumcised, be regarded by God as if he were?

Indeed, the man who, owing to his birth, remains uncircumcised, and yet scrupulously obeys the Law, will condemn you, who, for all your written Law and your circumcision, are yet a breaker of the Law.

Now we know that everything said in the Law is addressed to those who are under its authority, in order that every mouth may be closed, and the whole world become liable to the judgment of God.

For 'no human being will be pronounced righteous before God' as the result of obedience to Law; for it is Law that shows what sin is.

But now, quite apart from Law, the Divine Righteousness stands revealed, and to it the Law and the Prophets bear witness--

What, then, becomes of our boasting? It is excluded. By what sort of Law? A Law requiring obedience? No, a Law requiring faith.

For we conclude that a man is pronounced righteous on the ground of faith, quite apart from obedience to Law.

Do we, then, use this faith to abolish Law? Heaven forbid! No, we establish Law.

For the promise that he should inherit the world did not come to Abraham or his descendants through Law, but through the righteousness due to faith.

If those who take their stand on Law are to inherit the world, then faith is robbed of its meaning and the promise comes to nothing!

Law entails punishment; but, where no Law exists, no breach of it is possible.

That is why all is made to depend upon faith, that all may be God's gift, and in order that the fulfillment of the promise may be made certain for all Abraham's descendants-not only for those who take their stand on the Law, but also for those who take their stand on the faith of Abraham. (He is the Father of us all;

Even before the time of the Law there was sin in the world; but sin cannot be charged against a man where no Law exists.

Yet, from Adam to Moses, Death reigned even over those whose sin was not a breach of a law, as Adam's was. And Adam foreshadows the One to come.

Law was introduced in order that offences might be multiplied. But, where sins were multiplied, the loving-kindness of God was lavished the more,

For Sin shall not lord it over you. You are living under the reign, not of Law, but of Love.

What follows, then? Are we to sin because we are living under the reign of Love and not of Law? Heaven forbid!

Surely, Brothers, you know (for I am speaking to men who know what Law means) that Law has power over a man only as long as he lives.

For example, by law a married woman is bound to her husband while he is living; but, if her husband dies, she is set free from the law that bound her to him.

If, then, during her husband's lifetime, she unites herself to another man, she will be called an adulteress; but, if her husband dies, the law has no further hold on her, nor, if she unites herself to another man, is she an adulteress.

And so with you, my Brothers; as far as the Law was concerned, you underwent death in the crucified body of the Christ, so that you might be united to another, to him who was raised from the dead, in order that our lives might bear fruit for God.

When we were living merely earthly lives, our sinful passions, aroused by the Law, were active in every part of our bodies, with the result that our lives bore fruit for Death.

But now we are set free from the Law, because we are dead to that which once kept us under restraint; and so we serve under new, spiritual conditions, and not under old, written regulations.

What are we to say, then? That Law and sin are the same thing? Heaven forbid! On the contrary, I should not have learned what sin is, had not it been for Law. If the Law did not say 'Thou shalt not covet,' I should not know what it is to covet.

But sin took advantage of the Commandment to arouse in me every form of covetousness, for where there is no consciousness of Law sin shows no sign of life.

There was a time when I myself, unconscious of Law, was alive; but when the Commandment was brought home to me, sin sprang into life, while I died!

And so the Law is holy, and each Commandment is also holy, and just, and good.

We know that the Law is spiritual, but I am earthly-sold into slavery to Sin.

But when I do what I want not to do, I am admitting that the Law is right.

This, then, is the law that I find-When I want to do right, wrong presents itself!

At heart I delight in the Law of God;

But throughout my body I see a different law, one which is in conflict with the law accepted by my reason, and which endeavors to make me a prisoner to that law of Sin which exists throughout my body.