[To his Excellency, Theophilus. Many attempts have been already made to draw up an account of those events which have reached their conclusion among us,

And, therefore, I also, since I have investigated all these events with great care from their very beginning, have resolved to write a connected history of them for you,

In order that you may be able to satisfy yourself of the accuracy of the story which you have heard from the lips of others.]

"I am Gabriel," the angel answered, "who stand in the presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news.

"This is what the Lord has done for me," she said, "now that he has deigned to take away the reproach under which I have been living."

Gabriel came into her presence and said: "Hail, you who have been highly favored! The Lord is with you."

When the angel spoke again: "Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.

"How can this be?" Mary asked the angel. "For I have no husband."

"I am the servant of the Lord," exclaimed Mary; "let it be with me as you have said." Then the angel left her.

But how have I this honor, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?

"You have no relation of that name!" they exclaimed;

"Have no fear," the angel said. "For I bring you good news of a great joy in store for all the nation.

For my eyes have seen the Salvation

His parents were amazed when they saw him, and his mother said to him: "My child, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been searching for you in great distress."

"Do not collect more than you have authority to demand," John answered.

"Doubtless," said Jesus, "you will remind me of the saying-- 'Doctor, cure yourself;' and you will say 'Do here in your own country all that we have heard that has been done at Capernaum.'

"Stop! What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are--the Holy One of God!"

"We have been hard at work all night, Sir," answered Simon, "and have not caught anything, but, at your bidding, I will throw out the nets."

When he saw their faith, Jesus said: "Friend, your sins have been forgiven you."

Which is the easier?--to say 'Your sins have been forgiven you'? or to say 'Get up, and walk about'?

The people, one and all, were lost in amazement, and praised God; and in great awe they said: "We have seen marvelous things to-day!"

I have not come to call the religious, but the outcast, to repent."

Jesus' answer was: "Have not you read even of what David did, when he was hungry, he and his companions--

But 'alas for you who are rich,' for you have had your comforts in full.

But those who have listened and not acted upon what they have heard may be compared to a man who built a house on the ground without any foundation. The river swept down upon it, and the house immediately collapsed; and great was the crash that followed."

Jesus was surprised to hear these words from him; and, turning to the crowd which was following him, he said: "I tell you, nowhere in Israel have I met with such faith as this!"

So his answer to the question was: "Go and report to John what you have witnessed and heard--the blind recover their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are made clean, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised to life, the Good News is told to the poor.

They are like some little children who are sitting in the market-place and calling out to one another--'We have played the flute for you, but you have not danced; We have wailed, but you have not wept!'

When the Pharisee who had invited Jesus saw this, he said to himself: "Had this man been 'The Prophet,' he would have known who, and what sort of woman, this is who is touching him, and that she is an outcast."

But, addressing him, Jesus said: "Simon, I have something to say to you." "Pray do so, Teacher," Simon answered; and Jesus began:

And for this, I tell you, her sins, many as they are, have been pardoned, because she has loved greatly; but one who has little pardoned him, loves but little."

Then he said to the woman: "Your sins have been pardoned."

"To you," he said, "the knowledge of the hidden truths of the Kingdom of God has been imparted, but to others in parables only, that 'though they have eyes they may not see, and though they have ears, they may not understand.'

By the seed which fell upon the rock are meant those who, as soon as they hear the Message, welcome it joyfully; but they have no root, and believe it only for a time, and, when the time of temptation comes, they draw back.

Take care, then, how you listen. For, to all those who have, more will be given; while, from all those who have nothing, even what they seem to have will be taken away."

But Jesus, hearing this, spoke to the President: "Do not be afraid; only have faith, and she shall yet be delivered."

But Jesus said: "It is for you to give them something to eat." "We have not more than five loaves and two fishes," they answered; "unless indeed we are to go and buy food for all these people."

Indeed, I tell you, some who are standing before me will not know death, till they have seen the Kingdom of God."

"O faithless and perverse generation!" Jesus exclaimed; "how long must I be with you and have patience with you? Lead your son here."

"Foxes have holes," he replied, "and wild birds their roosting-places, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head."

Alas for you, Chorazin! Alas for you, Bethsaida! For, if the Miracles which have been done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have sat in sackcloth and ashes and repented long ago.

And Jesus replied: "I have had visions of Satan, fallen, like lightning from the heavens.

Remember, I have given you the power to 'trample upon serpents and scorpions,' and to meet all the strength of the Enemy. Nothing shall ever harm you in any way.

Yet do not rejoice in the fact that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names have been enrolled in Heaven."

"You have answered right," said Jesus; "do that, and you shall live."

For a friend of mine has arrived at my house after a journey, and I have nothing to offer him;'

Only give away what is in them in charity, and at once you have the whole clean.

But alas for you Pharisees! You pay tithes on mint, rue, and herbs of all kinds, and pass over justice and love to God. These last you ought to have put into practice without neglecting the first.

Alas for you Pharisees! You delight to have the front seat in the Synagogues, and to be greeted in the markets with respect.

Alas for you Students of the Law! You have taken away the key of the door of Knowledge. You have not gone in yourselves and you have hindered those who try to go in."

Hence all that you have said in the dark will be heard in the light, and what you have spoken in the ear, within closed doors, will be proclaimed upon the housetops.

And he began to ask himself 'What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?

And I will say to myself, Now you have plenty of good things put by for many years; take your ease, eat, drink, and enjoy yourself.'

But God said to the man 'Fool! This very night your life is being demanded; and as for all you have prepared--who will have it?'

Think of the ravens--they neither sow nor reap; they have neither storehouse nor barn; and yet God feeds them! And how much more precious are you than birds!

This you do know, that, had the owner of the house known at what time the thief was coming, he would have been on the watch, and would not have let his house be broken into.

You will not, I tell you, come out until you have paid the very last farthing."

"Do you suppose," replied Jesus, "that, because these Galileans have suffered in this way, they were worse sinners than any other Galileans?

So he said to his gardener 'Three years now I have come to look for fruit on this fig tree, without finding any! Cut it down. Why should it rob the soil?'

'Leave it this one year more, Sir,' the man answered, 'till I have dug round it and manured it.

Then, if it bears in future, well and good; but if not, you can have it cut down.'"

But this woman, a daughter of Abraham, who has been kept in bondage by Satan for now eighteen years, ought not she to have been released from her bondage on the Sabbath?"

Then you will begin to say 'We have eaten and drunk in your presence, and you have taught in our streets,' and his reply will be--

But Jesus answered: "Go and say to that fox 'Look you, I am driving out demons and shall be completing cures to-day and to- morrow, and on the third day I shall have done.'

Jerusalem! Jerusalem! she who slays the Prophets and stones the messengers sent to her--Oh, how often have I wished to gather your children round me, as a hen takes her brood under her wings, and you would not come!

"When you are invited by any one to a wedding banquet, do not seat yourself in the best place, for fear that some one of higher rank should have been invited by your host;

They all with one accord began to ask to be excused. The first man said to the servant 'I have bought a field and am obliged to go and look at it. I must ask you to consider me excused.'

The next said 'I have bought five pairs of bullocks, and I am on my way to try them. I must ask you to consider me excused';

And, on reaching home, he calls his friends and his neighbors together, and says 'Come and rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost.'

So, I tell you, there will be more rejoicing in Heaven over one outcast that repents, than over ninety-nine religious men, who have no need to repent.

And, when she has found it, she calls her friends and neighbors together, and says 'Come and rejoice with me, for I have found the coin which I lost.'

But, when he came to himself, he said 'How many of my father's hired servants have more bread than they can eat, while here am I starving to death!

'No,' he said to his father, 'look at all the years I have been serving you, without ever once disobeying you, and yet you have never given me even a kid, so that I might have a merry-making with my friends.

But, no sooner has this son of yours come, who has eaten up your property in the company of prostitutes, than you have killed the fattened calf for him.'

'Child,' the father answered, 'you are always with me, and everything that I have is yours.

'What am I to do,' the steward asked himself, 'now that my master is taking the steward's place away from me? I have not strength to dig, and I am ashamed to beg.

His master complimented this dishonest steward on the shrewdness of his action. And indeed men of the world are shrewder in dealing with their fellow-men than those who have the Light.

So, if you have proved untrustworthy with the 'dishonest money,' who will trust you with the true?

And, if you have proved untrustworthy with what does not belong to us, who will give you what is really our own?

For I have five brothers to warn them, so that they may not come to this place of torture also.'

'They have the writings of Moses and the Prophets,' replied Abraham; 'let them listen to them.'

And so with you--when you have done all that you have been told, still say 'We are but useless servants; we have done no more than we ought to have done.'"

And God--will not he see that his own People, who cry to him night and day, have justice done them--though he holds his hand?

He will, I tell you, have justice done them, and that soon! Yet, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?"

Meanwhile the tax-gatherer stood at a distance, not venturing even 'to raise his eyes to Heaven'; but he kept striking his breast and saying 'O God, have mercy on me, a sinner.'

"I have observed all these," he replied, "from childhood."

Hearing this, Jesus said to him: "There is one thing still lacking in you; sell everything that you have, and distribute to the poor, and you shall have wealth in Heaven; then come and follow me."

But Zacchaeus stood forward and said to the Master: "Listen, Master! I will give half my property to the poor, and, if I have defrauded any one of anything, I will give him back four times as much."

But his subjects hated him and sent envoys after him to say 'We will not have this man as our King.'

The first came up, and said 'Sir, your ten pounds have made a hundred.'

'Well done, good servant!' exclaimed the master. 'As you have proved trustworthy in a very small matter, I appoint you governor over ten towns.'

When the second came, he said 'Your ten pounds, Sir, have produced fifty.'

Another servant also came and said 'Sir, here are your ten pounds; I have kept them put away in a handkerchief.

For I was afraid of you, because you are a stern man. You take what you have not planted, and reap what you have not sown.'

The master answered 'Out of your own mouth I judge you, you worthless servant. You knew that I am a stern man, that I take what I have not planted, and reap what I have not sown?

Then why did not you put my money into a bank? And I, on my return, could have claimed it with interest.

But as for my enemies, these men who would not have me as their King, bring them here and put them to death in my presence.'"

"Would that you had known, while yet there was time--even you--the things that make for peace! But now they have been hidden from your sight.

Saying as he did so: "Scripture says--'My House shall be a House of Prayer'; but you have made it 'a den of robbers.'"

And addressing him, said: "Tell us what authority you have to do these things. Who is it that has given you this authority?"