and they saw tongues of what looked like fire distributing themselves over the assembly, and on the head of each person a tongue alighted.

Those, therefore, who joyfully welcomed his Message were baptized; and on that one day about three thousand persons were added to them;

"You are the heirs of the Prophets, and of the Covenant which God made with your forefathers when He said to Abraham, 'And through your posterity all the families of the world shall be blessed.'

Therefore, brethren, pick out from among yourselves seven men of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, and we will appoint them to undertake this duty.

The suggestion met with general approval, and they selected Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas, a proselyte of Antioch.

"But at the end of forty years there appeared to him in the Desert of Mount Sinai an angel in the middle of a flame of fire in a bush.

"'I am the God of your forefathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob.' "Quaking with fear Moses did not dare gaze.

For he was a good man, and was full of the Holy Spirit and of faith; and the number of believers in the Lord greatly increased.

Meanwhile Peter went on knocking, until at last they opened the door and saw that it was really he, and were filled with amazement.

But John, towards the end of his career, repeatedly asked the people, "'What do you suppose me to be? I am not the Christ. But there is One coming after me whose sandal I am not worthy to unfasten.'

For the people of Jerusalem and their rulers, by the judgement they pronounced on Jesus, have actually fulfilled the predictions of the Prophets which are read Sabbath after Sabbath, through ignorance of those predictions and of Him.

And, when the congregation had broken up, many of the Jews and of the devout converts from heathenism continued with Paul and Barnabas, who talked to them and urged them to hold fast to the grace of God.

We also are but men, with natures kindred to your own; and we bring you the Good News that you are to turn from these unreal things, to worship the ever-living God, the Creator of earth and sky and sea and of everything that is in them.

So the Churches went on gaining a stronger faith and growing in numbers from day to day.

This went on for two years, so that all the inhabitants of the province of Asia, Jews as well as Greeks, heard the Lord's Message.

At length the Recorder quieted them down. "Men of Ephesus," he said, "who is there of all mankind that needs to be told that the city of Ephesus is the guardian of the temple of the great Diana and of the image which fell down from Zeus?

Sailing from there, we arrived the next day off Chios. On the next we touched at Samos; and on the day following reached Miletus.

and urging upon both Jews and Greeks the necessity of turning to God and of believing in Jesus our Lord.

Finding a ship bound for Phoenicia, we went on board and put to sea.

When, however, our time was up, we left and went on our way, all the disciples and their wives and children coming to see us off. Then, after kneeling down on the beach and praying,

we took leave of one another; and we went on board, while they returned home.

On the morrow we left Ptolemais and went on to Caesarea, where we came to the house of Philip the Evangelist, who was one of the seven, and stayed with him.

And on hearing him address them in Hebrew, they kept all the more quiet; and he said,

and on the journey, at noon, Sir, I saw a light from Heaven--brighter than the brightness of the sun--shining around me and around those who were travelling with me.

and, on the third day, with their own hands they threw the ship's spare gear overboard.