And said: "Men of Galilee, why are you standing here looking up into the heavens? This very Jesus, who has been taken from you into the heavens, will come in the very way in which you have seen him go into the heavens."

Then how is it that we each of us hear them in our own native language?

Either Jews by birth or converts, and some are Cretans and Arabians--yet we all alike hear them speaking in our own tongues of the great things that God has done."

Brothers, I can speak to you the more confidently about the Patriarch David, because he is dead and buried, and his tomb is here among us to this very day.

And now that he has been exalted to the right hand of God, and has received from the Father the promised gift of the Holy Spirit, he has begun to pour out that gift, as you yourselves now see and hear.

Since we are on our trial to-day for a kind act done to a helpless man, and are asked in what way the man here before you has been cured,

Let me tell you all and all the people of Israel, that it is by the Name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified and whom God raised from the dead--it is, I say, by his Name that this man stands here before you lame no longer.

And, with her connivance, kept back some of the proceeds. He brought only a part and laid it at the Apostles' feet.

"Is it true," Peter asked, addressing her, "that you sold your land for such a sum?" "Yes," she answered, "we did."

Instantly Sapphira fell down at Peter's feet and expired. On coming in, the young men found her dead; so they carried her out and buried her by her husband's side.

And, upon that, Stephen spoke as follows: "Brothers and Fathers, hear what I have to say. God, who manifests himself in the Glory, appeared to our ancestor Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, and before he settled in Haran, and said to him--

And, when he was abandoned, the daughter of Pharaoh found him and brought him up as her own son.

This Tabernacle, which was handed down to them, was brought into this country by our ancestors who accompanied Joshua (at the conquest of the nations that God drove out before their advance), and remained here until the time of David.

So Philip set out on a journey; and on his way he came upon an official of high rank, in the service of Candace, Queen of the Abyssinians. He was her treasurer, and had been to Jerusalem to worship,

Presently, as they were going along the road, they came to some water, and the Treasurer exclaimed: "Look! here is water; what is to prevent my being baptized?"

And, here, too, he holds authority from the Chief Priests to put in chains all those who invoke your Name."

So Ananias went, entered the house, and, placing his hands on Saul, said: "Saul, my Brother, I have been sent by the Lord--by Jesus, who appeared to you on your way here--so that you may recover your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit."

All who heard him were amazed. "Is not this," they asked, "the man who worked havoc in Jerusalem among those that invoke this Name, and who had also come here for the express purpose of having such persons put in chains and taken before the Chief Priests?"

At Jaffa there lived a disciple whose name was Tabitha, which is in Greek 'Dorcas'--a Gazelle. Her life was spent in doing kind and charitable actions.

Just at that time she was taken ill, and died; and they had washed her body and laid it out in an upstairs room.

But Peter sent everybody out of the room, and knelt down and prayed. Then, turning to the body, he said: "Tabitha! stand up." She opened her eyes, and, seeing Peter, sat up.

Giving her his hand, Peter raised her up, and, calling in the widows and others of Christ's People, presented her to them alive.

"Just three days ago this very hour," Cornelius said, "I was in my house, saying the Afternoon Prayers, when a man in dazzling clothing suddenly stood before me.

Therefore send to Jaffa, and invite the Simon, who is also known as Peter, to come here. He is lodging in the house of Simon the tanner, near the sea.'

Accordingly I sent to you at once, and you have been so good as to come. And now we are all here in the presence of God, to listen to all that you have been instructed by the Lord to say."

She recognized Peter's voice, but in her joy left the gate unopened, and ran in, and told them that Peter was standing outside.

So Paul rose and, motioning with his hand, spoke as follows: "Men of Israel and all here who reverence God, hear what I have to say.

On the following Sabbath, almost all the city gathered to hear God's Message.

After much discussion, Peter rose and said: "You, my Brothers, know well that long ago God singled me out--that through my lips the Gentiles should hear the Message of the Good News, and become believers in Christ.

After they had finished speaking, James addressed the Council. "Brothers," he began, "hear what I have to say.

And, when she and her household had been baptized, she urged us to become her guests. "Since you have shown your conviction," she said, "that I really am a believer in the Lord, come and stay in my house." And she insisted on our doing so.

One day, as we were on our way to the Place of Prayer, we were met by a girl possessed by a divining spirit, who made large profits for her masters by fortune-telling.

She had been doing this for several days, when Paul, much vexed, turned and said to the spirit within her: "In the Name of Jesus Christ I command you to leave her." That very moment the spirit left her.

When her masters saw that there was no hope of further profit from her, they seized Paul and Silas, dragged them into the public square to the authorities,

But Paul called our loudly: "Do not harm yourself; we are all here."

And that very hour of the night he took them and washed their wounds, and he himself and every one belonging to him were baptized without delay.

After passing through Amphipolis and Apollonia, Paul and Silas came to Thessalonica. Here the Jews had a Synagogue;

And, not finding them there, they proceeded to drag Jason and some of the Brethren before the City Magistrates, shouting out: "These men, who have turned the world upside down, have now come here,

So they laid hold of him and took him to the Court of Areopagus. "May we hear," they asked, "what new teaching this is which you are giving?

On hearing of a resurrection of the dead, some began jeering, but others said that they would hear what he had to say about that another time.

"Did you, when you became believers in Christ, receive the Holy Spirit?" "No," they answered, "we did not even hear that there was a Holy Spirit."

And you see and hear that not only at Ephesus, but in almost the whole of Roman Asia, this Paul has convinced and won over great numbers of people, by his assertion that those Gods which are made by hands are not Gods at all.

So that not only is this business of ours likely to fall into discredit, but there is the further danger that the Temple of the great Goddess Artemis will be thought nothing of, and that she herself will be deprived of her splendor--though all Roman Asia and the whole world worship her."

For you have brought these men here, though they are neither robbers of Temples nor blasphemers of our Goddess.

And now, under spiritual constraint, I am here on my way to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there,

After sighting Cyprus and leaving it on the left, we sailed to Syria, and put into Tyre, where the ship was to discharge her cargo.

Well now, as they are certain to hear of your arrival, do what we are going to suggest.

We have four men here, who have of their own accord put themselves under a vow.

"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.

The men with me saw the light, but did not hear the speaker's voice.

Then he said 'The God of our ancestors has appointed you to learn his will, and to see the Righteous One, and to hear words from his lips;

So we want you now, with the consent of the Council, to suggest to the Commanding Officer that he should bring Paul down before you, as though you intended to go more fully into his case; but, before he comes here, we will be ready to make away with him."

"I will hear all you have to say as soon as your accusers have arrived." And he ordered Paul to be kept under guard in Herod's Government House.

There were, however, some Jews from Roman Asia who ought to have been here before you, and to have made any charge that they may have against me--

Or else let my opponents here say what they found wrong in me when I was before the Council,

And, as they were staying there for several days, Festus laid Paul's case before the King. "There is a man here," he said, "left a prisoner by Felix,

So they met here, and without loss of time I took my seat on the Bench the very next day, and ordered the man to be brought before me.

"I should like to hear this man myself," Agrippa said to Festus. "You shall hear him to-morrow," Festus answered.

Then Festus said: "King Agrippa, and all here present, you see before you the man about whom the whole Jewish people have applied to me, both at Jerusalem and here, loudly asserting that he ought not to be allowed to live.

Even now, it is because of my hope in the promise given by God to our ancestors that I stand here on my trial--

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--

There the Roman Officer found an Alexandrian ship on her way to Italy, and put us on board of her.

The ship was caught by it and was unable to keep her head to the wind, so we had to give way and let her drive before it.

Upon that the soldiers cut the ropes which held the boat, and let her drift away.

So I urge you to take something to eat; your safety depends upon it, for not one of you will lose even a hair of his head."

After three months, we set sail in a ship that had wintered in the island. She was an Alexandrian vessel, and had the Twin Sons of Zeus for her figure-head.

This, then, is my reason for urging you to come to see me and talk with me; because it is for the sake of the Hope of Israel that I am here in chains."

But we shall be glad to hear from you what your views are, for, with regard to this sect, we are well aware that it is spoken against on all sides."

'Go to this nation and say--"You will hear with your ears without ever understanding, and, though you have eyes, you will see without ever perceiving."

For the mind of this nation has grown dense, and their ears are dull of hearing, their eyes also have they closed; lest some day they should see with their eyes, and with their ears they should hear, and in their mind they should understand, and should turn--and I should heal them.'