At length, on the day of the Harvest Festival, they had all met in one place;

Thou hast made known to me the ways of Life: Thou wilt fill me with gladness in Thy presence.'

"Therefore let the whole House of Israel know beyond all doubt that God has made Him both LORD and CHRIST--this Jesus whom you crucified."

It is His name-- faith in that name being the condition--which has strengthened this man whom you behold and know; and the faith which He has given has made this man sound and strong again, as you can all see.

But in this way God has fulfilled the declarations He made through all the Prophets, that His Christ would suffer.

"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.'

So they made the Apostles stand in the centre, and demanded of them, "By what power or in what name have you done this?"

This Jesus is the Stone treated with contempt by you the builders, but it has been made the Cornerstone.

and gave it to the Apostles, and distribution was made to every one according to his wants.

Many signs and marvels continued to be done among the people by the Apostles; and by common consent they all met in Solomon's Portico.

so that they would even bring out their sick friends into the streets and lay them on light couches or mats, in order that when Peter came by, at least his shadow might fall on one or other of them.

So they brought them and made them stand in front of the Sanhedrin. And then the High Priest questioned them.

About this time, as the number of disciples was increasing, complaints were made by the Greek-speaking Jews against the Hebrews because their widows were habitually overlooked in the daily ministration.

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.

On their second visit Joseph made himself known to his brothers, and Pharaoh was informed of Joseph's parentage.

"But as the time drew near for the fulfilment of the promise which God had made to Abraham, the people became many times more numerous in Egypt,

He adopted a crafty policy towards our race, and oppressed our forefathers, making them cast out their infants so that they might not be permitted to live.

"Moreover they made a calf at that time, and offered a sacrifice to the idol and kept rejoicing in the gods which their own hands had made.

Yes, you lifted up Moloch's tent and the Star of the God Rephan--the images which you made in order to worship them; and I will remove you beyond Babylon.'

A party of devout men, however, buried Stephen, and made loud lamentation over him.

They, when they came down, prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit:

but Philip found himself at Ashdod. Then visiting town after town he everywhere made known the Good News until he reached Caesarea.

went to the High Priest and begged from him letters addressed to the synagogues in Damascus, in order that if he found any believers there, either men or women, he might bring them in chains to Jerusalem.

So he came to Jerusalem and made several attempts to associate with the disciples, but they were all afraid of him, being in doubt as to whether he himself was a disciple.

When Peter entered the house, Cornelius met him, and threw himself at his feet to do him homage.

Those, however, who had been driven in various directions by the persecution which broke out on account of Stephen made their way to Phoenicia, Cyprus and Antioch, delivering the Message to none but Jews.

"You are mad," they said. But she strenuously maintained that it was true. "It is his guardian angel," they said.

When they had gone through the whole length of the island as far as Paphos, they there met with a Jewish magician and false prophet, Bar-Jesus by name,

The God of this people of Israel chose our forefathers, and made the people great during their stay in Egypt, until with wondrous power He brought them out from that land.

And we bring you the Good News about the promise made to our forefathers,

And as to His having raised Him from among the dead, never again to be in the position of one soon to return to decay, He speaks thus: 'I will give you the holy and trustworthy promises made to David.'

And when a hostile movement was made by both Gentiles and Jews, with the sanction of their magistrates, to maltreat and stone them,

the Apostles, having become aware of it, made their escape into the Lycaonian towns of Lystra and Derbe, and the neighbouring country.

Then the Apostles and Elders met to consider the matter;

and after there had been a long discussion Peter rose to his feet. "It is within your own knowledge," he said, "that God originally made choice among you that from my lips the Gentiles were to hear the Message of the Good News, and believe.

and He made no difference between us and them, in that He cleansed their hearts by their faith.

Then the whole assembly remained silent while they listened to the statement made by Paul and Barnabas as to all the signs and marvels that God had done among the Gentiles through their instrumentality.

Yet let us send them written instructions to abstain from things polluted by connexion with idolatry, from fornication, from meat killed by strangling, and from blood.

After a while Paul said to Barnabas, "Suppose we now revisit the brethren in the various towns in which we have made known the Lord's Message--to see whether they are prospering!"

When she and her household had been baptized, she urged us, saying, "If in your judgement I am a believer in the Lord, come and stay at my house." And she made us go there.

One day, as we were on our way to the place of prayer, a slave girl met us who claimed to be inspired and was accustomed to bring her owners large profits by telling fortunes.

So he had discussions in the synagogue with the Jews and the other worshippers, and in the market place, day after day, with those whom he happened to meet.

GOD who made the universe and everything in it--He, being Lord of Heaven and earth, does not dwell in sanctuaries built by men.

that they might seek God, if perhaps they could grope for Him and find Him. Yes, though He is not far from any one of us.

seeing that He has appointed a day on which, before long, He will judge the world in righteousness, through the instrumentality of a man whom He has pre-destined to this work, and has made the fact certain to every one by raising Him from the dead."

But when Gallio became Proconsul of Greece, the Jews with one accord made a dead set at Paul, and brought him before the court.

But, when Paul was about to begin his defence, Gallio said to the Jews, "If it had been some wrongful act or piece of cunning knavery I might reasonably have listened to you Jews.

Then, as he had made up his mind to cross over into Greece, the brethren wrote to the disciples in Corinth begging them to give him a kindly welcome. Upon his arrival he rendered valuable help to those who through grace had believed;

There was a certain Demetrius, a silversmith, who made miniature silver sanctuaries of Diana, a business which brought great gain to the mechanics in his employ.

and you see and hear that, not in Ephesus only but throughout almost the whole province of Asia, this fellow Paul has led away a vast number of people by inducing them to believe that they are not gods at all that are made by men's hands.

The Jews having planned to waylay him whenever he might be on the point of taking ship for Syria, he decided to travel back by way of Macedonia.

On the first day of the week, when we had met to break bread, Paul, who was going away the next morning, was preaching to them, and prolonged his discourse till midnight.

Accordingly, when he met us at Assos, we took him on board and came to Mitylene.

Some of the crowd shouted one accusation against Paul and some another, until, as the uproar made it impossible for the truth to be ascertained with certainty, the Tribune ordered him to be brought into the barracks.

The next day, wishing to know exactly what charge was being brought against him by the Jews, the Tribune ordered his chains to be removed; and, having sent word to the High Priests and all the Sanhedrin to assemble, he brought Paul down and made him stand before them.

unless it was in that one expression which I made use of when I shouted out as I stood among them, "'The resurrection of the dead is the thing about which I am on my trial before you to-day.'"

The High Priests and the leading men among the Jews immediately made representations to him against Paul, and begged him--

about whom, when I went to Jerusalem, the High Priests and the Elders of the Jews made representations to me, begging that sentence might be pronounced against him.

Then Festus said, "King Agrippa and all who are present with us, you see here the man about whom the whole nation of the Jews made suit to me, both in Jerusalem and here, crying out that he ought not to live any longer.

And now I stand here impeached because of my hope in the fulfilment of the promise made by God to our forefathers--

the promise which our twelve tribes, worshipping day and night with intense devotedness, hope to have made good to them. It is on the subject of this hope, Sir, that I am accused by the Jews.

As Paul thus made his defence, Festus exclaimed in a loud voice, "You are raving mad, Paul; and great learning is driving you mad."

"I am not mad, most noble Festus," replied Paul; "I am speaking words of sober truth.

"My prayer to God, whether briefly or at length," replied Paul, "would be that not only you but all who are my hearers to-day, might become such as I am--except these chains."

And Agrippa said to Festus, "He might have been set at liberty, if he had not appealed to Caesar."

So they cut away the anchors and left them in the sea, unloosing at the same time the bands which secured the paddle-rudders. Then, hoisting the foresail to the wind, they made for the beach.

But coming to a place where two seas met, they stranded the ship, and her bow sticking fast remained immovable, while the stern began to go to pieces under the heavy hammering of the sea.

Now the soldiers recommended that the prisoners should be killed, for fear some one of them might swim ashore and effect his escape.

The strange-speaking natives showed us remarkable kindness, for they lighted a fire and made us all welcome because of the pelting rain and the cold.

Now in the same part of the island there were estates belonging to the Governor, whose name was Publius. He welcomed us to his house, and for three days generously made us his guests.

Meanwhile the brethren there, hearing of our movements, came as far as the Market of Appius and the Three Huts to meet us; and when Paul saw them he thanked God and felt encouraged.

After one complete day he invited the leading men among the Jews to meet him; and, when they were come together, he said to them, "As for me, brethren, although I had done nothing prejudicial to our people or contrary to the customs of our forefathers, I was handed over as a prisoner from Jerusalem into the power of the Romans.

For these reasons, then, I have invited you here, that I might see you and speak to you; for it is for the sake of Him who is the hope of Israel that this chain hangs upon me."

For this people's mind has grown callous, their hearing has become dull, and their eyes they have closed; to prevent their ever seeing with their eyes, or hearing with their ears, or understanding with their minds, and turning back, so that I might cure them.'