My former narrative, Theophilus, dealt with all that Jesus did and taught as a beginning, down to the day on which,

Once when they were with Him, they asked Him, "Master, is this the time at which you are about to restore the kingdom of Israel?"

"It is not for you," He replied, "to know times or epochs which the Father has reserved within His own authority;

But, while they stood intently gazing into the sky as He went, suddenly there were two men in white garments standing by them,

who said, "Galilaeans, why stand looking into the sky? This same Jesus who has been taken up from you into Heaven will come in just the same way as you have seen Him going into Heaven."

Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mountain called the Oliveyard, which is near Jerusalem, about a mile off.

"Brethren, it was necessary that the Scripture should be fulfilled--the prediction, I mean, which the Holy Spirit uttered by the lips of David, about Judas, who acted as guide to those who arrested Jesus.

For Judas was reckoned as one of our number, and a share in this ministry was allotted to him."

"For it is written in the Book of Psalms, "'Let his encampment be desolate: let there be no one to dwell there'; and "'His work let another take up.'

"It is necessary, therefore, that of the men who have been with us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us--

beginning from His baptism by John down to the day on which He was taken up again from us into Heaven--one should be appointed to become a witness with us as to His resurrection."

when suddenly there came from the sky a sound as of a strong rushing blast of wind. This filled the whole house where they were sitting;

They were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak in foreign languages according as the Spirit gave them words to utter.

How then does each of us hear his own native language spoken by them?

Some of us are Parthians, Medes, Elamites. Some are inhabitants of Mesopotamia, of Judaea or Cappadocia, of Pontus or the Asian Province, of Phrygia or Pamphylia,

For this is not intoxication, as you suppose, it being only the third hour of the day.

"Listen, Israelites, to what I say. Jesus, the Nazarene, a man accredited to you from God by miracles and marvels and signs which God did among you through Him, as you yourselves know, Him--

For David says in reference to Him, "'I constantly fixed my eyes upon the Lord, because He is at my right hand in order that I may continue unshaken.

For this reason my heart is glad and my tongue exults. My body also shall rest in hope.

"As to the patriarch David, I need hardly remind you, brethren, that he died and was buried, and that we still have his tomb among us.

This Jesus, God has raised to life-- a fact to which all of us testify.

and they were constant in listening to the teaching of the Apostles and in their attendance at the Communion, that is, the Breaking of the Bread, and at prayer.

some men were carrying there one who had been lame from birth, whom they were wont to place every day close to the Beautiful Gate (as it was called)

Peter fixing his eyes on him, as John did also, said, "Look at us."

and recognizing him as the man who used to sit at the Beautiful Gate of the Temple asking for alms, they were filled with awe and amazement at what had happened to him.

While he still clung to Peter and John, the people, awe-struck, ran up crowding round them in what was known as Solomon's Portico.

Peter, seeing this, spoke to the people. "Israelites," he said, "why do you wonder at this man? Or why gaze at us, as though by any power or piety of our own we had enabled him to walk?

Yes, you disowned the holy and righteous One, and asked as a favour the release of a murderer.

The Prince of Life you put to death; but God has raised Him from the dead, and we are witnesses as to that.

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.

"And now, brethren, I know that it was in ignorance that you did it, as was the case with your rulers also.

Moses declared, "'The Lord your God will raise up a Prophet for you from among your brethren as He has raised me. In all that He says to you, you must listen to Him.

It is to you first that God, after raising His Servant from the grave, has sent Him to bless you, by causing every one of you to turn from your wickedness."

if we to-day are under examination concerning the benefit conferred on a man helplessly lame, as to how this man has been cured;

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

And in no other is the great salvation to be found; for, in fact, there is no second name under Heaven that has been given among men through which we are to be saved."

As they looked on Peter and John so fearlessly outspoken--and also discovered that they were illiterate persons, untrained in the schools--they were surprised; and now they recognized them as having been with Jesus.

"What are we to do with these men?" they asked one another; for the fact that a remarkable miracle has been performed by them is well known to every one in Jerusalem, and we cannot deny it.

But to prevent the matter spreading any further among the people, let us stop them by threats from speaking in the future in this name to any one whatever."

But Peter and John replied, "Judge whether it is right in God's sight to listen to you instead of listening to God.

As for us, what we have seen and heard we cannot help speaking about."

And they, upon hearing the story, all lifted up their voices to God and said, "O Sovereign Lord, it is Thou who didst make Heaven and earth and sea, and all that is in them,

Among all those who had embraced the faith there was but one heart and soul, so that none of them claimed any of his possessions as his own, but everything they had was common property;

while the Apostles with great force of conviction delivered their testimony as to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus; and great grace was upon them all.

While it remained unsold, was not the land your own? And when sold, was it not at your own disposal? How is it that you have cherished this design in your heart? It is not to men you have told this lie, but to God."

Having received that command they went into the Temple, just before daybreak, and began to teach: So when the High Priest and his party came, and had called together the Sanhedrin as well as all the Elders of the descendants of Israel, they sent to the jail to fetch the Apostles.

"We strictly forbad you to teach in that name--did we not?" he said. "And see, you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching, and are trying to make us responsible for that man's death!"

God has exalted Him to His right hand as Chief Leader and as Saviour, to give Israel repentance and forgiveness of sins.

And we--and the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey Him--are witnesses as to these things."

And now I tell you to hold aloof from these men and leave them alone--for if this scheme or work is of human origin, it will come to nothing.

But if it is really from God, you will be powerless to put them down--lest perhaps you find yourselves to be actually fighting against God."

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.

But, as for us, we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the delivery of the Message."

But some members of the so-called 'Synagogue of the Freed-men,' together with some Cyrenaeans, Alexandrians, Cilicians and men from Roman Asia, were roused to encounter Stephen in debate.

Here they brought forward false witnesses who declared, "This fellow is incessantly speaking against the Holy Place and the Law.

For we have heard him say that Jesus, the Nazarene, will pull this place down to the ground and will change the customs which Moses handed down to us."

But he gave him no inheritance in it, no, not a single square yard of ground. And yet He promised to bestow the land as a permanent possession on him and his posterity after him--and promised this at a time when Abraham was childless.

"'And the nation, whichever it is, that enslaves them, I will judge,' said God; 'and afterwards they shall come out, and they shall worship Me in this place.'

"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,

At length he was cast out, but Pharaoh's daughter adopted him, and brought him up as her own son.

"But the man who was doing the wrong resented his interference, and asked, "'Who appointed you magistrate and judge over us?

Do you mean to kill me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?'

"'Take off your shoes,' said the Lord, 'for the spot on which you are standing is holy ground.

"The Moses whom they rejected, asking him, 'Who appointed you magistrate and judge?' --that same Moses we find God sending as a magistrate and a deliverer by the help of the angel who appeared to him in the bush.

This is the Moses who said to the descendants of Israel, "'God will raise up a Prophet for you, from among your brethren, just as He raised me up.'

This is he who was among the Congregation in the Desert, together with the angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai and with our forefathers, who received ever-living utterances to hand on to us.

They said to Aaron, "'Make gods for us, to march in front of us; for as for this Moses who brought us out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.'

So God turned from them and gave them up to the worship of the Host of Heaven, as it is written in the Book of the Prophets, "'Were they victims and sacrifices which you offered Me, forty years in the Desert, O House of Israel?

"Our forefathers had the Tent of the Testimony in the Desert, built as He who spoke to Moses had instructed him to make it in imitation of the model which he had seen.

Yet the Most High does not dwell in buildings erected by men's hands. But, as the Prophet declares,

"'The sky is My throne, and earth is the footstool for My feet. What kind of house will you build for Me, says the Lord, or what resting place shall I have?

"O stiff-necked men, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you also are continually at strife with the Holy Spirit--just as your forefathers were.

Which of the Prophets did not your forefathers persecute? Yes, they killed those who announced beforehand the advent of the righteous One, whose betrayers and murderers you have now become--

As they listened to these words, they became infuriated and gnashed their teeth at him.

To him people of all classes paid attention, declaring, "This man is the Power of God, known as the great Power."

for He had not as yet fallen upon any of them. They had only been baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus.

No part or lot have you in this matter, for your heart is not right in God's sight.

Repent, therefore, of this wickedness of yours, and pray to the Lord, in the hope that the purpose which is in your heart may perhaps be forgiven you.

Upon this he rose and went. Now, as it happened, an Ethiopian eunuch who was in a position of high authority with Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, as her treasurer, had visited Jerusalem to worship there,

and was now on his way home; and as he sat in his chariot he was reading the Prophet Isaiah.

So Philip ran up and heard the eunuch reading the Prophet Isaiah. "Do you understand what you are reading?" he asked.

The passage of Scripture which he was reading was this: "Like a sheep He was led to slaughter, and just as a lamb before its shearer is dumb so He opened not His mouth.

In His humiliation justice was denied Him. Who will make known His posterity? For He is destroyed from among men."

"Pray, of whom is the Prophet speaking?" inquired the eunuch; "of himself or of some one else?"

So they proceeded on their way till they came to some water; and the eunuch exclaimed, "See, here is water; what is there to prevent my being baptized?"

Now Saul, whose every breath was a threat of destruction for the disciples of the Lord,

But on the journey, as he was getting near Damascus, suddenly there flashed round him a light from Heaven;

"Rise," said the Lord, "and go to Straight Street, and inquire at the house of Judas for a man called Saul, from Tarsus, for he is actually praying.

and here he is authorized by the High Priests to arrest all who call upon Thy name."

"Go," replied the Lord; "he is a chosen instrument of Mine to carry My name to the Gentiles and to kings and to the descendants of Israel.

And in the synagogues he began at once to proclaim Jesus as the Son of God;

and his hearers were all amazed, and began to ask one another, "Is not this the man who in Jerusalem tried to exterminate those who called upon that Name, and came here on purpose to carry them off in chains to the High Priests?"

Saul, however, gained more and more influence, and as for the Jews living in Damascus, he bewildered them with his proofs that Jesus is the Christ.

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.

Now Peter, as he went to town after town, came down also to God's people at Lud.

Among the disciples at Jaffa was a woman called Tabitha, or, as the name may be translated, 'Dorcas.' Her life was wholly devoted to the good and charitable actions which she was constantly doing.

But, as it happened, just at that time she was taken ill and died. After washing her body they laid it out in a room upstairs.

He is staying as a guest with Simon, a tanner, who has a house close to the sea."

Again a second time a voice was heard which said, "What God has purified, you must not regard as unholy."

While Peter was greatly perplexed as to the meaning of the vision which he had seen, just then the men sent by Cornelius, having by inquiry found out Simon's house,