I do know him, for it is from him that I have come, and he sent me as his Messenger."

"This is certainly 'the Prophet'!"; others said: "This is the Christ!"; but some asked: "What! does the Christ come from Galilee?

Is not it said in Scripture that it is of the race of David, and from Bethlehem, the village to which David belonged, that the Christ is to come?"

"Are you also from Galilee?" they retorted. "Search, and you will find that no Prophet is to arise in Galilee!"

"Even if I bear testimony to myself," answered Jesus, "my testimony is trustworthy; for I know where I came from, and where I am going; but you do not know where I come from, nor where I am going.

"You," added Jesus, "are from below, I am from above; you are of this present world, I am not;

"I have still much that concerns you to speak of and to pass judgment on; yet he who sent me may be trusted, and I speak to the world only of the things which I have heard from him."

I tell you what I have myself seen in the presence of my Father; and you, in the same way, do what you have learned from your father."

But, as it is, you are seeking to put me to death--a man who has told you the Truth as he heard it from God. Abraham did not act in that way.

"If God were your Father," Jesus replied, "you would have loved me, for I came out from God, and now am here; and I have not come of myself, but he sent me as his Messenger.

As for you, you are children of your Father the Devil, and you are determined to do what your father loves to do. He was a murderer from the first, and did not stand by the truth, because there is no truth in him. Whenever he lies, he does what is natural to him; because he is a liar, and the father of lying.

He who comes from God listens to God's teaching; the reason why you do not listen is because you do not come from God."

As Jesus passed by, he saw a man who had been blind from his birth.

"The man cannot be from God," said some of the Pharisees, "for he does not keep the Sabbath." "How is it possible," retorted others, "for a bad man to give signs like this?"

His parents spoke in this way because they were afraid of the Jews; for the Jews had already agreed that, if any one should acknowledge Jesus as the Christ, he should be expelled from their synagogues.

We know that God spoke to Moses; but, as for this man, we do not know where he comes from."

"Well," the man replied, "this is very strange; you do not know where he comes from, and yet he has given me my sight!

If this man had not been from God, he could not have done anything at all."

They will not follow a stranger, but will run away from him; because they do not know a stranger's voice."

No one took it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to receive it again. This is the command which I received from my Father."

Bethany being only about two miles from Jerusalem,

But some of them said: "Could not this man, who gave sight to the blind man, have also prevented Lazarus from dying?"

If we let him alone as we are doing, every one will believe in him; and the Romans will come and will take from us both our City and our Nationality."

So from that day they plotted to put Jesus to death.

But the Jewish Festival of the Passover was near; and many people had gone up from the country to Jerusalem, for their 'purification,' before the Festival began.

Six days before the Passover Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead, was living.

Now great numbers of the Jews found out that Jesus was at Bethany; and they came there, not solely on his account, but also to see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead.

Meanwhile the people who were with him, when he called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him from the dead, were telling what they had seen.

Father, honor thine own name." At this there came a voice from Heaven, which said: "I have already honored it, and I will honor it again."

And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, shall draw all men to myself."

"We," replied the people, "have learned from the Law that the 'Christ is to remain for ever'; how is it, then, that you say that the Son of Man must be 'lifted up' Who is this 'Son of Man'?"

While you still have the Light, believe in the Light, that you may be 'Sons of Light.'" After he had said this, Jesus went away, and hid himself from them.

Yet for all this, even among the leading men there were many who came to believe in Jesus; but, on account of the Pharisees, they did not acknowledge it, for fear that they should be expelled from their Synagogues;

For they valued honor from men more than honor from God.

And at supper, Jesus--although knowing that the Father had put everything into his hands, and that he had come from God, and was to return to God--

Rose from his place, and, taking off his upper garments, tied a towel round his waist.

I am the Vine, you are the branches. He that remains united to me, while I remain united to him--he bears fruit plentifully; for you can do nothing apart from me.

I no longer call you 'servants,' because a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have given you the name of 'friends,' because I made known to you everything that I learned from my Father.

But, when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father--the Spirit of Truth, who comes from the Father--he will bear testimony to me;

Yes, and you also are to bear testimony, because you have been with me from the first.

They will expel you from their Synagogues; indeed the time is coming when any one who kills you will think that he is making an offering to God.

Jesus saw that they were wanting to ask him a question, and said: "Are you trying to find out from one another what I meant by saying 'In a little while you will not see me; and then in a little while you will see me indeed'?

For the Father himself loves you, because you have loved me, and have believed that I came from the Father.

I came out from the Father, and have come into the world; and now I am to leave the world, and go to the Father."

Now we are sure that you know everything, and need not wait for any one to question you. This makes us believe that you did come from God."

I have revealed thee to those whom thou gavest me from the world; they were thy own, and thou gavest them to me; and they have laid thy Message to heart.

They recognize now that everything that thou gavest me was from thee;

For I have given them the teaching which thou gavest me, and they received it, and clearly understood that I came from thee, and they believed that thou has sent me as thy Messenger.

I do not ask thee to take them out of the world, but to keep them from Evil.

So Judas, who had obtained the soldiers of the Roman garrison, and some police-officers from the Chief Priests and the Pharisees, came there with lanterns, torches, and weapons.

From Caiaphas they took Jesus to the Government House. It was early in the morning. But they did not enter the Government House themselves, lest they should become 'defiled,' and so be unable to eat the Passover.

"My kingly power," replied Jesus, "is not due to this world. If it had been so, my servants would be doing their utmost to prevent my being given up to the Jews; but my kingly power is not from the world."

And, going into the Government House again, he said to Jesus: "Where do you come from?"

"You would have no power over me at all," answered Jesus, "if it had not been given you from above; and, therefore, the man who betrayed me to you is guilty of the greater sin."

And he went out, carrying his cross himself, to the place which is named from a scull, or, in Hebrew, Golgotha.

When the soldiers had crucified Jesus, they took his clothes and divided them into four shares--a share for each soldier--and they took the coat also. The coat had no seam, being woven in one piece from top to bottom.

Then he said to that disciple: "There is your mother." And from that very hour the disciple took her to live in his house.

It was the Preparation Day, and so, to prevent the bodies from remaining on the crosses during the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a great day), the Jews asked Pilate to have the legs broken and the bodies removed.

One of the soldiers, however, pierced his side with a spear, and blood and water immediately flowed from it.

For they did not then understand the passage of Scripture which says that Jesus must rise again from the dead.

But the rest of the disciples came in the boat (for they were only about a hundred yards from shore), dragging the net full of fish.

This was the third time that Jesus showed himself to the disciples after he had risen from the dead.

The first account which I drew up, Theophilus, dealt with all that Jesus did and taught from the very first,

With abundant proofs, he showed himself to them, still living, after his death; appearing to them from time to time during forty days, and speaking of all that related to the Kingdom of God.

No sooner had Jesus said this than he was caught up before their eyes, and a cloud received him from their sight.

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 the Apostles returned to Jerusalem from the hill called Olivet, which is about three quarters of a mile from the city.

Therefore, from among the men who have been with us all the time that Jesus, our Master, went in and out among us--

From his baptism by John down to that day on which he was taken from us--some one must be found to join us as a witness of his resurrection."

When suddenly there came from the heavens a noise like that of a strong wind rushing by; it filled the whole house in which they were sitting.

Now there were then staying in Jerusalem religious Jews from every country in the world;

In Phrygia and Pamphylia, in Egypt and the districts of Libya adjoining Cyrene; some of us are visitors from Rome,

Men of Israel, listen to what I am saying. Jesus of Nazareth, a man whose mission from God to you was proved by miracles, wonders, and signs, which God showed among you through him, as you know full well--

But God released him from the pangs of death and raised him to life, it being impossible for death to retain its hold upon him.

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.

With many other words Peter enforced his teaching, while the burden of his exhortations was--"Save yourselves from the perverse spirit of this age."

One day, as Peter and John were going up into the Temple Courts for the three o'clock Prayers, a man, who had been lame from his birth, was being carried by.

The man was all attention, expecting to get something from them;

The very Guide to Life you put to death! But God raised him from the dead--and of that we are ourselves witnesses.

And yet, my Brothers, I know that you acted as you did from ignorance, and your rulers also.

Therefore, repent and turn, that your sins may be wiped away; so that happier times may come from the Lord himself,

But Heaven must be his home, until the days of the Universal Restoration, of which God has spoken by the lips of his holy Prophets from the very first.

Moses himself said--'The Lord your God will raise up from among your brothers a Prophet, as he raised me. To him you will listen whenever he speaks to you.

Yes, and all the Prophets from Samuel onwards, and all their successors who had a message to deliver, told of these days.

For you, first, God raised up his Servant, and sent him to bless you, by turning each one of you from his wicked ways."

Much annoyed because they were teaching the people, and because, through Jesus, they were preaching the resurrection from the dead.

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.

But, to prevent this thing from spreading further among the people, let us warn them not to speak in this Name any more to any one whatever."

A Levite of Cyprian birth, named Joseph, (who had received from the Apostles the additional name of 'Barnabas'--which means 'The Consoler,')

And then brought them before the Council. The High Priest demanded an explanation from them.

But some members of the Synagogue known as that of Libertines, Cyrenians, Alexandrians, and Visitors from Cilicia and Roman Asia, were roused to action and began disputing with Stephen;

On this, Abraham left the country of the Chaldaeans and settled in Haran; and from there, after his father's death, God caused him to migrate into this very country, in which you are now living.

And their bodies were removed to Shechem, and laid in the tomb which Abraham had bought for a sum of money from the sons of Hamor in Shechem.

This was the Moses who said to the people of Israel--'God will raise up for you, from among your brothers, a Prophet, as he raised up me.'

So God turned from them and left them to the worship of the Starry Host, as is written in the Book of the Prophets--'Did you offer victims and sacrifices to me, O House of Israel, all those forty years in the Desert?

Now those who were scattered in different directions went from place to place proclaiming the Good News.

Meanwhile an angel of the Lord had said to Philip: "Set out on a journey southwards, along the road that runs down from Jerusalem to Gaza." (It is now deserted).

The passage of Scripture which he was reading was this--'Like a sheep, he was led away to slaughter, and as a lamb is dumb in the hands of its shearer, so he refrains from opening his lips.

In his lowly condition justice was denied him. Who will tell the story of his generation? For his life is cut off from earth.'

While on his journey, as he was nearing Damascus, suddenly a light from the heavens flashed around him.