"If I had not come and spoken to them, they would have had no sin; but as the case stands they are without excuse for their sin.

If I had not done among them, as I have, such miracles as no one else ever did, they would have had no sin; but they have in fact seen and also hated both me and my Father.

But this has been so, in order that the saying may be fulfilled which stands written in their Law, 'They have hated me without any reason.'

And you also are witnesses, because you have been with me from the first.

"These things I have spoken to you in order to clear stumbling-blocks out of your path.

And they will do these things because they have failed to recognize the Father and to discover who I am.

But I have spoken these things to you in order that when the time for their accomplishment comes you may remember them, and may recollect that I told you. I did not, however, tell you all this at first, because I was still with you.

But grief has filled your hearts because I have said all this to you.

"I have much more to say to you, but you are unable at present to bear the burden of it.

So you also now have sorrow; but I shall see you again, and your hearts will be glad, and your gladness no one will take away from you.

As yet you have not asked for anything in my name: ask, and you shall receive, that your hearts may be filled with gladness.

"All this I have spoken to you in veiled language. The time is coming when I shall no longer speak to you in veiled language, but will tell you about the Father in plain words.

for the Father Himself holds you dear, because you have held me dear and have believed that I came from the Father's presence.

I came from the Father and have come into the world. Again I am leaving the world and am going to the Father."

Now we know that you have all knowledge, and do not need to be pressed with questions. Through this we believe that you came from God."

"I have spoken all this to you in order that in me you may have peace. In the world you have affliction. But keep up your courage: *I* have won the victory over the world."

I have glorified Thee on earth, having done perfectly the work which by Thine appointment has been mine to do.

"I have revealed Thy perfections to the men whom Thou gavest me out of the world. Thine they were, and Thou gavest them to me, and they have obeyed Thy message.

For the truths which Thou didst teach me I have taught them. And they have received them, and have known for certain that I came out from Thy presence, and have believed that Thou didst send me.

"But now I am coming to Thee, and I speak these words while I am in the world, in order that they may have my gladness within them filling their hearts.

I have given them Thy Message, and the world has hated them, because they do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world.

Just as Thou didst send me into the world, I also have sent them;

And the glory which Thou hast given me I have given them, that they may be one, just as we are one:

And, righteous Father, though the world has failed to recognize Thee, I have known Thee, and these have perceived that Thou didst send me.

And I have made known Thy name to them and will make it known, that the love with which Thou hast loved me may be in them, and that I may be in them."

"I have told you," replied Jesus, "that I am he. If therefore you are looking for me, let these my disciples go their way."

He made this request in order that the words He had spoken might be fulfilled, "As for those whom Thou hast given me, I have not lost one."

"As for me," replied Jesus, "I have spoken openly to the world. I have continually taught in some synagogue or in the Temple where all the Jews are wont to assemble, and I have said nothing in secret.

"If I have spoken wrongly," replied Jesus, "bear witness to it as wrong; but if rightly, why that blow?"

Accordingly Pilate came out to them and inquired, "What accusation have you to bring against this man?"

"If the man were not a criminal," they replied, "we would not have handed him over to you."

"Take him yourselves," said Pilate, "and judge him by your Law." "We have no power," replied the Jews, "to put any man to death."

"Do you say this of yourself, or have others told it you about me?" replied Jesus.

"Am I a Jew?" exclaimed Pilate; "it is your own nation and the High Priests who have handed you over to me. What have you done?"

"My kingdom," replied Jesus, "does not belong to this world. If my kingdom did belong to this world, my subjects would have resolutely fought to save me from being delivered up to the Jews. But, as a matter of fact, my kingdom has not this origin."

"So then *you* are a king!" rejoined Pilate. "Yes," said Jesus, "you say truly that I am a king. For this purpose I was born, and for this purpose I have come into the world--to give testimony for the truth. Every one who is a friend of the truth listens to my voice."

But you have a custom that I should release one prisoner to you at the Passover. So shall I release to you the King of the Jews?"

"We," replied the Jews, "have a Law, and in accordance with that Law he ought to die, for having claimed to be the Son of God."

"Do you refuse to speak even to me?" asked Pilate; "do you not know that I have it in my power either to release you or to crucify you?"

"You would have had no power whatever over me," replied Jesus, "had it not been granted you from above. On that account he who has delivered me up to you is more guilty than you are."

This caused a storm of outcries, "Away with him! Away with him! Crucify him!" "Am I to crucify your king?" Pilate asked. "We have no king, except Caesar," answered the High Priests.

"What I have written I have written," was Pilate's answer.

And again another Scripture says, "They shall look on Him whom they have pierced."

So she ran, as fast as she could, to find Simon Peter and the other disciple--the one who was dear to Jesus--and to tell them, "They have taken the Master out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have put Him."

They spoke to her. "Why are you weeping?" they asked. "Because," she replied, "they have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have put him."

"Why are you weeping?" He asked; "who are you looking for?" She, supposing that He was the gardener, replied, "Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him and I will remove him."

"Do not cling to me," said Jesus, "for I have not yet ascended to the Father. But take this message to my brethren: 'I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.'"

Mary of Magdala came and brought word to the disciples. "I have seen the Master," she said. And she told them that He had said these things to her.

So the rest of the disciples told him, "We have seen the Master!" His reply was, "Unless I see in his hands the wound made by the nails and put my finger into the wound, and put my hand into his side, I will never believe it."

"Because you have seen me," replied Jesus, "you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed."

But these have been recorded in order that you may believe that He is the Christ, the Son of God, and that, through believing, you may have Life through His name.

He called to them. "Children," He said, "have you any food there?" "No," they answered.

"Come this way and have breakfast," said Jesus. But not one of the disciples ventured to question Him as to who He was, for they felt sure that it was the Master.

"In most solemn truth I tell you that whereas, when you were young, you used to put on your girdle and walk whichever way you chose, when you have grown old you will stretch out your arms and some one else will put a girdle round you and carry you where you have no wish to go."

But there are also many other things which Jesus did--so vast a number indeed that if they were all described in detail, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would have to be written.

And while in their company He charged them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for the Father's promised gift. "This you have heard of," He said, "from me.

For John indeed baptized with water, but before many days have passed you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit."

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."

"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--

"And it shall come to pass in the last days, God says, that I will pour out My Spirit upon all mankind; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall have dreams;

delivered up through God's settled purpose and foreknowledge--you by the hands of Gentiles have nailed to a cross and have put to death.

"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.

"I have no silver or gold," Peter said, "but what I have, I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ, the Nazarene-- walk!"

Yes, and all the Prophets, from Samuel onwards--all who have spoken--have also announced the coming of this present time.

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

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

and didst say through the Holy Spirit by the lips of our forefather David Thy servant, "'Why have the nations stamped and raged, and the peoples formed futile plans?

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."

"How was it," replied Peter, "that you two agreed to try an experiment upon the Spirit of the Lord? The men who have buried your husband are already at the door, and they will carry you out."

"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!"

Then they privately put forward men who declared, "We have heard him speak blasphemous things against Moses and against God."

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."

I have seen, yes, I have seen the oppression of My people who are in Egypt and have heard their groans, and I have come down to deliver them. And now I will send you to Egypt.'

"'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?

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--

you who received the Law given through angels, and yet have not obeyed it."

"Perish your money and yourself," replied Peter, "because you have imagined that you can obtain God's free gift with money!

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

For I perceive that you have fallen into the bitterest bondage of unrighteousness."

"Pray, both of you, to the Lord for me," answered Simon, "that nothing of what you have said may come upon me."

"Lord," answered Ananias, "I have heard about that man from many, and I have heard of the great mischief he has done to Thy people in Jerusalem;

Looking steadily at him, and being much alarmed, he said, "What do you want, Sir?" "Your prayers and charities," he replied, "have gone up and have been recorded before God.

"On no account, Lord," he replied; "for I have never yet eaten anything unholy and impure."

Rise, go down, and go with them without any misgivings; for it is I who have sent them to you."

Their reply was, "Cornelius, a Captain, an upright and God-fearing man, of whom the whole Jewish nation speaks well, has been divinely instructed by a holy angel to send for you to come to his house and listen to what you have to say."

who said, "'Cornelius, your prayer has been heard, and your charities have been put on record before God.

"Can any one forbid the use of water, and object to these persons being baptized--men who have received the Holy Spirit just as we did?"

When morning came, there was no little commotion among the soldiers, as to what could possibly have become of Peter.

While they were worshipping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, "Set apart for Me, now at once, Barnabas and Saul, for the work to which I have called them."

After the reading of the Law and the Prophets, the Wardens of the synagogue sent word to them. "Brethren," they said, "if you have anything encouraging to say to the people, speak."

After removing him, He raised up David to be their king, to whom He also bore witness when He said, "'I have found David the son of Jesse, a man I love, who will obey all My commands.'

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.

Without having found Him guilty of any capital offence they urged Pilate to have Him put to death;

that God has amply fulfilled it to our children in raising up Jesus; as it is also written in the second Psalm, 'Thou art My Son: to-day I have become Thy Father.'

As Paul and Barnabas were leaving the synagogue, the people earnestly begged to have all this repeated to them on the following Sabbath.

For such is the Lord's command to us. "'I have placed Thee,' He says of Christ, 'as a light to the Gentiles, in order that Thou mayest be a Saviour as far as the remotest parts of the earth.'"

So he sprang up and began to walk about. Then the crowds, seeing what Paul had done, rent the air with their shouts in the Lycaonian language, saying, "The gods have assumed human form and have come down to us."

Now, therefore, why try an experiment upon God, by laying on the necks of these disciples a yoke which neither our forefathers nor we have been able to bear?

As we have been informed that certain persons who have gone out from among us have disturbed you by their teaching and have unsettled your minds, without having received any such instructions from us;

we have unanimously decided to select certain men and send them to you in company with our dear friends Barnabas and Paul,