After the birth of Jesus at Bethlehem in Judea, in the reign of King Herod, some Astrologers from the East arrived in Jerusalem, asking:

That you may become Sons of your Father who is in Heaven; for he causes his sun to rise upon bad and good alike, and sends rain upon the righteous and upon the unrighteous.

The rain poured down, the rivers rose, the winds blew and beat upon that house, but it did not fall, for its foundations were upon the rock.

The rain poured down, the rivers rose, the winds blew and struck against that house, and it fell; and great was its downfall."

At this the men who tended them ran away and went to the town, carrying the news of all that had occurred, and of what had happened to the possessed men.

One of them immediately ran and took a sponge, and, filling it with common wine, put it on the end of a rod, and offered it to him to drink.

On this they left the tomb quickly, in awe and great joy, and ran to tell the news to the disciples.

Catching sight of Jesus from a distance, he ran and bowed to the ground before him,

On this the men who tended them ran away, and carried the news to the town, and to the country round; and the people went to see what had happened.

But, as soon as they saw Jesus, all the people, in great astonishment, ran up and greeted him.

The words of the charge against him, written up over his head, ran thus--'THE KING OF THE JEWS.'

And a man ran, and, soaking a sponge in common wine, put it on the end of a rod, and offered it to him to drink, saying as he did so: "Wait and let us see if Elijah is coming to take him down."

In the reign of Herod, King of Judea, there was a priest named Zechariah, who belonged to the Division called after Abijah. His wife, whose name was Elizabeth, was also a descendant of Aaron.

And he shall reign over the descendants of Jacob for ever; And to his kingdom there shall be no end."

In the fifteenth year of the reign of the Emperor Tiberius, when Pontius Pilate was Governor of Judea, Herod Ruler of Galilee, his brother Philip Ruler of the territory comprising Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias Ruler of Abilene,

And no man puts new wine into old wine-skins; for, if he does, the new wine will burst the skins, and the wine itself will run out, and the skins be lost.

When the men who tended them saw what had happened, they ran away, and carried the news to the town, and to the country round.

Sell what belongs to you, and give in charity. Make yourselves purses that will not wear out--an inexhaustible treasure in Heaven, where no thief comes near, or moth works ruin.

And he got up and went to his father. But, while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was deeply moved; he ran and threw his arms round his neck and kissed him.

So he ran on ahead and climbed into a mulberry tree, to see Jesus, for he knew that he must pass that way.

[But Peter got up and ran to the tomb. Stooping down he saw nothing but the linen wrappings, and he went away, wondering to himself at what had taken place.]

And, when the wine ran short, his mother said to him: "They have no wine left."

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

So the Pharisees said to one another: "You see that you are gaining nothing! Why, all the world has run after him!"

The two began running together; but the other disciple ran faster than Peter, and reached the tomb first.

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

One of them, named Agabus, came forward and, under the influence of the Spirit, foretold a great famine that was to spread over all the world--a famine which occurred in the reign of Claudius.

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

Yet he has not failed to give you, in the good he does, some revelation of himself--sending you from heaven rain and fruitful seasons, and gladdening your hearts with plenty and good cheer."

Accordingly we set sail from Troas, and ran before the wind to Samothrace, reaching Neapolis the next day.

When we had torn ourselves away and had set sail, we ran before the wind to Cos; the next day we came to Rhodes, and from there to Patara,

After we had made the run from Tyre, we landed at Ptolemais, and exchanged greetings with the Brethren there, and spent a day with them.

When daylight came, they could not make out what land it was, but, observing a creek in which there was a beach, they consulted as to whether they could run the ship safely into it.

They got, however, into a kind of channel, and there ran the ship aground. The bows stuck fast and could not be moved, while the stern began breaking up under the strain.

The natives showed us marked kindness, for they lit a fire and took us all under shelter, because it had come on to rain and was cold.

For if, by reason of the offence of the one man, Death reigned through that one man, far more will those, upon whom God's loving- kindness and his gift of righteousness are lavished, find Life, and reign through the one man, Jesus Christ.

In order than, just as Sin had reigned in the realm of Death, so, too, might Loving-kindness reign through righteousness, and result in Immortal Life, through Jesus Christ, our Lord.

Therefore do not let Sin reign in your mortal bodies and compel you to obey its cravings.

For Sin shall not lord it over you. You are living under the reign, not of Law, but of Love.

What follows, then? Are we to sin because we are living under the reign of Love and not of Law? Heaven forbid!

If, for the sake of what you eat, you wound your Brother's feelings, your life has ceased to be ruled by love. Do not, by what you eat, ruin a man for whom Christ died!

The Message of the Cross is indeed mere folly to those who are in the path to Ruin, but to us who are in the path of Salvation it is the very power of God.

Are you all so soon satisfied? Are you so soon rich? Have you begun to reign without us? Would indeed that you had, so that we also might reign with you!

Do not you know that on a race-course, though all run, yet only one wins the prize? Run in such a way that you may win.

I, therefore, run with no uncertain aim. I box-not like a man hitting the air.

For he must reign until God 'has put all his enemies under his feet.'

For we are the fragrance of Christ ascending to God--both among those who are in the path of Salvation and among those who are in the path to Ruin.

And, even if the Good News that we bring is veiled, it is veiled only in the case of those who are on the path to Ruin--

Offering to men the Message of Life; and then I shall be able at the Day of Christ to boast that I did not run my course for nothing, or toil for nothing.

The end of such men is Ruin; for their appetites are their God, and they glory in their shame; their minds are given up to earthly things.

When people are saying 'All is quiet and safe,' it is then that, like birth-pains upon a woman with child, Ruin comes suddenly upon them, and there will be no escape!

These men will pay the penalty of unutterable Ruin--banished 'from the presence of the Lord and from the glorious manifestation of his might,

to the ruin of those who are on the path to destruction, because they have never received and loved the Truth to their own Salvation.

Those who want to be rich fall into the snares of temptation, and become the prey of many foolish and harmful ambitions, which plunge people into Destruction and Ruin.

Run the great race of the Faith, and win the Immortal Life. It was for this that you received the Call, and, in the presence of many witnesses, made the great profession of Faith.

Remind people of all this; urge them solemnly, as in the sight of God, to avoid controversy, a useless thing and the ruin of those who listen to it.

I have run the great Race; I have finished the Course; I have kept the Faith.

But we do not belong to those who draw back, to their Ruin, but to those who have faith, to the saving of their souls.

Seeing, therefore, that there is on every side of us such a throng of witnesses, let us also lay aside everything that hinders us, and the sin that clings about us, and run with patient endurance the race that lies before us,

Elijah was only a man like ourselves, but, when he prayed fervently that it might not rain, no rain fell upon the land for three years and a half.

And, when he prayed again, the clouds brought rain, and the land bore crops.

And, because you do not run to the same extremes of profligacy as others, they are astonished, and malign you.

But there were false prophets also in the nation, just as there will be false teachers among you, men who will secretly introduce ruinous divisions, disowning even the Lord who bought them, and bringing speedy Ruin upon themselves.

In their covetousness they will try to make you a source of profit by their fabrications; but for a long time past their Sentence has not been standing idle, nor their Ruin slumbering.

It is the same in all his letters, when he speaks in them about these subjects. There are some things in them difficult to understand, which untaught and weak people distort, just as they do all other writings, to their own Ruin.

Alas for them! They walk in the steps of Cain; led astray by Balaam's love of gain, they plunge into sin, and meet their ruin through rebellion like that of Korah.

These are the men who are blots upon your 'Love-feasts,' when they feast together and provide without scruple for themselves alone. They are clouds without rain, driven before the winds; they are leafless trees without a vestige of fruit, dead through and through, torn up by the roots;

These men have the power to close the heavens, that 'no rain may fall' during the time that they are teaching; and they have power 'to turn the streams into blood, and to smite the land with any Curse,' whenever they will.

Then the seventh angel blew; and loud voices were heard in Heaven saying-- 'The Kingdom of the World has become the Kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he will reign for ever and ever.'

Blessed and holy will he be who shares in that First Resurrection. The second Death has no power over them; but they will be priests of God, and the Christ, and they will reign with him for the thousand years.

Night will cease to be. They have no need of the light of a lamp, nor have they the light of the sun; for the 'Lord God will be their light, and they will reign for ever and ever.'