HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF CHRIST.
From the Ascension of Christ to the Conversion of Constantine.
28. [1]After the Ascension of our Lord, His disciples returned to Jerusalem, where they persevered in prayer, expecting the coming of the Holy Ghost, whom He had promised to send them. In the meantime, the Apostles chose Matthias one of the disciples, in the place of Judas. On the tenth day, the Feast of Pentecost, there came suddenly a sound from Heaven, as of a mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were assembled. Over the head of each one there appeared the form of a fiery tongue; and all of them, being filled with the Holy Ghost, began to speak in divers languages and to praise the Lord their God. Peter, the Head of the Apostles, stood up and declared to the innumerable multitude of the Jews who had come together that the same Jesus whom they had crucified, and whom God had raised from the dead, was their Lord and Redeemer, and he called upon them to believe in Him. His discourse was so powerful that no less than three thousand came at once and asked to be baptized. Soon after, Peter and John went to the temple to pray. A lame man was lying there at the gate, and asked an alms of them. Peter said to him: 'Silver and gold I have none; but what I have I give thee: in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, arise and walk '; and forthwith the lame man sprang to his feet and walked joyfully with them into the temple, thanking and praising God. All the people
- ↑ How did the disciples prepare for the coming of the Holy Ghost? Whom did the Apostles choose in the place of Judas? When, and how, did the Holy Ghost come? What change did He produce in them? What did Peter, the Head of the Apostles, do? What was the result of his sermon? How was the lame man at the temple-gate healed? What effect had this miracle on the Jews?
