THE fact that Jesus had arisen from the dead was not denied by many of the rulers of the Jews.
2) And Pilate gave an order that the followers of the Nazarene be not molested in their worship any place in his domain.
3) The day of Pentecost was near at hand and every one was looking for a manifest of Spirit power.
4) Now, in Jerusalem the eleven had met to choose a man to fill the place of Judas who betrayed his Lord.
5) And Peter said,
the Lord called to this ministry twelve men as twelve foundation stones on which the Christine temple should be built.
6) This Judas who betrayed his Lord, has gone to his own place beyond the veil.
7) Of him the prophet wrote: His habitation shall be desolate; no man shall dwell therein; his office let another take.
8) From those who have accompanied us from Gigal, where the harbinger baptized, until this day, shall one be chosen to complete the number twelve, to fill the place from which our brother by transgression fell.
9) And then the eleven spent a long, long time in prayer, and when they cast their lots, Matthias, from the valley of the Nile, was chosen for the place.
10) Matthias was an Israelite indeed; but he was learned in all the wisdom of Egyptian schools, and he had taught the mysteries of Mizraim in Jericho.
11) He was among the first to greet the harbinger; among the first to recognize the Nazarene as Christ, the son of God;
12) He had been with the Christine band in all their journeys in the land of Galilee, Judea and Samaria.
13) A messenger was sent who found Matthias, and he came and joined the eleven, and for a time the twelve were lost in silent prayer.
14) The Christines who had come from Galilee and places in Judea, about six score, were there, and Peter told them of Matthias, and how, by lot, he had been chosen an apostle of the Lord.
15) The Christines all were glad and praised the name of God; and Miriam sung a song of praise.
16) These are the names of the apostles of the Lord; Peter, John and James; Philip, Andrew and Nathaniel;
17) Thomas, James the son of Alpheus and Simon Zelotes; Matthew, Jude, the son of Alpheus and Matthias.