Saturday. [Acts 5:21–33; John 6:14–27]

   What Peter and John first said to the authorities, later all the apostles said to the authorities: We ought to obey God rather than men. The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom ye slew and hanged on a tree. Him hath God exalted with His right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour, for to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins. And we are His witnesses of these things; and so is also the Holy Ghost, whom God hath given to them that obey Him (Acts 5:29–32). What sincerity, fullness, definiteness and clarity of confession! God arranged in such a way for the Crucified to be our Saviour through the forgiveness of sins in repentance. The witnesses are the Apostles as observers, and the Holy Spirit, manifestly acting in the apostles and in all believers. The same witnesses are powerful through to our own days. What the holy Apostles say is the same as if we ourselves saw and heard it with our eyes and ears. And the Spirit of grace acts uninterruptedly in the holy Church, in miracle-working, in the conversion of sinners, and especially in the transformation of those earnestly working for the Lord, in their sanctification and filling with obvious grace-filled gifts. The transformation of people gives great power to miracle-working, and these together are powerful in forming a firm conviction of the truth of Christ, in all truth-loving souls. Thanks be to the God of truth, Who hath revealed His truth to us so clearly!