This powerful address had a still greater effect than the previous discourse of the Apostle. Upwards of five thousand avowed themselves believers in the Crucified, and swelled the ranks of the Christian Church (Acts iv. 4). But it had other issues also. The Sanhedrin, which had hitherto stood aloof[686] from all notice of the movements of the Apostles, resolved to act with decision. As the evening of this eventful day closed in, the priests, the captain of the Levitical guard[687], and the Sadducees[688], naturally annoyed at the proclamation of the resurrection of the dead through the power of a risen Saviour, laid hands on the two Apostles and the healed cripple[689] (Comp. Acts iv. 14), and committed them to prison, intending on the morrow to institute a formal trial (Acts iv. 3). Accordingly on the next day the rulers, the elders, and scribes, Annas[690] the high-priest and Caiaphas, John[691] and Alexander[692], and others of the pontiff’s family, assembled probably in their hall Gazith, and when the Apostles had been placed in the midst of the judicial circle, enquired by what authority and by virtue of what commission they had acted as they had done. Thereupon Peter, _filled with the Holy Ghost_ (Acts iv. 8), again stood forward, and boldly declared that the miracle of the previous day was due entirely to the mighty working of Jesus of Nazareth, whom they had crucified, but whom God had raised from the dead. He was the Stone whom, in the language of the cxviiith Psalm, they the builders of the nation and its appointed teachers had rejected as worthless, but which had become _the head of the corner_, nor was there in any other the Salvation, for which all hoped; for there _was no other Name under heaven given among men, whereby they could be saved_ (Acts iv. 8–12). The boldness, power, and knowledge, which this speech betrayed, astonished the Sanhedrin beyond measure, and the more so when they reflected that the speaker and his fellow Apostle were of the common class, unlearned and ignorant[693], in whom they recognised[694] the obscure followers of Jesus of Nazareth (Acts iv. 13). The miracle, indeed, which they had wrought could not be gainsaid, for the restored cripple, a man more than 40 years of age (Acts iv. 22), stood beside them (Acts iv. 14), ready to support by his testimony the power by which he had been so marvellously healed. It was deemed, therefore, inexpedient to go into the question of evidence, and after a secret conference (Acts iv. 15) it was resolved to prevent, if possible, the spread of the report of the miracle amongst the people, and to forbid for the future any preaching or teaching in the name of Jesus.