In the old Bible the most important themes are those which gather around the God-man, Jesus Christ. His coming to earth was the culmination of all prophecy, the focus of all history, and the center of all doctrine; and the church which he founded has been for nineteen centuries the inspiration of the world's progress. There are two subjects in the New Testament with which every follower of Christ should be thoroughly acquainted, and they are its two most prominent themes: the life of Christ on earth, and the growth of the early church. In the life of Christ he should know the order of the leading events; he should grasp its principles, and should enter into its spirit. Only as we apprehend Christ can we comprehend the truths taught and inspired by Christ. But our work as New Testament students must not end with the story of Christ's ascension from earth. Jesus left behind him a little church, of only one hundred and twenty members, which in seventy years overswept all the lands of the greatest empire then on the earth, and which now covers nearly all the world. Of that church we are members, inheritors of its traditions, its doctrines, and--best of all--its spirit. It should be our delight to trace the steps of its early progress, to see how its plans grew with the advancing years, and how an obscure company of Jewish disciples became a church of world-wide reach. To enable a student to obtain this knowledge this book has been prepared. The earlier studies on the life of Christ have been published as Studies in the Four Gospels, but have been carefully revised and, in the author's judgment, improved. The studies on the early church are the outgrowth of work begun many years ago, frequently revised, taught to classes many times, and carefully restudied in the light of the most recent researches in the domain of early church history. These chapters are, as their titles indicate, _studies_; designed, not for reading, but for study. This book does not undertake to be a life of Christ, and a history of the early church, to be read. It simply extends a helping hand, and holds out to the student a clue by means of which he can form his own life of Christ and prepare for himself a history of the early church. Wherever a fact can be learned by searching out a Scripture reference the fact is not stated, but the reference is given. Every text referred to should be searched out, as these texts contain the essential facts of this book. Whoever would use these studies rightly must pursue them with the Bible close at hand, and must consult his Bible more frequently than this text-book.