And finally to those disciples who witnessed his departure heavenward, he said: “You will be witnesses of me . . . to the most distant part of the earth.” (Acts 1:8) How filled with fervor and enthusiasm were those early Christians after being encouraged by the resurrected Christ! They had the right view of the work, and their zealous Kingdom preaching produced remarkable results. Historian Edward Gibbon, no friend of Christianity, admitted: The “zeal of Christians . . . diffused them through every province in almost every city of the [Roman] empire.”a