to be, extraordinary interpositions of divine power, may be deduced from the truth to which I have just alluded; they are neither wrought to establish any new revelation from the Almighty, nor to accredit the mission of any new messenger from above; there is, therefore, no analogy between them and the miracles of the Bible; and this being the case, it will, I trust, argue neither want of candour, nor of charity, to say that we must wait for much stronger evidence than any which has yet been adduced, before we can acknowledge them to be divine interpositions; and must, after the most careful and solemn investigation which we have been able to bestow, attribute the instances of which so much has been lately written and spoken, rather to the powerful effects of religious excitement upon warm and ardent temperaments, than to any deviation from those laws, which nature has received from nature's God.

The effect upon the inhabitants of Ephesus of the very remarkable instances of divine interposition of which we have been speaking, is thus described, "Then certain of the vagabond Jews, exorcists, took upon them to call over them which had evil spirits the name of the Lord Jesus, saying, We adjure you by Jesus, whom Paul preacheth. And there were seven sons of one Sceva, a Jew, who did so; and the evil spirit answered and said, Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are ye? And the man, in whom the evil spirit was, leaped on them, and overcame them, and prevailed against them, so that they fled out of that house, naked and wounded."

Thus in this, as in most other cases, the true and genuine coin was followed by the worthless and contemptible counterfeit. "The vagabond Jews," willing to make a merchandize of that which the apostles freely bestowed, presumed to use "the name of Christ," without par

ticipating, or desiring to participate, in his Spirit; hoping, from what they had seen, that that name of power could not be used without producing effects which might readily be diverted to their own temporal interests.

It is not too much to say, that the preaching of Christ in these our days has been followed by results by no means dissimilar. There are still those, we fear, who venture to imitate these exorcists of old, and to preach an unfelt and an unappreciated gospel; to "call over" their hearers "the name of Christ," while their own hearts have never been truly convinced by His Spirit, or subject to His power. Like "the seven sons of Sceva," who were almost destroyed by the man they professed to heal, these false teachers will, in the end, receive the due reward of their deeds, in the contempt of those whom they deceive, and still more fatally in the wrath of Him with whose great name they have presumed to trifle. For

has not our Lord Himself declared, that at the last great day, when all mankind shall be ranged in two vast companies, preparing for a blessed or a miserable eternity, there shall be those who shall say, “Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name, and in thy name cast out devils, and in thy name done many wonderful works: then shall He answer and say unto them, I never knew you, depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity." Nor is it only in the case of ministers that dangers such as these exist. You, my brethren, are not yourselves beyond their influence. You may, in a day of much religious profession, like the present, learn to name the name of Christ, to follow in the train of His people, to attend religious meetings, to take prominent parts in religious societies, and yet be at last as void of all interest in Christ, and all share in His blessedness, as the seven sons of Sceva! The heart, and the heart alone, is the index to the Christian. "Where your treasure is, there will your

heart be also." Pray that "the pearl of great price" may be your treasure; that you may not content yourself with the name of Christ, but with your whole heart, and soul, and mind, and strength, seek His love, which is better than life, His approving smile, which will one day be better to you than ten thousand worlds. Live to Him here, that you may live with Him throughout a glorious eternity.

In the instance before us, the effect of our blessed Lord vindicating, as we have seen, his insulted authority, was very remarkably evinced; for the evangelist adds, "This was known to all the Jews and Greeks also dwelling at Ephesus, and fear fell on them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was magnified. And many that believed came and confessed, and shewed their deeds. Many of them also which used curious arts, brought their books together, and burned them before all men; and they counted the price of them, and found it fifty thousand pieces of silver.